the Ace-15 is smaller, and floodable. Biomass goes in a single ~15lb bag
the Ace-30 is about the same size, but lower to the ground, and also floodable. It also has a spindle (like the BOCK), and R&D on the right bags is in progress.
available G’s are very similar, based on motor specs and rotor diameter. I haven’t actually gotten my tachometer on either yet.
The Ace units are designed so you can do the actual extraction in the centrifuge, rather than spinning out bags that were extracted in another vessel.
This BOCK was added after the fact to another consultants work.
They had a scheme for recovering some of the excess solvent, but their eyes were wide when they saw the first run & realized just how much solvent they were leaving behind…
The bottom of the outer bowl has no seal to speak of, just a big hole the drive shaft comes up through which drives the inner bowl, you would have to seal that shaft (with something that won’t get hot given the application), would have to be some kind of 2 piece seal too since the bowl drive hex is larger in diameter than the shaft below it and also put some sort of valve on the output pipe, from the factory it just dumps into a collection tank.
From what I’m to understand these things were designed & built to collect small amounts of flammable liquid from catch pads and whatever the Air Force equivalent of “cheap cat litter” is, they were never built with our ideal application in mind.
I also suspect that the motor would need to be geared down or pulleys changed quite a bit in order to spin a submerged or semi-submerged bowl, that would be at odds with it spinning fast enough to spin out all the liquid after you’ve done your extraction
Thanks for the reply. It seems like a few people have resorted to using these for spin drying. The centrifuge thing has grown fast as this is something suitable for alcohol extraction methods. But if there’s a hole in the bottom i’d think that to be questionable kinda disappointing considering how much they cost. Even if i wasn’t going to flood the tank i would still modify it. Perhaps the best way is to build an entire assembly that can fit over the inner shaft. Design it to be separate piece and then modify the bottom of the tank with a flange that can clamp on to the new housing. As far as gearing, if it had speed control like a vfd you can slow it right down or add one. If you did a wash cycle it wouldn’t need to go very fast at all so the extra mass of a full tank should matter. after the wash i would passively drain the tank of the majority then spin dry the rest
To me that’s a one off kludge. I need a repeatable solution.
It’s also not the right tool, and while you can get it close, I don’t think you’ll like the compromises. Biggest one I see is that the hex ball requires lube. I also suspect the drive unit mounting gives the drive shaft enough freedom that the whole is that big for a REASON. seal it, and the drive suspension has almost no freedom. Won’t work (imo).
I believe the better solution is to design a centrifuge for the task a hand.
Ran into this critter at the laundromat last night…if I’d run into it a couple of weeks ago, I might not be looking for the Password override Z2000 VFD?
You are one of a kind.
With the knowledge you have and still hanging around the laundry mat. Observation is key to survival. Thanks this is entertaining to me.
