Professional Documents
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Throughput
through
Condensate
Pump
A presentation by
QAI
Project Objective: To find product design specific technological solutions to increase the discharge rate
of Steam Condensate Pump
Case Background: As an energy saving practice, many organizations that use steam for process control
or heating take considerable effort to recover the subsequent hot condensate. This condensate (hot
water) is returned to the boiler, where it is heated and pressurized to the system requirements. When
condensate leaves the steam trap, it contains approximately 20% of the heat energy transferred in the
boiler to generate steam. Vertical displacement pressure powered pumps are a popular technical system
used to pump the condensate back to the boiler.
Figure, below shows the internals and workings of a vertical displacement pressure powered pump.
One of the challenges faced by manufacturers of PPPs is that while the pump is in the filling stroke, no
condensate is being pumped to the boiler. Adding multiple PPPs leads to increased utilization of the space
which is not available at sites since PPPs are typically installed in low space areas where manual
intervention is kept at the minimum and the environmental conditions are also harsher
The current project has been undertaken to find out technological solutions to increase the discharge rate
of the vertical displacement PPP.
The team lacked a structured process for guiding the thinking process to generate innovative product
design solutions that are cost-effective and implementable.
Past attempts at product design were unable to meet all criteria set by management: cost effective, ease
of implementation, and increased throughput rate. The ideas generated by the team were either leading
to increased complexity of the product or increased costs.
Management was exploring a structured approach to innovation that was low on complexity without
compromising the rigor and effectiveness. The following criteria were defined for evaluation of the ideas
2. Ease of Implementation
4. Solution should result in a high satisfaction score from the user of the pump.
1. Information Gathering
i. Main Parameters of Value (MPV) are those attributes for product or service that
will have the greatest significance in the customers purchasing decision.
ii. Innovation requires a precise understanding of value: the who, what, when,
where, how, and why of the customer’s need. It then means getting that value
to them without complexity creeping in.
2. Study the solutions proffered by the industry to satisfy those parameters by doing prior
art search and
For the steam condensate project the study obtained detailed information related to the pump,
its components, its working environment and also all advancements made by the industry till
date. This study proved valuable in revealing that the industry had inadvertently got caught in
certain psychological traps with respect to the possible solutions directions.
2. Analysis
3. Concept Development
the Criteria and 5 stands for Very strong ability to meet the Criteria.
a) The organization has decided to deploy one of the concepts in the immediate future.
Benefits Obtained
Patentable Concepts - 4
Patents Filed - 1
USA
UK
CHINA
MALAYSIA
SINGAPORE
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