Optimering av arbetsområde för filtreringssystem

Sammanfattning: During the process of cutting metals a coolant is often used for cooling the material being processed and to extend the lifespan of the cutting tool. After the process a mixture of coolant and metal chips remain. In order to separate these from each other vacuum filtration is used. The process of vacuum filtration works in such a way that a pump is used to generate a vacuum behind the filter. This causes the fluid to pass through the filter at an immense speed while the metal chips remain on the outside of the filter. After the separation the fluid may be reused in future cutting processes and the metal chips may be melted down and used in future products. The purpose of the project was to examine how different parameters like the flow, the vacuum, the pressure and the power consumption were affected by the chip coating on the filter. The goal was to observe the optimal working interval of the filtration system. In other words when the system filtrates fluid at the highest possible speed whilst still providing excellent filtration. The goal was also to examine how the different parameters changed in relation to the coating and each other. A machine for the testing was assembled. This machine used the same model of pump as the companies industrial filtration solutions. This meant that the flows, vacuums, pressures and power consumptions were all representative of the values produced by the industrial solutions. Instead of using an actual filter for the testing a check valve was used to simulate certain amounts of coating on the filter. The amounts simulated were between 10 and 60 degrees in intervals of 5 degrees. Another check valve was used for constricting the pressure side. This one was constricted between 10 and 50 degrees in intervals of 10 degrees. Constriction on the pressure side is used to extend the available working area of the system and decrease the vacuum. Although this decreases the flow as well. The tests illustrated clearly that the optimal working area for the system was between a vacuum of -0,4 and -0,7 bar with a pressure constriction of 10 degrees. The reason the area was not extended to -0,8 bar or the maximum -0,9 bar was because the immense vacuum effects the pump so much that it greatly decreases its lifespan.