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

Claim 19:
20. A method of removing particulates from a fluid, the method comprising:
rotating a 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, the rotatable vessel having a fluid inlet port and a fluid outlet port;
receiving a dirty fluid containing the particulates in suspension into the rotating vessel, the dirty fluid entering the rotatable vessel through the fluid inlet port so that the particulates in the dirty fluid migrate to vertices of the polygonal cross-sectional shape;
exiting a clean fluid from the rotatable vessel through the fluid outlet port after removal of particulates;
discharging the particulates through solids discharge ports provided at the vertices, which includes opening dump gates for the solids discharge ports, each of the vertices provided with a respective one of the solids discharge ports, each of the solids discharge ports provided with a respective one of the dump gates, and each of the dump gates being movable between an open position and a closed position to open and close the respective one of the solid discharge ports;
biasing each of the dump gates towards the open position, and causing each of the dump gates to move towards the closed position via a respective counterweight when a rotational speed of the rotational vessel reaches a threshold speed value; and
adjusting a mass of the respective counterweight for each of the dump gates so that the rotational speed at which the discharging occurs is varied.