Engineering Excellence: Inside Viking Pump’s Product Engineering Lab and 3D Printing Technology Center

When customers evaluate a pump supplier, the decision often comes down to more than published performance curves. It includes how a manufacturer verifies performance under real service conditions and how confidently that supplier can support demanding applications. Viking Pump supports that evaluation through two connected capabilities: a dedicated Product Engineering Lab for certified testing and product development, and a Technology Center that applies 3D printing and 3D mapping to speed prototyping and tooling.

The Product Engineering Lab: Certified testing tied to application requirements

Viking Pump’s Product Engineering Lab is a resource for discovering, creating, and testing positive displacement pump technology, while also supporting quality checks and certified testing.

What “certified testing” really means

There are two primary tests that the team performs to confirm product capabilities:

• Performance testing: used to ensure a pump meets specific customer requirements by testing to the customer’s unique conditions of service (viscosity, speed, and pressure)
• Hydrostatic testing: pressurizes the pump and confirms the integrity of a pump’s casting and seal.

Certified testing is a way to replicate the customers exact pumping application, validate performance before installation, and satisfy engineering specifications or other industry standards such as API.

The equipment behind the capability

The lab’s testing infrastructure includes:

• Nine dynamometers, ranging up to 300 horsepower
• Data acquisition tools used to support testing
• Test liquids of various viscosities to support a range of service conditions. These test liquids are adhered to a strict calibration schedule to maintain exact viscosities.
• An endurance deck for long-term pump life evaluation

Additional test services include NPSH, mechanical run, sound, vibration, and complete unit testing. Test accuracy is supported by NIST-traceable calibration.

The R&D machine shop: iteration speed that stays connected to testing

Testing identifies what needs to change; development speed depends on how quickly revisions can be produced and evaluated. The Product Engineering lab also utilizes an R&D machine shop intended to complement the range of testing capabilities.

The shop includes a state-of-the-art vertical machining center and a coordinate measuring machine (CMM) that enable quality parts, rapid new product development, and the ability to make revisions with essentially zero lead time.

The development loop stays close to the test environment—changes can be made and revisited without separating “design” from “verification.”

The Technology Center: 3D printing + 3D mapping used for prototyping and tooling

Viking Pump's Technology Center enables teams to use product prototyping and 3D mapping to increase efficiency and better serve customers.

Printer capability and material range

The Technology Center uses eight 3D printers that can print in a variety of materials including resins, Peek, flexible TPU, and rigid ABS. ABS can be vapor smoothed to create higher-quality smooth surfaces, supporting pattern equipment for sand castings at Viking Pump’s foundry.

3D scanning and mapping

3D scanning and 3D mapping software are used for product evaluation and model creation. When paired with scanning, legacy pattern equipment can be scanned and converted to a 3D model to create new tooling.

What this means for customers comparing Viking Pump against other suppliers

1. At Viking Pump, performance verification is a defined capability. Certified performance and hydrostatic testing, additional test services – with NIST-traceable calibration – are available.
2. Testing and iteration are supported under one umbrella. Lab testing is paired with an R&D machine shop intended to enable rapid revisions during new product development.
3. Prototyping and tooling development can be accelerated. The Technology Center’s 3D printer capacity, material range, and scanning/mapping workflow support rapid prototypes, tooling creation, and mapping of Viking Pump’s legacy pattern equipment.

Viking Pump’s Product Engineering Lab and Technology Center are built to support a disciplined development process: prototype where it’s efficient, test where it matters, and document performance against application requirements before equipment is deployed.