Leachate and depollution pneumatic pump with sleeve valve

Details Leachate and depollution pneumatic pump with sleeve valve Leachate and depollution pneumatic pump with sleeve valve

2001-11-30

2003-08-05

Freay, Charles G. (Department: 3746)

Pumps

One fluid pumped by contact or entrainment with another

Liquid pumped by supplying or exhausting gaseous motive...

C417S137000, C251S005000, C251S061000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06602055

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention concerns a pneumatic pumping device for pumping liquid.
The invention concerns more especially a pneumatic pumping device operating in a discontinuous fashion and with compressed gas such as air, and that is intended for pumping all sorts of liquids and more especially, but not exclusively, liquids such as landfill leachates, thick matter or polluted and possibly thick liquids. Within the framework of this invention, the term ‘liquid’ designates all these liquids indifferently.
The pneumatic pumping device of the invention is intended for working in an immersed position and for pumping up leachates and other liquids, regardless whether they are polluted and/or thick or not, from depths in the order of 50 to 60 meters. Such liquids may have a high temperature, for example in the order of 80° C. Moreover, these liquids can be loaded with salt and transport abrasive particles such as sand, clayey smalls or sandy muds.
Most pumps existing on the market exhibit numerous shortcomings when they should be used for pumping leachates or polluted and/or thick liquids.
Indeed, engine pumps are not often explosion-proof since they operate directly on electricity; and all the known pneumatic pumps, which are explosion-proof since they are supplied with the energy produced by compressed air, comprise strainers, shutters or floaters that can be clogged or blocked regularly by the presence of mud or sludge at the bottom of the liquid pumping up wells, and by the presence of chloride deposits. Moreover, the presence of a floater or of a shutter can limit the positioning possibilities of the pump.
These problems lead to high maintenance and upkeep costs of the pumps, as well as repeated handling of the materials in spite of the toxicity risks associated with certain pumped products.
Moreover, for certain pneumatic pumps, devices associated with a floater are suggested, which trigger the air supply into the pump directly. The purpose of these pumps is to be able to control the operation of the pump directly, in relation to the arrival and to the level of the liquid. However, when the floater is blocked, the pump is not operating any longer and the pump operator cannot know whether the said pump is working, not working, or off.
Another shortcoming is the very large number of maintenance parts.
Also, in most landfills the permanent problem is the presence of plastic films floating on the surface in the leachates, which leads regularly to clogging and stopping the operation of the pumps.
Besides, it may be interesting for the landfill operator to regulate the operation of the pump according to the level of leachates or polluted liquids in the well, without running the risk of causing an explosion, for example by a spark. Indeed, the landfill wells have often now a double mission to fulfil: to enable pumping up leachates and pumping biogases.
The purpose of the invention is to provide a pneumatic pumping device that is capable of remedying the shortcomings mentioned above and that can be placed easily in a well or a pit at variable depths.
The purpose of the invention is satisfied with a pneumatic pumping device of a liquid operating in a discontinuous fashion and immersed, and with compressed gas and that is intended for pumping liquids such as landfill leachates. This device comprises a tubular body forming a pump body and defining a cylindrical main chamber in the upstream and downstream ends of which respectively emerge an inlet orifice and an outlet orifice for the liquid to be pumped.
According to the invention, the pneumatic device comprises a sleeve valve arranged in front of the inlet orifice to control the passage of the liquid to be pumped through the said orifice, means for controlling the opening and closure of the sleeve valve with a compressed gas, a delivery pipe passing through the outlet orifice and extending inside the tubular body over the major part of the length thereof, and means for supplying the main chamber with compressed gas.
The invention also concerns the following features, considered individually or in all their technically possible combinations:
The pumping device can be used in vertical position as well as in horizontal or slanted position.
This advantage is due to the fact that the device does not comprise any shutters or floaters.
The tubular body forming a pump body consists essentially of a cylindrical tube closed at both its ends, the upstream end and the downstream end, respectively with a lower plate and an upper plate, whereas the space between both these plates forms the main chamber of the pumping device, the inlet orifice of the main chamber is placed in the lower section of the tubular body, considered in the position of use of the device according to the invention and the outlet orifice is arranged in the upper section of the tubular body.
Advantageously, in view of the cylindrical shape of the tubular body as well as of the main chamber, the inlet orifice of the main chamber is situated in the lower plate of the tubular body and the outlet orifice is situated in the upper plate.
The pump body has a cylindrical revolution.
The sleeve valve is composed of a tubular body forming a secondary chamber in the upstream and downstream ends of which emerge, at each of both ends, at least one opening for the passage of the liquid to be pumped. These passage openings are connected together by an elastically ductile sleeve that constitutes a channel through the liquid to be pumped should flow to enter the main chamber of the pumping device. The sleeve separates hermetically the channel from the secondary chamber surrounding the channel.
The tubular body of the pump, the plates and the sleeve valve are made of materials resistant to thick matters, polluted liquids, salted liquids and liquids whose temperatures may be higher than 80° C.
The pump body can be made of a material selected among the group constituted by iron, stainless steel, coated iron, elastomers, glass and carbon fibre materials, materials resisting to very high temperatures and to pressure, coated materials and alloys.
The material of the tubular body of the pump is selected so that the body can be protected by an anticorrosion coating, preventing oxidations and chloride deposits.
The sleeve valve is arranged outside, and adjacent to, the tubular body in front of the inlet orifice, and the sleeve is advantageously arranged coaxially with respect to the axis of the inlet orifice. However, the sleeve can also be offset radially. The liquid to be pumped cannot reach the main chamber as long as the sleeve valve is closed.
The inlet orifice of the main chamber and the sleeve of the sleeve valve are arranged coaxially with respect to the axis of the tubular body.
In order to control the passage of the liquid to be pumped through the inlet orifice, the space surrounding the passage channel of the sleeve valve is connected by a pipe integral with the tubular body, to a compressed gas supply source. This arrangement enables to control the closure of the sleeve valve by injecting a compressed gas in the space of the secondary chamber surrounding the channel and to choke the sleeve.
The delivery pipe going through the outlet orifice extends outside the main chamber over a distance enabling to connect the delivery pipe to a duct linking the pumping device to a collector intended for receiving the liquid to be pumped.
The delivery pipe is fitted with a return valve.
The delivery pipe extends inside the main chamber almost up the lower plate. The distance between the free end of the delivery pipe and the lower plate delineates the volume or the quantity, of liquid that remains in the main chamber at the end of the exhaust phase. A judicious selection of this distance enables total emptying of the main chamber.
The means enabling to supply the main chamber with compressed gas are advantageously composed of an opening provided in the upper plate of the tubular body, whereas the opening enables connection of the main chamber, for example by a pipe going through the upper plate of

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