Systems and method for maintaining a liquid free of particles

Abstract

A system includes a high-pressure liquid supply system including a valve to relieve pressure upon a state change, at least one nozzle in fluid connection with the valve, and at least one filter element, the nozzle at least one being adapted to spray the filter element with high-pressure liquid upon actuation of the valve upon a state change. The high-pressure liquid supply system may, for example, be a high-pressure coolant system for use with a machine tool, and the at least one nozzle may, for example, be adapted to spray the at least one filter element to remove metal particles therefrom.

Claims

1. A system comprising: a high-pressure coolant system for supplying coolant to a machine tool under pressure, the high-pressure coolant system comprising a pump in fluid connection with at least one outlet via a first valve to provide high-pressure coolant to the machine tool and in fluid connection with a dump valve to relieve pressure upon a state change of the high-pressure coolant system in which supply of a high-pressure liquid from the high-pressure coolant system to the machine tool is stopped by closing the first valve; at least one nozzle plumbed to the dump valve; and at least one filter element, the at least one nozzle being configured to spray the at least one filter element with the high-pressure liquid from the high-pressure coolant system upon actuation of the dump valve upon the state change of the high-pressure coolant system.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one nozzle is configured to spray the at least one filter element to remove metal particles therefrom.

3. The system of claim 2 further comprising a conveyor system to be placed in operative connection with the machine tool to convey metal particles from the machine tool to a collection volume, the conveyor system being placed in fluid connection with a first tank section for collecting coolant supplied to the machine tool and metal particles.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the at least one filter element separates the first tank section from a second tank section for the coolant, the second tank section being in fluid connection with the high-pressure coolant system.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein the at least one filter element is a screen.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein the at least one filter element is placed in connection with an opening in a housing of the conveyor system.

7. The system of claim 5 wherein the screen is configured to prevent particles of a size no greater than 500 microns from passing therethrough.

8. The system of claim 5 wherein the screen is configured to prevent particles of a size no greater than 250 microns from passing therethrough.

9. The system of claim 5 wherein the screen is configured to prevent particles of a size no greater than 100 microns from passing therethrough.

10. The system of claim 6 wherein the conveyor system comprises a plurality of wipers to collect metal particles removed from the screen via spray from the nozzle.

11. A system comprising: a high-pressure coolant system comprising a pump in fluid connection with at least one outlet via a first valve to provide high-pressure coolant to a machine tool and in fluid connection with a dump valve to relieve pressure upon a state change of the high-pressure coolant system in which supply of a high-pressure liquid from the high-pressure coolant system to the machine tool is stopped upon closing the first valve; a first tank section for collecting coolant supplied to the machine tool from the high-pressure coolant system and metal particles; a conveyor configured to be placed in operative connection with the machine tool to convey metal particles from the machine tool to a collection volume, the conveyor being placed in fluid connection with the first tank section; a second tank section in fluid connection with the high-pressure coolant system; at least one filter element separating the first tank section from the second tank section; and at least one nozzle plumbed to the dump valve via hosing wherein the at least one nozzle sprays the at least one filter element with the high-pressure liquid from the high-pressure coolant system upon actuation of the dump valve upon the state change of the high-pressure coolant system.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the at least one filter element is placed in connection with an opening in a housing of the conveyor system.

13. The system of claim 11 wherein the at least one filter element is a screen.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein the screen is configured to prevent particles of a size no greater than 500 microns from passing therethrough.

15. The system of claim 13 wherein the screen is configured to prevent particles of a size no greater than 250 microns from passing therethrough.

16. The system of claim 13 wherein the screen is configured to prevent particles of a size no greater than 100 microns from passing therethrough.

17. The system of claim 14 wherein the conveyor comprises a plurality of wipers to collect metal particles removed from the screen via spray from the at least one nozzle.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1A illustrates a side, partially hidden line or transparent view of an embodiment of a system hereof.

(2) FIG. 1B illustrates an enlarged perspective view of portion A of FIG. 1A.

(3) FIG. 1C illustrates an enlarged hidden line or transparent view of portion B of FIG. 1A.

(4) FIG. 2 illustrates a side cutaway view of the conveyor system and the filter media cleaning system of FIG. 1A.

(5) FIG. 3A illustrates another side cutaway view of the conveyor system and filter media cleaning system of FIG. 1A.

(6) FIG. 3B illustrates an enlarged view of portion C of FIG. 3A.

(7) FIG. 3C illustrates an exploded or disassembled view of the portion of FIG. 3B.

(8) FIG. 3D illustrates view cutaway view along section A-A of the conveyor system of FIG. 1A.

(9) FIG. 4 illustrates a perspective view of the conveyor system and filter media cleaning system of FIG. 1A, wherein a top section of the filter media cleaning system housing has been removed.

(10) FIG. 5 illustrates a top, partially hidden line or transparent view of the system of FIG. 1A.

(11) FIG. 6 illustrates a perspective view of the conveyor system, the tank and the filter media cleaning system of FIG. 1A.

(12) FIG. 7A illustrates a side, partially cross-sectional view of a filter media cleaning system of the system of FIG. 1A in connection with the conveyor system.

(13) FIG. 7B illustrates a perspective view of the filter media cleaning system wherein a top section of the housing therefor has been removed.

(14) FIG. 7C illustrates a front view of the filter media cleaning system, illustrating the nozzles thereof, and showing spray jets from nozzles thereof.

(15) FIG. 7D illustrates a top, cutaway view of the filter media cleaning system showing spray jets from nozzles thereof.

