Coalescing plate packing system

Claim 1

A coalescing system for separating immiscible components of different densities mixed in a fluid comprising: a vessel having a fluid inlet, a lighter component outlet and a heavier component outlet, the vessel having a bottom, opposed end walls, opposed paralleled sidewalls and an open top; a coalescing stack formed of a plurality of vertically spaced apart coalescing plates positioned within said vessel, each coalescing plate having bi-directional corrugations running both laterally and longitudinally along the single plane of the plate forming crests and valleys, the crests and valleys including bleed holes for passage of the immiscible components; a pair of bottom supports each having a flat bottom edge, an undulating upper edge conforming to said lateral corrugations of said coalescing plates, and having opposed paralleled sides, the spacing therebetween being slightly less than the spacing between said vessel sidewalls, the bottom supports being spaced apart from each other within said vessel and supporting said coalescing stack; a pair of top supports each having an upper edge and an undulating bottom edge conforming to said lateral corrugations of said coalescing plates, and having opposed paralleled sides, the spacing between the sides being slightly less than the spacing between said vessel sidewalls, the top supports being spaced apart and positioned directly over said bottom supports in spaced apart planes; and means of retaining said bottom supports, said coalescing stack and said top supports in an assembled package for insertion into and removal from said vessel.