Nozzle centrifuge having a nozzle monitoring device and method for monitoring nozzles of a nozzle centrifuge
AssigneeGEA Mechanical Equipment GmbH
InventorsAlexander Kraus, Rüdiger Göhmann
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A nozzle monitoring device for a continuously operating nozzle centrifuge, in particular a nozzle separator, which includes a housing, in which a drum which has a defined number of nozzles on a periphery of the drum is arranged so as to be rotatable about a vertical rotational axis is provided. The nozzle monitoring device has at least one sensor and a control unit. The nozzle monitoring device is configured as an optical nozzle monitor with at least one stroboscope and at least one camera. The at least one camera forms the at least one sensor.
Claims18
A nozzle centrifuge, comprising:
- a drum having a defined number of nozzles on a periphery of the drum;
- a housing in which the drum is arranged rotatably about a vertical rotational axis and having an upper housing section;
- and
- a nozzle monitoring device, wherein at least one section of the nozzle monitoring device is in contact with an interior space of the housing, wherein the nozzle monitoring device is arranged on or in the housing, wherein the nozzle monitoring device comprises
- a camera;
- a stroboscope;
- an illuminant;
- and
- a control unit coupled to the camera and stroboscope,
- wherein the control unit is configured to control the stroboscope by selecting a frequency of light pulses of the stroboscope that deviates from a rotational frequency of the drum to allow an image sequence of the drum generated by the camera, which is now no longer synchronized, to move on to a next nozzle in order to successively capture images of all nozzles of the drum,
- wherein the camera, stroboscope, and the illuminant either
- partially protrude into a housing wall of the housing in the upper housing section through openings in the upper housing section, or
- are completely arranged in the upper housing section and are directed towards the periphery of the drum with the nozzles, and
- wherein the nozzle monitoring device is an optical nozzle monitor.
A method for monitoring nozzles of a nozzle centrifuge having a nozzle monitoring device, wherein the nozzle centrifuge comprises a housing in which a drum having a defined number of nozzles at a periphery of the drum is rotatably arranged about a vertical rotational axis, wherein a stroboscope, a camera and an illuminant are arranged in a monitoring chamber in such a way that they are directed towards the periphery of the drum with the nozzles, the method comprising:
- emitting, by the stroboscope, light pulses to the periphery of the rotating drum with the nozzles, adjusting a frequency of the light pulses based on a rotational frequency of the drum, and synchronizing the emission of light pulses by the stroboscope with the adjusted frequency;
- capturing, by the camera, a synchronized, stationary image sequence of the drum including a respective nozzle jet of an associated nozzle;
- and
- comparing the captured image sequence with previously stored image sequences and evaluating the captured image sequence based on the comparison to monitor the associated nozzle,
- wherein the capturing by the camera further comprises selecting a frequency of the light pulses of the stroboscope that deviates from the rotational frequency of the drum to allow the image sequence of the drum generated by the camera, which is now no longer synchronized, to move on to a next nozzle in order to successively capture images of all nozzles of the drum.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.