PARTICLE SEPARATOR FOR FLUIDS HAVING AN OUTLET CHAMBER ARRANGED WITHIN AN INLET CHAMBER AND FLUIDICALLY CONNECTED TO SAME

Abstract

A particle separator (1) for fluids has an outlet chamber (3) arranged within an inlet chamber (2) and is fluidically connected to same, wherein the inlet chamber (2) has a curved guide surface (5) extending around a main axis (4) running transverse to the main flow direction in the inlet chamber (2) for the fluid flowing into the inlet chamber (2) via an inlet channel (6). Particles can be filtered out of the fluid largely independently of the orientation of the particle separator relative to the gravitational vector and without entering the outlet channel even after separation of the fluid flow and possible positional change. The outlet chamber (3) is closed with respect to the inlet chamber (2) transverse to the direction of the main axis (4) and open in the direction of the main axis (4), and has an outlet channel (7) that extends through the inlet chamber (2).

Claims

1. A particle separator for fluids, said particle separator comprising: an outlet chamber arranged within an inlet chamber and fluidically connected thereto: wherein the inlet chamber has a curved guide surface extending around a main axis running transversely to a main flow direction in the inlet chamber for the fluid flowing into the inlet chamber via an inlet channel; and wherein the outlet chamber (3) is closed with respect to the inlet chamber transversely to the a direction of the main axis, and the outlet chamber is open in the direction of the main axis (4).

2. The particle separator according to claim 1, wherein a free cross-section of the inlet chamber bounded by the guide surface decreases in the direction of the main axis.

3. The particle separator according to claim 1, wherein the inlet chamber has a circular cross-section transverse to the main axis (4).

4. The particle separator according to claim 1, wherein the inlet chamber has an outer wall that is pierced by a separation channel that is fluidically connected to the inlet chamber.

5. The particle separator according to claim 1, wherein the outlet chamber has an outlet channel extending through the inlet chamber.

6. The particle separator according to claim 5, wherein the outlet channel extends transversely to the main axis.

7. The particle separator according to claim 1, wherein a cross-section of the inlet channel exceeds a cross-section of the outlet channel.

8. The particle separator according to claim 1, wherein the inlet channel (6) and the outlet channel run in a central plane extending transversely to the main axis (4).

9. The particle separator according to claim 1, wherein the inlet chamber is separated in the a region of its a largest free cross-section thereof into two half-chambers by a partition wall extending transversely to the main axis (4).

10. The particle separator according to claim 9, wherein the two half-chambers are symmetrical with respect to the partition wall.

11. The particle separator according to claim 4, and further comprising a filter base that has an outlet fluidically connected to the outlet chamber and spatially separated from a separation opening fluidically connected to the separation channel .

12. The particle separator according to claim 1, wherein the inlet chamber is formed by two components together.

13. A filter comprising: a plurality of particle separators each according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of particle separators are arranged side by side in a matrix; and wherein the inlet channels of the plurality of particle separators open to a common inlet side of the filter, and the outlet channels open to a common outlet side of the filter.

14. The filter according to claim 13, wherein adjacent particle separators have respective separation channels that open into at least one common separation opening discharging the particles from the filter.

15. The particle separator according to claim 2, wherein the inlet chamber has a circular cross-section transverse to the main axis.

16. The particle separator according to claim 2, wherein the inlet chamber has an outer wall that is pierced by a separation channel that is fluidically connected to the inlet chamber.

17. The particle separator according to claim 3, wherein the inlet chamber has an outer wall that is pierced by a separation channel that is fluidically connected to the inlet chamber.

18. The particle separator according to claim 4, wherein the inlet chamber has an outer wall that is pierced by a separation channel that is fluidically connected to the inlet chamber.

