Key features
Vogelsang's QuickService design gives access to the pumping chamber by removing the cover, so wearing parts are replaced without dismounting the pump from the pipe.
Vogelsang's own headline characteristics for the range, and the reason it turns up on tankers, sludge lines and biogas plants.
The pump chamber is lined with highly wear-resistant special steel. Axial plates are always fitted; radial plates are an option for abrasive media.
Elastomer and steel lobes in several geometries, and housings in grey cast iron, ADI or stainless steel, with duplex and nickel-based alloys on request.
The mechanical seal comes pre-assembled and factory-checked as a cartridge, which takes the assembly errors out of a seal change on site.
Vogelsang warrants every VX pump for five years against internal shaft breakage, under its normal conditions of use and warranty terms.
About the Vogelsang VX series
Vogelsang describes the VX as the all-rounder of its rotary lobe range, and the model spread is what makes that stick. Five series carry between four and eight sizes, from the VX100 at up to 50 m³/h to the VX215 at up to 1,417 m³/h, so the same pumping principle covers a small on-vehicle transfer duty and a digester recirculation line. Vogelsang's claim for the range is that a specifically configured version can be assigned to almost any delivery rate and differential pressure inside that envelope.
What it is good at is media that punish other pumps. Thin through to highly viscous, abrasive, aggressive, and media that react badly to shear. Flow from a positive displacement pump holds near-constant as the pressure moves, which is why the VX ends up on tanker discharge, waste activated sludge, biogas recirculation and industrial transfer duties. Vogelsang's own case studies for the range run to molasses, latex and copolymers, abrasive paints, used oils, ceramic sludge and hydrocarbons.
Where it is the wrong pump
Clean, thin liquid at moderate head. A centrifugal will move that for less money to buy and less money to run, and no amount of build specification changes that. The rule of thumb we work to is that once you are past roughly 3–4% solids, or the medium thickens, or it must not be sheared, positive displacement earns its cost. Below that, it usually does not.
Dry running
A word on dry running, because it gets misread. Vogelsang lists the VX as resistant to dry running, and that is a real design property, not a slogan. Treat it as tolerance rather than licence. A mechanical seal needs liquid to lubricate it, and dry running is one of the three things that finishes pumps on a wastewater site, along with rag and grit. If the pump is running dry, the suction conditions are wrong and the answer is upstream, not in the pump specification.
How we specify it
We supply and support the range as a distributor, which in practice means the build rather than only the size. The lobe material, the wear plate arrangement, the seal, the drive and the housing metallurgy are all selections against your medium, and getting those wrong costs far more over twenty years than the pump did. If you need clean-in-place or sterilise-in-place cleaning, the VX is not the housing for it and the VY series is.
How the Vogelsang VX series works
Vogelsang rotary lobe pumps are contactless rotating positive displacement pumps. Two lobed rotors turn in opposite directions inside the pump chamber and carry the medium round the outside from the suction side to the discharge side, which is the rotary lobe principle in one sentence. Delivery rate rises in proportion to speed, so the flow is set by how fast you turn the pump, and an optional speed sensor gives you a basis for measuring it. The pulsation-free HiFlo lobes carry more sealing lines than a conventional lobe, which raises suction capability and takes vibration out of the drive train.
Wear is managed rather than avoided. The housing segments are adjustable, so wear is compensated without adding parts. Axial wear plates in highly wear-resistant special steel protect the chamber as standard, and radial plates can line the rest of it. The InjectionSystem is the other option worth knowing about on dirty duties: it improves foreign-matter resistance and volumetric efficiency, and Vogelsang's own field trials put the gain at up to 2.5 times the service life.
The shafts run a large cross-section with no cranks or recesses to weaken them, which keeps deflection down under pressure. Two bearing arrangements follow from that. VX-Q uses dual overhung bearings and gives the on-site access the range is known for. VX-QD adds a third support bearing for high differential pressures, cutting shaft deflection and the wear that comes with it. Drive side, the Universal Drive System lets one pump take a geared or hydraulic motor, a cardan shaft or a three-speed gearbox, stationary or mobile, through a shaft and drive adapter.
