Turbo pumps are crucial across industries ranging from food processing, shipping, and even air travel. Companies like provac sales ship pumps all across the world to customers of diverse industries. With such a critical role in industries, one can wonder, how are these pumps developed? Well, the process of developing a turbopump is quite complex and may not be fully captured in a few words. The key thing to note is that technology plays a major role in pump development. In this article, we will focus on the role computers play in developing crucial turbo equipment.
- Improvements to pump materials
In the past, pumps had a major problem with corrosion. However, technology has solved this problem and modern pumps can operate without dealing with corrosion all through their useful life. Technologies such as artificial intelligence and data analytics have made it possible for material science to come up with the best metallurgy for pumps. One material that has come out of such processes is duplex steel, which is now popular in pump development. Other technologies that have ensured that the pumps do not corrode are plasma and laser coatings. By eliminating corrosion in pumps, technology has solved two problems. The first one is that of cost. Since pumps can operate continuously without corrosion, companies do not have to incur the extra cost of replacing them. The second problem is that of efficiency. Since modern pumps, thanks to computers, are corrosion-free they can achieve a lot more than similar pumps from past generations. Still, on material improvements due to the use of computer technologies, modern pumps can operate without cavitation. Cavitation is usually characterized by a decline in net pressure that causes fluid vaporization and inefficiencies in the production process. Due to advances in computational capabilities, and the development of advanced sensors, it is now possible to detect cavitation the moment it occurs and use robotics to get rid of the problem. In the past, the problem of cavitation would lead to massive losses since entire operations would grind to a halt while the problem was being traced. Today, even in complex operations, the problem of cavitation can be handled easily while the pump continues its operations. It is the beauty of advances in computing technologies and their adaptation to the development of modern efficient pumps. Without advanced computing, this problem would have kept operations inefficient to date.
- Improvements in pump control systems
One of the most important aspects of computers in vacuum pumps is in their control systems. While vacuum pumps are useful in critical aspects of the industry, there was always the challenge of including control systems in them. That’s because the process is complex and costly. However, the trend has changed due to advances in computer technologies. Advances in computing have helped pump manufacturers take a redundancy-based method to cut on costs for installing control systems. Thanks to advances in computing technologies, even small pumps now have control systems. The benefits of such systems are immense. For instance, thanks to computers, vacuum pumps can now be automated and installed with sensors that cut on costs while ensuring that the system can run its useful life without any problems. The use of sensors also creates enormous benefits in terms of energy savings. Savings in energy costs are most pronounced due to the incorporation of variable frequency drives that allow for automatic diagnostics of the system. This has over the years cut on labor costs in industrial systems, which translates to more competitive prices for consumers.
- Pump customization
Since they started being used in industry, vacuum pumps have maintained relatively similar functions. However, due to the growing complexity of industrial processes, the necessity of customized pumps has emerged. Due to advances in computing, customized pumps are now a reality. Today, some pumps integrate both CAD and CAM technologies making them easily adaptable to many industries. Pumps that use both of these technologies can be varied by the end-user to a point where they deliver with a high degree of efficiency in any industry. This, while maintaining a high level of efficiency in terms of energy cost, and lower downtimes.
Computers have a huge role to play in vacuum pump equipment development. They have helped adapt vacuum pump technologies to the increased complexity of modern industrial processes. The best part is that vacuum pumps are continually getting better. Research into vacuum pump computing technologies is ongoing and pumps will get more complex and refined in the long run.