Centrifugal-chamber separating apparatus

Claim 1

A separating apparatus for separating solids suspended in a gas stream by means of centrifugal force, the apparatus comprising a housing with an inlet aperture for the crude gas, at least one separator unit disposed within said housing and including (a) a pair of end panels, (b) a first set of parallel flow channels open to said inlet aperture at one end, (c) a plurality of cylindrical centrifugal chambers, each of which adjoins a flow channel and has a trailing edge and a leading edge and between these edges is open to said flow channel, said first set of flow channels and centrifugal chambers defining a first separator stage, (d) additional sets of flow channels and centrifugal chambers arranged downstream of said first separator stage so as to define a plurality of sequential separator stages from said first separator stage to a last separator stage, such that in successive separator stages in the direction of flow of the gas stream the total number of said flow channels and the total number of said centrifugal chambers in some of said stages decreases, all of said flow channels and centrifugal chambers being bounded by said end panels, (e) a transverse duct located between each pair of adjacent separator stages having different numbers of said parallel flow channels and centrifugal chambers, each such transverse duct joining together said sets of parallel flow channels such that the centrifugal chambers in the separator stage located downstream of such transverse duct are acted on uniformly by the gas stream, the transverse duct downstream of the last stage being connected to a residual gas outlet channel adapted to receive the residual gas from the set of parallel flow channels in said last stage, (f) two outlet pipes disposed coaxially in each of said centrifugal chambers, said outlet pipes extending towards each other from said end panels, and (g) flange means joined to said end panels and disposed about the open ends of said first set of parallel flow channels, said housing further comprising (1) a disposed partition within said housing and located downstream of said inlet aperture and having at least one opening for receiving said at least one separator unit, the flange means of said at least one separator unit sealingly coacting with said partition about said opening, (2) two opposite walls spaced from the end panels of said at least one separator unit, (3) a purified gas outlet communicating with said outlet pipes, and (4) a residual gas outlet to which said residual gas outlet channel of said at least one separator unit is sealingly connected.