Mineral oils: apparatus – Refining – With filtration
Patent
1993-08-09
1996-03-19
Savage, Matthew O.
Mineral oils: apparatus
Refining
With filtration
196 461, 210168, 210206, 184 624, C10G 19073
Patent
active
055000932
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
This invention relates to the purification of lubricating oils made from fossil fuels and used in internal combustion engines.
The lubrication systems of engines are required for the proper operation of the various parts of an engine such as drive shafts, piston rings, lifters, camshafts, bearings, and the like. However, because of intense heat, lubricating oil impurities, fuel impurities and air impurities, lubricating systems require constant filtration. The most common form of such filtration is to have the lubricating oil pumped through an oil filter for filtering and return to the engine. Most oil filters have inert filtering materials which remove most particulate matter, but are generally ineffective against acidic impurities such as sulfur dioxide and sulfuric acid. Acidic impurities are corrosive and tend over a period of time to damage the working parts of an engine. Accordingly, lubricating oils must be frequently changed and the discarded oils abandoned.
Methods have been proposed in the past for removing acidic impurities from lubricating oil, as indicated in the following United States patents:
U.S. Pat. No. 3,154,488 describes a device for regenerating oxidized mineral oils, comprising a pair of thin magnesium metal plates or wires, as for example, magnesium and silver wires contacting at one point only.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,617,580 describes the circulation of engine lubricating oil through oil-insoluble particles of two or more metallic elements which provide an oxidation-reduction potential.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,279,607, describes an oil filter cartridge which includes non-ferrous metallic substances, as for example, magnesium in the form of bars or stripes spaced within the normal filter materials.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,501,660 describe an oil filter whose central core contains a magnetized metallic helix enclosing longitudinal bars of magnesium metal.
However, the prior art is complex and costly.
One object of the present invention is to provide a more inexpensive means for readily and efficiently removing acidic. impurities from a lubricating oil.
Other objects and advantages of this invention will be apparent from the description and claims which follow taken together with the appended drawings.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This invention comprises broadly removing acidic impurities from liquids such as lubricating oil, by passing the oil over a solid reactive body made of acid-reactive material such as magnesium, wherein the body has a central opening so that the body can be attached to a pipe or rod. It is preferred that attachment be made by a coupling ring.
One form of the invention comprises a body in the form of a disc, which preferably has perforations. In one form of this embodiment the disc is attached by a coupling ring to the conventional oil filter support pipe of a conventional vehicle oil filter. The oil passes over the disc and through the holes, reacts with the material of the disc and washes the resultant particulate compounds into the oil filter where they are retained. The use of such reactive discs enhances the operating life of the vehicle engine. Preferred acid-reactive materials for use in this invention are those which are essentially magnesium, including pure magnesium and magnesium alloys.
Another embodiment of this invention comprises a system in which there is a single direction flow of oil. The reactive body is held in position by a coupling ring or a solid coupling rod. After the oil flows over the reactive body, it then enters a filter in which the resultant particulate compounds from reaction of the oil with the body are retained.
In another embodiment of this invention a free-standing dual flow system is provided for incorporation into a liquid delivery system which does not have a filter within its system.
Still another embodiment of this invention is adapted for cathodic protection of large ships where sea water is pumped through the pipes, comprises large surface-reactive bodies such as pleated sheets or star-shaped billets inserted into the
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patent: 4417855 (1983-11-01), Jepson
Savage Matthew O.
Zallen Joseph
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