Which trends dominate in the process industry? In addition to the evergreen energy and resource efficiency, these are above all the 'modular plant engineering' and of course the 'digitalisation'. These innovations are also changing the world of industrial pumps. At Grundfos, therefore, the pump 4.0 is ready. But even this cyber-physical pump must primarily promote medium from A to B reliable.

The digital transformation has significant technical and organizational effects: Cyber-physical pump systems simplify the operator's everyday work - for example by independently adapting to subsidy requirements and the possibility of early error detection. And they open up new opportunities for cooperation between manufacturer and customer through previously unthinkable services.

For example, there are cloud-based solutions for optimizing production, i.e. tips for more economical operation or the elimination of incorrect operation. In order to implement such solutions, the pump manufacturers go through a steep learning curve: Lengthy development cycles over years are replaced by tightly timed development leaps. Algorithms developed specifically for the customer and data management have priority.

Pumps for industry 4.0

Grundfos has developed the concept of "iSolutions" for this purpose: Pump hydraulics, drive technology, sensors, MSR technology and specific software are coordinated with each other. Radio technology or Ethernet bus make the pump systems industry 4.0-capable. In this way, smart pumps can perform specific functionalities, optionally also monitor other process parameters via additional free interfaces.

Smart apps and cloud platforms offer attractive add-ons. For example, the service with the "Grundfos Go" app has a wealth of options to parameterize or read out the company-owned MGE engine. Go provides access to all pump operating data, parameters and messages. Settings can be made comfortably via the graphic display, by 'cloning' and for whole groups of pumps.

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It depends on the application

Digital solutions need mature hardware. The question of the general significance of digitization is relatively simple to answer: Of course, the hardware (the material, the design) has highest priority for the task - a process pump for the chemical industry has to fulfill different requirements than a pharmaceutical or food pump. It makes a difference whether the pump must meet an alternating partial load operation or permanently under full load.

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The chemical production of the future must become more flexible - modular systems are therefore in demand, which can be adapted from plug-and-play components to different processes, production volumes or locations as required. Robust technologies that allow variations in output, for example, depending on the energy supply, automated process controls that independently optimize the processes by means of real-time measurements.

In terms of the industrial pump working here, this means that it should cover as far as possible different delivery volumes and delivery pressures. And it needs industrial sensors to record and process the relevant parameters for the production process.

Efficiency in large dimensions

To this end, the manufacturer has revised and extended its already extensive range of high-pressure centrifugal pumps of the CR series. The previously available CR 90, CR 120 and CR 150 versions have been made more efficient compared to the market standard 5 up to 10%. They are now designed for a nominal pressure of PN 40 (previously: PN 30) and achieve higher delivery heights. The modular design makes further customization possible What the customer does not need is eliminated, which reduces complexity.

The newly developed CR 95, CR 125 and CR 155 versions offer a maximum flow rate of up to 240 m³ / h. At a nominal pressure of PN 40 they convey fluids with a temperature between -20 ° and + 120 ° C.

High quality filtration is indispensable in many production processes. New in the manufacturer's range is the MTD series: a multi-stage submersible pump equipped with semi-open impellers. The pump, which is made of sturdy cast iron, thus promotes abrasive solids up to a size of 25 mm.

Digital solutions via cloud connection

The digital transformation offers very practical advantages for the operator. Digitization projects concern z. B. solutions for error detection and failure avoidance. Behind this is the realization that, in addition to the fundamental expectation of ecologically and economically acceptable products, industrial customers are above all concerned with this priority: process reliability and plant availability.

The pump specialist's digital offerings are based on a cloud platform with functions such as data storage, data export, alarm management, alarm forwarding, access rights management, document management and data analyzer.

Martin Palsa, Managing Director of the German Grundfos GmbH and in personal union Area Manager DACH, is certain: "The pump 4.0 offers the operator considerable added value. And it influences the user experience, the brand experience: Manufacturers and operators are working together more closely in the course of the digital transformation, optimizing processes together and developing company-specific service concepts. "While in the past competition was often over the price of a pump alone Today, the focus is on the benefits and added value for the operator.