Packing for material exchange columns

Claim 1

Packing (11) for vapor-liquid and gas-liquid contacting in a material exchange column (35) with liquid supply means (22) and vapor or gas supply means (22') and a cavity below said liquid supply means (22) for receiving at least one packing, the liquid supplied by the liquid supply means (22) flowing downward through the packing and the vapor or gas supplied by the vapor or gas supply means (22') streaming in vertical direction through the packing, the packing (11) comprising a plurality of laminated grids (a, b, c, . . . ) each having a grid plane (A, B, C, . . . ), each grid (a, b, c, . . . ) being formed of one integral piece and consisting of a plurality of approximately zigzag-shaped bent laminated strips (13-17), adjacent strips (13/14, 14/15, 15/16, 16/17) of each grid (a, b, c, . . . ) being interconnected at their bending points so as to form thereat areal junction zones (18) of the grid (a, b, c, . . . ), each laminated strip (13-17) having segments following each other successively in zigzag being inclined toward the grid plane (A, B, C, . . . ) and the segments of adjacent strips (13,14,14/15,15/16, 16/17) bounding substantial quadrilateral mesh openings having a larger and a smaller diagonal, the segments bounding each of said mesh openings diverging in a first pair at an acute angle from one end of said larger diagonal and converging in a second pair at an acute angle toward the other end of said larger diagonal, and the packing (11) being adapted to be mounted in the cavity of a column (35) in such a way that said larger diagonals are substantially vertical and parallel to the liquid and to the vapor or gas flow; the lower portions of the two segments of each of said second pairs converging downwardly into said areal junction zones (18) being provided near the junction zones (18) with liquid flow guide means descending towards said junction zone (18) at an angle to each other greater than the acute angle between said two segments of said second pairs, whereby the horizontal component of the liquid flow along said two segments of said second pairs is adapted to be increased at said lower portions near the junction zone (18) to such an extent that the liquid flows to a major extent across the said junction zone (18) and that on the other hand the liquid does not trickle off or dam up at the liquid flow guide means.