Mechanical Technology January 2015

⎪ On the cover ⎪

pump reliability

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1. Xylem has taken delivery of its first mobile workshop. 2. The mobile workshop is a complete, self-sufficient vehicle kitted with everything required for onsite pump servicing and repairs. 3. Repair and Maintenance is the basic TotalCare offering, through which Xylem offers to improve uptime.

lection approach was to specify a pump that was too big and then to throttle it to the required flow. But throttling wastes energy. Nowadays, we prefer to slow the pumps down to achieve the required flow or to switch them on and off in cycles to achieve the necessary average flow. Both these approaches are more energy efficient than throttling,” he advises. Other optimisation strate- gies, according to Havenga, include: using VSDs, trimming impellers, fitting a smaller motor or, for sewage pumps, installing sophisticated controls such as SmartRun TM . Peace of mind for operators also comes from knowing that equipment and spares for scheduled maintenance or emergencies are on hand and readily available. Xylem TotalCare’s Parts and Logistics offering is well established to meet these needs. Also now an integral feature of the local service offering is its Rental and Onsite Services package, which operates through Xylem’s dewa- tering division. “Renting gives clients access to best-in-class dewatering or bypass pumping equipment without having to justify capital expenditure. Rental is ideal for short-term use to cover downtime periods of the installed units; for long-term ‘lease’ agreements; or for clients preferring to ‘try-before- you-buy’,” Havenga suggests. Asset Refurbishment and Training and Technical Support packages com- plete the maintenance-related service offering. “Asset management is about protecting the value of ageing assets and minimising capital expenditure, and training helps to ensure that equip- ment operators and service staff have

Monitoring and Supervision is the next package listed in the global TotalCare offering: “We don’t yet offer this package, but we are willing to im- plement it should a customer express an interest. This is a maintenance manage- ment and plant optimisation package integrated with monitoring and control hardware and technology. We provide basic alarms as well as optimisation and performance benchmarking services,” Havenga tells MechTech . Extending this package, and also not yet implemented in South Africa is Plant Operation and Maintenance, an offering to take complete control of big pumping facilities. In the long term, Havenga sees this offering as an ultimate solution to local skills shortages and mainte- nance capacity. “By allowing us to take full management control of pumping issues at a facility, clients can focus all of their attention onto core business, entrusting us with all plant operation and maintenance responsibilities. This makes best use of both their expertise and ours,” he suggests. An Inspection and Auditing services package is available for operators seek- ing to minimise downtime and maximise profitability. “It involves regular inspec- tions by our qualified service engineers and includes audits for energy efficiency, equipment condition and reliability,” explains Havenga. “A big part of this offering is energy efficiency optimisation, where we do a condition audit and then detail how we can improve a pumping system to make it more efficient – by replacing old pumps for more efficient equivalents, for example or by right siz- ing the pumps. The traditional pump se-

the knowledge and skills to optimise equipment and plant performance. Our engineers, with extensive expertise and experience in Xylem products and their applications, are in the best possible position to provide training and techni- cal support services,” he advises. Globally, Xylem offers its Financial Solutions package in response to the trend towards utility-type billing contracts such as those used by cell- phone service providers. In the context of pumping, the ultimate idea is that pump operators are billed per litre of product pumped. “We in South Africa are not there yet, but it’s coming. As a starting point for financial services, we are talking about hire-purchase (HP) agreements as well as rent-to-buy op- tions, though,” Havenga points out. “Philosophy wise, isn’t it better to use maintenance specialists who can properly meet a pump’s demands? “We see Xylem’s TotalCare service offering as a complete circle. Once installed, preventing problems and downtime should be the starting prior- ity. This is followed by action to repair and optimise pumping systems. Closing the circle is savings, in terms of both money and energy, which is the logical priority of any municipal, industrial or commercial pumping operation,” he concludes. q

Mechanical Technology — January 2015

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