Air Stripper Tray With Fixed Downcomers
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current air stripper designs for removing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from liquids are cumbersome and costly due to complex tray structures with integrated downcomers, requiring additional gaskets and increased maintenance efforts.
Innovation Solution
An air stripper apparatus with a cabinet design featuring vertically arranged, staggered trays and fixed downcomers within the cabinet, allowing for easier tray removal and maintenance, and eliminating the need for gaskets by integrating downcomers as fixed internal components, enabling simpler construction and operation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If trays are designed with integrated downcomers, then air sealing and fluid flow control are improved, but tray complexity, manufacturing cost, and maintenance difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent separates the downcomer function from the tray structure by implementing fixed downcomers as independent components within the cabinet, while trays become simple removable plates. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized independently - trays for easy removal and downcomers for sealed fluid flow control.
Solution Approach 2:
The downcomer function is extracted from the tray assembly and implemented as fixed structural elements of the cabinet. This removes the complex gasket-sealed tray-downcomer interface and replaces it with permanent, leak-proof downcomer structures that are integral to the cabinet framework.
2Ease of operation
If trays with integrated downcomers are used, then fluid flow control is improved, but manufacturing cost and cleaning difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
By dividing the system into separate functional components - simple trays for manufacturing and fixed downcomers for flow control - the patent reduces manufacturing complexity while maintaining effective fluid management through the permanent downcomer structures.
3Reliability
If trays with integrated downcomers are used, then air sealing is improved, but maintenance time and effort increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent enables rapid tray removal and replacement without dealing with complex downcomer assemblies or gasket sealings. Maintenance personnel can quickly access and service trays while the fixed downcomers remain in place, significantly reducing maintenance time and effort.
Solution Approach 2:
By extracting the downcomer functionality from removable trays and implementing it as fixed cabinet structures, the patent eliminates the time-consuming task of disassembling and reassembling downcomer-tray connections during maintenance, while preserving effective air sealing through the permanent downcomer design.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Simplifies the construction, handling, and maintenance of air stripper trays, reducing costs and improving efficiency in VOC removal processes by eliminating the need for gaskets and complex tray designs, while maintaining effective air sealing and contaminant removal.
Implementation Method 1
Air strippers which direct streams of air into a flowing stream of the contaminated water are used to transfer the VOCs from the water (aqueous phase) to the air stream (gaseous phase)
Implementation Method 2
A downcomer may be disposed within the cabinet adjacent a floor section for helping to control a flow of the contaminant-entrained fluid through the cabinet
Data Source
AI summary
An air stripper apparatus is disclosed which incorporates a plurality of trays that are removably supported within a cabinet. A plurality of downcomers are also fixedly disposed within the cabinet, rather than on the trays. Removing the downcomer from each tray enables a simpler, lighter and easier to clean tray to be constructed.