FILTERING APPARATUS

Abstract: An apparatus for filtering a gas stream to remove contaminants carried therein. The apparatus includes means (27) having a jet (29) for injecting liquid into the gas stream and cyclone means (11) for intimately contacting the injected liquid with the gas stream whereby the contaminants are absorbed by the liquid. The apparatus further comprises a cyclone separator (13) having a gas cyclone chamber (49) and a liquid cyclone chamber (48). The gas cyclone chamber (49) includes an entry nozzle (51) for introducing the gas stream carrying the liquid with the contaminants absorbed therein tangentially into the gas cyclone chamber (49) so as to separate the contaminated liquid from the gas flow. The contaminated liquid descends into a rotating body of liquid (47) in the liquid cyclone chamber and the clean air leaves the separator by way of an outlet (57). A method of filtering a contaminated gas stream is also described and claimed.

Description: "Filtering Apparatus" THIS INVENTION relates to an apparatus for, and a method of, separating contaminants from a gaseous flow such as an airstream, which contaminants are entrained in the gaseous flow and may comprise solids, liquids, vapours or other gases including fumes, or any combination thereof. Known filtering systems for separating contaminants from an air or other gas stream rely on impingement of the contaminants on an arresting surface which may be in the form of a screen or a bag filter. These filtering systems have several deficiencies, one of which is that the arres- tance efficiency is poor for minute particulates. A further deficiency is that the impingement surface re¬ quires frequent cleaning to remove accumulated con¬ taminants thereon. The need to remove the contaminants from the impingement surface is time consuming and intro¬ duces the possibility that a portion of the accumulated contaminants may escape to atmosphere. A further defi¬ ciency is that the arresting surface is vulnerable to deterioration in circumstances where the contaminants in the gas stream are abrasive. A still further deficiency of such known filtering systems is that the impingement surface is not entirely effective in removing liquid contaminants and fumes. It is an object of this invention to provide an apparatus for, and a method of, separating contaminants from a gas stream without relying upon impingement of the gas stream of an arresting surface to effect separation of the con¬ taminants from the gas stream. In one form the invention resides in an apparatus for filtering a gas stream to remove contaminants carried therein, the apparatus comprising means for injecting a liquid filter medium into the gas stream, means for inti¬ mately contacting the injected liquid filter medium with the gas stream whereby the contaminants are absorbed by the liquid filter medium, means for introducing the gas stream carrying the liquid filter medium with the con¬ taminants absorbed therein into a gas cyclone chamber and means for extracting gaseous fluid from within the cyclone chamber. In the gas cyclone chamber, the liquid filter medium carrying the contaminants separates from the gas stream under cyclonic action, owing to the difference in the specific gravities of the gaseous fluid and the liquid filter medium respectively. The centrifugal forces on the liquid filter medium also lead to vertical stratification of solid contaminants held in the liquid according to the various specific gravities of the solid contaminants, thereby to effectively prevent further contact of the solid- contaminants with the gas stream. As the rotating liquid mass progressively loses its inertial energy and the influence of gravity on the liquid mass progressively increases, the rotating liquid mass gradually descends, while still maintaining the vertical stratification of the contaminants therein owing to the continuing centrifugal forces. Preferably, a liquid cyclone chamber containing a body of the liquid filtering medium is provided at the bottom of the gas cyclone chamber, the body of liquid preferably being the liquid filtering medium being caused to rotate under the influence the cyclonic action occurring in the cyclone chamber. As the rotating liquid mass in the gas cyclone chamber gradually descends, it finally leaves the gas cyclone chamber and enters the body of liquid in the liquid cyclone chamber. The kinetic energy of the rotating liquid mass imparts rotational force to the body of liquid to generate cyclonic action therein which pro¬ duces vertical stratification of contaminants in the body of liquid. To facilitate settling of the contaminants in the body of liquid, there may be provided means to regulate the speed of rotation of a vortex generated by the cyclonic action so as to allow the forces of gravity to exert a greater influence than the centrifugal forces of gyration. The regulating means may comprise baffles or other obstructive elements in the liquid cyclone chamber towards the bottom thereof. For the purposes of economy, the liquid filtering medium injected into the gas stream is preferably recirculated, the liquid being withdrawn from the central region of the body of liquid at which region the liquid is least con¬ taminated. From time to time the body of liquid at the bottom of the cyclone chamber