US3039610A - Apparatus for removing solids and semisolid materials from solutions - Google Patents

Description

H. R. BLACK Jun 19, 1962 APPARATUS FOR REMOVING SOLIDS AND SEMI-SOLID MATERIALS FROM SOLUTIONS Filed Aug. 2'7. 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

we A. 84406 June 19, 1962 H. R. BLACK 3,039,510

APPARATUS FOR REMOVING SOLIDS AND SEMI-SOLID MATERIALS FROM SOLUTIONS m THE- 3 INVENTOR. HUGH R. BLACK. 44- BY A TTOR NEY States This invention relates to the art of removing solid and semi-solid materials from solutions.

The technique of recirculating solutions for the spray application of cleaning solutions, phosphating solutions and rinses is now very old and well-known to those skilled in this art. It is generally customary to install fixed or removable screens in the solution ahead of the recirculating pump to prevent soils such as lint, fibre, grease, metal filings, sound deadeners and sealers from being recirculated. Such materials, if not removed, create plugging of nozzles, pipes and other equipment and in addition may redeposit upon the surface of the part being cleaned or treated producing an undesired effect.

The fixed or removable screens mentioned above are not completely effective due to limitations on usable mesh size. Screening with sufficiently fine mesh to effectively remove all of the undesirable materials would plug rapidly and render the circulating systems inoperative. 'Heretofore, the art has endeavored to avoid this diff culty by utilizing mesh openings of sufiicient size to prevent rapid plugging and periodically removing the screens from solution and cleaning with steam, brushing and/ or water flushing. The disadvantage of this is that particles get through and are deposited on the article being treated or cleaned.

With the foregoing in mind, the principal object of my invention involves the provision of a screening technique whereby smaller openings can be used in a moving screen or other Woven fabric to provide continuous cleaning of the screen or fabric.

I have discovered that screen or woven fabric of small opening size traveling into the solution, ahead of the circulating pump, and cleaned after emerging from the solution prior to re-entry will provide an effective, simple method for removing undesired solid or semi-solid materials from solution.

An ideal adaptation of the present invention is in a spray system typical of those used in the automatic body fabrication industry for cleaning and phosphate coating metal surfaces in preparation for organic finishing. Material such as sound deadeners, joint sealers, solder grindings, metal filings, lint, fibre and grease wash off of the metal body, circulate through the spraying system and are re-deposited on the metal surface. Such materials when redeposited interfere with the phosphate coating and may result in excessive labor to remove prior to painting and to premature failure of the paint system.

It will be seen that my method or technique of screening or filtering will prevent the recirculation of undesirable soils, effect an economy by reducing maintenance requirements and increase the end product quality.

These and other objects will be seen from the following specification and claims in conjunction with the appended drawings in which: i

FIG.' 1 is a fragmentary partially sectioned end View of a recirculating chemical spray booth with tank and power operated filter screen.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary view taken on line 2-2 of FIG. 1, partially broken away for illustration.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary plan section taken on line 33 of FIG. 1.

It will be understood that the drawings illustrate merely a preferred embodiment of the invention and that other embodiments are contemplated within the scope of the claims hereafter set forth.'

Referring to the drawings, there is shown in FIG. 1, a fragmentary end view of a chambered chemical spray or cleaning booth 11, including upright side walls 12 and end walls 13 apertured at 14 to provide entry via conveyors 16 of articles to be chemically sprayed, cleaned or otherwise treated or painted, etc.

The I-beam 15 is provisioned through said boothsuitably secured to an upper portion thereof centrally of chamber 10. for movably mounting a series of trolley conveyor assemblies 16 activated by suitable power means, such as the cable 17in a conventional manner, and including load mounting aperture 18 by which the articles to be treated may be movably suspended from said beam.

The cleaning solutions or other material to be applied to the articles moved through the booth are delivered through conduit 19 which extends into the upper portion of the booth and joins at 20 to one or more headers or distribution pipes 21, including depending sides 22 and rammed ends 23.

A series of outlets or spray jet nozzles are diagrammatically indicated at 24, extending from interior portions of pipes 2122'-23 for applying the cleaning solution or other chemical, or for that matter any solution desired, to workpieces as they are continuously transmitted through chamber 10 of said booth.

