In a variety of industrial applications, pumps are required to transfer fluids that contain a collection of solid and semi solid material. Such slurries have the ability to clog the passages of impellers, thereby rendering the pump ineffective.

Scale traps are designed to protect the underflow pumps from oversized aggregates that can block and/or damage the impeller assembly. These scale traps must be cleaned on a regular basis to ensure maximum life is achieved from the thickener tanks. To clean a scale trap the underflow pump must be first brought off line, then after isolation, the trap can be cleaned. As most scale traps are elevated at a height of approximately one metre, this involves manually pulling the basket from the trap at that height and supporting the weight of the basket (20kg typical) as it swings to the ground. After the basket has been up-ended to remove all the scale, the clean basket is then inserted back into the trap. The Scale Muncher™ was designed to overcome these issues and make slurry catchment around the impeller easy, with low maintenance.

FEATURES

• Improved pipe work arrangement by replacing traps with standard pipe work
• Cost and space savings in design stage of new installations
• Power savings through elimination of head loss across scale traps
• Improved NPSH condition and potential life improvement through elimination cavitation
• Extended life of tank through reduced number of shutdowns to empty scale traps
• Can be retrofitted to existing pump supplier designs