Pumps and Systems, June 2009

Editor's Note: This is the fifth in a series of five articles based on the Hydraulic Institute's new Positive Displacement (PD) Pumps: Fundamentals, Design and Applications e-Learning course. To read the previous article, click here. Last month, we introduced Module 4 of the course, which focused on reciprocating pumps. In this issue, we will focus on metering pumps. Module 5 is fact-filled, basic training for people working with metering pumps. It takes a student from the clear points of what distinguishes a pump as a controlled volume metering pump to how these pumps were always more akin to instruments.

Metering Pump Market Overview

When Robert Sheen invented the metering pump in the 1930s, the core of his invention was a method of controlled volume that was inherent to the pump. The metering pump did not depend on a bypass valve after the discharge; speed changes to the pump by replacing belts, pulleys or motors; changes to the pump size to limit the amount of chemical dosed to a specific application of boiler feed or cooling tower chemicals; or the operator diluting the chemicals to match the pump's application rate. The means of controlled volume easily limited the pump's actual output while providing dependable accuracy and reducing performance monitoring and labor time in the chemical feed industry.

Since the original controlled volume pump, the terms metering pump, controlled volume metering pump and dosing pump have emerged as popular synonyms for this category. During the past 75 years, there have also probably been more inventions related to metering pumps than any other pump type. These inventions have typically related to producing a controlled limitation of flow rather than improving flow inducement. Electronics and robotics have most recently advanced controlled volume metering pumps. The level of the pump's self-contained flow management and automatic capacity correction will be further advanced in the decade ahead.

All of this innovation in the metering pump market is due to the many industries with needs for repeatedly sustainable accuracy in chemical dosing. In the various applications for metering pumps, process pressures can range from atmospheric pressure up to 50,000 psig (3500 Bar). Pump capacities per head vary from 10 milliliters per hour up to 5,000 gallons per hour. To meet this wide range of requirements, several types of metering pumps have evolved for each application. Figure 1 summarizes the various drives, control methods and liquid end combinations designed to handle the full scope of applications.

Figure 1

Accuracy on three levels has become the primary benefit of this type of pump in the delivery of additives to automated processes, as well as those with the simple mission of maintaining accurate constant flow. Different versions and forms of metering pumps have sustainable, accurate capacity control inherent to the pumps themselves, which is distinguishable from pumps installed with speed control motors and pumps in systems with control valves to divert or limit flow to the injection point.

Figure 2