Effluent processing apparatus and method for a vehicle air brake charging system
AssigneeBendix Commercial Vehicle Systems LLC
InventorsStephen Howe, David W. Perry, Gregory R. Ashley, Fred W. Hoffman
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An effluent processing apparatus is provided for a vehicle air brake charging system. The effluent processing apparatus comprises an inlet port through which effluent from a purge valve of an air dryer can be received and an outlet port. The effluent processing apparatus also comprises a spiral-shaped effluent channel having a portion of decreasing channel width disposed between the inlet port and the outlet port. The spiral-shaped effluent channel is provided for increasing velocity of an effluent stream as the effluent stream flows through the decreasing channel width portion of the spiral-shaped effluent channel.
Claims30
An effluent processing apparatus for a vehicle air brake charging system, the effluent processing apparatus comprising:
- an inlet port through which effluent from a purge valve of an air dryer can be received;
- an outlet port;
- and
- a spiral-shaped effluent channel having a portion of decreasing channel width disposed between the inlet port and the outlet port and for increasing velocity of an effluent stream as the effluent stream flows through the decreasing channel width portion of the spiral-shaped effluent channel.
An effluent processing apparatus for a vehicle air brake charging system, the effluent processing apparatus comprising:
- an inlet port through which effluent from a purge valve of an air dryer can be received;
- an outlet port;
- and
- a spiral-shaped effluent channel extending between the inlet port and the outlet port and for extracting contaminants from an effluent stream as the effluent stream flows from the inlet port through the spiral-shaped effluent channel to the outlet port, wherein the spiral-shaped effluent channel includes a floor extending between the inlet port and the outlet port and having floor openings that are distributed along the extent of the spiral-shaped effluent channel between the inlet port and the outlet port to form a drainage pattern between the inlet port and the outlet port.
An effluent processing apparatus for a vehicle air brake charging system, the effluent processing apparatus comprising:
- an inlet port through which effluent from a purge valve of an air dryer can be received;
- an outlet port;
- and
- a spiral-shaped effluent channel extending from the inlet port to the outlet port and for extracting contaminants from an effluent stream as the effluent stream flows from the inlet port through the effluent channel to the outlet port, wherein the spiral-shaped effluent channel includes means for varying rate of extraction of contaminants from the effluent stream as the effluent stream flows from the inlet port to the outlet port.
A method of operating an effluent processing apparatus to remove contaminants from an effluent stream from a purge valve of an air dryer as the effluent stream flows from an inlet port through an effluent channel to an outlet port, the method comprising:
- applying a centrifugal force on contaminants in the effluent stream as the effluent stream enters the input port to remove larger contaminants from the effluent stream;
- and
- continuously increasing the applied centrifugal force on contaminants in the effluent stream as the effluent stream flows through a portion of the effluent channel to the outlet port to remove smaller contaminants from the effluent stream.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.