Filter system and method

Claim 3

The method of claim 1 wherein the step of directing tHe flushing fluid against the prefilt side of said filter means commences simultaneously with the commencement of dumping the prefilt.

Claim 4

The method of claim 1 wherein said fluid introduced to the filtrate side of said filter means is a gas.

Claim 5

The method of claim 1 wherein said filter means includes a particulate filter medium and foraminous support means upon which said particulate filter medium is deposited, and wherein said particlate filter medium is flushed from said filter means along with any contaminants thereon and dumped from said filter means.

Claim 6

The method of claim 4 including contacting the prefilt side of said filter means with mechanical cleaning means and moving said cleaning means and prefilt side of said filter means relative to each other while directing said flushing fluid against said prefilt side of said filter means.

Claim 7

The method of claim 4 including the steps of completing the dumping of fluid from the prefilt side of said filter means after said particulate filter medium has been removed from said foraminuous support means, flooding of the prefilt side of said filter means and said foraminuous support means with substantially clean fluid, and introducing clean particulate filter medium to the fluid which floods the prefilt side of said foraminuous support means while simultaneously opening the filtrate discharge from said filter means whereby the clean particulate filter medium is deposited upon the prefilt side of said foraminuous support means.

Claim 8

The method of claim 1 comprising a plurality of said filter means, and wherein each of said filter means is regenerated while the remaining filter means continue to filter the fluid.

Claim 9

The method of claim 1 wherein said flushing fluid comprises prefilt liquid, and the flow path of said prefilt liquid is changed to effect flushing of said filter means upon and by the closing of said filtrate discharge and the dumping of said prefilt surrounding said filter means.

Claim 10

The method of claim 1 wherein the step of directing the flushing fluid against the prefilt side of said filter means commences simultaneously with the commencement of dumping the prefilt, and introducing a gas at the filtrate side of said filter means to rapidly equalize the pressure across said filter means upon commencement of directing said flushing fluid against said prefilt side of said filter means, wherein said filter means includes a particulate filter medium and foraminous support means upon which said particulate filter medium is deposited, and wherein said particulate filter medium is flushed from said filter means along with any contaminants thereon and dumped from said filter means, contacting the prefilt side of said filter means with mechanical cleaning means and moving said cleaning means and prefilt side of said filter means relative to each other while directing said flushing fluid against said prefilt side of said filter means, completing the dumping of fluid from the prefilt side of said filter means after said particulate filter medium has been removed from said foraminous support means, flooding of the prefilt side of said filter means and said foraminous support means with substantially clean fluid, and introducing clean particulate filter medium to the fluid which floods the prefilt side of said foraminous support means while simultaneously opening the filtrate discharge from said filter means whereby the clean particulate filter medium is deposited upon the prefilt side of said foraminous support means.

Claim 11

A FLUID FILTER REGENERATION SYSTEM INCLUDNG A FLUID ENCLOSURE HAVNG FILTER MEANS THEREIN AND PREFILT INLET MEANS AND FILTRATE DISCHARGE MEANS COMMUNICATING WITH PREFILT AND FILTRATE SIDERS OF SAID FILTER MEANS, FLUSHING MEANS FOR DIRECTING A FLUSHING LIQUID AGAINST THE PREFILT SIDE OF SAID FILTER MEANS, AND DUMP MEANS FOR DISCHARGING THE FLUID FROM THE PREFILT SIDE OF SAID FILTER MEANS, WHEREIN THE IMPROVEMENT COMPRISES IN COMBINATION THEREWITH, VALUE MEANS ON SAID FILTRATE DISCHARGE MEANS, SAID DUMP MEANS AND SAID FLUSHING MEANS, MEANS FOR INTRODUCING A FLUID AT THE FILTRATE SIDE OF SAID FILTER MEANS, AND CONTROL MEANS CONTROLLING SAID VALVE MEANS AND SAID MEANS FOR INTRODUCING A FLUID SUCH THAT SAID FILTRATE DISCHARGE MEANS ARE CLOSED AND SAID DUMP MEANS AND FLUSHING MEANS ARE OPENED SUMULTANEOUSLY TO REDUCE THE PRESSURE OF PREFILT ON THE PREFILT SIDE OF SAID FILTER MEANS AND ACTUATING SAID MEANS FOR INTRODUCING A FLUID SUBSTANTIALLY SIMULTANEOUSLY WITH SAID CLOSING OF SAID FLTRATE DISCHARGE MEANS FOR SLIGHTLY, BUT RAPIDLY, INCREASING THE PRESSURE ON THEFILTRATE SIDE OF SAID FILTER MEANS TO RAPIDLY AQUALIZE THE PRESSURE ACROSS SAID FILTER MEANS.

