South Africa-based submersible pumps supplier Tsurumi Pumps plans to display its range of Dragflow products at roadshow venues in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and Mozambique by the beginning of next year, at the latest, to further increase its pumps market share in sub-Saharan Africa.

“Tsurumi Pumps is the sole distributor of heavy-duty submersible slurry pump manufacturer Dragflow’s pumps and original-equipment manufacturer (OEM) parts in South Africa and is aiming to supply the whole sub-Saharan African region,” Tsurumi Pumps MD George Bath tells Engineering News.

Dragflow pumps are manufactured and imported from Italy and Tsurumi Pumps has been supplying these pumps since July 2012 to companies requiring heavy-duty mining and dredging equipment.

The Dragflow slurry pump range can handle mediums and slurries with specific gravity (SG) levels of 1.8, making these pumps ideal for harsh heavy-duty slurry-pumping conditions found in dredging, mining and other industrial applications, Bath says.

“The SG of a material is the ratio of its den-sity to the density of water – 1.00 × 103 kg/m3. This ratio is a pure number, containing no unit,” he explains.

Dragflow pumps are available in an electric (EL) series ranging from 3.7 kW to 110 kW and in a hydraulic (HY) series ranging from 18 kW to 239 kW. The hydraulic range can be powered by a hydraulic power source or mounted to the backhoe of an excavator and powered by the vehicle’s hydraulic system.

All Dragflow pumps come standard with an agitator, which places the medium in a state of suspension by agitating it, which prevents solids from settling when pumping. As an extra option, Dragflow pumps can be fitted with a high-pressure jet-ring, which can be fed by an external water source to blast the surface medium preventing solids from settling.

The HY series pumps can also be fitted with two hydraulically powered excavators fixed on either side of the pump to churn the slurry medium. The excavators are fitted with rotating blades, which can achieve 30, 40 or 50 revolutions a minute and work in conjunction with the agitator of the slurry pump to keep the slurry medium in suspension.

Dragflow also manufactures a range of dredges, which lower and raise its slurry pumps with a steel cable, telescopic boom or ladder. The steel cable dredge can reach depths of 100 m, the ladder 12 m and the telescopic arm 10 m.

Further, Dragflow manufacturers an anti-turbidity bell that allows for increased control and agitation within a specific area.

Tsurumi Pumps supplies all Dragflow pumps with a control panel, which is fitted with a pump motor protection and control relay device. The relay device limits pump downtime, owing to failures. The Dragflow-approved system shuts down the pump before it reaches a critical state and does not allow the pump to start up until an operator has resolved the issue and reset the system, explains Bath.

“Products, such as the impeller or agitators, will be subject to normal wear-and-tear. However, the inner workings of the pumps should not fail if used correctly, which is why Dragflow pumps come fitted with the pump motor protection and control system,” he says.

Further, the motor control and protection system can relay detailed information, when required, pertaining to the operating parameters of the pump, covering many different scenarios. The system records this data, which can be downloaded onto a computer when necessary and used as a reference for occurrences such as a jam in the impeller. Should this system be bypassed, there is a record of how long the pump was operational as well as the conditions under which the pump was operating prior to it being dis-connected.

However, without this protection system or in the event that the protection system is disconnected, operators will have no way of knowing if there is an issue with the pump, such as the pump operating with no medium, which could lead to the pump getting damaged.

Among other things, the system protects a pump from electrical surges and the com-pany is also supplying these panels for its Tsurumi range of dewatering and wastewater submersible pumps.

Bath notes that one of the major challenges facing the pump industry today is low-quality, pirated pumps, which are mostly manufac-tured in East Asia. “Many of these pumps do not stand up to the conditions they are expected to operate under and do not last as long as the high-quality products manufac-tured by OEMs that have been developing and manufacturing pumps for many years,” he says.

The shortage of skilled labourers and young individuals entering the pump industry presents another challenge. Bath believes that this is because of a lack of knowledge about the industry and a shortage of artisan training institutions to create interest in the industry.

He says the South African Pumps Manu-facturers Association (Sapma) is playing an active role in skills development to help curb the skills shortage. Sapma offers pump training courses throughout the year, namely a two-day introductory course and a two-day advanced course.Both courses are accredited by the Manufacturing, Engineering and Related Services Sector Education and Training Authority.

However, Bath says further courses, geared towards specific pump types, such as sub-mersible, peristaltic or centrifugal pumps, need to be introduced, as the pumping principles of each pump type differ.