JPS5844420B2 - Improved continuous centrifuge - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an improved continuous centrifugal separator of the conical basket type, and in particular to an improved drive and an improved arrangement of the functional elements of such a machine.

Conical basket type continuous centrifuges are particularly useful in sugar production for separating sugar crystals from syrup.

Such machines are capable of handling liquid and solid mixtures, e.g.
It includes an upwardly open frustoconical basket with a perforated peripheral sidewall provided near the small diameter end of the basket.

As the basket rotates, the mixture moves continuously towards the larger diameter end under the influence of centrifugal force.

A cylindrical septum concentrically surrounds the basket and has one end near the large diameter end of the basket to form a liquid nest around the basket.

The partition is spaced radially inwardly from an outer wall bounding an annular space at the top of the basket that receives and directs solids discharged over the lip downwardly.

For example, in a continuous centrifuge of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. A basket is attached to the.

The drive belt is connected to a drive pulley that is driven by a rotating prime mover, such as a motor.

In the said U.S. patent, the basket assembly rotates about a point on the axis of rotation at the center of the driven pulley and includes a resilient buffer located at the height of the driven pulley to limit excessive stress on the drive belt. Via the assembly, it is mounted for rotation under unbalanced loads.

Furthermore, in such known continuous centrifuges, the partition forming the liquid nest chamber is connected to the fixed base structure of the machine via a vertical telescoping joint.

The liquid outlet leads from the floor structure to an outlet conduit or tunnel that extends radially across the solids delivery space.

In use of the machines described above, swinging of the rotating basket assembly and/or variations in shaft position set by the damping assembly are encountered with operating difficulties that create uneven loads and wear the drive belt.

Also, drive belts and separate devices on the base structure for the flow of nested liquids impede the flow of solids from the machine.

Furthermore, the construction of this machine presents difficulties in assembling the elements, in particular in sealing the liquid nest chamber, and also in assembling the rotating basket and the bearing housing together with the base structure of the machine. .

The main object of the invention is to provide an improved centrifugation of the type mentioned above, which overcomes the difficulties and disadvantages mentioned above.

According to one feature of the invention, the driven pulley of the machine is
It is mounted in a fixed position below the basket shaft and is connected to the shaft through a flexible joint that allows for angular and parallel misalignment of the axes of the basket shaft and the driven pulley.

As a result, the basket shaft is not constrained by and does not change the moment loads of the drive belt, and further the resilient damping assembly is isolated from the effects of belt loads on the driven pulley.

The adjustable mounting of the driven pulley in this drive system allows the device to adjust the position of a short connecting shaft fixed to the driven pulley, and the basket mounting to change the shaft position of the basket set by the damping structure. Can be easily adapted.

According to another feature of the invention, the rigid base structure of the machine is provided with a support ring different from the structure forming the liquid nest chamber, and the structure forming the liquid nest chamber simply carries the base wall. , installed as a unit of the machine by fixing it to the support ring and attached to the radial annular base wall as part of a single chamber assembly, thereby forming a liquid nest chamber outside and below the basket side walls. .

Furthermore, this base wall has a resilient damping assembly which prevents the bearing housing and the basket fixed thereto, so that the basket and its shaft, the bearing housing and the mounting form a unified assembly of chamber units with structure. Prepared as a unit on the support ring,
Not only is it easy to install (for repair or maintenance purposes)
It can be easily removed from the support ring and the outer wall of the machine.

Other features and advantages of the invention include that the delivery tube or tunnel for the liquid collected in the liquid nest is provided as a fixed part of the base structure of the machine at a location overlapping the belt tunnel of the drive system; It has the device described above communicating with the liquid nest chamber through outlets formed in the wall and the support ring.

The difficulty of sealing the liquid nest and delivery structure is thus avoided and the surface area of the structure across the solids delivery space which prevents solids from freely flowing out of the machine can be reduced considerably.

Furthermore, according to the arrangement described here, the floor partition of the liquid nest chamber is inclined in a spiral around the bottom of the chamber to the liquid outlet so that the collected liquid flows to the outlet.

