Dr. Ramesh Raghavendra
Sulzer Pumps Ireland has a wide range of pump manufacturing capabilities including machining, assembly, motor winding, packaging and shipping of submersible pumps ranging from 100 W to 52 kW for use in the wastewater industry.
SULZER’s contact with SEAM began in September 2015 with the re-design of a rotorshaft on the XFP PE3 submersible, solids-handling sewage pump. This is the second largest pump built at the SULZER plant in Wexford with P2 of 22kW. The Wexford facility currently employs 270 people. SEAM utilized a wide range of analysis techniques on PE3 pumps and studied numerous field samples leading to investigation of a number of design options with the final option validated by Sulzer. The company proceeded to prototyping with a minimum of cost and high confidence and, in January 2017, over 5000 units were shipped to customers. There have been zero shaft or fixing screw failures reported. The interaction with Sulzer has been of great benefit to SEAM and has broadened its capabilities and opened new business opportunities. Ben Breen of Sulzer says that “SEAM provide a complete materials investigation, design support and failure analysis service. Design improvements implemented on the XFP PE3 … based on the above collaboration with SEAM have proven to be entirely successful”. The project cemented the Sulzer-SEAM relationship and there has been subsequent work from Sulzer in many different materials-related areas. The TTO supported contracting with Sulzer and the management of Intellectual Property within the project and also advised on funding models.
Underpinning funding sources include: Sulzer Pump Solutions Ireland
TTO Support: Contract Support; Intellectual Property Management