WO2007066990A1

WO2007066990A1 - Water remover for compressed air

Info

Publication number: WO2007066990A1
Application number: PCT/KR2006/005279
Authority: WO
Inventors: Seung Kak Shin
Original assignee: Seung Kak Shin
Priority date: 2005-12-08
Filing date: 2006-12-07
Publication date: 2007-06-14
Also published as: KR200410073Y1; JP3149762U

Abstract

The present invention relates to a water remover for compressed air, in which filter elements themselves widely used in a conventional water remover are not used such that the costs of the filter elements are reduced, the inconvenience according to the periodical exchange of the filter elements can be avoided, it is not necessary to stop the machine facility for compressed air during exchange work of the filter elements, and that no mechanical friction abrasion caused by a rotating movement or a reciprocating movement are needed, thereby achieving a semi-permanent life and avoiding performance degradation during the passage of operation time. The water remover for compressed air comprises a housing H partitioned into three pressure rooms of a first pressure room Al having a relatively high pressure located at an upper portion thereof and a lower pressure room having second and third pressure rooms A2 and A3 having a relatively large space; and a nozzle plate (2) having a plurality of inclined nozzle recesses (2a) formed at a circumference thereof; wherein a compressed air passes from the first pressure room Al into the second and third pressure rooms A2 and A3 having a relatively low pressure and is discharged according to a direction tangent to an inner circumferential plane of the second pressure room A2 to be rotated, whereby a moisture contained in the compressed air is centrifugal Iy separated from the compressed air.

Description

[DESCRIPTION]

[Invention Title]

WATER REMOVER FOR COMPRESSED AIR

[Technical Field]

The present invention relates to a water remover for removing moisture from compressed air, and more particularly, to a water remover for compressed air, in which filter elements themselves widely used in a conventional water remover are not used such that the costs of the filter elements are reduced, the inconvenience according to the periodical exchange of the filter elements can be avoided, it is not necessary to stop the machine facility for compressed air during exchange work of the filter elements, and that no mechanical friction abrasion caused by a rotating movement or a reciprocating movement are needed, thereby achieving a semi-permanent life and avoiding performance degradation during the passage of operation time.

[Background Art]

A conventional water remover is so called as an air filter of a general_^ type and a mist separator or a demister for exclusively removing water. They use micro-porous filter elements in order to remove moisture from compressed air, While the compressed air passes through the filter elements, water droplets contained in the compressed air cannot pass through the filter elements, but are caught at the fine micro-pores to be separated and collected. Although the filter-element-type water remover according to the related art shows some effect of removing water from compressed air, it also has defects on the other hand in that performance of moisture removing effect is low and that a lot of problems for maintenance and management of the machine facility are accompanied.

That is, since the related art filter elements are made in a micro- porous structure formed such as non-woven fabric, plastic sintered body, or metal sintered body, etc, they are inevitably clogged by dust particles or by bacterial propagation. Accordingly, the water remover according to the related art shows a normal performance at the early stage of newly installed filter elements, but the clogging of micro-pores increases while the operation period passes by. As the clogging progresses, the section area that the compressed air can pass through is reduced. Namely, a loss of pressure increases, which causes energy loss and the pressure of the compressed air at outlet to be lowered below that of requirement. Accordingly, the filter elements should be replaced when the pressure difference between front end and rear end increases above a predetermined value.

In other words, the filter elements are expendable materials to be exchanged periodically. Also, it is difficult to perceive a correct timing of filter exchange, because the internal filter elements are lost to view in case of an opaque filter housing. That is, since it is difficult to exactly perceive the degree of the filter clogging, many problems are expected. In addition, in order to meet the higher cleanliness of the treated air, the finer micro-pores are used for filter elements, so that the clogging problems are more serious in the filter elements having finer micro-pores.

Moreover, in order to know the exact timing of the filter exchange, there is used a method that pressure gauges or air velocities are installed at the front end and at the rear end of the filter elements whereby pressure difference can be measured. However, this method causes problems such as increases of the facility costs, installment space and additional maintenance costs thereof.

