The invention concerns a filter device comprising a filter housing with a fluid inlet for unfiltrate and a fluid outlet for filtrate and with at least one single-part or multi-part filter insert accommodated inside the filter housing, wherein said filter insert may be cleaned through a reverse flow with at least one backflush device, which is moveable by means of a fluid-conducting drive shaft of a rotary drive on the inside of the respective filter insert, and is provided with a slot-shaped flow passage at its end that is adjacent to said inside, wherein said slot-shaped flow passage extends parallel to the rotational axis of the drive shaft and which leads into a flow chamber that has a fluid connection with the drive shaft, wherein said flow chamber tapers at least partially in the direction of the drive shaft in a first plane in which the flow passage is located.
The operational reliability and life span of combustion engines is largely dependent on the high quality of the lubricating oil. In particular the continuous operation of diesel engines, which in maritime applications, for example, are operated with heavy fuel oil, makes high demands on the quality of lubricating oil, so that in applications such as these the use of filter devices to clean the lubricating oil is essential. In this respect it is prior art to use filter devices in which the filter inserts can be backflushed to achieve longer operating periods between filter insert changes and thus reduce the maintenance costs. An example for the prior art, described in document DE 34 43 752 A1, is a filter device of the kind described above.
The cleaning efficiency in devices of this kind depends largely on the path taken by the backflush stream which, at the pressure difference that is available at the slot-shaped flow passage, passes through the flow chamber to the fluid-carrying, i.e. hollow, drive shaft. The pressure difference present during the backflush operation at the slot of the flow passage, which is for example 1.5 bar with a system-generated backflush pressure and a drive shaft at ambient pressure, is designed to achieve a maximum entry velocity at the slot and a maximum backflush volume flow. To come closer to this goal, the described, known filter device provides for a reduction of the flushing cross-section, which is effective during the flushing process, in such a way that the backflush process is only applied to one of two backflush devices. To this end the known filter device is provided with a control facility, which controls the alternating operation of the backflush devices by splitting the sludge discharge over two flushing connections, each of which has a fluid connection with a backflush device. Such a splitting of the sludge discharge, which requires a valve device at each flushing connection, nullifies at least partly the advantages of the effective cleaning action. Moreover, this design runs the risk of blocking the sludge discharge through deposits, in particular in the valve devices at the flushing connections.
Based upon said prior art it is the object of the invention to provide a filter device of the kind described at the outset, which is characterized by a particularly effective cleaning action whilst employing a simple design.
This object is met according to the invention by a filter device that bears the characteristics of claim 1 in its entirety.
According to the characterizing part of claim 1 a significant feature of the invention lies in the fact that in a further second plane, which extends transverse to the first plane in which the flow passage is located, the flow chamber widens out, continually at least in part, starting from the flow passage and in the direction of the drive shaft. Due to said expansion the flow chamber forms a kind of diffuser. This leads to a reduction in pressure loss and thus to the maximization of the backflush volume flow as well as the entry velocity at the slot of the flow passage. Due to the immediate proximity of the slot to the filter material, the cleaning action is particularly effective. The elimination of the valve devices, as provided by the described, known solution, ensures a particularly reliable operating behavior whilst simple in design.
Advantageously, the flow chamber in the first plane may be continuously tapered as a kind of inlet funnel.
In particularly advantageous exemplary embodiments the arrangement may be such that, starting from the slot-shaped flow passage, formed in the first plane are at least
In exemplary embodiments in which, in the direction of the flow linkage of the flow chamber to an internal fluid passage of the drive shaft, the respective flow chamber merges with its boundary walls into a tube-shaped or channel-shaped section in which the boundary walls extend in a straight line, a particularly homogenous velocity profile of the backflush volume flow results.
Concerning the expansion of the flow chamber in the direction that extends transverse to the plane of the slot of the flow passage, the arrangement may advantageously be such that, in this second plane, the flow chamber expands from the slot-shaped flow passage in the direction of the internal fluid passage of the drive shaft in a conical manner with straight boundary walls.
In advantageous exemplary embodiments the flow chamber, at its exit from the backflush device in the direction of the respective filter insert, is provided with at least one fillet at the boundary walls of the slot-shaped flow passage, which extends parallel to the rotational axis of the drive shaft. The fillet forms a type of control surface along which deposited particles that accumulate during the rotational movement on the backflush device are guided along the fillet to the entry area of the flushing slot where, due to the high entry velocity, the maximum detaching force is present.
At an area ratio between slot inlet and channel exit, which is in the range from 0.2 to 2.0, preferably between 0.3 to 1.0, a homogenous velocity profile of the backflush volume flow results that facilitates the sludge outflow.
The expansion of the slot-shaped flow passage of height to its width is preferably in the range from 10 to 100, preferably in the range from 30 to 70.
Of particular advantage is where the ratio of the width of the slot-shaped flow passage to the free diameter of the tube-shaped or channel-shaped section, which forms the transition to the internal fluid passage of the drive shaft, is between 0.05 and 0.5.
In particularly advantageous exemplary embodiments wing-like flow guide vanes are disposed inside the flow chamber, which extend at least in part from the slot-shaped flow passage away in the direction of the channel exit.
