WO2020053845A2

WO2020053845A2 - A cascade cyclone separator for separation of submicron biological material

Info

Publication number: WO2020053845A2
Application number: PCT/IB2020/050107
Authority: WO
Inventors: Chandrakant Ramesh Chandra Sonawane; Atul Kulkarni
Original assignee: Symbiosis International (Deemed University)
Priority date: 2019-11-25
Filing date: 2020-01-08
Publication date: 2020-03-19
Also published as: WO2020053845A3

Abstract

The present invention relates to a cascade cyclone separator (100) for separating a biological material from a biological sample comprising a first centrifugal cyclone (101) and a second centrifugal cyclone (102) connected with a connector conduit (103) in series. The first centrifugal cyclone (101) is configured to capture and separate micron sized particles from the bottom outlet (108-1). Further, the second centrifugal cyclone (102) is configured to capture and separate nano sized particles from the bottom outlet (108-2). The collection efficiency of the cascade cyclone separator (100) facilitating separation of the biological material from the biological sample is at least 90%.

Description

A CASCADE CYCLONE SEPARATOR FOR SEPARATION OF SUBMICRON

BIOLOGICAL MATERIAL FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates to the field of separation of small sized biological materials. More particularly, the present invention relates to the separation of submicron biological materials using a centrifugal cyclone separation technique.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION Now-a-days, research is being carried out for separation of biological materials and particles like bacteria, enzymes, and viruses for laboratory tests and research purpose. However, almost all these biological materials are unavailable in free form and are rather found to be suspended in fluids like air or water etc.

Airborne microorganisms represent major health and economic risks to human and animal population. Appropriate preventive actions should be taken in time if threat posed by such micro organisms is estimated within a time. Authorities also need various parameters such as nature, concentration, and pathogenicity of these airborne micro-organisms in order to control these airborne micro-organisms.

In general practice, separating out these biological suspended particles, whose particle size may range from millimetres to nanometres, from the required fluids is a challenging task. There are several techniques available like filters, electrostatic precipitators, etc which have been used for separation of these small sized particles. In the state of the art, quite a few technologies are available for separation of submicron biological materials from air or water.

In the state of the art, a centrifuge apparatus has been proposed to separate solids from liquid, wherein the collection efficiency depends on speed of rotating bowl. However, to separate micro and nanoparticles by using the centrifuge apparatus, the speed requirement is very high. At high speeds, the biological bodies may damage, and desired separation may not be conducted. Further, in the state of the art, electrostatic precipitators have been proposed to separate small particles less than a micron size. The electrostatic precipitators work upon a principal of charging discharging. For biological use, charging and discharging of biological bodies is not recommended, which may damage the essential microstructure. Furthermore, in state of the art, filters have been proposed to separate a liquid-solid or gas-solid mixture. Filter cloth or paper consists of different types of fibres layered to create pores that allow liquid to flow through while collecting solid particles. Most filtration procedures contain a cake which need to wash repeatedly for maximum filtrate recovery. Although filters have great potential for biological uses, however, collection of separated biological species as well as the assurance of the contamination during handling is still a major issue with filters. The various prior art are further summarized and the present inventors were motivated to pursue the present invention to obviate the associated problems in the related arts.

The patent application FTS20l900l 5840A1 (henceforth‘840), discloses a multi-cyclone separator, separating a fine material and very fine material. The housing of cyclone disclosed in the said‘840 comprises upper and lower chamber (See Fig. 3). Further, cyclone separator works on a principle that the particles located in the carrier gas are guided by their centrifugal force to the wall of the cylindrical area and then decelerated in the subsequent conical area, in particular on the cone walls, so that they fall out of the carrier gas flow and leave the cyclone in a downward direction. The carrier gas works as a“scrubbing fluid” accelerates the flow to form a centrifuge. The said patent application‘840 fails to disclose the feature wherein two cyclone arranged in series are enabled to specifically separate nano-size particles from the micro size particles from a biological sample.