Furthermore, if the flow rate of the compressed air increases depending on a higher consuming rate of compressed air, some portion of the droplets caught in the micro-pores of filter elements would be swept away from the filter elements by the high-speed air stream and be incorporated into the outlet-side compressed air, so that the moisture- removing performance by the original purpose is lowered. As the filter element clogging increases, the sweep- away phenomenon becomes more seriously because air passage gets narrower and because the flow rate gets higher. Especially, when many machine facilities using compressed air are located one by one in adjacent position to another at the same site, since the supply pressure changes sharply due to the change of compressed air consumption rate at ambient machines, those water droplets existing at a low position of pipelines, or at bulge portions, or at small cleavages of joint, will rush at the same time into the water remover machine. This problem happens more frequently when the atmospheric humidity is relatively high in summer.

[Disclosure]

[Technical Problem]

Therefore, the related art water remover employing the filter elements has many problems as described above. Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a water remover for compressed air that substantially obviates one or more of the problems due to limitations and disadvantages of the related art. An object of the present invention is to provide a water remover for compressed air with no filter elements, whereby neither additional expendable costs nor exchange fees for filter elements are needed. Moreover, it is not necessary to stop the machine facilities which use the compressed air in order to exchange the filter elements. Also, the present invention provides a water remover for compressed air that can avoid the disadvantages described hereinbefore due to the clogging of the filter element. There is not a portion of mechanical friction abrasion caused by a rotating movement or by a reciprocating movement. Moreover, the water remover can remove the oil at the same time, whereby decreasing the number of the filters. Therefore, it is another object of the present invention to provide a no- repair semi-permanent water remover of compressed air that guarantees a semi^¬ permanent life, the water remover needing no maintenance and repair to keep the first stage function semi-permanent Iy.

[Technical Solution]

To achieve the object described as above, the water remover for compressed air according to the present invention includes: a housing H of approximately cylindrical shape installed vertically, inside of which is partitioned into three pressure rooms of a first pressure room Al having a relatively small space located at an upper portion thereof and a lower pressure room having second and third pressure rooms A2 and A3 having a relatively large space; and an approximately circular disk type nozzle plate 2 that distinguishes the first pressure room from the second pressure room, peripheral portion of the nozzle plate having a plurality of inclined nozzle recesses 2a for passage of compressed air, formed at circumference of 360 degrees of the nozzle plate spaced apart from one another with a constant angle, and the inclined nozzle recess being formed in one or more helical shape or a linear inclination shape that has a big torsion angle or inclination angle similarly to top and bottom of multiple thread screws.

At one side of the top body housing H, an inlet Ia for compressed air is formed so that the compressed air at first can be introduced into the first pressure room Al, then pass through a plurality of inclined nozzle recesses 2a formed at circumference of the nozzle plate into the second pressure room A2. Also, an inner cylindrical portion 2b is integrally with the nozzle plate 2 at the lower portion of the nozzle plate 2. Moreover, the lower portion of the housing H divides into the second and third pressure rooms A2 and A3 by means of an inner cylindrical portion 2b.

Here, an inner cylindrical portion 2b is integrally with the nozzle plate 2 at the lower portion of the nozzle plate 2. However, the circular disk portion of the nozzle plate 2 and the inner cylindrical portion 2b can be separately manufactured and combined with each other through an adhesive or a bolt and so on.

By the above construction, the compressed air is introduced at first into the first pressure room Al, then passes through the plurality of inclined nozzle recesses 2a formed spaced apart from one another at a circumference of 360 degrees of the nozzle plate 2 with a regular angle interval to be discharged into the second pressure room A2 that has a relatively lower pressure. At this time, the moment the compressed air is introduced into the first pressure room Al from the outlets of the at the inclined nozzle recesses 2a, it is adiabatically expanded on account of the difference of the pressure between them. With this, the part of the moisture contained in the compressed air is change into water droplets, thereby lowering the dew point thereof to that extent. Thus, since the moisture contained in the compressed air is change into water droplets, the centrifugal separation can be easily performed in the second and third pressure rooms A2 and A3 according to the rotation of the compressed air.

In the meantime, since the inclined nozzle recess 2a formed at the nozzle plate 2 have so big angle of inclination with respect to the vertical axis direction, the compressed air discharged into the second pressure room makes a spiral revolution that is close to horizon. Especially, because a plurality of the discharge nozzles are formed at a circumference of 360 degrees of the nozzle plate spaced apart from one another with a constant angle, a constant high-speed spiral revolution is formed so that its rotation center is steady and stable.

