Abstract
In this paper, the motion of textiles through a waste water pump is studied by aid of vision technologies. The steel volute of a commercial pump is replaced with a similar volute made in acrylic glass, which allows recording the motion of textiles inside the pump. Recordings are made at four different operating points to investigate the influence of rotational speed of the impeller and flow rate on the passage of textiles through the pump. The experiments show that the textiles flow rapidly through the pump when the pump is operated near the best efficient point for both high and low impeller speed. The textiles tend to stay inside the pump when the pump is operated at part load for both low and high impeller speed. At low impeller speed, the textiles often stick to the tongue in the pump casing. At higher impeller speed, the textiles flow multiple rounds in the volute. For fail-safe operation, it is recommended not to operate waste water pumps far away from the best efficiency point.
Highlights
At the time being, waste water systems around the world are challenged by an increased amount of synthetic products in the waste water
The aim of this paper is to provide detailed information on how textile flows through a wet-installed pump operated at the best efficiency point (BEP) and part load (55% of BEP)
The cloths flow relatively smoothly through the pump when operated near best efficiency point at low impeller speed (600 rpm)
Summary
Waste water systems around the world are challenged by an increased amount of synthetic products in the waste water. Sanitary towels, cotton buds, condoms and wet wipes are flushed in toilets, and afterwards they flow through pipes and pumps towards the wastewater treatment plant, where they are sorted out in mechanical filters On their way, especially the passages of wastewater pumps are critical as the synthetic solid parts of the wastewater can cause stoppage due to clogging of impellers. For clean water applications simulations have proven to be an accurate and powerful tool for pump development [3], while the development in simulation tools for complex flows including a carrier phase (water) and foreign objects are under rapid development Boundary conditions for the latter type of simulations can be obtained like in Jensen et al [4], where the influence of operating point on the shape and position of textile material at the inlet pipe to a dry-installed wastewater pump is investigated. Common for the research done by Jensen et al, Gerlach et al and Tan et al is that the experiments were carried out in dry-installed pumps and without focus on the movement of textiles
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