may be exchanged or at least the con¬ taminants settling at the bottom of the body of liquid may be drawn-off or dumped and replenishment liquid added. The means for injecting liquid filtering medium into the gas stream may comprise at least one jet arranged to inject the liquid in the direction of gas flow whereby the kinetic energy of the liquid intensifies the kinetic energy of the total fluid mass. The means for intimately contacting the injected liquid with the gas stream preferably comprises a further cyclone (which will be referred to hereinafter as a gas-liquid compound cyclone) which subjects the mixture of gas and liquid filtering medium to cyclonic action so as to trans¬ fer the contaminants originally in the gas stream into liquid particles now entrained in the gas stream. The gas-liquid compound cyclone may be in the form of an elongated chamber through which the gas flows τ the chamber having a tangential flow entry or alternatively vanes for causing the flow to rotate. The vanes may be spiral vanes extending along the length of the chamber or axial flow vanes extending across the flow path. When spiral vanes are employed, the chamber is preferably provided in two sections, a descending section and an ascending section each provided with the spiral vanes. In both the axial flow vane arrangement and tangential entry arrangement the chamber converges in the direction of flow to provide a venturi action thus increasing the velocity of the rotating fluid mass (which comprises liquid and gas). Preferably, the means for extracting gaseous fluid from within the cyclone chamber includes an outlet having a moisture trap. In another form, the invention resides in a method of filtering a gas stream to remove contaminants carried therein, the method comprising the steps of: injecting a liquid filtering medium into the gas stream, intimately contacting the injected liquid filtering medium with the gas stream whereby the contaminants are absorbed by the liquid, and subjecting the gas stream carrying in the liquid with the contaminants absorbed therein to cyclonic action so as to separate the liquid with the contaminants absorbed therein from the gas stream. Preferably, the gas stream carrying the liquid with the contaminants absorbed therein is subjected to said cy¬ clonic action in a cyclone chamber having a body of liquid at the bottom thereof whereby the body of liquid is caused to rotate owing to the cyclonic action. Preferably, the liquid injected into the gas stream is drawn from the body of liquid at or near the central region thereof. Preferably, the injected liquid is intimately contacted with the gas stream by subjecting the mixture to cyclonic action. The invention will be better understood by reference to the following description of several specific embodiments thereof as shown in the accompanying drawings in which:- Fig. 1 is a schematic side view of a filtering appa¬ ratus according to the first embodiment; Fig. 2 is a plan view of part of the apparatus of Fig. 1, showing in particular the cyclone separator; Fig. 3 is a schematic plan view of a filtering appa¬ ratus according to a second embodiment; and Fig. 4 is a schematic elevational view of a filtering apparatus according to a third embodiment. Referring to Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings, the filtering apparatus according to the first embodiment is incorpora¬ ted in a vacuum extraction system for use in association with a working tool (such as a portable power saw) for conveying sawdust or other particles produced by the working operation away from the working area. The filtering apparatus according to the invention may, of course, be used in association with any other apparatus employing a vacuum extraction system including commercial and domestic vacuum cleaners and in any other situation where it is necessary to extract contaminants from an air or other gas flow. The filtering apparatus comprises a gas-liquid compound cyclone 11, a cyclone separator 13 and an exhaustor 15 which subjects the interior of the cyclone separator to reduced pressure. Air carrying dust and other contaminant particles away from the working surface is conveyed to the gas-liquid compound cyclone 11 at which a liquid filtering medium is injected into the air stream and the injected liquid filtering medium is mixed intimately with the air stream so as to absorb the contaminants therein? that is, the contaminants are transferred from suspension in the gas stream to suspension in liquid particles themselves suspended in the gas stream. The air stream carrying the liquid with the contaminants absorbed therein, is then introduced into the cyclone separator 13 at which the liquid with the contaminants absorbed therein, is separa¬ ted from the air stream. The exhaustor 15 discharges the cleaned air to atmosphere or other suitable point of disposal. The liquid injected into the air stream may comprise water having one or more additives including wetting agents, dispersants, an emulsifying and anti-foaming agents, germicides, fungicides, insecticides and active chemcial neutralising agents. The gas-liquid compound cyclone 11 includes a chamber 17 having an inlet 19 to receive contaminanted air and an outlet 21 communicating with the inlet of the cyclone separator 13. The chamber 17 includes first