1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to an apparatus and process used for removing pollutants from a contaminated air or water stream “Stream” in which a media support wall “framework” is designed to compensate for the problems commonly associated with media compaction in vertically standing radial flow contaminated Stream purification systems “reactors”; the framework and a media being supported are integral but not unitary.
More particularly it relates to the use of open weave fiberglass reinforced plastic “FRP” to create a media containment framework within a plenum that contains a remediation media which media facilitates interactions which capture pollutants from a Stream being moved horizontally and radially through the media either inwardly or outwardly.
2. Description of the Relevant Prior Art
Vaporous pollutants, which are frequently toxic or corrosive or both, are created in a multiplicity of municipal, commercial and agricultural processes and become part of output Streams. Treatment of these output Streams to strip out the pollutants is important to human health, to prevent damage to equipment, to protect the environment and to provide odor control.
Typical treatment of Streams is to pass the Stream through a reactive media in a containment structure within a plenum which serves as a reactor. Issues include plenum size, choice of material and energy consumption. In instances where the Stream contains corrosive gases, the materials used to form the containment structure are chosen to be as non-reactive as practical. This need has traditionally placed a limitation upon the size of media containment structures. Used alone as inert structural materials, plastics do not have the structural strength for creating large structures. Metals have the strength but corrode too easily.
Over time, two differing reactor designs have emerged. The earlier reactors used vertical flow of the Stream under pressure or vacuum, thus requiring a considerable consumption of energy in their operation.
On the other hand, radial flow reactors work at ambient or just above ambient pressures, requiring no compressors or vacuum units or expensive seals for their operation and presenting less potential for escape of untreated materials into the environment.
In general, radial-flow reactors consist of a containment vessel, a plenum, within which is located a series of baffles that separate the incoming polluted Stream from the exiting purified Stream. The space between the baffles holds and supports the remediation media. Commonly, the baffles consist of a pair of cylindrically shaped elements, one having a smaller diameter than the other and being concentrically located within the former. These cylinder walls have pore spaces through which the Stream passes. In an inward flow reactor, the Stream moves from an inlet manifold through the outer baffle into the remediation medium, and then through the inner baffle and into an exit manifold. Or the reactor can be designed to have a reversed flow direction described as an outward flow reactor.
Past radial flow reactor designs suffered from some problems of their own. One of the main problems being that the structural weakness of non-reactive media containment materials prevented the creation of units large enough to efficiently handle large volumes of pollutants. Increasing the bulk of the solid portion of the containment cylinders to make the walls stronger reduced the amount of open Stream flow space within the cylinder walls, thus decreasing the efficiency of and increasing the cost of operating the unit.
Accordingly, it is an objective of this invention to provide a corrosion resistant media support system for use in a radial flow reactor, said support system having the structural strength allowing for its use in large commercial and municipal reactors, yet also having a flexibility of design allowing for a use in small sized reactors, and at the same time providing a media containment support wall with a lower solid to through space ratio that allows for a remediation of a greater volume of Stream per unit of time relative to other comparably sized units and doing so with a low pressure drop from an inlet side to an outlet side of the media containment structure, thus providing a simplification of installation and a conservation of energy.
Another object of the invention is to provide a media containment structure that is equally suitable for use with a variety of media, including porous granular substrate media such as activated carbon, or, non-granular media such as foam and reticulated foam; foam media, being essentially integral within themselves in that they have their separate, internal pore spaces that do the filtering of the contaminated stream, therefore need less framework support wall than do media such as activated carbon media; thus, for supporting foam media, the framework wall pore spaces can be maximized to provide a maximal flow of the Stream into the media itself.
Another object of this invention is to provide a containment structure design that allows a creation of supports that can be retrofitted into existing reactors.
Other objectives, advantages and novel features of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the invention and the accompanying drawings.
The invention involves the creation of a pair of corrosion resistant fiberglass-reinforced plastic (“FRP”) media support wall frameworks of differing diameters that have been extruded in a diamond shape lattice weave wall pattern, each with approximately a 68.percent through space ratio. The walls of each of which frameworks comprise a series of overlaid, fused, woven bands of FRP material.
The frameworks are situated in a concentric manner, one within the other within a vertically standing plenum, an internal space between said concentrically aligned support walls comprises a media bed, said framework arrangement being designed to hold a media capable of remediating toxic, corrosive, or non-corrosive vapors that are carried to it in a Stream that moves through the purification system in a radial flow direction; said Stream moving at or slightly above ambient air pressure, and passing through the reactor with a minimal pressure drop between an in let side and an outlet side of the reactor.