By this high-speed spiral revolution, the compressed air receives a centrifugal force. Since the moisture contained in compressed air is heavier, for example, about 800 times (that is, the specific gravity of water is 1.0, but the specific gravity of air is 0.00129), than the air itself, the moisture receives much bigger centrifugal force which makes the moisture relatively rotate along the outer portion within the second pressure room A2, whereby the moisture collides and causes friction with the inner wall of an inner side plane 3a of the cylindrical outer shell (inner body) 3 with a uniform and steady state. This rotation friction makes it possible for the moisture contained in compressed air to change into water droplets.

Accordingly, in the housing H according to the present invention, it utilizes a principle of adiabatic expansion using the difference of pressure between the lower and upper pressure room Al and the second pressure room A2 at first and a principle of centrifugal separation according to the rotation at second. Here, since the inclined nozzle recesses 2a for using the adiabatic expansion are arranged at the front side thereof and the second and third pressure rooms A2 and A3 are arranged in the rear side thereof, there is a merit in that the vapor and the moisture of droplet type contained in compressed air are can be high-efficiently removed at the same time. That is, the moisture changed from the vapor according to the adiabatic expansion and the moisture of droplet type contained already in compressed air can be simultaneously removed in equal water remover for compressed air. Also, minute oil vapors are contained in the compressed air. Here, the oil vapor has no relation to the adiabatic expansion owing to the difference of the pressure unlike the moisture. However, the oil vapor can be simultaneously removed in the second and third pressure rooms A2 and A3, which serve as a lower rotation pressure room, by means of the centrifugal force thereof. Since the specific gravity of the oil vapor is about 0.95 similar to that of water, the centrifugal force has a strong influence on the oil vapor similarly with the moisture, so that the centrifugal separation thereof can be easily performed.

In the meantime, as the compressed air has a very low viscosity, the rotation speed is not made to be lowered when it moves downwardly. So, as the air rotation goes on, the water droplet adhered to inside lateral plane of the inner side plane 3a of the cylindrical outer shell (inner body) 3 of the second pressure room A2 by sweep-away according to the high-speed air rotation rotates at a relatively lower speed than the air. Then, the dew drops combine one another by the affinity force amongst the water droplets into a bigger one. As the water droplet gets taller, the centrifugal force is applied stronger. So, a bigger droplet shows a stronger tendency to revolve outwardly. On the other hand, since the air itself has a very small specific gravity for which the centrifugal force applies relatively weaker, it rotates at inner portion. So, the degree of moisture elimination gets further at the air discharge hole, which means a higher cleanliness of compressed air.

Water droplets formed on the inner side plane 3a of the second pressure room A2 rotate and combine one another to form bigger droplets that easily move downwards by weight. These water droplets moved downwards are exhausted through a plurality of water discharge holes 4a formed at the bottom surface 4c of the lower boy 4, and gather in a catch pit within the water drain unit 5 installed at lower portion of the demist for compressed air according to the present invention. This water collection are exhausted from the water remover for compressed air through an exhaust hose connected to a water discharge hole 6b located at the lower portion of a manual or an automatic water exhaust valve unit (drain valve unit) 6. However, a water drain unit is not in direct relation to the technical concept according to the present invention herein after, with reference to the drawings appended to the specification (the denoted reference numeral 6a is a fastening nut for water discharge valve).

Meanwhile, preferably, it is important for the compressed air to maintain a uniform and stable spiral revolution that is, streamline flow so as to improve the removing rate of water. Here, where the rotated compressed air bumps against the water discharge holes 4a, since it can cause to an uniform spiral revolution, the water discharge holes 4a is a kind of an obstacle factor in maintenance of the streamline flow.

In order to minimize the obstacle, a circular recess 4b of a predetermined depth is formed at the bottom surface 4c of the lower body. It is preferred that the width of the circular recess 4b makes narrow and the depth thereof becomes deep within the permissible range in design in order to minimize of the generation of the turbulent flow.