Preferably at least parts of the flow guide vanes extend in a curved or straight manner, and extend fully between the boundary walls of the backflush device, which extend parallel to the rotational axis of the drive shaft.
A particularly advantageous flow pattern may be achieved if at least one flow guide vane protrudes, starting from the slot-shaped flow passage, further into the flow chamber than at least one further flow guide vane, wherein the further protruding flow guide vane, which is preferably disposed in the center of the slot-shaped opening of the flow passage, extends from the same in the direction of the inside of the flow chamber. In this instance the fluid advantageously passes inside the flow chamber from the slot inlet without diversion of the overall flow of the backflush volume up to before the channel exit.
Preferably, the respective backflush device, which faces the internal wall of the respective filter insert with its one free end face, is moved past said internal wall without a gap by means of the rotatable drive shaft.
In particularly advantageous exemplary embodiments, inserted backflush devices are exchangeably retained in an associated retainer housing, which is disposed on the drive shaft. Using the same design of drive shaft and associated rotational drive, the device may be adapted to the respective operating conditions in that in retainer housings on the drive shaft, the number of which depends on the number of filter inserts, a desired number of backflush devices are inserted, the quantity of which as well as the flow chamber geometry may be chosen without restriction.
The arrangement may therefore be such that multiple backflush devices are inserted along the drive shaft, one above the other, wherein they are disposed
The invention will now be explained in greater detail by way of the exemplary embodiments depicted in the drawing. Shown are in:
In
For the purpose of cleaning deposits off the filter material 19 from the upper filter insert 5 and the lower filter insert 7 during backflushing actions, a backflush arm 15 is provided for the upper filter insert 5 and a backflush arm 17 is provided for the lower filter insert 7, each of which is provided with three backflush devices 21. In the exemplary embodiment shown, the backflush arms 15 and 17 are disposed, offset from each other by an axial distance and 180° radially to each other, on a drive shaft 23, the upper end of which is pivotally supported by a bearing 25 at the upper housing cover 27 of housing 1 as well as by a lower bearing 29. The open end of the drive shaft 23, which is formed by a tube, is at this point connected to a sludge discharge tube 31, attached to which is a motor-actuated backflush valve 33, which closes the discharge tube 31 during filter operation and opens it for a backflush operation. To provide a rotational drive, the hollow drive shaft 23 is coupled at the upper bearing 25 to the gearbox 35 of an electric gear motor (not shown).
During filter operation the unfiltrate flows via the fluid inlet 13 through the inlet filter 11 and the inlet side 9 into the inner cavity of the filter inserts 5 and 7, flows through the filter material to the outside and is discharged via the filtrate outlet 3. During the backflush operation, which takes place with an open backflush valve 33, the rotating drive shaft 23 moves the backflush arms 15 and 17. As a result, the backflush devices 21 with their slot-shaped flow passages 39, which are located at their free end face 37, are moved past the inside of the filter material 19 of the filter inserts 5, 7 without a gap. On the backflush devices 21, the slot-shaped flow passages 39 form the inlet of their internal flow chamber, which is connected to the tube-shaped drive shaft 23. With the backflush valve 33 open, the slot-shaped flow passages 39 are subjected to the pressure differential between the system pressure on the filtrate side that surrounds the filter inserts 5, 7 and the pressure in the drive shaft 23, which may, for example, correspond to the ambient pressure. At this pressure differential, which is in the vicinity of 1.5 bar at the usual system pressure, particles deposited at the slotted nozzle-shaped flow passages 39 are detached and pass through the inner flow chamber of the backflush devices 21 into the drive shaft 23 and from there via the discharge tube 31 to the outside. Instead of the ambient pressure it is possible to generate a negative pressure in the drive shaft 23 by means of a suction fan (not shown).
The
The
A further difference compared to the first exemplary embodiment lies in the fact that three flow guide vanes 55, 56 are disposed inside the flow chamber 57. Of those, the first flow guide vane 56, which is situated centrally on the symmetrical axis between the boundary walls 47 and 49, is longer than the two further flow guide vanes 55, which are disposed in the area between the central flow guide vane 56 and the upper boundary wall 47 and in the area between the lower boundary wall 49 and the central flow guide vane 56. The shorter flow guide vanes 55, which both have the same shape and which extend with their concave curvature facing the adjacent boundary wall 47, 49, are arranged such that the flow chamber 57 takes on a symmetrical cross-sectional shape, wherein the tapered, inner ends 63 of the flow guide vanes 55 are at a lesser distance from the respective adjacent boundary wall 47 and 49 than the rounded noses 65, which in turn have the same distance from the rounded nose 65 of the central guide vane 56 at the flow passage 39 (see
For the backflush devices 21 for the exemplary embodiment in
The
Since in
Besides filtration of lubrication oil, the filter device according to the invention may also be used for other applications for which it is suitable. Apart from the already mentioned maritime application in which ballast water in ships is cleaned, the device may also be used to treat process water.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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10 2016 012 206.4 | Oct 2016 | DE | national |
10 2017 001 968.1 | Mar 2017 | DE | national |
10 2017 001 970.3 | Mar 2017 | DE | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/EP2017/001191 | 10/9/2017 | WO | 00 |