September 2020

Amarinth – the company specialising in the design, application and manufacture of centrifugal pumps and associated equipment to the Oil & Gas, petrochemical, LNG, chemical, industrial, power and desalination markets – has supplied EDF with a fully interchangeable vertical pump to replace an obsolete Goodwin ATEX unit at the Sizewell B Power Station. A submersible wastewater management pump supplied by Goodwin in an ATEX Zone 1 tank was commissioned at the Sizewell B site some 25 years ago and so was coming to the end of its natural working life. However, these pumps are now obsolete, so a direct replacement was no longer available, meaning engineers had to find a new solution to maintain operations. Minimal modification EDF required a pump that would perform the same duty as the Goodwin pump with minimal modification to pipework and fittings and that could be supplied on a 20-week deadline to fit around a planned shutdown window. Replacement of obsolete equipment in power stations to maintain operations has become a major issue for the power generation companies and so Roll-Royce has created the Proactive Obsolescence Management System (POMS) to quickly identify equipment suppliers that can provide replacement solutions for the obsolete equipment. Amarinth is both registered in POMS and had previously undertaken a site survey of the existing pumps at Sizewell, giving EDF confidence that the company fully understood the challenges of providing a replacement pump. Cost-effective solution Amarinth proposed a bespoke vertical sump pump as the most cost-effective solution to replace the Goodwin submersible pump. The company leveraged its unique modular design suite for vertical pumps which it has configured to handle over 100,000 pump variants. All assemblies and sub- assemblies have been checked against mating parts for clashes using computer- aided design tools ensuring that any variant assembled from the modules fits together perfectly. Amarinth quickly produced a new ATEX certified 1.3m vertical sump pump design, manufactured in stainless steel, that was dimensionally and hydraulically interchangeable with the Goodwin unit. The new ATEX compliant vertical pump was designed, manufactured, tested and supplied to site all within the necessary 20 weeks enabling EDF to fit the new pump during the scheduled shutdown period. This pump will now deliver another 25-year working life at Sizewell B with the support and supply of spare and replacement parts directly from Amarinth. Dimensionally and hydraulically interchangeable Oliver Brigginshaw, managing director of Amarinth, comments: “Having successfully supplied pumps to a number of power stations to replace obsolete ones we were delighted to provide this dimensionally and hydraulically interchangeable vertical pump to EDF at Sizewell B to replace the Goodwin submersible unit. This once again demonstrates Amarinth’s ability to provide a long-term and cost-effective solution to power generation companies as existing and often obsolete equipment reaches its natural end-of-life.” www.amarinth.com HYDRAULICS 32 HYDRAULICS & PNEUMATICS September 2020 www.hpmag.co.uk Amarinth supplies vertical pump to EDF for Sizewell B Power Station vGates, the global provider of fluid power and power transmission solutions, recently added a universal mobile app to its expanding range of hydraulics solutions. The eCrimp app builds on a previous North America-focused version, adding global capability, automatic updates and new functionality to assist fluid power customers across a wide variety of industries, applications and geographic regions. This smartphone version of the eCrimp app offers a host of new features and benefits: Global capabilities – Select region to see local products Save favourites – Quick access to most used assemblies Live crimp specs – Automatic updates when connected to WIFI Offline functionality – Content is available regardless of connectivity Data on new products – Refreshed via automatic updates Dynamic search capability – Flexible ways to find your solution Product image library – Product images validate selections Copy and email specs – Easy sharing and communication Tom Pitstick, Gates CMO and senior vice president of Product Line Management, comments: “Intelligent innovation is central to the way we do business at Gates, and Safe Hydraulics activities are always a priority, regardless of who you are or where you are located.” He adds that the eCrimp app is the latest example of Gates listening to its customers, analysing data from the field and the lab, and synthesising that information to further improve Gates’ portfolio of fluid power solutions. “The app and our other new hydraulics products are a result of our commitment to engineering innovation,” says Pitstick. Highlighting the importance of needing to easily communicate crimp specifications to customers, Gates recently introduced new hydraulics products, including MegaSys MXG 4K, MXT and Multi Master GMV, which are all claimed to offer lighter weight, lower force to bend, multi-specification coverage (for reduced inventory requirements) and effective performance. Gates also substantially expanded its hydraulics product offering, adding the PRO Series line for standard-duty applications to complement the existing MegSys line for high-power, high-pressure applications. “Simply put,” adds Pitstick, “we are driving new technology into our portfolio. With the eCrimp app, and a significant increase in the number of new product introductions in general, we demonstrate our ability to drive continuous product innovation.” The Gates eCrimp app is available now for free download. Look for the black icon in the iOS App Store or Android Play Store. www.gates.com Gates eCrimp app offers advances across hydraulics product range