Blackmer’s positive displacement pumps have significantly advanced pump technology with their unique rotary vane design. This innovative construction allows automatic wear compensation, maintaining constant flow rates throughout the pump’s service life. The rotary vane pump principle is characterized by excellent self-priming capabilities, high dry-run tolerance, and consistently stable and trouble-free performance.

Blackmer rotary vane pumps operate with a rotor containing axially sliding vanes. As the rotor turns, the pumping medium is drawn in behind each vane, guided through the suction port into the pumping chamber, and then transported between the vanes to the discharge port.

At the discharge port, the medium is displaced and expelled as the pumping chamber volume decreases. Each vane generates a positive mechanical pumping action on the medium.

Continuous contact between the vanes and the pump housing is ensured by three mechanisms:

1. Centrifugal force generated by rotor rotation
2. Pressure rods acting between opposing pairs of vanes
3. Hydraulic pressure from the pumping medium, transmitted via the vane slots to the back of the vanes

With each rotation of the pump, a constant volume of fluid is displaced. Pressure fluctuations have only a minimal effect on flow rate. Energy losses due to turbulence and slippage are largely avoided, resulting in high volumetric efficiency.

Due to their design as positive displacement pumps, Blackmer rotary vane pumps offer numerous system-related advantages:

• Automatic wear compensation to maintain consistent flow rates
• Excellent self-priming capability, no separate suction system required
• Extended dry-run tolerance, eliminating the need for complex power or dry-run monitoring
• Consistently stable performance with reliable, low-maintenance operation
• Maintenance-friendly design: vanes can be replaced without removing the pump from the piping system
• High suction performance, with suction heights over 7.6 m (25 ft) and complete tank and pipeline evacuation
• Low maintenance and life-cycle costs due to the regenerative design
• Good solids-handling capability thanks to large pumping volumes and low internal flow velocities
• High viscosity flexibility – capable of pumping thin to viscous media without additional heating
• High efficiency – lower power requirements compared to other pump types, reducing both capital and energy costs