Patent ID: 6843832

Claim:
A compound/curvilinear immiscible liquid separator, comprising: (a) a separator section having an outer, elongated, hollow cylindrical shell, said shell being vertically aligned and having a top end and a bottom end; (b) a center well column coaxial with and disposed within said shell, the column having a plurality of ports defined therein; (c) an inlet pipe extending through said cylindrical shell; (d) an inlet chamber defined between said shell and said center column; (e) a plurality of curved walls disposed between said shell and said center well column, said curved walls defining a continuous curvilinear laminar flow path having a plurality of reverse flow paths; (e) an oil outlet pipe having a first end coaxial with and disposed in said center column, said outlet pipe being adapted for attachment to an oil storage tank; and (f) a crude oil containment section disposed below said separator section; said separator section further includes: (i) a pathway closure panel extending radially between said center well column and said shell; (ii) a pathway inlet panel extending radially between said center well column and said shell, the inlet panel having a notch therein defining a pathway entrance channel between the inlet panel and said shell opening into said curvilinear laminar flow path, the pathway closure panel and the pathway inlet panel being disposed in half-planes forming an acute dihedral angle and an obtuse dihedral angle; (iii) an upper closure plate disposed across the top end of said shell and the acute dihedral angle formed between said pathway closure panel and said pathway inlet panel; and (iv) a lower closure plate disposed across the bottom end of said shell and the acute dihedral angle formed between said pathway closure panel and said pathway inlet panel; wherein said pathway closure panel, said pathway inlet panel said upper closure plate and said lower closure plate define an elongated, pie-shaped compartment; and wherein a mixture of immiscible fluids is introduced through said inlet pipe into the inlet chamber and circulated through said curvilinear flow path, whereby low density fluids rise in said center column and are discharged through said outlet pipe, and high density fluids fall into said containment section.