Attribute Schema Library
Attribute schemapump, valve & process equipment

Diaphragm Pump Attributes

Diaphragm pumps move fluid with two flexible membranes and check valves rather than a rotating seal. Most of what a process distributor ships is air-operated double diaphragm (AODD): 1/4 in to 3 in ports, 20–100 psi plant air, self-priming, runs dry and deadheads without damage. Alongside it sit solenoid and motor-driven metering diaphragm pumps. Buyers are plant maintenance, chemical and wastewater engineers, and OEM integrators.

The data is hard for a structural reason: the pump is not a SKU, it is a model code. A Wilden P4 resolves to a string like P4/AAAPP/NES/NE/NE/0014, where separate positions set the wetted path, diaphragm, valve ball, valve seat and hardware. One family becomes hundreds of orderable configurations, and the specs travel with them — that P4 on Neoprene is published at 5.8 m dry suction lift where the series sheet quotes 6.9 m, and max fluid temperature follows the diaphragm, not the casting.

The rest is trapped in PDFs. Flow and air consumption are curves, not numbers. ATEX certificates carry a marking string that filter rails flatten into a yes/no chip.

Core

Every SKU needs these. Without them the record is not a product, it is a row.

Manufacturer Part Number (MPN)
identifier
P4/AAAPP/NES/NE/NE/0014

The full model code, not the family. P4 alone is not orderable; the wetted path, diaphragm, ball and seat positions decide what ships.

Pump Drive Type
enum
Air-operated double diaphragm (AODD)

Splits the category before any other filter. Air-operated, solenoid metering and motor-driven pumps are not cross-shopped against each other.

Port Size (Suction & Discharge)
number · in
1-1/2 in (38 mm / DN40)

First filter on every rail. Sets the flow band and must match the line. AODD runs 1/4 in to 3 in, in NPT, BSP and flanged options.

Port Connection Type
enum
BSPT, female

NPT and BSPT share nominal sizes and will not seal to each other. Size alone tells a buyer nothing about whether it fits the line.

Max Flow Rate
number · gpm
81 gpm (307 L/min)

Rated at full air pressure and zero discharge head. Only useful read against the discharge pressure the duty actually demands.

Max Discharge Pressure
number · psi
125 psi (8.6 bar)

AODD is a 1:1 pump — discharge pressure can never exceed air inlet pressure. Caps the duty point regardless of the flow rating.

Wetted Housing Material
enum
316 Stainless Steel

Chemical compatibility and price. Aluminum, cast iron, 316 SS, Alloy C, polypropylene, PVDF, acetal — each also in conductive grades.

Diaphragm Material
enum
PTFE with Santoprene backup

The wear part and the real temperature limit. Also sets displacement per stroke and suction lift on an otherwise identical pump.

Max Fluid Temperature
number · °C
93 °C (200 °F), Neoprene diaphragm

Set by the diaphragm and elastomers, not the casting. A 316 SS pump on Buna-N stops well short of the same pump on PTFE.

Differentiating

What buyers actually compare on. This is where catalogs win or lose the filter.

Air Consumption at Rated Duty
number · scfm
40 scfm (maximum)

Decides whether the plant compressor can run it. Published as a curve against flow and pressure, so the duty point must be stated with it.

Suction Lift — Dry / Wet
range · ft
19 ft dry / 26.2 ft wet (5.8 / 8 m)

Two numbers, not one. Dry lift governs drain-down and drum emptying, is always the lower figure, and moves with the diaphragm.

Max Solids Diameter
number · mm
4.8 mm (3/16 in)

Whether slurry passes or wedges the valve balls. The filter that separates a transfer pump from a sump or slurry pump.

Valve Ball & Seat Material
enum
Neoprene ball / Neoprene seat

Separate model code positions from the diaphragm, and often different materials. Balls and seats fail first on abrasive duty.

Static-Dissipative Construction
boolean
true (conductive polypropylene)

Plastic housings ship in conductive and non-conductive grades. Flammable solvent transfer requires the conductive one plus a grounding path.

