The handover of the Zulu pumpstation, in the Tsakane township on the East Rand, to the Ekurhuleni municipality took place last month, following the commissioning of three Kirloskar end-suction pumps, each coupled with 90 kW motors.

The completed pump sets were supplied to construction and project management company Makhado Project Management by pump sets supplier Braybar Pumps, a wholly owned subsidiary of fluid management solutions provider Kirloskar Brothers International (KBI), in May this year following receipt of the order in March.

Braybar Pumps KBI products divisional manager Prashant Siddapur tells Engineering News that the company is also supplying four Kirloskar end-suction pumps, each coupled with 110 kW four-pole motors, to Makhado Project Management. The pump sets will be used at the Xhosa reservoir pumpstation, which forms part of the Tsakane township water-upgrade scheme.

The pumps are yet to be commissioned at the Xhosa station, as the pipe network needs to be upgraded to cater for the greater pressures being produced by the new pumps, explains Siddapur.

Meanwhile, Braybar’s commissioning of Free State-based beef supplier Spartan Beef’s pumpstation, near the Caledon river, which separates Lesotho and the Free State, started in April this year.

Siddapur notes that Braybar supplied seven Kirloskar pumping solutions to the project’s contractor, Water Solutions South Africa. The pumpstation for Spartan Beef comprises four large multistage pump sets, two submersible pump sets and an end-suction pump set.

“Our submersible pumps will operate on pontoons on the Caledon river, which will pump water into a dam. The water is then pumped into a pumpstation, where our four multistage pumps will be located,” he explains.

The multistage pump sets that are used for the project range from a four-pole 160 kW motor, capable of delivering a head of 120 m, to a 200 kW four-pole motor, capable of delivering a head of 172 m.

Siddapur notes that a smaller pumpstation, located near the main pumpstation, houses the end-suction pump set, which is coupled with a 160 kW two-pole motor against a 120 m head.

Meanwhile, he notes that the most significant installation of Kirloskar pumps was a 15-pump-sets installation at water utility Rand Water’s Zwartkopjes pumpstation, in Gauteng, which was commissioned in 2008 and 2009.

Siddapur explains that the installation consists of five water lines. Each line comprises three pumps, each with a capacity of 100 Mℓ/d. The three pumps in each line are capable of producing a total head of 350 m.

Each pump works in sequence to increase pressure to achieve the 350 m head, with the first pump feeding the second, which in turn feeds the third.

Siddapur explains that the first pump is capable of pumping against a head of 90 m. The output of the first pump forms the input of the second pump, which has the same capacity. However, output is increased, owing to the greater pressure created by the system configuration, doubling the head to 180 m. The third pump has a head of 170 m, which, when coupled with the pressures of the first two pumps, produces a final 350 m head output on the water line.

The first and second pumps are coupled with a 1.5 MW motor, and the final pump with a 2.7 MW motor. Each water line has a total motor capacity of 5.7 MW.