How High Pressure Water is Created

The basic technology is both simple and extremely complex. At its most basic, water flows from a pump, through plumbing and out a cutting head. It is simple to explain, operate and maintain. The process, however, incorporates extremely complex materials technology and design. To generate and control water at pressures of 60,000 psi requires science and technology not taught in universities. At these pressures a slight leak can cause permanent erosion damage to components if not properly designed. Thankfully, the waterjet manufacturers take care of the complex materials technology and cutting-edge engineering. The user need only be knowledgeable in the basic waterjet operation.

Essentially, there are two types of waterjets; (1) pure waterjet and (2) abrasive waterjet. Machines are designed to employ only waterjet, only abrasive waterjet, or both. With any type, the water must first be pressurized.

The Pump
The pump is the heart of the waterjet system. The pump pressurizes the water and delivers it continuously so that a cutting head can then turn that pressurized water into a supersonic waterjet stream. Two types of pump can be used for waterjet applications — an intensifier based pump and a direct drive based pump.

Direct Drive Pump
The direct drive pump operates in the same manner as a low-pressure “pressure washer” that you may have used to pressure wash a house or deck prior to repainting. It is a triplex pump that gets the movement of the three plungers directly from the electric motor. These pumps are gaining acceptance in the waterjet industry due to their simplicity. At the time of this writing, direct drive pumps can deliver a maximum continuous operating pressure 10 to 25% lower than intensifier pumps units (20k to 50k for direct drive, 40k to 60k for intensifiers).

The Direct Drive pump is a relatively new type of high-pressure pump
(commercially available since late 1980's).

Though direct drive pumps are used in some industrial applications, the vast majority of all ultra-high pressure pumps in the waterjet world today are intensifier based.