The foregoing and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description of embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a continuous centrifuge according to the invention; FIG. 2 is taken along plane 2--2 of FIG. , a horizontal sectional view with a portion removed below this plane; FIG. 3 is an enlarged side view of the assembly showing a pulley installation for adjusting the alignment of shafts connected through a flexible joint; FIG. 4 is a rear view of the adjustable pulley mounting portion of the assembly; FIG. 5 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the single chamber structure of the machine; FIG. An embodiment of the separator is shown at 10, and in the bearing) Ujifugu 16,
It has a frustoconical basket 12 rotatably mounted on five vertical basket shafts 14 which are rotatably supported in upper and lower bearings 18 and 20, respectively.

This basket is installed through an improved system that connects the motor to the basket shaft as described below.
It is driven at high speed by a rotating prime mover such as a motor.

When the machine is operated, the liquid and solid mixture to be separated extends from the top of the basket and into the bottom 22 of the basket.
The basket 12 is fed through a feed pipe (not shown) that discharges near the .

This mixture is moved by centrifugal force onto the truncated conical side wall of the basket.
move upward and outward along the inner surface of 3.

A perforated screen 24 is mounted near the side wall of the basket and includes suitable outlets 25 extending therethrough.

Thus, as the mixture moves upwardly along the sidewalls, centrifugal force causes liquid components to exit outwardly through the screens and sidewall ports 25 for collection into liquid nest chambers 26 as described below.

The solid components of the mixture are discharged radially outwardly over the upper edge of the basket and fall for collection through an outer solid delivery space 28 provided between the outer wall of the nest chamber 26 and the outer enclosure wall 38. .

The fixed support of the centrifuge consists of a base ring 32, a cylindrical column 34 attached to and extending upwardly from the base ring, and a line support ring 100.

A radially extending rigid support ring 36 is attached to the upper end of the cylindrical column 34 at a location inwardly spaced from the outer wall 38 .

The outer wall is attached at its lower end to the edge ring 100.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, several interpolation ribs 39 extend radially between the cylindrical column 34 and the outer wall to increase rigidity.

Also extending between them is a radial belt tunnel 41 overlaid with a liquid outlet tunnel 43.

At least three resilient mounts or damping assemblies of the type shown at 40 and described in U.S. Pat. They are placed at equal intervals.

The hanger 63 of the buffer assembly 40 is attached to the inner portion of the base wall 62 by bolts 102.

Bearing housing 16 is formed at its lower end with an outer support flange 42 that extends radially outwardly to a portion of buffer assembly 40 .

The resilient damping assembly 40 moves about a point on the axis of the shaft 14 against the resistance provided by the resilient elements of the damping assembly when the rotating mass of the basket is out of balance with the items in the basket. , a bearing housing, a basket shaft, and a basket pivot assembly connect the base wall 62 and the bearing housing for some degree of rotation.

A large electric motor 44, which is the prime mover, is mounted on the outside of the outer wall 38 by a suitable mounting bracket 46.
It has a vertically arranged drive shaft 48 with a drive pulley 50.

Drive boob 950 drives a wide multi-unit V-belt 88 that extends through belt tunnel 41 and around a driven pulley 82 connected to basket shaft 14 .

According to the invention, the driven pulley 88 has a rolling bearing 8
an upwardly projecting short shaft 84 mounted in a fixed position below and coaxially with the basket shaft 14 and rotatably mounted on the pulley 82 such that it is fixed to the non-rotating support shaft 78 through the basket shaft 14; , is flexibly connected to the lower end of the basket shaft 14 through a flexible joint 86 that connects the shaft ends.

The flexible joint 86 transmits torque directly between the pulley 82 and the basket shaft 14 while allowing for angles and misparallelism between the axes of the basket shaft and the short shaft under machine operating conditions.

Flexible joints suitable for this purpose are commercially available, such as the Dodge Paraflex.

