Abstract
An air purification plant has a partition for spatially separating a contaminated air chamber arranged upstream from a clean air chamber downstream, the partition including a support frame and multiple filter boxes projecting from the support frame, the filter boxes having at least one filter box wall which extends from the support frame into the contaminated air chamber. The filter boxes are each open into the clean air chamber arranged downstream, wherein filter box walls, facing toward one another, of adjacent filter boxes form in each case one filter pocket which is open at the upstream side and preferably at the top and/or bottom, and a suction nozzle is movable from one filter pocket into an adjacent filter pocket. At the downstream side, each filter pocket has a pocket base portion which is at least approximately impermeable to air and has a smooth surface on the contaminated air side.
Claims
1. An air purification plant, having a partition wall for spatially separating a contaminated air chamber, disposed upstream, from a clean air chamber, disposed downstream; wherein the partition wall comprises a support frame that defines a longitudinal plane, and a plurality of filter boxes that project from the support frame in the direction of the contaminated air chamber; the filter boxes are in each case open toward the clean air chamber disposed downstream, and have at least one filter box wall which supports a filter mat; mutually facing filter box walls of neighboring filter boxes form in each case one filter pocket which is open on the upstream side, and each filter pocket has a depth measured perpendicularly to the longitudinal plane; and a filter cleaning installation having a horizontal rail on which a carriage is guided so as to be movable in a reciprocating manner in the horizontal direction; a vertical rail which is fastened to the carriage; and a suction nozzle which by way of a downstream-side free end protrudes into a filter pocket, has a suction opening, and for cleaning the filter mats in a respective filter pocket at the vertical rail is guided so as to be movable in a reciprocating manner in the vertical direction as well as so as to be movable from one filter pocket to a neighboring filter pocket, wherein the filter pockets have in each case one downstream-side, at least almost air-impermeable pocket bottom portion which is formed by a pocket base as well as two legs that from the pocket base project in each case along a respective filter box wall in the direction of the contaminated air chamber, and which extends across the entire height of the respective filter pocket; wherein the legs are at least the length of a spacing between the filter box walls that form the respective filter pocket, the spacing being measured parallel with the longitudinal plane at the pocket base.
2. The air purification plant as claimed in claim 1, wherein the filter pockets have a trapezoidal, V-shaped, or U-shaped cross-section.
3. The air purification plant as claimed in claim 1, wherein the legs of the pocket bottom portion are in each case at least 10%, preferably at least 20%, particularly preferably at least 45%, longer than the spacing.
4. The air purification plant as claimed in claim 1, wherein the contaminated-air-side surface of the filter pocket within the pocket bottom portion has a lower area-specific roughness value S.sub.a according to DIN EN ISO 25178 than outside the pocket bottom portion, and preferably has an area-specific roughness value S.sub.a of less than 5 nm, preferably less than 1 nm.
5. The air purification plant as claimed in claim 1, wherein the filter pockets in the region of the pocket bottom portion are formed from a material which in terms of density and/or composition differs from the material of the filter mats.
6. The air purification plant as claimed in claim 5, wherein the filter pockets in the region of the pocket bottom portion have a planar and preferably profiled shaped part which extends across the pocket base and the legs and which is at least almost air-impermeable and preferably is formed from metal, plastics material, or from compressed filter mat material.
7. The air purification plant as claimed in claim 5, wherein the planar, at least almost air-impermeable, shaped part connects the filter mats of two neighboring filter box walls and in each case overlaps the filter mats to be connected, or at least almost seamlessly adjoins the respective filter mats.
8. The air purification plant as claimed in claim 5, wherein two neighboring filter box walls support one common filter mat which extends across the pocket bottom portion and in the region of the pocket bottom portion is preferably covered by the planar, at least almost air-impermeable, shaped part.
9. The air purification plant as claimed in claim 1, wherein the filter boxes are open at the top and/or bottom, and the suction nozzle is movable from one filter pocket to a neighboring filter pocket below and/or above the filter box that separates the two filter pockets.
