Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
~1~5380
APPARATUS FOR WETTING DIVIDED SOLID MATERIAL
Field of the Invention
The present invention is concerned with improvements in or
relating to apparatus for wetting divided solid material so as
to facilitate its movement by pumping.
Review of the Prior Art
It is of course well known to wet dry finely divided
solid material to make it generally easier to handle and capable
of transport through a pipe. There is also a considerable service
industry involving the removal and disposal of various liquid
industrial and domestic wastes. One form of apparatus commonly
employed for this service consists of a truck-mounted tank in
combination with a heavy-duty, high pressure air pump that can be
driven by the truck motor. The pump evacuates air from the tank
interior to suck in the waste liquid, and sub~equently feeds
pressurised air into the interior to discharge the waste at a
disposal station. It happens frequently that the operator is also
requested to remove dry divided solid material, e.g. sand or ash,
but this they are unwilling to do unless the material has been
very thoroughly completely wetted, because of the possibility of
solid material entering the expensive air pump and destroying it.
The pump is of course provided with an inlet filter, but a filter
to keep out the fine particles involved would either be bulky and
expensive, or would cause an unacceptable reduction in flow
capacity of the pump.
Definition of the Invention
It is there~ore an object of the invention to provide an
apparatus for wetting divided solid material that is readily
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incorporated in the suction hose of a liquid disposal uni~ and
will ensure thorough wetting of the material passing through it.
In accordance with the present invention there is provided
apparatus for wetting divided solid material entrained in an air
stream, comprising:
a body having an inlet thereto and an outlet therefrom for
the air stream, and providing in its interior a flow passage
between the inlet and the outlet of greater cross-sectional area
than the inlet;
deflector means mounted in the body adjacent the inlet to
intercept the air stream and to distribute it over the greater
cross-sectional area of the flow passage;
the said deflector means comprising a plurality of finger-
like members extending radially inwards towards the axis of the
flow passage; and
a plurality of water spray nozzle means each disposed to
spray water into the flow passage to wet the solid material in the
stream, the nozzle means being spaced from one another circum-
ferentially around the flow passage and also longitudinally
along the passage.
The said deflector means may also include an axial member
lying on the axis of the flow passage and toward which the
finger-like members extend.
The said deflector means may be mounted on a removable
end member of the apparatus providing the said passage inlet,
and the removable end member also is provided with a water spray
nozzle additional to the said plurality of nozzles spraying
water onto the deflector means.
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Description of the_Drawings
Apparatus which is a particular preferred embodiment of
the invention will now be described, by way of example, with
reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawing, wherein:-
Figure 1 is a side elevation of a tank truck and of the
apparatus to ~how the manner in which they are used together,
Figure 2 is a perspective view of the apparatus with part
of its sidewall broken away to show the interior, and
Figure 3 is a perspective view of a removable end cap
of the apparatus to show the deflector means mounted thereon.
Description of the Preferred Embodiments
The apparatus of the invention is indicated by the refer-
ence 10, and is illustrated as used in conjunction with a truck
12 having a tank 14 mounted théreon. The interior of the tank
is evacuated or pressurised as required by means of a high-
capacity, high pressure pump unit 16 driven from the truck engine
via a power take-off 18, the pump being connected to the kank
interior via hoses 20 and anti-back-flow valves 22 and 24, the
valve 22 also including a sight glass. The importance of the
valves 22 and 24 in ensuring that liquid from the tank cannot
reach the pump and damage or destroy it is explained in for
example my U.S. patent Serial No: 4,057,364. It is even more
essential that finely divided solid material does not reach the
very expensive heavy duty pump unit. The waste material is fed
into the tank and discharged therefrom via an inlet valve 26 to
which is connected a long flexible hose 28 used to reach to the
removal site.
The apparatus 10 of the invention is a small relatively
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portable unit that can be carried on the truck and inserted into
the hose 28 when re~uired; it can also be left permanently
connected in the hose if that is satisfactory since the liquid
wastes will simply pass through it. Preferably the apparatus is
employed as near to the open end of the hose as possible so that
the solids are wetted as soon as possibLe after entry into the
hose.
The apparatus consists of a cylindrical body 30 of
circular cross-section which tapers inwards at its rear end to
provide an outlet 32 to which the respective portion of the hose
20 can be connected by a quick-release fastening. In use the
apparatus stands on two spaced U-shaped legs 34 and is carried
around by the operator by means of two U-shaped handles 36. An
end cap 38 is fas~ened to the body 30 by bolts 40 (or by appro-
priate quick release fastenings) with a gasket ~2 between them.
