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AssigneeUniversidade De Evora
InventorsCarlos Manuel Antunes Franco, Jaime Dais Fernandes
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Method and apparatus for separation of solid particles in liquid suspension by non-continuous filter unclogging aided filtration. The said method uses vacuum as suspension flowing force, which is applied under a closed circuit. The said separation is based on filtration vessels, using filtration fabrics of known mesh, and uses a reverse direction of suspension flow and air suction through the filters to avoid clogging of the filter fabrics. The separated particles can be recovered and collected from any of the filters for subsequent use or simply discarded. In a particular form of the invention, the said apparatus is used to separate fungus spores from solid medium in suspension. The said apparatus is constituted by a support structure and comprises three interconnected systems: the filtration system, the vacuum system and the control system. The said filtration system comprises column reservoirs (2, 4, 24, 22), suspension transport tubes (25) and filters (3 and 23). The said vacuum system comprises a vacuum pump (5), air suction tubes (6) and a liquid trap (9). The said control system comprises a vacuum controller (28), suspension flow control hydraulic valves (14,19, 20, 21), air entrance control hydraulic valves (13, 11, 18, 17) and vacuum control hydraulic valves (7, 8, 12, 10, 15, 16).
A method for unclogging filter fabrics during a filtration process characterized m that the direction of the suspension flow is reversed and air suction is applied through the filter fabric, and in that these procedures are repeated as many times as necessary to provide a continuous non-uniform flow of the suspension through the filter fabric, allowing the passage of all suspension through the filter to obtain the dry solid particles residue on the surface of the filter fabric.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.