US2093994A - Separator - Google Patents

Description

H. T. BLOM SEPARATOR sept. 2s, 1937.

Filed Aug. 5,` 1955 Patented Sept. Y28, 1937 UNITED STATES atmet SEPARATOR Hjalrnar T. Blom, Michigan City, Ind., assignor to Sullivan Machinery Company, a corporation of Massachusetts Application August 5, 1935, Serial No. 34,712

14 Claims.

My invention relates to separating devices, and, more particularly, to separating devices for the separation of moisture from air lines, steam lines, and the like.

It is highly desirable that air compressors raising the pressure of air through a substantial pressure range should separate out the moisture from the compressed air, and after-cooling devices are accordingly frequently provided, with a result that much of the entrained moisture may be condensed or formed into a mist such that by appropriate treatment it may be separated from the air.

It is an object of my invention to provide an improved separating device. It is another object of my invention to provide an improved separating device for separating moisture from owing air. It is a further object of my invention to provide an improved separating device applicable to substantially any problem of separating liquid from a flowing stream of gases or vapors. It is a further object of my invention to provide an improved separating device which will effectually remove moisture from air leaving an after-cooler. Other objects and advantages of the invention will hereinafter more fully appear.

In the accompanying drawing, in vwhich for purposes of illustration one embodiment which the invention may assume in practice has been shown,

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a separating device.

Fig. 2 is a section on a plane corresponding to the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section on planes corresponding to the lines 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a transverse section on the plane of the line Li-l of Fig. 2 through a nozzle device.

Fig. 5 is a transverse section on the plane of the line 5-5 of Fig. 2.

In the drawing, I represents a delivery pipe, as, for example, the delivery pipe from an aftercooler, through which a mixture of a gas or vapor and a liquid, either in drop or mist form, enters the separator vdevice 2. The separator device comprises a shell 3, herein cylindrical in cross section and provided with a discharge opening 4, herein formed in the side wall thereof and near one end thereof, said discharge opening provided with a suitable connection 5 whereby an attachment may be made, as at 6, to a discharge line 'I. In the illustrative embodiment of the invention the separator is arranged in an upright position, and the discharge opening is near the upper end thereof. The bottom of the shell 3 is closed by `a plate 8 supported by a rim 9, and the top of (Cl. 18S-92) the casing is provided with an annular member I D, herein welded thereto and supporting a baillechamber-forming member II which extends downwardly within the chamber I2 of the shell 3. The baiTIe-chamber-forming member II is 5 provided with a bottom I4 and is generally circular in cross section and is suitably supported, as by welding, to the member Iii. Within the interior I5 of the member II there are arranged a series of upright baille devices It, each in the form of a thin strip secured, as by welding, to the interior of the member II. Discharge orices I'I open through the'side wall of the member II near the lower end thereof. Member II is preferably eccentric to casing 3.

An upper plate or cover plate I8, to which the connection I is suitably secured, as at I9, is held in any suitable manner, as by bolts Z, to the member I0 and carries within the chamber I5 a nozzle device 2i which is designed to impart a whirling motion to the entering material. The nozzle device 2l comprises an inwardly extending truste-conical hollow portion 22 whose bottom is reversely directed, as at 23, so as to provide a generally conical inward projection and so promote a uniform distribution of the entering material circumferentially of the member; 2|. The apex 24 of the inwardly directed distributing cone 23 is in alinement with an opening 25 in the member I8 and with the delivery connection I. The peripheral wall of the member 2I is provided with a series of spirally extending, expanding passages 26 which are designed to impart a whirling motion to the entering material. The member 2| is so proportioned as to provide .as high velocity as possible without an excessive'drop of pressure.

The direction of the whirling action imparted by the 4device 2l the disposition of the baie elements It and the location of the discharge oriflces II bear a definite optimum relation to each other. For example, assumingthat the whirling motion imparted by the nozzle passages 26 is clockwise, looking down upon the apparatus, the

baiiie devices I6, instead of being at right angles to tangents to the whirling body of material within the chamber I5, should be inclined slightly against the travel of this material; and the discharge orifices Il' should each lie behind a bale I6. Through the bottom I4 of the device II there is provided, moreover, forwardly of each baffle I6, a discharge opening 21 through which the sepa rated material, e. g., liquid, may pass into the bottom of the chamber I2, from which it escapes through a further connection 28. The baffle de- 55 vices do not extend as high within the chamber I5 as the bottom of the nozzle device 2|.