19. The particle separator according to claim 15, wherein the inlet chamber has an outer wall that is pierced by a separation channel that is fluidically connected to the inlet chamber.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0020] The subject matter of the invention is shown in the drawings by way of example, wherein:

[0021] FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a particle separator according to the invention,

[0022] FIG. 2 shows a perspective view of the particle separator exposed along line IV-IV of FIG. 1 at the same scale,

[0023] FIG. 3 shows a section through a filter with particle separators arranged next to each other in a matrix on a smaller scale,

[0024] FIG. 4 shows a perspective view of a protective mask with having filters of FIG. 1 on an even smaller scale,

[0025] FIG. 5 shows a perspective view of a filter according to the invention in a second embodiment,

[0026] FIG. 6 shows an enlarged perspective view of several particle separators of the filter of FIG. 5 on a larger scale,

[0027] FIG. 7 shows a perspective view of a particle separator of FIG. 6,

[0028] FIG. 8 shows an exploded view of the particle separator of FIG. 7 from a first perspective,

[0029] FIG. 9 shows an exploded view of the particle separator of FIG. 7 from a second perspective,

[0030] FIG. 10 shows a section along the line X-X of FIG. 7 on a larger scale, and

[0031] FIG. 11 shows a section corresponding to FIG. 10 along line XI-XI of FIG. 7.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0032] A particle separator 1 according to the invention has an inlet chamber 2 and an outlet chamber 3 arranged inside the inlet chamber 2, which are fluidically connected to each other. The inlet chamber 2 comprises a guide surface 5 curved about a main axis 4 extending transversely to the main flow direction in the inlet chamber 2 for a fluid flowing into the inlet chamber 2 via an inlet channel 6. The inlet channel 6 opens into the inlet chamber 2 tangentially to the main axis 4. The outlet chamber 3 is closed with respect to the inlet chamber 2 transversely to the direction of the main axis 4 and open in the direction of the main axis 4 and has an outlet channel 7 extending through the inlet chamber 2, which preferably extends transversely to the main axis 4. Also, the diameter of the inlet channel 6 may exceed that of the outlet channel 7 to increase the residence time of the fluid in the particle separator 1. If both inlet channel 6 and outlet channel 7 lie in a central plane extending transversely to the main axis 4, it can be avoided that particles are conveyed from the inlet channel 6 directly into the outlet channel 7. As can be seen in particular from FIGS. 3 and 4, the inlet chamber 2 may have a circular cross-section transverse to the main axis 4 to achieve higher separation efficiency. Overall, the housing of the particle separator 1 may have substantially the basic shape of a sphere. For stiffening the particle separator 1 and as a loadable connection between inlet chamber 2 and outlet chamber 3, a partition wall 8 extending transversely to the main axis 4 may be provided, which separates the inlet chamber 2 in the region of its largest cross-section into two half-chambers 9, 10. In this case, these two half-chambers 9, 10 can preferably be formed symmetrically to the partition wall 8.

[0033] FIG. 3 shows a particularly preferred embodiment of the arrangement of the particle separators 1 in a filter, in which the inlet chambers 2 of the particle separators 1 are tightly packed next to each other in a matrix and all inlet channels 6 as well as all outlet channels 7 are arranged in parallel.

[0034] As can be seen from FIG. 4, the particle separators 1 can be arranged side by side in a matrix in a filter 11 of a mask 12, with the inlet channels 6 opening into a common inlet side 13 and the outlet channels 7 opening into a common outlet side 14 of the filter 11.

[0035] FIGS. 7, 8, 9 and 10 show a further embodiment of the particle separator 1, which comprise a separation channel 15 that breaks through the outer wall of the inlet chamber 2 forming the guide surface 5 and is fluidically connected to the inlet chamber 2. Thus, between the inlet channel 6 and the separation channel 15, a further fluid flow is formed through the inlet chamber 2, via which particles to be separated can be transported away from the particle separator. The particle separator 1 may further comprise a filter base 16, which is fluidically connected to the outlet chamber 3 and via which the cleaned fluid can be discharged from the particle separator 1. In the embodiment shown, the filter base 16 forms two transverse outer surfaces, one of which comprises an outlet 17 and one of which comprises a separation opening 18. In order to simplify the series production, as shown in this embodiment, the particulate filter 1 may be manufactured from at least two components 19, 20, which may be assembled after their separate manufacture. In this case, the filter base 16 can be designed as the third component.

[0036] FIGS. 5 and 6 show a further embodiment of a filter 11 according to the invention, which comprises several particle separators 1 built up from the components 19, 20 and the filter base 16. The components 19 of all particle separators 1 of the filter 11 are formed here from a filter plate 21. Similarly, all components 20 or all filter bases 16 of all particle separators 1 of the filter 11 are formed by the filter plate 22 or 23. The separated particles of several particle separators 1 of a filter 11 can be discharged via a common separation opening 24 on an outer side of the filter 11 extending both transversely to the common inlet side 13 and transversely to the common outlet side 14.