DRC miner commissions Hawk Pumps for high-pressure washers
This article has been supplied.
(Virtual Showroom): Hawk Pumps was commissioned by a mining company in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to build heavy-duty high-pressure washers to clean their mining equipment.
These copper mines are open cast, with large trucks transporting rocks, ore and minerals. The landscape is dry and dusty with red sand, which, together with the grease and grime from the vehicles, results in them quickly becoming caked. The client required large, robust movable trolleys mounted with a hot water cleaner capable of producing pressures up to 500bar.
Hawp Pumps custom built a chassis from channel iron, which was then hot-dipped galvanised for protection against rust. The chassis had two large heavy-duty, solid rubber wheels and two castor wheels to ensure maximum manoeuvrability. At the heart of the high-pressure system is an Italian-engineered Hawk PX1550-I Pump which delivers 15 litres per minute at 500bar pressure. It is powered by a 25.5hp electric-start diesel engine and is belt-driven.
A breaker tank with a float valve and low-level cut-out switch was included to ensure that the pump is protected from cavitation, should the water pressure supply be inconsistent. As with all of the company’s 500bar units, a safety valve was included in addition to the unloader valve. An Italian 500bar electrically-powered diesel burner provides the heating system for the water, which reaches temperatures of up to 85°C. The electricity needed to power the diesel burner is supplied by a 4kVa diesel generator, which conveniently has two single-phase plug outlets used for lights or power tools.
The company built 6 of these units for this customer, with another 6 in the pipeline.
Hawk Pumps has generally seen a trend towards hot water units over cold (rather than using chemicals), and 500bar has become a popular request.
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