For balanced operation of the joint between pulley 82 and basket shaft 14, the support shaft of driven pulley 82 is aligned relative to the axis of rotation of the basket shaft to align and maintain the basket shaft and short shaft 84. Suitable mounting and positioning devices are provided for making fine position adjustments.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, this device is fixed to a part of the base of the machine and has an inverted T-shape formed by a vertical web 54 and a horizontal butt plate 56. is supported by a bracket 52.

The bracket 52 has a fixed support shaft 78 and cantilevered an adjustable arm 58 for setting and holding the shaft and pulley 82 in a desired position.

This arm is adjustable in position relative to the abutment plate 56 in radial directions toward and away from the drive pulley 50 and in directions perpendicular to the radial direction.

To this end, the arm has large radially transverse openings 60 and is fixed to the abutment plate by means of locking bolts 62 which pass through these openings and are screwed into the abutment plate with threaded holes.

The mounting ear 53 depending from the bracket has a set screw 64 screwed into its hole 66, the threaded end of which presses radially against the outer end of the adjustment arm.

This set screw 64 is held in any set position by a lock nut 67 which, when loosened, rotates the set screw to adjust the position of the adjustment arm 58 in the radial direction.

To set the arm position laterally, use the upright plate 7.
0 is attached to one side of the adjustment arm 58 by bolts 72, and two setscrews 74 passing through this plate engage the side edges of the butt plate 56.

One of the screws 74 is screwed through the threaded hole γ6 of the plate 70, and its end presses against the adjacent side edge of the butt plate 56.

The other set screw T4 passes freely through the hole in plate 70 and is screwed into a threaded hole in the adjacent side of the butt plate.

Thus, by turning the screw 74, the arm can be moved and adjusted in either direction to set the adjustment arm at a desired position within the adjustment range provided by the large opening 60.

To adjust the position of the short shaft 84 for successful drive through the flexible joint, the lock bolt 62 and lock nut 67 are first loosened and the set screw 74 is removed from the butt plate 56.

By turning set screw 64, arm 58 is then pushed radially away from pulley 50 or brought closer by the tension of drive belt 88.

The radial adjustment range is determined by the radial length of the opening 60 which is smaller than the diameter of the lock bolt 62.

The set screw 74 is also turned to laterally set the adjustment arm to a desired position within the adjustment range provided by the aperture 600 width which is smaller than the diameter of the bolt 62.

Once the pulley 82 and short shaft 84 are properly positioned to align the short shaft with respect to the basket shaft, the lock nut 67 and lock bolt 62 are tightened to hold and secure the arm 58 in the cent position. .

The drive system provided in the machine maintains a uniform, smooth drive of the belt 88 through the flexible joint 86, avoiding moment load fluctuations on the belt that exist when the driven pulley is fixed to the rotating basket shaft. It will be done.

The resilient damping assembly also functions independently of the moment loads of the belt on the driven pulley.

To the extent that these assemblies sometimes cause changes in the set position of the axis of the basket shaft, the resulting erratic drive motion through the flexible joint can be compensated for by adjusting the position of the driven pulley with the short shaft 84. be done.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 5, a single chamber structure 1, herein referred to as a single chamber unit, is shown in FIGS.
60 is supported on the support ring 36 and occupies the space between the ring and the side wall of the basket.

This chamber unit is on a support ring 36 and
It is an annular assembly consisting of a radial annular base wall 62 having a downwardly facing surface 164 that is easily secured to the support ring by bolts 184 accessible from below the support ring.

The chamber unit also comprises outer and inner cylindrical bulkheads 166, 172 attached to the base wall and projecting upwardly from the base wall concentrically about the basket 120.

The outer septum has an upper end 168 near the upper end 170 of the side wall of the basket.

The inner septum 172 is horizontally spaced from the outer septum and has an upper end 174 near the lower end 176 of the basket sidewall.

An annular partition 178 located above the base wall 62 spans the space between the inner and outer partitions and together forms a liquid nest chamber 26 outside and below the side walls of the basket.