Claim 12

A FLUID FILTER REGENERATION SYSTEM INCLUDNG A FLUID ENCLOSURE HAVNG FILTER MEANS THEREIN AND PREFILT INLET MEANS AND FILTRATE DISCHARGE MEANS COMMUNICATING WITH PREFILT AND FILTRATE SIDERS OF SAID FILTER MEANS, FLUSHING MEANS FOR DIRECTING A FLUSHING LIQUID AGAINST THE PREFILT SIDE OF SAID FILTER MEANS, AND DUMP MEANS FOR DISCHARGING THE FLUID FROM THE PREFILT SIDE OF SAID FILTER MEANS, WHEREIN THE IMPROVEMENT COMPRISES IN COMBINATION THEREWITH, VALUE MEANS ON SAID FILTRATE DISCHARGE MEANS, SAID DUMP MEANS AND SAID FLUSHING MEANS, MEANS FOR INTRODUCING A FLUID AT THE FILTRATE SIDE OF SAID FILTER MEANS, AND CONTROL MEANS CONTROLLING SAID VALVE MEANS AND SAID MEANS FOR INTRODUCING A FLUID SUCH THAT SAID FILTRATE DISCHARGE MEANS ARE CLOSED AND SAID DUMP MEANS AND FLUSHING MEANS ARE OPENED SUMULTANEOUSLY TO REDUCE THE PRESSURE OF PREFILT ON THE PREFILT SIDE OF SAID FILTER MEANS AND ACTUATING SAID MEANS FOR INTRODUCING A FLUID SUBSTANTIALLY SIMULTANEOUSLY WITH SAID CLOSING OF SAID FLTRATE DISCHARGE MEANS FOR SLIGHTLY, BUT RAPIDLY, INCREASING THE PRESSURE ON THEFILTRATE SIDE OF SAID FILTER MEANS TO RAPIDLY AQUALIZE THE PRESSURE ACROSS SAID FILTER MEANS.

Claim 13

The system of claim 10 wherein said flushing liquid comprises prefilt liquid, and the flow path of the prefilt liquid is changed to effect flushing of said filter means by the position of said dump means in said fluid enclosure.

Claim 14

The system of claim 10 wherein said prefilt inlet means comprises manifold means in the bottom of said enclosure having a plurality of apertures therein for directing the prefilt toward said filter means.

Claim 15

The system of claim 12 wherein said flushing means comprises said manifold means.

Claim 16

The system of claim 10 wherein said filter means comprises foraminous support means adapted to support a particulate filter medium coated thereon, particulate medium inlet means on said enclosure for introducing said particulate medium thereto, said control means closing said filtrate discharge means and opening said flushing means and dump means to flush the contaminated particulate filter medium from said foraminous support means and discharge the prefilt in said enclosure and said flushed medium from said enclosure, and then open said filtrate discharge means and particulate medium inlet means and close said dump means to recoat said foraminous support means with clean particulate filtering medium.

Claim 17

The system of claim 14 including enclosure fill means, said control means operating said enclosure fill means to fill said enclosure with fluid at said filter means is flushed, but before said particulate inlet means is opened.

Claim 18

The system of claim 14, wherein said prefilt inlet means comprises manifold means in the bottom of said enclosure having a plurality of apertures therein for directing the prefilt toward said filter means, and said flushing means, said enclosure fill means and said particulate inlet means also comprise said manifold means.

Claim 19

The system of claim 14 including mechanical cleaning means contacting the prefilt side of said filter means, and means to move the cleaning means and the filter means relative to each other to clean said filter means.

Claim 20

The system of claim 17 wherein said control means moves said cleaning means and filter means relative to each other while said flushing means is flushing said filter means.

Claim 21

The system of claim 17 wherein said filter means comprise a plurality of filter leaves spaced from each other, means mounting said leaves for rotation in said enclosure, and said cleaning means comprises stationary brush means positioned between said leaves.

Claim 22

The system of claim 14 including desludging means, said dump means discharging to said desludging means, said desludging means including separator means to separate the solids discharged thereto from the fluid and first and second discharge means for separately discharging said solids and fluids, respectively, from said desludging means.

Claim 23

The system of claim 20 wherein said separator means includes screen means positioned beneath said dump means for retaining said solids and sump means for collecting the fluid which passes through said screen means, drive means for moving said screen means to discharge the solids therefrom, said control means actuating said drive means when said dump means is discharging to said screen means.

Claim 24

The system of claim 21 wherein the solids and fluiD are discharged from said dump means in spaced relation to and above said screen means.

Claim 25

The system of claim 21 including means to continuously maintain the level of the fluid in said sump means below the level of said screen means.

Claim 26

The system of claim 20 including conduit means communicating said desludger and filter enclosure with each other wherein the liquid discharged from said desludger is filtered by said filter means.

Claim 27

The system of claim 10 wherein said system comprises a plurality of said fluid enclosures and filter means, and wherein said control means causes each of said filter means to be successively regenerated while the remaining filter means continue to filter.