10. The air purification plant as claimed in claim 1, wherein the suction nozzle has a nozzle base, two nozzle side walls which preferably project at least almost orthogonally from the nozzle base, as well as two suction openings which extend along the nozzle side walls.
11. The air purification plant as claimed in claim 1, wherein the suction nozzle on the downstream-side end thereof has a scraping brush for cleaning the contaminated-air-side surfaces in the pocket bottom portion.
12. The air purification plant as claimed in claim 1, wherein the depth of the filter pockets is at least double the length of the spacing of the associated filter box walls on the upstream-side open end of the filter pocket.
13. The air purification plant as claimed in claim 1, wherein the support frame supporting the filter boxes is specified for being supported on a floor area which has a floor opening, wherein the floor opening is located below the filter boxes and opens into a collection chamber, and in that the air purification plant has an outfeed installation which is specified for being disposed in the collection chamber and for feeding accumulated filtered material out of the collection chamber.
14. The air purification plant as claimed in claim 13, wherein the outfeed installation comprises a worm conveyor or a suction installation.
15. The air purification plant as claimed in claim 13, comprising a collection funnel which is trough-shaped or in the direction of the collection chamber tapers downward in a conical or pyramidal manner and which is preferably disposed so as to be contiguous to the floor opening.
Description
[0045] The present invention will be described in more detail hereunder by means of the figures. In the figures, in a purely schematic manner:
[0046] FIG. 1 in a lateral view shows a section through an air purification plant according to the invention, having a plurality of filter boxes which are held on a support frame and in each case have two filter box walls, as well as a filter cleaning installation comprising a suction nozzle for cleaning the filters;
[0047] FIG. 2 in a plan view shows the air purification plant shown in FIG. 1;
[0048] FIG. 3a in an enlarged illustration shows a horizontal section through a pocket bottom portion including the suction nozzle situated in the filter pocket;
[0049] FIG. 3b in an enlarged illustration shows a horizontal section through a pocket bottom portion, including an alternative embodiment of a suction nozzle having a scraping brush situated in the filter pocket;
[0050] FIGS. 4a-d show in each case a horizontal section through a pocket bottom portion of a filter pocket, wherein various variants of embodiment are shown;
[0051] FIG. 5 in a lateral view shows a section through a second embodiment of the air purification plant, in which a floor opening which opens into a return-air duct is present below the filter boxes;
[0052] FIG. 6 in a lateral view shows a section through an alternative embodiment of the air purification plant from FIG. 5, in which the floor opening opens into a collection funnel;
[0053] FIG. 7 in a lateral view shows a section through a further alternative embodiment of the air purification plant from FIG. 5, in which the floor opening opens into a collection trough having a worm conveyor disposed therein; and
[0054] FIG. 8 in a lateral view shows a section through a further alternative embodiment of the air purification plant from FIG. 5, in which the floor opening opens into a collection box.
[0055] As an introduction it is to be noted that identical parts in alternative embodiments are provided with the same reference signs or the same component references, respectively.
[0056] The air purification plant 1 illustrated in FIG. 1 serves for separating contaminants from the air, in particular textile contaminants from the exhaust air of industrial textile manufacturing or textile processing enterprises. In such enterprises, the air has typically to be continuously purified of dust and fiber fly (fiber fragments, textile remnants, fiber flakes, etc.) which is created on textile machines, spinning machines, weaving or knitting machines in operation.
[0057] The air purification plant 1 has a partition wall 3 which spatially separates a contaminated air chamber 5, disposed upstream, from a clean air chamber 7, disposed downstream. The air purification plant 1 is disposed on a floor area 8. The terms upstream and downstream refer at all times to the direction of the airflow which from sides of the contaminated air chamber 5 flows through filter-active portions (also referred to as filter faces) of the partition wall 3 into the clean air chamber 7.
