Trading and engineering company focusing on process pumps
Copenhagen Pump presents the ALLWEILER AE hopper pump —an eccentric screw pump designed for media that are difficult to handle with conventional pumps and conveying solutions.
The pump is designed for highly viscous, non-flowing, and solids-laden media, such as dewatered sewage sludge, thick process media, and other demanding industrial products. Its purpose is to reliably convey difficult-to-handle media through a closed piping system, even when the material lacks natural flow properties.
This makes the AE pump suitable for applications such as wastewater treatment, the paper industry, marine applications, the chemical processing industry, mining, power plants, and general process industries. The pump is designed for applications where uptime, controlled flow, and reduced maintenance are critical operational parameters.
Many media with high solids content or high viscosity are traditionally conveyed using open conveyor belts or screw conveyors. While this can be a viable solution, it also presents practical challenges: spillage, odors, the risk of contamination, space requirements, and added mechanical complexity.
The AE-RD/RE offers a different approach. By conveying the material through a closed piping system, the pump can help ensure a cleaner and more controlled process. This can reduce the risk of spills, material exposure, and unnecessary manual cleaning.
For facilities that handle sludge or similar challenging media, enclosed conveyance can be a significant advantage. It provides a better working environment, cleaner installations, and more controlled transfer between process steps.
One of the classic challenges with thick, non-flowing media is bridging. This occurs when the material builds up across the inlet and no longer flows evenly into the pump.
The AE-RD/RE is designed specifically to address this issue. The hopper’s geometry combines vertical inlet walls with an optimized feed screw, which helps guide the material smoothly into the pump’s conveying elements. This reduces the need for separately driven bridge breakers and simplifies the overall installation.
The result is a more compact and mechanically efficient solution with fewer auxiliary components and fewer potential maintenance points.
In eccentric screw pumps, stable filling of the rotor and stator chambers is essential. Insufficient filling can lead to uneven operation, partial dry running, and accelerated wear.
The AE-RD/RE uses a flow-optimized feed box between the inlet hopper and the rotor/stator section. It ensures efficient filling of the transport chambers, even when the material is dense, viscous, or difficult to flow evenly.
In practice, this can improve operational reliability and reduce unnecessary wear on the pump’s critical components. For systems operating continuously, this is essential. Less wear means fewer shutdowns, lower spare parts consumption, and better overall availability.
The AE has been designed for some of the more demanding media encountered in industrial facilities. According to the product documentation provided, the pump can handle:
This makes the pump ideal for applications where the fluid is thick, abrasive, contains solids, or is difficult to feed into standard pump systems.
In demanding applications, pump performance is only part of the equation. Access for inspection and service is just as important.
The AE can be configured with inspection ports or flush connections in the inlet hopper and control box. This allows for faster inspection, cleaning, or the addition of secondary materials to the process.
The pump is also available in a Maintenance-in-Place design, which allows wear parts to be replaced without removing the pump from the piping system. This can significantly reduce repair time and make maintenance planning more efficient.
In addition, the solution can be combined with long-lasting wear parts such as ALLDUR stators and hard-chromed rotors, which are designed to withstand demanding and abrasive operating conditions.
AE can do more than just move material from one point to another. Depending on the application, the pump can also contribute to the actual process itself.
As the material passes through the transport chambers, it can be homogenized. Chemicals or additives can also be added during pumping, thereby combining transport and conditioning in a single process step.
For plants that handle sludge, thick suspensions, or highly viscous products, this can result in a more efficient process design and reduce the need for separate handling equipment.
Because the AE can generate higher pressures than many screw conveyors, the pump can feed downstream equipment directly in certain applications. This may be relevant, for example, in drying systems or other process equipment where a controlled, pressurized feed is required.
By replacing or reducing the need for open conveying systems, the pump can also support more compact plant layouts. This is particularly relevant in installations where space is limited or where closed and clean material handling is a priority.
The ALLWEILER AE peristaltic pump is designed for applications where difficult-to-handle fluids need to be transferred reliably, cleanly, and with minimal downtime.
The combination of funnel geometry, an anti-clogging feed screw, eccentric screw technology, and low-maintenance options makes the pump ideal for handling thick, non-flowing, and high-solids media.
For Copenhagen Pumps’ customers, AE is particularly appealing in applications where traditional pumps or open-system solutions fall short—and where operational reliability, closed-system transport, reduced wear, and process stability are critical.
Contact Copenhagen Pump to learn more about the ALLWEILER AE-RD/RE hopper pump and the possibilities for your application.
