Advanced Design Technology (ADT) has announced the results of its 2012 Pump Design Survey, which set out to identify opportunities for using 3D inverse design technology in pump designs.
In response to the survey results, ADT has launched its ADT Pump Efficiency Initiative to provide pump design services applying TURBOdesign Suite for systematic pump optimisation.
ADT’s 2012 Pump Design Survey, conducted via email with ADT customers and prospects, directly targeted pump design engineers at consulting and original equipment manufacturing companies.
The survey results showed that improving impeller designs for better efficiency was very important for the majority of the respondents—84 out of 90.
"As any pump designer knows, the impeller plays a key role in pump system operation and has the largest impact on the overall system efficiency," said Mehrdad Zangeneh, professor of thermofluids at University College London and founding director of ADT.
"With TURBOdesign Suite, there are some exciting opportunities that designers can leverage for systematic improvement of pump stage performance."
The survey results reflect the responses of 90 participants who were asked to state whether certain performance targets are 1) not important at all, 2) somewhat important, or 3) very important.
Pertinent findings from the ADT 2012 Pump Design Survey include:
- 84 of 90 respondents stated that improving impeller design for better efficiency is very important.
- 79 of 90 respondents stated that improvement to pump stage efficiency is very important.
- 65 of 90 respondents stated that improvement to pump stage cavitation performance is very important.
- Just 50 of 90 respondents stated that reduction in manufacturing costs was very important.
"It is clear to us why impeller efficiency is so important to pump manufacturers," added Zangeneh. "Reports show that in some industries energy and maintenance costs can account for up to 70 percent of the total pump life cycle costs. Considerable savings can be achieved with improved impeller designs."
According to Pump Life Cycle Costs: A Guide to LLC Analysis for Pumping Systems [pdf], by the Hydraulic Institute, Europump and the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Industrial Technologies (OIT), pumping systems account for nearly 20 percent of the world’s electrical energy demand, and from 25 to 50 percent of the energy usage in certain industrial plant operations.
"We are offering our design services for free to enable companies to evaluate the software and see first-hand how to make their pumps more efficient, provided the companies do not use the resulting designs for commercial use," said Zangeneh.
ADT is offering its ADT Pump Efficiency Initiative for a limited time to make the TURBOdesign Suite more widely available to a larger group of companies, including pump manufacturers.
The initiative, which includes a full design study provided in conjunction with software licensing and transfer of design know-how, allows for systematic improvement of pump performances across a wide range of industries.
Detailed information on the ADT Pump Efficiency Initiative is available on ADT’s website.