Air compressor
AssigneeBritish Telecommunications public limited company
InventorsPhilip Alfred Barker, Nitzan Gonen
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A compressor including an oil separator connected to a supply of compressed air, the oil separator including a chamber having a wall defining a cavity within the chamber, and a vent within the wall, wherein the vent is in communication with the supply of compressed air at a first end, and in communication with the cavity via a second aperture, and extends substantially parallel to an externally-facing surface of the wall.
Claims11
An air compressor for compressing atmospheric air to provide compressed air suitable for installing optical fiber units and cable using a blown fiber method, the compressor including an oil separator connected to a supply of compressed air, the oil separator comprising:
- a chamber having a wall defining a cavity within the chamber, the wall having an externally-facing surface;
- and
- a vent comprising a channel within the wall, or on the externally-facing surface of the wall, and extending between, at a first end, a first aperture and, at a second end, a second aperture through the wall to the cavity, such that in operation heated, compressed air laden with both oil and water vapor enters the vent via the first aperture, is cooled by being driven in a first direction along the channel, and exits the vent into the cavity via the second aperture in a second direction opposite the first direction.
A system for installing an optical fiber into a tube using pressurized air supplied by an air compressor for compressing atmospheric air, the compressor comprising an oil separator connected to a supply of compressed air, the oil separator comprising:
- a chamber having a wall defining a cavity within the chamber, the wall having an externally-facing surface;
- and
- a vent comprising a channel within the wall, or on the externally-facing surface of the wall, and extending between, at a first end, a first aperture and, at a second end, a second aperture through the wall to the cavity, such that in operation heated, compressed air laden with both oil and water vapor enters the vent via the first aperture, is cooled by being driven in a first direction along the channel, and exits the vent into the cavity via the second aperture in a second direction opposite the first direction.
A method for installing an optical fiber into a tube by using pressurized air supplied by a compressor, the method comprising:
- blowing the optical fiber into the tube using the compressor, the compressor comprising an oil separator connected to a supply of compressed air, the oil separator comprising:
- a chamber having a wall defining a cavity within the chamber, the wall having an externally-facing surface, a vent comprising a channel within the wall, or on the externally-facing surface of the wall, and extending between, at a first end, a first aperture and, at a second end, a second aperture through the wall to the cavity, such that heated, compressed air laden with both oil and water vapor enters the vent via the first aperture, is cooled by being driven in a first direction along the channel, and exits the vent into the cavity via the second aperture in a second direction opposite the first direction.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.