Improving efficiency of Archimedes screw pumps

阿基米德螺杆泵(ASP)是一种独特的大流量、低扬程泵。ASPS可以为具有挑战性泵送要求的行业提供解决方案，包括运输食品级液体、生物危险材料、含有悬浮固体的液体或活鱼。尽管ASP已经存在了几千年，并被广泛应用于废水和排水应用中，但几乎没有可用的研究或工程设计指导。ASPS主要是一种经验性技术。这使得为特定应用优化设计ASP变得困难。我们相信，通过应用使用阿基米德螺丝发电的不断增长的领域的知识，以及应用现代模拟和实验技术，将有重大机会提高ASP的效率和性能。该项目是圭尔夫大学和安大略省Bluestreak Equipment Inc.之间的研究合作伙伴关系，这两家公司都在研究、设计和实施阿基米德螺杆发电机方面拥有丰富的经验。这一项目伙伴关系将利用过去的经验和为支持它而开发的研究基础设施(实验室和计算模拟)，以填补在ASP方面缺失的重要工程知识空白。具体地说，我们将完成现场和实验室实验，并开发计算流体动力学(CFD)模拟，以提供有关ASP的最佳水位、配置和运行条件的新知识。这一新知识将被纳入一个半自动软件工具中，该工具将允许为特定地点和应用程序设计优化的ASP。泵在工业和水处理中是重要的能源消耗者。在实践中，与其他工业技术相比，泵的效率相对较低，特别是在泵送受污染或复杂的流体时。ASP提供了在废水、水产养殖和食品加工等具有挑战性的应用中提供高效率(85%)、高可靠性泵送的机会。目前加拿大没有ASP制造商，而ASP是从外国生产商进口的：该项目将支持一个具有竞争力的加拿大ASP行业的发展。

The Archimedes screw pump (ASP) is a unique form of high volume, low head pump. ASPs can provide solutions for industries with challenging pumping requirements, including moving food-grade liquids, biohazardous materials, liquids containing suspended solids, or live fish. Although ASPs have existed for millenia and are widely used in waste water and drainage applications, there is little available research or engineering design guidance. ASPs are mostly an empirical technology. This makes designing ASPs optimized for specific applications difficult. We believe that there is significant opportunity to improve the efficiency and performance of ASPs by applying knowledge from the growing field using Archimedes screws to generate electricity, and applying modern simulation and experimental techniques. This project is a research partnership between the University of Guelph, and Ontario-based Bluestreak Equipment Inc., both of whom have significant experience researching, designing and implementing Archimedes screw generators. This project partnership will leverage this past experience and the research infrastructure (laboratory and computational simulation) developed to support it, to fill important missing engineering knowledge gaps on ASPs. Specifically, we will complete field and laboratory experiments, and develop computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations to provide new knowledge on the optimal water levels, configurations, and operating conditions for ASPs. This new knowledge will be incorporated into a semi-automated software tool that will allow design of optimized ASPs for specific sites and applications. Pumps are significant energy consumers in industry and water treatment. In practice, pump efficiency is relatively low compared to other industrial technologies, particularly when pumping contaminated or complex fluids. ASPs present an opportunity to provide high efficiency (>85%), high reliability pumping in challenging applications like waste water, aquaculture and food processing. There are currently no Canadian ASP manufacturers, and ASPs are imported from foreign producers: this project will support the development of a competitive, Canadian ASP industry.