At this year’s Hannover Messe the Frankenthal-based pump manufacturer KSB is presenting a new, smart drive solution for fixed speed pumps. With the new MyFlow Drive, which is fully compatible with Industry 4.0, the fixed speed levels at the motor can be set to individual requirements. This provides the user with planning reliability as the flow rate of the pumps can be increased or decreased quickly and easily.

The conventional way for fixed speed pumps is to match the flow rate and head to the calculated design point by trimming the impeller. With the supply voltage of the IE5 synchronous reluctance motor being modulated by the motor-mounted minimum frequency inverter, the motor can be operated on almost any power grid worldwide. For global engineering contractors in particular this is a huge advantage. They no longer need to consider the local mains voltage when selecting pumps.

The direction of rotation is now defined at the factory, saving the time and costs usually incurred by conventional direction-of-rotation checks, which often resulted in mechanical seal damage if the system was unfilled. Furthermore, the costs for stockkeeping are reduced as the number of sizes to be stocked is much smaller.

Today, almost 70 percent of all standardised pumps operate at a constant motor speed. They are usually combined with IE3 asynchronous motors. Initially, the new drive is available in combination with the Etanorm pump series up to 11 kW. From the end of 2017, ratings of up to 45 kW will be on offer.

Increasing or decreasing the flow rate of pumps is quick and easy with MyFlow Drive. © KSB Aktiengesellschaft Frankenthal