Centrifugal pump without bearings or seals

Abstract

By combining a canned-motor with a magnetically levitated pump rotor, Switzerland's Levitronix GmbH has achieved a centrifugal pump with neither shaft seals nor rotor bearings. This has many advantages for the handling of a range of sterile, shear-sensitive or delicate fluids. The feasibility of the concept was first demonstrated in 1995 by a group at Sulzer Electronics who went on to establish Levitronix in January 2001 in order to develop and commercialize the technology. CEO Dr Reto Schöb explains the basics of the pump's design and its advantages for a number of medical and industrial applications.