Abstract:
A relatively simple portable evaporator for quickly evaporating large volumes of water includes a stand with adjustable legs, a frame carrying a tubular housing and a motor rotatably mounted on the stand for rotation around a vertical axis, a fan in the housing driven by the motor, a nozzle rotatably mounted on one end of the housing for directing air from the fan upwardly and outwardly from the housing, and a manifold carrying a plurality of jets for receiving water from a tailings pond or other source and spraying the water into a stream of air exiting the nozzle for expediting evaporation.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     This invention relates to an evaporator, and in particular to a portable evaporator for use in the mining industry. 
     Specifically, the invention relates to an evaporator for use in the mining industry to reduce the volume of water in tailings ponds during reclamation. In order to keep the volume of water in tailings ponds to a minimum, it is necessary to supplement natural evaporation using a mechanical spraying device or evaporator. The evaporator jets fine streams of liquid from a tailings pond into a stream of air under pressure to effect evaporation of large volumes of liquid. It will be appreciated that the evaporator can be used for other purposes, i.e. for evaporating water other than that taken from tailings ponds. 
     2. Discussion of the Prior Art 
     Spraying devices or evaporators of the types disclosed herein are by no means new. Examples of such apparatus are disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 3,069,091, issued to R. C. Giesse et al on Dec. 18, 1962; U.S. Pat. No. 3,269,657, issued to V. P. M. Ballu on Aug. 30, 1966; U.S. Pat. No. 3,319,890, issued to D. E. Wolford on May 16, 1967; U.S. Pat. No. 3,883,073, issued to V. P. M. Ballu on May 13, 1975; U.S. Pat. No. 5,269,461, issued to J. F. Davis on Dec. 14, 1993 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,299,737, issued to C. D. McGinnis et al on Apr. 5, 1994. 
     In general, while existing devices perform the desired function in varying degrees of efficiency, it has been found that a need still exists for an evaporator which can be used on virtually any terrain for quickly evaporating large volumes of liquid. 
     GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     The object of the present invention is to meet the above defined need by providing a relatively simple, efficient, portable evaporator, which can be used on uneven terrain. 
     Accordingly, the present invention relates to an evaporator for quickly evaporating large volumes of liquid comprising: 
     (a) a stand for supporting the evaporator in a fixed position; 
     (b) a frame rotatable on said stand for rotation around a vertical axis; 
     (c) a tubular horizontal housing on said frame, said housing having first and second open ends; 
     (d) a fan in said housing; 
     (e) a motor on said frame at the first open end of said housing for driving said fan to move air through said housing from said first open end to the second open end thereof; 
     (f) an elongated tubular nozzle extending upwardly and outwardly from said second open end of said housing for discharging a stream of air from the evaporator; 
     (g) a manifold around an upper outlet end of said nozzle for receiving liquid from a source thereof; and 
     (h) a plurality of jets in said manifold for discharging atomized liquid into the stream of air exiting said nozzle, whereby evaporation of the liquid is facilitated. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The invention is described below in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, which illustrate a preferred embodiment of the invention, and wherein: 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an evaporator in accordance with the present invention; 
     FIG. 2 is a side view of the evaporator of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 3 is a schematic front view of the evaporator of FIGS. 1 and 2; 
     FIG. 4 is a top view of a stand and frame used in the evaporator of FIGS. 1 to  3 ; 
     FIG. 5 is a partly exploded, cross-sectional view of the stand and the frame of FIG. 4; 
     FIG. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view of a housing and nozzle used in the evaporator of FIGS. 1 to  3 ; 
     FIG. 7 is an exploded view of a turbine assembly used in the evaporator of FIGS. 1 to  3 ; 
     FIG. 8 is a top view of a louver used in the nozzle of FIG. 6; and 
     FIG. 9 is a cross section of the louver taken generally along line  9 — 9  of FIG.  8 . 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, the basic elements of the evaporator include a stand generally indicated at  1 , a frame  2  rotatably mounted on the stand  1  carrying a motor  3  and a housing horizontal  4 , and a discharge nozzle  6  for discharging a stream of air and fine water droplets from the evaporator. 
     The stand  1  is defined by four extensible legs  7  supporting a pair of crossbars  8  at their upper ends. Each leg  7  includes a tubular top section  9  with a smaller diameter, tubular bottom section  10  telescopically mounted in the top section  9 . The sections  9  and  10  are releasably locked in one position by pins  11  extending through diametrically opposed holes  12  (FIGS. 3 and 5) in the top and bottom sections  9  and  10 , respectively. As shown in FIG. 5, a plurality of spaced apart, opposed holes  12  in the bottom section  10  permit individual adjustment of the length of the legs  7  so that the evaporator can be stabilized on uneven terrain. Stops defined by rectangular projections  13  are provided near the bottom end of each leg  7  for limiting movement of the bottom section  10  into the top section  9 . Rectangular feet  14  are welded to the bottom ends of the legs  7  at an angle of 45° to the longitudinal axes of the legs for penetrating the ground, thus providing additional stability. 
