JESSIE HOLDERMAN BETH MADSEN ADAM OSTER

1. Bladeless Slurry Pump Schematic of Test Setup • Background: • Loading sand into wastewater treatment • filters is inconvenient though a necessary • process • Conventional pumps are expensive to • maintain when pumping slurries • Blue Water Technologies requested that • PUMP IT! design a bladeless pump due to • it’s desirable wear characteristics Inlet Pressure Gage Pump Pumping sand! Project Goal: To prototype and validate a bladeless pump that is capable of moving a sand and water slurry. Holding Tank Outlet Pressure Gage Filter to be charged using pump Bucket & Stopwatch Exploded view of solid model Design: The main concept is based on Tesla’s bladeless pump design. This pump uses viscosity or, a fluids resistance to shear, to motivate the fluid. The geometry of the pump was chosen based on available motor size and necessary disc spacing to pass sand particles. • Conclusions and Recommendations: • Pump effectively moved sand slurries • Simple to manufacture design • Use aluminum for all housing parts to reduce • production cost. • Use a more powerful motor to test pump at • higher rotational speeds. • Reduce disc thickness to allow for more • discs. • Change inlet configuration on discs to • increase flow rate and reduce frictional • losses. TeamPUMP IT! JESSIE HOLDERMAN BETH MADSEN ADAM OSTER Sponsor: Website: seniordesign.engr.uidaho.edu/2008_2009/pumpit/