Cyclonic separator
AssigneeWeir Minerals Africa (Pty) Limited
InventorsChandranath Banerjee, Eduardo Cepeda, Niyam Balacharya Joshi, Amith Thirumale Muralidhara
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Abstract
A cyclonic separator (10) comprises a separation chamber (14), a feed inlet (16) leading into the separation chamber and an underflow discharge (18) leading from the separation chamber. The cyclonic separator further comprises a vortex finder which has an inlet end positioned in the separation chamber, an outlet end defining an overflow discharge, and a bleed opening (48) defined by the inlet and outlet ends of the vortex finder and through which a portion of an overflow stream can be bled from the vortex finder to remove oversized particles from the overflow stream.
Claims11
A cyclonic separator comprising:
- a body having a top and a sidewall defining a separation chamber, the sidewall having a generally cylindrical upper portion and a frusto-conical lower portion tapering away from the upper portion,
- a feed inlet leading into the separation chamber,
- an underflow discharge leading from the separation chamber and defined by a spigot attached to a lower end of the lower portion of the sidewall, and
- a vortex finder,
- the vortex finder comprising:
- an intermediate chamber,
- an axially arranged upstream portion positioned in the separation chamber,
- an axially arranged downstream portion defining an overflow discharge,
- a secondary overflow discharge leading from the intermediate chamber, and
- a bleed opening defined between the upstream and downstream portions and leading into the intermediate chamber, and through which a portion of an overflow stream can be bled from the secondary overflow discharge to remove oversized particles from the overflow stream,
- wherein the upstream and downstream portions of the vortex finder are co-axial and at least one of the portions is axially displaceable relative to the other to permit the spacing between adjacent ends of the upstream and downstream portions of the vortex finder, and hence the size of the bleed opening, to be adjustable, so that the size of bleed opening can be selected depending on the relative particle sizes desired at the overflow discharge and the secondary overflow, and wherein the intermediate chamber is defined by a circular top and a sidewall depending therefrom, the sidewall having a cylindrical upper portion, an upper end of which is closed by the top and a frusto-conical lower portion protruding from the upper portion and tapering away from the top.
A method of operating a cyclonic separator which includes a separation chamber, a feed inlet leading into the separation chamber, an underflow discharge leading from the separation chamber and a vortex finder which has an axially arranged upstream portion positioned in the separation chamber and an axially arranged downstream portion defining an overflow discharge, the upstream and downstream portions defining a bleed opening therebetween and leading into an intermediate chamber defined by a circular top and a sidewall depending therefrom, the sidewall having a cylindrical upper portion, an upper end of which is closed by the top and a frusto-conical lower portion protruding from the upper portion and tapering away from the top, which method includes bleeding a portion of an overflow stream passing through the vortex finder from the vortex finder at a position between the upstream and downstream portions of the vortex finder to remove oversized particles from the overflow stream, and using an actuator to control opening and closing of the bleed opening to adjust the size of the bleed opening depending on the relative particle sizes desired at the overflow discharge and the secondary overflow.
A vortex finder comprising:
- (i) an axially arranged upstream portion for locating in a separation chamber of a cyclone,
- (ii) an axially arranged downstream portion defining an overflow discharge,
- (iii) an intermediate chamber;
- (iv) a secondary overflow discharge leading from the intermediate chamber;
- and
- (v) a bleed opening at a position between the axially arranged upstream and downstream portions of the vortex finder through which a portion of an overflow stream can be bled from the vortex finder through the secondary overflow discharge to remove oversized particles from the overflow stream;
- wherein at least one of the axially arranged upstream and downstream portions of the vortex finder is axially displaceable relative to the other to permit the spacing between adjacent ends of the axially arranged upstream and downstream portions of the vortex finder, and hence the size of the bleed opening, to be adjustable so that the size of bleed opening can be selected depending on the relative particle sizes desired at the overflow discharge and the secondary overflow, and wherein the intermediate chamber is defined by a circular top and a sidewall depending therefrom, the sidewall having a cylindrical upper portion, an upper end of which is closed by the top and a frusto-conical lower portion protruding from the upper portion and tapering away from the top.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.