Lobe pump
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A lobe pump, or rotary lobe pump, is a type of positive displacement pump. It is similar to a gear pump except the lobes are designed to almost meet, rather than touch and turn each other. An early example of a lobe pump is the Roots Blower, patented in 1860[1] to blow combustion air to melt iron in blast furnaces, but now more commonly used as an engine supercharger.
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Lobe pumps are used in a variety of industries including pulp and paper, chemical, food, beverage, pharmaceutical, and biotechnology. They are popular in these diverse industries because they offer superb sanitary qualities, high efficiency, reliability, corrosion resistance and good clean-in-place and sterilization-in-place (CIP/SIP) characteristics.
Rotary pumps can handle solids (e.g., cherries and olives), slurries, pastes, and a variety of liquids. If wetted, they offer self-priming performance. A gentle pumping action minimizes product degradation. They also offer continuous and intermittent reversible flows and can operate dry for brief periods of time. Flow is relatively independent of changes in process pressure, too, so output is relatively constant and continuous.