Also, the compressed air, in that the moisture is separated at the second pressure room A2, is continuously rotated, and moved to a path B between the second and third pressure rooms A2 and A3, Thus, since the compressed air take a U-turn at the path B between the second and third pressure rooms A2 and A3, the moving length thereof can be remarkably increased. Also, because the moving length of the compressed air becomes longer, the separating time of the water contained in the compressed air is increased, thereby remarkably improving the separation efficiency of water. Accordingly, the characterization of the present invention is to increase the moving length of the compressed air and the stay time by dividing into the second and third pressure rooms A2 and A3.

In the meantime, since the compressed air has a very low viscosity, the air is continuously rotated in the third pressure room A3 though the rotation speed thereof is lower than that in the second pressure room A2. Thus, the air ascends toward the air outlet 2c while being continuously rubbed with the inner wall, so that the drop of water is continuously formed from the moisture. That is, the separation phenomenon of water (moisture) is generated in the third pressure room A3 as the drop of water is formed at the inner wall of the inner side plane 3a of the cylindrical outer shell (inner body) 3 by means of the centrifugal force. Accordingly, the moisture and minute drop of water, which are completely not removed in the second pressure room A2, are continuously separated from the compressed air in the third pressure room A3, so that the air is more purified.

Also, the air ascends toward the air outlet 2c located at the third pressure room A3 while being rotated in the third pressure room A3. Here, the ascending velocity thereof is comparatively small in comparison with the rotation one, so that the drop of water attached to the inner wall is not swept away by the flow of the compressed air and falls down accord to the gravity.

The water droplets dropped from the bottom surface 4c of the lower boy 4 are moved to outside owing to the comparatively high gravity and the revolution of the air and join other droplets separated and dropped from the second pressure room A2 and then, gather in the water drain unit 5 through the circular recess 4b and the water discharge holes 4a formed at the bottom surface 4c.

[Advantageous Effects]

As described above, the water remover for compressed air of the present invention is not provided with filter elements which are being used in a filter type moisture separator for compressed air such as a mist separator, generally used for same application conventionally. Accordingly, no degradation of moisture separation performance (pressure difference) by clogging in the filter elements is expected, and exchange of the filter elements is not necessary. Further, since friction part for rotation or for reciprocation is not provided, it can be used for a long time without maintenance, no degradation of moisture separation performance with passage of time happens, no additional electricity is used, and it is possible to obtain a great quantity of clean compressed air with low pressure loss (that is, low pressure difference) by a small size water remover.

Also, foreign materials such as oil which is undesirable liquid element in use of compressed air can also be separated and removed by the same principle and structure. Because it has a simple structure, it is able to produce various types from small size to large size dependent upon the flow rate.

[Description of Drawings]

The drawings appended hereto constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention, and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the invention.

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing generally the water remover for compressed air according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view showing the water remover for compressed air according to a first embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view and a side view showing the nozzle according to a first embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing generally the water remover for compressed air according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

[Best Mode]

As shown in the drawings, the water remover for compressed air according to a first embodiment of the present invention is provided with a nozzle plate 2 having a plurality of inclined nozzle recess 2a formed at a circumference of 360 degrees of the nozzle plate 2 spaced apart from one another with a constant angle, so that the compressed air, when it passes through, makes speedy and uniform flow of a spiral rotation within the housing, and with a cylindrical portion 2b located at low central portion of the nozzle plate 2.

The water remover for compressed air according to the first embodiment of the present invention is a cylindrical type installed close to vertical direction overall and comprises a cylindrical housing having three pressure rooms inside formed by the upper body 1, the nozzle plate 2 having the inclined nozzle recess 2a and the cylindrical portion 2b, middle body that is a cylindrical outer shell (inner body) 3, and the lower body 4.

The pressure room within the housing is partitioned by the nozzle plate 2 into three pressure rooms including a first pressure room Al having relatively small space located at the upper portion thereof, a second pressure room A2 having relatively large space, and a third pressure room A3 for secondarily rotating the compressed air. Moreover, the upper body 1 is provided with an inlet Ia for compressed air, an air passage Ib through which air discharge passes, an outlet Ic for discharging the final compressed air, and a screw portion at its central part for connecting with the central portion of the nozzle plate 2. Here, the air inlet Ia and the discharge outlet Ic are threaded in most cases screws for piping connection.

