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"Clarifier Design Parameters"

for information on the accurate design and sizing of
Clarifiers and Clarification Systems

The HydroFlo LS Series Inclined Plate Clarifier is designed to meet the needs of low volume industrial waste generators. The LS series clarifier is designed and configured to supply you with the most cost efficient design in the market today.

Even though these clarifiers were designed as a lower cost alternative to the ClariMax™ line of clarifiers, do not be fooled. This compact clarification device incorporates many of the features available in our state-of-the-art ClariMax™ clarifier. Influent and effluent distribution have been optimized for the design, and the horizontal sludge thickener is standard.

The LS SeriesClarifier has been receiving glowing reviews from small to moderate capacity applications across the United States and around the world. If you are looking for a clarifier for flows up to 200 GPM, the LS Series Clarifier is the clarifier for you.

HydroFlo's LS Series Clarifiers, just like the rest of HydroFlo's products, are engineered and fabricated to the highest standards. We are constantly reviewing our designs in order to provide you with the most efficient, highest quality products available today.

For example, HydroFlo uses advanced fluid dynamic modeling to optimize laminar flow characteristics through the LS Series of inclined plate clarifiers. We look for quiescent flow and equal distribution as the water enters the plates, laminar distribution of flow through the plates, equal distribution of flow as the water exits the plates, flow characteristics at the effluent trough, etc.

HydroFlo engineers have optimized the influent and effluent trough configurations, as well as the plate pack's height to width ratios. Our attention to all these details assures you of receiving a piece of equipment that will perform exactly as designed.

The LS Series Clarifier utilizes a bottom feed configuration. While this concept is used by many "low end" clarifier manufacturers, the HydroFlo design is different in may respects. In addition to optimizing flow through the plate pack, we have supplied this clarifier with the largest sludge collection hopper in its class. This, combined with the LS Series standard sludge thickener, keeps sludge re-entrainment to a minimum. As an additional benefit, the pre-conditioned sludge has a higher solids content than competitive models.

Influent Distribution Trough:

An influent distribution trough is provided to reduce influent velocities and uniformly distribute the flow to the plate pack. Laminar flow is established and the hydraulic momentum of the incoming liquid is dissipated to prevent channeling. The HydroFlo Tech design does not use orifices, which may clog with heavy suspended solids.

Main (up flow) Plate Pack:

Flow enters the main plate packs from the bottom, where the flow is evenly distributed throughout the pack. Flow travels up through the pack, toward the effluent overflow V-notch weirs, where the clarified water is carried toward the separator discharge.

Effluent Overflow V-notch Weirs:

The effluent V-notch weirs must be designed to control uniform flow throughout all plate compartments, and also over the entire width of the plates. The HydroFlo clarifier utilizes a V-notch type weir. This allows for uniform flow distribution, and also makes installation and leveling the system easier than other designs.

Sludge Collection Hopper:

HydroFlo LS Series Clarifiers come standard with a horizontal hopper bottom with integral sludge thickener. This design will break up compacted sludge and direct the sludge to the center discharge point. This design also allows for the maximum amount of sludge storage below the plates for a given height (three time as much as a cone bottom design).

NOTE:
Most clarifier manufacturers offer a vertical sludge rake as an option. HydroFlo's horizontal thickener has several advantages over the vertical sludge rake...

1. More consistent thickening
   Horizontal thickeners have been used in industrial applications for many years. The action of turning/folding the material over (at a relatively slow rate) and conveying the material to a central discharge point (as opposed to stirring/turning the material in a single direction) results in a more consistent, less stratified sludge blanket. As the sludge compresses/thickens toward the center of the thickener and along the thickener's compressing edge, water passes up into the clarifier at the thickeners ends and at its rising edge. In a vertical sludge rake, the only path for the escaping water is up through the developing sludge blanket, elevating the sludge blanket and slowing the thickening process. Horizontal thickeners present a much more "convenient" path for the escaping water than conventional vertical sludge rakes and generate a more consistent product for further thickening and dewatering. 
2. Less required HP
   While our horizontal thickeners have more sludge contact area than an equivalent sludge rake, we require less HP because of the smaller overall diameter. Typical sludge rakes are going to be approximately 10 feet in diameter and have two "wipers" at the bottom of the device giving you approximately 10 linear feet of sludge contact (three wipers give you approximately 15 feet). Our horizontal thickener is 4 feet in diameter with 12 "wipers" giving you 30 linear feet of sludge contact. So, even though you have a much greater contact area with the horizontal thickener, the torque and HP requirements are reduced due to its smaller effective diameter.
3. Horizontal thickeners have a longer service life and are less expensive to maintain and operate.
   We have been using this basic horizontal design for over 20 years. During that span we have only replaced a single driven shaft as a replacement part. And, this was only due to over tightening of the driven shaft packing. Over the past 20 years we have never replaced any bearings, thickeners, shafts, wipers or any other thickener component. On the other hand, vertical sludge rakes often require replacement of the bearings, motors and sometimes the entire gear motor drives themselves.

Adequate capacity must be allowed for the solids as they slide off the bottom of the plate packs. Turbulence and channeling are avoided by continuously removing the solids from the bottom of the hopper.

Plate Pack Materials of Construction:

HydroFlo plate packs are fabricated out of a combination of polypropylene, fiberglass and stainless steel.

Polypropylene was chosen as the plate material for many reasons, but superior chemical resistance and its ultra smooth surface (which allow the collected sludge to easily slide off the plates' surface) were the primary considerations. More often than not, polypropylene can be used in situations unsuitable for stainless steel. The ultra smooth surface of the polypropylene will continuously slough off accumulated sludge in situations where the surfaces of stainless steel will oxidize and start to hamper the sliding sludge's progress down the plate surface.