Compliance & identifiers

Standards, regulatory data, and the identifiers channels reject you for missing.

ATEX / Ex Marking
text
II 2G Ex h IIB T4 Gb

The full marking, not a flag. Category and gas group decide which zone the pump may enter: II 2G is Zone 1, II 3G is Zone 2 only.

Food Contact Compliance
enum
FDA 21 CFR 177 wetted; EHEDG certified

FDA 21 CFR 177 covers elastomer materials only. 3-A and EHEDG certify the pump design for CIP. Different claims, routinely conflated.

GTIN / UPC
identifier
0850003912349 (GTIN-13)

Required by Amazon Business and reseller catalog feeds. Sparse on configured model codes because most are built to order.

Country of Origin
identifier
United States (US)

Drives tariff classification, government and utility bid eligibility, and marketplace listing. Assembly site can differ from the brand's home.

The fields that aren't in the schema at all

What most diaphragm pumps catalogs are missing.

The table above is the schema most catalogs already have. These are the attributes that usually aren't in it — each one surfaced by a signal from the live market rather than by an audit of what's already there. This is what Anglera's Schema Foundry does on a real catalog, in this category.

Supplier signal
+ Wetted Material by Component (ball / seat / o-ring)

Wilden and ARO model codes encode wetted path, diaphragm, valve ball and valve seat as separate positions. Most distributor records carry one 'Material' field, populated from the housing.

Buyer filters Material = PTFE expecting PTFE balls and seats, receives Neoprene ones. Chemical attack, return freight, and the repair-kit revenue goes elsewhere.

Supplier signal
+ Air Consumption at Duty Point

Manufacturers publish air consumption as curves against discharge pressure and flow. Catalogs carry at most a single 'Air Consumption (Maximum)' facet, and often no field at all.

Plant with a fixed compressor buys a pump that starves at duty. The pump gets blamed for the shortfall, comes back, and the distributor eats the freight.

Competitor signal
+ ATEX / Ex Marking String

Filter rails expose Standards = ATEX as a yes/no chip. The certificate names a category and gas group — II 2G Ex h IIB T4 Gb — that decides which zone the pump may legally enter.

A Zone 1 spec gets filled with a Category 3G pump. Best case it is rejected at receiving inspection; worst case it is installed and commissioned.

Search signal
+ Suction Lift, Dry vs Wet

Datasheets publish both — a P4 at 5.8 m dry and 8 m wet. Catalogs publish one number or none, and buyers searching 'dry suction lift' on a distributor site get zero results.

Pump specified for drain-down or drum emptying won't prime from the depth quoted. The wet-lift number hides it until the pump is on the floor.

Supplier signal
+ Displacement per Stroke

Wilden publishes it per diaphragm option on one pump: 0.14 gal PTFE reduced-stroke against 0.29 gal TPE. No distributor filter rail exposes the field.

Batch and decanting buyers who size by stroke count cannot work from the catalog. They call the manufacturer's application desk and the order leaves the site.

How Schema Foundry finds these

Messy in, governed out.

The same value, spelled every way pump, valve & process equipment suppliers spell it. A filter only works once they agree.

Diaphragm Material
SantopreneSantoprene™ TPETPEThermoplastic ElastomerSANTSant.
Santoprene (TPE)

A trade name, a polymer class and an abbreviation for the same part. Filter on the raw strings and one pump family splits six ways.

Wetted Housing Material
316 S.S.SS316Stainless Steel 316CF8MSSTStainless
316 Stainless Steel

CF8M is the cast equivalent of 316 and appears on casting datasheets. 316L is a separate grade — normalize these, do not fold 316L in.

Port Connection Type
2" NPT2 in NPT(F)2 NPTF2" BSPBSPTDN50 flange
2 in (DN50) + NPT female

Suppliers fuse size and thread into one string. NPT and BSPT share nominal sizes and will not seal together — they must be separate fields.

