Groundbreaking CFD solutions for wastewater treatment: The CYBERFLOW®-Accelerator
INVENT Umwelt- und Verfahrenstechnik AG, a company with deep roots in fluid mechanics at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, has been a pioneer in CFD simulations for wastewater applications since its creation. Recognizing their potential, INVENT established THINK Fluid Dynamix®, a specialized business unit offering advanced CFD-based engineering solutions for the water, wastewater, and chemical industries.
The challenge of wastewater modeling
Modeling hydraulic processes in wastewater treatment requires more than just technical expertise—it calls for a multidisciplinary team with practical, on-the-ground experience. Achieving optimal results involves not only simulating fluid behavior but also understanding the intricate interactions between chemistry, biology, solids handling, civil engineering, material selection, equipment integration, and cost-efficiency.
With over 30 years of experience and a technical unit combining broad technical knowledge and deep industry insight, THINK Fluid Dynamix® delivers dependable and innovative solutions tailored to real-world challenges.
CFD simulations bring a wide range of advantages to wastewater treatment, including enhanced process efficiency, reduced operational costs, and greater environmental sustainability. These digital tools are applied to a variety of systems and processes — from inflow screening and analyzing flow distribution in channels and pipelines, to optimizing mixing and aeration in tanks, assessing the behavior of oxidation ditches, clarifiers, anaerobic digesters, and more. Additionally, these simulations are used in product development, such as the CYBERFLOW®-Accelerator, allowing for the design and validation of innovative treatment components and equipment before physical prototypes are built.
Figure 1: CFD simulation of the CYBREFLOW®-Accelerator
The CYBERFLOW®-Accelerator
To make the INVENT CYBERFLOW®-Accelerator a revolutionary flow generator it introduces innovative design principles.
This is made possible by a holistic, fluid mechanical optimization approach, which considers not only on the propeller design, but the interaction of the flow with the entire machine.
This approach focuses on optimizing all aspects for the design and application including:
- Turned flow direction for vortex free flow pattern:
Conventional flow generators suffer from turbulent inflow hitting the propeller, causing major efficiency losses. The CYBERFLOW®-Accelerator eliminates this issue by ensuring a completely undisturbed upstream flow, enabling higher flow rates with less energy input.
- “Anti-vortex” fin:
Standard propellers generate inefficient radial and tangential flows that create vortices and waste energy. The CYBERFLOW®-Accelerator uses an anti-vortex fin to eliminate these losses and recover energy by converting unwanted flow components into useful axial flow.
- INVENT Power Trim Technology®:
Instead of aligning the shaft horizontally like traditional systems, the CYBERFLOW®-Accelerator angles it slightly upward. This reduces friction at the tank bottom and improves efficiency
- Fluid mechanically optimized base frame:
The optimized base frame avoids bulky rectangular tubes and instead uses cast metal structures with minimal surface and drag. This fluid-optimized design minimizes resistance and maximizes flow efficiency.
Conclusion
The CYBERFLOW®-Accelerator show cases the possibilities behind computational fluid dynamics (CFD) in wastewater treatment. Engineered through advanced CFD simulations and a holistic design philosophy, each design element is purpose-built to enhance performance, reduce operational costs, and support sustainable treatment processes. As a result, the CYBERFLOW®-Accelerator is more than just a product; it is a demonstration of how THINK Fluid Dynamix® transforms deep scientific understanding into powerful, real-world engineering solutions for the future of water and wastewater treatment.
Figure 2: CYBREFLOW®-Accelerator
Author: Lea Diehl
