This week, we realized that we wanted to get rid of the pump in the system. The pump wouldn't have been strong enough to move algae, so the pipe would have been constantly clogged. It would have required a lot of work to keep the pump primed during cleaning. A model without a pump would decrease the number of parts in the system, therefore reducing the cost of production and maintenance. We came up with the idea of using a mechanical motor in the center of the module that would rotate a spiral pipe system. The algae would continuously fall through the spiral, thus allowing the algae to circulate without the need of a pump. The moving part is much easier to access for maintenance, and it isn't subjected to the maintenance procedures that the pump would need to undergo.
The spiral pipe system would also drastically increase surface area while keeping the same wall area.
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