Hydra-Cell Metering Solutions have solved a pumping problem for one of the world’s largest suppliers of polyurethane foam production equipment. The Company was using external gear pumps to deliver a curative catalyst in the production of ‘sound deadening’ foam for the automotive industry.
The curing agent contains amines but being water-based it is non-lubricating, a hazard for pumps that rely on dynamic rotary seals that are in contact with the pumped liquid. External gear pumps work best when pumping lubricating fluids, so they did not handle the curing agent well. The pumps were prone to wear, exhibited low efficiency and caused unacceptable high shear within the product.
Hydra-Cell API 675 Metering Pumps, with their inherently low shear pumping action, provided the ideal solution to the problem. Since the application could not risk contamination by the hydraulic fluid, extensive testing with Mesamoll® oil, a plasticizer and acceptable substitute, was conducted before a Hydra-Cell Metering Solutions model P200 was installed for evaluation.
Built with Aflas diaphragms, PTFE fluid-end O-rings and FKM drive case O-rings, the first P200 pump performed exceptionally well, eliminating the low-efficiency, high-shear, and non-lubricating pumping problems. The outcome was so successful that Hydra-Cell P200 pumps have been steadily replacing the gear pumps on the customer’s systems installed in automotive plants around the world.
