US 7,682,509 B2Granted

Trap for removing material from a fluid stream

AssigneeGreen Turtle Americas Ltd.

InventorsChristopher Adam Murray, Balreet Singh Dandiwal, Darren Francis Lawless, Gregory Richard Williams

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Abstract

A buoyant material trap having a treatment tank with a base wall and a vertically-extending sidewall, a feed pipe to introduce fluid at a first location in the tank, and an exit pipe to remove at least a portion of the fluid from a second location in the tank. One or more wall structures form a circuitous passage between the first location and the second location. The wall structures are open at the top and substantially prevent fluid from passing below the passage, but allow buoyant material to rise above the passage. The walls may extend to the bottom of the tank to prevent fluid from passing beneath them, and may be removably installed in the tank to facilitate cleaning. An overflow chamber may be provided to receive buoyant material. The sidewall may have a spout and be adapted to empty the tank by tilting.

Claims29

Dependent claims

A trap for removing buoyant material from fluid, the trap comprising:

a treatment tank comprising a base wall and a vertically-extending sidewall;
a feed pipe adapted to introduce a fluid flow at a first location in the treatment tank;
an exit pipe adapted to remove at least a portion of the fluid flow from a second location in the treatment tank;
and
one or more wall structures adapted to form a circuitous passage, with respect to a horizontal plane, between the first location and the second location, the one or more wall structures extending from the base wall to a point below the sidewall and being open at a top end thereof, thereby substantially preventing the fluid flow from passing below the circuitous passage, but allowing buoyant material in the fluid flow to rise above the circuitous passage, wherein the circuitous passage has a generally constant width from the first location to the second location, the width being approximately equal to a width of the feed pipe;
wherein the one or more wall structures are removably installed in the treatment tank such that the one or more wall structures can be lifted out of the treatment tank to facilitate cleaning.

3 more elements

A trap for removing buoyant material from fluid, the trap comprising:

a treatment tank comprising a base wall and a vertically-extending sidewall;
a feed pipe adapted to introduce a fluid flow at a first location in the treatment tank, the first location being located generally at a single vertical position between the base wall and a top of the vertically-extending sidewall;
an exit pipe adapted to remove at least a portion of the fluid flow from a second location in the treatment tank;
and
one or more wall structures adapted to form a circuitous passage, with respect to a horizontal plane, between the first location and the second location that causes the fluid flow to fully reverse direction at least twice in opposite directions along adjacent portions of the circuitous passage before reaching the second location, the one or more wall structures being open at a top end thereof to allow buoyant material in the fluid flow to rise above the circuitous passage, wherein the circuitous passage has a generally constant width from the first location to the second location, the width being approximately equal to a width of the feed pipe;
wherein the treatment tank further comprises a treatment chamber in which the circuitous passage is positioned, an overflow chamber adjacent the treatment chamber, the overflow chamber being fluidly connected to the treatment chamber such that at least a portion of the buoyant material that rises above the circuitous passage can flow into the overflow chamber.

3 more elements

A trap for removing buoyant material from fluid, the trap comprising:

a treatment tank comprising a base wall and a vertically-extending sidewall;
a feed pipe adapted to introduce a fluid flow at a first location in the treatment tank;
an exit pipe adapted to remove at least a portion of the fluid flow from a second location in the treatment tank;
one or more wall structures adapted to form a circuitous passage, with respect to a horizontal plane, between the first location and the second location, the one or more wall structures extending from the base wall to a point below the sidewall and being open at a top end thereof, thereby substantially preventing the fluid flow from passing below the circuitous passage, but allowing buoyant material in the fluid flow to rise above the circuitous passage wherein the circuitous passage has a generally constant width from the first location to the second location, the width being approximately equal to a width of the feed pipe ;
and
an opening located near an upper end of the sidewall through which the buoyant material can be emptied from the treatment tank when the treatment tank is tipped towards the opening;
wherein a lower edge of the sidewall below the opening is adapted to contact at least two points on a floor when the treatment tank is tipped towards the opening to thereby provide a tilting axis about which the trap can rotate.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.