GB938999A - Improvements in and relating to fluid separating apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

938,999. Centrifugal separators. G. E. NEUMAN. Oct. 10, 1961, No. 36372/61. Class 23. An apparatus for separating from a fluid impurities of a higher specific gravity comprises a substantially cylindrical chamber mounted centrally in an outer settling tank closed at the top, inlet means for delivering the fluid laden with impurities near the bottom of the chamber, means for imparting a rotary motion to the fluid to cause it to spiral upwardly in the chamber so that, under the action of centrifugal force, the impurities move outwardly to, and up, the chamber wall and out through an opening at the top of the chamber so as to drop downwardly in the tank, and outlet means in the chamber near the rotary motionimparting means and the bottom of the chamber for removing the clarified fluid from the chamber near its vertical axis and out through the apparatus. In Fig. 2 a separating chamber 11 is supported within the settling tank 12 by means of baffles 23, 24. The chamber may be open at its upper end, as shown, or it may have a cover with one or more outlet openings at its upper edge. The height of the chamber is adjusted by means of a sleeve 19 slidably fitted within the chamber wall 15. The tank 12 is closed by a cover 35 to the inner surface of which a hood 42 may be secured. Concentric inlet and outlet pipes 52, 53 extend through the cover 35. The pipe 52 extends through the top wall 69 of an annular chamber 65 with which it communicates through curved radial passages 70, 71, Fig. 5. The outer wall 67 of the chamber 65 consists of semi-circular sections providing tangential outlets 78, 79 for the fluid into the chamber 11. The pipe 53 is provided with an entrance funnel 91. In operation, liquid pumped through the pipe 52 is caused by the passages 70, 71 to flow in a circular path in the chamber 65 from which it is discharged tangentially into the separating chamber 11. The liquid rises in the chamber 11 and carries with it over the top of the chamber the impurities that have been separated by the action of centrifugal force against the wall 15. Rotation of the liquid in the settling tank is checked by the baffles 23 so that the impurities drop rapidly down to the conical bottom 16 of the table from which they may be discharged continuously through an outlet 27 by a pipe, or intermittently by periodically removing a plug 28 secured to the outlet. Light impurities entrained by the rising liquid are forced back by the hood 42 and are washed laterally into the flow of liquid in the tank 12. The clean liquid moves downwardly in the chamber 11 and is discharged through the pipe 53, any impurities in the downward moving liquid being deflected by the upper surface of the hood 91 into the ascending liquid. In a modification, the inlet pipe extends through an elbow at the bottom of settling tank 12 and is screwed into the bottom of the tank 11 and in the bottom wall of the annular chamber 65. In a further modification, the inlet and outlet pipes enter the top of the tank 12 parallel to each other and terminate into spaced circular pipes concentric with the wall 15 with their open ends facing away from each other. In Fig. 8, the inlet pipe 52 terminates into a deflector shield 150 which is spaced from an impeller 142 secured to the end of a shaft 144 extending concentrically through the pipe 52 and rotated by an electric motor. In Fig. 11, an inlet pipe 172 is provided at the bottom of the apparatus and opens beneath the impeller 142. The outlet pipe 53 has a flared entrance 177 and is surrounded by a deflector baffle 180. When separating solids from gases, e.g. smoke, water is sprayed into the inlet gases from a pipe 185.