Claim 28

The system of claim 10 including an article cleaning means for fluid cleaning articles and means for transferring contaminated fluid from said article cleaning means to said system and filtered fluid from said system to said article cleaning means independently of the regeneration of said filter means.

Claim 29

A fluid filter regeneration system comprising; a plurality of fluid enclosures each having filter means therein, said filter means comprising a plurality of foraminous support means for supporting a particulate filter medium on the prefilt side thereof, a prefilt inlet conduit communicating a source of dirty fluid with each of said enclosures on the prefilt side of said foraminous support means, said prefilt inlet conduit having a first valve therein to control the flow of fluid to each said enclosure, a filtrate discharge conduit communicating the filtrate side of said foraminous support means with clean fluid storage means, said filtrate discharge conduit having a second valve therein to control the flow of fluid from each of said enclosures, means for introducing a fluid at the filtrate side of said filter means, a fill conduit communicating the prefilt side of said foraminous support means with said clean fluid storage means, said fill conduit having a third valve to control the flow of fluid from said storage means to each of said enclosures, desludging means, dump means including a fourth valve on each enclosure for discharging fluid from said enclosures to said desludging means, said desludging means including movable screen means for retaining and discharging solids from said desludging means and sump means for retaining fluid which passes through said screen means, said sump means comprising a source of said dirty fluid, precoat means, comprising a precoat vessel for preparing a slurry of said particulate filter medium and conduit means, including fifth and sixth valves for controlling the flow of fluid respectively to and from each said enclosure, and control means selectively operating said valves, said means for introducing a fluid, and said screen means to regenerate successively one of said filter means while the remaining filter means continue to filter said fluid by successively a. simultaneously closing said second valve, actuating said means for introducing a fluid for slightly, but rapidly, increasing the pressure on the filtrate side of said filter means, and opening said fourth valve while maintaining said first valve open of the filter means being regenerated to drain the enclosure of said filter means and flush contaminants and particulate filter media from the foraminous support means, b. closing said fourth valve, deactivating said means for introducing a fluid, and opening said third valve to fill said enclosure with clean fluid, c. closing said third valve and opening said fifth and sixth valves to recoat said foraminous support means with clean particulate filter medium, and d. closing said fifth and sixth valves and opening said first and second valves to resume filtration while commencing regeneration of another of said filter means.

Claim 30

A fluid filter regeneration system comprising; a plurality of fluid enclosures each having filter means therein, said filter means comprising a plurality of foraminous support means for supporting a particulate filter medium on the prefilt side thereof, a prefilt inlet conduit communicating a source of dirty fluid with each of said enclosures on the prefilt side of said foraminous support means, said prefilt inlet conduit having a first valve therein to control the flow of fluid to each said enclosure, a filtrate discharge conduit communicating the filtrate side of said foraminous support means with clean fluid storage means, said filtrate discharge conduit having a second valve therein to control the flow of fluid from each of said enclosures, means for introducing a fluid at the filtrate side of said filter means, a fill conduit communicating the prefilt side of said foraminous support means with said clean fluid storage means, said fill conduit having a third valve to control the flow of fluid from said storage means to each of said enclosures, desludging means, dump means including a fourth valve on each enclosure for discharging fluid from said enclosures to said desludging means, said desludging means including movable screen means for retaining and discharging solids from said desludging means and sump means for retaining fluid which passes through said screen means, said sump means comprising a source of said dirty fluid, precoat means, comprising a precoat vessel for preparing a slurry of said particulate filter medium and conduit means, including fifth and sixth valves for controlling the flow of fluid respectively to and from each said enclosure, and control means selectively operating said valves, said means for introducing a fluid, and said screen means to regenerate successively one of said filter means while the remaining filter means continue to filter said fluid by successively a. simultaneously closing said second valve, actuating said means for introducing a fluid for slightly, but rapidly, increasing the pressure on the filtrate side of said filter means, and opening said fourth valve while maintaining said first valve open of the filter means being regenerated to drain the enclosure of said filter means and flush contaminants and particulate filter media from the foraminous support means, b. closing said fourth valve, deactivating said means for introducing a fluid, and opening said third valve to fill said enclosure with clean fluid, c. closing said third valve and opening said fifth and sixth valves to recoat said foraminous support means with clean particulate filter medium, and d. closing said fifth and sixth valves and opening said first and second valves to resume filtration while commencing regeneration of another of said filter means.

Claim 31

The system of claim 27 wherein said control means includes sensing means for sensing at least one of the pressure or flOw rate in said prefilt inlet conduit and to commence regeneration in response thereto.

Claim 32

The system of claim 27 including mechanical cleaning means engaging said filter means for cleaning said filter means and means to rotate said filter means, and wherein said control means energizes said means to rotate said filter means while said filter means are being flushed.