Self-priming mag-drive pump for laboratory application

Michael Smith Engineers provides a lot of pumps for laboratory applications. These pumps tend to be quite small and precise and are used in applications where the flow rate is relatively low.

However, that is not always the case, and sometimes a customer has a laboratory application that calls for something a bit more substantial.
One such customer was DQD Engineering, a company committed to designing and manufacturing accurate and high-quality process systems and pumping stations.

They were asked to assist a client in the pharmaceutical industry, involved in the laboratory research of medical solutions against allergies and corona viruses. The project involved transporting base saline solution between laboratories via sterile, hygienic Flexsafe collapsible bags with a capacity from 50 to 1000l. For this application, they required a pump with particular attributes, and they came to Michael Smith Engineers Ltd for a solution.

The solution chosen by Roberto Mori, one of Michael Smith’s sales engineers, was a Finish Thompson SP series magnetically driven self-priming centrifugal pump directly coupled to a 2900 rpm single phase fixed speed motor. This pump was selected as it is self-priming, can run dry at the start/end of each operation and is resistant to the high temperature caustic soda cleaning solutions used for the sanitation of the units.

Gary Barker, Project Manager at DQD Engineering, said: “We approached Michael Smith Engineers with a requirement for 20+ pumps for emptying waste totes at a vaccine manufacturing unit in the UK; their engineer Roberto Mori worked with us from the design stage to ensure we had pumps suitable for the task.” www.michael-smith-engineers.co.uk