Fluid treatment system employing electrically reconfigurable electrode arrangement
First Claim
1. Electrolytic fluid treatment apparatus for treating a fluid, said apparatus comprising several electrodes exposed to the fluid, support means for physically supporting said electrodes, electrical reconfiguration means for providing electrically reconfigurable interconnections of a plurality of said electrodes with each other, and sensing means for producing an output representative of a characteristic of the fluid, said electrical reconfiguration means including means responsive to said output for automatically reconfiguring the interconnection of the plurality of electrodes in response to said output during treating of the fluid.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An electrolytic filter system (16) is disclosed for use in treating fluid provided by a fluid source(12) to a supplied environment (14). The system includes an electrolytic cell(18) controlled by control circuit(20). Various alternative constructions of the cell are described in which the effective separation of active electrodes, as well as the effective area of the active electrodes can be altered by a switching circuit (94) and controller (96) included in the control circuit (20). The controller responds to inputs from a current sensor (92) reflecting variations in the resistivity of the water. As a result, the controller is able to alter the effective separation and area of the active electrode, in response to resistivity variations to provide optimal operation.
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Citations
23 Claims
- 1. Electrolytic fluid treatment apparatus for treating a fluid, said apparatus comprising several electrodes exposed to the fluid, support means for physically supporting said electrodes, electrical reconfiguration means for providing electrically reconfigurable interconnections of a plurality of said electrodes with each other, and sensing means for producing an output representative of a characteristic of the fluid, said electrical reconfiguration means including means responsive to said output for automatically reconfiguring the interconnection of the plurality of electrodes in response to said output during treating of the fluid.
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18. Electrolytic fluid treatment apparatus for treating a fluid, said apparatus comprising an electrical power supply, several electrodes each for acting as different types of electrodes including anodes, cathodes and neutral electrodes depending on the connection of said electrodes with said power supply, means for interconnecting selected ones of said electrodes with each other, said interconnecting means including means for selectively reconfiguring the interconnections of said electrodes with each other so that different sets of electrodes are interconnectable to act as the same type of electrode, and sensing means for producing an output representative of a characteristic of the fluid, said interconnecting means being responsive to said output for automatically reconfiguring the interconnections of said electrodes in response to said output during treating of the fluid.
- 19. A method of electrolytically filtering a fluid which comprises passing the fluid between several electrodes, charging the electrodes to generate a current through the fluid between the electrodes, automatically evaluating a variable characteristic of the fluid, and automatically changing the interconnection of the electrodes with each other based on the evaluation of the characteristic of the fluid.
Specification