Apparatus for separating textile fibers from conveying air

Claim 1

Apparatus for separating entrained textile fibers from a conveying airstream and collecting the fibers comprising a casing having opposing side and end walls and an air inlet in an upper end wall portion thereof and an air outlet in a lower portion of one of said sidewalls, means directing the fiber-conveying airstream through said air inlet into an upper portion of said casing at a predetermined pressure, a cylindrical filter drum positioned within said casing between opposing sidewalls and axially connected with said air outlet for collecting the fibers on the periphery of the drum in the form of a porous batt, drive means for rotating said filter drum in a direction opposite to the flow of the conveying airstream passing through said air inlet, doffer means driven by said drive means and positioned in the lower portion of said casing adjacent the lower periphery of said filter drum and movable in relation to the rotation of said filter drum for removing the fibrous batt collecTed on said filter drum, means including a pressure responsive diaphragm positioned in said casing and responsive to a predetermined back pressure of the air within said casing incident to buildup of fibers on said filter drum for actuating said drive means to rotate said filter drum only a small circumferential extent and to actuate said doffer means until a small circumferential area on the filter drum has been cleared of the fibrous batt so as to relieve the back pressure within said casing on said diaphragm and thereby inactivate the drive means to in turn stop rotation of the filter drum and inactivate the doffer means, and said filter drum being located relative to said air inlet so that the upper periphery thereof is closely adjacent to and below a lower portion of said air inlet to guide the conveying airstream flowing into the casing from the air inlet thereof generally tangentially across the upper portion of the filter drum then down and around the far side thereof while the air flows through the filter drum and axially outwardly of the filter drum through said air outlet as the entrained fibers are deposited upon the periphery of said filter drum in the form of a substantially even porous batt to increase the filtration of said filter drum, said filter drum also being so located relative to said casing that a relatively narrower flow channel for the fiber-conveying airstream is provided between the filter drum and casing along said far side of the filter drum for accelerating the heavier particles and fibers borne by the airstream toward the small area of the filter drum cleared by said doffer means whereby the buildup of fibers on the cleared area of the filter drum is accelerated to rapidly form a porous batt thereon for increasing the filtration efficiency of the filter drum.