US1628906A - Air cleaner - Google Patents

Description

- May 7' J. F. OB-YRNE AIR CLEANER Filed May 12. 1926 mm BY ATTORNEY Patented May 17, 1927.

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This invention relates to improvements in dev ces for separating dust, when, andmoisture from air or gases.

It is often desirable to remove dust or other solid matter from gases or from air, and it is also often desirable to remove moisture from the air.

In the operation of. automobiles it has long been recognized that the dust that enters the engine cylinders when the machine travels over dusty highways actsas an abradant and causes the parts to wear excessively, and for the purpose of removing the dust from the air before it enters the engine various devices have been proposed. Many people are sufferers from the dis-. ease known as hay fever and experience has shown that they suffer most during the sea-. son when the air is full of pollen and fine dust, and 'that they are apparently well as long as they breathe pure' clean, air free: from dust and pollen.

It is the object of this'invention topro duce a device that can be'used for removing.

26 dust and. pollen from the air before it enters dwelling houses as well as for cleaning air for automobile engines. Another use to whi h my invention can be put is to r'emove' moisture from air}, before 3 it enters a dwelling house. This. is very' desirable in places where tht'eniperature is high and the air is humid as human. beings are quite uncomfortable when the tempera.-. 'ture'is about 85 F. and'the humidity 98%,

for in these circumstances very little ev'aporation of perspiration takes place, and hence very little latentheat'of evaporation dis.-vv appears. V i

It is the object of this invention also .to remove moisture from the air used for blast furnaces withoutlowering the temperature of the air. It must be understood that the.

' air has been pa'ssedthrough refrigerated chambers so that the moisture would c'onrv dense on cold pipes in some blast furnace installations, thus losing the heat originally contained in the air, 'while' removing the moisture. 1

The object, then, of this invention is to produce a simple d'eviceyby meansof which the above objects may be attained in an effective way and at a reasonable cost.

The apparatus by means of which the above objects are'attai'ned\villnow be described in detail and reference for the pur pose will be had to the accompanying draw- 1926. Serial No. 108,550.

ing where the preferred-embodiment has beenjllus-trated andin which,- i I 'Fig. is a top plan view of an internal COlHl'JUStIUD engine which has been equipped with my improved;.dustseparator. Fig. 2

ma section taken on line LL"of Fig. 3.

1 Fig. 3- is a section taken on line N of to the primary of the high tension transformer-10 in which the voltage is stepped up to the desired value. ,The high tension secondary of" the transformer 10 isconnected to a rotary rectifier 11;of-any-well known and suitableconstruction; which I serves to charge the wires 20- and 25 with high potential pulsating current of constant polarity; In Fig; 1 the rectifier-has been turned through 90f and is shownin plan view; this-hasbeen done-in orderto simpl fy the draw1ng.- Numeral l2 designates' the separator tube which is open at both ends,

and is constructed ofinsulatingmaterial.

A discharge pipev 13 of insulating material extends into the-tube 12 and has 'an angular bendso that its open end is-concentric with the tube 12in the manner shown in Figs.

.2 and 3. A pipe 1 1 is connected to the pipe 13 in the manner shown in Fig; 1'. and' connects it with the intake manifold 16. An-

other pipe-.15 extends from the junction of pipes 13Hand14 to the register 26-.which connects with .the interior of the ear. body.

A valve 27 controls the passage through pipe 15. .Numeral 17 (Figs. 2 and-3) indicates a bearing. for: the end of shaft' i,.and.18=deslgnates atwo blade fan. or propeller that .is secured to the shaftn i at its:end, and. sets up an .air currenti'in the direction vofthe arrows; Directlyin-frori't of .the fanI18 is a section 21 that has a plurality ofparallel longitudinal openings and whichnre ients the air frombeing set in rotary motion by the fan blade. The high potential positive wire'20 extends into the interior of the tube 12'and. in line with the axis of the opening in tube 13. A cylindrical electrode 22 is embedded in the material of the tube 12 and'is connected with the high tension negative conductor 25.

Let us now assume that the engine is operating and that the clutch .5 is closed it will produce a partial vacuum in the manifold 16 and this will cause air'to flow from the interior of pipe 13 to the man fold. When the dust or moisture ladenair comes into the zone of influence of the elec-- trode 24, which is charged with positive electricity, the dust particles will become positively electrified and will be repelled y the electric charge on the electrode 24 and attracted by the negative charge on the electrode 22 and will therefore travel outwardly towards the electrode 22 thereby passing by the sides of the tube 13. The air that enters the tube 13 will therefore be free from dust, pollen, and moisture, and will be clean and dry. Where it is desired 'to regulate the moisture the air will be dry when conductors 24 and 22 are positive and negative respectively; but will be very moist when the polarities of these electrodes are reversed as the particles tend to move toward the negative electrode.

in hot moist climates the device can be employed with great advantage in provid-' ing dry air to dwellings. The dry air increases evaporation and this helps to cool the body and increase its comfort.

It is important to understand the operation of my device in connection with blast furnaces, namely. that it removes the moisture from the air, and retains in the air after taking out the moisture all of the heat originally there. This dry air saves in fuel the number of calories represented by the latent heat of evaporation of the contained moisture, and therefore results in a large saving in fuel.

In addition to the above uses there are alarge number of other uses to which the device can be put among which may be mentioned the cleaning of air for operating rooms in'hospitals. Also the cleaning of air for paint shops. It is obvious that the device can be used wherever clean air is desired.

racemes I am aware that dust collectors employing the principle of my invention have been made and I therefore intend to limit my claims to improvements in the apparatus.

Having described my invention, I claim as new:

l. A dust separator comprising. in combination, a tubular member of insulating material. a second tubular member extending through the wall of the first tubular memher, and having its open end located concentrically inside the first 'n'ieinher, means for causing a current of air to flow through the first mentioned tubular member in a direction opposite to the direction that the. open end of the second member points, a high tension'electrode located axially of the tubular inembers, a cylindrical electrode located in the walls of the first mentioned tubular member and means for charging said electrode to a high potential.

2. A dust separator comprising, in combination, a tubular member of insulating materlal, means for causing a stream of air to flow through said member. a second tubular member of insulating material having one end within the first member and opening in the direction from which the air comes, an electrode located centrally of the tubular member betweenthe end where the air enters and the open end of the second member. a cylindrical electrode enclosing said central electrode and means for main causing a stream of air to flow through the same, a pipe having an opening within the tubular member, said opening belng toward the air stream, an electrode within said tubular member, a second electrode enclosing the first mentioned electrode and means of charging each of said electrodes with high potential charges of electricity of opposite polarity.

4. A device for separating gaseous from non-gaseous material, comprising, in combination, a tubular member of 1nsulating ma terial, means for causing a current of gas to flow in one direction, an electrode located 'within the tubular member and extending longitudinally thereofi a: second electrode enclosing the first electrode, means for charging said electrodes with high potential electricity of opposite polarity and a conduit opening within the tubular member the opening in said conduit being in axial alignment with the longitudinal electrode.

- JOSEPH FRANCIS OBYRNE.

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