By the combination of the upper body 1 with the nozzle plate 2, the first pressure room Al is formed with a relatively small space. At the same time, by the combination of the upper body 1 with the plurality of inclined nozzle recesses 2a formed at a circumference of 360 degrees of the nozzle plate 2 spaced part from one another with a constant angle, the plurality of inclined nozzle recesses 2a is formed through which the compressed air passes from the first pressure room Al into the second pressure room A2 having a relatively low pressure.

The nozzle plate 2 is installed the space between the first pressure room Al and the second pressure room A2 to be connected to the upper body 1 through screws. The nozzle plate 2 is provided for the purpose of both partitioning the inside space of the water remover for compressed air according to the present invention into two upper and second pressure rooms and forming the discharge nozzles, and is not necessarily disposed inside the upper body 1.

As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG.3 for the nozzle plate 2, there are the plurality of inclined nozzle recesses 2a formed at circumference of 360 degrees of the nozzle plate spaced part from one another with a constant angle, wherein the inclined nozzle recesses 2a form passages for the compressed air to move from the first pressure room Al into the second pressure room A2 so as to be discharged according to the direction of the inner circumferential plane of the second pressure room A2 having relatively low pressure, that is, in inclination according to a direction tangent to the inner side plane 3a of the cylindrical outer shell 3. As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, the plurality of inclined nozzle recesses 2a formed at circumference of the nozzle plate spaced part from one another with a constant angle can take a helical shape of a plurality of thread screws so that the inclined nozzle are formed to have a big inclination angle θwith respect to the vertical central axis.

The inclined nozzle recesses 2a are preferably formed at a circumference of the nozzle plate spaced part from one another with a constant angle, but they can also be modified according to various designs. Moreover, a plurality of the inclined nozzle recess 2a do not have necessarily a helical shape but also can have a shape such as a linear inclined nozzle type in order to provide the compressed air with an effective vortex rotation within second pressure room A2. Also, the cylindrical portion 2b located at low central portion of the nozzle plate 2 serves to divide the lower portion of the housing into the second and third pressure rooms A2 and A3, thereby increasing the separation efficiency of the water for the compressed air.

Here, the water remover for compressed air according to the first embodiment of the present invention using a principle of water separation basically utilize a principle of centrifugal separation widely used in the conventional art. In case of using the centrifugal separation, it can maintain the rotation time of the compressed air in the housing for a long. Here, to increase the distance of the rotation movement of the compressed air or heighten the efficiency of water separation is the important key to remove the water well. Another key for removing the water has any structure in such a manner that it is difficult for the frosted droplets to be swallowed up by the compressed air of high speed. The characterization of the present invention is the formation of the cylindrical portion 2b of the nozzle plate 2 capable of meeting the two requirements.

That is, firstly, by forming the of the cylindrical portion 2b, the compressed air is rotated at the second pressure room A2 and then, moved to the third pressure room A3 via a path B to the direction of an arrow B to be finally moved to the air outlet 2c. Accordingly, the moving path of the compressed air is "U" shape. Therefore, the compressed air passes through the inner cylindrical portion 2b, so that the moving distance of the compressed air is remarkably increased and the stay time becomes longer in comparison with no cylindrical portion 2b.

Secondarily, since the moving path of the compressed air is "U" shape, the air ascends toward the air outlet 2c while being rotated in the thirds pressure room A3. Here, the frosted water is attached to the inner side of the cylindrical portion 2b of the third pressure room A3 on account of the centrifugal force thereof. At this time, the ascending velocity thereof is very small in comparison with the rotation one and the moving direction of the air is opposite to that of the gravity. Accordingly, since the water is very large in specific gravity, it is not swept away by the flow of the air and falls down accord to the gravity. That is, the frosted water is not swept away by the flow of the compressed air.

[Mode for Invention] XO

Hereinafter, the separating and removing process of the water from the compressed air according to the water remover for compressed air of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 1 through FIG. 3.

