Separating plate assembly for treatment of suspension

Claim 1

A multi-stage separating plate assembly for subjecting a substantially horizontally flowing suspension to a separation into settled particles and clarified liquid, comprising a plurality of laterally equispaced vertical rows each consisting of a plurality of separation plates extending substantially parallel to the flow of the suspension and alternately inclined in opposite directions and arranged in a zigzag series, the corresponding separating plates on the same horizontal level being inclined in the same direction and forming a stage of plates and two adjacent rows forming a suspension guide path therebetween, each of said separating plates In each row having at its lower end a partition member extending across the guide path and terminating close to the upper surface of the separating plate which is in the row adjacent thereto and which is one stage below said separating plate, thereby to partition the major part of said suspension guide path formed by said two adjacent rows and thereby to form a trigonal space in each row defined by said partition member and the upper portion of the separating plate in the same row and one stage below said each separating plate, whereby the clarified liquid collects in said trigonal space and flow of settled out particles from the portion of the guide path above the partition can flow to the portion of the guide path below the partition without interfering with the clarified liquid or being disturbed by the flow of the clarified liquid in said trigonal space.