SPECIALLY COLLECTED PAPERS
Shimadzu Review 78[1・2] (2021)
Abstract
Molten polymer gear pumps are a type of external gear pump used in polymerization equipment at chemical plants or other facilities. Mainly used for applications that require pressurization capacities over 10 MPa and involving technical difficulties associated with having to withstand continuous operation for long periods, Shimadzu Industrial Systems has overcome a wide variety of issues during its long history of manufacturing gear pumps. In particular, when pumping polyethylene terephthalate (PET), keeping the ΔT value as low as possible contributes significantly to maintaining the quality of PET plastic/fiber products. The ΔT value (temperature difference between polymer at the pump inlet and outlet) indicates how much the pump increases the molten polymer temperature, which is recognized by most users as an important performance indicator for gear pumps. Furthermore, given that heat generation inside gear pumps, which is one factor that causes the ΔT value to increase, can result in polymer degradation or carbonized polymer and is also an important factor for maintaining proper lubrication within the pump. Consequently, heat generation may be the most important issue in terms of improving gear pump performance. This article describes the recently released SBJ-AA series gear pumps that were developed to reduce the ΔT value based on a fundamental reevaluation of design concepts.
1Shimadzu Industrial Systems Co., Ltd., Shiga, Japan
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