Base wall 62 and support ring 36 aligned opening 190.
The floor bulkhead extends spirally around the space between the vertical bulkheads 166 and 172 so as to effectively direct liquid from the assembly chamber by gravity to the liquid outlet (FIG. 1) formed by the vertical bulkheads 192. is preferred.

Wall 62 and ring 360 opposing surfaces are easily sealed around opening 1900 by placing a sealing cement or gasket 182 between them.

The top of the outer septum 166 consists of a plurality of concentric rings with their upper edges near the lip structure 188 at the top of the basket, thus directing liquid ejected from the top of the basket sidewalls into the liquid collection chamber 26. forming a labyrinth-shaped seal for orientation.

On the underside of basket 12, small end 176 has a skirt 189 extending outwardly and downwardly therefrom and overlapping concentrically with the upper end of inner bulkhead 172, so that
Liquid discharged from the lower region of the basket side wall passes past the skirt 189 and into the liquid collection chamber.

Liquid outlet 190 through base wall 62 and support ring 36
．． 192 is a liquid delivery port 1 formed in the outer wall 38.
94, a liquid discharge channel 43 extending radially outwardly and downwardly;
The liquid is delivered from the assembly chamber 26 to.

Due to the space height provided in the base structure of the machine for the drive described here, the liquid outlet path 43 is
It is formed as a stationary part of the base structure which lies above and coincides with the belt track 41.

Therefore, the area of structure extending across the fall path of solids from the machine through the solids delivery space 28 can be reduced considerably.

This reduces troubles on the disturbing structure resulting from build-up of solids such as sugar crystals which are subsequently centrifuged.

The chamber unit N 60 is a single assembly consisting of a base wall 62, inner and outer bulkheads 172, 166, and a spirally sloped floor bulkhead 178 that rests in place on the support ring 36 and It will be clear from the foregoing that it can be easily installed by fixing it to.

Since the base wall of this single assembly supports the basket assembly of the machine in the configuration according to the invention,
The basket with the shaft, bearing nozzle and damping assembly can be pre-assembled with the chamber unit so that a single assembly of all these elements can be lowered into the outer wall and aligned liquid outlet 190.
192 into the operating position on the support ring 36 and secured.

The resulting basket shaft and short shaft 84
Inaccuracies in alignment with the short shaft are eliminated by adjusting the set position of the driven pulley supporting the short shaft.

Of course, this single assembly can be removed as a unit from the base structure and the machine enclosure if it is necessary to remove it for repair or maintenance.

Preferred embodiments of the invention have been illustrated in the drawings and described in detail.

It will be obvious that the novel features of the invention may be realized in other forms and manners and are not restricted to the particulars of the illustrated embodiment, except as necessary for the proper construction of the appended claims.

Claims (1)

