Gas separation: apparatus – Degasifying means for liquid – Sonic means
Reexamination Certificate
1994-07-28
2001-04-03
Chiesa, Richard L. (Department: 1724)
Gas separation: apparatus
Degasifying means for liquid
Sonic means
C095S030000, C096S389000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06210470
ABSTRACT:
STATEMENT OF GOVERNMENT INTEREST
The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government of the United States of America for governmental purposes without the payment of any royalties thereon or therefore.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to separating gas bubbles from a liquid stream, and deals more specifically with creating standing ultrasonic waves in a conduit and associated chamber such that the gas bubbles in the liquid stream will have a component of velocity in the direction of a bubble permeable window in the chamber, through which window accumulated gas can be withdrawn.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
The use of acoustic energy to debubble a liquid is well known in the prior art. In the prior art a transducer provides acoustic energy to the liquid causing small bubbles to merge and form larger bubbles. Because the larger bubbles have a greater buoyancy, they float to the top of a chamber where they can be collected.
The use of sonic energy to debubble a liquid is known from U.S. Pat. No. 3,429,743 issued to Branson in 1969. This principle has been applied to the removal of bubbles from a closed container having a quantity of liquid therein as shown in Branson, and in U.S. Pat. No. 3,904,392 issued to VanIngen et al., and also in U.S. Pat. No. 4,070,167 issued to Barbee et al.
Hohlfield et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,022,899, discloses a sonic debubbler for use with a moving liquid. Anisotropic sound waves are directed through the fluid perpendicular to its flow. The pressure of the sound waves moves the bubbles away from the liquid outlet of the device. Hohlfield teaches that a non-reflective surface must be provided opposite the ultrasonic transducer so that the sound waves continuously travel from the transducer to be absorbed by this non-reflective surface. Thus, Hohlfield teaches traveling waves to move the bubbles.
Other patents such as Feke et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,085,783 teach the use of a standing acoustic wave to remove particles from a liquid; however these patents do not teach a method for debubbling a liquid flowing through a conduit where space is limited.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The general purpose of the present invention is to utilize ultrasonic energy to create standing waves in a chamber defined in part by the conduit through which the moving fluid flows, and also in part by the chamber defined to one side of the conduit so as to orient the standing waves at an angle to the direction of fluid flow in the conduit. This geometry provides a component of velocity for the gas bubbles directing the bubbles toward a permeable window or other vent through which gas can be conveniently withdrawn from the chamber.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a readily replaceable conduit segment with features in accordance with the present invention that can be conveniently installed in an existing pipe or other plumbing arrangement for purposes of withdrawing gas bubbles from a fluid flowing through such plumbing arrangement or pipe.
Another purpose of the present invention is to provide an ultrasonic gas separator which leaves the fluid flow relatively undisturbed by the bubble separation process.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide an ultrasonic gas separator for liquid flowing through a conduit which separator occupies only a minimum of space, and which will require much less energy than prior art centrifugal separators and the like.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide an ultrasonic gas separator that can be used with caustic and corrosive fluids.
These objects are accomplished with the present invention by providing a first conduit segment for constraining the fluid to flow in a first direction, and providing wall means cooperating with a portion of the conduit so as to define a chamber on at least one side of the conduit and alongside the normal direction of fluid flow. The chamber is in communication with the interior of the conduit, and the conduit has another side opposite the one associated with the chamber that provides for the mounting of an ultrasonic generating means preferably in the form of an ultrasonic transducer. The chamber wall means includes a sound reflecting portion oriented at an acute angle with respect to the axis of the conduit and provided in line with the ultrasonic transducer, to reflect the sound waves back toward the transducer and thereby create standing waves within a predetermined region of the conduit interior and the chamber. As a result of this construction gas bubbles entrained in the fluid and moving in the direction of the conduit will tend to gather between the standing pressure waves generated by the ultrasonic transducer, and as a result of the angle of these waves with respect to the axis of the conduit the gas bubbles have a component of velocity into the chamber and are thereby directed toward a vent or permeable window through which the gas can escape or be periodically withdrawn.
REFERENCES:
patent: 2363247 (1944-11-01), Holder
patent: 2376221 (1945-05-01), Baker
patent: 3109721 (1963-11-01), Zenner et al.
patent: 3266631 (1966-08-01), Snaper
patent: 3325976 (1967-06-01), West
patent: 3429743 (1969-02-01), Branson
patent: 3904392 (1975-09-01), VanIngen et al.
patent: 4070167 (1978-01-01), Barbee et al.
patent: 4339247 (1982-07-01), Faulkner et al.
patent: 5022899 (1991-06-01), Hohlfeld et al.
patent: 5085783 (1992-02-01), Feke et al.
patent: 1708384 (1992-01-01), None
patent: 9209354 (1992-06-01), None
* References Checked Were Cited in Specification.
Kuklinski Robert
Philips Richard B.
Chiesa Richard L.
Kasischke James M.
Lall Prithvi C.
McGowan Michael J.
The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of
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