Hydrocyclone

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Human: Hydrocyclones are used to separate solids from liquids by applying centrifugal forces and are employed in various industries for this purpose. I've personally utilized them on oil rigs to remove sand from drilling fluid and in fertilizer to clean a liquid fertilizer before further processing. They can also be used to remove silt from swimming pools after a mudslide. This design is highly effective with no moving parts to separate particles larger than 50 microns from the fluid. Note that the feed is positioned involuted, not tangential as many designs are. This is done to improve separation of lighter solids. Additional hardware: 16mm PVC conduit was used as the feed pipe for optimal flow, which should be straight for at least six to eight times its diameter. The other connectors to 50mm PVC pipes seen in the photos are just to connect to my submersible pump. Outflow was through a 22mm LDPE garden irrigation fitting hot glued in place. The design incorporates a space for an o-ring seal. Turned M2 bolts were hard to find, so I simply used wire to bind the two parts together. Printed in PLA. This unit is sized for a 12m3/hr pool pump with a feed of 15% solids, overflow of 0-5%, and underflow of 40-60% solids. The design was created in Autodesk Fusion 360. The 3D model is parametric and can be easily adjusted for any flow rate and solid cut required. Find the Fusion 360 models here: http://a360.co/2sZFuVW, http://a360.co/2t9xcJB Three units can be independently sized and operated in series from one pump to produce progressively finer cuts and thus a cleaner product. Smart Dog Mining has a handy sizing sheet available at www.smartdogmining.com/software. This proof-of-concept version was 3D printed from PLA for ZAR200. Production versions can be machined or sintered from Nylon for about USD250.