The patent application EP0521306A2 (henceforth‘306), discloses about a method apparatus for removing particles in a cyclone separator, in such way that first fraction with first particle, second fraction with smaller particles, and similarly eighth fraction comprises smaller aerosol particles. The mechanical separators of the said patent application‘306 are successively connected in series and further uses reduced pressure and suction means for the separation of particles. However, the said patent application‘306 fails to disclose the feature of a cascade separator wherein two cyclones arranged in series are enabled to specifically separate nano-size particles from the micro size particles from a biological sample.

The patent RU2574255C2 (henceforth‘255), discloses a two stage dedusting system wherein the first and second vortex precipitators are arranged in series and are analogous to the cyclones of the said disclosure arranged in series. However, the said patent‘255 fails to disclose the separation of micro-particles at the first stage in the first cyclone and that of separation of nano particles at the second stage in the second cy-clone. Also, the said patent‘255 fails to disclose the separation of airborne micro-organisms, aerosols from biological sample.

The patent application FR2477879A1 (henceforth‘879), discloses the separation of plant extract bacteria from air using a water cascade cyclone connected to the mist spray cyclone, wherein first cyclone bacteria is extracted and in second cyclone remaining dust and bacteria are extracted. The multiple cyclones are connected through a series of connecting pipes. The droplets and the mist are separated and removed by the centrifugal action of cyclone. However, the said patent application‘879 fails to disclose the feature of a cascade separator wherein two cyclones arranged in series are enabled to specifically separate nano-size particles from the micro size particles from a biological sample.

The patent application CN103056048B (henceforth‘048), discloses a gas -solid-liquid separation by multistage two or more cyclones. The cyclone system disclosed herein is a two-stage cascade system. The cited reference discloses the two-stage series cyclone separator system with the first- stage exhaust pipe exhaust split purification system, which improved the separator efficiency in the said patent application‘048. However, the said patent application‘048 fails to disclose the feature of a cascade separator wherein two cyclones arranged in a series are enabled to specifically separate nano-size particles from the micro size particles from a biological sample. The patent application CN104096643A (henceforth‘643), discloses a series connection system of a two stage cyclone separator which uses the separating capacity of a rotating gas current in an exhaust pipe of a first-stage cyclone separator and high and low dust gas currents of a second-stage cyclone separator. The system disclosed by the said patent application’643, can be used in food and environmental protection fields. The said patent application‘643 discloses the two-stage series cyclone separator system with two exhaust pipe purification system, which improved the separator efficiency in the said patent application‘643. However, the patent application‘643 fails to disclose the feature of a cascade separator wherein the two cyclones arranged in a series are enabled to specifically separate nano-size particles from the micro size particles from a biological sample.

The patent application GB2055310A (henceforth‘310), discloses a particle separating apparatus comprising two centrifugal cyclonic separators connected by a pipe. Additionally, the pipe disclosed in the said patent application‘310 contains flow straightening and smoothing devices like vanes and gauze plate. However, the said patent application‘310 fails to disclose the feature of a cascade separator wherein two cyclones arranged in series are enabled to specifically separate nano-size particles from the micro size particles from a biological sample.

Thus, there is a long felt need to improve the apparatus and/or system enabled for separation of micro and nanosized particles from a biological sample in order to alleviate drawbacks of the existing systems and methods available in the state of art.

OBJECTIVES OF THE INVENTION

The main object of the present invention is to provide a cascade cyclone separator for separating a biological material from a biological sample in a simple, user- friendly, cost effective, energy efficient and commercially viable manner. Another objective of the present invention is to provide a cascade cyclone separator which is capable for separating the nano-size particles from the micro size particles, which makes the present invention more effective and efficient.

Still another objective of the present invention is to provide a cascade cyclone separator, wherein the applied method of operation is easy to implement and adopt the most suitable arrangement for better functioning of the device at industrially level.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Before the present systems, apparatuses, and products are described, it is to be understood that this disclosure is not limited to the specific systems, apparatuses, and products as described, as there can be multiple possible embodiments which are not expressly illustrated in present disclosure but may still be practicable within scope of invention. It is also be understood that the terminology used in the description is for the purpose of describing particular version or embodiments only and is for the purpose of describing the particular versions or embodiments only and is not intended to limit the scope of the present application.

