Liquid purification or separation – Flow – fluid pressure or material level – responsive – Float
Reexamination Certificate
2000-08-30
2002-04-09
Warden, Sr., Robert J. (Department: 1744)
Liquid purification or separation
Flow, fluid pressure or material level, responsive
Float
C210S114000, C210S115000, C210S123000, C210S513000, C210S521000, C137S172000, C422S256000, C422S261000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06368498
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to devices for separating a combination of two immiscible liquids. More particularly, the present invention relates to mechanical devices for separating a combination of two immiscible liquids such as a mixture of oil and water as occurs in an oil spill in the ocean.
2. Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 4,436,630, issued to Anderson on Mar. 13, 1984 and entitled “Apparatus and Method for Separating a Mixture of Two Liquids”, discloses an apparatus
10
for separating water from oil. As discussed therein, three floats
28
,
30
, and
32
are connected to switches
36
,
38
, and
40
which control the opening of valves
24
and
26
in outlets
16
and
18
, respectively. The bottom two floats
28
and
30
will float on the more dense liquid, i.e., water, and the top float
32
will float on any liquid. As described, the water is removed from the outlet
16
and the oil is removed from the outlet
18
. The opening and closing of the valves
24
and
26
is determined by the levels of the water and oil in the apparatus. If the apparatus is filled with oil, the lower floats
28
and
30
will not rise but the upper float
32
will open the valve in the upper outlet
18
to allow the oil be removed. When the water rises above the low float
28
, the low float rises and opens valve
24
in the lower outlet
16
which allows the water to be removed.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,528,094, issued to Scragg on Jul. 9, 1985 and entitled “Separation of Two Liquids”, discloses a device for separating two liquids having different specific gravities. The main outlet
122
is for the second liquid such as oil and is located in the upper part of the device. The mixed liquid enters from inlet
118
and swirls within the chamber
120
which aids in separating the second liquid into the upper part of the chamber
120
and the first liquid L
1
to the lower part of the chamber
120
. The interface is noted as “I” therein near the float body
130
. As the first liquid accumulates therein, it lifts the float body
130
up which causes the stem
136
to lift the surface
176
to engage the link member
170
to open a drain line
158
. This causes the fluid in the control chamber
140
to drain out, decreasing the pressure, and this allows the control chamber
140
to rise and opens the outlet
156
to allow the water to drain out. As the water rains out, the float
130
falls and this closes outlet
156
.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,960,513, issued to Young on Oct. 2, 1990 and entitled “Separator for Liquids of Different Densities”, discloses a liquid separator for water and oil, for example. A float
25
which floats on water controls the operation of valve
16
in the water discharge
15
as well as the pump
24
in the oil discharge pipe
22
. A time delay is built into the electronics so that there is sufficient time to allow the oil to separate from the water. As the water level moves the float
25
up, this opens the valve
16
and the water is drained. As the water is drained and the level falls below float
25
, this turns the valve
16
off and turns the pump
24
on to remove the oil. The float
25
has a greater specific gravity than the oil.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,108,591, issued to Hagan on Apr. 28, 1992 and entitled “Oil Spill Recovery System”, discloses a liquid separator
24
for water and oil, for example, in FIG.
2
. The mixture enters the chamber
26
through opening
23
at the top of the chamber
26
to aid in the separation of the oil from the water. A oil pump
30
and a water pump
29
are controlled by a pair of arms
38
and
39
having sensor bulbs
40
and
41
thereon, respectively. The sensor bulb
40
is designed to ride on the top of the oil and the sensor bulb
41
is designed to ride at the interface of the oil and water. In both sensors, mercury type switches are used to control the pumps depending on the levels of the water and oil. For example, in the sensor bulb
40
, the switch
45
turns the oil pump
30
on when it reaches at a certain level, switch
46
will shut the system down if too much oil and/or liquid is in the chamber
26
and switch
44
turns the oil pump
30
off if it falls to a given level. As to the sensor bulb
41
, switch
48
turns the water pump
29
on when it reaches a certain level and switch
47
turns the water pump
29
off if it falls to a certain level. The pumps are positioned in the chamber
26
such that the input fluids are of the given type and a sufficient depth must be reached before any pump will turn on which insures that the oil and water have a sufficient time to separate.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Generally, the present invention provides a liquid separator for separating a mixture of immiscible liquids comprising a first liquid having a specific gravity which is greater than that of a second liquid. The liquid separator has a housing defining a separation chamber and having a liquid inlet for introducing into the separation chamber a mixture of the first and second liquids. A first liquid outlet is formed in the housing and has a first valve positioned therein to control the flow therethrough of the first liquid, the first valve including a first closure member which is movable between a valve-opening position and a valve-closing position. A second liquid outlet is formed in the housing above the first liquid outlet and has a second valve positioned therein to control the flow therethrough of the second liquid, the second valve having a second closure member which is movable between a valve-opening position and a valve-closing position. At least one float is contained within the separation chamber and is mounted to translate in a vertical direction therein, the float having a specific gravity between the specific gravities of the first liquid and the second liquid. A first valve control member connects the float to the first closure member to move the first closure member (i) from its valve-opening position towards its valve-closing position as the float translates vertically downwardly, and (ii) from its valve-closing position towards its valve-opening position as the float translates vertically upwardly. A second valve control member connects the float to the second closure member to move the second closure member (i) from its valve-opening position towards its valve-closing position as the float translates vertically upwardly, and (ii) from its valve-closing position towards its valve-opening position as the float translates vertically downwardly. In this manner, separation of the mixture of immiscible liquids forms within the separation chamber a discrete phase of the first liquid having a volume V
1
, a discrete phase of the second liquid having a volume V
2
, and a liquid interface between the phases that moves vertically within the separation chamber as determined by the respective volumes of the separated first and second liquids contained therein. Such vertical movement imposed on the float serves to close the second valve when V
1
/V
2
exceeds a first selected value, and serves to close the first valve when V
1
/V
2
is below a second selected value which is less than the first selected value.
In another aspect of the invention, the liquid separator further includes a guide device mounted within the separation chamber, the valve control members being received within the guide device to align the first and second valve closure members with, respectively, the first and second valves.
In yet another aspect of the invention, the first valve control member comprises a first valve rod, and the second valve control member comprises a second valve rod.
A further aspect of the invention provides that the liquid separator further comprises a float guide attached to the housing within the separation chamber, the float being slidably attached to the float guide to guide movement of the float and thereby movement of the first and second valve control members to align the first and second closure members with, respectively, the first and second valves.
Other aspects of the inve
Chorbaji Monzer R.
Libert Victor E.
Libert & Associates
Warden, Sr. Robert J.
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