Patent ID: 7434694

Claim:
A cyclone separator, comprising: a housing having top and bottom ends and a side wall defining a vertical axis and having a substantially circular cross-section; said housing defining a tangential gas inlet near its top end; a gas outlet at its top end and a particulate outlet at its bottom end; and a plurality of baffles inside said housing, each of said baffles having a substantially circular cross-section and an inner and outer surface and defining a baffle axis aligned with said vertical axis, each of said baffles being spaced inwardly from said side wall, said baffles being at different elevations with each baffle having a top edge and a bottom edge, with the top edge of an upper baffle being at a higher elevation than the top edge of an adjacent lower baffle and with the upper baffle extending downwardly outside of, and to a lower elevation than, the top edge of the adjacent lower baffle, so that particulate-entrained gas enters the tangential gas inlet and flows in a spiral path inside the baffles, with separated particles falling downwardly between the baffles and the side wall to the particulate outlet and with the gas reversing direction near the bottom of the housing and flowing upwardly inside the spiral to the gas outlet.