Suction Dredges:
Description & Performance

This is a type of centrifugal pump that is placed in a metallic or a wooden pontoon. It sucks by the means of a semi rigid hose or steel tubing, mixture of water and auriferous material that can be found in the river beds, lakes, swamps etc, emptying out the suctioned material into a conventional sluice made out of wood or steel in one or two stretches in back currents. For the process of the suction in diameters of hoses of 6 inches is required the usage of scuba outfits; for suction hoses or tubes of 8 inches or more, the performance of the suction element is by the means of a hoist chain and winch that is run on a diesel motor, the head or tube terminal submerged consists in a milling cutter, the mixed material of gravel and water, which is of thirty percent and seventy percent, is absorbed by a gravely pump or from solids of moulded or forged steel construction, wrapped with sheets of steel, the roll and impact face with extra strong welding, sealing system, the material that is suctioned goes into a primary screen that takes care of eliminating the bigger gravel of half an inch, and the material that is smaller goes into a system of sluices, positioned with three layers of jute with riffles of 1 inch.

Performance

• Suction of 6 inches = 7 m3/hour: dredged depth 20 meters
• Suction of 8 inches = 14 m3/hour: dredged depth 30 meters
• Suction of 10 inches = 19 m3/hour: dredged depth 30 meters
• Suction of 12 inches = 26 m3/hour: dredged depth 30 meters
• Suction tube speed: 2 to 3,5 m./second

Recommendations

• Each basic unit of production requires on stand by:
• 1 solids pump
• 1 rotor set
• 1 rope
• 1 Knelsson recuperator to process sluices