Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
8ACKGROUND OF l'HE INVENTION
Vapor-liquid mixture~ are often encountered in the
process $ndustrie~. The dispersion of liquids in gas streamq
include unstable mixture~ which u~ually must be separated
prior to further proces~ing of the phase~. Most dispersion~
will separate naturally if left undisturbed, however, the
natural Reparation rate i~ often too slow for economic con-
sideration.
One variety of artificial separator commonlyemployed to accelerate the separation rate of disper~ion `
utilizes centrifugal force o~ the entrained droplets for
~,~ . .
~e~44a$14n. A second~variety relies upon the impingement ~
and coale~cinq of the entrained liquid upon a suitable
obqtruction placed in the path of the flow stream.
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Heretofore the prior axt sepa~ators have been bulky
and~or inefficient in achi~ving the desirable phase separation.
An ob~ect of the present invention is to achieve efficient phase
separation with minimum pressure drop in an inline installation
without the use of complicated structure.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention contemplates a horizontal vapor-
li~uid separator designed for inline installation for the
efficient phase separation of a vapor-liquid mixture with re-
latively low pressure drop of the flow stream passing throughthe separator.
According to the invention there is provided a hori-
zontal vapor-liquid separator, which comprises: a housing
providing a separation chamber; a substantially horizontally
disposed cylindrical inlet tubing extending through the housing
wall to said separation chamber and having the inner periphery
of the downstream end of said tubing bevele~ at a given angle
outwardly to form a generally frusto-conical inner facing; means
located within said inlet tubing for imparting a helical motion
to the vapor~liquid mixture introduced into said tubing; at
least three cylindrical pipes, coaxially aligned with the inlet
tubing, and of the same inside and outside diameter as said in-
let tubing along the entire length of said at least three pipes,
each of said at least three pipes having its outer periphery
upstream end swaged inwardly to form a generally frusto-conical
outer facing, and the inner periphery of its downstream end
thereof beveled outwardly to form a generally frusto-conical
inner facing, the upstream end of one of said at least three
pipes being inserted in the beveled downstream end of the inlet
t~bing and spaced therefrom to form an annular orifice and the
other end of said at least three pipes mounted in spaced
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se~uence to de~ine additio~al ori~ices; the upstream end of
each of said at least three pipes being swaged to define an
orifice of diameter less than the diameter of said pipes, and
wherein a leading edge o$ each of said orifices is located
within a said frusto-conical inner facing; a solid conical baffle
means mounted with its apex toward the beveled end of the last
of said at least three cylindrical pipes, and spaced therefrom
for coalesing any liquid droplets remaining in the flow exiting
from said pipe; means for removing liquid collected in the
separation chamber; and exhaust tubing extending through the
housing wall into said separation chamber in substantial axial
alignment with the inlet tubing.
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The liqu~d trapped in the separatlon chamber
flows by gravity ~r~ugh one or more downcomers to a
separate liquid accumùlation chamber. In the latter chamber,
a normal liquid level i8 maintained as a vapor barrier by
means of suitable level control apparatus, and the l~quid is
withdrawn from the bottom of the accumulation chamber at a
rate equal to the liquid collection rate.
BRIEF_DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
; FIGURE 1 i~ a sectional elevational view of the
horizontal vapor-liquid ~eparator em~odying the invention.
FIGURE 2 is a broken enlarged sectional elevational
view of a portion of a separator embodying the invention and ~
- showing the relative spatial arrangement of the tubing and `;
baffle members. \~ -
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFF,RRED EMBODIMENT
Referring to the drawings in detail and in parti- ~
cular to FIGURE 1, reference character 10 generally indicates ~:
a horizontal vapor-liquid separator comprising a housing 12
having an elongated chamber 14 therein for the collection of
20 1 entrained liquid in a manner as will be hereinafter set forth.
The heads 16 of the housing 12 as shown in FIGURE 1 are of an
elliptical configuration for pressure service, althouqh the
actual configuration thereof plays no~significant role in
the invention. ; t~
An inlet tubing 18 extends through a central port
19 provided in left-hand head 16 of the housing 12 a~ viewed
in FIGURE 1 and into the chamber 14. A spiral vane 20 is
secured in any suitable manner to the inner periphery of thc
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inlet tubing ~8 f~r impa~ting a helica~ flow pattern to any
flow stream moving therethrough. As shown in FIGURE 2I the
inner periphery of the downstream end 22 of inlet tubing 18
is pre~erably beveled outwardly~ to form a generally frusto-
conical inner facing.
