The present invention relates to particulate removal generally and, more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to novel means and method for removing particulate contamination from operating machinery.
Operating machinery use insulating liquids to carry heat to points of dissipation, reduce friction, and transfer forces hydraulically. These insulating liquids include lubricating oils, hydraulic liquids, and fuels used in machinery, or stored for future use, and contain and convey particulate contamination to remote locations of these physical systems, including storage tanks. These particulates are introduced during manufacture, transport, delivery, storage, and use of the liquid. These contaminants are detrimental in several ways.
These particles remain in solution as colloidal suspensions until acted upon by the forces of coagulation, flocculation, or agglomeration to produce masses of particles that accumulate in an uncontrolled fashion in quiet eddies or narrow passages that are subject to limited flow. Many of these liquids are hydrophilic, absorbing water from their surroundings. This water in combination with the particulate contamination causes accelerated oxidation, acidification, and chemical degradation of the liquid properties.
Furthermore, the removal of these particulates from an operating system eliminates the mechanism for accelerated mechanical wear. In addition, the removal of these particulate contaminants, and the water associated with those particulates, precludes the deposit of hydrolyzed coatings at the interface of the liquid containment system, thereby maximizing thermal conductivity.
Also, the transport of the water associated with the particulate removed from the liquid eliminates the potential sites for the gestation of bacteriological reproduction. Elimination of these contaminants from the liquid environment precludes the above unintended and therefore detrimental chemical and mechanical consequences of this contamination.
The present invention achieves the above objects, among others, by providing, in one preferred embodiment, a method of removing particulate contamination from operating machinery, comprising: using balanced charge agglomeration to eliminate or reduce electro potential between said particulate contamination in a fluid circulating in said operating machinery and fluid containment. In another preferred embodiment, apparatus for removing particulate contamination from operating machinery is provided.
Understanding of the present invention and the various aspects thereof will be facilitated by reference to the accompanying drawing figures, submitted for purposes of illustration only and not intended to define the scope of the invention, on which:
FIGS. 3(A) and 3(B) schematically illustrate a galvanic sensor according to the present invention.
FIGS. 4(A) and 4(B) schematically illustrate a particulate charge sensor according to the present invention.
FIGS. 13(A) and 13(B) schematically illustrate a charging/mixing chamber according to the present invention.
The purification system detailed herein is intended for, by is not limited to, removing particulate contamination from a remote system which may or may not be an operating machine. The removal of physical contamination from the fluid is a necessary component of his systemic cleansing. The current invention may also be used to remove certain chemical contamination to facilitate the particulate removal from the machine.
During the normal circulation of liquids due to thermal or forced circulation, electric charges are transferred to, or induced upon a portion of solid particulate contamination that always exist in liquids. These electrically charged particles have one charge polarity for material of like composition. If one type or class of material shall predominate as a contaminant within the liquid, the contaminants will take on a unipolar electrical charge. At a point where this charge creates an imbalance of more than 30 Millivolts with regard to an earth ground, the contaminants will constitute a stable colloidal suspension. The movement of these colloids can constitute an electrical current as much as anions and cations in an electrolyte. In this fashion, they can be responsible for the electrodepositing of a range of contaminant material on conductive surfaces. These electrically charged particles cause detrimental effects, as noted above.
These particles, electrically charged and aquatically saturated, settle throughout the containment environment and constitute electrochemical retorts, which create accelerated chemical and electrochemical reactions.
The nature of these particles is generally such that if these contaminants are sufficiently removed from other macro and micro mechanical components, an electric charge can be stored on the particle at the liquid mechanical interface of the particle. If these charges are unipolar, they will cause a repulsive force in accordance with coulombs law. This force will tend to disperse these like charged particles.
If two isolated conduits of liquid are created, each creating a unipolar stream of charged particles, and yet the two streams are of opposite polarity, these oppositely charged particles can be used to collect both charged and uncharged particles from the storage reservoir and the other environs where the liquid may pass.
The process described herein removes those contaminant particulates from the machine and/or storage tank to a central removal point, and in so doing precludes the accelerated decay of the original liquid properties. The removal and elimination of these particles from the machine/containment environment is critical to promoting the greatest longevity of the liquid/machine/containment system.
