A feed accelerator system for use in a centrifuge, the system comprising a conveyor hub rotatably mounted within a rotating bowl, the hub including an inside surface and an outside surface. At least one feed slurry passageway is disposed between the inside surface of conveyor hub and the outside surface of the conveyor hub, and at least one helical blade having a plurality of turns is mounted to the outside surface of the conveyor hub. A vane apparatus is associated with the passageway and is disposed between two adjacent turns of the helical blade. The vane apparatus may include an inwardly extending baffle and/or an outwardly extending accelerator vane. Alternatively, a U-shaped channel may be associated with the passageway, the U-shaped channel including a plurality partitions attached to the discharge end of such channel so as to form a plurality of discharge channels and a flow directing and overspeeding vane disposed within each channel, each vane having a different forward discharge angle.

A feed accelerator system for use in a centrifuge, the system comprising an accelerator rotatably mounted substantially concentrically within the centrifuge and including a plurality of disc members concentrically and proximately spaced having a first disc and a second disc, each disc having an inside surface and an outer edge defining a disc diameter. The second disc includes a target surface having no sharp bends or junctions. The first disc includes a disc opening for receiving a discharge opening of a feed pipe. A plurality of disc vanes are disposed between the first and second discs so as to form a plurality of feed channels. The vanes generally extend from a radius equal to or larger than that of the disc opening and of the target surface, and terminate at a radius on the inside surfaces of the first and second discs at a distance from the outer edge of at least one of the first and second discs so as to form a disc smoothener on at least one of the inside surfaces of the first and second discs. A generally cone-shaped apparatus may be attached to the respective outer edges of the first and/or second discs to further smooth the feed slurry so as to produce circumferential flow uniformity of the feed slurry entering the pool of a decanter centrifuge or impinging upon the basket of a pusher centrifuge.

A feed accelerator system for use in a centrifuge, the system comprising a conveyor hub rotatably mounted substantially concentrically within a rotating bowl, and an accelerator including a cone-shaped inside surface disposed between an accelerator base and an accelerator small diameter section. The accelerator is secured proximately to its base within the conveyor hub so that the accelerator rotates with the conveyor hub. A distributor including a distributor surface having no sharp bends or junctions is secured to the small diameter section. A plurality of accelerator vanes are disposed on the cone-shaped inside surface and extend proximately from the small diameter section and terminate at a location on the cone-shaped inside surface proximate to the accelerator base so that an unvaned portion of the cone-shaped inside surface forms a smoothener section. A feed pipe having at least one discharge opening is disposed within the centrifuge so that the discharge opening is positioned proximately to the distributor surface at a stand-off distance. The stand-off distance, feed slurry flow rate, diameter of the feed pipe, location of the accelerator vanes proximate to the small diameter section, and number of vanes are selected to obtain overall maximum centrifuge efficiency.

A feed accelerator system for use in a centrifuge, the system comprising a conveyor hub rotatably mounted substantially concentrically within a rotating bowl, the conveyor hub including at least one passageway connecting an inside surface of the conveyor hub to an outside surface of the conveyor hub for a feed slurry exiting the conveyor hub. The passageway may be associated with a variety of feed slurry accelerator enhancements such as a baffle extending into a slurry pool formed on the inside of the conveyor hub, a divider, a U-shaped channel, an extension tube, and/or a flow directing and overspeeding member. These accelerator enhancements may be combined within the passageway or incorporated into a feed slurry accelerating nozzle apparatus removably secured to the passageway. The passageway and/or the nozzle apparatus may include a cross-sectional area having a longer axis approximately parallel to the conveyor hub axis of rotation. Any of these feed slurry accelerator enhancements may include a wear resistant material.

A feed accelerator system for use in a centrifuge, the system comprising a conveyor hub rotatably mounted within a rotating bowl, the hub including an inside surface and an outside surface. At least one feed slurry passageway is disposed between the inside surface of conveyor hub and the outside surface of the conveyor hub, and at least one helical blade having a plurality of turns is mounted to the outside surface of the conveyor hub. A vane apparatus is associated with the passageway and is disposed between two adjacent turns of the helical blade. The vane apparatus may include an inwardly extending baffle and/or an outwardly extending accelerator vane. Alternatively, a U-shaped channel may be associated with the passageway, the U-shaped channel including a plurality partitions attached to the discharge end of such channel so as to form a plurality of discharge channels and a flow directing and overspeeding vane disposed within each channel, each vane having a different forward discharge angle.