[0058] The air to be purified is suctioned, for example from a machine room of a textile processing plant, and flows through an air infeed opening (not visible in FIG. 1) into the contaminated air chamber 5 from the front (or from below, as is shown in FIG. 5), is then purified by the air purification plant 1, and subsequently makes its way into the clean air chamber 7, from where the purified air can again be discharged into the machine room or outward into the environment. The air to be purified in the flow direction can be conveyed in a manner known per se (for example by air-conveying means not illustrated, such as a ventilator, a blower, or the like) from the contaminated air chamber 5 in the (downstream) direction of the clean air chamber 7.
[0059] The partition wall 3 comprises a support frame 9 which defines a longitudinal plane and on which a plurality of filter boxes 11 which in the direction of the contaminated air chamber 5 project from the support frame 9 are held, or in particular screw-fitted to said support frame 9. Said filter boxes 11 are disposed behind one another in a row on the support frame 9 and have in each case two planar filter box walls 15 which from the support frame 9 extend into the contaminated air chamber 5 and converge upstream at a vertical edge (see also FIG. 2). Said filter box walls 15 which in the plan view extend along the legs of an equilateral triangle (see FIG. 2), in the embodiment shown simultaneously comprise the filter-active faces which are covered with a filter material, in particular a non-woven, and therefore are henceforth referred to as filter mats 16. The filter boxes 11 upstream of the support frame 9 are thus delimited by the filter box walls 15. Moreover, the filter boxes 11 at the top and the bottom are closed in an air-tight manner by a base plate or cover plates 18, respectively, (see FIG. 2). By contrast, the filter boxes 11 in the region of the support frame 9 per se are open, that is to say said filter boxes 11 at the support frame 9 open into the clean air chamber 7 disposed downstream.
[0060] A respective filter pocket 19 is formed by in each case two mutually facing filter box walls 15 of neighboring filter boxes 11, said filter pocket 19 by contrast to the filter boxes 11 being delimited by the filter box walls 15 only at the downstream side, or being open at the upstream side as well as at the top and the bottom, respectively.
[0061] The air purification plant 1 furthermore comprises a horizontal rail 21 which is disposed above a horizontal plane which is defined by the upper end 23 of the filter boxes 11 and extends so as to be parallel with the longitudinal direction of the support frame 9. The horizontal rail 21 comprises two guide rails 25 which are disposed so as to be mutually parallel and along which a carriage 27 is guided so as to be movable in a reciprocating manner in the horizontal direction (see FIG. 2). A vertical rail 29 is moreover fastened to the carriage 27, said vertical rail 29 being disposed upstream of the partition wall 3 or the filter boxes 11, respectively. When the carriage 27 is moved along the horizontal rail 21, the vertical rail 29 fastened to the carriage 27 thus also moves conjointly with said carriage 27. A suction nozzle 31 is guided on the vertical rail 29, said suction nozzle 31 by way of an exhaust-air hose 32 being connected to a low-pressure source (not shown) and for cleaning down the filter mats 16 of a filter pocket 19 in the respective filter pocket 19 being moved in a reciprocating manner in the vertical direction. The suction nozzle 31 to this extent can either carry out vertical stroke movements along the vertical rail 29, or by moving the carriage 27 can be moved conjointly with the vertical rail 29 in the horizontal direction along the horizontal rail 21.