On sealing, the Vogelsang Quality Cartridge arrives pre-assembled and computer-checked from the factory. That matters because the seal is the weak point in almost any pump, and a cartridge change is the one a site fitter can do without introducing an assembly error.
For explosion-protected duties, Vogelsang lists a PTB-certified A1 design with flame trap among the special options on the VX100. Send us the zone classification for the area the pump will sit in and we will take the build question back to Vogelsang rather than guess at it.
Specifications
| Model ranges | VX100, VX136, VX186, VX215, VX230 | five series with up to eight sizes |
|---|---|---|
| VX100 flow rate | up to 50 m³/h | four sizes |
| VX100 pressure | up to 10 bar | |
| VX136 flow rate | up to 364 m³/h | six sizes in nine types of construction |
| VX136 pressure | up to 12 bar | |
| VX186 flow rate | up to 1,025 m³/h | eight sizes in 13 types of construction |
| VX186 pressure | up to 12 bar | |
| VX215 flow rate | up to 1,417 m³/h | four sizes in six designs; Vogelsang also quotes this as 24,000 l/min |
| VX215 pressure | up to 8 bar | |
| VX215 free passage | 90 mm | |
| VX230 flow rate | up to 1,234 m³/h | four sizes in six designs |
| VX230 pressure | up to 12 bar | |
| Housing materials | Abrasion-resistant grey cast iron as standard; ADI and stainless steel stocked | duplex steel or a nickel-based alloy on request, plus heat treatment and wear-resistant coatings |
| Lobe materials | NBR, NBR white, EPDM-SL, EPDM-AL, EPDM white, CSM, FKM, PU, stainless steel, nitrided steel | |
| Lobe geometries | Straight double-wing, 3-wing, 4-wing, or pulsation-free 6-wing HiFlo | |
| Wear protection | Axial wear plates as standard; radial wear plates optional | highly wear-resistant special steel |
| Shaft seal | Vogelsang Quality Cartridge | |
| Bearing arrangements | VX-Q dual overhung bearings; VX-QD with a third support bearing for high pressures | |
| Drive options | Geared or hydraulic motor, cardan shaft, or three-speed gearbox via the Universal Drive System | stationary or mobile installation |
| Shaft warranty | Five years against internal shaft breakage | under Vogelsang's normal conditions of use and warranty terms |
Send us the flow rate, the static and discharge head with the pipe run behind it, the medium with its solids and viscosity at worst case, the temperature, and the zone classification if the area is classified. That is enough to size a VX, specify the lobes, seal and metallurgy against your medium, and quote it. If a different pump suits the duty better, we will say so.
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Frequently asked
What flow rate can a Vogelsang VX pump deliver?
It depends on the model range: the VX100 reaches up to 50 m³/h, the VX136 up to 364 m³/h, the VX186 up to 1,025 m³/h, the VX230 up to 1,234 m³/h and the VX215 up to 1,417 m³/h. Each range carries several sizes, so those are ceilings for the range rather than duty points.
What is the maximum pressure of the VX series?
The VX136, VX186 and VX230 go to 12 bar, the VX100 to 10 bar and the VX215 to 8 bar. For high differential pressures Vogelsang offers the VX-QD construction, which adds a third support bearing to hold shaft deflection down.
Can a VX series pump run dry?
Vogelsang lists the range as resistant to dry running, which is a genuine design property rather than a licence to run it dry: the mechanical seal still needs liquid to lubricate it. If a pump is running dry in service, the fault to fix is the suction conditions or the valve sequence, not the pump.
Is the VX series available in stainless steel?
Yes. Vogelsang stocks ADI and stainless steel versions alongside the standard abrasion-resistant grey cast iron, and the pump chamber components can be made in duplex steel or a nickel-based alloy on request.
How do you service a VX rotary lobe pump on site?
The QuickService design opens the pumping chamber by removing the cover, so the lobes, wear plates and shaft seal can be replaced without taking the pump out of the pipework. Quote the model and the serial number from the nameplate when you order parts, because the build behind a given size varies.