Patent ID: 8262761

Claim:
A modular cyclone precleaner system comprising: a precleaner housing including a first housing half having a plurality of openings; and a second housing half having a plurality of openings; wherein said housing halves are mated together forming said precleaner housing, said mated housing halves forming a particulate collection chamber within said precleaner housing and a particulate outlet extending from said particulate collection chamber to an exterior of said precleaner housing; wherein said housing halves are symmetric and interchangeable with each other, enabling said halves to be produced by a shared mold tool; at least one modular cyclone block installable into one or more of said openings of said precleaner housing, each of said modular cyclone blocks including an upstream support plate installed onto said first housing half covering one of said a plurality of openings of said first housing half, said upstream support plate including a plurality of first cyclone block halves secured to said upstream support plate; a downstream support plate installed onto said second housing half covering one of said a plurality of openings of said second housing half, said downstream support plate including a plurality of second cyclone block halves secured to said downstream support plate, each of said second cyclone block halves including a clean air takeoff tube; wherein said clean air takeoff tubes of said second cyclone block halves are received into an interior of respective ones of said first cyclone block halves; wherein said first cyclone block halves of said upstream support plate with said second cyclone block halves of said downstream support plate cooperate to form a plurality of cyclone separator cells, each of said cyclone separator cells having a particulate discharge port for particulates removed from an intake gas stream; wherein said precleaner housing is configured to capture particulates from said discharge ports.