Wet collector

Claim 1

Apparatus for separating particulate material from a contaminated gas stream comprising: a housing having an inner wall surface; means defining first and second compartments in said housing; a tangential inlet for dirty gas communicating with said first compartment; a scrubbing element having an inlet communicating with said first compartment and an outlet communicating with said second compartment; means for moving gas through said tangential inlet and in a spiral course through said first compartment to and through said scrubbing element; said scrubbing element having a plurality of restricted passages therethrough defined by a plurality of annularly arranged shutter vanes oriented oppositely to the spiral course of gas flow through said first compartment to cause a reversal in the spiral direction of gas flow; said scrubbing element further comprising a plurality of baffle means positioned within the annulus of said shutter vanes, said baffle means being arranged and shaped relative to the arc on which said vanes are arranged to define a plurality of generally wedge-shaped assemblies, each wedge having an inlet and decreasing in cross-sectional area in a direction away from the inlet in substantial correspondance to the decrease in the volume of gas occupying said wedge thereby to maintain a substantially uniform velocity of gas flowing between said baffle means and said vanes; means for discharging liquid into said scrubbing element; said gas moving means coacting with said liquid discharging means to distribute liquid substantially evenly across the inner surface of said scrubbing element.