US 5,685,974 AGranted

Compact, efficient, monitorable immiscible fluid separator

AssigneeFluid Separation Technologics Inc.

InventorWilliam E. Fleming

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Abstract

Disclosed is a fluid separator for isolating a component from a composite fluid having one fluid entrained within, but immiscible in, another fluid, and the two fluids have differing specific gravities. An enclosed chamber of the separator houses an elongated spillway having a first end that receives the composite fluid through an inlet-port. A second end of the spillway, located in the chamber's sump, includes spillway outlet-ports for discharging the composite fluid into the chamber. The separator also includes a flat, first solid plate that slopes diagonally across the chamber from the top of the spillway near the inlet port to the sump. A flat, second solid plate slopes diagonally across the chamber from the bottom of the spillway in the sump to a juncture with the first solid plate. Fluid flowing through the separator passes through gaps between the peripheries of the first and second plates and a wall that encloses the chamber. An outlet-port baffle within the chamber establishes a partially open cavity adjacent to an outlet-port that admits to the outlet-port the flow of the fluid discharged from the separator. V-shaped baffles secured within the sump and top of the chamber restrain movement of isolated contaminants. A top, sump and several multi-purpose ports pierce the walls of the outer housing at various locations to receive valves and other accessories.

A fluid separator for isolating a component from a composite fluid in which a first fluid is entrained within, but is immiscible in, a second fluid;

the first fluid and the second fluid having differing specific gravities;
the fluid separator comprising:
an outer housing that encloses a chamber, said outer housing including a side wall that surrounds a vertical axis of the chamber, the side wall being closed at an upper-end of the chamber by a top wall, and being closed at a lower-end of the chamber by a bottom wall thereby establishing a sump at the lower-end of the chamber, the side wall of said outer housing being pierced by a fluid inlet-port for receiving a flow of the composite fluid into the fluid separator, and by a fluid outlet-port for discharging a flow of the second fluid from the fluid separator;
an elongated, spillway having a longitudinal axis and a tubularly-shaped side wall, said spillway being located within the walls of said outer housing, and having a first end at which the tubularly-shaped side wall is closed and said spillway is pierced by the fluid inlet-port for delivering the flow of the composite fluid into said spillway, and said spillway also having a second end, distal from the first end, which includes a spillway outlet-port for discharging the flow of the composite fluid into the chamber;
and
a first plate located within said outer housing, said first plate having a periphery that is profiled to be juxtaposed with the side wall of said outer housing at a plurality of separated locations scattered about the side wall, and the periphery also being profiled to establish a plurality of orifices individually located between the periphery of said first plate and the side wall of the outer housing and between immediately adjacent pairs of locations at which the periphery juxtaposes with the side wall, said first plate diverting fluid through the orifices between the side wall and the periphery of said first plate as the fluid flows through the chamber from the fluid inlet-port to the fluid outlet-port.

3 more elements

Abstract

Claims34