Arranged below booth 11 and projecting laterally thereof is a recirculation and collection tank 25 maintaining a fluid level 26 in communication with chamber 10 of the booth and from which excess solution drops into the said tank. For clarity of illustration, the tank is shown relatively oversized with respect to the booth, fragmentarily shown. Tank 25 includes bottom wall 27 mounted upon a suitable floor surface, top wall 28 and end walls 29, FIG. 1.

Filter housing 30 is provisioned within tank 25 adjacent one end wall and includes, as shown in FIG. 2, closed end wall Bland at its opposite end a second end wall 32 having outlet'69 by which filtered solution is transmitted out from filtration tank 30 into chamber for recirculation by power operated constant delivery pump 72 and conduit 19, said pump being diagrammatically shown.

Said filter housing includes bottom wall 33 and the elongated angle members 34 which fixedly connect end walls 31-32'with respect to each other and with bottom wall 33.

Filter housing 30 has an inclined side wall 40 apertured at 3.9 below the level'of fluid within tank 25 extending to the bottom thereof and throughout the length of said housing. Thus the entire lower portion of the filter housing is open to the recirculating fluid within said tank.

Wall 40 extendsabove tank 25 and joins the outwardly extending top wall 41 which projects beyond tank 25. Wall 41 terminates in depending wall 42 which terminates in the inwardly extending bottom wall 43 which projects partly over tank 25 as shown in FIG. 1. Accordingly, filter housing 30 includes the upper chamber 45, within 3 which is positioned and rotatively driven the drive roller 49.

Chamber 45 at its lower end terminates in the filter screen cleaning chamber 46, which is further defined by the transverse upright wall 47, and which chamber includes a suitable drain outlet 48 by which water and other material washed from the continuously movable screen such as lint, fibre, grease, metal filings, sound deadeners and sealers, etc., may be washed away.

Metallic drive roller 49 has secured thereto power driven elongated shaft 50, which extends transversely through housing '41-42-43' and is mounted within suitable bearings 51 secured upon the exterior of said housing, as shown in FIG. 2.

Sprocket 52 is secured upon one end of shaft 50 and receives continuous sprocket chain 53 driven by sprocket 54 on power take-off shaft 55 of speed reducer 56 connected with motor 57. The motor and speed reducer assembly is secured at 58 upon the flanged supports 59, FIG. 1, upon the top housing 41-43.

The filter housing includes towards its lower end a pair of transverse parallel spaced and horizontally disposed rollers 60 which are suitably journaled by bearings upon stationary shafts 62 whose ends are fixedly mounted upon end walls 3132 at 63, FIG. 2.

A second set of vertically spaced elongated horizontally disposed rollers 61 are arranged within upper portions of the filter housing, employing similar stationary mounting shafts 62 with suitable bearings interposed, which shafts are also fixedly secured to end walls 31-32. One of rollers 61 is provisioned for vertical adjustment as at 64 for taking up any slack with respect to the continuous belt of filter screen 65.

In the preferred embodiment, the belt-like filter is preferably constructed of a stainless steel, and for illustration, provides openings having a dimension of approximately of an inch. It is contemplated that the screen openings may be varied to suit the particular conditions of usage.

The continuously movable filter screen in the form of a belt is movably mounted around power driven roller 49 and the additional guide rollers 60-61, and is thus adapted for continuous movement within filter housing 30, with side portions and bottom portions of said filter belt defining the filtration chamber 68 into which all chemical solutions or other solutions are filtered for recirculation through outlet 69, outlet chamber 70, FIG. 2, and intake pipe '71 to the constant delivery power operated pump 72,'

schematically shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

The solution is filtered by entering chamber 68 either from the front side of the inclined portion of the filter belt, from the undersurface of the horizontal portion or through the rear surface of the upright portion thereof. Chamber 68 is closed off at its ends by walls 31-32, except for recirculation outlet 69, communicating with chamber 70, FIG. 2. Thus all recirculated fluids must pass through the filter.

In addition to rollers 6061, marginal guides are provided upon the interior of filter'housing 30 adapted to engage the edge of the continuously movable filter belt 65.

