Seawork 2009 – ‘Spirit of Innovation Award’ New Pump offers 1000 fold improvement in dry running time
Marine South East and the University of Southampton sponsored the Innovations Showcase and Awards at this year’s Seawork Exhibition in Southampton.
Entries were once again of a high standard and represented a wide range of the most innovative new products, projects and vessels that have been introduced by exhibitors during the past 12 months.
The overall 'Spirit of Innovation Award' was won by KPM D.E. Ltd with its Endurance Run Dry Pumping System.
Most conventional designs of marine water pumps utilise a paddlewheel shaped rubber impeller that relies on the pumped water to remain lubricated and cool. Commonly used for engine coolant circulation and bilge pumping they are notoriously unreliable.
KPM's designer , Julian (Jools) Morgan is a keen powerboat racer. During the APBA Championships in Key West a few years ago his fellow competitors, fed up with constant pump failures challenged him to come up with a more reliable design.
Having accepted the task Jools wasted no time and drew out a new design on the flight home. Utilising their in-house CAD/CAM capabilities KPM produced the first prototype within a week. The initial production design had a run-dry endurance of 1200 minutes.
Introduced in August 2008 the improved design entered in the Innovation Awards has achieved a total run-dry time of 3000 minutes between impeller changes.
The dramatic improvement in run-dry endurance is due to the use of KPM's patented 'TIBS system' (Trust Interjacent Bearing and Seal). TIBS reduces friction by introducing a rotating bronze disc and a low friction PTFE bearing between the impeller and the pump chamber.
The judging panel for the Innovation Awards were impressed by this elegant and simple solution to a common problem and could see significant safety benefits from the use of more reliable engine cooling and bilge pumps.
If you would like to find out more go to http://kpm-marine.com
MareNet also proved a hit at this year's Seawork. More than 40 companies attended the event, which included presentations from RNLI and the University of Southampton on RIB design, and was followed by an excellent question and answer session. Go to http://www.marinesoutheast.co.uk/marenet/ for copies of the presentations.
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