DEVICE AND METHOD FOR GASSING A LIQUID

Abstract

A device for gassing a liquid, including a rotor, which is driven to rotate and has multiple vanes for conveying the liquid, and a stator, which surrounds the rotor and has a plurality of flow channels, which each extends starting from a radially inner inlet opening adjacent to the rotor through the stator to a radially outer outlet opening and are delimited along their length by side walls, bottom surfaces, and top surfaces and can be acted on with liquid by the rotor in the region of the inlet opening, wherein between the inlet opening and the outlet opening, the side walls and/or bottom and top surfaces of the flow channels have a multitude of gassing openings, which can be acted on with compressed gas from a compressed gas source in order to introduce this gas into the flow channels. A corresponding method for gassing a liquid is also disclosed.

Claims

1. A device for gassing a liquid, comprising a rotor (1) driven to rotate around a vertical rotation axis and having multiple vanes (10) for conveying the liquid and a stator (2) that surrounds the rotor (1) and having a plurality of flow channels (20), which each extends starting from a radially inner inlet opening (21) adjacent to the rotor (1) through the stator (2) to a radially outer outlet opening (22) and are delimited along their length by side walls, bottom surfaces, and top surfaces and can be acted on with liquid by the rotor (1) near the inlet opening (21), comprising between the inlet opening (21) and the outlet opening (22), the side walls and/or bottom and top surfaces of the flow channels (20) having a multitude of gassing openings (24), which can be acted on with a compressed gas from a compressed gas source in order to introduce the gas into the flow channels (20).

2. The device according to claim 1, wherein between adjacent flow channels (20) a respective dividing element (25) is provided, which has side surfaces (250) that each constitutes at least a subsection of a side wall of one or both adjacent flow channels (20) and the gassing openings (24) are provided in the side surface (250).

3. The device according to claim 2, wherein the dividing elements (25) have an inner cavity, which communicates with the compressed gas source, and a perforated plate (251) having the gassing openings (24) is accommodated in the side surfaces (250) of the dividing elements (25).

4. The device according to claim 3, wherein the gassing openings (24) are positioned adjacent to the outlet opening (22) of the flow channels (20).

5. The device according to claim 4, wherein the stator (2) comprises a lower stator plate (26) and an upper stator plate (27) between which the dividing elements (25) are positioned in a replaceable way and the lower and upper stator plates (26, 27) form the respective bottom and top surfaces of the flow channels (20) between the dividing elements (25).

6. The device according to claim 5, wherein the lower stator plate (26) has a circumferential gas dispersion channel (260) that is connected to a central gas inlet (261) and communicates with the gassing openings (24).

7. The device according to claim 6, wherein the dividing elements (25) are embodied as wedge-shaped.

8. The device according to claim 6, wherein the gassing openings (24) have a diameter of at most 1 mm and each flow channel (20) is associated with up to 2000 gassing openings (24).

9. A method for gassing a liquid, in which a rotor (1) that is driven to rotate around a vertical rotation axis and has multiple vanes (10) conveys the liquid in flow channels of a stator (2) surrounding the rotor (1), which flow channels each extends starting from a radially inner inlet opening (21) adjacent to the rotor (1) through the stator (2) to a radially outer outlet opening (22) and are delimited along their length by side walls, bottom surfaces, and top surfaces, including that gas from a compressed gas source is introduced into the flow channels (20) from gassing openings (24) in the side walls and/or bottom and top surfaces in the region between the inlet opening (21) and the outlet opening (22) and is mixed with the liquid flowing through the flow channels (20) during the passage through the flow channels (20).

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the gas is introduced into the flow channels transversely to the flow direction of the liquid.

11. The device according to claim 1, wherein the gassing openings (24) are positioned adjacent to the outlet opening (22) of the flow channels (20).

