Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 20
Claim 1
Independent Claim
114 words
A process for refining an electric insulating liquid to remove contaminant particles present as impurities in insulating liquids therefrom which comprises applying an electric field to the electric insulating liquid under a voltage sufficient to charge the contaminant particles; contacting said electric insulating liquid with at least one porous absorbent having ion radicals in its structure and a pore size smaller than the size of the molecules of the treated insulating liquid to remove the charged contaminants having a size smaller than the pore size of the absorbent; and then passing the liquid through means for removing contaminating particles larger than the pore size of the absorbent and recovering the purified electric insulating liquid.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
114 words
A process for refining an electric insulating liquid to remove contaminant particles present as impurities in insulating liquids therefrom which comprises applying an electric field to the electric insulating liquid under a voltage sufficient to charge the contaminant particles; contacting said electric insulating liquid with at least one porous absorbent having ion radicals in its structure and a pore size smaller than the size of the molecules of the treated insulating liquid to remove the charged contaminants having a size smaller than the pore size of the absorbent; and then passing the liquid through means for removing contaminating particles larger than the pore size of the absorbent and recovering the purified electric insulating liquid.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
45 words
A process according to claim 1 wherein the contaminant particles are selected from the group consisting of low molecular weight polar compounds, metal compounds or metal ions and mixtures thereof, which particles tend to deteriorate the insulating properties of the electric insulating liquid, unless removed.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
11 words
A process according to claim 1 wherein the absorbent is zeolite.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
19 words
A process according to claim 3 wherein the pore size of the zeolite is less than about 10 angstroms.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
12 words
A process according to claim 1 wherein the absorbent is activated carbon.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
19 words
A process according to claim 5 where the activated carbon has a pore size of less than 40 angstroms.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
50 words
A process according to claims 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 wherein the absorbent is coated with metallic compounds containing the same metals present as a contaminant in the electric insulating liquid, which coating serves to speed up the process of absorbing the metal contaminants by the coated absorbent.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
53 words
A process according to claim 1 in which the electric insulating liquid, after being subjected to the electric field, is subjected to two absorption steps by (1) contacting the liquid first with an absorbent containing anion-radicals in its structure and then (2) contacting the liquid with an absorbent containing cation-radicals in its structure.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
24 words
A process according to claim 8 in which the absorbent in step (1) is zeolite and the absorbent in step (2) is activated carbon.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
47 words
A process according to claim 9 in which one or both absorbents are coated with metallic compounds containing the same metals which are present as contaminants in the electric insulating liquid so as to speed up the process of absorbing the metal contaminant by the coated absorbent.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
46 words
A process according to claims 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10 in which the electric insulating liquid is first heated and then subsequently contacted with an absorbent prior to the charging step with the electric field to preliminarily remove contaminant particles therefrom.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
40 words
A process according to claim 11 in which the absorbent used in the absorbing step prior to said charging step with the electric field is selected from the group consisting of kaolin, activated alumina, zeolite, activated carbon and mixtures thereof.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
25 words
A process according to claim 1 wherein the electric field is a static electric field applied with a voltage sufficient to charge the contaminant particles.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
16 words
A process according to claim 1 wherein the electric field applied is an alternating electric field.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
28 words
A process according to claim 1 in which the means used to remove the larger particles from the electric insulating material after the absorbent step is a percolator.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
27 words
A process according to claim 1 wherein the means used to remove the larger particles from the electric insulating liquid after the absorbent step is a centrifuge.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
27 words
A process according to claim 1 wherein the means used to remove the particles from the electric insulating liquid after the absorbent step is a precipitation tank.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
63 words
A process according to claims 1, 15, 16 or 17 wherein the electric insulating liquid charged by the electric field is transferred first to a setting vessel prior to being introduced into the means for eliminating the particles of larger size than the pore size of the absorbent so as to permit the larger particles to settle out prior to said removal means.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
29 words
A process according to claim 1 wherein the electric field applied to the electric insulating liquid is a combination of a static electric field and an alternating electric field.