Common pump problems involving solids handling, vapor mixtures and the dangers of dry run have plagued fluid process operations forever.
This is where Blackmer® stepped up. The arrival of the MAGNES Series Sliding Vane Magnetic Drive Pumps – an innovative design which combines sliding vane with the best advantages of magnetic drive – brings a solution that handles expensive, valuable and hazardous liquids in a leak-free fashion.
In only a short time on the market, MAGNES pumps have set a new tone for optimal performance in every operation, recently being announced as a winner of Plant Engineering magazine's 2020 Product of the Year Award in the Fluid Handling category.
So, what makes MAGNES Series pumps so beneficial? Geoff VanLeeuwen, Director of Products & Applications for Blackmer, provides his insights.
Congratulations on the immediate success of the MAGNES Series! Not just with winning the prestigious Plant Engineering Awards, but for being recognized across the board as the new standard in fluid processing efficiency and reliability.
What Makes the Award-Winning MAGNES Series Pumps the New Standard in Safety and Performance?
GVL: Yes. All pump technologies fight a never-ending battle against operational problems such as dry-run operation, eliminating cavitation during liquid/vapor handling, full-system operation and efficient solids-handling.
With our proprietary magnetic drive coupled with constant-flow sliding vane design, MAGNES tackles all these issues in a leak-free, seal-less product. These pumps extend dry-run time indefinitely and perform strongly across a wide curve of operational points.
Other technologies deliver leak-free pumping but with some blind spots. The MAGNES Series really is an all-encompassing solution for the process industry, hence its value. What makes these pumps stand out against others in the market?
GVL: Chemical processing relies a lot on the standards and traditions of available equipment. Centrifugal and gear pumps have been mainstays in the industry, and both have seal-less technology. But neither can compare to what MAGNES delivers. Mainly, those pumps don’t have indefinite dry-run capabilities, are unable to sustainably handle liquid/vapor mixtures and aren’t designed to handle solids properly. They also need to be pre-primed and can’t strip lines during post-production.
MAGNES Series pumps are self-priming and don’t require pre-start flooding. The flow-creating design allows the MAGNES model to deliver elevated pressures and increased flow rates at motor speeds as low as 400 rpm. This means that generating the right pressure and flow at such a low speed reduces heat buildup, which eases the strain on internal components and extends the life of the pump itself.
MAGNES Series pumps perform well in a wide operational range, not just within a narrow range that has been common in other pumps. In addition to that overall efficiency, how does the MAGNES Series incorporate and improve safety in an operation?
GVL: Common pumps struggle across a wide operating range because they are optimized to a single design point. Check out any pump datasheet, and most often you’ll see a single design point being specified. Unfortunately, pumps rarely operate at the same duty point consistently. It’s more common for pumps to operate across a wide range of system pressure, viscosity, tank level, and other factors.
The MAGNES series accommodates wide changes to operating ranges. MAGNES is not tuned to a specific design point, but rather is robust to a wide range of operating points within the same system. This is at a big advantage to competing technologies like centrifugal pumps or gear pumps, which are each tuned to narrow ranges of operating conditions. MAGNES is a real problem solver for applications that demand a variety of duty points within the same piping system.
With such a reliable, low maintenance/high-performance pump that addresses multiple common pain points at once, it’s no wonder MAGNES is such a breakthrough product.
GVL: Operators have dealt with these issues for too long. It’s become common to just accept a loss of efficiency and operational troubles over time. This, of course, decreases safety and increases budgets and downtime. We wanted to change all that.
MAGNES pumps have infinite dry-run and solids-handling capabilities. Plus, a cavitation-reducing operation with efficient liquid/vapor mixture pumping and the wide performance curve benefits of sliding vane – now merged with a smooth magnetic drive.
Altogether it should, we expect, become the new standard in leak-free, seal-less pump operations.
What is the most recent development for the MAGNES Series?
GVL: Well, we recently announced that the MAGNES Series was available in a 4-inch model, which is our largest MAGNES size currently available. By adding this 4-inch model, the MAGNES can now lift liquid from 25 feet below grade, strip 4” piping clean between batches, unload a 30,000-gallon railcar in under an hour, and run dry longer than ever before.