Patent ID: 9421553
Filing Date: 2016-08-23
CPC Classification: B01D,B03B,C02F,C12M

Claim Text:
1. An apparatus comprising: a flow chamber through which a mixture of a fluid and either particulates or droplets flow at high volume flow rates, the flow chamber comprising: at least one multi-phase fluid inlet through which multi-phase fluid enters the flow chamber; a fluid outlet through which fluid exits the flow chamber; a solids outlet through which particulates or droplets having a density at or above a pre-defined threshold exit the flow chamber; and a low density outlet through which particulates or droplets having a density below the pre-defined threshold exit the flow chamber; one or more ultrasonic transducers; and one or more reflectors corresponding to each transducer; wherein each transducer is configured to form a three-dimensional acoustic field at a different ultrasonic frequency and each ultrasonic frequency is optimized for a specific range of particulate sizes to, along with a geometry of the flow chamber, selectively separate particulates or droplets from the multi-phase fluid by continuously causing particulates or droplets to agglomerate, coalesce, cluster, clump, or grow and increase in size such that they continuously fall out of the acoustic field due to gravity and exit the flow chamber via the solids outlet or rise out of the acoustic field due to buoyancy forces and exit the flow chamber via the low density outlet.