and second elongated sections 23 and 25 respectively connected in series, with the section arranged so as to extend substan¬ tially vertically. The first section 23 provided a des¬ cending section and the second section 25 provides an ascending section. The liquid is injected into the air stream by means 27 including a jet 29 communicating with the chamber 17 at the inlet end of the descending section 23 and so arranged as to inject liquid in the direction of air flow. The gas-liquid compound cyclone 11 further comprises spiral vanes 31 arranged along the inner peripheral sur¬ face of the descending section 33 and spiral vanes (not shown) arranged along the inner peripheral surface of the ascending section 25. The spiral vanes are arranged to cause air flowing along the respective sections to rotate so as to establish cyclonic action which facilitates transfer of the contaminants from the air stream to the liquid particles. The spiral vanes in the ascending section 25 are of opposite hand to the spiral vanes in the descending section 23 so as to cause contra-rotation of the air stream and thereby create violent turbulence in the air stream which assists in effecting the transfer of the contaminants into the liquid particles. The cyclone separator 13 includes a body 41 having a chamber 43, the side wall 45 of which is cylindrical and extends vertically. The chamber 43 contains a body of liquid filter medium 47 in the lower section thereof, the liquid being of the type that is injected into the con¬ taminated air stream at the gas-liquid compound cyclone 11. The intermediate section of the chamber 43 containing the body of liquid 47 constitutes a liquid cyclone chamber 48 and the section above the body of liquid constitutes a gas cyclone chamber 49. The air stream exiting from the outlet 21 of the compound cyclone 11 is introduced into the gas cyclone chamber 49. The bottom section of the chamber 43 provides a sedimentation zone below a sedimen¬ tation grid 50. The gas cyclone chamber 49 is provided with an entry nozzle 51 which receives the mixture exiting from the outlet 21 of the gas-liquid compound cyclone 11 and intro¬ duces that mixture tangentially into the cyclone chamber. The entry nozzle 51 has an inlet end 53 which communicates with the outlet 21 of the gas-liquid compound cyclone 11, and an outlet end 55 from which the mixture issues sub¬ stantially tangentially to the circular side wall of the chamber. The cross-sectional area of the nozzle progres¬ sively decreases along the length of the nozzle from the inlet end to the outlet end. The inlet end of the nozzle is circular in section and the outlet end is in the form of an elongated opening extending vertically. An air outlet 57 is provided in the upper region of the gas cyclone chamber 49. The air outlet is connected to the intake end of the extractor 15 and is provided with a moisture trap 59. At the bottom of the chamber 45 there is an outlet 61 provided with a valve 63 by means of which the body of water in the liquid cyclone chamber 48 may be changed from time to time. As will be fully explained hereinafter, the body of liquid within the liquid cyclone chamber 48 is caused to rotate and undergo cyclonic action under the influence of the cyclonic action taking place within the gas cyclone cham¬ ber 49. Means in the form of baffles (not shown) or other obstructive elements are provided towards the lower end of the liquid cyclone chamber 48 to regulate the rotational speed of the body of liquid so as to allow settling of contaminants contained in the body of liquid. Liquid injected into the air stream at the gas-liquid compound cyclone 11 is obtained from the body of liquid in the cyclone separator 13. In this connection, there is a liquid supply line 65 having an inlet 67 opening into the body of liquid and an outlet communicating with the jet 27. A pump 69 is incorporated in the supply line for delivering the liquid to the jet. The inlet end of the supply line is located in the central region of the body of water so as to intake liquid which has a relatively lower level of contamination, as will be explained later. Operation of the filtering device will now be described. The inlet 19 of the gas-liquid compound cyclone 11 is coupled by way of a flexible conduit 75 to a collecting head (not shown) associated with the power saw or other working tool. The gas cyclone chamber 49 is subjected to a reduced pressure by operation of the exhaustor 15. The reduced pressure within the gas cyclone chamber 49 genera¬ tes an air flow which commences at the collecting head and flows along the flexible conduit 75, through the gas-liquid cyclone chamber 11 and enters the gas cyclone chamber by way of the entry nozzle 51. The air entering the collecting head gathers dust and other particles produced during operation of the tool and conveys such material pneumatically to the gas-liquid compound cyclone 11 at which the liquid filter medium is injected into the contaminated air stream at the jet 27 and' the mixture of liquid particles and contaminated air intimately mixed during cyclonic action occuring in the descending and ascending sections 23 and 25 of the chamber. During the intimate mixing, the contaminants in the air stream are absorbed by the liquid particles. The mixture of air and liquid particles with