Claims: 1. A rigid base structure: a bearing housing; a normally vertical basket shaft rotatably journaled in a bearing in the bearing housing; a generally vertical basket shaft rotatably journalled in a bearing in the bearing housing; a fixed basket; a fixed outer wall surrounding the basket; a buffer resiliently mounting the bearing housing on the base structure to permit gyroscopic movement of the basket about a point on the axis of the shaft; an assembly; and rotational drive means comprising a motor mounted on one side of the outer wall and means for coupling the motor to a lower end of the shaft for continuously rotating the basket at high speed. In a continuous centrifuge: a non-rotating support shaft adjustably fixed in a position below the basket shaft and in alignment with the shaft; attached to the support shaft and a driven pulley supported by the support shaft; , anti-friction bearing means for rotating around the axis of the support shaft; drive belt means for connecting a drive pulley driven by the motor with the driven pulley; a short shaft fixed to the support shaft; and support shaft attachment means for carrying a load on the support shaft and keeping it in place, the support shaft attachment means being displaceable relative to the axis of the driven pulley. , and positionable, the short shaft being held in alignment with the axial position of the lower end of the basket shaft when at rest; and further comprising an axial inclination between the short shaft and the lower end of the basket shaft. flexible coupling means interconnecting for direct torque transmission even in the presence of alignment errors in angle and parallelism, so that moment loads are removed from said bearing housing mounting means; A continuous centrifuge as described above, characterized in that the gyroscopic movement of the basket shaft is not suppressed by the belt means and is not converted into a driving moment for the belt means. 2. The support shaft mounting means includes a bracket fixedly fastened to the base structure; and an arm having the support shaft connected to the bracket and fixed to the bracket; horizontally displaceable the bracket in a radial direction of and transverse to the outer wall; further for displacing and setting the arm in an aligned position of the axis;
2. A continuous centrifuge as claimed in claim 1, further comprising means for adjustably setting an arm on said bracket. 3. said adjustable setting means comprises a setting screw extending in said radial direction through a threaded hole provided on a portion of said bracket and having an end abutting one end of said arm; operable to set the arm and the driven pulley in the radial direction; further operable to extend through a threaded hole in a portion of the arm to engage a portion on the bracket 3. A continuous centrifuge as claimed in claim 2, wherein the continuous centrifuge is operable to set said arm in a direction transverse to said radial direction. 4 Rigid base structure; Bearing...Using; The bearing...
- a normally vertical basket shaft rotatably journaled in a bearing in the housing; an upper open conical centrifugal basket fixed to the upper end of the shaft for rotation with the shaft; on said base structure; a fixed outer wall mounted and surrounding the basket; the bearing nozzing being resiliently mounted on the base structure to permit gyroscopic movement of the basket about a point on the axis of the shaft; a rotational drive means including a motor mounted on one side of the fixed outer wall;
and means for coupling the motor to a lower end of the shaft for rotating the basket; mounted on the base structure to surround the buffer assembly inside the fixed outer enclosure; a support ring having an upwardly facing surface; and a chamber unit integrally configured and supported on the support ring in a space between a side wall of the basket and the outer enclosure wall; an annular base wall having a downwardly facing surface resting on the support ring; further comprising an annular base wall having a downwardly facing surface, the base wall being rigidly attached to the base wall and extending upwardly so that each upper end abuts the lower end of the basket side wall; An inner and outer partition wall disposed near the upper end and spaced apart from each other in the radial direction; and a floor partition firmly fixed to the inner and outer partition walls and extending across the space between the inner and outer partition walls; at least a portion of the floor bulkhead is spaced above the base wall and acts to firmly fix the inner and outer bulkheads in radially spaced positions; a bulkhead defines a liquid collection chamber outwardly and downwardly adjacent to the basket sidewall spaced radially inwardly from the outer enclosure wall; a damping assembly of the bearing housing is partially secured to the base wall; , adjustable from below the support ring and the base wall and located radially inward of the support ring and the base wall; the bearing nozzle damping assembly assembled together as a single unit; The continuous centrifuge is characterized in that the chamber unit, the bearing housing, the basket shaft, and the basket can be assembled or disassembled on the support ring inside the outer wall. 5 said outer bulkhead has an upper portion cooperating with means at the upper end of said basket side wall for directing liquid thrown from the outside of said basket near the upper end of said basket to said liquid collection chamber; The lower end of the basket wall has means extending beyond the upper end of the inner septum for directing liquid into the liquid collection chamber; the base wall and the support ring are configured to direct liquid from the liquid collection chamber. 5. The continuous centrifuge of claim 4, wherein the bed partition is spaced apart above the base wall and spirally slopes toward the opening for liquid flow. Separator. 6. the base wall and the support ring have a through opening for directing liquid from the liquid collection chamber; the base structure has a liquid guiding tunnel extending radially downwardly from the opening; The motor coupling means includes a driven pulley coupled to the lower end of the basket shaft and an endless drive belt coupling the driven pulley to a drive pulley driven by the motor; 5. A continuous centrifuge according to claim 4, further comprising a radial tunnel extending downwardly substantially coincident with the guide tunnel; said belt being routed between said pulleys via said tunnel. 7 The work of fixing the chamber unit to the separator,
Continuous centrifugation according to claim 4 or 5 or 6, characterized in that a plurality of vertically extending bolts are used so as to be effected from below the support ring and the base wall. Separator.