12. The device according to claim 2, wherein the stator (2) comprises a lower stator plate (26) and an upper stator plate (27) between which the dividing elements (25) are positioned in a replaceable way and the lower and upper stator plates (26, 27) form the respective bottom and top surfaces of the flow channels (20) between the dividing elements (25).

13. The device according to claim 2, wherein the dividing elements (25) are embodied as wedge-shaped.

14. The device according to claim 1, wherein the gassing openings (24) have a diameter of at most 1 mm and each flow channel (20) is associated with up to 2000 gassing openings (24).

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0030] Other embodiments and details of the device and method according to this invention are explained below based on an exemplary embodiment. In the drawings, wherein:

[0031] FIG. 1 shows a top view of a device according to this invention;

[0032] FIG. 2 shows a section along the line A-A through the device according to FIG. 1;

[0033] FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a partially disassembled device according to FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0034] FIGS. 1 to 3 show a device for gassing a liquid, which can be used, for example, as an aerator for a vinegar fermenter in vinegar production.

[0035] The device comprises a rotor 1 that is driven to rotate by a drive motor, not shown, and has a plurality, in this case seven, vanes 10, which protrude radially along a curved path, and rotates in the rotation direction according to the arrow D shown in FIG. 1.

[0036] The rotor 1 is enclosed radially on the outside by a stator 2, which starting from a mounting flange 23 at the bottom, comprises a circular lower stator plate 26 and a likewise upper stator plate 27 between which a plurality of dividing elements 25 is provided, which have a wedge-shaped design and are embodied to match one another. They are spaced equidistantly apart from one another in a circle and fastened to the lower stator plate 26 in a replaceable way by screws 252, wherein each pair of adjacent dividing elements 25 forms a respective flow channel 20, which extends through the stator 2 from the inside to the outside.

[0037] Accordingly, each flow channel 20 comprises an inlet opening 21 adjacent to the rotor 1 and a radially outer outlet opening 22 and is delimited by side surfaces 250 of two adjacent dividing elements 25 that face each other serving as side walls and by the lower stator plate 26 serving as a bottom surface and the upper stator plate 27 serving as a top surface and in this respect, is open for the passage of a liquid through an inlet opening 21 and an outlet opening 22.

[0038] As particularly shown in the depiction in FIG. 1, the upper stator plate 27 of the stator 2 is embodied as ring-shaped and has a central through bore serving as a liquid inlet 270 through which the vanes 10 and the vane interstices 11 between the vanes 10 are accessible.

[0039] If such a device is built into a reservoir, for example a vinegar fermenter, then the device is positioned in the bottom region of the reservoir and can be fastened in a sealed fashion in a corresponding reservoir opening by a flange ring 28 correspondingly provided on the radial outside. The flange 23 that is then positioned outside the reservoir supports the drive motor, not shown here, whose drive shaft engages in the shaft socket 12 of the rotor 1 in order to drive the rotor 1 in accordance with the arrow D around a vertically extending rotation axis.

[0040] Due to the rotation of the rotor 1, liquid flows out of the reservoir through the liquid inlet 270 into the effective region of the rotating rotor 1 and is conveyed by the vanes 10 out from the vane interstices 11 into the individual flow channels 20 of the stator 2. The inlet openings 21 of the individual flow channels 20 can be positioned close to the circumference line of the rotor 1, which is generated by the rotation, and the tips of the wedge-shaped dividing elements 25 respectively point toward the rotor 1.

[0041] When the rotor 1 rotates, the device thus conveys a high volumetric flow of liquid through the liquid inlet 270 into the flow channels 20 until it reaches the outlet openings 22 thereof from which the liquid travels back into the reservoir and due to the circular arrangement of the individual flow channels 20, is dispersed homogeneously in the reservoir.

[0042] In order to be able to gas this liquid flow through the individual flow channels 20 with the desired gas volume, the side surfaces 250 of each dividing element 25, which each constitute one side wall of adjacent flow channels 20, are provided with an opening serving as a recess into which a corresponding perforated plate 251 is inserted, which constitutes a flush continuation of the side surface 250 of the dividing element 25.