contaminants absorbed therein, is then conveyed to the cyclone separator 13 and is intro¬ duced tangentially into the gas cyclone chamber 49 by the entry nozzle 51. The mixture entering the gas cyclone section is subjected to cyclonic action which causes separation of the air from the liquid particles carrying the contaminants, owing to the difference in the respec¬ tive specific gravity of the air and the liquid. The liquid clings to the peripheral wall of the gas cyclone chamber developing into a liquid film on the wall and the centrifugal forces on the liquid film leads to vertical stratification of the solid particles held within the liquid film, according to their various specific gravities thereby to effectively prevent further contact between the contaminants and the air stream. As the rotating con¬ taminated liquid mass loses its inertial energy and the influence of gravity on the liquid mass progressively increases, the rotating liquid mass gradually descends, while still maintaining the vertical stratification owing to the continuing centrifugal forces. When the rotating liquid mass enters the body of water in the liquid cyclone chamber 48, the kinetic energy of the rotating liquid film imparts a rotational force to the body of liquid in the liquid cyclone chamber which in turn generates cyclonic action therein. This cyclonic action maintains the ver¬ tical stratification of contaminants, initially achieved within the liquid film. The rotational speed of the body of liquid is regulated by the baffles 63 or other obstruc¬ tion elements so as to allow the forces of gravity to exert a greater influence than the centrifugal forces of gyration on the contaminants so as to facilitate, settling thereof through the grid 50 into the sedimentation zone. Because of the vertical stratification in the rotating body of liquid and centripetal forces inherent in cyclonic action, the upper central region of the body develops a zone of relatively uncontaminated liquid and provides a suitable point from which the liquid filter medium may be drawn for injection into the gas-liquid compound cyclone 11. Air which has separated from the liquid and contaminants in the gas cyclone chamber is now clean and leaves the gas cyclone chamber through the outlet 57 and is conveyed through the exhaustor 15 to atmosphere or other suitable point of disposal. The body of liquid contained within the liquid cyclone chamber can be exchanged from time to time so that it does not become ineffective owing to a saturation with con- taminants. As an alternative to exchanging the entire body of liquid, the contaminated liquid at the bottom may be drawn-off, either continuously or periodically, and replenishment liquid supplied. This facilitates safe disposal of the contaminants as they are contained within liquid discarded to waste. Referring now to Fig. 3 of the drawings, the second em¬ bodiment of the filtering system according to the inven¬ tion is similar to the first embodiment, apart from the gas-liquid compound cyclone 11. In the second embodiment, the gas-liquid compound cyclone 11 is in the form of an axial inlet cyclone with a cyclone chamber 79 having an inlet end 81 to receive contaminated air and an outlet end 83 which communicates with the entry nozzle 51 of the cyclone separator 13. There is provided within the elon¬ gated chamber 79 an assembly of axial flow vanes 85 so arranged as to cause rotary flow of the contaminated air along the chamber. A plurality of- jets 87 are provided for injecting liquid axially into the cyclone chamber 79 upstream of the vane assembly 85. The section 89 of the chamber downstream of the vane assembly 85 is convergent and terminates at the outlet end 83. In operation, rota¬ tion of the air caused by the vanes 85 results in cyclonic action which intimately mixes the liquid injected into the chamber with the axial air flow therethrough. Referring now to Fig. 4 of the drawings, the third embodi¬ ment of the filtering system is similar to the first embodiment, again apart from the gas-liquid compound cyclone 11. The gas liquid compound cyclone in this embodiment, is in the form of a conventional tangential inlet cyclone which may have a gas entry via a spiral casing or a tangential entry nozzle. A jet 91 injects liquid filter medium in the direction of air flow. From the foregoing description, it is evident that the present invention provides filter apparatus which does not rely on impingement of contaminants in an air stream with an impingement surface, and so does not suffer from the deficiencies of known bag and screen filters. It will be appreciated that a filtering apparatus according to the present invention may be used in series with conventional bag or screen filters. In addition, a filtering apparatus according to the invention may be adapted for use as a replacement filter in a vacuum cleaning system or other pneumatic conveying system originally fitted with a conventional impingement filter. In such systems where the impingement filter is in the form of a bag filter received within a cannister, the cannister may be modified so as to constitute the chamber of the cyclone separator forming part of the present invention. In this way, it is believed that the present invention may well be suitable as a replacement filter in existing systems.