The present invention describes an apparatus, a cascade cyclone separator for separating a submicron, micro and nano sized biological materials from a biological sample. In one implementation of the present invention, wherein a cascade cyclone separator for separating a biological material from a biological sample is described. The cascade cyclone separator may comprise a first centrifugal cyclone and a second centrifugal cyclone connected with a connector conduit in series. The first centrifugal cyclone comprises an upper cylindrical portion, an inlet, a lower conical portion, an upper outlet and a bottom outlet. The second centrifugal cyclone comprises an upper cylindrical portion, an inlet, a lower conical portion, an upper outlet and a bottom outlet. The upper outlet of the first centrifugal cyclone is connected to the inlet of the second centrifugal cyclone with the connector conduit. The first centrifugal cyclone may be configured to capture and separate a micron sized particles from the bottom outlet. The second centrifugal cyclone may be configured to capture and separate a nano sized particles from the bottom outlet.

In another embodiment of the present invention, wherein a diameter size of the upper cylindrical portion of the centrifugal cyclone is between the range of 1 to 40 mm.

In another embodiment of the present invention, wherein a ratio of a height of the upper cylindrical portion and a diameter of the upper cylindrical portion is 1:3. In another embodiment of the present invention, wherein a ratio of a total height of the centrifugal cyclone and a diameter of the upper cylindrical portion is 9:2.

In another embodiment of the present invention, wherein a ratio of diameter of the inlet and the diameter of the upper cylindrical portion is 0.1 to 0.5. In another embodiment of the present invention, wherein a height of the lower conical portion is a difference of total height of the centrifugal cyclone and the height of the upper cylindrical portion.

In another embodiment of the present invention, wherein a ratio of a diameter of the upper outlet and the diameter of the upper cylindrical portion is 1:2.

In another embodiment of the present invention, wherein a ratio of length of the upper outlet inside the cyclone separator and a length of the upper outlet outside the cyclone separator is 1: 1.

In another embodiment of the present invention, wherein a collection efficiency of separation of the biological material from the biological sample is at least 90%.

In another embodiment of the present invention, wherein the first centrifugal cyclone and the second centrifugal cyclone are fabricated with same or different dimensions.

In another embodiment of the present invention, wherein the upper outlet directed outward from the second centrifugal cyclone is configured for ferrying an unseparated biological sample comprising the biological material fluid out of the cascade cyclone separator.

Other features and advantages of the present disclosure will be described in detail in the following part of detailed description of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The detailed description of the present invention is described with reference to the accompanying Figures. In the Figures, the left-most digit(s) of a reference number identifies the Figure in which the reference number first appears. The same numbers are used throughout the drawings to refer like features and components. Figure 1 depicts a cascade cyclone separator (100), in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 2 depicts a schematic representation of a centrifuge cyclone (101) or (102), in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 3 depicts a simulation analysis of overall structure of cascaded cyclone separator (200) with different walls and zones in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 4 depicts velocity contours at 100 LPM (Liter per minute) flow rate obtained for the cascaded cyclone separator (100), in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 5 depicts pressure contours at 100 LPM flow rate obtained for the cascade cyclone separator (100), in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 6 depicts particle velocity contours at 100 LPM flow rate obtained for the cascaded cyclone separator (100), in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 7 describes a cyclone wise particle distribution at 100 LPM flow rate captured by the cascaded cyclone separator (100), in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The words “comprising”, “having”, “containing”, “including” and other forms thereof, are intended to be equivalent in meaning and be open ended in that an item or items following any one of these words is not meant to be an exhaustive listing of such item or items or meant to be limited to only the listed item or items. It must also be noted that, the singular forms“a”,“an”, and“the” include plural references unless the context clearly dictated otherwise, although any methods similar or equivalent to those described herein can be used in the practice or testing of embodiments of the present invention, the exemplary methods are described herein. The disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the disclosure of the instant invention, which may be embodied in various forms. Various modifications to the embodiments of the present invention may be readily apparent to those skilled in the art and the generic principles herein may be applied to other embodiments. However, one of ordinary skill in the art may readily recognize that the present invention is not intended to be limited to the embodiments illustrated but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and features described herein.

No terminology in this application should be construed as indicating any non-claimed element as essential or critical. The use of any and all examples, or example language (e.g., "such as") provided herein, is intended merely to better illuminate example embodiments and does not pose a limitation on the scope of the claims appended hereto unless otherwise claimed.

