The St. Ingbert wire mill in Saarland (Germany) is able to look back upon a long history. It started life as the “St. Ingberter Eisenwerk“ in 1733. “Drahtwerk St. Ingbert GmbH“, the company that exists today, was formed in 1984 and is a subsidiary of the company Saarstahl AG. The main production at the plant is the development and manufacture of wire and straightened cut rods.
The starting situation
A seepex pump of range BN was supplied for the regulation of the sewage pH value. This pump conveys extremely abrasive lime slurry at a concentration of 4 to 5 % lime content into the continuous flow neutralisation system, where the acidic sewage from the pickle liquor is neutralised and the iron slurry is precipitated.
Due to the requirement of the system for the pump to operate 24 hours per day and due to such an extremely abrasive conveying media, the average stator service life was seen to be approximately three months. It was obvious that an alternative had to be found – and the perfect solution was found.
The solution
St. Ingbert is a traditional type of place. However, the people there were still open to innovation and gave the thumbs up to the seepex proposal to equip the existing pump with “Smart Stator Technology“ (SST). Thus, the pump has been retrofitted with the new patented SST. Since then, with exception of weekends, the pump has been in operation around the clock for twelve months.
seepex pumps equipped with SST offer many advantages, but below are two which were vital to St Ingberts:
The stator can be retensioned several times to restore the original pump performance. The resulting increased service life means the costs for new stators are reduced considerably.
Worn stators can be replaced in situ without having to dismantle the pipeline. Previously, repairs took three hours. Now, the pump is only down for a maximum of 20 minutes. This results in a considerable increase in production.
The partnership between seepex and the St. Ingbert wire mill resulted in the close cooperation of two firms which have the same outlook and mind set: tradition and innovation connect the forward thinking companies which have a deeply entrenched history and are open to new ideas.
The benefit
The stator has now been retensioned 5 times by the Operations Manager Mr. Brust, but it still has plenty of life left in it and as yet, it has not been necessary to change it. The lower spare parts costs and the extended service life of the “Smart Stator Technology“ equipped pump have considerably improved the economic efficiency.