[0062] In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the support frame 9 having the filter boxes 11 fastened thereto is positioned on the floor area 8, and said support frame 9 has a base strip 35 which on the lower side adjoins the filter boxes 11 and on the other side adjoins the floor area 8. The filter boxes 11, or the filter box walls 15 thereof, respectively, in the embodiment shown are held exclusively by the support frame 9 and are not in contact with the floor area 8. This means that, apart from the support frame 9, no additional supporting elements for the filter boxes 11 are present at the base (as can also be seen in FIG. 3). The lower side 36 of the filter boxes 11 in the vertical direction is thus spaced apart from the floor area 8, wherein said base spacing corresponds approximately to the height of the base strip 35. This permits the suction nozzle 31 to maneuver below the filter boxes 11, so as to change from one filter pocket 19 into a neighboring filter pocket 19. The suction nozzle 31 in FIG. 1 is situated in a lower terminal position in which said suction nozzle 31 can move below the filter boxes 11, or in the free lower intermediate space 41 between the floor area 8 and the lower side 36 of the filter boxes 11, respectively. The manner in which the movement of the suction nozzle 31 can be specifically controlled is described in detail in the international patent application WO 2016/091270, pages 14-17, filed by the applicant, and the disclosure in this regard is explicitly incorporated in the present application. When the suction nozzle 31 in the course of such a filter pocket changeover is moved in the free lower intermediate space 41, the floor area 8 below the filter boxes 11 can simultaneously be cleaned. This prevents that dust and fiber material separated on the filter mats 16 can accumulate on the floor area 8 and congestion and/or blockages of the suction nozzle 31 are able to arise on account thereof. Moreover, separate cleaning of the floor area 8, for example using an additional vacuum, can be dispensed with, this permitting a substantial saving in terms of time in the air purification process.
[0063] As can be seen from FIG. 2, the filter boxes 11 when viewed in the plan view have an in particular triangular or trapezoidal external shape which tapers at the upstream side. In view of the fact that the filter pockets 19 are in each case formed by mutually facing filter box walls 15 of neighboring filter boxes 11, the filter pockets 19 correspondingly also have a V-shaped horizontal cross-section which tapers at the downstream side, in particular a triangular or trapezoidal cross-section. The external shape, or the horizontal cross-sectional face, of the filter boxes 11, respectively, is preferably consistent across the entire height of the filter boxes 11. However, rectangular cross-sectional shapes such as shown in FIG. 4b, for instance, would also be conceivable instead of triangular filter boxes 11 and filter pockets 19.
[0064] The filter boxes 11 are preferably fastened so as to be individually replaceable on the support frame 9 and have a stable filter box frame on which the assigned filter mats 16 are held. The filter boxes 1 and/or the filter mats 16 can thus be individually removed and replaced when required. Moreover, the filter boxes 11 which are disposed so as to be closer to the center on the support frame 9 and therefore are often more heavily stressed can thus be replaced earlier when required than the peripheral filter boxes 11 which are typically less stressed.
[0065] The fragment from FIG. 2 identified by X is illustrated in an enlarged manner in FIGS. 3a and 3b and in the horizontal cross-section shows in isolation a downstream-side end 40 of a filter pocket 19 having a suction nozzle 31 disposed therein. The suction nozzle 31, corresponding to the shape of the filter pockets 19, has a triangular or trapezoidal cross-section which tapers in the direction of a downstream-side end 42. Suction slots 43 (see FIG. 1) through which filtered material that has accumulated on the filter mats 16 can be suctioned off are configured along the side walls of said suction nozzle 31. Each filter pocket 19 has at least one downstream-side, at least almost air-impermeable pocket bottom portion 45 which is delimited by a pocket base 46 as well as by two legs 50 that along a respective filter box wall 15 project in each case from the patent base 46 in the direction of the contaminated air chamber 5, and which extends across the entire height of the respective filter pocket 19. By virtue of the at least almost air-impermeable properties of the pocket bottom portion 45, this region of the filter pocket 19 that is more difficult to access for the suction nozzle 31 is not filter-active, on account of which the quantity of filtered material that is deposited there can be heavily reduced. Furthermore, dirt particles adhere to the contaminated-air-side wall regions in the pocket bottom portion 45 significantly less easily (in comparison to the filter mats 16), which is why said dirt particles can be removed by the suction nozzle 31 by simple scraping, and to this extent no suction activity by the suction nozzle 31 is required in the pocket bottom portion 45. For this reason, the suction slots 43 of the suction nozzle 31 in both embodiments shown in FIGS. 3a and 3b do not reach quite as far as the downstream-side end 42 of the respective suction nozzle 31, but only to the height of the pocket bottom portion 45. The suction nozzle 31 shown in FIG. 3b at the downstream-side end thereof has a scraping brush 48 for cleaning the contaminated-air-side surface 49 in the pocket bottom portion 45. Such a scraping brush 48 is particularly advantageous in tight filter pockets 19 (thus at an opening angle of less than 45, for instance).
