Marine Copper Bilge Pump

I. Product Overview

Marine copper bilge pump is a key equipment in the ship's bilge water removal system, specially designed to collect and discharge bilge water, oil leakage, and mixed liquids containing a small amount of impurities, ensuring the ship's stability and preventing cabin flooding. It adopts naval brass (HAl59-3-2) or tin bronze (ZCuSn6Zn6Pb3) as the main material, and realizes efficient delivery of media through the self-priming centrifugal pump principle - the power source (motor or manual crank) drives the impeller to rotate to generate vacuum, self-priming bilge water and pressurizing it, then discharging it overboard or to the oil-water separator after being filtered by the filter screen. The pump body undergoes anti-corrosion treatment and precision machining, with a corrosion-resistant service life of ≥8 years in low-salinity seawater and oil-contaminated environments. It meets the IMO "Ship Bilge Water System Specifications" and the bilge equipment certification requirements of classification societies such as LR and ABS, and is widely used in inland ships, coastal cargo ships, yachts and other small and medium-sized ships.

II. Core Technologies and Material Characteristics

1.Copper Material Selection and Performance

2.Key Technical Parameters

Flow range: 3-100m³/h, suitable for ships with 100-5000 gross tons (e.g., 1000 gross ton ships recommend a flow rate ≥15m³/h)

Head coverage: 8-30m, meeting the discharge pressure requirements from the bilge to overboard (including pipeline elbows and valve resistance losses)

Medium compatibility: Can transport oil-containing water (oil content ≤5%), freshwater, low-salinity seawater (sand content ≤2%), and mixed liquids with a temperature ≤60℃

Self-priming performance: Self-priming height ≥5m, priming time ≤60 seconds, no need for manual priming, suitable for low-level bilge water scenarios

Operation stability: Operates normally under the conditions of ship heel ±15° and trim ±5°, with a vibration value ≤4.0mm/s (measured at 1 meter)

3.Safety and Anti-Clogging Design

Equipped with an automatic liquid level control device, which automatically starts when the bilge water level ≥150mm and stops when ≤50mm to prevent damage caused by dry operation

The inlet end is equipped with double filter screens: a coarse filter screen (aperture 10mm) to intercept large particles of impurities, and a fine filter screen (aperture 3mm) to filter fine sand, reducing the clogging rate by 80%

Lightweight structure: 35% lighter than cast iron bilge pumps of the same specification, with a single unit weight ≤300kg, suitable for installation in narrow cabins

III. Technical Advantages and Innovative Design

1. Efficient Liquid Discharge Capacity

Wide-range self-priming impeller: Adopts a semi-open impeller and guide vane design, with a self-priming efficiency ≥85% in air-containing water (air content ≤10%), 20% higher than closed impellers, avoiding air binding.

Anti-winding flow channel: The flow channel adopts a streamlined curved design (simulating the intestinal curve of fish), reducing the winding rate of fibrous impurities (such as ropes and plastic bags) by 70%, and the non-clogging operation cycle in bilge water containing a large amount of debris exceeds 500 hours.

2. Balance Between Corrosion Resistance and Wear Resistance

All-copper flow components: The pump body, impeller, and shaft sleeve are all made of homogeneous copper materials to avoid galvanic corrosion caused by contact between dissimilar metals, with no obvious pitting after 3000 hours of immersion in 3% salt water, and especially resistant to oil adhesion.

Wear-resistant impeller edge: The edge of the tin bronze impeller is overlay-welded with nickel-based alloy (1mm thick), with a hardness of HRC55, and the wear resistance against sand scouring is 40% higher than that of pure copper impellers, suitable for inland sandy waters.

3. Adaptability to Small and Medium-Sized Ships

Dual power mode: Supports motor drive (normal working conditions) and manual crank drive (emergency power failure). In manual mode, 2 people can operate to output ≥30% of the rated flow, meeting the "minimum emergency guarantee" requirements.

Compact layout: The length of the pump unit is ≤1.0m (15m³/h model), with an area 40% smaller than that of stainless steel pumps with the same flow rate, suitable for the limited space of yachts and small cargo ships.

IV. Typical Application Scenarios

1. Routine Bilge Discharge

Coastal cargo ship bilge discharge: 500 gross ton coastal cargo ships are equipped with naval brass bilge pumps, with a flow rate of 10-20m³/h and a head of 15m, discharging bilge water containing a small amount of engine oil, which is discharged up to standard after being treated by the oil-water separator (oil content ≤15ppm).

Inland barge bilge cleaning: Tin bronze self-priming pumps (flow rate 5-10m³/h) are used to pump sandy water (sand content 1%) with a head of 10m. Through the anti-clogging flow channel design, they can still discharge stably after sailing in shoals.

2. Emergency Discharge Operations

Minor leakage discharge: When a ship has a minor cabin leakage, the naval brass bilge pump (flow rate 20-30m³/h) operates continuously, controlling the water discharge rate to be more than 1.5 times the leakage rate, buying time for emergency repairs.

Post-grounding discharge: When a ship grounds and causes bilge water ingress, the tin bronze pump sucks water through the low-level suction port, with a flow rate of 30-50m³/h and a head of 20m, and discharges the water overboard with the help of emergency pipelines to prevent the ship from tilting further.

3. Special Ship Adaptation

Yacht bilge system: Luxury yachts use silent naval brass bilge pumps (flow rate 3-8m³/h) with an operating noise ≤70dB (at 1 meter). Through shock-absorbing pads and sound insulation covers, they avoid affecting cabin comfort.

Fishing boat hold discharge: Offshore fishing boats use tin bronze bilge pumps with a flow rate of 8-15m³/h to discharge fish blood-containing water after hold flushing. They are resistant to fishy odor adhesion, extending the cleaning cycle to 30 days.

V. Selection and Maintenance Specifications

1. Key Selection Parameters

Ship type: Naval brass pumps are selected for coastal ships and oil-containing water, and tin bronze pumps are selected for inland ships and sandy water

Discharge demand: Configure 1.2 times the maximum hourly bilge water accumulation. For example, if the daily water accumulation is 80m³, the recommended flow rate is ≥4m³/h

Installation conditions: Compact models are selected for space-constrained scenarios (such as yachts), and anti-clogging models are selected for waters with more impurities

2. Maintenance Points

Daily monitoring: Check the outlet pressure (fluctuation ≤±0.1MPa), bearing temperature (≤70℃), and seal leakage (≤2mL/h) every 600 hours

Regular maintenance: Clean the double filter screens monthly, check the impeller wear (allowable radial clearance ≤0.3mm) every 1500 hours, and replace the mechanical seal (oil-resistant nitrile rubber material)

Anti-corrosion maintenance: Acid pickling and passivation (citric acid solution) are performed on copper components every six months to remove surface oxide layers and oil stains and restore corrosion resistance

3. Compliance and Certification

International standards: Complies with IMO MSC.1/Circ.1476 Bilge Water System Guidelines and ISO 80369 Ship Pipeline Connection Standards

Classification society certifications: Passed the type approval of bilge pumps by LR, ABS, and CCS (including 500-hour oil-containing water operation tests)

Environmental requirements: Compatible with oil-water separators, and the discharged water meets the MARPOL Annex I bilge water discharge limits (oil content ≤15ppm)