Recitation of ranges of values herein are merely intended to serve as a shorthand method of referring individually to each separate value falling within the range, unless otherwise indicated herein, and each separate value is incorporated into the specification as if it were individually recited herein. Where a specific range of values is provided, it is understood that each intervening value, to the tenth of the unit of the lower limit unless the context clearly dictates otherwise, between the upper and lower limit of that range and any other stated or intervening value in that stated range, is included therein. All smaller sub ranges are also included. The present invention relates to a cascade cyclone separator enabled for separating and sampling micro and nano sized biological materials from biological sample fluids. The disclosed cascade cyclone separator is fabricated in such a way that the separator recovers the nano sized particles with highest nanoparticle collection efficiency.

The present invention describes a specifically designed cascaded cyclone, which at first stage separates most heavy and bigger size particles through first underflow region and then separates lighter particles having small size from the biological material fluid.

The disclosed system and process is a user friendly, cost effective, efficient, simple and energy efficient.

Accordingly in the present invention Figure 1 represented a cascade cyclone separator (100). The said cascade cyclone separator (100) may comprise a first centrifugal cyclone (101) and a second centrifugal cyclone (102) connected with a connector conduit (103) in series. The first centrifugal cyclone (101) comprises an upper cylindrical portion (104-1), an inlet (105-1), a lower conical portion (106-1), an upper outlet (107-1) and a bottom outlet (108-1). The second centrifugal cyclone (102) comprises an upper cylindrical portion (104-2), an inlet (105-2), a lower conical portion (106-2), an upper outlet (107-2) and a bottom outlet (108-2). The first centrifugal cyclone (101) is configured to capture and separate a micron sized particles from the bottom outlet (108- 1). The second centrifugal cyclone (102) is configured to capture and separate nano sized particles from the bottom outlet (108-2).

In another embodiment of the present invention, wherein the cascade cyclone separator (100) may also be alternatively referred as a particle separator, a cascade cyclone, a cascaded cyclone or a cyclone. Further, the first centrifugal cyclone (101) may also be alternatively referred as cyclone - 1, a cyclone sampler or a first cyclone (101) and the second centrifugal cyclone (102) may also be interchangeably referred as a cyclone-2, a cyclone sampler or a second cyclone (102).

Accordingly in the present invention Figure 2 represented a schematic single centrifugal cyclone (101), showing all geometrical dimension aspects of the first centrifugal cyclone (101) or the second centrifugal cyclone (102), in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Optimized dimensions of a cascaded cyclone are guided based on the simulation work, which uses the“design of experiments” techniques and then used to fabricate a cascade centrifugal cyclone. In another embodiment of the present invention, wherein the first centrifugal cyclone (101) and the second centrifugal cyclone (102) are fabricated with identical dimensions. As shown in figure 1 and figure 2 in the present invention, each centrifugal cyclone consist of an upper cylindrical portion (104-1, 104-2) having a predefined diameter‘D’ and height‘h’, connected with a lower conical portion (106-1, 106-2) in such a way that the vertical axis of the upper cylindrical portion (104-1, 104-2) coincides with the vertical axis of the lower conical portion (106-1, 106-2). An inlet (105-1, 105-2) having diameter‘a’ is provided perpendicular to the cylindrical axis such that inlet (105-1, 105-2) merges tangentially to the cylindrical diameter. In another embodiment of the present invention, wherein the inlet may be circular in shape. An upper outlet (107-1, 107-2) is configured as a circular air outlet for unseparated particles. In one embodiment, the upper outlet (107-1, 107-2) may have a predefined diameter‘Dx’ in-lined with the upper cylindrical portion (104-1, 104-2). The upper outlet (107-1, 107-2) may possess a specific length‘Lo’ directed outward from the upper cylinder portion (104-1, 104-2), and a specific length‘S’ directed inward to the upper cylinder portion (104-1, 104-2). In another embodiment of the present invention, wherein the specific length‘S’ directed inward to the upper cylinder portion (104-1, 104-2) may not be visible from outside of the upper cylindrical part. The bottom outlet/s (108-1, 108-2) are configured to eject and collect separated biological material particles from the first centrifugal cyclone (101) and the second centrifugal cyclone (102). In another embodiment of the present invention, wherein the bottom outlet/s (108-1, 108-2) may have a predefined diameter‘Be’. In another embodiment of the present invention, wherein the first centrifugal cyclone (101) or the second centrifugal cyclone (102) may have a predefined height ΉT.

