Deaerator tray for a steam boiler feedwater heater system

Claim 1

A deaerator tray assembly for countercurrent contact of steam system feedwater with uprising a steam vapor, comprising: a plurality of horizontally elongated troughs for receiving a quantity of said feedwater to be deaerated, said troughs each having a spaced pair of upper weir edges, said troughs being arranged in spaced, side-by-side relation in horizontal tiers, said tiers being vertically spaced and staggered from each other; and a plurality of flat inclined wall members each one being directly connected to one of said weir edges, said wall members extending outwardly and downwardly from respective weir edges and terminating in a lower edge, the vertical projected dimension of said wall members being less than the depth of respective troughs in order to increase the effective area of interactive contact between the uprising steam and the water falling from said wall member lower edge toward said underlying troughs.

Claim 19

A method for the removal of corrosion causing gases such as oxygen and carbon dioxide from the feed water of steam systems, which method comprises: introducing feed water into the upper end of an enclosure containing a plurality of tray stacks, directing the feed water in a conical pattern downwardly toward the underlying tray stacks so that the water flowing down through the stacks exits at an open bottom of the enclosure, concurrently directing steam into the enclosure adjacent the bottom of the stacks for rise of steam through the stacks in countercurrent relationship to the falling feed water and, passing the countercurrent of steam system feed water with uprising steam vapor through a tray stack having a plurality of horizontally spaced troughs arranged in vertically spaced staggered tiers, each of the troughs having a generally V-shaped bottom and presenting a pair of spaced, elonagated liquid overflow edges and a pair of outwardly extending, flat inclined wall members each directly connected to a respective one of said liquid overflow edges and terminating in notched lower edges providing a plurality of generally pointed, liquid guiding extensions, the vertical projected dimension of the inclined wall members being less than the overall depth of the trough so that the distance of the travel encountered by the feed water dropping from the lower edge of the wall members to the next adjacent, underlying trough is maximized, thereby increasing the interactive area contact between the cascading water and uprising flow of steam, the lower edge of each wall member being notched to enhance uniform dispersion of the falling water by dividing the falling water into multiple small streams from the liquid guiding extensions and breaking the flow of water into fine droplets, and the wall members being disposed so that the liquid guiding extensions positively guide the falling water into the adjacent underlying trough without bypassing the same, whereby dead zones within the tray stack are minimized and the configuration of the troughs enables the overall dimensions of the tray stack to be reduced.

Claim 20

A method for the removal of corrosion causing gases such as oxygen and carbon dioxide from the feed water of steam systems, which method comprises: introducing feed water into the upper end of an enclosure containing a plurality of tray stacks, directing the feed water in a conical pattern downwardly toward the underlying tray stacks so that the water flowing down through the stacks exits at an open bottom of the enclosure, concurrently directing steam into the enclosure adjacent the bottom of the stacks for rise of steam through the stacks in countercurrent relationship to the falling feed water and, passing the countercurrent of steam system feed water with uprising steam vapor through a tray stack having a plurality of horizontally spaced troughs arranged in vertically spaced staggered tiers, each of the troughs having a generally V-shaped bottom and presenting a pair of spaced, elonagated liquid overflow edges and a pair of outwardly extending, flat inclined wall members each directly connected to a respective one of said liquid overflow edges and terminating in notched lower edges providing a plurality of generally pointed, liquid guiding extensions, the vertical projected dimension of the inclined wall members being less than the overall depth of the trough so that the distance of the travel encountered by the feed water dropping from the lower edge of the wall members to the next adjacent, underlying trough is maximized, thereby increasing the interactive area contact between the cascading water and uprising flow of steam, the lower edge of each wall member being notched to enhance uniform dispersion of the falling water by dividing the falling water into multiple small streams from the liquid guiding extensions and breaking the flow of water into fine droplets, and the wall members being disposed so that the liquid guiding extensions positively guide the falling water into the adjacent underlying trough without bypassing the same, whereby dead zones within the tray stack are minimized and the configuration of the troughs enables the overall dimensions of the tray stack to be reduced.