Displaying items by tag: Riventa

Thursday, 01 June 2023 11:51

Identifying poor assets and inefficient pumps.

Despite the soaring prices brought on by an energy crisis that shows no signs of diminishing, ask pump and blower operators about the efficiency of their equipment, and the truth is that most don’t know – according to a leading monitoring technology provider.

The pumps, for example, might often be described as ‘working fine’ and ‘doing their job’, but is that, now more than ever, a strategy? How about saving money now, and in the future?

“The opportunity to truly maintain, protect and optimise assets is here and now, with a Return on Investment (ROI) that is shorter than ever”, says Julian Lowe from Riventa. “The cost of solving asset management challenges is on a much smaller scale than most companies imagine”.

So, just how can you make hidden costs more visible?

At minimum, put some testing in place. By obtaining accurate, quality data, this first proactive step will give you a snapshot of performance, as well as health and efficiency. Even this entry-level testing will help identify poor assets and inefficient pumps.

Riventa’s Julian Lowe added: “All we hear about at the moment, understandably, is the giant hike in energy prices, so best test your pumps (and/or blowers and turbines) to reduce energy consumption and maximise savings. This will almost immediately help identify actions to improve performance. In addition to pump efficiency, measuring key parameters such as flow rate, head and electrical power - current pump performance characteristics can be compared to ‘as new’ and ‘post-refurbishment’ conditions. This provides the same accuracy as a pump manufacturer’s test facility – but with the distinct advantage of real operating conditions”.

Across numerous industries, where for some, running pumps ‘til destruction is the modus operandi, Lowe has a point. He claims that for larger pumps, blowers and turbines, the ROI can be as little as 18 months.

Most pump and blower operators don’t know about the efficiency of their equipment, say RiventaMost pump and blower operators don’t know about the efficiency of their equipment, say Riventa

A level up from pump testing is to look at an Optimisation Service, utilising secure on-site pump monitoring equipment to provide real-time data. This enables you to start seeing what’s happening across your system by capturing data over 14-days or longer. This doesn’t have to involve tons of ‘spaghetti’. Systems can now be cable-free; up and running in around 1 hour per pump, at low risk and with minimal disruption to existing operations.

‘Realistic payback calculations’

Dr Tom Clifford from Riventa, continued: “Once in place, real-time data for each asset can be evaluated, with information-driven insights highlighting performance issues and supporting decisions. This can establish best practice recommendations, realistic payback calculations and a business case for moving forward – all backed by precision measurement and innovative analytics”.

Clifford explained how Riventa had recently worked with a food manufacturer; testing the company’s cooling system, which is split into two pumping sub-systems: factory pumps 1-5 for sending chilled water from heat-exchangers to the factory; and evaporator pumps that send chilled water from the factory to refrigeration heat exchangers.

“To test the pumps, we used the thermodynamic measurement technique (with our specialist software) to measure suction and discharge pressures either side of the pump, differential temperature, and motor input power. These measurements enabled us to calculate differential head across the pump, hydraulic efficiency and volumetric flow. Pumps were altered gradually. After each change, a test point was taken, while allowing enough time to obtain the best statistical average. Tests also involved a routine of testing performance at an incumbent set point, followed by throttling the pump to reduce its flow rate. The latter action allowed other pumps running in parallel to increase in speed to compensate, with a final test point taken at this moment”.

He continued: “Throttling meant we could observe the maximum possible flow through each pump under test, without altering the overall flow to the plant. At times this was challenging, because conditions downstream in production would change, altering the cooling load and in-turn the flow set point. Nevertheless, good quality performance information was obtained.

‘Strong case for robust savings’

“We found that all pumps were showing signs of wear. Moreover, manufacturer performance levels were not being achieved. None of the pumps we tested reached the manufacturer’s BEP (81%). In fact, the maximum pump efficiency possible was found to be 75% (achieved by pumps 1 & 2 only). Our findings enabled us to put pumps into a descending order of repair: 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5. While pumps 1-3 achieved a good relationship between power and flow, pumps 4 & 5 were not performing when at lower flows. This indicated a high likelihood of internal recirculation – from high to low pressure parts of the impeller – being caused by high wear. We were able build a strong case for robust savings through the pump refurbishment. Broadly, two options were made available:

  • Basic Refurbishment: Internal coating plus replacement of wear-rings, bearings and seals.
  • Comprehensive Refurbishment: As per the Basic Refurbishment, plus a new tailored impeller.