A pipe 24 is disposed in the chamber 14 in substantial
coaxial alignment with the inlet tubing 18, and has one end
thereof swaged inwardly as shown at 26 to form a generally
~rusto-conical outer facing around an orifice of diameter less
than the diameter of the pipe. The inner periphery of the
opposite end of the pipe 24 is beveled outwardly as shown at 29
to form a generally frusto-conical inner facing. The leading
edge of the orifice in the swaged end 26 of pipe 24 is inserted
in the beveled end or inner facing 22 of inlet tubing 18 but
spaced apart therefrom to form an annular orifice 30 flaring
outwardly in a downstream direction. The tubing 18 and the
pipe 24 are secured in spaced but aligned relationship by spacer
elements 32 which span the orifice 30 and are secured between
the inlet tubing 18 and pipe 24 in any suitable manner (not
shown). The pipe 24 is preferably concentrically disposed with-
in the housing 12 and may be supported therein by numerous
means; but as shown in FIGURE 1, the pipe 24 is supported by a
plurality of struts 34 secured between the outer periphery of
the pipe and the inner periphery of the housing 12.
A pair of pipes 36 and 38, substantially idential to
pipe 24, is coaxially aligned behind pipe 24 in spaced swage-
to-bevel sequence by means of spacer elements 32 to provide
additional orifices 40 and 42 which are substantially identical
to the orifice 30. Similarly to pipe ~4, the pipes 36 and 38
~re p~eferably supported in the ~hamber 14 by struts 34
attached to the inner periphery of the housing wall 12.
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A baffle 44, having an lnwardly directed ~ub-
stantially conical face 43, is coaxially aligned w~th
pipe 38 and spaced apart from the beYeled end 29 thereof ~t
by means of axially extending circumferentially spaced
rib members 46 secured between pipe 38 and the baffle
base 41. ~he cone apex ~ of baffle 44 i~ directed
toward the end of pipe 38, and the base 41 of the cone
is extended radially to form a circumferential cup-like
~ projection 45 as shown in FIGURE 2.
Exhaust tubing 48 i~ disposea in ~ubstantial
coaxial alignment with t nlet tubing 18 and spaced down-
stream from the baffle 44. ~he exhaust tubing 48 extends ~ :
from the interior of chamber 14 through a central iperture
49 provided in the right-hand head 16, ag viewed in
PIGURE 1. .
A second housing 54 is 3ecured beneath housinq
12 and provides a liquid accumluation chamber 56. A pair
of downcomers S0 and 52 are secured to the lower portion
of housing 12 in open communication with chamber 14 and
extend downwardly through the upper wall of housing 54
lnto open communication with the liquid accumulation cham~
ber 56. A liguid draw line 58 is connected to the bottom
of housing 54 in open communication w~th chamber 56 for . ~.
withdrawal of liquid therefrom. A control valve 60 is
interposed in the draw line 58 and is operated by a suit-
able valve actuator 64 which is operably connected to a -
float 62 which i~ dispo~ed in the chamber 56. The valve
60 i8 preferably preset to open when the liquid level
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ma~nt~ned in ehe ac~umul~tor chamber exceed- a predet~r~lned
normal level. Alehough a float mec~anism i~ de~crlbed as a
preferred means~of mainta~ning a liguid level in the liquid
accumulation chamber 56, oeher means of liquid level control
could be used equally as well within the spirit of this inven-
tion.
In operation, a vapor-l$quid mixture (not shown)
i8 continuously fed into ~nlet tubing 18. The spiral vanes
20, located in tubing 18, impart a helical motion to the
flow stream, and the heavier liquid components thereof are
forced to the outer perLmeter of the swirling flow by cen-
trifugal force. In traveling downstream, the separated
liquid droplets exit from the main flow stream through the
orifices 30, 40, and 42, and fall to the bottom of chamber
14 by gravity. The flow stream exiting from the beveled
end of the pipe 38 and any remaining droplets contained
therein is directed against conical baffle 44. Baffle 44
reverses the generally forward flow of the stream and any
~- droplets impinging on the baffle are coalesced and fall to
the bottom of chamber 14. The flow stream, substantially
free of liquid, exit3 the chamber 14 through the exhaust
tubing 48. Liquid in the chamber drains therefrom by gra-
vity flow via downcomers 50 and 52 into the liquid accumula-
tion chamber 56. The separated liquid is withdrawn from
chamber 56 through drain line 58. Control valve 60, operated
by float 62 and valve actuator 64, maintains a liquid level
in the liquid accumulation chamber 56 at a predetermined
level at all time~, thus preventing escape of vapor there-
through while withdrawing liquid at the rate of accumulation.
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Althouqh at least three orifice~ are renuired
for the effective removal of entrained liquid from the
vapor stream, Ohe invention disclosed operate~ with rela-
tively low pressure drop and eliminates the need for
S conventional demister pads while achieving hiqh separa-
tion efficiencies.
Whereas the pre3ent invention has been described
ln particular relation to the drawings attached hereto,
it should be understood that other and further modifications,
apart from tho~e shown or suggested herein, may be made
within the spirit and scope of this invention.
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