Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 27
Claim 1
Independent Claim
279 words
An adjustable throat venturi scrubber for the scrubbing of a gas stream with a liquid which comprises a venturi scrubber having an approach section and a throat section, said approach section being a converging gas passage which terminates at and is connected to said throat section, said throat section being a gas passage having a restricted cross-sectional area, means to pass an inlet gas stream successively through said approach section and said throat section, whereby said gas stream is accelerated to a high velocity in said throat section, means to project a scrubbing liquid stream into said gas stream at or adjacent to said throat section, whereby said scrubbing liquid stream is comminuted into a plurality of discrete small liquid droplets within said gas stream and said gas stream is thereby scrubbed, said throat section extending to means to separate the resulting gas-liquid mixture into a scrubbed gas phase and a scrubbing liquid phase containing a component removed from said inlet gas stream, and means to adjust the cross-sectional dimension of the gas passage at or adjacent to said throat section, said adjustment means comprising at least one movable baffle at the periphery of said gas passage and a container, said container being composed of a flexible and resilient material, said container being external to and contiguous with said baffle, together with means to pass a controlled amount of a fluid into said container whereby the internal fluid pressure within the container and resultant volumetric dimension of said container, and resultant displacement of said baffle relative to the periphery of said throat section, are adjustable in proportion to a change in the flow rate of said inlet gas stream.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
279 words
An adjustable throat venturi scrubber for the scrubbing of a gas stream with a liquid which comprises a venturi scrubber having an approach section and a throat section, said approach section being a converging gas passage which terminates at and is connected to said throat section, said throat section being a gas passage having a restricted cross-sectional area, means to pass an inlet gas stream successively through said approach section and said throat section, whereby said gas stream is accelerated to a high velocity in said throat section, means to project a scrubbing liquid stream into said gas stream at or adjacent to said throat section, whereby said scrubbing liquid stream is comminuted into a plurality of discrete small liquid droplets within said gas stream and said gas stream is thereby scrubbed, said throat section extending to means to separate the resulting gas-liquid mixture into a scrubbed gas phase and a scrubbing liquid phase containing a component removed from said inlet gas stream, and means to adjust the cross-sectional dimension of the gas passage at or adjacent to said throat section, said adjustment means comprising at least one movable baffle at the periphery of said gas passage and a container, said container being composed of a flexible and resilient material, said container being external to and contiguous with said baffle, together with means to pass a controlled amount of a fluid into said container whereby the internal fluid pressure within the container and resultant volumetric dimension of said container, and resultant displacement of said baffle relative to the periphery of said throat section, are adjustable in proportion to a change in the flow rate of said inlet gas stream.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
17 words
The adjustable throat venturi scrubber of claim 1 in which the gas passage is of circular cross-section.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
33 words
The adjustable throat venturi scrubber of claim 2 in which a central substantially conical baffle is provided in the approach section so that an annular gas passage is provided in the approach section.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
16 words
The adjustable throat venturi scrubber of claim 3 in which the central conical baffle is frusto-conical.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
21 words
The adjustable throat venturi scrubber of claim 3 in which an inverted substantially conical baffle depends from the central conical baffle.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
16 words
The adjustable throat venturi scrubber of claim 5 in which the inverted conical baffle is frusto-conical.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
17 words
The adjustable throat venturi scrubber of claim 1 in which the gas passage is of rectangular cross-section.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
17 words
The adjustable throat venturi scrubber of claim 7 in which the gas passage is of square cross-section.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
46 words
The adjustable throat venturi scrubber of claim 1 in which the baffle is composed of two connected sections, a first baffle section being disposed in the terminal portion of the approach section and a second baffle section being in the inlet portion of the throat section.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
93 words
The adjustable throat venturi scrubber of claim 9 in which an auxiliary baffle is disposed between the first baffle section and the terminal portion of the approach section, the container being external to said auxiliary baffle, the terminal edges of said auxiliary baffle being connected to the inner wall of the gas passage at or adjacent to the throat section by at least one fluid-impervious connection, at least a portion of said fluid-impervious connection being expandable to accommodate for displacement of said auxiliary baffle relative to the inner wall of the gas passage.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
26 words
The adjustable throat venturi scrubber of claim 1 in which the fluid is a gas selected from the group consisting of air, nitrogen and carbon dioxide.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
33 words
The adjustable throat venturi scrubber of claim 1 in which the fluid is a liquid selected from the group consisting of water, a hydrocarbon oil, a hydraulic brake fluid, and a silicone oil.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
21 words
The adjustable throat venturi scrubber of claim 1 in which the component removed from the inlet gas stream is sulfur dioxide.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
45 words
The adjustable throat venturi scrubber of claim 13 in which the scrubbing liquid stream is an aqueous solution containing a dissolved hydroxide, sulfite or carbonate of an alkaline or alkaline earth element selected from the group consisting of sodium, potassium, lithium, magnesium, calcium and barium.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
44 words
The adjustable throat venturi scrubber of claim 13 in which the scrubbing liquid stream is an aqueous slurry containing discrete solid particles of an oxide, hydroxide, sulfite or carbonate of an alkaline earth element selected from the group consisting of magnesium, calcium and barium.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
32 words
The adjustable throat venturi scrubber of claim 1 in which the component removed from the inlet gas stream is a plurality of discrete solid particles initially entrained in the inlet gas stream.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
17 words
The adjustable throat venturi scrubber of claim 16 in which the discrete solid particles are fly ash.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
14 words
The adjustable throat venturi scrubber of claim 1 in which the container is expandable.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
32 words
The adjustable throat venturi scrubber of claim 18 in which the container is composed of an expandable material selected from the group consisting of natural rubber, synthetic rubber, and a deformable plastic.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
24 words
The adjustable throat venturi scrubber of claim 19 in which the synthetic rubber is selected from the group consisting of neoprene, hypalon and buna.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
19 words
The adjustable throat venturi scrubber of claim 1 in which the approach section consists of an inverted frusto-conical baffle.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
19 words
The adjustable throat venturi scrubber of claim 1 in which a diverging gas passage depends from the throat section.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
18 words
The adjustable throat venturi scrubber of claim 22 in which the diverging gas passage is a frusto-conical baffle.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
53 words
The adjustable throat venturi scrubber of claim 1 together with a baffled or cyclonic gas-liquid separation container, together with means to pass the resulting gas-liquid mixture into said gas-liquid separation container, so that the scrubbed gas phase and the scrubbing liquid phase containing the removed component are formed within the gas-liquid separation container.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
22 words
The adjustable throat venturi scrubber of claim 1 in which the scrubbing liquid stream is projected substantially transversely into the gas stream.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
49 words
The adjustable throat venturi scrubber of claim 1 in which the venturi scrubber is one of a plurality of parallel vertical gas scrubbing passages, said parallel vertical gas scrubbing passages being oblong substantially linear passages juxtaposed across the path of inlet gas stream flow in a common horizontal plane.