Dwyer (U.S. Pat. No. 3,162,516) discloses an exhaust filtering process wherein pressurized gas is received into an inlet of a plenum. The gas then flows radially through an essentially granular media that is contained between stainless steel mesh support cylinders that have a diamond shape basket weave wall arrangement. The diamond shape weave presents with pores that allow passage of the gas and is of a design such that the open spaces between the lattice wall elements are small enough to retain the enclosed media particles.
This application differs from Dwyer in that the present invention claims a preferred through space. Dwyer does not teach or claim a preferred through space. Further, having a diamond shaped basket weave arrangement of the filter casement wall is critical in the present invention, and, Dwyer does not teach such.
The incident application differentiates even further from Dwyer in that applicants teach a design and process for using a basket weave wall arrangement for media that are essentially integral within themselves; media having an integral form within which is found a series of internal pore spaces that do the filtering of the contaminated stream; for such a media, the framework wall pore spaces can be maximized to provide support for the filtering media in position and to allow a maximal flow of the Stream into the media itself.
And, opposed to Dwyer, the instant application operates at near ambient air pressures and with a minimal pressure drop across the media between the inlet and the outlet sides of the plenum, thus preventing the need for expensive seals and other problems associated with high pressure systems.
Like Dwyer, Sewell, Sr. (2005/0126139A1) discloses an exhaust filtering process wherein pressurized gas is received into an inlet of a plenum. The gas then flows radially through an essentially granular media that is contained between stainless steel mesh support cylinders that have a diamond shape basket weave wall arrangement. The diamond shape weave present pores that allow passage of the gas is of a design such that the open spaces between the lattice wall elements are small enough to retain the enclosed media particles. Sewell also teaches that the support cylinders can be made of a polymer-fiberglass material. Whether stainless steel or polymer fiberglass in nature, Sewell, Sr. did not recognize, teach or claim a preferred through space for a specific media
The preferred through space taught by the current invention is one of the major distinctions vs. Sewell. Part of the motivation for use of the FRP wall sandwich was to provide for a low pressure alternative to prior art models which required high pressure to force the air through the reactor. The prior art therefore involved use of expensive seals and pressurizing equipment, and increased risk of contaminated materials breaching into the ambient environment. The maximal through space of their containment walls was approximately 50% as opposed to the 65% to 75% through space achievable with the current invention.
Sewell's design appears to be able to operate with an even greater through space. However, the through space component of the design of the current invention is not a stand alone factor. The full equation includes the following: 1. maximal through space; in concert with 2. adequate structural strength to allow a free standing support capable of containing a large weight of media material without distortion, and 3. operation without the need for a high pressure air stream and the special fittings, gaskets and the increased costs and maintenance associated with handling high pressure air streams.
Lightweight mesh screen support walls such as described by Sewell do not meet the strength requirements needed for the present application. Prior art in the field used stronger wall materials and design (scalloped and punched openings) as described by Sewell; however, they could not achieve over a 50% through space limit using such means.
It was the use of the FRP sandwich wall woven in a diamond shaped basket weave configuration having a preferred through space that provided the combined elements of maximal through space, free standing structural strength and operational ability at slightly above ambient air pressure.
In Sewell, the only demand of the support wall is that the wall contain pores of a size small enough to contain the filtering material and load bearing strength is not an issue.
In the present invention specifically for a use with a media that is essentially integral within itself; in order to maximize the efficiency of the filtering system, the critical wall feature is to maximize a series of open spaces in a support wall to the greatest extent possible, thereby allowing a maximal flow of an inflowing Stream at near ambient air pressures and doing so with a minimal pressure drop across the media between an inlet side and an outlet side of a plenum, thus preventing the need for expensive seals and other problems associated with high pressure systems such as Sewell, Sr.'s.
Further objectives and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings illustrating a preferred embodiment of the invention. The drawings are:
The invention involves the creation of a device, a media containment system comprising in part a pair of media support frameworks 3/5
In accord with an object of a creation of frameworks that can be retrofitted into existing vertically standing radial flow remediation plenums, which said plenums may be of differing tubular configurations, each of any said pair of frameworks may have a configuration selected from the group consisting of cylindrical 1
A solid component of said central and said lateral frameworks 30
A solid component of the framework wall elements comprising up to an approximate 32.percent portion of a total wall surface area of said frameworks, thus a total wall surface area presents with an approximately 68.percent through space; affording thus a maximal Stream flow opening while creating an exceptional structural strength of the framework walls.
