Patent ID: 6971982

Claim:
A centrifuge for centrifuging a slurry, comprising: a bowl driven by a bowl drive motor; a screw conveyor driven by a screw conveyor drive motor; a pump driven by a pump motor; a bowl drive unit operatively arranged to drive said bowl drive motor; a conveyor drive unit operatively arranged to drive said screw conveyor drive motor; a pump drive unit operatively arranged to drive said pump drive motor; and, a general purpose first computer specially programmed to control said bowl drive unit to drive said bowl drive motor at a first constant speed, to control said screw conveyor drive unit to drive said screw conveyor drive motor at a second constant speed, to compare the respective torques of said bowl drive motor and said screw conveyor drive motor to a torque set point, while simultaneously controlling said pump drive unit to variably control flow of said slurry through said centrifuge in response to a first torque comprising said respective operating torque for whichever of said screw conveyor motor or bowl motor is operating closest to its respective rated torque, wherein variably controlling flow comprises decreasing said flow in response to said first torque being greater than said set point and increasing said flow in response to said first torque being less than said set point.