Oil centrifuge
AssigneeHoneywell International Inc.
InventorsVIPUL P. PATEL, ALLEN K. MacKNIGHT
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A centrifuge is employed to continuously remove particulates from a fluid. In one embodiment, the centrifuge removes small particles of soot from lubricating oil of large diesel engines. The fluid in introduced into the centrifuge through an inducer so that vortexes are not propagated in the fluid. Flow constrainers and flow straighteners maintain laminar flow of the fluid as it passes axially through the centrifuge. An exducer decelerates the fluid prior to its exit from the centrifuge. The exducer thus contributes to maintaining laminar flow conditions. Laminar flow may contribute to the soot-removal effectiveness of the centrifuge.
Claims20
A centrifuge for extracting particulates from a continuous flow of fluid, comprising:
- a rotor;
- a passage for constraining at least a portion of the flow of the fluid as laminar flow;
- and
- the passage adapted to direct the laminar flow orthogonally to centrifugal forces imparted to the fluid by rotation of the rotor.
A centrifuge adapted to capture soot from lubricating oil comprising:
- a rotor with a laminar flow passage therein;
- and
- the laminar flow passage being oriented parallel to an axis of rotation of the rotor.
12 The centrifuge of claim 7 further comprising a capture surface for soot at an inner surface of the rotor.
A method for removing particulates from a fluid comprising the steps of:
- producing a laminar flow of the fluid;
- and
- imparting centrifugal force on the fluid in a direction orthogonal to a direction of the laminar flow of the fluid to capture the particulates from the fluid.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.