Patent Application
20180045152
The present invention relates to the field of industrial vacuum equipment, and, more particularly, to a dewatering system for use with industrial excavation equipment and related methods.
Industrial vacuum equipment has dozens of wet and dry uses such as locating underground utilities (potholing), hydro excavation, air excavation and vacuum excavation. In addition, the equipment can be used for directional drilling slurry removal, industrial clean-up, waste clean-up, lateral and storm drain clean-out, oil spill clean-up and other natural disaster clean-up applications, signs and headstone setting, for example. The vacuum systems may be mounted to a truck or trailer and are typically powered by gas or diesel engines. Both the wet and dry material is vacuumed up and stored in a debris tank. From there, the material may be hauled away and disposed of offsite or the tank may be emptied at the site.
The industrial vacuum equipment utilizes a high volume induced flow through a filter chamber to carry water and debris into the chamber, where they are separated. The dewatering process includes filtering out the debris from the water or other fluids and removing for disposal. Truck mounted vacuum equipment may utilize different stages of filtration for the debris and water. For example, the incoming flow may be directed into a settling chamber allowing the debris to settle out of the water. Filters may also be used to help quickly separate the water from the debris. A problem often encountered with the filters is that they can become clogged as the debris collects on the filters and the flow path is restricted causing the reduction in suction power of the vacuum equipment. In addition, removing the debris from the filters is time consuming and reduces the efficiency of the dewatering process.
Therefore, a need exists in the art for a dewatering system that resists clogging while remaining efficient in separating the water from the debris and is easy to maintain. However, in view of the prior art at the time the present invention was made, it was not obvious to those of ordinary skill in the pertinent art how the identified needs could be fulfilled.
In a particular embodiment, a dewatering system for use with industrial excavation equipment is disclosed. The dewatering system includes a debris tank configured to receive a slurry through an inlet, a dewatering filter installed in the debris tank, and a bar screen forming a curvilinear surface of the dewatering filter, where the curvilinear bar screen is configured to prevent debris from passing through and into an interior space of the dewatering filter. A first end of the dewatering filter is in communication with a discharge port to remove filtered liquid from the interior space of the dewatering filter. In addition, a vibratory device is secured to the dewatering filter and configured to shake the dewatering filter to remove debris and clean an exterior surface of the dewatering filter.
Other aspects, advantages, and features of the present disclosure will become apparent after review of the entire application, including the following sections: Brief Description of the Drawings, Detailed Description, and the Claims.
The present invention will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which preferred embodiments of the invention are shown. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.
Referring now to
The dewatering filter 102 includes a plurality of structural hoops 110 that are parallel to one another in addition to the top and bottom ends 108, 104 of the dewatering filter 102. The curvilinear bar screen 106 overlays and covers the hoops 110. The curvilinear bar screen 106 includes a plurality of tightly spaced elements to act as a screen that is sized to allow liquid to pass and to prevent debris from flowing through to the interior of the dewatering filter 102. For example, the spacing between the tightly spaced elements of the curvilinear bar screen 106 may be approximately 4/1000ths of an inch. In addition, the dewatering filter 102 is secured to a vibration device that imparts a shaking type motion that causes particulates to shake loose from the curvilinear bar screen 106. This shaking type motion assists in keeping the dewatering filter 102 relatively clean and operating at high efficiency without having to stop and backwash the dewatering filter 102.
Referring now to
The debris tank 112 is in communication with an external blower 115 or pump and a discharge port 114 as shown in
In operation, the debris tank 112 is filled with the slurry of liquid 122 and debris 120 using suction. As the debris tank 112 is filled, the liquid 122 may be removed from the debris tank 112 and returned to the site or otherwise disposed. This allows for filling the debris tank 112 with additional slurry as the volume of the liquid 122 is removed. Accordingly, the dewatering filter 102 is installed inside the debris tank 112 that is used during the decanting process to remove liquids 122 from the debris tank 112 while sediment and debris 120 remain in the debris tank 112. In a particular embodiment, a submersible pump 118 is within the dewatering filter 102 and is used to pump the liquid 122 out through a discharge port 114 and discharge hose 116 to expel the liquid 122 from the debris tank 102.
As explained above, the dewatering filter 102 includes a closed bottom end 104 and an exposed filter surface and sidewall that is the curvilinear bar screen 106. The dewatering filter 102 is orientated such that the liquid flow is radially inwardly with the filtered particulate material (i.e., debris 120) being trapped on the outer surface of the dewatering filter 102, which is the curvilinear bar screen 106.
When the blower is operating during the vacuum process, an induced draft is created through the debris tank 112 which draws air carrying liquid 122 and debris 120 through the inlet port 126 and into the debris tank 112. As the liquid 122 and debris 120 enters the debris tank 112 there is an immediate drop in air velocity, which causes the heavier and larger particles and objects to fall to the bottom of the debris tank 112. The particulate-laden air continues to flow in a forward direction through the debris tank 112. Most of the heavier and larger materials entrained in the air flow are removed in the debris tank 112. Thus, the air exiting the debris tank 112 and entering an exterior air filter chamber 117 generally contains smaller particulate materials. Additional gravity settling occurs in the debris tank 112 as the debris 120 collects on the floor of the debris tank 112 for eventual discharge through the outlet port 128 or by opening the front end of the debris tank 112 and dumping.
As the decanting process proceeds, the dewatering filter 102 may become increasingly saturated with retained particulate material and the dewatering filter 102 must be periodically cleaned. Backwashing the dewatering filter 102 results in the shutdown of the system and temporarily removes the system's filtering capacity. This is disruptive and requires a large air supply to provide a pulse or jet of compressed air adequate to clean the dewatering filter 102 at one time. Accordingly, a vibratory device 124 of the present system is secured to the dewatering filter 102 that continually, or periodically, shakes the dewatering filter 102 to dislodge particulates and debris from the curvilinear bar screen 106 so that the system does not have to be shut down for routine backwashing. Thus, the system can operate longer between backwashing the dewatering filter 102, which results in less disruptions and higher efficiency in the operation of the system.
Many modifications and other embodiments of the invention will come to the mind of one skilled in the art having the benefit of the teachings presented in the foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings. Therefore, it is understood that the invention is not to be limited to the specific embodiments disclosed, and that modifications and embodiments are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims.
The present invention is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/034,705 filed Sep. 24, 2013, the entire contents of which is incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 14034705 | Sep 2013 | US |
| Child | 15791871 | US |
