Differential pressure air immersion washer-conditioner

Claim 1

An air washer and conditioning apparatus for treating air being recirculated in a space to be heated or cooled comprising a cabinet, a partition for dividing said cabinet into an upper primary pressure chamber having an air inlet connected with said space and a lower secondary pressure chamber having a discharge connected with said space, said last chamber including a liquid pan portion to receive a body of liquid, air tubes extending between said chambers and disposed in said partition with their upper inlet ends communicating with said primary pressure chamber and their lower ends communicating with said last chamber within said pan portion and below the level of the liquid body to be carried therein, the lower end of said tubes having downwardly and outwardly flared imperforate skirt portions constituted as a direct and streaMline extension of the walls of said tubes to provide each tube with a terminal expansion portion located beneath the liquid level into which the pressurized air flowing downwardly in each tube directly enters and is expanded before being discharged into the liquid body, and a perforated skirt portion constituted as a downwardly and outwardly flared extension of said imperforate skirt portion of each tube whereby the pressurized air being conducted by each tube between said primary and secondary chambers is first expanded into said first skirt portion and then broken up by the perforate structure of said second skirt portion to be discharged upwardly through the liquid level in the form of air bubbles to pressurize said secondary chamber, said tubes as well as their flared imperforate and perforate skirt portions all opening downwardly into said pan portion as a continuous, unobstructed, open-end passage.