The mode of operation of the illustrative embodiment shown and described will now be obvious. Material, for example, water-bearing air, will enter, through the connection I and the opening 25, the interior of the nozzle device 2| and will there be smoothly and evenly distributed to the various passages 26, which will impart a whirling motion at a high velocity to the entering material. of the baiTles I6 this whirling motion may be thoroughly established before the bafiies are encountered, and the liquid carried with the air stream will have opportunity, due to its greater weight and the effect of centrifugal force, to reach the periphery of. the chamber I5 before the baiiles are encountered. As the contents of the chamber I5 encounter the baiiles, the liquid will be separated from the air by the bales and will ow down along the forward sides of the latter to the discharge openings 2'I, any tendency to be carried oi of the baiiles by the continued whirling of the air being overcome by a forward inclination of the baille strips. The whirling air will escape through the orices I'I behind the baffle strips, these orices being located in such a manmer as to insure their receiving a minimum of air which has not engaged a baiile. As the air passes out through the openings I'I, it will enter a passage whose size increases from a point opposite opening 4 towards said opening, and in this passage it encounters the inner Wall of the shell 3 as well as the outer wall of I I and has to flow from near the lower end of the shell up to the upper end of the latter, and the wall friction and the reversal of direction of ilow will further tend to separate out remaining moisture from the air. The liquid discharged through the openings 21 and that which is separated out in the space I2 between the outside of the device II and the inner Wall of the shell 3 and flows down along the inner wall of the shell, will pass out through the discharge connection 28.

It will be evident from the description given that I have provided a simple, inexpensive, eilicient and very durable separating device, that it can be made with a minimum of machining operation, and that it takes advantage of the cumulative effects of centrifugal force, baiiling, and wall friction for separating entrained moisture from the air.

While there is in this application specifically described one form which the invention may assume inv practice, it will be understood that this form of the same is shown for purposes of illustration and that the invention may be modified and embodied in various other forms without departing from its spirit or the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a separator, a shell having a discharge opening therefrom, a chamber-forming member within said shell, a nozzle device within said chamber-forming member having an inlet opening and providing means for imparting a whirling motion to material emerging from said nozzle, baille means in said chamber-forming member disposed for lmpingement by material in such whirling motion, means for establishing communication between the interior of said chamberforming member and the space between said chamber-forming member and said shell, and discharge means for separated material.

Due to the space above the topsv 2. In a separator, a shell having a discharge opening therefrom at one end thereof, a chamber-forming member within said shell, a nozzle device within said chamber-forming member having an inlet opening and disposed at the end of said chamber-forming member nearer the discharge opening from the shell, baiile means in said chamber-forming member, means for establishing communication between the interior of said chamber-forming member and the space between said chamber-forming member and said shell, said communication-establishing means arranged at that end of said chamber-forming member remote from said nozzle device, and discharge means for separated material.

3. In a separator, a shell having a discharge opening therefrom arranged in the side thereof, a chamber-forming member within said shell disposed eccentrically within the latter, a nozzle device within said chamber-forming member having an inlet opening, baffle means in said chamber-forming member, means for establishing a communication between the interior of said chamber-forming member and the space between said chamber-forming member and said shell including an opening in the wall of said chamberforming member at the side of the latter remote vfrom the discharge opening in the shell, and discharge means forV separated material.

Ll. In a separator, a shell having a discharge opening therefrom, a chamber-forming member Within said shell, a nozzle device within said chamber-forming member having an inlet opening and having provision for effecting a Whirling of the material passing therethrough about the axis of the chamber-forming member, baille means in said chamber-forming member extending parallel to the axis of the chamber in said chamber-forming member in position for impingement by material whirled by said nozzle device, means for establishing communication between the interior of said chamber-forming member and the space between said chamberforming member and said shell, and discharge means for separated material.

5. In a separator, a shell having a discharge opening therefrom, a chamber-forming member within said shell, a nozzle device Within said chamber-forming member having an inlet opening and having provision for effecting a whirling of the material passing therethrough about the axis of the chamber-forming member, barile means in said chamber-forming member extending parallel to the axis of the chamber in said chamber-forming member, means for establishing communication between the interior of said chamber-forming member and the space between said chamber-forming member and said shell, said communieation-establishing means arranged behind, With reference to the direction of material circulation in the chamber, said bailleforming means, and discharge means for separated material.

