Ĝan Ŭesli Starling
Member
Was reading up on the Cu/Zn mix named "Redox". Given my iron-bacteria issue, chemistry-wise, it seems ideal. Then there's the issue of how much backwash it needs. Reputedly, this is because of weight, flow sufficient to make turbulent the heavy beads. Which does make sense.
Also, as I understand it, whatsoever flow there is needs to have a certain concentration of salt in order for the required chemistry to happen.
Those two things need to be simultaneous, and the simplest way to achieve it is to flow hundreds of gallons. What if, however, a trapped volume of brine just only great enough to contain the required amount of Na and Cl ions were to be re-circulated in a closed loop by means of a sufficiently forceful pump and motor?
In short, re-circulate just enough brine around and around, fast enough, and long enough, and only then dispose of it as effluent. Not a gear or piston pump, obviously. But maybe a vane pump? Or a diaphram pump (smaller version of the kind used in car washes, maybe)?
Now, before anyone reaches immediately for their LMAO emoticon, do know this. In the test laboratory where I have worked these past 15 years, we use small motors and vane pumps for re-circulating a heavy slurry of, ahem 'calibrated dirt'. this mixed into kerosene for a result so that it is nearly opaque with crud. Not sludge, mind, still a very liquid slurry. But said mixed-in 'dirt' is comprised of 0-10 micron iron oxide powders, Arizona road dust, and ground up quartz. In bakers units, a heaping cup full into every 5 gallons of liquid.
The only modification we've made to those vane pumps (ordered from McMaster-Carr) is to turn down the vane wheel's outer circumference just a little, enough so that the quartz grains won't bind between it and the wall. It's a smallish pump on a smallish 110VAC-powered motor, maybe 1/2 HP, no more. Direct drive, no belt.
That particular test stand does sit idle for months on end, but when it runs, also runs for a month or two at a stretch. And it's the same motor and pump on that test stand since it was built back in the 80's. So then, maybe not completely outrageous?
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Another thought, perhaps truly outrageous? I had formerly worked on Unimate robots. Monstrous beasts, hydraulically powered, mainly employed at investment casting plants. Think of the "lost wax" casting method. The robot would pick up a heavy 'tree' of many delicate wax models, then dip the lot of theml into thin cement slurry, twirl it a bit, then next dip it into sand and also twirl it. After drying, they'd melt out the wax and have a mold for casting titanium turbine blades.
Here is the thing. The wax models on that tree were delicate, so the sand was made 'liquid' for dipping by vibrating it. Jiggling the grains. A whole hopper's worth of sand as tall as I am myself. Not the hopper itself, just only the sand inside. A hundred and more pounds worth of sand in each hopper. Some kind of ultra-sonic transducer did that. Like what they use in humidifiers only bigger, I think. Or maybe instead it was pumped air. No way could I engineer this at home, but wondering if maybe they do it to media inside of commercial water treatment tanks? If not, then here is maybe an idea worth trying?
Also, as I understand it, whatsoever flow there is needs to have a certain concentration of salt in order for the required chemistry to happen.
Those two things need to be simultaneous, and the simplest way to achieve it is to flow hundreds of gallons. What if, however, a trapped volume of brine just only great enough to contain the required amount of Na and Cl ions were to be re-circulated in a closed loop by means of a sufficiently forceful pump and motor?
In short, re-circulate just enough brine around and around, fast enough, and long enough, and only then dispose of it as effluent. Not a gear or piston pump, obviously. But maybe a vane pump? Or a diaphram pump (smaller version of the kind used in car washes, maybe)?
Now, before anyone reaches immediately for their LMAO emoticon, do know this. In the test laboratory where I have worked these past 15 years, we use small motors and vane pumps for re-circulating a heavy slurry of, ahem 'calibrated dirt'. this mixed into kerosene for a result so that it is nearly opaque with crud. Not sludge, mind, still a very liquid slurry. But said mixed-in 'dirt' is comprised of 0-10 micron iron oxide powders, Arizona road dust, and ground up quartz. In bakers units, a heaping cup full into every 5 gallons of liquid.
The only modification we've made to those vane pumps (ordered from McMaster-Carr) is to turn down the vane wheel's outer circumference just a little, enough so that the quartz grains won't bind between it and the wall. It's a smallish pump on a smallish 110VAC-powered motor, maybe 1/2 HP, no more. Direct drive, no belt.
That particular test stand does sit idle for months on end, but when it runs, also runs for a month or two at a stretch. And it's the same motor and pump on that test stand since it was built back in the 80's. So then, maybe not completely outrageous?
--------------
Another thought, perhaps truly outrageous? I had formerly worked on Unimate robots. Monstrous beasts, hydraulically powered, mainly employed at investment casting plants. Think of the "lost wax" casting method. The robot would pick up a heavy 'tree' of many delicate wax models, then dip the lot of theml into thin cement slurry, twirl it a bit, then next dip it into sand and also twirl it. After drying, they'd melt out the wax and have a mold for casting titanium turbine blades.
Here is the thing. The wax models on that tree were delicate, so the sand was made 'liquid' for dipping by vibrating it. Jiggling the grains. A whole hopper's worth of sand as tall as I am myself. Not the hopper itself, just only the sand inside. A hundred and more pounds worth of sand in each hopper. Some kind of ultra-sonic transducer did that. Like what they use in humidifiers only bigger, I think. Or maybe instead it was pumped air. No way could I engineer this at home, but wondering if maybe they do it to media inside of commercial water treatment tanks? If not, then here is maybe an idea worth trying?
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