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US 3,980,541 AGranted
Electrode structures for electric treatment of fluids and filters using same
OwnerHarry E. Aineinventor
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OwnerHarry E. Aineinventor
Estimating the term…
Composite electrode structures are disclosed employing mutually opposed electrodes spaced apart to define a fluid treatment region through which a fluid is passed for treatment by an electric field established between the electrodes. Resistive electrodes serve to localize the effect of electrical shorts between the electrodes. Refractory electrodes and insulators permit operation in high temperature environments. Non-uniform sheet and/or filamentary electrodes are disclosed for producing a substantial non-uniformity in the electric field within the treatment region for producing forces on particles having no net charge. A floating electrode between driven electrodes allows formation of an induced electric field in the treatment region while reducing the possibility of electrical shorts. Paper electrodes and paper insulators permit fabrication of an inexpensive electrode structure. Moisture is removed from the treated fluid by loading either or both the insulator and electric structures with a hygroscopic electrolyte and passing a current through the electrolyte to convert the moisture into elemental oxygen and hydrogen.
In an electrical fluid treating apparatus for treating non-electrolytic fluids, first and second electrode means spaced apart to define at least a portion of a composite electrode structure having an electrical treatment region through which a stream of non-electrolytic fluid is to pass for treatment, insulator means for insulating said first electrode from said second electrode to permit an electrical field to be established between said electrodes in said treatment region, resistive means incorporated in at least one of said electrode means in such a manner that, in the presence of an electrical short between said electrodes through the non-electrolytic fluid to be treated in said treatment region, said resistive means drops the applied potential across said resistive means in a localized portion of said resistive electrode structure such that less than one-tenth of said treatment region is effectively shorted by said electrical short.
In an electrical fluid treating apparatus for treating non-electrolytic fluids, means forming first and second electrodes spaced apart to permit a stream of non-electrolytic fluid to pass therebetween, means forming an insulative structure disposed in the space between said electrodes to permit a voltage to be established between said electrodes, the improvement wherein, said first and second electrodes are sheets of conductive paper interleaved with said insulative structure to form a composite electrode structure.
In an electrofilter apparatus for removing particulate contaminates from an electrically resistive fluid, first and second sheet shaped electrodes spaced apart with their broad sides in mutually opposed relation to define a composite electrode structure having an electrical filtering region through which a stream of fluid is to pass for electric filter treatment, insulator means interposed in the space between said mutually opposed broad sides of said electrodes for insulatively supporting said first and second sheet electrodes from each other in spaced relation and to permit an electric field to be established between said electrodes in said treatment region, at least one of said sheet shaped electrodes being electrically non-uniform such as to produce a substantial non-uniformity in the electric field intensity established in said filter treatment region between said electrodes.
The apparatus of claim 36 wherein said variation in the spacing between said first and second electrodes comprises a corrugation of said electrically non-uniform electrode with the peak-to-peak amplitude of the corrugation of said sheet electrode being greater than one-quarter of the mean spacing between said first and second electrodes.
In an electrofilter apparatus for removing particulate contaminates from an electrically resistive fluid, first and second sheet shaped electrodes disposed in spaced apart relation with their broad sides in mutually opposed relation to define a composite electrode structure having an electric filtering region through which a stream of fluid is to pass for electric filter treatment, insulator means for insulatively supporting said first and second sheet electrodes in spaced relation and to permit an electrical field to be established between said electrodes in said treatment region, at least one of said sheet shaped electrodes being perforated according to a certain pattern of perforations, said perforations of said pattern being sufficiently large such as to produce a substantial non-uniformity of the electric field in the electric field treatment region between said sheet electrodes.
In a method for electrically treating a fluid stream the steps of:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.