Liquid distributor for thin-film, tube-bundle apparatus

Claim 1

Tube-bundle, thin-film apparatus for the treatment of a liquid, including a shell, a horizontal tube plate supported in said shell and a vertically arranged thin-film tube-bundle depending therefrom, wherein the improvement comprises a liquid distributor having: (a) a bell in the form of a cone and a set of supporting legs connecting the lower edge of said cone with the inner wall of said shell at points spaced above said tube plate to provide an annular zone above said tube plate and below said cone; (b) a horizontal foraminous plate mounted in the shell above the top of said cone and adapted to feed liquid to the upper surface of said cone; (c) a conduit extending through the wall of said shell above said foraminous plate and adapted to supply liquid and vapor to the interior of said shell at its upper portion; (d) distribution sleeves extending through and projecting above said tube plate and connected to the respective tubes comprising said tube bundle, each of said sleeves being formed from a cylindrical pipe attached at its lower end to its associated tube and having an inside diameter smaller than the inside diameter of said associated tube, and having at least one set of bores extending through its wall tangentially to the inner surface of said sleeve wall above said tube plate so that liquid may be fed through said distributor sleeves to their respective associated tubes and caused to flow over the inner surfaces of said tubes in thin films; and (e) means mounted in the shell below said conduit and above the horizontal foraminous plate for separating vapor from liquid supplied through said conduit and for causing said separated liquid to flow through said foraminous plate over the upper surface of said cone and to said zone above said tube plate for entry into said sleeves through the bores therein and passage to said associated tubes.