Cyclonic Flow Separator With Control Chamber
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cyclonic-flow separators for separating liquid and gas mixtures are bulky and costly due to the need for multiple separation stages, with inefficiencies in gas and liquid separation, where the extracted gas still contains a fraction of liquid and the liquid contains residual gas.
Innovation Solution
A cyclonic-flow separator design that incorporates a tangentially injecting mixture into a cylindrical separation chamber, utilizing a control chamber to regulate liquid flow and reinject it, ensuring a stable interface between gas and liquid phases, thereby achieving efficient separation with a single device by minimizing liquid in the gas outlet and gas in the liquid outlet.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If a single cyclonic separator is used, then the device is more compact and less costly, but the separation efficiency is insufficient and liquid remains in the extracted gas
Solution Approach 1:
The separator is divided into distinct functional zones: a cyclonic separation chamber for primary separation, a control chamber for liquid level regulation, and a gas withdrawal chamber. This segmentation allows each zone to perform its specific function optimally while maintaining a single integrated device structure, resolving the contradiction between device simplicity and separation efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
A control chamber acts as an intermediary between the cyclonic separation chamber and the gas outlet. This control chamber receives the mixture from the separation chamber, regulates the liquid level, and ensures that only gas is withdrawn through the gas outlet, preventing liquid carryover while maintaining efficient cyclonic separation.
2Reliability
If a second gravity separator is added to improve separation, then separation efficiency improves, but the device becomes bulkier and more costly
Solution Approach 1:
The control chamber is merged with the cyclonic separation chamber to form a single integrated device. The control chamber is positioned within the separation chamber structure, allowing liquid level control functionality to be combined with the cyclonic separation function, thereby avoiding the need for a separate second separator and reducing overall device bulk.
Solution Approach 2:
The control chamber is nested within the cyclonic separation chamber structure. The control chamber occupies the lower portion of the separation chamber, with the cyclonic separation zone positioned above it. This nested arrangement allows both functions to coexist in a single compact volume, eliminating the need for additional external separators.
3Productivity
If the gas outlet diameter is increased, then gas extraction is improved, but liquid is drawn towards the central zone and contaminates the gas
Solution Approach 1:
The control chamber serves as an intermediary barrier between the cyclonic separation zone and the gas outlet. It receives the mixture from the separation chamber, regulates liquid level through the third outlet, and ensures that only gas reaches the gas outlet, preventing liquid contamination while maintaining effective gas extraction through the first outlet.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the operational parameters by introducing a controlled liquid level in the control chamber that acts as a barrier. By regulating the liquid level through the third outlet, the system prevents liquid from reaching the gas outlet while maintaining sufficient gas flow through the first outlet, thus improving gas purity without sacrificing extraction rate.
4Reliability
If the interface surface diameter is increased, then more liquid is extracted, but the interface becomes unstable and varies with feeding conditions
Solution Approach 1:
The control chamber provides feedback control for the liquid level. The third outlet allows liquid to flow out and replenish the control chamber volume, creating a self-regulating system that maintains a stable liquid level and stable interface surface diameter despite variations in feeding conditions, thereby ensuring consistent liquid extraction performance.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the liquid level parameter in the control chamber to maintain stability. By regulating the liquid level through the third outlet, the system keeps the interface surface diameter constant, which ensures stable separation performance and consistent liquid extraction regardless of variations in feed flow rate or composition.
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
The solution effectively separates gas and liquid with minimal residual contamination, maintaining a stable interface and efficient operation across varying feed conditions, reducing the complexity and cost of the separation process.
Implementation Method 1
By a cyclonic effect, a gaseous phase of the mixture is concentrated in the centre of the separation chamber in the form of a gas cylinder, surrounded by a liquid phase
Implementation Method 2
the control chamber receives a quantity of liquid which flows from the separation chamber to form a volume of liquid having an upper surface
Data Source
AI summary
A separator of a mixture of liquid and gas, comprising an injection device, a separation chamber having a cylindrical internal surface and extending along a vertical axis, and a control chamber. The mixture is separated in the separation chamber into gas and liquid, with a cylindrical interface surface. The separation chamber comprises a first axial outlet for extracting the gas, a second outlet for extracting the liquid, and a third axial outlet in communication with the control chamber. The interface surface has, in normal operating conditions, a diameter lying between the diameter of the first outlet and the diameter of the third outlet. The control chamber is connected to the injection device by a return circuit.