Demister Apparatus and Method

Abstract

A demister apparatus for machine tools having an enclosure booth for confining mist in which a varying outflow of air is drawn from the booth and directed to a remote demister apparatus from a minimum when the access doors to the enclosure are closed to a maximum when one or more of the doors are opened. The air flow may also be varied with the number of machine tools in operation as well with the state of filters in the remote demister apparatus. A cyclonic separator is also provided adjacent to the booth which functions well in a vertical up flow mode over a range of air outflow rates of flow.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 61 / 913,553 filed on Dec. 9, 2013.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]In automated machining of parts such as engine components, the machining takes place at machine stations, each station enclosed to form a booth. A coolant / lubricant liquid is sprayed onto the part during the machining operations in order to reduce friction and cool the part.[0003]This spraying creates a fine mist which is intended to be confined within the booth in order to prevent the mist from being dispersed into the air within the plant, where it could be inhaled by plant personnel and present a health hazard. Also, the mist can condense onto adjacent surfaces, creating a maintenance burden.[0004]Oil in the coolant / lubricant can also evaporate from the mist into the air and create an air pollution problem.[0005]In order to minimize this effect, the conventional practice has been to constantly d...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0012]It is an object of the present invention to provide a demister arrangement for machine tool installations which greatly reduces the power consumption required while insuring that no mist escapes from the machining booth at any time.

[0013]The above recited object as well as other objects which will be understood by those skilled in the art upon a reading of the following specification and claims is achieved by reducing the rate of air flow drawn from the machining booth to that minimally necessary to insure that no mist escapes the machine tool booth. This is achieved by varying the volume of air flow drawn out from the booth to a low level which is all that will be needed during those periods when the access doors to the machining center booth enclosure are closed, to a maximum air flow drawn from the booth when the doors are opened, as when loading and removing parts being machined in the statio...

Problems solved by technology

This spraying creates a fine mist which is intended to be confined within the booth in order to prevent the mist from being dispersed into the air within the plant, where it could be inhaled by plant personnel and present a health hazard.

Also, the mist can condense onto adjacent surfaces, creating a maintenance burden.

Oil in the coolant/lubricant can also evaporate from the mist into the air and create an air pollution problem.

This is because leaking of condensed mist from the ducting, and evaporation of the oil in the mist into the air can both occur in t...

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