1. Product diversification
The vitality of a product lies in the demands of the market. The current market demands are precisely those that require each product to have its own unique characteristics and stand out from the rest; it is this aspect that has led to the trend of product diversification in pumps. The diversity of pumps mainly manifests in several aspects such as the diversity of the medium they transport, the differences in product structure, and the differences in operating requirements.
From the perspective of the diversity of the transported medium, pumps used to transport only water and other fluid, gaseous or slurry substances have now been able to transport mixtures of solids and liquids, gas-liquid mixtures, solid-liquid-gas mixtures, and even living objects such as potatoes and fish. Different transported objects have different requirements for the internal structure of the pump.
In addition to the different requirements of the transported objects for the pump's structure, in terms of pump installation forms, pipeline layout forms, maintenance and repair, new requirements are also put forward for the internal or external structure of the pump. At the same time, each manufacturer has added their own enterprise concepts to the design of the pump structure, further increasing the degree of pump structure diversification.
Based on the overall background of sustainable development and environmental protection, the operating environment of pumps has put forward numerous requirements for pump design, such as reducing leakage, lowering noise and vibration, increasing reliability, and extending lifespan, etc. These all require different focuses or multiple focuses to be considered in the design of the pump, and inevitably lead to the diversification form of pumps.
2. The organic combination of the improvement of pump design level and the optimization of manufacturing technology
In today's information age, pump designers have already utilized computer technology for product development and design (such as the use of CAD), which has greatly accelerated the design speed and shortened the product design cycle. In the production-oriented manufacturing process, manufacturing technologies represented by numerical control technology (CAM) have already been deeply integrated into pump production. However, from the current domestic situation, CAM technology is mainly applied to mass production. For single-piece or small-batch production, currently, CAM technology has not been widely implemented in the pump industry. Single-piece and small-batch production still relies mainly on traditional production equipment.
Due to the requirement of manufacturers to shorten the delivery time as much as possible, especially for special products (products produced in response to user requirements), the delivery cycle is shortened. This inevitably requires pump manufacturing enterprises to accelerate the utilization of CAM technology, even computer integrated manufacturing system (CIMS), flexible manufacturing (FMC and FMS), to coordinate and handle each link from design to mold manufacturing, part processing, etc. Once the design is completed, the processing of product components is also completed simultaneously to shorten the production cycle of the product.
At the same time, in addition to using computer graphics, computer technology will also be used to implement the strength analysis, reliability estimation and three-dimensional design of the product. The problems of process, local structure and assemblyability that need to be discovered and solved during production will be prevented in advance before production, which will shorten the trial production period of the product.
3. Standardization and modularization of products
While products are becoming diversified, pumps, as general-purpose products, still have a huge total volume in the market. In the market, in addition to technical competition, the price competition of products, especially for general-purpose products, is an inevitable trend. Under the trend of diversified products, to achieve competitive advantages in product prices, it is necessary to increase the standardization degree of product components and realize the modularization of product components. After many components are modularized, through the combination of different modules or changing the characteristics of individual parts, the product can be diversified. At the same time, only when the standardization degree of components is improved can it be possible to carry out large-scale component production based on product diversification, to reduce the production cost of the product and form a price competitive advantage of the product. It can also further shorten the delivery cycle of the product on the basis of product diversification.
4. Enhancement of pump intrinsic characteristics and pursuit of extrinsic characteristics
The intrinsic characteristics of pumps refer to the inherent characteristics of the product, including product performance, component quality, overall assembly quality, appearance quality, etc., or simply referred to as quality. In this regard, it is what many pump manufacturers are currently concerned about and striving to improve. In fact, we can find that many products, after meeting the requirements of factory inspection and being put into use by the user unit, often fail to achieve the effect of factory inspection. Problems such as overload, increased noise, failure to meet requirements during use or reduced lifespan occur; while the operating point or operating characteristics of the pump in actual operation are called the extrinsic characteristics or system characteristics of the pump.
When technicians design products, to increase the efficiency of a certain product by one percent often requires a lot of effort; while if the pump operates deviates from the design point, the actual operating efficiency is far more than a reduction of one percent. Now, pump manufacturers also provide users with control equipment and complete sets of equipment including frequency conversion, which actually involves the pursuit of the extrinsic characteristics of pumps. On this basis, paying attention to the centralized control system of pumps to improve the operational efficiency of the pump and the pump station is a further step in the pursuit of pump extrinsic characteristics.
From a sales perspective, promoting products means promoting the intrinsic characteristics of pumps; And focusing on the external characteristics of the pump is not just the production manufacturer's way of promoting the product, but rather their way of promoting the pumping station (a complete project).
From the perspective of usage, a good product must be one that is suitable for the operating environment rather than a product judged based on factory tests.
5. Further development of mechatronics
Just like the development of science and technology, at present, the interdisciplinary and marginal disciplines in the field of science and technology are becoming increasingly diverse. Cross-disciplinary joint research is a very common thing, and the same is true for the technological development of pump products. Taking the shield pump as an example, eliminating the problem of the pump's shaft seal requires starting from the motor structure. Limiting oneself to the pump itself alone is impossible to achieve; solving the noise problem of the pump, in addition to addressing the flow pattern and vibration of the pump, also requires solving the noise of the motor blades and the electromagnetic field noise; improving the reliability of the submersible pump, it is necessary to add measures such as leakage protection and overload protection in the submersible motor; improving the operating efficiency of the pump, it is necessary to rely on the application of control technology, etc. All of these clearly indicate that to develop the pump technology level, it is necessary to simultaneously start from the matching motor, control technology, etc., and comprehensively consider to maximize the comprehensive level of mechatronics.
6. Accelerated utilization of new materials and new technologies
Over the past decade, the application of new materials and new technologies has been a major factor in promoting the development of pump technology. The materials used for pumps have evolved from cast iron to special metal alloys, from typical non-metal materials such as rubber products and ceramics to engineering plastics. They have played a prominent role in solving the pump's corrosion resistance, wear resistance, and high-temperature resistance in the environment. At the same time, the application of new technologies has better enabled new materials to be used in pump components and even the entire pump. For example, some foreign manufacturers have designed and launched pumps made entirely of engineering plastics. Compared with pumps produced with general metal materials, they are no less strong in strength and outperform in corrosion resistance and wear resistance. Another example is the use of new surface coating and surface treatment technologies, which can also solve the pump's anti-corrosion and anti-wear problems. The further development of new materials and the application of new technologies will be more widely used in the pump field.
The technological development of pumps, like that of other industries, is driven by market demand. Today, as we enter the 21st century, in the backdrop of the huge demands generated by the development of high-tech fields such as environmental protection and electronics, as well as the global sustainable development, it has brought about rapid technological changes and development to many industries or fields, including the pump industry.