     The crossbars  8  are defined by rectangular cross section, steel tubes. Square cross section tubes  15  (FIGS. 2 to  5 ) are welded to the crossbars  8  to define a support for a rectangular top plate  16 . A cylindrical tubular post  17  (FIGS. 2,  3  and  5 ) is welded to the two crossbars  8  at the center of the stand  1 . The post  17  extends upwardly beyond the top of the stand  1  for rotatably supporting the frame  2  for rotation around a vertical axis. A reinforcing plate  19  with a semicircular notch (not shown) in one side thereof for receiving the post  17  is welded to the bottom of the crossbars  8  and to the post  17  for added strength. The post  17  extends upwardly through a turntable defined by a circular plate  20  on the bottom of the frame  2  and a sleeve  21  carried by the plate  20 . The frame  2  is secured in position by a tubular cap  23  (FIGS. 4 and 5) on the top end of the tube  17 , and a pin (not shown) which extends through diametrically opposed, aligned holes  25  and  26  in the post  17  and the sleeve  21 , respectively. 
     With reference to FIGS. 4 and 5, the skeletal frame  2  includes a pair of parallel, spaced apart sides  28  interconnected at the center by a bottom crossbar  29 , which is welded to the turntable  20  and receives the sleeve  21 , and a top crossbar  30 . Additional crossbars  32  and  33  are provided at the top of the rear end of the frame  2 , and at the rear end of the frame, respectively. The crossbars  32  are large angle irons for supporting the motor  3 . A pair of inverted L-shaped ledges  35  (FIGS. 4 and 5) are welded to the interior of the sides  28  at the front end of the frame  2  for supporting a cradle  36  (FIG. 1) carrying the fan housing  4 . The motor  3  is held in position by triangular braces  38  (FIGS.  1  and  2 ), and is protected from the elements by an arcuate cover  39  cantilevered from a generally triangular stand  40  mounted on the sides  28  of the frame  2 . Side shields  41  are mounted on the stand  40  limiting access to the moving parts at the air inlet end of the machine. 
     The flared rear or inlet end  42  of the horizontal fan housing  4  is protected by a cage  43 , the bottom ends of which are bolted to the sides  28  of the frame  2 . Referring to FIGS. 2 and 6, a generally C-shaped handle  44  is provided on the top of the housing  4  to facilitate lifting of the evaporator. The nozzle  6  includes a cylindrical, horizontal bottom arm  46 , which is rotatably connected to the front or outlet end  47  of the housing  4 , and an upwardly tapering top arm  48  inclined 45° to the horizontal through which a stream of air is discharged from the evaporator. Rings  50  and  51  (FIG. 6) of generally U-shaped cross section are welded to the outlet end  47  of the housing  4  and to the inlet end  52  of the nozzle  6 , respectively. The sides of a split ring  53  with a cross section which is the reverse of that of rings  50  and  51  embraces the abutting outer sides of the rings  50  and  51 . Outwardly extending flanges  55  (FIG. 1) on the free ends of the ring  53  are releasably interconnected by a T-shaped bolt  56 . When the bolt  56  is manually rotated to loosen the ring  53 , the nozzle  6  can be rotated using a handle  57  (FIG. 2) on the bottom of the horizontal arm  46  of the nozzle  6 . The bolt  56  is tightened to lock the nozzle  6  in the desired position. 
     A turbine  58  (FIGS. 6 and 7) is fixedly mounted in the inlet end  42  of the housing  4 . The turbine  58  includes a hollow, cylindrical hub  59  with closed ends, and blades  60  extending radially outwardly from the hub  59  to the housing  4 . The outer ends of the blades  60  are connected to the interior of the housing  4 . Thus, the turbine acts as a stator for cutting and directing air entering the inlet end  42  of the housing  4 . 
     A pair of bearings  62  in the ends of the turbine hub  59  rotatably support a shaft  63 , which is connected to the shaft  64  of the motor  3  by a flexible coupler  65  (FIG. 7) available from T. B. Woods, Chambersburg, Pa. A fan  67  and a generally hemispherical nose cone  68  are mounted on the outer end of the shaft  63  for rotation therewith. Actuation of the motor  3  results in the drawing of air into the rear end  42  of the housing  4  for discharge through the nozzle  6 . 
     With reference to FIGS. 6,  8  and  9 , a plurality of parallel louvers  70  extend across the nozzle  6  at the elbow  72  between the horizontal and inclined arms  46  and  48 , respectively of the nozzle  6 . Each louver  70  includes a horizontal lower section  73 , an intermediate section  74  bent 22.5° with respect to the lower section  73 , and an upper section  75  bent 22.5° with respect to the intermediate section, i.e. 45° from the horizontal. The louvers  70  redirect air entering the inlet end  52  of the nozzle  4  upwardly through the inclined arm  48  to the outlet end  77  thereof. 
     An annular manifold  80  is mounted on the upper, outlet end  77  of the nozzle  6  using brackets  81 . An inlet tube  83  in the bottom of the manifold  80  introduces water pumped from a tailings pond through a hose  84  (FIG. 2) connected to the inlet tube. The water is discharged through a plurality of atomizing jets or nozzles  85  into the stream of air exiting the nozzle  6 . The jets  85  extend radially upwardly and inwardly for providing a fine mist of water particles, which are picked up by the air under pressure to accelerate evaporation. The nozzle  6  can readily be rotated to a plurality of positions (FIG. 5) so that residual spray does not land in the same place each time and cause erosion.