Centrifugal water filter

To be honest, when you hear “centrifugal filter”, the first thing that comes to mind is a kind of barrel with a ferris wheel spinning inside. But in practice everything is more complicated. Many people still confuse hydrocyclones with conventional strainers, but the principle of separation here is completely different - it works on the difference in density, and not on mechanical screening.

Design features that are rarely written about in instructions

I’m looking at our latest project for a greenhouse complex in Krasnodar - there are three cascadingcentrifugal water filtersfrom Shandong Lingyao. The cones are made at an angle of 20°, not 15° like the old models. This is a small thing, but it is what allows you to work longer without flushing under high sand loads.

I noticed an interesting detail - when you supply water at a pressure below 1.8 bar, the swirl is uneven. Some of the sand slips into the outlet pipe, although according to the passport the minimum pressure is only 1.5 bar. You have to install an additional receiver in front of the filter.

By the way, about the case material. 304 stainless steel is the standard, but for high chloride waters 316L is better. We already had to replace it once - the customer saved money, but after a season they had to replace the entire unit.

Real cases of application in drip irrigation

Last year, the system was installed in a vineyard in Crimea. Water from a well containing suspended matter up to 300 g/m3. We installed a cascade of four hydrocyclones in front of the disk filters. The result is washing the disks once a week instead of three times a day.

But with rice paddies in Primorye there was a misfire. There, water with silt particles less than 50 microns - centrifugal filters are almost useless; they had to be supplemented with sedimentation tanks. This is about the limitations of technology.

Now for Shandong Linyao Intelligent Agriculture Technology LLC we are doing a project with automatic flushing - differential pressure sensors + electrovalves. It is interesting how the system will behave with seasonal changes in water turbidity.

Typical installation and operation errors

Most often they mess up with a harness. It is necessary to install shut-off valves BEFORE and AFTER the filter, and not just at the inlet. Otherwise, during service, the entire system is under pressure.

Another point is the direction of rotation of the flow. I have seen cases where the inlet pipes were mixed up during installation - the efficiency dropped by 60%. Moreover, it is almost impossible to visually distinguish a working filter from a non-working one.

Flushing intervals are a different story. Manufacturers write “when the pressure drops,” but in reality it’s better to use a timer - especially when working with waters of variable composition.

Compatibility with other elements of water treatment systems

Ideal scheme: coarse mesh filter → centrifugal → fine disc filter. But there is a nuance here - after the centrifugal filter, water comes with vortex flows, which can interfere with the work of fine cleaning. It is necessary to stabilize the flow in a section of 5-7 pipe diameters.

For smart farming projects from https://www.lyzhihuinongye.ru we often use a combination with sand filters - centrifugal filters remove the main load, extending the life of the quartz filler.

By the way, with a fertigation system it is important to take into account that some liquid fertilizers change the density of water, which can affect the efficiency of separation. Tested on potassium sulfate - a drop in efficiency by 7-12% depending on the concentration.

Prospects for technology development

Now we are experimenting with combined solutions - the samecentrifugal water filter, but with replaceable inserts for different types of contaminants. For Shandong Linyao Intelligent Agriculture Technology LLC, this is especially important - their projects often require non-standard solutions.

I noticed a trend towards reduction in size - new models with the same performance take up 30% less space. This is important for modular greenhouse complexes.

An interesting direction is smart systems with feedback. When the filter itself determines the degree of contamination and regulates the washing mode. It’s still expensive, but we already offer it for the premium segment.

Economic aspects of choice

It is believed that centrifugal filters are more expensive than mesh filters. But if you calculate the cost of ownership, taking into account consumables and labor costs for maintenance, it turns out to be more profitable for waters with high suspended matter.

Here is a real example: in a vegetable growing farm near Voronezh, after installing centrifugal filters, electricity consumption for pumping decreased by 18% - there is less resistance to flow.

Although this is still a controversial issue for small farms, the initial investment can be critical. Here it is important to consider not the cost of the equipment, but the cost of purifying a cubic meter of water over the life cycle of the system.