Trillium Flow Technologies has designed and manufactured centrifugal pumps since 1871.
With its Begemann, Gabbioneta Pumps, Floway, Roto-Jet, and Termomeccanica Pompe legacy brands, the company has over 500 years of combined experience in the sector. This expertise allows for innovative and custom-designed solutions to meet customers’ specific operational demands.
Customized design
Each application has its own unique set of requirements. At Trillium, the design process begins with thoroughly understanding the customer's specific project requirements. The solutions proposed vary greatly depending on whether the customer’s focus is on cost, efficiency, lifecycle costs, NPSH, or even dimensional constraints. Ensuring alignment with the customer’s needs at this phase is the most critical step.
Optimizing for efficiency
Let’s walk through an example based on the assumption that the customer needs to optimize the pump design for efficiency and that the project relates to a new process without an existing pump and lead time constraints.
The first step in this process is to capture the customer's requirements. Core data includes flow, head, product data, and power availability. To simplify this example, the pump has a fixed-speed design (no variable-speed drive device).
With efficiency as the key driver, the pump manufacturer starts working on selecting an optimal specific speed for the impeller within the limits allowed by the fixed-speed motor design.
Typical speeds are shown in the table below:
| Speed (RPM) | 2-Pole Motor | 4-Pole Motor | 6-Pole Motor |
| 50 Hz | 3,000 | 1,500 | 1,000 |
| 60 Hz | 3,600 | 1,800 | 1,200 |
The optimal pump impeller speed selection dictates the pump geometry. So once this is established, the manufacturer can proceed to the hydraulic design phase.
Rich heritage
Trillium has extensive experience providing multiple baselines for any chosen speed. This serves as a solid foundation for evaluating and optimizing the pump's hydraulic design. The process involves using a mix of in-house tools and industry-leading numerical modeling software for flow and structural analysis.
The optimal pump impeller speed selection dictates the pump geometry. So once this is established, the manufacturer can proceed to the hydraulic design phase.
Once the simulations converge on an optimal hydraulic design, Trillium runs a full “virtual test” with its design tools to further refine its analysis and identify any remaining incremental developments before releasing the designs for manufacture.
High efficiency
A high-efficiency design is only one step in delivering a high-efficiency pump. Ensuring exceptional attention to detail throughout the sourcing and manufacturing process is also critical. Key areas to control are material surface finishes, impeller and case dressing, and running clearances.
Performance testing concludes the manufacturing process. Trillium's facilities allow testing pumps up to 18 MW power and 65,000 m³/h flow rate. The facilities are designed to simulate a wide range of operating conditions to validate and improve pump design. They also guarantee that every pump manufactured meets the required performance criteria before reaching the customer.
Conclusion
Today, more than ever, it is crucial that manufacturers design their pumps to help customers overcome their plant project challenges and optimize efficiency. This process starts with engaging with customers right from the bidding stage and permeates through all departments, from design to production and testing.
About the author
This article was provided by Trillium Flow Technologies.
This article first appeared in the May/June 2024 issue of World Pumps magazine. To read the full issue, click here.
