US 5,902,381 AGranted

Dehydrating breather apparatus

AssigneeGeneral Signal Corporation

InventorsThomas M. Golner, Shirish P. Mehta

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Abstract

A maintenance free dehydrating breather apparatus for equipment such as oil cooled transformers and the like includes a cap and vessel enclosing a container for desiccant. A heater is mounted within the container in contact with the desiccant. The apparatus is connected through the cap to the equipment being supplied with dehydrated air. When the equipment requires dehydrated air, it draws air in through a vent valve in the vessel and thence through walls of the container and the desiccant. When the equipment expels air, the air is passed out through the vent valve, which otherwise normally seals off the interior of the vessel from the moisture in outside air. At selected intervals, for a selected period of time, a heater within the container is supplied with electrical power to heat the desiccant to drive off the moisture therefrom, which condenses on the walls of the vessel and flows to the bottom of the vessel where it is discharged through the vent valve.

Claims18

Dependent claims

Dehydrating breather apparatus for removing moisture from air being drawn through said apparatus to produce dehydrated air, said a apparatus comprising:

(a) a container for a desiccant that permits said air to flow through desiccant in the container, said container including a screen and a bottom panel engaged to said screen, said dessicant adsorbing said moisture;
(b) a heater within the container where it can be in contact with said desiccant, the heater heating the desiccant to drive off said adsorbed moisture when the heater is supplied with electrical power;
(c) a vessel around the desiccant container, said vessel having a thin wall with an interior surface spaced from the container, said wall being substantially at the temperature of the outside ambient air and said driven off moisture being at a temperature higher than the temperature of said wall, whereby said moisture condenses on said interior surface;
(d) a cap engaged with the vessel to close off the desiccant container from the outside ambient atmosphere;
(e) an orifice extending through the cap to the interior of the container through which said dehydrated air may be drawn that passes from the interior of the vessel through the desiccant within the container;
and
(f) a vent in the vessel to admit air into and release air from the interior of the vessel, and a discharge port in the vessel through which said moisture condensed on said interior surface of said wall of the vessel and accumulated at the bottom of the vessel can be discharged.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.