A sand separator is a device that separates sand or other solids from
water
Water (chemical formula ) is an Inorganic compound, inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living ...
.
One version of sand separator utilizes
centrifugal force
In Newtonian mechanics, the centrifugal force is an inertial force (also called a "fictitious" or "pseudo" force) that appears to act on all objects when viewed in a rotating frame of reference. It is directed away from an axis which is parall ...
to separate
sand
Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural class o ...
or other heavy particles out of the water. The separated material drops down into a tank or reservoir where it can be removed later or in the case of in-well separators, the separated sand drops into the bottom of the
well
A well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources, usually water. The oldest and most common kind of well is a water well, to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The ...
. It is not a true
filter
Filter, filtering or filters may refer to:
Science and technology
Computing
* Filter (higher-order function), in functional programming
* Filter (software), a computer program to process a data stream
* Filter (video), a software component tha ...
, since there is no physical barrier to separate out the particles, but it is often used upstream of a filter to first remove the bulk of the contaminant, where the filter does the final cleaning. This type of design reduces the time required to flush and clean the filter.
Applications
* Used in micro irrigation systems to remove sand and silt particles from irrigation water.
* Grinding circuits within the mineral processing industry and micro irrigation. The coarse particles return to the mill for re-grinding while the finer products are passed on to a subsequent stage of treatment.
See also
*
Hydrocyclone Hydrocyclones are a type of cyclonic separators that separate product phases mainly on basis of differences in gravity with aqueous solutions as the primary feed fluid.
As opposed to dry or dust cyclones, which separate solids from gasses, hydrocy ...
*
Cyclonic separation
Cyclonic separation is a method of removing particulates from an air, gas or liquid stream, without the use of filters, through vortex separation. When removing particulate matter from liquid, a hydrocyclone is used; while from gas, a gas cyclone ...
Water filters
Irrigation
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