MULTISTAGE LIQUID AND GAS SEPARATOR

• US 3,654,748 A
• Filed: 02/26/1970
• Issued: 04/11/1972
• Est. Priority Date: 02/26/1970
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Atlas Copco Holyoke Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Carl Bloom
• Inventors: Bloom, Carl
• Primary Examiner(s): Talbert, Jr., Dennis E.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Gifford, Vincent
• Application Number:
  US05/014,306
• Time in Patent Office: 775 Days
• Field of Search: 55/337,447,456-457,453,315,318-319,320-333,392,394,396,447-450,458-459,497-498 210/304
• US Class Current: 55/322
• CPC Class Codes: B01D 19/00 Degasification of liquids
• CPC Class Codes: B01D 19/0057 the centrifugal movement being caused by a vortex, e.g. using a cyclone, or by a tangential inlet
• CPC Class Codes: B01D 45/16 generated by the winding course of the gas stream , the centrifugal forces being generated solely or partly by mechanical means, e.g. fixed swirl vanes

Abstract

A liquid and gas separator having a primary stage including an agglomerator cartridge and a secondary stage providing the discharge path for the gas and liquid mixture passing from the primary stage. The secondary stage includes a chamber in which a baffle formed by a plurality of convolutions guides the gas and agglomerated liquid in a spiral path to centrifuge the liquid. The centrifuged liquid is thrown against the baffle and chamber walls and drains to a scavenging port while the liquid-free gas is discharged through a separate port.

Claims

1. A liquid and gas separating device comprisIng:

a housing defining a demister chamber for receiving a liquid and gas mixture and having an end member including a gas discharge port and a liquid scavenging port;

a primary separator mounted within the demister chamber to the end member and having a mixture inlet and a mixture outlet;

a cylindrical separating chamber positioned in the housing, said separating chamber having a mixture entrance in its cylindrical outer wall, said separating chamber further having oppositely disposed end walls, a gas exit being located in one of said end walls and a liquid exit being located in the other end wall;

a baffle plate sandwiched between the end walls of the cylindrical separating chamber and having a coiled shape in a plane transverse to the axis of the cylindrical separating chamber, the radially outer end of the baffle being connected to the wall of the cylindrical separating chamber adjacent the mixture entrance and the inner end of the baffle terminating adjacent the gas and liquid exits to define an open core of the separating chamber communicating at opposite ends with the gas exit and liquid exit respectively;

a conduit for liquid connected between the liquid exit of the cylindrical separating chamber and the liquid scavenging port of the housing;

a gas discharging conduit connected between the gas exit of the cylindrical separating chamber and the gas discharge port of the housing; and

a conduit providing communication between the mixture outlet of said primary separator and the mixture entrance of said cylindrical separating chamber.

2. The separating device of claim 1 wherein:

the gas discharging conduit includes a venturi section, the throat of the venturi section having a cross-sectional area providing choked flow at a preselected pressure of the liquid and gas mixture received by the housing.

3. The separating device of claim 1 wherein:

the end member of the housing is a removable end member; and

the cylindrical separating chamber, the conduit for liquid and the gas discharging conduit are supported within the housing from the removable end member.

4. The separating device of claim 3 wherein:

the removable end member includes an access port and a removable cover plate over the access port; and

the primary separator is mounted adjacent the access port and includes an agglomerator cartridge having a size commensurate with the access port for removal therethrough.

5. The separating device of claim 1 wherein:

the primary separator includes an agglomerator cartridge adjacent the mixture outlet in the primary separator for agglomerating the liquid particles in the mixture upstream of the mixture entrance in the cylindrical separating chamber.

6. Apparatus for separating a liquid and a gas mixture comprising:

a tank having a receiving aperture for receiving the liquid and gas mixture and an exit aperture for discharging the separated gas;

a first separating stage mounted within the tank and having a mixture inlet exposed to the region within the tank and a mixture outlet;

a second separating stage mounted within the tank and having a generally cylindrical hollow body member defining a mixture entrance connected with the mixture outlet of said first separating stage, said second separating stage also having two end members, one of said end members defining a gas exit, said second separating stage further having a spiral baffle positioned within and substantially coaxially of the cylindrical body member, said baffle being attached to the inner surface of the body member to form an inwardly spiralling channel extending from the mixture entrance to a region coaxial with the gas exit in the one end member, the radially contiguous portions of the spiral baffle along a first radial of the cylindrical body member being more closely spaced than along other radials to form alternating narrow sections and expanded sections in the spiral channel; and

conduit means connected between the gas exiT in the one end member of the second separating stage and the exit aperture of the tank.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein:

the other end member of the second separating stage opposite to the one end member defines a liquid scavenging drain.

8. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein:

the inner portion of the spiral baffle terminates at a second radial of the cylindrical body member displaced from the first radial in the direction of gas flow through the spiral channel by an amount no greater than 180* whereby the channel terminates in an expanded section.

9. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein:

a. the gas exit in said second separating stage one end member is a centrally located circular aperture having a given radius; and

b. the inner end of the spiral baffle in the direction of gas flow terminates at a redial distance from the center of the second separating stage body member greater than the given radius of the gas exist.

10. In a compressed gas demister tank having an inlet port, a gas discharge port, an oil scavenging port and a primary internal liquid and gas separator, an improved secondary separator comprising:

a chamber within the demister tank and having a cylindrical inner surface including a first aperture, the cylindrical surface being vertically positioned with respect to the operating position of the demister tank, a ceiling surface defining a centrally located second aperture and a floor surface defining a centrally located third aperture;

a chamber partition extending from the ceiling surface to the floor surface and extending from the cylindrical chamber surface and first aperture to the central region of the chamber contiguous to the second and third apertures in a plurality of convolutions generally parallel with the cylindrical surface, at least two of the plurality of convolutions of the partition being closely spaced at one radial and widely spaced at a radial substantially opposite the one radial whereby venturi and diffusing sections are formed in the spiral channel defined by the partition;

first conduit means connecting the primary separator with the first aperture of the chamber;

second conduit means connecting the second aperture of the chamber with the gas discharge port of the demister tank; and

third conduit means connecting the third aperture of the chamber with the oil scavenging port of the demister tank.

11. The improved separator of claim 10 wherein:

all of the plurality of convolutions are closely spaced at the one radial and widely spaced at the substantially opposite radial whereby a number of venturi and diffusing sections are alternately formed along the spiral channel.

12. The improved separator of claim 11 wherein:

the innermost convolution terminates in the vicinity of the opposite radial whereby the spiral channel terminates in a diffuser section.