August 2012

Dynamic adaptation of pumps

DESMI Pumping Technology has enjoyed great success with new energy-saving pump equipment for Lauritzen Kosan and others.

As well as a wide range of pump equipment which covers the needs of most ships sailing on the seven seas, from the smallest coaster to the largest container ships and naval vessels, DESMI has drawn on its experience to introduce DESMI OptiSaveTM – a system for dynamically adapting the pressure and flow of pumps so that the pumps’ operating points match the actual operating conditions.

“The problem is that the systems on board the ships are designed to cope with the worst possible situation, where the ship’s machinery is running at 100% load and the water which the ship is sailing in and which is also used for cooling is 32°C hot. Because of this the vast majority of systems are overdimensioned in relation to the actual requirements,” explains DESMI. “DESMI OptiSave measures the actual requirements and regulates the pump’s pressure and/or flow so that it matches the current requirement. This means that the pump uses less energy and this therefore does not need to be produced on board, with less fuel being consumed as a result. "

DESMI has installed several systems on newbuilds and on existing ships, all with great success and distinct customer satisfaction. “We have installed the system on a number of Lauritzen Kosan’s ships, where for example a 40 kW pump was fitted with DESMI OptiSave, saving the shipowner 75,000 kWh, corresponding to 18 tons of fuel or USD 12,000. And that was only for 100 days’ operation. “And if the pumps are larger then the savings will of course also be larger.”

 

A satisfied customer
Consultant Carsten Routhe Johansen of Lauritzen Kosan confirms that working with DESMI was a positive experience:
“The project has been a great success. All parts of the project ran as planned and we now have four systems installed on our ships, with a fifth planned for this autumn. I can only say that all the promised savings have been delivered as forecast. We can note a saving of 78 tons of fuel per ship per year, and at the dollar’s current exchange rate this corresponds to DKK 300,000 per year for each individual ship. If we use gas oil then the saving is even greater.”

DESMI has been making pumps since the beginning of the last century and marine pumps since the 1950s. “Over all these years we have gained a great deal of experience and expertise about using pumps for various applications on board ships and offshore units.

“We want to be a market leader in the operational optimization of pumps and pump systems on board ships,”  DESMI concludes.