US1607898A - Dehydrator - Google Patents

Description

Nov. 23 1926.

` R. H. LlNsDAY DEHYDRATOR Filed Feb. e, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 attorney* l Patented Nov.- 23, 1926.

UNITED STATES 1,601,898 PATENT DFEICE.-

ROBERT'H. LINDSAY, 0F HOUSTON, TEXAS.

DEI-IYDRATOR.

Application led February 6, v1925. Serial No. 7,397.

cost of treating the oil is a material item ofA expense necessary in obtaining oil free from its emulsion of water.

It is an object of my invention to provide an apparatus for treating the crude oil asv it comes from the well, whereby the impurities` may be removed in a .simple and economical manner. It is also desired that the process of separation shall be a continuous one, so that a continuous stream of the cut4 oil may ass through the device for purification witlibut intermissions or delays.

My invention involves warming the crude oil to a temperature of approximately 150 Fahrenheit and maintaining it at about that temperature 'and allowing the oil and water to expand in an open pan subjected to theaction of the air.

This will cause the water particles to expand and coalesce and unite to form larger particles which will'separate by gravity; carrying off also such other impurities as there mayl be in the oil.

In carryin out t is process, I employ a furnace of wliich Fig. 1 is a broken central vertical section. Fig. 2 is a transverse section on the plane 2-2 ofFiv. 1. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section of the urnace ooking downl upon the oil pipes. Fig. ..4 is a top plan view'with the upper wall partly broken away. Like numerals' of reference are emp loyed to designatelike parts in all the views.

The furnace may be'of'anly a( proved conl ust struction. The drawin i ra one of approximately rectangu ar form, having its forward wall 1 formed with an opening 2 leading to a iirebox 5. Said opening is normally closed by a cover or door 3. Below the door an oil burner pipe 4 lextends through the wall,cterminating within the firebox, in a burner nozzle 6. Directly in front of. said nozzle is afirewall or baille 7 of heat resisting material. The flames land heated ases from the rebox pass over the upper orwardly inclined firewall and then rearwardly to the chimney 8.

In the upper end of the furnace is a pan or plate 9`whichis of the -full width of the furnace. At the forward end of the pan adjacent the front wall of the furnace, I provide a trap 10, formed by a U shaped curve in the bottom wall of the pan with a wall or partition 11 secure-d to the upper wall 12 of the furnace and extending'downwardly centrally of the curved wall-10. At the lower end yof said trapmay be provided an outlet or drain pipe 13, which, as shown in Fig. 2,

'extends laterally through the side wall of the furnace and may lead to any means for disposing of the waste thusdrained ofl.

The pan 9 is supported by transverse bars 15v arranged at suitable intervals, and thc length of the furnace and pan ma be arranged as found necessary. Throug out the length of the pan I arrange traps 10 similar to the one just described, and the pan and upper wall of the furnace will incline down-` wardly from the front to vrear of the device so as to carry the oil by ravtyv to the rear end where it may be discarged through an outlet pipe 16, to storage.

The cut oil will be heated before it is run into the pan 9 and this may be accomplished b passing it through a pipe 17 which enters t e front wall ofthe furnace at 18 and isre- ,curved back 4and forth asshown in Fig. 3

below the pan 9 and is'again extended .out through the forward wall at 19 and curved upwardly and over the front furnace Wall to discharge intov the pan at the forward trap 10.

The ipe v17 is supported on transverse supportin bars 21 at a point in the furnace directly wlthin the path of the heated gases assing from the irebox to the chimney. It 1s provided at its forward end with a valve 22 by which the amount of oil passing through the said pipe may be regulated.

within the oil so that it will better settle out.

In order to subject the oill in its-passage overl the pan to the effect of the atmosphere. I have rovided openings 24 in the side wall of the urnace spaced above the pan a material distance above the lev'el of the oil.

The oil, in passing through the traps and The air which finds entrance through said j openings will pass 'along the 'surface of the oil and be discharged upwardly through pipes adjacent each of said traps. The heated air above the oil will tend to rise and` be discharged through the pipes 25, thus causing a draft inwardly through the openings 24 of fresh air during the operation of the device. This draft of air across the surface of the oil may be accelerated by blowers or otherwise, if desired.

The operation of the device will now be clearly understood. The oil having been heatedin the pipe4 17 will be discharged into the pan at the forward end of the furnace. The pan and the traps will bc heated by the gases from the furnace, and will maintain the oil at the desired temperature at all times, and it is contemplated that the intensity of the heat will be regulated as desired by means of the burner 4. The oil lhaving been heated inthe pipe 17 and discharged into the open space in the trap 10, will expand and the water will tend to at once separate from the oil, and such portion of the water as is thus separated from the oil will settle to the lower end of the .trap and may be drawn ofil through the pipes 13. The passage of theoil through the filter 23 will assist in breaking up the oil and water and will also prevent thepassage of the larger grains of sediment or sand which may be passing through with the oil.

As the oil flows along the pan 9 it will be heated further from contact with the surface of t e pan and will be allowed to spread out and expand l fully under atmospheric pressure. The passage of the air along the surface of the oil assists in the separating ot' the impurities from the oil in that it carries awayany gases which arise from the oil and supplies free opening for the entrance of fresh air at all times.

It is contemplated that the inclination of the pan shall be such as to cause the oil to flow slowly by gravity vfrom one end of the pan to the other, and that in its passage through the separate traps arranged along the pan all the, water and `basic sediment,

y will gradually drain off through the pipes 13 so that when the oil issuesl through the pipe 16, itr will be entirely free from its impurities. f

In the use of this device the flow of im. pure oil `into the apparatus may be continuous, and during its passage therethrough all the impurities therefrom will be eliminated, and the speed of flow of the oil through the device may be regulated to acthe pan 9 to the action of the air and that kit is allowed to expand freely while thus heated. This is a great improvement over the heating of oil` in pipes alone, where it is not thus free to expand. The operation of the apparatus has been found to be very efficient and to be cheap and economical in construction.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. ln'an apparatus of the character described, a furnace, a irebox therein, a rearwardly inclined pan at the upper end of said furnace, means to feed heated 'oil to the upper end of said pan, traps arranged to extend downwardly into said fire box at spaced intervals along said pan, means to draw off liquid from the lower ends of said traps, and

.filtering means in said traps to assist in separating the impurities from the oil, there being means to allow a draft of air across said pan.

2. In an apparatus of the character described, a furnace, a' shallow pan 'inclined rearwardly above said furnace, oil conducting pipes in said furnace below said pan, means to discharge oil from said pipes into the upper end of said pan, means'to regulate the-flow of oilto a thin iilm on said pan,

said pan being open to expose said ilmof Y oil to the atmosphere, and means to draw off the impurities from said oil as it flows along said pan.

3. In a device of the character described,v a furnace, a shallow inclined pan above said furnace, means to discharge heated oil at the upper end of said an, traps arranged below the bottom of said) pan to draw oft.' impurities froml said oil, means` in saidpan to direct the o'il through said traps, and means pan to receive the at the lower end of said oil from said pan.

In testimony whereof Ihereunto aliix my signature this 26th day of January, A. D.

ROBERT H. LINDSAY.

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