Perforated Screw Sludge Dewatering for Salted Food Waste Residue
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Solution Overview
Problem
Sludge discharged from food waste treatment devices often has high salt content and inappropriate moisture levels, making it unsuitable for use as compost or feed, and existing devices face challenges in efficiently reducing moisture and salt content during the treatment process.
Innovation Solution
A sludge recycling device with a housing featuring perforations, a shaft with a spiral blade, and a dehydrated sludge outlet is designed to reduce moisture and salt content by rotating sludge through perforations and inclining the outlet to prevent water discharge, enhancing drainage and drying efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If sludge is discharged from food waste treatment device to next process, then treatment continuity is maintained, but water is discharged together with sludge reducing drying efficiency
Solution Approach 1:
The device segments the sludge discharge process by introducing a screw conveyor that separates liquid water from solid sludge particles. The screw conveyor rotates within the housing, pushing sludge forward while allowing water to drain through perforations in the housing wall, thus dividing the mixed sludge stream into separate phases before discharge to the next process.
Solution Approach 2:
The screw conveyor acts as an intermediary mechanism between the sludge input and discharge outlets. It mediates the transport process by mechanically moving sludge through the housing while enabling selective water removal, thus preventing direct discharge of water-saturated sludge to the next process and improving drying efficiency.
2Productivity
If sludge is moved through housing with perforations, then drainage capacity is improved, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The housing is designed with multiple perforations distributed across its surface, creating a porous structure that enables water to pass through while retaining solid sludge particles. This porous housing design provides effective drainage capacity without requiring additional complex filtration components, as the housing itself performs the separation function.
3Productivity
If spiral blade is added to shaft, then sludge movement directionality is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The shaft is equipped with a spiral blade (helical structure) that utilizes curved geometry to propel sludge forward along the housing. The spiral shape of the blade creates a corkscrew motion that efficiently moves sludge from the input toward the discharge outlet, improving movement directionality and efficiency while maintaining a relatively simple single-piece shaft design.
4Productivity
If dehydrated sludge outlet is inclined, then water discharge is prevented, but manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The dehydrated sludge outlet is designed with an asymmetric inclination angle relative to the horizontal plane. This asymmetric angular configuration prevents water from discharging along with the sludge by directing the outlet in a direction that favors solid particle discharge while blocking liquid water flow, thereby improving water prevention capability through geometric design rather than complex control mechanisms.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The device effectively reduces sludge moisture and salt content, enabling its reuse as compost or feed by improving dehydration and desalination processes, while also shortening manufacturing processes and reducing costs.
Implementation Method 1
a shaft having a shaft body portion provided inside the housing and a spiral blade provided on an outer circumferential surface of the shaft body portion, the shaft being rotated by a rotational force received from a motor to move the sludge from the sludge input hole toward the dehydrated sludge outlet
Implementation Method 2
a housing having a plurality of perforations to discharge water from inside to the outside
Data Source
AI summary
A sludge treatment unit provided in a sludge cycling device for recycling sludge discharged from a food waste treatment device and configured to treat the sludge introduced from the food waste treatment device includes a housing having a plurality of perforations to discharge water from inside to outside thereof, a sludge input hole provided in the housing to pass through from the outside to the inside of the housing to receive the sludge, a dehydrated sludge outlet provided at a side different from the sludge input hole to discharge dehydrated sludge, and a shaft having a shaft body portion provided inside the housing and a spiral blade provided on an outer circumferential surface of the shaft body portion, the shaft being rotated by a rotational force received from a motor to move the sludge from the sludge input hole toward the dehydrated sludge outlet.