Referring to the transverse plan view of FIG. 3 taken on line 33 of FIG. 1, the inclined portion of filter 65 at its opposing edges cooperatively bears against the inwardly extending support plates 44 which respectively project inwardly of and are suitably secured to end walls 3132, in opposed relation. Likewise additional pairs of guideplates 66 project inwardly from said end walls under which edge portions of the filter bear. Additional upright guide flanges or plates 67 project inwardly from the respective end walls Bil-32 against which upright portions of the filter belt slidably bear.

Arranged transversely through the upper chamber 45 of the portion of the filter housing laterally outward of tank 25 there is provisioned the horizontally disposed pipe 73, which upon the exterior of the housing is joined to a suitable source of water, steam, or other cleaning fluid with manual control valve 75 interposed as shown in FIG. 2.

A series of jet-like outlets 76 are spaced along the bottom of pipe 73 which is positioned above the lower horizontally disposed portion of the filter belt as it moves towards power roller drive 49.

There is thus provided a continuous cleaning and flushing spray which extends throughout the width of the filter belt for the purpose of washing any collected particles from said filterdown into chamber 46 and thus into drain 48. Thus the filter stays clean and does not become clogged.

It is contemplated that under certain conditions particles of lint or other undesirable material may not be completely washed away but will continue under and around roller 49. For this purpose, provision is made for heating said roller, if desired, to a suitable temperature such as up to 800 degrees F. to thus consume any lint or other combustible fine material which reaches drive roller 49. One means of accomplishing this is illustrated in FIG. 2 wherein a suitable combustible gas pipe 77 from a source of gas under pressure and the control of a suitable thermostatic valve 78 is connected as at 79 to the bore 80 of rotatable shaft 50. Valve 78 may cut off or control gas flow to maintain the desired temperature of roll 49.

Said shaft has a series of outlets or burner nipples 81 in connection therewith providing burner points on the interior of roller 49 by which the gas may be ignited as desired for applying heating to said roller for the above purpose.

In the preferred embodiment roller 49 drives the continuous belt-like screen 65, at a speed of 2 inches per minute. The speed can be varied as desired.

Having described my invention, reference should now be had to the following claims.

I claim:

1. In a filter assembly, a collection tank having opposed end and side walls and containing a body of fluid to be filtered, a filter housing fixedly positioned within said tank emersed in said fluid and having end walls interposed between and engaging the tank side walls, said housing being open at its front and rear into said tank, and having an outlet below the fluid level therein, the filter housing projecting outwardly of the tank defining a filter cleaning chamber including a lower wall, power operated pumping means joined to said outlet for withdrawing said fluid, :a series of parallel spaced guide rollers journaled within and extending throughout the length of said filter housing, a pair of said rollers being horizontally spaced and located below the fluid level towards the bottom of the tank, a pair of said rollers being vertically spaced and located within said filter cleaning chamber above said fluid level, a power driven roller in said filter cleaning chamber parallel to said guide rollers, and endless continuously movable filter belt extending around said guide rollers and power roller and extending laterally substantially the length of said filter housing, defining with said filter housing end walls an enclosed filtration chamber communicating with said outlet, said filtration chamber being above the bottom and inwardly of an end wall of said tank and extending substantially throughout its length, whereby fluid from said tank may enter said filtration chamber from the front, rear and bottom.

2. In the filter assembly of claim 1, a partition across the lower wall of said cleaning chamber defining a drain chamber having a drain, a pipe extending through said cleaning chamber above and transversely of a portion of said filter belt adapted for communication to a source of fluid under pressure, and a series of longitudinally spaced outlets in said pipe for delivering cleaning and flushing fluid down through said filter belt to said drain chamber.

3. In the filter assembly of claim 1, a series of elongated angularly related opposed pairs of guide flanges extending at right angles inwardly from the end walls of the filter housing cooperatively engaging the opposite side edges of said filter along their respective lengths.

4. In the filter assembly of claim 1, a rotatable shaft having a bore, mounted on and journaled through the filter cleaning chamber, said power driven roller mounted on and secured to said rotatable shaft, a series of gas burner jets on said shaft oommunicating with said bore on the interior of said power roller, said shaft adapted for communication with a gas source.

References Cited in the file of this .patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Meston Mar. 16, 1920 Johnson Apr. 7, 1931 Wright et a1 Sept. 27, 1932 Henry July 17, 1934 Saunders et a1. July 6, 1937 Fisher Dec. 28, 1943 Mittman Nov. 14, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS Germany Aug. 31, 1953

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