Mining Drilling Mud Centrifugal Slurry Pumps Low-Flow, High Head Application

Summary of APYZ mud submersible slurry pump

A submersible slurry pump is well used to install mud pits for mud transfer. AIPU supplied a large number of pumps to the horizontal directional drilling (HDD) site to install on the drill pit and suction mud and feed into the shale shaker. The whole pump contains an electrical motor and a submersible pump with a suitable cover. The rotating part is well protected to avoid site safety issues.
 

APYZ series slurry submersible pump specifications

Submersible slurry pump features

Hard abrasive materials impeller to allow impeller high wear-resistant in slurry material.
Zero maintenance with all bearing and seals above fluids, no regular spare parts required for daily operation.
Vertical installation with self suction design, flexible installation and small footprint with extra mud tank space required if installed on mud tank.
Non-explosion proof motor supplied if no special request for cost-effective. The slurry pump is well used in HDD drilling site which has no special request for Ex motor because no waste gas. Anyway, an explosion-proof motor and control panel can be supplied if the pump is used in the EX area.
 

Selecting your slurry pump

Besides the slurry, it is critical that you understand the capabilities of the whole pumping system you are considering. These elements include, but are not limited to:

Piping design: The design of the pumping system incorporates not only the pump and motor but the pipework and valves. There is no easy way to use the calculation methods that accurately predict friction head loss for settling slurry flows in a pipe. Therefore, if your pipework is more than 500m in length, Global Pumps suggest doing test work to determine the head loss and velocity required. If you are only dealing with "in-plant" piping (which typically involves piping runs of a few hundred meters maximum), then you can use some approximate relationships of "rules of thumb" that have been industry accepted for many years and lead to reasonable solutions. In most instances, your pump supplier will provide input with the piping design.

Motor sizing: As every slurry is different and can evolve other time, Global Pumps suggest sizing your motor with a safety factor of 1.15 to 1.20. This safety margin allows for discrepancies in a slurry's attributes, as well as the systems deviations.

Specific gravity: The ratio of the density of the slurry mixture to that of water.

Static head: The vertical distance between the liquid level in the pump supply vessel to the point of delivery.

Friction loss: As the liquid starts to flow through the pipework and valves, the slurry is subjected to friction. As you pump slurry, friction losses caused by pipe roughness bends, and valves are different compared to pumping water.

Settling velocity: The velocity reached by a particle as it falls through the fluid. This depends on the size, shape, and difference between its specific gravity and the settling medium.

Pump curves for your slurry pump: The pump curves published by pump manufacturers are based on the performance of the pump on water. In order to select a pump for slurry pumping, selectors commonly use a derating factor to correct the head and efficiency of the pump. Therefore, if you're selecting a slurry pump yourself, it’s important to consider this derating technique to ensure the pump and motor are sized correctly.

Drilling mud submersible slurry pump installation

If the pump installs onto the mud tank, there is a level plate on the pump under the motor, the plate is designed to bolt on the tank top. The pump can be installed into mud pit as well with a built simple platform to bolt pump level plate. The vertical design is maximized to reduce it’s footprint especially when it’s installed on tank top.
 

AIPU sold many sets of submersible slurry pump to HDD drilling site, 500GPM mudflow size pump is the most popular size pump for 500 tons drill rig. Please contact us freely submersible slurry pump inquiry or after-sales service.