Well,
Hydrocyclone performance has been described
by empirical formulas and charts. The leading
vendor has done well for itself by stressing
anticipated customer conditions in making application
reccommendations. BUT, there is a lot wanting in a
hydrocyclone. The reason that it is a staple in mining
is because of its capacity and simplicity. Also, it
melds the necessary unit operation of slurry pumping
required for the next unit operation with the unit operation of size classification.
So we may understand each other, the met./ min.proc.
community describes three key parts of the hydrocyclone.
The inlet is obvious. The vortex finder is adjacent the
inlet and admits the bulk of outflow from the unit. The
apex is at the "base" and is at the opposite end from the
other two ports. Obviously, the inlet flow vortex proceeds
to the vicinity of the apex. But simple displacement, the
helical flow must reverse course near the apex and flow
in the opposite direction to exit out the vortex finder.
The apex is usually of smaller diameter than the vortex
finder, so the bulk of the flow must exit this port. The
spinning action doesn't change the phenomena of fluid displacement.
Now, the fluid flow arrangement is the setting by which
particle separations occur. Particle size, PARTICLE SHAPE,
pulp density, water temperature, particle size distribution
and salinity all affect performance. Simply put, these conditions affect what "spins out" to report to the apex
before the internal vortex draws the material up and out.
Clearly, some internal circulation of marginal particles
occur. The hydrocyclone sorts all this out in steady state.
BUT WAIT!!!! There is a similar looking hydrocyclone that
does a very different job! Works differently also! It is the
CWC or Compound Water Cyclone. It basicly has no upward internal core and it makes separations based upon specific
gravity, and of course, the bias of particle sizes. Did this
help you!
Sideliner