Several factors to affect the working capacity of decanter centrifuge
Now GN Solids Control has different types of decanter centrifuges, the treating capacity are ranging from 40 GPM to 484 GPM. As we all know, decanter centrifuge are designed and manufactured for separate the drilling solids which diameter is mainly below 10 microns. But for the common people, we might do not know why the treating capacity can be varies a lot.
There are some parameters, such as the diameter of the bowl, the length of the bowl, the position of the liquid outlet, the position of the discharge port and the rotating speed of the bowl as well as the rotating speed of the inner propeller. Among these parameters, the bowl’s diameter and the bowl’s length are two main factors we usually talked a lot.
It is not difficult to understand when a bowl with a larger diameter and a larger length, it has much more working room space to treat the drilling fluids which means it must have a larger capacity.
Sometimes, we will access one bowl by the ration of length and diameter, which we named f (f=Length/ Diameter) here. Since we usually design the bowl diameter from 9 inch to 22 inch, and the length from 26 inch to 71 inch, so it’s quite common the f is ranging from 3 to 8.
Some designers believe the decanter centrifuge should working at a high speed and the f must be very large. Considering the fierce vibration of the whole decanter centrifuge, the speed cannot be over 4500 r/m. At the speed of 4500 r/m the inner parts (such as inlet pipe) will broken in a short period. According to the former experiences, rotating speed at 3800 r/m (with bowl diameter in 22 inch and bowl length in 71 inch) can satisfy the most separation demands.
For finer separation, GN recommends to use two decanter centrifuges. Besides, GN has mini decanter centrifuge especially for diamond drilling. Any details, welcome to email to thomas@gnsolidcontrol.com