Patent ID: 7335313

Claim:
A centrifugal liquid/solids separator comprising: a. a vessel having a cylindrical side wall, and upper and lower end walls forming an interior chamber, said chamber having an upper section and a lower section; b. an inlet in said cylindrical wall near the upper end wall for introducing fluid under pressure at an angle that is generally tangential to said cylindrical side wall; c. an outlet pipe axially mounted in the upper end wall of said vessel, said outlet pipe having a cylindrical wall of lesser diameter than said vessel, a hollow interior, an upper portion that extends out from said upper end wall to a first end, and a lower portion that extends into the upper section of said chamber to a second end; d. a helical ring attached around the cylindrical wall of said outlet pipe at the second end thereof such that said ring protrudes into the upper section of said chamber; e. a plurality of radially spaced apart axially-extending openings passing through the wall of said outlet pipe in the vicinity of said helical ring fluidly interconnecting the interior of said outlet pipe and the upper section of said chamber; and f. a discharge opening in the lower end wall of said vessel.