Plumsteadville, August 17, 2001:    NIKKISO Pumps America, Inc. announces the immediate availability of two new lines of variable speed drives specifically engineered to complement the NIKKISO®, HYDROFLO® and EIKO® pumps. The HYDRODRIVE® line consists of:

    AC Variable Frequency Drives to 1.5 Horsepower
    DC Variable Speed Drives to 2 Horsepower

The requirements for operating reciprocating pumps under variable speed operation are very different from the more common centrifugal pumps. In all cases, reciprocating pumps require a constant torque over the entire operating speed range, versus centrifugal pumps whose power requirements fall off exponentially. Compounding this difference, typical motors produce less torque at lower operating speeds than they do at their base speed.

NIKKISO Pumps America engineers have taken all of these parameter limitations into account in the design of the new HYDRODRIVE® products, as well as incorporating additional features not found in current variable speed controllers. The most interesting feature of the AC line is the development of unique current limiting circuitry, which greatly reduces voltage spikes and transients delivered to the motor. Current limiting removes the need for special winding insulation typical of "Inverter Duty" motors, and allows users to drive commonly available, standard motors over the entire motor speed range with complete safety. The DC controls also received several design improvements over current technology with the inclusion of optical isolation for the process control signal, eliminating the potential for damage to the user's control instrumentation.

All HYDRODRIVE® products are equipped for automatic or manual control from either local or remote locations, come in Nema-4X / IP-65 rated enclosures, are UL and CSA recognized and CE compliant.

NIKKISO Pumps America serves the North, Central and South American marketplaces with fluid handling equipment for Adhesive, Agricultural, Beverage, Chemical, Food, Oil & Gas, Personal Care, Petrochemical, Pharmaceutical, Power Generation, Pulp & Paper, Refinery, Textile, Water and Wastewater Treatment markets; as well as Aerospace, Instrument,and Medical markets through other divisional centers and additional operations at Microtrac in Montgomeryville, PA and NIKKISO Cryo in Las Vegas, NV.