Aeration apparatus

Claim 2

Aeration apparatus for aerating a given liquid, comprising a rotor mounted at the lower end of a hollow drive shaft, means to rotate the rotor, means for receiving and containing such liquid with said rotor immersed therein and with the drive shaft extending substantially vertically upwardly from the rotor, the rotor comprising a disc located in a plane at right angles to the axis of the shaft and having a plurality of blades depending downwardly from the lower face of the disc, the interior of the hollow drive shaft opening to the area beneath the disc such that when the rotor is rotated in the liquid by the drive shaft, and air is forced down the hollow drive shaft to issue on the underside of the rotor, the air is broken up into bubbles by the blades on the rotor, the blades being straight and extending continuously radially outwardly on the underside of the disc from the shaft opening to the periphery of the disc, and the height of the blades increasing continuously with distance from the shaft opening.

Claim 3

Aeration apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the height of the blades increases uniformly as a function of distance from the shaft.

Claim 4

Aeration apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the height of each blade is determined at every point along the length of the blade and as a function of a desired speed of rotation of the rotor to give a bubble size in range of 100 and 500 μm.

Claim 5

Aeration apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein the height of the blade is determined by the formula: ##EQU6## where d b is the desired bubble diameter U is the velocity of the blade through the liquid, generally equal to 2 πNr where N is the rotational frequency of the rotor in c.p.s. and r is the greatest radius of the blade. γ is the surface tension of the liquid. μ is the viscosity of the liquid. h is the height of the blade. π is the density of the liquid. C p is the drag coefficient on the blade (generally having a value of 1 to 2).

Claim 6

Aeration apparatus for aerating a given liquid, comprising a rotor mounted at the lower end of a hollow drive shaft, means to rotate the rotor; means for receiving and containing such liquid with said rotor immersed therein and with the drive shaft extending substantially vertically upwardly from the rotor, the rotor comprising a disc located in a plane at right angles to the axis of the shaft and having a plurality of blades depending downwardly from the lower face of the disc, the interior of the hollow drive shaft opening to the area beneath the disc such that when the rotor is rotated in the liquid by the drive shaft, and air is forced down the hollow drive shaft to issue on the underside of the rotor, the air is broken up into bubbles by the blades on the rotor, the blades extending continuously outwardly on the underside of the disc from the shaft opening to the periphery of the disc, and the height of the blades increasing continuously with distance from the shaft opening; wherein the aeration apparatus further comprises a stator mounted at least in part directly below the rotor and said stator includes a plurality of substantially vertical blades extending from an area directly beneath said shaft opening in a direction radially outwardly from said area to a location radially outward of the periphery of the disc.

Claim 7

Aeration apparatus for aerating a given liquid, comprising a rotor mounted at the lower end of a hollow drive shaft, means to rotate the rotor; means for receiving and containing such liquid with said rotor immersed therein and with the drive shaft extending substantially vertically upwardly from the rotor, the rotor comprising a disc located in a plane at right angles to the axis of the shaft and having a plurality of blades depending downwardly from the lower face of the disc, the interior of the hollow drive shaft opening to the area beneath the disc such that when the rotor is rotated in the liquid by the drive shaft, and air is forced down the hollow drive shaft to issue on the underside of the rotor, the air is broken up into bubbles by the blades on the rotor, the blades extending continuously outwardly on the underside of the disc from the shaft opening to the periphery of the disc, and the height of the blades increasing continuously with distance from the shaft opening; wherein the aeration apparatus further comprises a stator mounted at least in part directly below the rotor and said stator includes a plurality of substantially vertical blades extending from an area directly beneath said shaft opening in a direction radially outwardly from said area to a location radially outward of the periphery of the disc.

Claim 8

Aeration apparatus as claimed in claim 5, wherein the upper edges of the stator blades correspond with the profile of the lower edges of the rotor blades and said upper edges of said stator blades are spaced a predetermined distance below said lower edges of said rotor blades.

Claim 9

Aeration apparatus as claimed in claim 5, wherein the number and thickness of the stator blades approximate the number and thickness of the rotor blades.

Claim 10

Aeration apparatus as claimed in claim 5, wherein the stator blades extend radially outwardly beyond the periphery of the disc, and extend upwardly beyond the outer ends of the rotor blades.