Accordingly to another embodiment of the present invention, wherein the cascade cyclone separator (100) may be use fluid pressure to generate centrifugal force and a cyclone type flow pattern, which can be essentially separate the suspended heavy particles or droplets from a liquid/gas medium in a stage-wise manner. It is also observed that these particles or droplets usually have a sufficiently different density relative to the medium in order to achieve effective separation. Therefore, a fluid medium may be selected in the form of air or liquid.

Accordingly to another embodiment of the present invention, wherein Figure 1 and Figure 3 represents, a simulation analysis of overall structure of cascaded cyclone separator (200) (interchangeably represented as (100) in figure 1) with different walls and zones. The cascade cyclone separator (200) comprises an inlet (101), wherein the inlet (101) is configured for injecting a biological sample containing small size particles with an air flow. The cascade cyclone separator (200) comprises at least two upper outlets (107-1, 107-2), wherein the upper outlet (107-1) of the first centrifugal cyclone (101) is configured to carry micro sized particle separated biological sample. In another embodiments of the present invention, wherein the upper outlet (107-2) of the second centrifugal cyclone (102) is configured to carry unseparated particle containing biological sample with the air. In another of embodiment of the present invention, wherein the cascade cyclone separator (200) may comprise at least two centrifugal cyclones (101, 102) arranged in series. The two centrifugal cyclones (101, 102) may be same or different dimensions, wherein the size of centrifugal cyclone depends upon the size of particles to be separated. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, wherein the two centrifugal cyclones (101, 102) may be fabricated with identical dimensions and are connected for the separation of micro and nano sized particles, with a connecting conduit (elbow portion 204). Accordingly to another embodiment of the present invention, wherein Figure 3 represents a zone wise distribution of the cascaded cyclone. In yet another embodiments of the present invention, wherein the first centrifugal cyclone (101) comprises at least three zones namely bottom wall-l (201), middle wall-l (202) and upper wall-l (203). Further the fourth zone is an elbow wall portion (204) of the connecting conduit (103). Furthermore the second centrifugal cyclone (101) comprises at least three zones namely bottom wall-2 (205), middle wall-2 (206) and upper wall-2 (207). It is observed that that the maximum particles are captured in zone (201, 202, 203), which is basically the first centrifugal cyclone (101) of the cascaded cyclone separating micro sized particles. Therefore, cyclone- 1 captures maximum micron level particles and cyclone-2 captures nano size particles.

Accordingly to another embodiment of the present invention, wherein it is referred in Figure 2, that the particle collection efficiency of the cascade cyclone separator depends upon smallest size of the particle and an optimized relation between an inlet (105-1, 105-2), a lower conical portion (106-1, 106-2), an upper outlet (107-1, 107-2) a bottom outlet (108-1, 108-2) and the diameter“D” of the upper cylindrical portion (104-1, 104-2), of the centrifugal cyclone (101). In another embodiment of the present invention, wherein the size of the upper cylindrical portion, the inlet, the lower conical portion, the upper outlet and the bottom outlet may range between 1 to 40 mm. In another embodiment of the present invention, wherein the simulation experiments were carried out to conclude that the collection efficiency of the smaller sized particles is higher for values of “D” equal to 40 mm and lower.

Accordingly to another embodiment of the present invention, wherein it is referred in Figure 1 and 3, to achieve a separation and collection of micro and nanosized particles from a biological sample, fabrication of cascade cyclone separator with a predetermined relation between dimensions of the components is carried out. A ratio of a height of the upper cylindrical portion (104) and a diameter of the upper cylindrical portion (104) is determined as 1:3. A ratio of a total height of the centrifugal cyclone (101, 102) and a diameter of the upper cylindrical portion (104) is determined as 9:2. A ratio of diameter of the inlet (105-1, 105-2) and the diameter of the upper cylindrical portion (104-1, 104-2) is in the range of 0.1 to 0.5. A height of the lower conical portion (106-1, 106-2) is a difference between total height (Ht) of the centrifugal cyclones (101, 102) and height ‘h’ of the upper cylindrical portion (104-1, 104-2). A ratio of a diameter of the upper outlet (107- 1, 107-2) with the diameter of the upper cylindrical portion (104-1, 104-2) is 1 :2. A ratio of length of the upper outlet (107-1, 107-2) inside the cyclone separator (100) with a length of the upper outlet (107-1, 107-2) outside the cyclone separator (100) is 1: 1. The upper outlet (107-2) directed outward from the second centrifugal cyclone (102) is configured for ferrying an unseparated biological sample comprising the biological material fluid out of the cascade cyclone separator (100).

