STREAMLINE™ Ultra High Pressure Pumps
Waterjet cutting technology is today used in many different applications. For each application, the waterjet system must meet specific requirements. In order to use this technology in an effective and economically viable way, you must choose a pump type that suits your needs.
The right waterjet pump for every application
There are three important criteria to be taken into account:
- The material:
The material to be cut determines the orifice size, as it affects the intensity of the waterjet. The choice of the orifice diameter must be primarily based on the material to be cut and its thickness. Soft materials are cut with an orifice diameter of 0.1 mm using the pure water-cutting method. For hard materials, orifices with diameters from 0.17 mm are used in conjunction with the abrasive cutting method.
- The cutting speed:
The cutting speed per cutting head is determined by the thickness of the material, the set pump pressure, the quantity and quality of the abrasive additive and the desired cutting edge properties. The cutting speed essentially determines how many cutting heads are required to achieve the defined production specifications.
- The size of the orifices and the number of cutting heads:
These parameters determine the water consumption of the system. The more cutting heads are connected and the greater the orifice diameter, the greater the pump unit.
In order to determine the pump size that best suits your application, you must in a first step determine the required cutting speeds. When the speeds have been determined, continue with establishing the number of cutting heads and the orifice diameter required for your task.
Pure water materials
The cutting times for pure-water applications vary considerably, due to wide range of materials processed through this method. Our customers can contact the KMT Waterjet testing and technology centre, where our staff will determine the relevant data based on the customer's specifications.
In a second step, the pump size is calculated, based on the determined orifice size and number of cutting heads. KMT Waterjet offers its customers two systems: The standard STD system caters for pressures of up to 3,800 bar and the Plus system can provide pressures of up to 4,136 bar.
KMT Waterjet believes that personal contact and advice are very important to ensure that customers choose the right pump unit for their application. Cutting tests carried out by KMT Waterjet provide additional information regarding the quality of the cutting edge and the suitability of certain cutting speeds.
Source: KMT Waterjet Systems Inc.