Max Fluid Temperature
200°F93 C200 deg F93°C (200°F)-18 to 93 CMax 200F
93 °C (200 °F)

Unit drift plus range-collapsed-to-max. The published limit tracks the diaphragm, so it has to be stored per configuration, not per family.

What buyers ask

Every one of these should be answerable from the attributes above. If it isn't, that's a gap.

  • Will it run on 80 psi shop air, or do I need more compressor?
  • Can the wetted path take 25% sulfuric acid without eating the diaphragm?
  • How high will it lift out of a sump if it starts dry?
  • Is this ATEX rated for Zone 1, or only Zone 2?
  • It says 2 inch — is that NPT or BSPT? My line is BSPT.
  • Will 1/8 in grit pass the balls, or will it wedge them?
  • Can I run 190 °F caustic, or does the diaphragm cap me lower?
  • Is it actually legal for food contact, or just called food grade?

What channels require

The same SKU, different mandatory fields per destination.

Distributor's own faceted catalog
Port SizePort Connection TypeMax Flow RateMax Discharge PressureDiaphragm MaterialWetted Housing Material
Grainger / MSC reseller catalog feed
MPNGTIN / UPCPort SizeWetted Housing MaterialAir Consumption (Maximum)Country of Origin
Amazon Business
GTIN / UPCMPNBrandMax Flow RateItem WeightCountry of Origin
Ariba / Coupa punchout catalog (cXML)
MPNUNSPSC codeUnit of MeasureCountry of OriginLead Time

Diaphragm Pumps data, in practice

Why isn't max flow rate enough to size a diaphragm pump?

Because it's a curve endpoint, not a duty point. Published max flow is measured at full air inlet pressure with zero discharge head — flooded suction, open discharge. Every psi of discharge pressure the system demands takes flow back. An AODD is a 1:1 pump: discharge pressure can never exceed air inlet pressure, so a pump rated to 125 psi running on 80 psi shop air tops out at 80 psi, and its flow at 60 psi of head is a fraction of the headline number. Sizing needs three fields read together — Max Flow Rate, Max Discharge Pressure and Air Consumption at the intended duty — plus the suction condition. A catalog carrying only the first cannot answer the question the buyer is asking.

Does the housing or the diaphragm set the temperature limit?

The diaphragm, in almost every case, along with the balls, seats and o-rings. A 316 stainless pump will take heat the elastomer inside it will not: a Wilden P4 on Neoprene is published at -18 °C to 93 °C, while the same castings on PTFE run higher. That has a modelling consequence. Max Fluid Temperature is not a property of the pump family — it belongs to the configuration, and a single family-level temperature field will be wrong for most of the SKUs beneath it. The same is true of suction lift and displacement per stroke, both of which move with the diaphragm on an otherwise identical pump.

Is ATEX a yes/no field?

No, and treating it as one is how the wrong pump reaches a classified area. Under 2014/34/EU a compliant non-electrical pump carries a marking string — for example II 2G Ex h IIB T4 Gb. Read it as: equipment group II (surface), category 2G (Zone 1, gas), 'h' for non-electrical protection per EN ISO 80079-36/-37, gas group IIB, temperature class T4 (135 °C max surface), equipment protection level Gb. A Category 3G pump is Zone 2 only and cannot enter Zone 1. The certificate also constrains construction: static-dissipative or conductive wetted materials and a documented grounding path. A record that says 'ATEX: Yes' next to a plain polypropylene housing is not answerable.

How many orderable SKUs does one diaphragm pump family produce?

Enough that the family is the wrong unit of record. The model code is positional — size and series, wetted path and outer piston, diaphragm, valve ball, valve seat, then hardware and options: P4/AAAPP/NES/NE/NE/0014. Multiply the housing options (aluminum, cast iron, 316 SS, Alloy C, polypropylene, PVDF, acetal, each with conductive grades) by the elastomer options at three separate positions, then by port thread and ATEX variants, and one family runs to hundreds of configurations. Most are built to order, which is why GTINs are sparse — and why the specs that vary by position get published once at family level and are silently wrong below it.

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