Accordingly to another embodiment of the present invention, wherein it is referred in Figure 7, a graph representing size wise particle distribution at 100 liter per minute (LPM) flow rate, captured by the first centrifugal cyclone (101) and the second centrifugal cyclone (102) of the cascade cyclone separator (100) is depicted herein. Figure 7 indicates that the particles having larger size (having size in microns) are captured in the first centrifugal cyclone (101), whereas the second centrifugal cyclone (102) captures remaining nano size particles. It should be noted that micron size particles have more mass (due to larger diameters) hence they are more in numbers, whereas nano particles have less mass (due to smaller diameters) and are captured in the second centrifugal cyclone (102). Hence, cyclone- 1 captures maximum micron level particles and cyclone-2 captures nano size particles.

Accordingly a yet another embodiment of the present invention, wherein a process of separating a biological material from a biological sample by a cascade cyclone separator comprises steps of: injecting a biological sample comprising a biological material fluid to the first cyclone separator via an inlet; adjusting the biological material fluid flow between 10 tolOOO LPM; transporting the biological material fluid through an upper portion of a first centrifugal cyclone to separate micron sized particles from the biological material fluid; transporting the micron sized particles towards the downward outlet of the first centrifugal cyclone; carrying a remaining nanosized particles comprising biological sample towards a second cyclone separator through a connector conduit to separate nano sized particles from the biological material fluid; transporting the nanosized particles towards a downward outlet of the second centrifugal cyclone; ferrying an unseparated biological sample comprising the biological material fluid towards an outlet pipe directed outward from the second centrifugal cyclone; and obtaining a separated nanosized biological sample from the biological material fluid from downward outlet of the second centrifugal cyclone; wherein the said nanosized biological sample is obtained with at least 90% collection efficiency. Accordingly a still another embodiment of the present invention, wherein the cascade cyclone (100) type particle separator is specifically enabled for separating the nanometer size biomaterial (biological material) from the air or water containing fluid. Referring to Figure 1 and Figure 3, separation of bio-particles may be enabled through the cascade cyclone (100) comprising two main centrifugal cyclone separator with a connector conduit (103) connected in series. Each cyclone may comprise of cylindrical upper portion followed by lower conical container portion. The fluid flows through cylinder portion after which it flows downwards into a lower conical container portion wherein the separation of small particles take place due to the cyclone type fluid motion wherein the centrifugal force is dominant. Both centrifugal cyclone samplers (101,102) utilizes centrifugal force for separation of bio-particles. The cascade cyclone (100) is fabricated to separate small size particles in stages. In the first stage, the first centrifugal cyclone (101) separates the micro-level particles sizes whereas in the second stage, the second centrifugal cyclone (102) separates nano sized particles.

In another embodiment of the present invention, wherein a sampled/contaminated bio-material containing suspension is injected/supplied substantially to a cylindrical upper portion (104-1) of the cyclone (101), after which the suspension flows downwards in a circular flow toward a lower conical portion (106-1) under the upper cylindrical portion so that the separation of impurities (aerosol/viruses) takes place. The suspension then accumulates in the outer zone of the whirl. Then the suspension flows upward inside the outer whirl and is discharged through the upper outlet (107-1) of the first centrifugal cyclone. The cyclone separator (100) accelerates the air by using a centrifugal vortex pushing the airborne particles into contact with a solid surface by using the inertia of the particles. In another embodiment of the present invention, wherein the scrubbing liquids may be constantly injected into the cyclone and collected in the bottle at its base removed from the upper outlet (107-2). The concentration of the aerosol in the liquid depends on the air sampling and liquid injection rates.

