Patent GB-1181210-A (GB)
Title: Centrifuge Lubricating and Seal System
IPC: F16C33/76
Filed: 1968-09-25
Abstract: 1,181,210. Centrifugal separator. COMBUSTION ENG. Inc. 25 Sept., 1968 [26 Sept., 1967], No. 45581/68. Heading B2P. In an air-pressurized centrifuge which is used for dewatering coal fed to a pulverizer connected to the furnace of a steam generator and which comprises a rotatable bowl 3 and a solids discharge screw conveyor 4, the driven end of the centrifuge. Fig. 2, has a central slurry feed tube 5 surrounded by the conveyor shaft 19 and the bowl shaft 20. A thrust bearing 22 and a bushing 23 are located between the shafts 19 and 20. Oil under pressure is supplied through an inlet pipe 25 into an annular space 27 formed between a stationary member 24 and the shaft 19. Oil seals are provided at 28, 29 between the member 24 and the shafts 19, 20 respectively. From the annular space 27 the oil flows axially between the shafts through the bearing 22 and the bushing 23 to another annular space 30 bounded by an oil seal 31. From the space 30 the oil passes through hole 32 drilled in the bowl shaft 20 and a fixed housing which may be constituted by the housing 2 of the centrifuge as shown, or by that of a bearing 17 for the bowl shaft. The oil then leaves through an outlet 34 to be cooled and recirculated. Clean cool air, at a pressure higher than that existing in the centrifuge interior, is supplied through a pipe 35 to an annular space 37 and flows through the clearance between the slurry feed tube 5 and the conveyor shaft 19 into the centrifuge interior, thereby preventing the flow of hot dirty air outwardly from the centrifuge where it would contaminate the atmosphere and damage the oil seal 28. Further sealing air is supplied through an opening 39 to an annular space 38 provided in the centrifuge housing 2. A portion of this air passes through the clearance 40 between the housing 2 and the bowl shaft 20 into the interior of the centrifuge. Another portion flows through a hole 42 drilled in the shaft 20 into an annular space 43 and thence into the interior of the centrifuge thereby preventing the hot dirty air from reaching the oil seal 31. At the solids discharge end of the centrifuge, Fig. 3, oil is supplied through an inlet 55 in a gearbox and through a centrally drilled hole 58 in the screw conveyor shaft 52 and then radially to an annular space 60 formed in a bushing 54 between the conveyor and bowl shafts 52, 53. The oil then passes along the bushing and along the annular space between the shafts and outwardly through a hole 62 in the shaft 53 to an annular space 63 and finally through a discharge opening 64 for cooling and recirculation. Oil seals are provided at 65 and 67. The seal 65 is kept clean by cool seal air supplied through an opening 68, an annular space 69, a hole 70 and an annular space 72 from which it passes through the clearance 73 between the conveyor 4 and the bowl 3. A portion of the air passes from the space 69 through clearances 74, 75 into the interior of the housing 2 thereby preventing leakage of the hot dirty air to atmosphere. The coal discharged through an opening 13 in the bowl 3 is collected in a rotating gutter 14 from which it is scraped to a discharge line by a fixed scraper 16. The gutter 14 has a shaft 76 supported by a bearing 77 and driven through a sprocket 78. Oil is retained in the bearing housing by an oil seal 81 which is kept clean by clean air supplied through an opening 79 and an annular space 80 from which it passes through a clearance 82 between the gutter 14 and the housing 2 into the interior of the centrifuge.