MOSCOW, Russia (OOSKAnews Correspondent) -- HMS Group, a Russia-based pump manufacturer and provider of flow control solutions and related services to water utilities, oil and gas, and nuclear and thermal power generation sectors, launched a new testing facility to test pumping equipment late last month.

“Nowadays, clients want more assurances that the chosen equipment meets all their requirements so they can count on a reliable, continuous and safe operation of equipment supplied,” Yuriy Skrynnik, Strategy Marketing Director of HMS Group, told OOSKAnews via email this week.

“The number of tests and parameters are increasing, and requirements for conducting them are becoming more stringent. As part of the new pump development program as other purposes), our testing facility can carry out trial runs of large vertical pumps serving from 3,000 up to 20,000 cubic meters/hour and with a capacity of 1 to 14 megawatts, with the help of the new stand launched just recently,” he added.

The facility can perform several kinds of tests, including preliminary, acceptance or approval, commissioning, periodic or regular, qualification, standard or typical and long-term tests on reliability, and two pumping units can be tested at the same time.

HMS Group called the testing facility the most powerful in Europe. “This new test facility with capacity of 14 megawatts is unique in the Eastern Europe (region). Few of the world’s leading manufacturers have got similar R&D infrastructure. The whole project was developed and delivered in-house, with opportunities for further upgrade and testing capabilities enhancement,” Skrynnik said.

One of the first pump units to be tested are the feed pumps for the “VVER-TOI” project carried out by Rosatom, which envisages construction of NPP units with pressurized water reactors. Based on current results, design features of these new pumps significantly increase their reliability and efficiency and simplify the pump supporting system. “More than 70 percent of the main pumping equipment of Russian NPP, including 100 percent of the turbo- and electro-driven pumps supplied by companies of HMS Group, continue to operate successfully,” Skrynnik said.

OOSKAnews Water Weekly
December 6, 2011