A computational fluid dynamics simulation has played a prime role for designing the compound cyclone separator. Various parameters like particle density, range of the particle diameter, turbulence model, DPM (Discrete Particle Method) wall boundary conditions and few relaxation factors has given importance for reaching to the conclusions of the present invention and reduction in the practice. The present invention may be further described by way of following examples and experimental analysis.

Example 1

( Simulation Result: air flow rate of 100 LPM with 10% bio-particles) Referring to Fig. 1, an optimized cascaded cyclone along with different zones, specifically defined for simulation work is disclosed in the present invention. The cascaded cyclone separator (100) is designed based on the Computational Fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation study. The said CFD simulation uses the Discrete Particle Method (DPM) which injects the mixed sized particles (90 micrometer to 50 nanometer in diameter) with random motion. Simulations were also carried out for various inlet flow rates from 100 to 900 LPM, wherein the biological fluid sample containing at 10% of bio-particles is injected.

The simulation was based on“the design of experiment technique”, wherein the bio- particles of around 10,000 of mixed size were injected. The collection efficiency (calculated as number of bio-particles trapped inside the cascaded cyclone) was used as objective function to optimize the dimensions of the cyclone. Based on the velocity, pressure and streamline values (and contours) the dimensions of the cascaded cyclone separator (100) were varied and modified so as to increase the collection efficiency. The collection efficiency achieved by cascade cyclone separator was at least 90% and more particularly 93% irrespective of flow rate of the biological fluid. Figure 4 depicts the velocity contours at 100 LPM flow rate obtained for cascaded cyclone separator (100), in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 5 depicts pressure contours at 100 LPM flow rate obtained for cascade cyclone separator (100) in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 6 depicts particle velocity contours at 100 LPM flow rate obtained for cascaded cyclone separator (100), in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to Figure 4, 5 and 6, wherein the velocity, pressure and particle velocity (streamline) contours for 100 LPM simulations are described respectively. Referring Figure 1 and 3, it can be seen that air containing bio particles are transported from inlet (105-1) into the cyclone- 1 where it moves in cyclonic manner. The centrifugal forces are applied on the bio-particles; hence the heavier particles start getting separated or they get pulled off from the main air stream and thrown towards wall and eventually get fallen down. Hence, cyclone- 1 is able to separate most of the micro sized particles whereas nano size particles get carried towards the cyclone-2. In cyclone-2 due to its distinctive design, wherein the pressure and velocity conditions are made in such that centrifugal forces helps to separate nano-sized particles. If required additional pressure and velocity can be supplied from an external source.

Example 2

Based on the simulation results of Example 1, a cascade cyclone separator (100) may be fabricated, wherein the separator is configured to separate micro sized particles from the first centrifugal cyclone (101) and nano sized particles from the second centrifugal cyclone (102). Referring to Figure 1 and 2, it is observed that the particle collection efficiency of the cascade cyclone separator depends upon smaller size and an optimized relation between zones such an inlet (105-1, 105-2), a lower conical portion (106-1, 106-2), an upper outlet (107-1, 107-2), a bottom outlet (108-1, 108- 2) and the diameter“D” of the upper cylindrical portion (104-1, 104-2) of the centrifugal cyclone (101). Example 2 and Table 1 represents the geometry of fabricated cascade cyclone separation and the relation of diameter‘D’ of the upper cylindrical portion with other portions of a single centrifugal cyclone.

Table 1

Example 3

Referring to Figure 3, different wall zones of cascaded cyclone separator (200) are described herein. Table 3, as represented below shows a percentage wise number of particles captured in various zones of cascaded cyclone separator (200).

Table 3

Table 3 depicts a percentage wise number of particles captured in various zones. It can be seen that maximum particles are captured in zone 1 to 4, which is basically the first centrifugal cyclone (101) of the cascade cyclone separator (100).

The cascade cyclone separator (100) as described in the present invention may provide various multiple advantages including but not limited to:

• The cascade cyclone separator (100) is enabled to use a fluid pressure to generate centrifugal force and a cyclone type flow pattern, which essentially separates the suspended heavy particles or droplets from a biological fluid in a stage-wise manner.

