A Different Kind of Fuel Pump
Application: Aircraft Refueling System
Millennium Systems International, LLC, is a Maryland-based company dedicated to providing total system solutions to customers involved with the storage, transfer, measurement, control, and automation of bulk liquid products. One of the applications Millennium Systems has successfully targeted is aircraft refueling.
Millennium Systems designs and builds aviation refueling systems for a range of commercial, military, and government customers in the U.S. and overseas. The company’s aviation fueling product line is based on a system architecture called MARS (Modular Aircraft Refueling Systems). Each MARS Module is designed to perform specific functions and is interoperable with all other MARS Modules. As customer requirements expand and evolve, additional MARS Modules may be added to provide a fully scalable solution.
The MARS solution is used for bulk aviation fuel transfer from barges to platform operating tanks, as well as dispensing directly into helicopters on offshore rigs. Millennium Systems is also expanding the sale of its Rooftop Helifuel Systems for hospitals and emergency medical service providers.
The MARS solution relies heavily on Blackmer sliding-vane pumps. For example, the MARS Rooftop Helifuel System consists of a Blackmer GX Pump installed at ground level in a MARS PFT (Pump & Filter) Module, which pumps jet fuel up to 14 stories to a MARS RDS (Remote Dispenser) Module. Current users of these systems include University of Wisconsin Health, Duke Hospital (NC), D.C. Children’s Hospital, Fairfax County Hospital (VA), St. Mary’s Hospital (CO), Orlando Health (FL), and others.
MARS Helifuel Systems have also been used to support the airborne law enforcement community, with installations at multiple sites for CHPS (California Highway Patrol), Las Vegas Municipal Police Dept., Anaheim Police Dept., Orange County Fire Dept., Va. Beach Police Dept., Maryland State Police, and others throughout the U.S.
“We recently supplied 22 Blackmer GX2 pumps driven by diesel engines in mobile trailers with filters, meters, and hose reels to Amazon.com for emergency diesel fuel transfer,” says Gordon Johnson, president of Millennium Systems. “This is another growth market we have identified for the future.”
Another MARS product being promoted by Millennium Systems is the MARS Pre-Fabricated Fuel Farm. This product consists of a MARS Module, which is pre-piped and pre-wired to multiple 15,000 USG fuel storage tanks in Millenium’s yard. After completion, the system is disassembled and shipped with all of the piping and wiring in conduit in a container with the MARS Module and then ship the tanks on flat racks. Upon arrival, Millenium technicians supervise the re-assembly of all piping and wiring. “A recent installation in Gambia (West Africa) took five days to complete,” says Johnson. “Any other method would have taken five months.”
Application:
Construction Equipment Refueling
Pernin équipements has successfully deployed its latest-generation fueling system for applications involving construction equipment in North Africa—where dirty fuel is a big problem. The system is essentially a big fuel filter that is used to ensure clean fuel for on-site construction equipment.
Like Millenium Systems’ MARS solution, Pernin’s refueling system, called the FIMAX cabin, features Blackmer sliding-vane pumps. The FIMAX cabin is designed for large machines used for building, construction, earthmoving, civil engineering, and mining in difficult markets and areas where the very poor quality of fuel is a major issue that causes costly failures and breakdowns.
The FIMAX system enables fuel polluted with particles and water to be sufficiently purified and delivered at high flowrates. The FIMAX system supports the following processes:
- The unloading of delivery trucks to storage tanks with filtration of particles without water separation;
- Transfer from the storage tank to the tank of the machine, or to another storage tank, with separation of water and filtration of particles; and
- Fueling from the storage tank with particle filtration and separation water.
The FIMAX system is equipped with:
- Filters for filtration of particles (25 mm)
- Water separator and coalescer
- Electrical pumping set with Blackmer model TXD 2.5” pumping system
- Positive-displacement meter with mechanical register with weights and measure accuracy
- Pneumatically actuated ball valves
- External control panel
- External galvanized steel grid to prevent the cabin from unintended use
The Blackmer sliding-vane pump is the heart of the transfer function of the FIMAX fueling cabin, enabling high suction capabilities for petroleum products with various difficult conditions, such as:
- Products in underground storage tanks;
- High product vapor pressure under warm atmospheric temperatures (various liquids, such as fuel oil, Jet A1, GNR, diesel, kerosene); and
- High discharge pressures based on the fouling of filters cartridges.
The pumps also provide extreme reliability, which is a necessity since the FIMAX cabin is frequently deployed in harsh, difficult-to-reach environments where no maintenance facilities are available.
“The Blackmer pump was the ideal solution for this application because it offered solid technical characteristics, including low internal pressure losses, power efficiency, and proven reliability,” says Jean-François Pernin, president and general manager, Pernin équipements. “The pumps are also configured to ensure the meter will never overflow.”
The Blackmer pumps have been serving for two years in a variety of heavy-duty applications, with more than 20 cabins currently in operation and no complaints from the end-users.
Pernin is currently considering the FIMAX cabin in any application where the quality of fuel is an issue and the user cannot afford to stop the duty of the machine. One of the next prospective applications is for the fueling of harbor cranes in African countries.
Matt Migliore is the director of content for Flow Control magazine and FlowControlNetwork.com. He can be reached at 610.828.1711 or [email protected].
