#Industry News
Hydro-Cyclone Surveillance, Antapaccay Mine, Preventing Sanding & Blockages
This is a Hydro-Cyclone. It separates things. Solids from liquids, solids from solids, or even liquids from gases. The principle is simple enough. A slurry enters the inlet pipe.
Centrifugal force pulls large stuff to the sides and gravity lets them fall through the exit pipe. The vortex in the middle lifts smaller, lighter stuff through the top exit pipe.
Mines use hydro-cyclones in nests to separate sand particles from liquids in a slurry. If the sand particles become too large the cyclone clogs. A clogged cyclone is a safety risk, and results in asset damage and lost production.
The major components of each centrifuge within the nest can be seen depicted in Figure 1. Key components include:
Feed Inlet (Where the slurry of pulp enters the centrifuge)
Fluted Vortex Finder (Where the vortex occurs)
Apex Nozzle (Where concentrated solids exit the vortex)
Overflow (Where diluted solids exit the vortex)
