Wear and maintenance-free bellow pumps

Citation

(1999), "Wear and maintenance-free bellow pumps", Pigment & Resin Technology, Vol. 28 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/prt.1999.12928ead.004

Wear and maintenance-free bellow pumps

Wear and maintenance-free bellow pumps

Keyword: Kremlin

Kremlin's FLOWMAX® Pumps incorporate patented bellows technology which, it is claimed, considerably reduce maintenance and downtime. Kremlin is so confident in the efficiency of the design that it now includes a two-year all parts warranty.

Conventional piston pumps have top packings which Kremlin reports are prone to wear and leakage. According to Kremlin worn packing leads to piston wear and costly replacement is inevitable. If the pump is used in hostile working conditions such as in fabrication shops, its working life is said to be even shorter.As the piston shaft is exposed, it picks up abrasive dust that not only aggravates packing wear, but also wears the piston.

The FLOWMAX® bellows paint pump is believed to overcome these problems.The reason given is that this design reportedly does not require traditional packing, has no exposed piston shafts and, as it is completely sealed, FLOWMAX is stated to be not prone to wear. No lubricant is required and therefore the system is thought to be maintenance-free. Inexpensive servicing is said to be only required after every 300,000 litres of paint or 10 million strokes.

A further benefit claimed of the bellows technology is its quiet operation. Bellows are said to be virtually silent whereas the stroke of a piston is quite audible. The pumps are available for AIRMIX® and Airless applications AIRMIX is reported to be a more efficient version of air-assisted-airless which according to Kremlin provides up to 80 per cent transfer efficiency to a very low spray velocity. A conventional gun emits paints at 22mph whereas AIRMIX is said to be rated at a gentle 1.6mph. Less velocity is thought to provide far greater transfer efficiency.

Further details are available from Kremlin Spray Painting Equipment Ltd. Tel: +44 (0) 1753 538143; Fax: +44 (0) 1753 694290.