Development of a self-cleaning mechanism for torque-flow pumps

Abstract

The design of reliable and durable pumping units is consistent with the achievement of a number of the United Nations’ sustainable development goals (SDG), in particular, “Clean water and proper sanitation” (SDG 6), “Affordable and clean energy” (SDG 7), and “Industry, innovation and infrastructure” (SDG 9). Notably, the use of torque-flow pumps is associated with the need to transport liquids of various types. Such an operating process can cause clogging of the flowing part of the pump (primarily the impeller) by pumping products, mainly wet wipes, solids, and inclusions. As a result of scientific research, an effective self-cleaning mechanism for the torque-flow pump was developed, which was the primary goal. The authors proved that the flow of actual fluid in the interblade channels of the impeller is characterized by an uneven distribution of absolute pressure and relative speed, which is a prerequisite for forming an uneven pulsating nature of motion (the key hypothesis of the study). To implement the proposed hypothesis, an impeller with uniform and non-uniform distribution of blades was developed, and the movement of actual fluid flow in their interblade channels was considered. As a result of the research, it was established that in the expanded interblade channels, there is a pulsation of the absolute (total) pressure value, which is more than 2 times higher than the indicator of an impeller with a uniform distribution of blades. This creates prerequisites for self-cleaning of the developed impeller of the torque-flow pump.