“We calculated that pump refurbishment would bring potential

savings of £19,200 per year, with possibilities to refurbish 2, 3 or 5 pumps”.

This is just one example of what Riventa say they are helping companies achieve across industries that also include water, power, mining, petrochemical, to name but a few.

Advanced pump monitoring and optimisation are available too, continuously focusing efforts by evaluating and understanding performance gains across priority pumps and sites. And for some organisations, full optimisation of networks is available.

‘Change in Mindset’

“Nobody wanted an energy crisis”, concluded Clifford, “but as prices soar, we are beginning to see a change in mindset about just how important it is to know how your assets such as pumps, blowers and turbines are really performing.  Initially, some basic testing might reveal some not altogether pleasing facts (!), but you can soon put yourself on a very positive course to make some seriously good, ongoing savings”.

www.riventa.com

Published in Power & water
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In the port city of Yeosu in South Korea, pump optimisation specialists Riventa have created significant savings at a global tyre manufacturer’s water pumping plant, including an annual energy reduction of 13%.

For a pressurised system that circulates cooling water for synthetic rubber processing, Riventa utilised its FREEFLOW technology and Green Pump Index (GPX) benchmarking system to simultaneously monitor five pumps. For 150 hours, system pressure was measured, together with flow rate and head combinations to pinpoint how effectively the pumps could meet the varying demands of the system.

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Included in the tyre manufacturer’s objectives was the need to address pressure objectives for the system, which were operating at 4.5 kg/cm2, compared to the contractual minimum supply pressure of 3.8 kg/cm2.  Although the five pumps had the same casing (in fact, two of the impellers were significantly different) Riventa found that by trimming the diameter of three pumps by 3.5%, an 11% reduction in pressure would be achieved.

By fully understanding the operation of the system and how the pumps interacted with it, Riventa were also able to calculate optimum performance and make potential GPX Recommendations.

At the start of the project, the GPX index (which indicates the amount of power as a percentage that is successfully converted into useful work by the drive, motor, pump and system) was 54 – but after Riventa’s modifications, had improved to a GPX index of 64. So, for example, of the 100% of electrical power consumed by the motor, just 54% of that power was being successfully converted into net hydraulic output power.

www.riventa.com

Published in Water
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Tuesday, 03 August 2021 08:47

Riventa maximises output for Hydro

For a major water supplier in England, Riventa have been monitoring a hydro-turbine to see if its maximum possible electrical output was being maintained.

At a key site, river water is pumped to a break tank at the top of a hill, from where it can either overflow or run down the hill to a large reservoir below - or be directed to a hydro-turbine with the same outfall.  Riventa were tasked with monitoring the efficiency of the turbine in question – a fixed speed machine (1016 rpm) that operates without any human intervention. Using inlet guide vanes, its load is controlled via flow rate modulation.

Riventa’s FREEFLOW hardware and software system was installed to show immediately whether a proposed change was effective or not. The system also tracked any savings associated with a change and the financial consequences of it.

Based on little or no capital investment, Riventa identified savings pa of £11,000 - $15,000 paBased on little or no capital investment, Riventa identified savings pa of £11,000 - $15,000 pa

Originally rated with a best efficiency of 84%, the maximum detected was 82%. However, the turbine was found to spend less than 10% of its time above 80%.

  • Significant differences in power generated for the same flow rate were also observed. For example, at 925l/s, the power generated varied between 185-260kW, showing an efficiency variation of 58-82% - thus demonstrating instances when 40% more power was generated for the same flow rate.
  • Working closely alongside its customer, Riventa looked at how to schedule the turbine for the best return within the operational constraints of the overall water network. In highlighting whether scheduling changes were effective or not, the FREEFLOW system provided real-time tracking of any savings associated with a specific change.
  • The turbine was found to operate at an annualised average of 73% efficiency, but if increased to 80% this would translate to at least £11,000 ($15,000) per year savings – based on little or no capital investment.

Steve Barrett, Managing Director for Riventa, commented: “This is a good example of how we can help identify opportunities to maximise output from a hydro application – with the same technology that we bring to pump and blower installations to help improve efficiencies, create energy savings and prolong the lifetime of assets”.

www.riventa.com

+44 (0) 1872 260005

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Published in Power & water
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