FIG.l is a cross-sectional view showing briefly a first embodiment structure of the water remover for compressed air according to the present invention, wherein the compressed air at first is introduced through the inlet Ia into the first pressure room Al. The introduced compressed air, due to the nozzle plate 2, cannot move into the second pressure room A2 directly but move into the second pressure room A2 through a plurality of inclined nozzle recesses 2a formed at a circumference of 360 degrees of the nozzle plate 2 spaced part from one another with a constant angle. The upper pressure chamber Al occupies most part of inner diameter in the cylindrical housing of water remover for compressed air according to the present invention, so that the sectional area is relatively wide. As a result, the flow rate of compressed air within the first pressure room Al is relatively low. Accordingly, the compressed air within the first pressure room Al keeps a stable status relatively although it flows a little. Then, the compressed air is uniformly distributed to a plurality of inclined nozzle recesses 2a and discharged with a uniform speed by a plurality of nozzles when it is discharged to the second pressure room A2, so that a spiral revolution of a uniform streamline flow or similar to the uniform streamline flow having a stable rotating center can be achieved.

Since the plurality of inclined nozzle recesses 2a for discharging the compressed air are formed at a circumference of 360 degrees of the nozzle plate 2 spaced apart from one another with a constant angle, they can also contribute to achieve the stability of a uniform spiral revolution in the rotating center. Furthermore, since the inclined degree of vertical axis of inclined nozzle recess 2a is formed to have a big inclination angle θ with respect to the vertical central axis, the spiral revolution can be made. Then, since a large drop of water included in the compressed air also rotates to outer direction without splash and revolves while colliding stably with inner wall 3a of cylindrical outer shell (inner body) 3, water drops having uniform size can be effectively obtained.

As the constant high-speed revolution is further progressed, water drops formed at the inner wall 3a are combined to one another by affinity to make larger water drops stably. Water drops become easier to receive centrifugal force as they are larger in the size, so that water drops move downward by the weight while revolving by colliding with inner wall 3a of cylindrical outer shell 3, without the splash according to uniform spiral revolution. Thus, the moisture included in the compressed air can be separated in a shape of water drop. As the compressed air moves downward while revolving at a high speed to separate the moisture, the cleanliness becomes higher. Then, a relatively clean air revolves in the lower portion of the second pressure room A2. Accordingly, only the moisture-separated air can inflow to the third pressure room A3 through the second pressure room A2, the path B between the second and third pressure rooms A2 and A 3 in the direction of the arrow of "U" type.

In the meantime, when the mass flow of compressed air decreases, the revolving speed is relatively low but the speed moving downward becomes slow, so that the revolving time become longer to keep the moisture separation effect. When the mass flow increases, the flowing speed becomes fast, so that the revolution time is made short, but the revolving speed increases. Accordingly, the absolute revolving quantity keeps a substantially constant status irrespective to the mass flow rate. Therefore, in the range of predetermined process flowing rate, it is possible to obtain a stable moisture separation performance regardless of the change of flowing rate, substantially. Also, even when the quantity of introduced moisture is very small or a great quantity of water rushes at a time, the water remover for compressed air of the present invention can successfully provide a clean compressed air because its separation-removal process normally works.

As a result of a number of experiments carried out by the inventor, it is found that even if the vertical length of the second and third pressure rooms A2 and A3 for rotating the compressed air 3 is quite long with other design conditions fixed, the revolving speed at the lowest portion of second pressure room A2 by revolving of compressed air is not substantially lowered, which is so probably due to sufficient area thereof and very low viscosity of air. Also, as the vertical length of the second and third pressure rooms A2 and A3 becomes longer, the moisture separation performance becomes higher because revolving time of compressed air increases while the pressure drop is substantially same.

Thus, in case of requiring high moisture (water) separation efficiency in the present invention, the length of the cylindrical outer 3 is longer, so that the moisture separation performance can be improved. On the contrary, where high moisture (water) separation efficiency is not required, the vertical length thereof is shortened, so that it can be miniaturized. It should be noted that when the length of the cylindrical outer shell 3 changes based on the required moisture separation performance, the length of the discharging pipe 6 should also be adjusted accordingly.

Also, the moisture removing performance of the plurality of the inclined nozzle recesses 2a formed at a circumference of the nozzle plate 2 spaced apart from one another with a constant angle varies in dependence upon thickness t of nozzle plate, number of nozzles, width W of nozzle, depth dp of nozzle, inclined angle θ of nozzle recess, surface roughness of nozzle, shape of sectional area of nozzle, shape of outlet of nozzle, etc. Especially, the performance has a close relationship with pressure loss and tratable flow rate.

