Liquid purification or separation – With time control
Patent
1981-07-17
1983-04-26
Spitzer, Robert H.
Liquid purification or separation
With time control
210141, 210143, 210523, B01D 2120
Patent
active
043812376
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to a sludge robot for the removal of sludge and sedimentable particles from sedimentation tanks, of the type generally set forth in the precharacterizing clause of claim 1.
It is previously known to construct apparatus for the removal of sludge from sedimentation tanks. Such apparatus of the prior art may be comprised of sludge scrapers, perforated suction pipes, floating pumps governed by chain drives at the tank edge, etc. In many cases the tanks are built with an inclined bottom, so that the sludge becomes assembled in a central zone from which it may be pumped away.
The drawbacks of these systems of the prior art reside therein that they are cumbersome and expensive, E.g. when sludge scrapers are installed in rectangular tanks the sludge scrapers travel around in a chain drive above or in the water surface and proceed downwards along a short wall of the tank and further along the bottom where they scrape the sludge in the direction towards the other short wall of the tank, where some form of depression or cavity is provided, from which the sludge may be pumped off. With scrapers of this kind, which are very expensive in installation and require extensive service, the entire tank surface is blocked for all other devices. Perforated suction tubes become clogged, after which the sludge is only sucked off through some of the perforations and the remainder of the sludge in the tank will remain, since the sludge is thixotropic. Floating pumps governed by cable drives and other queer apparatus which are positioned on and along the tank edge also prevent the mounting of other apparatus in the tank. Inclined bottoms result in a very expensive building form and in high costs for excavation and possible blasting, since the tanks become much deeper than tanks having a planar bottom.
By the present invention a sludge robot is provided with a building form which deviates from previously known systems and eliminates the drawbacks thereof. To obtain an optium sludge removal the sludge robot sweeps the entire bottom of the tank, simultaneously as it constitutes no obstacle to other devices immersed into or mounted at the water surface in the tank.
Said yield is obtained by pumping the sludge, preferably by means of a mammoth pump, from the bottom of a sedimentation tank to a sludge silo or a sludge treatment unit, through the sludge robot. The sludge robot consists of a vertical rising tube which is mounted at one tank wall, most suitably in the middle of a longitudinal wall of the tank. In the lower portion of the rising tube there are provided two tube arms one of which is connected to the rising tube by means of a motor coupling. Said one tube arm is perpendicular to the rising tube. The two tube arms are interconnected through a further motor coupling. Between the tube arms and the motor coupling there are provided two angle pieces so that the tube arms are parallel to each other in the horizontal plane, and the outer tube arm is oriented below the inner tube arm which is connected to the rising tube. At the outer end of the outer tube arm there is provided an angle piece which makes the inlet opening for the sludge face the bottom of the tank. The motor couplings are preferably driven by rectified low voltage current and are constructed according to the step motor principle. The motor couplings are governed by a micro dator which is programmed for the relevant tank size. The suction opening sweeps the whole tank bottom according to the programmed pattern, preferably in a meander or serpentine track with close windings. The cycle time is adjustable to be able to be varied at variations in the sludge production. A timer starts the program one or several times every 24 hours.
The advantages which have been achieved in the form of an efficient removal of the sludge from the tank bottom may be attributed to the means for moving the tube arms when the apparatus according to the invention is designed in accordance with the characterizing clause of claim 1.
A couple of examples of an embodiment of a
REFERENCES:
patent: 2988762 (1961-06-01), Babcock
patent: 3416776 (1968-12-01), Ravitts
patent: 3796658 (1974-03-01), Meissner, Sr.
patent: 4152800 (1979-05-01), Nilsmar
LandOfFree
Sludge robot does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Sludge robot, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Sludge robot will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-1563937