Patent ID: 11938420
Assignee: SPINEX PTY LTD.
Field: Chemical engineering (Chemistry)
Classification: CPC B  E | IPC B  E

Claim 0:
1. An apparatus for removing particulates from a fluid, the apparatus comprising:
a rotatable vessel for receiving a dirty fluid containing the particulates in suspension, the rotatable vessel having a plurality of side walls arranged to form a polygonal cross-sectional shape in a plane orthogonal to an axis of rotation of the rotatable vessel, a fluid inlet port through which the dirty fluid enters the rotatable vessel, and a fluid outlet port through which a clean fluid exits the rotatable vessel after removal of the particulates, the polygonal cross-section shape having vertices;
solids discharge ports, each of the vertices of the polygonal cross-section shape provided with a respective one of the solids discharge ports, wherein, in use, when the rotatable vessel is rotated the particulates in the dirty fluid entering the rotatable vessel migrate to the vertices, from where the particulates can be discharged through the solids discharge ports; and
dump gates for the solids discharge ports, each of solids discharge ports provided with a respective one of the dump gates, wherein each of the dump gates is movable between an open position and a closed position to open and close the respective one of the solids discharge ports, and each of the dump gates is biased towards the open position and is respectively provided with a counterweight that causes the dump gate to move towards the closed position when a rotational speed of the rotational vessel reaches a threshold speed value, wherein a mass of the respective counterweight of each of the dump gates is variable so that the rotational speed at which discharge occurs can be varied.