Hereinafter, the experimental result of a specific embodiment according to the water remover for compressed air of the present invention will be described in detail .

Dimensions of principal elements are as fol lows^'- the nozzle plate 2 having outer diameter d of 59.5 mm and thickness t of 8 mm is provided with 6 inclined nozzle recess 2a having the rectangular shape in the sectional area and having a width W of 4.0 mm and depth dp of 2.5 mm. The six inclined nozzle recess 2a are formed at interval of 60 degrees by dividing uniformly the total circumference of 360 degrees of disk type nozzle plate 2, and the shape of the inclined nozzle is formed as helical inclined type identical with right-handed thread, the inclined nozzle having a pitch (which corresponds to one of the right-handed thread) of 39.2mm, the inclined angle θ of about 12 degrees and the general surface roughness (approximately 30 μm Rmax). Also, the inner diameter of cylindrical outer shell 3 is 62.5 mm, the length across top and bottom of the second pressure room A2 is 72mm, the diameter of the inner cylindrical portion 2b is 40 mm (outer diameter) and 32mm (inner diameter).

Also, the water remover for compressed air is disposed totally in a vertical direction, that is, at an angle of 90 degrees with respect to the horizon, and a clean compressed air stream at a room temperature with a

2

pressure of 0.5 Mpa (about 5kg/cm ) is supplied at a rate of 0.06 to

3

0.50m /min (in an atmospheric pressure).

At this condition, a commonly used lubricator (Model SAL4000, made by KCC Inc.) is installed as a water supplying apparatus in front of the water remover for compressed air of the present embodiment. The water of 1-120 ml/min is mixed with the clean compressed air by using water supplying quantity controller of needle valve type attached to the lubricator, and then the air-water mixture is supplied to the water remover for compressed air of the present invention.

The water remover for compressed air is provided with a water discharge device (drain unit) at its lower part. The performance, i. e., moisture removing rate is measured as follows: the moisture separating rate is measured base on the difference between quantity of water introduced by the water supplying apparatus described as above, and quantity of water collected in water tank of water discharge device, after the water being separated and removed by the water remover for compressed air of the present invention. An electronic balance having a minimum measuring unit of O.Olg is used as measuring equipment, so that the quantity difference is measured 10 times to get the average value. As a measuring result, the difference between quantity of introduced water and quantity of water collected by water remover for compressed air of the present invention was O.Ollg or less per 12Og of water supplying quantity, as 10 times average value, so that the moisture removing rate in this embodiment was approximately 99.99% within the range of precision degree of the measuring balance. The pressure drop (pressure difference) between inlet Ia and outlet Ic of compressed air was 0.021 Mpa at

3

0.50m /min of maximum flow rate in testing.

Then, in order to easily check the separation efficiency of water of the water remover for compressed air according to the present invention, an experiment is performed while mixing the compressed air with the water in the same condition identical to the above-mentioned embodiment. The compressed air out from the water remover for compressed air of the present invention is subject to collide to a stainless plate (thickness: 2 mm) in the room temperature and to a glass plate (thickness: 4 mm) in the room temperature respectively, in the pressure of O.δMpa, using an air gun of outlet diameter 3 mm which is used generally under the condition that the distance from end of outlet of air gun to the plates is 40 mm and the continuous discharge time is 10 minutes. By visual observation, any drop of water was not formed on the surface in both plates.

FIG. 4 is a drawing showing cross section of a water remover for compressed air according to a second embodiment of the present invention. Here, the second embodiment of the present invention is identical with the first embodiment in terms of the principle of the water separation. However, the second embodiment of the present invention is slightly different from the first embodiment in terms of the construction of the lower pressure room. That is, in the second embodiment, the lower body is integrally with the cylindrical outer shell (inner body) 3. In this case, as shown in FIG. 4, a second water discharge valve 8 for preventing the scattering of the water collected in the lower portion of the water remover for compressed air includes a cover 8b. The cover 8a of the second water discharge valve 8 is not influenced by the rotation of the compressed air of the second and third pressure rooms A2 and A3. Here, The cover 8a of the second water discharge valve 8 includes a plurality of recesses for moving water so as to smoothly move the water of the second and third pressure rooms A2 and A3 toward the lower portion thereof.

