Method and means of aeration-powered water flow using foil-shaped contour

Abstract

A pump driven by air only is disclosed for providing simultaneous aeration and flow at right angles to the rising air. The pump produces in a shallow tank particle-suspending turbulence which is particularly useful for growth of marine organisms in a sun-exposed tank confined shallow brine solution. The pump is preferably installed in a rectangular tank divided by a baffle between the two tank side walls. The baffle extends parallel to the major axes of the rectangle and stops short of both tank end walls. The fluid is pumped around this baffle in an oval flow pattern. On the shallow bottom of the tank on both sides of the baffle, there is a repeating foil shaped bottom with a manifold for discharging air. The foils of the bottom are generated at right angles to the baffle and oriented from leading edge to trailing edge in the direction of intended fluid rotation around the baffle in the tank. Air is pumped and discharged from the manifold in a rising curtain. As the curtain of air rises, it is entrains a rising wall of water. At the surface, the entrained wall of water circulates into divided flows overlying and normal to the manifolds; one flow is a translational pumping flow passing over the leading edge of the foil and the other is a conventional back eddy.