The end sap also tapers inwards at its front end to provide an
inlet 44 to which the respective portion of the hose can be fasten-
ed by a quick release fastening. The cap is also provided with a
sight-glass 46 through which its interior can be viewed.
It will be seen that the cylindrical passage within the
body 30 is of substantially greater cross sectional area than
either the inlet or the outlet, and deflector means are provided
immediately after the inlet to ensure that the air flow with its
entrained solid material is distributed as uniformly as possible
over the chamber interior, and so as to provide the maximum
exposure to the water sprays. It has been found surprisingly
difficult to provid~ a suitable deflector means and, for example,
a centrally-disposed deflector cone does not provide satisfactory
distribution. In this embodiment the deflector means are carried
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by the end cap 38, so as to be removable in case oI bridging, and
g~ ;ke
consist of three radially-inwardly-extending~flng~r members 48,
the members being uniformly circumferentially spaced around the
interior of the end cap and being inclined rearwardly in the
direction of flow of the air stream. The ends of the fingers do
not quite reach the longitudinal central axis of the body, so
as to leave a gap between them, and an axial rod-like barrier
member 50 is disposed in this gap, lying along the axis, being
held in position by a spider member 52. Each finger is in this
10 embodiment of L-shape angle cross section with the arms of equal
length, disposed with the convex apex 54 of the L facing into the
stream. Such a barrier member has been found to be particularly
effective.
The apparatus is provided wth a plurality of water spray
means, five in this particular embodiment, which are supplied with
water at the necessary high pressure from a pump 56, which may
also be driven from the truck motor, but will more usually be
driven by its own small motor 58. In this embodiment the truck 12
is illustrated as provided with a water supply tank 60, but it
will be more usual to connect the pump via an ordinary garden-
type hose to any immediately-available water supply tap; most
- sites at which the apparatus is used has such a tap within an
accessible distance. ~he pressurised water is fed to a cross head
62 and thence via individual pipes 64 and valves 66 to the spray
nozzles.
Four of the spray nozzles, indicated by the reference 68,
are mounted on the body 30 to discharge into its interior, and
it will be seen that they are distributed uniformly around the
~ S3130
circumference of the passage at 9~ to one another, and are also
distributed uni~ormly along the length of the body, so that there
is a minimum of interference between the spray patterns of the
different nozzle means and the consequent increas~ possibility
that the solid material is sprayed and wetted. Each spray
nozzle is mounted in a side passage 70 provided by a tube 72,
so as to be out of the air stream and therefore not subjected to
the abrasive effect of the steam and its entrained solid material.
A fifth nozzle spray means 74 is mounted on the removable end cap
and discharges water directly at the deflector means to keep it
constantly washed and ensure that solid material will not adhere
to it and build up thereon. This fifth nozzle also serves as a
by-pass flow means for the water supply system; thus the flows
to the spray nozzles 68 are adjusted carefully to ensure that the
desired spray patterns are obtained, and the remainder of the
water is supplied to the nozzle 74; the pump can now operate at
its designed constant optimum speed since the flow and spray
pattern of this nozzle 74 is relatively non-critical. This
arrangement again ensures that effective wetting is obtained.
20 - In a typical installation intended to handle about 4
metric tons ~4 tons) per hour the apparatus is of only 72 cm
(28.5 inches) overall length. The front hose is of 7.5 cm (3 ins)
diameter while the cylindrical flow chamber is of 22.5 cm (9 ins)
internal diameter. The pump 56 will be of capacity 25-50 litres
(61-11 imperial gallons) per minute; a usual arrangement will be
for the nozzles 68 to operate at 6.75-9 litres (1.5-2 galls) per
minute with the balance taken by the nozzle 74. The ~ank 12 can
be of capacity 2,250-27,000 litres (500-6,000 galls) depending
;31~30
on the user's requirements, while the pump will operate at from
4.25-34 cubic metres (150-1,200 cubic feet) per minute to proviae
up to about 71 cm (28 ins) of vacuum (water gauge). With an
air pump of the higher capacities, i.e. above 28 cubic metres
(1,000 cubic feet) per minute an inlet pipe of 5 cm (6 ins)
diameter would be preferred, while the body 30 would have an
internal diameter of about 30 cm (12 ins).
