Pumping innovations from Verder Pumps South Africa MechChem Africa talks to Darryl MacDougall, Managing Director of Verder Pumps South Africa, about recent innovations: the newly designed Verderflex Dura 65 peristaltic hose pump; the Verderair e-PURE electrically driven double diaphragm pump; and the addition of JABSCO Rotary Lobe pumps for the food, beverage and pharmaceutical markets.
W hile Verder Pumps South Af- rica (VPSA) is a sub-division of the global Verder Group company, Verder Liquids, the local entity has played a key role in the development of the company’s products, most notably its Verderflex Dura range of peristaltic hose pumps for the mining and minerals processing industries. “Just to take you back in history a little, Verder Pumps South Africa was instrumen- tal in developing the Verderflex Dura pump range, up to and including the Dura 55,” begins MacDougall. “Daan Louw of Verder SA was instrumental in assisting the factory in the United Kingdom to design the Verder Dura range so that it met typi- cal mining requirements here in South Africa. In addition, our previous South African Marketing Manager was the originator of the Dura name and she was given the responsibility of launching the VerderFlex Dura pump range into Europe. “So VPSA played a key role in one of the global group’s flagship products.” In recent months, Verder has launched an upgraded Dura 55 HF, which has a slightly larger internal hose diameter that drops the pressure a little to give a better flow rate. “This is a new hose combination rather than a new pump design, and this pump remains essentially the same as the one developed using Daan Louw’s input,” MacDougall says. Earlier this year, however, a completely re- designed Verderflex D65 was launched, which is the latest evolution of the Dura range and will soon replace the Verderflex VF65. Verderflex Dura 65 Verder’s new D65 peristaltic hose pump has exactly the same footprint as its predecessor, but offers 20% better flow rates, and this has been achieved by lengthening the swept vol- ume of the hose. “The internal geometry has been changed so that the shoes make contact with the hose 20% earlier, which results in 20% more volume being pumped through the hose per stroke,” explains MacDougall. “We’ve also changed the gearbox and rotor mounting so the gearbox no longer carries the full rotor load. We have done this by adding an internal bearing and bearing housing to fully support the rotor that drives the shoes around the peristaltic hose.
We have also changed the drive shaft sealing arrangement so that, should a hose burst, the slurry being pumped is prevented from entering the pump’s gearbox,” he explains, adding that this improves the lifespan of the gearbox and solves a problem that has long been associated with all peristaltic pumps. “The design change also enables us to easily replace the gearbox with a smaller gearbox , for lighter dosing duties, which was not possible on the previous version,” he continues. The new design, which uses the same hose as the VF65, also extends hose life by 20%, resulting in downtime and maintenance cost advantages. “Through better all-round engi- neering design, the D65 delivers much better pumping performance at lower than ever costs of ownership,” argues MacDougall. Other new design details include: an access hatch to clean the hose track; a lifting eye on the front plate to make the unit safer to work on; a ball valve on the drain port; and an angled metal filling port for the glycerine hose lubricant. “These small improvements all deliver opera- tional advantages without impacting value for
money,” he tells MechChem Africa. He further reveals that the success of the D65 development is being followed up by the replacement of the VerderFlex VF80 pump with the Dura D80. All the same advantages will be offered at a higher flow capacity, with the new D80 using the same hose sizes as the VF80. Another novel Verder solution in the pipeline that hasn’t yet been released to the market is the Verder DS5000 tube pump for precision dosing. “This will target minerals processing markets where accurate quantities of reagents such as flocculants need to be added for applications such as underflow thickening or flotation,” notes MacDougall. The Verderair e-PURE diaphragm pump On the diaphragm pump side, MacDougall says a new Verderair e-PURE electrically driven double diaphragm pump has also just been released. “We have long been a specialist in air operated diaphragm pumps, but this version is electrically operated. It means that an air supply is not needed for operation, which improves reli-
The completely redesigned Verderflex D65 – which has the same footprint and uses the same hose as its predecessor, the VF65 – offers a 20% better flow rate while also extending hose life by 20%.
12 ¦ MechChem Africa • May-June 2022
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