Price® AOD® Pumping Solutions For Today’s Marketplace

The general principle behind AOD® pumps is to transfer fluid through the pump by means of a user supplied source of compressed air. AOD® pumps offer many advantages over other pumping alternatives. Because the driving force of the pumps is compressed air, the pumps do not require complex electrical and/or electronic controls to install and operate. The pumps handle a wide variety of fluids ranging from very high to low viscosity, to those that are corrosive and/or abrasive. They also have the ability to pump low-density powders and can pass fairly large solids. AOD® pumps do not “shear” the fluid during transfer, so they are ideal for handling shear-sensitive media such as foods, paints and inks where fluid consistency needs to be maintained. Due to the diaphragms being fixed at the outer diameter bead, the pumps have static sealing surfaces and do not require mechanical seals. They are self-priming with lifts greater than 20 feet, and can run dry or against a closed discharge without damage. In some cases, they can even be run while completely submerged in the process fluid. For applications where performance needs to be varied, the pumps offer an infinitely variable flow rate without the need of a variable speed motor. Just by varying air inlet pressure the performance of the pump can be adjusted to suit the application. AOD® pumps are portable and because of their quick and easy installation, they are easily transferable from site to site. Couple all of this with their ease of repair and maintenance, and you begin to see why AOD® pumps have remained an industry favorite.

Now that you are familiar with the advantages of air-operated diaphragm pumps in general, its time to look in detail at the innovation and features that Price AOD® pumps offer. First and foremost, is our patented oil-less, non-stalling air valve. Our state of the art, “posi-shift” air valve design supplies a continuous high-pressure signal to the main spool, which insures reliable stall-free operation. This is ideal for all types of low-pressure applications where the pump can operate on inlet pressures as low as 5 psi. There is no need for springs or magnets that are present in other manufacturers designs. This means 100% customer confidence that the pump will start in the most difficult conditions of service, including troublesome frequent start/stop applications.

In addition to the stall-free design, the patented Price® AOD® air valve consists of a main spool made from a highly engineered non-metallic material and precision-manufacturing techniques that allows for completely oil-less operation. It is because of this non-metallic spool material, that there are no metal-tometal wearing surfaces, so there are no sleeves or O-rings required. The main spool is also hydraulically balanced, thus there are no additional side forces that cause excessive wear to the spool or housing. The result of the non-wearing design allows the user to operate the pump completely lubrication free, which results in several benefits. Aside from the obvious maintenance headaches and costs associated with oil pots, no lubrication means no oil misting into the environment creating an unhealthy working conditions. With no oil, lubricants or grease packed components being introduced to the system, there is no chance of contaminating the pumped product, if a diaphragm failure were to occur. Our oil-less design has been field proven and working trouble-free since its introduction over 15 years ago. The end result is that the Price® oil-less air valve design results in lower operating and maintenance costs and less downtime.

In addition to the oil-less, stall-free design of the Price® AOD® air valve, another main advantage is the fact that it accomplishes these benefits, while using the fewest air valve components of any major diaphragm pump manufacturer. Our air valves require no O-rings, which is a huge advantage compared with some competitors air valves that contain many o-rings. Anyone who has done maintenance knows what a hassle multiple O-rings can be during disassembly and re-assembly. Fewer parts means fewer problems.

Our externally serviceable main spool allows simple access into the housing, which makes inspection and/or repair quick and easy. There is never a need to disassemble the pump or take it out of service to inspect the main spool.

We are so confident in the performance and design of our air valve that we offer a 5-year material and workmanship warranty on both the main and pilot spools. Our simple yet effective design truly defines the term “engineering excellence”. Simply put, it’s the best air valve available on the market.

Price® AOD® pumps not only offer a superior air valve design, but also have a variety of other features worth mentioning. Price® offers a full line of AOD® pumps, in sizes ranging from ¼” to 3”. Pump bodies are available in metallic and non-metallic designs. Diaphragms, balls and seats are available in a wide variety of materials. Our new Santoprene® diaphragms have a unique, proprietary “full-faced”, long life design, and along with our other diaphragm designs, are not interchangeable with any other manufacturers parts. This feature assuring that the customer will be using only authentic Price® Pump quality replacement parts. The main shaft of Price® AOD® pumps are nitrided, to provide longer life than standard non-treated 316SS shafts used by other manufacturers. Our pumps come standard with “whisper-quiet” polypropylene mufflers, with the option of a metallic muffler, when needed. Our AOD® line features NPT and ANSI flanges for the North American market with BSP and DIN flanges for the European market. We have clamped designs for general industry and bolted designs available for applications such as the petrochemical industry. If configuration is a key factor in the application, our manifolds can be assembled to in different directions to fit the required piping arrangement. For blending applications or if halving the pumpage is a requirement, Price® offers a few models with a split manifold arrangement, allowing a single pump to be used to pump two different fluids at the same time.

Air-filter regulators, pressure gauges, pulsation dampeners, surge suppressors, drum pump packages,
mobile cart mounted pumps and many other customized pump packages can be provided upon request.

The bottom line with Price® AOD® pumps is that they are low cost, durable, and versatile pumps that get the job done. Price® AOD® pumps provide clean, safe, reliable low maintenance performance in literally thousands of applications. When you invest in pumping equipment manufactured by Price® Pump Company, you buy more than just a pump. You receive engineering excellence, application expertise and immediate factory support necessary to keep your pumping needs trouble free.