Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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"AIR CLEANER"
The present application relates to an air cleaner intended
for separating air from particles or contaminants, mixed into
the air, having greater density than the air, and for leading
away the cleaned air.
In such apparatus as for example milking machines, by
which a rotary pump, which is lubricated with a suitable oil,
produces the vacuum needed for the milking process and by which
the air is vented after having been used, this air is mixed or
contaminated with said lubricating oil. Consequently the air
should be cleaned before being let out into the surrounding
- atmosphere. This is because other environmental problems will
occur, especially as contamination of the subsoil water during
several years of discharge as well as in densely built-up
areas, which may have similar mach~nes, can be considerable.
A number of different constructions of air cleaners for
the above mentioned purpose are prevlously known. However,
for a number of reasons these previously known air cleaners
have not shown themselves to satis~y the necessary requirements
with regard to effectiveness- of the cleaning of the discharged
air. The known air cleaners are provided with filtering means,
in which the heavier substances are meant to be absorbed and
later on these substances are removed together with the
filtering means since the filtering means have to ~e exchanged
with new ones after some time. In practice this work is not
done until the filtering means are so saturated by said sub-
` stances that the discharged air is not cleaned at all, which
~` means that the air cleaners from time to time are not operat-
ing properly.
There are also known air cleaners which include a
vessel in which a number of discs are inserted in order to
form passages through which the air is passed. The contamin~
ants will adhere to the surfaces of the discs and will run
-` from the d~scs and fall to the bottom of the vessel while the
^~ 35 cleaned air is passed out through the top of the vessel.
An o~ject of the invention is to improve the separating
effect of air cleaners having discs.
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A second object of the invention is to make is possible to
clean the discs without disconnecting the cleaner from the piping
which it serves.
The air cleaner according to the present invention comprises
S a container, in which separatinq m~eans are provided for separating
said air and said contaminants from each other/ whereby the con-
tainer is provided with one opening for discharge of completely or
partially cleaned air after passage of the air through the separat-
; ing means, whereby centrally in the container is ar~anged an elon-
gated inlet tube, which passes through said separating means and has
an outlet opening inside the container and whidh is arranged to be
connected to said discharge outlet, and that the container is
divided by means of a perforated partition into, on one side, an
air chamber, for contaminated air and, on the other side, a sub-
stance chamber, whereby the arrangement is such that the substance
` or contaminant(s) will undergo a primary separation at said partition
and flow down into the substance chamber, under the influence of
pressure from the contaminated air within the air chamber.
The air cleaner is characterized in that said separating means
comprises a number of funnel-shaped discs, which are piled above
each other with a gap between and which are provided with a number
of openings for the passage of partially cleansed air, said openings
~~ of one disc being out of the line with corresponding openings of
adjacent discs.
An embodiment of the present invention is more fully described
below with reference to the accompanying drawing.
FIG. 1 is an elevational perspective side view of the embodi-
ment, partially in section, having arrows drawn in continuous lines
indicatinq the completely or nartiallv cleaned air and arrows drawn
in broken lines indicating the air contaminating substances, such
as oil for example.
F~G. 2 is a plan view of a part of one of the separating means.
The container is generally shown by 10 as an elongated contain-
er which can be mounted vertically and be connected to a pipe being
passed by air which is contaminated with substances or particles of '!
a substance. The container 10 is preferably made of sheet-metal
or plastic material, and the cross-section
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of same is preferably circular with an open upper end. At its
lower end portion 10" the container 10 is funnel-shaped and
provided with an outlet, while the rest of the container 10
has a cylindrical form. In the transition between the cylin-
dricalpart 10' of the container and the conical part 10" ofthe container, it is arranged and rigidly held a perforated
disc 11 in the container, which is placed in the transverse
direction of the container in such a way that it divides the
container into two chambers, one of which will be referred to
as air chamber 12 and is situated at the cylindrical part, while
the other will be referred to as su~stance chamber 13 and is
situated at the conical part.
The container 10 has a cap 14 covering its upper end
which is open. The cap has an inlet 15 in the form of a pipe
part. The pipe part 15 leads to a vertical tube 16, which is
placed in the centre axis of the container 10~ The tube 1~
has its mouth at a small distance above the disc 11. The cap
14 has also a hole 17 to which 2 second pipe part 18 is
connected. This pipe part 18 forms the outlet 19 for the
cleaned air. The cap 14 is fastened by suitable means to the
container 10, 50 that the connection between the cap and the
container is air-tight.
-~ The conical part 10" of the container 10 at its bottom
- part is provided with a controllable outlet valve 20, to
~- 25 which a tube can be connected for discharge of oil or other
possible contaminants.
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The separating means for final separating of the air
and the substances are comprised of a number of ~unnel-shaped
and circular, relatively thin, discs 21 made o~ sheet-metal or
plastic. Each disc 21 is provided with a numher of triangular
openings 22, which are arranged at equal distance from each
other. Each disc 21, at its circular inner edge has a verti-
cally and downwards pointing support ~lange 24. ~he support
- flanges abut on the tube 16. Each disc 21 at its outer edge
35 portion is provided with a number of studs 25 which are
directed downwards and rest on the upper sur~ace of an under-
laying disc. The inner side of the support flange 24 of each
of the funnel~shaped discs 21 is intended to rest against the
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outer side of the centre tube 16, while the outer edge o~ the
discs 21 are arranged to span against the inner side of the
cylindrical part 10' of the corltainer 10. The discs 21 are
fitted into a pile on the tube 16 and the surfaces of the
discs are directed obli~uely upwards from the tube 16. A
retaining ring 23 on the end of the tube 16 prevents the discs
from slipping off the tube. The discs are arranged above each
other in such a way that the openings 22 in every other disc
are not brought in front of each other.
As already explained the perforated disc 11 is placed
under the mouth of the centre tube 16. The disc 11 has a
conically formed upstanding part 26 in its centre. This part
has a wing 27, which divides the conical part in two identical
parts. The width of the base of the conical part 26 as well
; 15 as the length of the wing 27 correspond to the diameter of the
centre tube 16. The wing 27 and the conical part 26 direct
the air stream along the upper surface of the perforated disc
`: 11.
The air cleaner according to the invention works in the
following manner:
When air, which is contaminated with e.g. particles of
a lubricant as oil, is introduced by pressure through the
inlet 15, the air is then forced through the centre tube 16
into the air chamber 12. The greater part of the oil, having
greater density than air, is hereby directed towards the
perforated disc 11, whereby said oil is separated from the air
and will rùn or drip down through the holes in the disc 11 to
~ ~he substance chamber 13. The partially cleaned air in the ,
; air chamber 12, being pressurized, is then forced through the
openings 22 of the discs 21 and the gaps between the disc and
further on through the hole 17 and out through the outlet 19.
` The remaining part of the oil, i.e. that part of the oil which
.,i is transported together with the pressurized air in between
the discs 21, runs down along their surfaces and openings 22,
~, 35 to the perforated disc 11 and through it, when the air in the
air chamber is not pressurized. In this way the discs 21 are
cleaned automatically. If a tube is connected to the outlet
valve 20 the oil can be lead into a receptacle for later reuse.
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The air cleaner according to the present invention is
fairly uncomplicated and is inexpensive to produce. Further-
more, it satisfies all requirements as to efficient air
cleaning, as described above.
Within the frame of the scope of the present invention
and the following patent claims, the air cleaner can be
modified in a number of ways.
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