By the construction described in the second embodiment of the present invention, since the lower body 4 of the first embodiment of the present invention is disappeared, the vertical length of the second pressure rooms A2 and the inner cylindrical portion 2b can become longer in comparison with the first embodiment. Thus, the distance of the rotation movement of the compressed air of the second embodiment is longer than that of the first embodiment, so that the stay time thereof becomes longer, whereby remarkably improving the separation efficiency of water, simplifying its structure, and decreasing the number of parts. Accordingly, the water remover for compressed air according to the second embodiment of the present invention can curtail the cost of production as well as improve the separation efficiency of water identically with the first embodiment.

[Industrial Applicability]

As described above, the water remover for compressed air includes the housing H of approximately cylindrical shape, inside of which is partitioned into three pressure rooms of a first pressure room Al and second and third pressure rooms A2 and A3 through the inner cylindrical portion 2b and the nozzle plate 2 having the plurality of inclined nozzle recesses 2a formed at circumference of 360 degrees of the nozzle plate spaced apart from one another with a constant angle, so that the compressed air is discharged according to the direction tangent to the second pressure room A2, whereby the spiral revolution of a high speed having a stable rotating center can be achieved. Also, by the centrifugal force and high gravity of the water according to this high-speed spiral revolution, the moisture contained in compressed air is rotated outside in the pressure room and causes continuous friction with the inner wall of the third pressure room A3, that is the inner wall of the cylindrical portion 2b to form the droplets, so that the moisture is separated from the compressed air. Moreover, the compressed air is discharged to outside through the air outlet 2c formed at the upper portion of the third pressure room A3 and the air passagelb, so that it is possible to obtain a great quantity of clean compressed air. Accordingly, the filter elements themselves widely used in the conventional water remover such as the mist separator and so on are not used, whereby high separation efficiency of water can be achieved.

Claims

[CLAIMS]

[Claim 1]

A water remover for compressed air comprising:

a housing H partitioned into three pressure rooms of a first pressure room Al having a relatively high pressure located at an upper portion thereof and a lower pressure room having second and third pressure rooms A2 and A3 having a relatively large space! and

a nozzle plate 2 having a plurality of inclined nozzle recesses 2a formed at a circumference thereof;

wherein a compressed air passes from the first pressure room Al into the second and third pressure rooms A2 and A3 having a relatively low pressure and is discharged according to a direction tangent to an inner circumferential plane of the second pressure room A2 to be rotated, whereby a moisture contained in the compressed air is centrifugal Iy separated from the compressed air.

[Claim 2]

The water remover for compressed air according to claim 1, wherein a nozzle plate 2 for adiabatic expansion is formed at the upper portion of the cylindrical housing H and a rotation structure for centrifugal separation is formed at the lower portion of the cylindrical housing H in order to utilize a principle of water condensation owing to the adiabatic expansion of the compressed air in the housing H and a principle of centrifugal separation of water owing to a rotation of the compressed air, whereby the water (drop of water) formed by the adiabatic expansion in the upper portion of the housing H and the water formed by the centrifugal separation in the lower portion of the housing H are removed from the compressed air.

[Claim 3]

The water remover for compressed air according to claim 1, wherein the third pressure room A3 is formed inside the second pressure room A2 through an the inner cylindrical portion 2b smaller than the second pressure room A2 in diameter, in order that the compressed air passes through an inside of the -o -L

inner cylindrical portion 2b during the rotation moving of the compressed air, whereby a rotation time and a moving distance of the compressed air become longer.

[Claim 4]

The water remover for compressed air according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of inclined nozzle recesses 2a is formed at circumference of the nozzle plate 2, whereby the compressed air discharged toward the second pressure room A2 of the cylindrical housing H is rotated.

[Claim 5]

The water remover for compressed air according to claims 1 or 4, wherein a plurality a plurality of inclined nozzle recesses 2a is formed at circumference of 360 degrees of the nozzle plate spaced apart from one another with a constant angle, whereby its rotation center is stable during the rotation thereof according to the discharge of the compressed air.

[Claim 6]

The water remover for compressed air according to claims 1 or 4, wherein the inclined nozzle recess are formed in a screw or helical shape through an injection molding process using a plastic material or a die casting molding process using a rotation ejection of a zinc or aluminum alloy.