When viewing a perspective view as a vertical cross section at a longitudinal center of said air remediation plenum 300
Said media containment section being bounded externally by an internal aspect of said lateral framework wall 3 and bound centrally by a lateral aspect of said central framework wall 5; a bottom boundary of said media containment section being provided by a floor 7B
Said media capable of providing a remediation of said toxic contaminants that are carried to it in said Stream, which said Stream is flowing at a ambient or just above ambient air pressure, and that moves through the purification reactor system in a radial flow direction.
Said support walls 3 & 5
By presenting a perspective view as a vertical cross section at the vertical axis center of said radial-flow air remediation plenum 300
This example is not intended to represent nor should it be taken to be the sole manner of appropriately aligning and supporting said frameworks, rather, it is presented to educate people familiar with the art as to a method of fabricating a plenum such that there is an ease of introduction and removal of said frameworks into said plenum as needed, and such that a control of said Stream pathway throughout said plenum presents a minimal possibility of an escape of contaminated Stream materials into the environment while providing for a maximal flow of said Stream from a Stream inlet 100
Said plenum 300
A contaminated Stream enters said plenum through said air inlet 100
In the present embodiment, wherein the frameworks are not removed during a process of media replacement, a base end of said external framework and a base end of said internal framework are not conjoined to a floor 7B
However, for a use within a radial flow remediation plenum designed to allow a removal of said frameworks as a unit for purposes of a replacement of said media, a base end of each of said FRP frameworks is in a conjoinment by a fusion to an integral floor section 35 and 36
A junction of floor 36 with said central support wall 5 is strengthened by an FRP bead reinforcement 36A
In the present embodiment, a pair of concentric, circular positioning elements, 7C, & 7D
A central framework base positioning element 7D
Said floor 7B
Above, said side wall 7a
Said basilar projection of said plenum collar section provides: a horizontal projection that forms a top sealing element covering said intake manifold 200; a vertical portion, said collar throat 7F serves as a top guide/support for positioning said external framework 3. Said collar top flange 7G that projects laterally is perforated by a series of holes (not visible) designed to receive a set of bolts/nuts 10 that serve to attach said plenum's base section 7ABCDEFG to said removable split-cover top plate 9. It will be noted that a gasket 8
A circular, central cutout—curved line—6C-6D
Said collar throat 7F that serves as a top guide/support for positioning said external framework 3, acting in concert with a portion of split cover top plate 9 that serves as a top guide/support for positioning said internal framework, serves to define and create a top seal boundary of said media bed section, thus assisting in a prevention of an escape of contaminated Stream materials from said plenum.
Removable split-cover top plate section 9
At its central termination, said base flange 13A
A combination of said framework base positioning elements 7C, 7D
An internally projecting curvature A1
Greater detail of a connection of and sealing of said base section 7ABCDEFG
Said bolts 10
An outlet section 13 ABC
The great strength and design flexibility created by this invention allows of a creation of framework support walls for a use in a containment of a structurally integral, porous remediation media, said media commonly comprising a foam or a reticulated foam media. Said frameworks being of a variety of sizes for plenums ranging from a very small size to a very large commercial/industrial size radial flow unit.
Current production has created units ranging from said small units in which the support frameworks were 4 feet tall, having a central framework internal diameter of 6 inches with the external framework diameter being 3 feet; up to a very large unit, 20 feet tall with a central FRP framework diameter of 7 feet and an external FRP framework diameter of 11 feet. With respect to said larger construction mentioned above, it is a specific combination of FRP materials and said diamond shape basket weave wall configuration design elements created in this invention that allows of a creation of media containment systems suitable for service in large scale industrial and commercial purification projects, such as were not possible utilizing the prior art.
This application is a Continuation In Part (C.I.P.) of application Ser. No. 12/804,195 that was filed on Jul. 16, 2010, which was a Continuation of application Ser. No. 11/800,517 that was filed on May 7, 2007.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 11800517 | May 2007 | US |
Child | 12804195 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 12804195 | Jul 2010 | US |
Child | 12807444 | US |