• The cascade cyclone separator (100) (also referred as particle separator), is particularly configured for separating the nanometer size biological materials from the air, wherein the first centrifugal cyclone (101) separates the micro-level (large, heavy) particle sizes, whereas second centrifugal cyclone (102) is configured to separate nano (small, lighter) size particles.

• The cascade cyclone separator ( 100), wherein both the cyclone samplers utilizes centrifugal forces for separation of particles, wherein fluid pressure generated centrifugal vortex is used to accelerate the air in cyclone separator.

• The cascade cyclone separator (100), design in such a manner that its method of operations is easy to operate and effective separation of the desired biological materials.

In accordance with the embodiments of the present invention, the said cascade cyclone separator (100) may be used in multiple applications including but not limited to:

• Bioanalysis of samples containing micro and nano components;

• Study of airborne viruses and pathogens; and

• Separation of bio particles from the air.

The embodiments, examples and alternatives of the preceding paragraphs or the description and drawings, including any of their various aspects or respective individual features, may be taken independently or combination thereof. Features described in connection with one embodiment are applicable to all other embodiments, unless such features are incompatible.

Although implementations for a cascade cyclone separator for separating a biological material from a biological sample have been described in language specific to structural features, it is to be understood that the appended claims are not necessarily limited to the specific features described. Rather, the specific features are disclosed as examples of implementations for the cascade cyclone separator for separating a biological material from a biological sample.

Claims

WE CLAIM:

1. A cascade cyclone separator (100) for separating a biological material from a biological sample, comprising:

a first centrifugal cyclone (101) and a second centrifugal cyclone (102) connected with a connector conduit (103) in series;

wherein the first centrifugal cyclone (101) comprises an upper cylindrical portion (104-1), an inlet (105-1), a lower conical portion (106-1), an upper outlet (107-1) and a bottom outlet (108-1);

wherein the second centrifugal cyclone (102) comprises an upper cylindrical portion (104-2), an inlet (105-2), a lower conical portion (106-2), an upper outlet (107-2) and a bottom outlet (108-2);

wherein the upper outlet (107-1) of the first centrifugal cyclone (101) is connected to the inlet (105-2) of the second centrifugal cyclone (102) with the connector conduit (103);

wherein the first centrifugal cyclone (101) is configured to capture and separate micron sized particles from the bottom outlet (108-1); and

wherein the second centrifugal cyclone (102) is configured to capture and separate nano sized particles from the bottom outlet (108-2).

2. The cascade cyclone separator (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein a size of the upper cylindrical portion of the centrifugal cyclone is between range of 1 to 40 mm.

3. The cascade cyclone separator (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein a ratio of a height of the upper cylindrical portion (104) and a diameter of the upper cylindrical portion (104) is 1 :3.

4. The cascade cyclone separator (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein a ratio of a total height of the centrifugal cyclone (101 and 102) and a diameter of the upper cylindrical portion (104) is 9:2.

5. The cascade cyclone separator (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein a ratio of diameter of the inlet and the diameter of the upper cylindrical portion is preferably 0.1 to 0.5, more preferably 0.36.

6. The cascade cyclone separator (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein a height of the lower conical portion (106-1, 106-2) is a difference of total height of the centrifugal cyclone (101, 102) and the height of the upper cylindrical portion (104-1, 104-2).

7. The cascade cyclone separator (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein a ratio of a diameter of the upper outlet (107-1, 107-2) and the diameter of the upper cylindrical portion (104-1, 104-2) is 1:2.

8. The cascade cyclone separator (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein a ratio of length of the upper outlet (107-1, 107-2) inside the cyclone separator (100) and a length of the upper outlet (107-1, 107-2) outside the cyclone separator (100) is 1: 1.

9. The cascade cyclone separator (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein a collection efficiency of separation of the biological material from the biological sample is at least 90%.

10. The cascade cyclone separator (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first centrifugal cyclone (101) and the second centrifugal cyclone (102) are fabricated with identical dimensions.

11. The cascade cyclone separator (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the upper outlet (107-2) directed outward from the second centrifugal cyclone (102) is configured for ferrying an unseparated biological sample comprising the biological material fluid out of the cascade cyclone separator (100).