[0066] As can be seen from FIGS. 4a-d, the at least almost air-impermeable pocket bottom portion 45 in terms of the cross-sectional shape thereof can be of different design embodiments. However, said pocket bottom portion according to the invention at all times has the following three properties or features, respectively: [0067] a) the material from which the pocket bottom portion 45 is formed is at least almost air-impermeable and thus at least almost not filter-active; [0068] b) the contaminated-air-side surface 49 in the pocket bottom portion 45 is to be as smooth as possible so that fibers and dust adhere as poorly as possible on the surface 49; [0069] c) the legs 50 are at least the length of the spacing d between the filter box walls 15 that form the filter pocket 19, said spacing d being measured parallel with the longitudinal plane at the pocket base 46 (see FIG. 4b). This condition at least almost defines that the legs 50 have a specific minimum length.
[0070] The term measured along the pocket base 46 herein means that the spacing d of the filter box walls 15 is measured along a straight line which in the cross section of the filter pocket 19 runs along the pocket base 46, or in the case of a curved pocket base 46 forms the tangent. As can be seen in FIGS. 3a, 3b, and 4a, the pocket base 46 herein does not mandatorily have to be disposed at the height of the downstream-side ends 40 of the filter box walls 15 but can also be offset further upstream.
[0071] The at least almost air-impermeable pocket bottom portion 45 in the embodiments shown in FIGS. 3a-b and FIGS. 4a-c comprises a planar-shaped part 51 which is at least almost air-impermeable and can be made from metal or plastics material, for instance. The shaped part 51 and the filter mats 16 herein have dissimilar material compositions. As is shown in FIG. 4d, the filter pocket 19 in the region of the pocket bottom portion 45 can alternatively also be formed from the same material as the filter mats 16, however differ in terms of the density of the material. The at least almost air-impermeable properties of the filter mat material are maintained by squeezing or compressing, respectively, said filter mat material in the region of the pocket bottom portion 45.
[0072] The shaped part 51, for example in the region of the legs 50, can be positioned on the filter mats 16 of the associated filter box walls (see FIGS. 3a, 3b, and 4a) and be fastened to said filter box walls by means of, for instance, adhesive bonding, welding (in particular press-welding methods such as resistance welding, ultrasonic welding, friction welding or cold press-welding), or by textile joining methods (for example stitching or loop-forming methods). Furthermore, the shaped part 51 can also be fastened to the external frame of the filter box walls 15 by screw-fitting. In this case, the screws and/or nuts used to this end are preferably countersunk in the shaped part 51 so that no parts which project into the pocket bottom portion 45 and on which dirt particles can accumulate and impede the cleaning of the contaminated-air-side surfaces are present on the contaminated air side.
[0073] In a manner differing from the variant shown in FIG. 4a, for instance, an embodiment in which a filter mat extends from one filter box wall 15 across the entire pocket bottom portion 45 to the other filter box wall 15 and in the region of the pocket bottom portion is covered by the at least almost air-impermeable planar shaped part 51 is illustrated in FIG. 4b. The shaped part 51 is configured as a metal sheet, for example, which covers the filter mat in the pocket bottom portion 45.
