GB1390768A - Centrifugal separator - Google Patents

Abstract

1390768 Centrifugal separators GLACIER METAL CO Ltd 26 April 1972 [27 April 1971 2 Sept 1971] 11569/71 and 40904/71 Heading B2P A centrifuge for separating lighter and heavier fluids e.g. oil and water in a cooling system of an i.c. engine, Fig. 3 (not shown), comprises a hollow rotor 11, Fig. 1, having a separation chamber 24 with an annular plate 27 extending transversely in relation to the axis of rotation at one end of the chamber and outlets 31, 33, for the fluids adjacent the outer and inner edges of the plate 27. The rotor 11 is mounted in a stationary housing 10 and is rotatably driven about a stationary spindle 12 by pressure fluid which leaves a drive chamber 13 through tangentially directed nozzles 14 and which is supplied to the chamber 13 via passages 16, 18. 15. The mixture of lighter and heavier fluids is fed via passages 19, 21, 22 into a reception chamber 23 from which it enters the separation chamber 24 through apertures 26 in a separating disc 25. The plate 27 is fast with a sleeve 28 which rotates on the spindle 12 and carries a conical member 36 so that the inner wall of the chamber 24 converges downwardly towards the axis of rotation thereby assisting separation. Alternatively, the outer wall of the chamber is conical. The plate defines with the outer wall 29 of the rotor a gap 31 through which the heavier fluid passes downwardly from the chamber 24 into a region 32 of the rotor interior and is discharged into a chamber 41 in the housing 10 either through an axial passage 39 or, in an alternative embodiment, through tangentially directed openings 43 (in which case it assists in rotating the rotor 11). The lighter fluid is collected by the plate 27 and discharges through passages 33, 34, 35. The outer wall 29 of the rotor is formed with annular troughs 37, 38 for collection of solid particles. An annular baffle 44 prevents solids from blocking the openings 43. In another embodiment, Fig. 2, the lighter and heavier fluids are evacuated from the chamber 24 and the region 32 respectively through passages 46 and 47, which are controlled by a slide valve 48 having a passage 49 for leading either of the fluids into the passage 33 for subsequent delivery. -The slide valve 48 is biassed by a spring 51 in one position in which the passages 47, 49 are in communication but can move to the other position, in which passages 46 and 49 communicate, against the spring force in response to a change in the pressure of the incoming fluid mixture to be separated.