Industrial Pumps Blog

Noise and vibration form a key side effect of almost any industrial application or process you can think of.  They are also negative factors for a number of reasons – they are pollutants, they may harm human operators and persons in the vicinity, they may adversely affect performance and indeed, excessive noise and vibration is symptomatic of energy and operational inefficiency involved in the process.

There are also instances where for operational reasons, noise and vibration must be minimized.  The French Navy has recently placed an order for ultra-silent industrial pumps to be fitted to its new class of “Suffren” submarines.  When a submarine is engaged on duty or operations, it is essential that the vessel can operate under the strictest standards of silence to evade detection by the enemy.

In such instances, there is no alternative but to deal with the noise and vibration issue.

Industrial pumps and fluid handling systems contribute a large portion of the noise and vibration associated with any industrial or military process (obviously this applies only in normal circumstances).  Traditional centrifugal pump technology utilizes techniques which are themselves, very noisy and contribute to vibration production.  By definition, greater part movement and friction creation is implicit in the operation of centrifugal pumps which makes them inappropriate for designs intended to meet high environmental and operating efficiency levels.

To this end, it is noticeable that positive displacement technology is increasingly being used by commercial and military operators seeking to deliver noise and vibration free side effects of their activities.  Positive displacement pumps and valves are also much more efficient in terms of consumption of energy and enjoy greatly reduced operating costs due to extended maintenance and replacement cycles.  The new French submarines for instance, are utilizing positive displacement pumps, rather than old-style centrifugal technology which cannot deliver the same operational standards of silence and reliability as the newer technology.

The United States Navy has been defending America for well over 200 years and modern naval warfare environments provide exceptional challenges to operational and weapon systems functionality.  Modern naval weapons system rely heavily upon state of the art engineering systems which must be capable of functioning in sea-to- sea, sea-to-land and sea-to- air combat engagements.

Weapon systems from gun turret control through to hydraulic launch systems for carrier based aircraft rely upon a range of fluid handling components which are critical to the combat effectiveness of warships under the most demanding conditions that may be encountered at sea.

Under combat and peacetime conditions, fluid handling systems must deliver exceptional performance with “always available” reliability.  They are literally mission-critical systems demanding low noise, optimal design for performance and fast replacement as well as cross-substitution between on board systems and other ships.  Low weight solutions are mandated to maintain operational performance of US Navy vessels but at the same time, systems must be capable of enduring extreme conditions, including an ability to withstand combat damage and yet continue to operate effectively.

Hydraulic failure can render a US Navy carrier combat ineffective and render an entire Battle Group severely exposed or combat ineffective if aircraft cannot be launched.  Fluid systems must be highly resilient and the safety of the fleet relies directly upon system resiliency and dependability.  More than this, there must be long mean times between failure and short mean times to repair – downtime due to failure or maintenance must be kept to an absolute minimum to ensure high availability.

While exceptionally high levels of functionality must be delivered under extreme weight and engineering parameters, the US Department of defense also operates under tight budgetary constraints as well.

Nowhere else in the world are hydraulic fluid systems under such pressure both in delivering exceptional products and utility for dollar spend.