Patent ID: 7153255

Claim:
A screw centrifuge for the wet-mechanical separation of a mixture of solids in a carrier liquid to produce sinks and floats, said centrifuge comprising: a rotor which rotates about a horizontal axis, said rotor having a cylindrical wall and two conical walls; a conveyor screw which is mounted for rotation coaxially inside said rotor, the conveyor screw comprising a shaft and a pair of helical blades which are pitched in opposite directions; means for feeding a mixture of solids radially into a space between the shaft and the rotor via at least one feed opening in the shaft; discharge openings in the rotor for respective sinks and floats at respective ends of respective conical walls; and a baffle device extending radially inward from said rotor and comprising an overflow pipe mounted in said rotor and having a radially inward facing inlet spaced a distance from said shaft and defining a liquid level for said floats; and a baffle ring mounted in said rotor upstream of the overflow pipe and forming a ring-shaped gap having a radial width between the baffle ring and the shaft, said width defining a liquid level for said sinks, wherein said conical walls converge toward respective mutually opposed ends which form drying sections for respective said sinks and floats, said drying section for said sinks having a length which is determined by the liquid level of said sinks, said drying section for said floats having a length which is determined by the liquid level of said floats.