Disc filter with automatic flushing

When you hear aboutdisc filters, something super-modern immediately appears - but in reality, 70% of problems with them arise due to a banal misunderstanding of the physics of the process. Many people still confuse automatic washing with full autonomy, and then wonder why the filter becomes clogged with sand at the most inopportune moment.

Design features that are not written about in the instructions

So I look at these neat blue discs in filters - and I remember an incident at a facility near Voronezh. There, the customer saved on prefilters, deciding thatautomatic flushingwill cope with any contamination. After three weeks, the discs had to be replaced - abrasive particles had worn away the polypropylene ribs. Key point: automation is not magic, it only saves the operator time.

By the way, about temperature conditions. The documentation usually states a range of 0-40°C, but in winter in an unheated room at -5, the plastic becomes brittle. Once, during startup after a frosty night, the housing cracked - it turned out that the manufacturer used polypropylene without frost-resistant additives. Now I always advise you to clarify this point.

The geometry of the disks is especially critical - cheap analogues often do not maintain the angles of inclination of the grooves. I once tested samples from three suppliers: with the same nominal filtration fineness, the difference in actual performance reached 15%. And this despite the fact that the automation was approximately the same for everyone.

Automation: between convenience and illusions

The most common myth is thatdisc filter with automatic flushingdoes not require control. Once I had to deal with a system in the Krasnodar region - there the differential pressure sensor was too close to the pump, and the filter was washed every 20 minutes. The owner could not understand for a month why the water consumption had tripled.

An interesting nuance with timers is that their settings greatly depend on the season. In the spring, during floods, the flushing interval should be halved, but many people forget about this. I remember that during drip irrigation in the Rostov region, all the emitters became clogged because of this - I had to relay kilometers of tapes.

But with solenoid valves it’s a different story. Chinese analogs fail after 2-3 thousand cycles, while Italian ones last 10+ years. But there is a subtlety - for hard water it is better to take valves with a bellows seal, although they are 30% more expensive.

Water as the main enemy and ally

Water hardness is the parameter that is most often ignored. When the salt content is above 300 mg/l, an insoluble coating forms on the discs, which is not washed off with standard washing. Had to develop forShandong Linyao Intelligent Agriculture Technology Co.,Ltdperiodic chemical cleaning system - once a season we spill it with citric acid.

Turbidity is a separate headache. If there is more than 50 mg/l of suspended matter in the water, standard filters cannot cope. Once, on a project in the Stavropol region, we had to install two cascades - first mesh prefilters, then disk ones. By the way, their equipment allows such solutions - on the website lyzhihuinongye.ru there are diagrams of combined systems.

The pH value also affects - at a pH below 6.5, corrosion of steel automation elements begins. I once saw how a valve stem was “eaten” in acidic artesian water over the course of six months. Now I always recommend using pH correctors.

Installation subtleties that cannot be found in textbooks

The orientation of the filter in space seems like a small thing, but the efficiency of washing depends on it. Horizontal installation is only permissible for models with turbulent washers, but not all manufacturers have them. Once they redesigned the system in the Tambov region - after correct installation vertically, the consumption of flushing water decreased by 25%.

Connecting pipes is a separate science. If there is no straight section at the inlet with a length of at least 5 diameters, cavitation occurs. I remember an incident on a farm in the Belgorod region - because of this, the disks collapsed during the season. I had to redo the harness and install dampers.

Maintenance - many people forget about pressure reducers. Without them, surges in the line knock the discs out of their grooves. This is especially critical for systems with variable flow pumps - a gearbox must be installed there, and for each line separately.

Economy vs reliability: finding a balance

Payback perioddisk filter with automatic washingstrongly depends on the operating mode. When watering vegetables in closed ground, it usually lasts 1.5-2 seasons, but only with the correct selection of filtration fineness. It was once calculated for a greenhouse plant that the transition from 130 to 100 microns increased the cost of equipment by 20%, but saved 35% on replacing drip lines.

Spare parts are where the hidden costs are. Original discs from European manufacturers last 5-7 years, but cost as much as a third of a new filter. Chinese analogues are 2 times cheaper, but they have to be changed every 2 years. ForShandong Lingyao Co.,LtdWe found a compromise - we took the cases from them, and the drives from a trusted Korean supplier.

Energy Consumption – Many people don’t consider the cost of flushing cycles. A 3 kW pump consumes about 0.5 kWh per cycle. With 10 washes per day, a decent amount accumulates over the course of a season. Now we recommend installing frequency converters - they from this manufacturer have shown themselves to be very good in smart agriculture projects.

Integration into complex systems

When connecting to SCADA systems, a problem often arises with communication protocols. Older filter modifications only work via Modbus RTU, while modern controllers require TCP. We had to somehow install intermediate gateways at a site in the Moscow region - this increased the cost of the project by 12%, but the remote control works reliably.

In projectssmart agricultureIt is important to consider the synchronization of the operation of several filters. If they all go into flushing at the same time, the irrigation system stops. Once we set up a cascade of eight units in Tatarstan - we had to develop an algorithm for sequential cleaning with priority for pollution.

Remote monitoring may seem like a good thing, but it adds vulnerabilities. After the incident with a hacker attack on a farm in the Lipetsk region (someone arranged a permanent flushing of all filters), we now always recommend backup local control protocols. By the way, Chinese manufacturers still have problems with cybersecurity - European systems are better protected.