I’m currently running a 20l spd with an Apollo sweep. I don’t know the proper amount to inject and for how long. I’m either over shooting the mark or under shooting the mark. This is second pass dist from etho crude wash. Everything is running great just trying to speed up the process. Does anyone have any info to share on this Apollo deal?
Hey 1849e, did you ever get your sweep efficiently working?
Not working cannot get it to do what the videos show it can do. I’ve tried the smallest amount of injections and large amount of injections and it doesn’t make a difference. I’m starting to think I wasted my money on it. Nobody will help me with PID settings and or injections settings.
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Can you explain more about the Apollo sweep and what it hopes to accomplish?
I don’t know the science behind it but I believe it releases nitrogen gas in a rod just above the oil in the boiling flask and that displacement speeds up the flow of the vapor. I’m not sure if the nitrogen does something as well. I’ve been messing with this thing for hours and still cannot seem to get it to flow faster. With a Bertha summit. 20l 2 Edwards pumps. My system is a nice system just not doing what I want it to do.
You need a diff for it to work right
You need crazy cfm so when you dump nitrogen in there its pulled through the system pushing disty through also
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He isn’t here anymore
This is a video of one of the first times I tried this at one of my test spots. This was with one Edwards 30 and a sogevac. We ran the lowest temperature possible where the thermocouple at the top of the head was registering vapor temperature but the head had no movement. there was about a itty bitty drop here and there but not enough to really notice much. As you can see the head is stalled at the cusp of the distillation. We turned on the Apollo and this was a test unit prior to the new software upgrade which has SCCM management. This was the instantaneous result that we found. using nitrogen is a little bit harder because it requires much more sweep. An easier gas is argon because it is heavier and it tends to drop down and then drag up through the column. It is also denser and inert. argan is also a lot less reactive to any other components that might be co distilling that are reactive with nitrogen. I was only able to post a very short video as I could not upload a very high lengthy video. with diffusion pump there is a absolute advantage because of how molecules are dragged through the system rapidly when it is engaged. You would get much more effect with less sweep in some situations when you have a lot of vapor already moving. another situations where you’re trying to hit really low temperatures you increase the sweep much more with the diffusion pump and you can see extremely rapid movements. In this video we dumped in over 200 microns and as I was playing around with it I noticed that between 100 and 200 micron dumps yielded about the same result. to use a sweep system you have to balance out how much vapor is coming from the system and how much is being loaded in the throat of the pump. In the PID section you will usually leave the i and the d at 010 where is the p selection can be anywhere from 4 to 10 and any decimal point between. The reason is because you are adjusting the gain of a valve that is proportionally opening and closing rapidly during the distillation to create this “wind” that pulls through the system. If you’re adjustment is extremely high it will not even balance out at all in your vacuum will be all over the place. If you are adjustment is anywhere near close to the right point or lower it will never catch up. The reason why there’s no type of software that can immediately distinguish and determine the PID of a sweep system is because every pump and everyone system is different including the CFM flowing of leaks and the CFM flowing of molecules downstream. the SCCM feature is a general dump and it doesn’t rely on a vacuum setting per number. your vacuum setting will just be arbitrary to what it says and the SCCM function will control from minimal dump to maximum dump.
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This system is ineffective due to the master/slave plc software being used? It looks like the sensors aren’t placed in the most optimal position to give an accurate reading
Are they using the right valves for throttling?
It is very effective. I wish I could post a longer video here. Once setup and tuned the results are visually noticeable and night and day opperation. You can remove your heads and volatiles and wax layers five times faster because it pushed it all out, also th effect drys your pump out while it’s running.the sensors are in optimal location. Can’t get better. And you can swap from short range responce to long range responce via the pump or SPD.
I will admit for a novice it’s not easy peazy.
If I was to compare my setups and claim how easy my advanced short paths are to run and say it’s a 5/10 and real streamlined without any complex effect - the sweep system is a 11/10. It is trully the most advanced and harder vacuum controll/bleed system on the market and the only type of its kind ever made. It does take a decent amount of skill to dial it in. Most people who do figure it out don’t share with others bc of how hard it is to learn to use. Once you get it down it’s pretty easy each time to dial it in.
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Feel free to link out to any longer videos you might have
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