Viking launches new internal gear pump

Viking has launched a new addition to its Universal Seal Range of positive displacement internal gear pumps.

According to a statement, internal gear pumps such as those found in the Universal Seal Range are a popular choice for industrial applications such as general processing, chemicals, oil & gas, food & beverage, refining, plastics and resins.

The latest pump features a modified ribbed/stepped idler gear design. According to the company, although it has been specifically developed for sugar processing, this design is ideal for any applications where there are crystals in the pumped fluid.

“By removing 0.9mm (or 900 microns) of material from 80% of the flank of each idler gear tooth on both sides results in reduced gear-to-gear contact that could damage tiny sugar crystals or other solids in the pumped fluid”, the company statement reads.

The pump’s capacity for high viscosity fluids is apparently ‘virtually identical’ to the performance of pumps which have standard non-ribbed idler gears. For instance, on liquids with a viscosity of 10,000 cSt operating at 50RPM, the capacity is reduced by only about 1% compared to the standard pump performance at 3.5Bar G, 7 Bar G and 10 Bar G.

“Available in either hardened iron or hardened steel, the ribbed idler alternates position on each tooth to minimise wear on the rotor teeth in any given spot and since the idler turns at a different speed than the rotor, the contact point changes with each revolution of the rotor gear”, the company statement explains.

“The most significant impact of this is the creation of additional ‘slip paths’ that allow liquids to slip back from the high pressure (discharge) side of the pump to the low pressure (inlet side), the amount of which depends on the viscosity of the pumped liquid.”

The Viking Universal Seal Range is available in the UK through Michael Smith Engineers.