[0043] Each perforated plate 251 is provided with a multitude of gassing openings 24 extending through the perforated plate 251, for example a hundred to a thousand of these gassing openings 24 arranged in a regular pattern are provided, which each have a diameter of less than 1 mm.

[0044] The dividing elements 25 in turn are embodied with an inner cavity, which communicates with the opening in the side surface 250, the perforated plate 251 accommodated therein, and the gassing openings 24 embodied therein. Through a central gas inlet 261 at the bottom, the gas that is provided for the gassing procedure can be supplied at high pressure from a compressed gas source, for example air from a compressor, and travels through a circumferential gas dispersion channel 260 in the lower stator plate 26 and corresponding connecting bores into each individual cavity of the dividing elements 25. From there, the gas travels through the gassing openings 24 in the respective perforated plates 251 into the individual flow channels 20. In this connection, the arrangement is selected so that the gassing openings 24 are positioned adjacent to the outlet opening 22 of each flow channel 20 and in this respect, are spaced a greater distance from the inlet opening 21, wherein the outlet direction of the gas from the gassing openings 24 extends transversely to the flow direction of the liquid in the flow channel 20.

[0045] Thus when the rotor 1 rotates in the arrow direction D and the vanes 10 convey liquid into the flow channels 20, this fluid flow, which initially arrives as a pure liquid flow through the inlet opening 21 into the flow channels 20, is acted on with the gas flow, which comes from the gassing openings 24 and extends transversely to the flow direction through the flow channel 20, only upon passing through the flow channel 20. Since the individual gassing openings are embodied with a small diameter of at most 1 mm, a gas volume is therefore introduced in a finely dispersed form into the individual partial flows of the liquid in the flow channels 20 and is intensively mixed with the liquid before the gas-liquid mixture produced in this way comes out of the outlet openings 22 of the flow channels 20 and into the reservoir.

[0046] It is thus possible, for example, for a reservoir containing 140 m.sup.3 of liquid to be acted on with up to 1,500 m.sup.3 of gas per hour in a finely dispersed forms, depending on the reservoir volume, liquid and gas can be dispersed in the liquid at a rate of about 6-12 m.sup.3/h of gas volume per cubic meter of reservoir volume.

[0047] In this connection, optimal use is made of the stirring action of the rotor and despite the high gas volumes introduced, it is nevertheless possible to achieve approximately 30 to 50% energy savings in comparison to conventional devices.

[0048] For example in a vinegar fermenter, in order to be able to disperse the alcohol quantity supplied to the reservoir as quickly as possible in the reservoir volume, a liquid inlet 3 is also provided centrally above the rotor 1 and the liquid inlet 270 in the upper stator plate 27, as can be seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, which inlet is mounted over the liquid inlet opening 270 by means of four vertically positioned mounting plates 30, which are spaced apart from one another by 90°. This liquid inlet 3 ensures that the supplied alcohol quantity travels directly to the rotating rotor 1 and from it, travels into the flow channels 20 and from there, is homogeneously dispersed in the reservoir. In addition, the vertically positioned mounting plates 30 also counteract the generation of an undesirable cyclone flow in the reservoir.

[0049] The device explained above is preferably made of corrosion-resistant metal and in particular, the finely dispersed gassing openings 24 in the perforated plates 251 can be produced by means of or with a laser.

[0050] The device and method are particularly suitable for aerating an alcoholic solution with air in the context of vinegar production, but can also be used for any other lipid-gassing tasks in which the homogeneous dispersion of large gas volumes in the transported liquid is desired.

[0051] While in the foregoing specification this invention has been described in relation to certain preferred embodiments, and many details are set forth for purpose of illustration, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that this invention is susceptible tc additional embodiments and that certain of the details described in this specification and in the claims can be varied considerably without departing from the basic principles of this invention.