Claims: THE CLAIMS defining the invention are as follows:- 1. An apparatus for filtering a gas stream to remove contaminants carried therein, the apparatus comprising means for injecting a liquid filter medium into the gas stream, means for intimately contacting the injected liquid filter medium with the gas stream whereby the contaminants are absorbed by the liquid filter medium, means for introducing the gas stream carrying the liquid with the contaminants absorbed therein into a gas cyclone chamber and means for extracting gaseous fluid from within the cyclone chamber. 2. Apparatus according to claim 1 further comprising a liquid cyclone chamber containing a body of liquid is provided at the bottom of the gas cyclone chamber, the body of liquid being caused to rotate under the influence the cyclonic action occurring in the cyclone chamber. 3. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein there is pro¬ vided means to regulate the speed of rotation of the body of liquid. 4. Apparatus according to claim 3 wherein regulating means comprises at least one baffle or other obstructive element in the body of liquid. 5. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the liquid filtering medium injected into the gas stream is obtained from the body of liquid in the liquid cyclone chamber. 6. Apparatus according to claim 5 wherein said liquid obtained from the body of liquid is withdrawn from the central region of the body of liquid at which region the liquid is least contaminated. 7. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the means for injecting liquid into the gas stream comprises at least one jet arranged to inject the liquid in the direction of gas flow. 8. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims wherein said means for intimately contacting the injected liquid with the gas stream comprises cyclone means for subjecting the mixture of gas and liquid filtering medium to cyclonic action. 9. Apparatus according to claim 8 wherein said cyclone means for a chamber and means for causing rotary flow of the mixture through the chamber. 10. Apparatus according to claim 9 wherein said chamber is provided in two sections being a descending section and an ascending section each provided with the spiral vanes extending along its length, the spiral vanes being so arranged as to cause the gas flow in one section to rotate in an opposite direction to the gas flow in the other section. 11. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims wherein said means for extracting gaseous fluid from within the gas cyclone chamber includes an outlet having a moisture trap. 12. A method of filtering a gas stream to remove con¬ taminants carried therein, the method comprising the steps of: injecting liquid filtering medium into the gas stream, intimately contacting the injected liquid filtering medium with the gas stream whereby the contaminants are absorbed by the liquid, and subjecting the gas stream carrying in the liquid with the contaminants absorbed therein to cyclonic action so as to separate the liquid with the contaminants absorbed therein from the gas stream. 13. A method according to claim 12 wherein the gas stream carrying the liquid filtering medium with the contaminants absorbed therein is subjected to said cyclonic action in a cyclone chamber having a body of liquid at the bottom thereof whereby the body of liquid is caused to rotate owing to said cyclonic action so as also to under cyclonic action. 14. A method according to claim 12 or 13 where the liquid injected into the gas stream is drawn from the body of liquid at or near the central region thereof. 15. A method according to claim 14 wherein the injected liquid is intimately contacted with the gas stream by subjecting the mixture to cyclonic action. 16. Apparatus substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings. 17. A filtering method substantially as herein described.

Inventors: BARNES WALTER KNAPP, SEPAROVICH JOHN MICHAEL, BARNES, WALTER, KNAPP, SEPAROVICH, JOHN, MICHAEL
Applicants: BARNES WALTER KNAPP, SEPAROVICH JOHN MICHAEL, BARNES, WALTER, KNAPP, SEPAROVICH, JOHN, MICHAEL
Application year: 1986
Main classification: B01D50
IPC codes: B01D47, B01D50, B04C7, B04C9