Specifically, through use of controlled currents injected onto the particulate contamination in a recirculating liquid, the average electrostatic charge on the particulate is forced to zero. Then over time, the absolute electric charge at any point in the liquid is reduced to zero. This process of eliminating the electric unbalanced charge on all of the particulate within the system creates an environment where the maintenance of a colloidal suspension is impossible. This is desirable because this promotes coagulation and agglomeration at the point of neutralization. Within this process, the point of neutralization is within the liquid at the point of interaction between particulate streams of equal and opposite charge.
The polarity of the electrical charges created on the surface of the contaminant particulate is dictated by the nature of the particulate and the containment and the liquid. The magnitude of the charge is proportional to the differential velocities. Since the materials of construction of most containments are of uniform material, and the particulate contamination will usually be predominantly one material, the polarity of the transferred charge will be unipolar in nature.
The invention causes liquid to flow into an isolated system. The invention splits the moving liquid into two streams. The invention creates a higher population of charged particulate than the population normally existing in the liquid, on a volumetric basis, through the use of high voltages and charge transfer electrodes. The charge transferred to the particles is distributed to two isolated electrodes. The charges to the two electrodes are of opposite polarity. The invention controls the electric currents being transferred onto the particles such that the currents are initially nearly identical. The two charged liquid streams are then mixed to cause the particulate contamination to agglomerate to a larger size.
The mixed charged streams are passed through an electrically isolated particulate removal subsystem, removing some of the contaminants. The subsystem is constructed of partially conductive equipment suitable for removing particles from the subject stream. The incident stream of liquid and particles will impact the partially conductive equipment, removing particles larger than the specific size. The conductive nature of the subsystem will transfer the aggregate charge contained on the particles to the control input. The feedback connection from the subsystem to the control will transfer any unbalanced charge to the control to maintain the voltage on the system at zero.
The particles that are too small to be removed by the system, flowing from the subsystem, will have the same average electrical charge polarity as the subsystem.
The liquid and the particulate are recirculated multiple times within the subsystem before exiting the subsystem through the final “collection filter”. This iterative process exposes the contaminants to more than 20 times as many trips through the charging mixing equalizing purification scheme than a once through execution could achieve. The result of this process is the control of contamination at the part per billion level.
The increased efficacy and speed of operation of this execution provide superior benefits. The reduction and elimination of particulate contamination from liquid streams through the loop within system concept can provide more than four orders of magnitude reduction in contamination than with a single traverse of the system. Controlling the net electrical charge on both the inner and the outer loop at zero provides accelerated performance in both domains.
Reference should now be made to the drawing figures on which similar or identical elements are given consistent identifying numerals throughout the various figures thereof, and on which parenthetical references to figure numbers, when used, direct the reader to the figure(s) on which the element(s) being described is (are) most clearly seen, although that (those) element(s) may be shown on other drawing figures also.
FIGS. 3(A) and 3(B) schematically illustrate SENSOR #1 (
FIGS. 4(A) and 4(B) schematically illustrate SENSOR #2 (
FIGS. 13(A) and (B) schematically illustrate charging/mixing stage 124 (
The use of balanced charge agglomeration has the following beneficial effects:
In the embodiments of the present invention described above, it will be recognized that individual elements and/or features thereof are not necessarily limited to a particular embodiment but, where applicable, are interchangeable and can be used in any selected embodiment even though such may not be specifically shown.
Spatially orienting terms such as “above”, “below”, “upper”, “lower”, “outer”, “inwardly”, “vertical”, “horizontal”, and the like, where used herein, refer to the positions of the respective elements shown on the accompanying drawing figures and the present invention is not necessarily limited to such positions.
It will thus be seen that the objects set forth above, among those elucidated in, or made apparent from, the preceding description, are efficiently attained and, since certain changes may be made in the above construction and/or method without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown on the accompanying drawing figures shall be interpreted as illustrative only and not in a limiting sense.
It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described and all statements of the scope of the invention that, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
60383551 | May 2002 | US | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
PCT/US03/16768 | 5/28/2003 | WO |