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US 5,292,353 AGranted
Air scrubber
AssigneesThe Delfield Company, LLC, Renco Systems, Inc.
InventorsArnold S. Kaufman, Robert L. Anderson, Donald W. Alwood, James T. Otenbaker, Frederick F. Fritz
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A water washed air scrubber in which the contaminated air is first directed toward the surface of a bath of water and cleaning agent at relatively high velocity to create adequate turbulence to achieve a scrubbing action to remove a majority of the contaminate, and thereafter passed through a filter to remove any remaining liquid and/or contaminate.
Claims43
An air scrubber for removing impurity from a flow of impurity-laden air, comprising:
- (a) a substantially fully enclosed housing having an inlet opening and an outlet opening, said housing being adapted to be mounted in the path of said flow of impurity-laden air with air entering said housing through said inlet opening and leaving said housing through said outlet opening;
- (b) means in said housing defining a pan adapted to contain a cleaning fluid bath;
- (c) scrubbing means in said housing having a deflector for deflecting inlet air toward the surface of said cleaning bath, said air undergoing an initial flow reversal before contacting said bath and a plurality of flow reversals after contacting said bath, said scrubbing means being operative to cause sufficient turbulence and mixing of the air and cleaning fluid bath to disperse said cleaning fluid throughout the air to remove a major portion of said impurity, substantially all of said fluid being provided by contact of said air with said bath;
- and
- (d) a filter disposed in said housing for enhancing removal of said impurity after said air contacts said bath.
2 more elements
A restaurant kitchen air scrubber for an exhaust system having a flow of grease-laden air disposed above kitchen equipment, comprising:
- (a) a substantially fully enclosed housing having an inlet opening and an outlet opening, said housing being adapted to be mounted in the path of said flow of grease-laden air with air entering said housing through said inlet opening and leaving said housing through said outlet opening;
- (b) means in said housing defining a pan adapted to contain a cleaning fluid bath including water and a detergent;
- (c) scrubbing means in said housing having a deflector for deflecting grease-laden inlet air toward the surface of said cleaning bath, said air undergoing an initial flow reversal before contacting said bath and a plurality of flow reversals after contacting said bath, said scrubbing means including powered means operative to cause said air to flow with sufficient velocity to cause sufficient turbulence and mixing of the air and cleaning fluid to cause removal of a major portion of said impurity, substantially all of said cleaning fluid mixed with the air being provided by contact between said cleaning fluid bath and the air;
- and
- (d) a filter in said housing for removing moisture and/or grease from said air flow as it flows from said bath to said outlet opening.
2 more elements
An air scrubber for a system having a flow of impurity-laden air, comprising:
- (a) a substantially fully enclosed housing having an inlet opening and an outlet opening, said housing being adapted to be mounted in the path of said flow of impurity-laden air with air entering said housing through said inlet opening and leaving said housing through said outlet opening;
- (b) means in said housing defining a pan adapted to contain a bath of cleaning liquid;
- (c) deflector means in said housing having a deflector disposed directly in the path of said flow so that the air directly strikes said deflector, said deflector splitting the flow of impurity-laden inlet air into a plurality of flow paths before said air contacts said cleaning bath, said deflector means directing each flow path of air into said cleaning bath with sufficient velocity to cause sufficient turbulence and mixing of the air and bath to cause removal of a major portion of said impurity;
- and
- (d) means for causing said impurity-laden air to undergo a plurality of flow reversals.
2 more elements
An air scrubber for a system having a flow of impurity-laden air, comprising:
- (a) an elongated generally rectangular housing having a bottom wall, a top wall, end walls and side walls;
- (b) an inlet opening defined in said bottom wall;
- (c) an outlet opening defined in said top wall, both of said openings being centrally located;
- (d) a liquid-proof pan for holding a bath of cleaning fluid disposed in said housing;
- (e) an inwardly facing longitudinally extending generally U-shaped horizontal first baffle affixed to each of said side walls with the lower edge of said baffle being disposed below the normal level of said bath, each said first baffle having a generally horizontal inwardly facing flange;
- (f) an outwardly facing longitudinally extending generally L-shaped horizontal second baffle affixed adjacent the inner edge of each last-mentioned flange with the lower edge of each said second baffle being disposed in the bight of the adjacent one of said first baffles to define a first reversing air flow path;
- (g) a horizontally disposed outwardly extending V-shaped projection affixed to the outer face of each said second baffles for causing another reversal of the air flow in the opposite direction;
- (h) an inverted generally V-shaped elongated symmetrical panel extending for the full length of the scrubber and being affixed to and between said second baffles;
- and
- (i) a generally V-shaped elongated symmetrical air diverter attached to the lower surface of said panel in the center portion thereof which overlies the said inlet opening for splitting the inlet flow of contaminated air and directing each one-half through a 180.degree. flow reversal and downwardly at relatively high velocity toward the surface of said bath, said flow of contaminated air being forced into said bath with adequate velocity that there is relatively violent turbulence created, but not so much that all of the bath is drawn out of the pan, said turbulence acting to wash or scrub the air to remove the majority of the grease and other impurities therein, said flow reversals after the bath enhancing impurity removal and causing entrained liquid in the air flow to be separated from the air by both inertia, and by coalescing action from impingement with said baffles and wall surfaces, from which the liquid simply drains back to the bath.
7 more elements
An air scrubber for removing impurity from an impurity-laden air stream, comprising:
- a housing having an inlet and an outlet, said air stream flowing into said housing through said inlet and flowing out from said housing through said outlet;
- a cleaning fluid bath contained in said housing;
- scrubbing means in said housing for causing turbulence and intimate mixing of the air and cleaning fluid bath, for causing said air to pick up and suspend fluid from the surface of said cleaning fluid bath, and for causing said suspended fluid to disperse throughout said air stream, substantially all of said suspended fluid being provided by contact of said air with said bath, said scrubbing means forming a mist of said suspended fluid in said air stream;
- and
- a filter disposed in said housing for separating said suspended fluid from said air stream after contacting said bath so as to remove a major portion of said impurity from said air stream.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.