[0074] As is shown in FIG. 4c, it is also possible for the filter mats 16 to extend only to the pocket bottom portion 45, or the shaped part 51, respectively, or overlap the shaped part 51 at least only at the upstream-side ends of the legs 50 of said shaped part 51. FIG. 4d furthermore shows an embodiment in which the filter pocket 19 within as well as outside the pocket bottom portion 45 is formed by one filter mat or a plurality of filter mats 16, the filter mat/filter mats 16 in the pocket bottom portion 45 however being squeezed and compressed in such a manner that said filter mat/filter mats 16 are at least almost air-impermeable in said region.
[0075] The filter pockets 19 either can have an at least almost V-shaped cross-section in which the filter box walls enclose an angle (FIGS. 3a, 3b, 4a, 4c, 4d), or can comprise a U-shaped cross-section (FIG. 4b).
[0076] The floor area 8 on which the support frame 9 is supported can be closed (as is shown in FIG. 1). In this case, contaminated air is directed to the filter boxes 11 from the front, that is to say so as to be orthogonal to the horizontal support frame plane. Filtered material that has dropped from the filter mats 16 herein can be suctioned from the floor area 8 by the suction nozzle 31 which is moved through below the filter boxes 11. Alternatively, the support frame 9, as is shown in FIGS. 5 to 8, can be disposed on a floor area 8 having a floor opening 53 that opens into a collection chamber 55, wherein the floor opening 53 is disposed below the filter boxes 11. The region of the collection chamber 55 that adjoins the floor opening 53 herein can be utilized as a maneuvering space for the suction nozzle 31, so as to be able to move the latter below the filter boxes 11 from one filter pocket 19 into a neighboring filter pocket 19. Furthermore, comparatively large accumulations of dust and textile fibers can be manually removed from the collection chamber 55 in the course of periodically carried out cleaning or be automatically removed therefrom. Blocking of the suction nozzle 31 is thus counteracted, this in turn significantly reducing the susceptibility to defects of the filter cleaning installation. In the embodiments shown in FIGS. 6 to 8, contaminated air above the floor area 8 flows into the contaminated air chamber 5, while said contaminated air, as will be explained further hereunder, in the embodiment according to FIG. 5 is directed into the contaminated air chamber 5 from below through openings in the floor area 8.
[0077] The collection chamber 55 in FIG. 5 is configured as an open return-air duct 57 which so as to adjoin directly below the floor area 8 extends in the direction of the contaminated air chamber 5. The return-air duct 57 serves for feeding the contaminated air, for instance from an adjacent machine room (not shown) into the contaminated air chamber 5, this enabling particularly space-saving disposal of the air purification plant in an industrial enterprise. The floor area 8, apart from the floor opening, preferably has at least one further opening, or is at least in portions configured as a floor grate, so as to conjointly with the floor opening 53 to enable the feeding of contaminated air from the return-air duct 57 into the contaminated air chamber 5.
[0078] As is shown in FIG. 6, a collection funnel 59 which tapers downward in the direction of the collection chamber 55 in a conical or (truncated) pyramidal manner and which conjointly with the suction installation 61 enables a targeted, in particular pneumatic, discharge of filtered material separated on the filter mats 16 can be disposed
[0079] so as to be directly adjacent to the mouth of the floor opening 53.
[0080] In an embodiment illustrated in FIG. 7, the floor opening 53 opens into a trough-shaped collection funnel in which a worm conveyor 65 is disposed. Filtered material that has accumulated in the collection funnel 63 can be fed out of the collection funnel 63 with the aid of the worm conveyor 65. For example, the filtered material with the aid of the worm conveyor is conveyed to one side of the collection funnel 63, and is pneumatically fed out from there.
[0081] In the variant shown in FIG. 8, the collection chamber is configured as a collection box 67, or the collection funnel 59 opens into a collection box 67, respectively, the latter extending in the downstream direction into the clean air chamber 7 and having a closable flap 69. The flap 69 during periodically performed emptying of the collection box 67 is closed so that access to the collection box 67 from the clean-air-chamber-side is possible during the operation of the air purification plant. An intermittent or continuous air flow can facilitate the introduction of filtered material into the collection box 67.