6. In a separator, a shell having a discharge between said chamber-forming member and said shell, and discharge means for separated material including openings in said chamber-forming member at the ends of said baiie strips.

7. In a separator, a shell having a discharge opening therefrom, a chamber-forming member Within said shell, a nozzle device within said chamber-forming member having an inlet opening and having provision for effecting a whirling motion of the material passing therethrough, baille means in said chamber-forming member including baffle strips extending longitudinally of the chamber-forming member and terminating short of said nozzle device, means for establishing communication between the interior of said chamber-forming member and the space between said chamber-forming member and said shell, and discharge means for separated material including openings in said chamber-forming member at the ends of said baille strips.

8. In a separator, a shell having a discharge opening therefrom, a chamber-forming member within said shell, a nozzle device within said chamber-forming member having an inlet opening and having provision for effecting a whirling motion of the material passing therethrough, baille means in said chamber-forming member including baiile strips extending longitudinally of the chamber-forming member and terminating short of said nozzle device, means for establishing communication between the interior of said chamber-forming member and the space between said chamber-formlng member and said shell, and discharge means for separated material including openings in said chamber-forming member at the ends of said baille strips at the sides of the latter first reached by the whirling chamber contents.

9. In a separator device, an outer shell having a discharge opening near one end thereof, a longitudinally extending baflle-chamber-forming device eccentrically disposed in said shell whereby the maximum space between the walls of said device and said shell is adjacent said discharge opening, a spiral-flow-producing nozzle member arranged in the end of said baiechamber-forming device nearer said discharge opening, baies Within said device extending 1ongitudinally thereof, openings for the escape from said device of separated material arranged at the forward sides of said baffles, discharge orifices opening through the walls of said device behind said bales, and a discharge orifice for the separated material opening from the interior of said shell at the end thereof remote from said discharge opening.

10. In a separator, a shell having a discharge opening therefrom, a chamber-forming member within said shell, a nozzle within said chamberforming member having an inlet opening and providing passages for eiecting a whirling of material entering said chamber-forming member about the axis of the latter, baffle means in said chamber-forming member projecting inwardly from the wall thereof and extending generally longitudinally thereof, means for establishing communication between the interior of said chamber-forming member and the space between said chamber-forming member and said shell including openings partially shielded by said baiile means as the material whirls in said chamber-forming member, and discharge means for separated material.

11. In a separator, a shell having a discharge opening therefrom, a chamber-forming member Within said shell, a nozzle device having an inlet opening and arranged to deliver material with a whirling motion into the interior of said chamber-forming member, bafe means in said chamber-forming member projecting inwardly from the inner wall of the latter, and means for establishing communication b etween the interior of said chamber-forming member and the space between the latter and said shell and for discharging separated material from said chamberforming member respectively arranged at opposite sides, in terms of direction of material travel in said chamber-forming member, of said baffle means.

12. In a separator, a shell having a discharge opening therefrom arranged in the side thereof, a chamber-forming member within said shell disposed eccentrically within the latter, a nozzle device within said chamber-forming member having an inlet opening, baffle means in said chamber-forming member, discharge means for separated material, and means for establishing communication between the interior of said chamber-forming member and the space between the latter and said shell including openings arranged symmetrically around the periphery of said chamber-forming member and including an opening at the side of said chamber-forming member remote from the discharge opening in the shell.

13. In a separator, a shell having a discharge opening therefrom, a chamber-forming member within said shell, a nozzle device within said chamber-forming member having an inlet opening and also having provision for effecting a whirling of material passing therethrough about the axis of the chamber-forming member, inwardly projecting baille means in said chamberforming member extending generally longitudinally of the latter along the inner wall thereof, means for establishing communication between the interior of the chamber-forming member and the space between the latter and the shell, and discharge means for separated material at the side of said baffle means rst reached by whirling material in said chamber-forming member.

14. In a separator, a shell having a discharge opening therefrom, a chamber-forming member within said shell, a nozzle device within said chamber-forming member having an inlet opening, bale means in said chamber-forming member disposed in a longitudinally different trans-V verse zone of said chamber-forming member from said nozzle device, means for establishing communication between the interior of said chamber-forming member and the space between said chamber-forming member and said shell, and discharge means for separated material.

HJALMAR T. BLOM.

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