Patent ID: 7314572

Claim:
A settler unit for separating settleable-particles from a dirty flow of the settleable-particles and fluid, the settler unit comprising: a first tray and a second tray; each of the trays comprising a planar central section configured with opposed ends and opposed sides, the planar section being configured with an entrance edge on one opposed end and an exit edge on another opposed end, the planar section being configured with side edges that are opposed to each other, the tray being configured with an upturned entrance lip at the entrance edge and an upturned exit lip at the exit edge, the upturned entrance lip being opposite to the respective upturned exit lip, the upturned entrance lip and the upturned exit lip each being configured to extend away from the planar central section by a pocket depth amount, the upturned entrance lip and the upturned exit lip cooperating with each other to define a sludge collection pocket, each respective tray being configured to be supported at each side edge in an orientation to receive the settleable-particles from the dirty flow of settleable-particles and fluid; the first tray being oriented as an upper tray; the second tray being oriented as a lower tray with respect to the upper tray; a frame configured to support each respective opposed side edge of the upper tray and of the lower tray so that the respective upper tray and lower tray are mounted in a mutually parallel spaced orientation at a low-angle for defining the settler unit configured with the sludge collection pocket of the lower tray oriented to receive the settleable-particles from the dirty flow of settleable-particles and fluid; wherein the upturned entrance lip and upturned exit lip are spaced from each other by a first distance; a dirty flow entrance slot defined between the entrance edge of the upper tray and the upturned entrance lip at the entrance edge of the lower tray; and a clean flow exit slot defined between the exit edge of the upper tray and the upturned exit lip at the exit edge of the lower tray; the configuration of the frame to support each respective opposed side edge comprises a side edge support extending along substantially the entire extent of the first distance adjacent to each opposed side edge, each side edge support being configured with a downturned sludge exit lip extending from the planar central section to define a fluid flow depth about equal to the pocket depth; and the frame being further configured to mount the upper and lower trays in the mutually parallel spaced orientation at the low-angle and define a depth of the dirty flow entrance slot about equal to the fluid flow depth to admit the dirty flow between the upper tray and the lower tray for flow above and in the pocket of the lower tray.