Dust Collection System with Vortex Mixing for Papermaking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Papermaking machines, especially those producing soft tissue paper with high crepe ratios, generate significant amounts of dust that are difficult to collect efficiently, leading to quality and printability issues in the paper produced.
Innovation Solution
A dust collection system with an extended inlet and a volute section that accelerates dust-laden air and mixes it with a water spray to form a vortex, allowing for effective dust collection and subsequent wastewater processing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If large amounts of exhaust air are used to evacuate dust, then dust removal capability is improved, but energy consumption and operational cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the physical parameters of the exhaust air by introducing a water spray that converts liquid water into fine droplets. This parameter change (from liquid to aerosol) increases the surface area and reactivity of the water, enabling more effective dust capture at lower exhaust air volumes, thus reducing energy consumption while maintaining dust removal capability
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces water spray as an intermediary substance between the exhaust air and dust particles. The water droplets act as a mediator that facilitates the capture and removal of dust particles from the air stream, improving removal efficiency without requiring proportionally higher exhaust air flow rates
2Manufacturing precision
If dust collection systems are added to papermaking machines, then paper quality is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the dust collection function with the existing papermaking machine structure by integrating the water spray system and exhaust headers into the machine's framework. This consolidation achieves dust removal and quality improvement without adding entirely separate complex systems
Solution Approach 2:
The dust collection system is designed to serve multiple functions: it removes dust to improve paper quality, cools the paper web through water evaporation, and maintains humidity control. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate systems, thereby limiting the increase in device complexity
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 system effectively captures airborne dust near papermaking machines, improving paper quality and printability by ensuring efficient dust removal and integration with wastewater processing systems.
Implementation Method 1
A section 22 (e.g., throat) of the inlet has a specific cross-sectional area that causes the velocity of the dust laden air passing through the inlet to increase. The accelerated dust and air enter the volute section 14 where the fast moving dust laden air is mixed with a water spray and rotated to form a vortex.
Implementation Method 2
Water is injected tangentially by one or more water injectors 24, 26 arranged in the volute section. The water and dust mixture is then discharged from the volute section 14 for waste water processing.
Data Source
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AI summary
Methods and systems for collecting dust produced in paper making involve an air inlet passage (20) including an opening (18) to receive dust laden air (16). The opening to the inlet passage may have a width approximately equal to a width of a paper web in a paper making machine. The air inlet passage is devoid of water injection. The dust collector may include a central vortex chamber (34) and may be defined by an outer wall (30) and an internal guide vane (28). There may be a water injector (24,26) mounted in the outer wall and injecting water into the central vortex chamber, and there may be a discharge outlet of the central vortex chamber connectable to a water and air separator.