Largest Pumps in the World 1

[hondashadow1100vt]

Out of personal curiosity, I am hoping to track down a list or database of the largest pumps and largest pump stations (of each kind, e.g., water/wastewater/storm water/etc.) in the world. I have googled around rather unsuccessfully for this. I am putting this question out to eng-tips.com to see if anyone out there has any leads that might help expedite this search. Thanks in advance for any ideas/leads you may have on how to track this type of info down!

 

[LittleInch]

First define "largest".

Power?
Pressure?
Flowrate?
Physical size?

Ask some vendors.

Water systems can be very large flow low head.

Oil systems high pressure large power.

Remember - More details = better answers
Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.

 

[1503-44]

Maybe the heaviest?

I think flow rate x power / RPM ^2 would be a good indicator of "bigness". Type of driver could also have some significant effects to consider.

Must they be selected from only those currently in service, or would it include historic examples that have since been deactivated?

New Orleans could be a good place to begin your search.

Reality used to affect the way we thought. Now we somehow believe that what we think affects reality.

 

[LittleInch]

Google knows the answer!

https://constructionreviewonline.co...ds-largest-underground-water-pumping-station/

5 x 139 MW pumps!!!!

Remember - More details = better answers
Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.

 

[Artisi]

One of the oldest(if not the oldest)"big" pumps is in place in Milwaukie, a drainage pump manufacture by the predecessors of Allis Charmers, originally steam engine driven as I believe that electric motors of the size needed were not available or even designed.

It is a capital mistake to theorise before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts. (Sherlock Holmes - A Scandal in Bohemia.)

 

[LittleInch]

Used to be New Orleans

https://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2009-08/saving-new-orleans-worlds-largest-water-pump/

Remember - More details = better answers
Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.

 

[1503-44]

I was close.

Now I have to figure out where the Heck is Telangana. Google it?

Reality used to affect the way we thought. Now we somehow believe that what we think affects reality.

 

[LittleInch]

The original sewage pump statiobs in London were huge as they included steam boilers etc and some very big slow moving beam engines.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossness_Pumping_Station

Remember - More details = better answers
Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.

 

[1503-44]

Might be big, but a whooping 175 HP. Also seems to run at overall energy conversion rate of 15%
Yeah, let's sell the steam engine. We want that new diesel thing. Tesla? Bring that guy in to talk.


Reality used to affect the way we thought. Now we somehow believe that what we think affects reality.

 

[itsmoked]

480 megawatts (640,000 hp) for each turbine

Bath County Pumped Storage Station

Keith Cress
kcress -

http://www.flaminsystems.com

 

[1503-44]

Sounds pretty HUGE!!!
÷ RPM = ?

http://www.virginiaplaces.org/energy/bathpumped.html

I have not found pics of the pumps.

Reality used to affect the way we thought. Now we somehow believe that what we think affects reality.

 

[LittleInch]

That's some energy storage system.

Remember - More details = better answers
Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.

 

[1503-44]

Proof that regulated natural gas companies (building anything they could get FERC to approve at cost +10% guaranteed profit) can create monsters.

Reality used to affect the way we thought. Now we somehow believe that what we think affects reality.

 

[bimr]

Based on flow, the world’s most powerful water pump was custom built for the pumping station IJmuiden in the Netherlands. Pentair Fairbanks Nijhuis manufactured two in 2004 as part of an upgrade to make it the largest pumping station in Europe. Its function is to prevent “The permanent flooding that previously caused continuous problems in the western area of The Netherlands […]”

Accolades: Guiness World Records holder. World’s most powerful water pump with flow rate of 60,000 litres/second

The Pentair Fairbanks Nijhuis HP1-4000.340 has a capacity of 60 m3/second (60,000 liters/second). To crank this much water per second, it offers a horsepower of 5,364.

Link

 

[1503-44]

5364 HP is a peanut.

That's why biggest has to be defined as Q x Power/RPM^2

Reality used to affect the way we thought. Now we somehow believe that what we think affects reality.

 

[hondashadow1100vt]

I will say that I am overwhelmed by the responses and the questions are similarly thoughtful, starting with LittleInch's initial note regarding Power? Pressure? Flowrate? Physical size? I had sheer capacity in mind but similar questions did occur to me I posed the question. It does seem like BHP would be the fairest criteria. I furthermore wondered whether the question ought to extend to type of pump (e.g., largest vertical turbine, largest horizontal split case, largest solids handling, mixed flow axial, etc.). Seems to me that manufacturers must love to have bragging rights for where they have the largest of a kind of each type of pump. Seems like there ought to be a mantle trophy given to each manufacturer for the biggest/best of each that remains in current service.

I will take some time to read through the links provided and see if I can perhaps contribute anything that adds to this.

Thank you again!

 

[1503-44]

The Pump Academy Awards...

PROBLEM:

Using BHP alone would best capture the power of the driver, not size of pump, which is best described by flowrate. And both pumps and drivers decrease in size with increased RPM.

Using BHP alone might miss very large pump-drivers that operate at low heads, or those that operate at low RPM, such as LittheInches' very large, but 175Hp machine.

Very high speed and high BPH turbines might power very small pumps to very high heads.

IMO, you would need to develop a descriptor variable to capture the relative size based on each characteristic. You could do some regression analysis to determine each characteristic variable's influence on "size". That might even be interesting.




Reality used to affect the way we thought. Now we somehow believe that what we think affects reality.

 

[hondashadow1100vt]

Hah! Love it -Fourteen. When they ask where the "Pump Academy Awards" all started you can point them back here. I'd like to see all of you in your tuxedo's at the Waldorf Astoria. I'm thinking $1000/plate with the proceeds going to a charitable scholarship endowment named after the great Karassik.

 

[3DDave]

The pumps for the Saturn V F1 engine should rank in there.

I know, only 55,000 BHP per pump and only 42,500 gallons per minute, but each pump is a self-contained unit of 2,500 pounds - both the pump and the powerplant to drive the pump.

41MW, 2.7 m3/s, 1100kgs.

 

[TugboatEng]

Boiler feed water pumps for super critical boilers are another horsepower biggie at times exceeding 40,000 horsepower.