(16) FIG. 8A illustrates a perspective view of a portion of the system of FIG. 1A with a number of housing sections and the conveyor belt or track removed to illustrate the filter media cleaning system.

(17) FIG. 8B illustrates a perspective view of the fluid/liquid outlet from of the filter medial cleaning system in operative connection with the conveyor system housing.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(18) It will be readily understood that the components of the embodiments, as generally described and illustrated in the figures herein, may be arranged and designed in a wide variety of different configurations in addition to the described example embodiments. Thus, the following more detailed description of the example embodiments, as represented in the figures, is not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments, as claimed, but is merely representative of example embodiments.

(19) Reference throughout this specification to one embodiment or an embodiment (or the like) means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment. Thus, the appearance of the phrases in one embodiment or in an embodiment or the like in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment.

(20) Furthermore, described features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. In the following description, numerous specific details are provided to give a thorough understanding of embodiments. One skilled in the relevant art will recognize, however, that the various embodiments can be practiced without one or more of the specific details, or with other methods, components, materials, et cetera. In other instances, well known structures, materials, or operations are not shown or described in detail to avoid obfuscation.

(21) As used herein and in the appended claims, the singular forms a, an, and the include plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Thus, for example, reference to a screen includes a plurality of such screens and equivalents thereof known to those skilled in the art, and so forth, and reference to the screen is a reference to one or more such screens and equivalents thereof known to those skilled in the art, and so forth.

(22) In a number of representative embodiments of a system 5 hereof, previously wasted energy from a high-pressure system such as a high-pressure coolant system is used to clean one or more filter media, filter media elements, filter elements or systems. In a number of embodiments, waste energy from a high-pressure coolant system is plumbed to a metal cutting machine tank or conveyer to clean the conveyer's filter media (for example, one or more screens or meshes) at high pressure.

(23) In a representative embodiment, a chip (metal particle) conveyer system 100 with a collection tank 20 in fluid connection therewith is, for example, placed inside a metal cutting machine 200 so that the coolant and metal waste from metal cutting machine 200 fall on to the conveyer's metal belt 30.

(24) In the illustrated embodiment, a portion of a conveyor track or belt 120 of conveyer system 100 sits in a portion or section of a tank 20 that has not been filtered and is sometimes referred to herein as the first section or dirty side 22 of tank 20. In currently available systems, a very coarse (for example, 3000 micron), removable perforated metal screen has been used to separate the first section or dirty side of a tank from a second section or clean side of a tank. In the illustrated embodiment, tank 20 is L-shaped (see, for example, FIG. 5). First section 22 is separated from second section 24 by one or more filter elements such as a screen 40. Typically filter media, filter medial elements, filter elements or like terms used in the systems hereof are device that separate solid particles from a liquid on the basis of size exclusion and include, for example, meshes, screens and or other size exclusion systems.

(25) Unlike the very coarse metal screens used as filter elements in currently available systems, screen 40 may be much finer (that is, suitable to separate much finer particles from the liquid in which such particles are present). In a number of embodiments, the openings, passages or pathways in the filter element or screen are of a size to separate particles of a size no greater than 2000 microns, no greater than 1000 microns, no greater than 500 microns, no greater than 250 microns or even no greater than 100 microns. In a number of embodiments, a 50 to 100 micron screen 40 was used in systems hereof. Screen 40 may, for example, be mounted over an arced opening 112 in conveyor system housing 110 that is in fluid connection with tank section 22 via, for example, filter screen holders (not shown) positioned on lateral each side of screen 40 so that a first side of filter screen 40 is in fluid connection with first section 22 of tank 20 (see, for example, FIG. 3C). In a number of embodiments, conveyer 100 is designed to optimize the position of the filter screen(s) 40.

(26) A filter media cleaning system 50 hereof is placed in fluid connection with the second side of screen 40. In that regard, screen 40 is place in connection with an arced opening 56 in a flow channel or conduit 54 within a housing 52 of filter media cleaning system 50 (see, for example, FIGS. 3C and 7B). Filter media cleaning system 50 includes a high pressure nozzle or a plurality of nozzles 60 mounted upon the nozzle mounting plate 62. The number of nozzles 60 is, for example, dependent on the area of screen 40 that is required for the coolant flow of the particular metal cutting machine 200. High pressure nozzles 60 may, for example, be connected to an intermediate distribution manifold 70 via high-pressure hosing 72 or may simply plumbed directly with a high pressure hose 310 to the dump valve 320 of a high pressure coolant system 300. In the illustrated embodiment, nozzle mounting plate 62 is attached to flow channel or conduit 54. Flow channel or conduit 54 includes opening 56 on a first end thereof and an outlet 58 on a second end thereof via which liquid passing from first section 22, through screen 40 and into flow channel or conduit 56 may pass into second section 24 via a conduit 76 (see, for example, FIG. 7B).

(27) The particles or particulate 5 (see FIG. 7A) to be separated from the coolant liquid are collected on screen 40 in the normal flow of coolant from first section 22 of tank 20 to second section 24 of tank 20. When a state change occurs in high pressure coolant system 300, and dump valve 320 opens, particulate 5 is forcefully removed by a high pressure coolant spray 8 (see, for example, FIGS. 7A through 7D) emanating from cleaning nozzles 60, which blasts particulate 5 off of filter screen(s) 40 and back into coolant in firs section (dirty side) 22 of tank 20. Nozzles 60 may, for example, spray filter screen 40 at a pressure that, for example, may begin at 1000 psi to 3000 psi and decline to 0 psi over a period of, for example, 2 seconds (see, for example, the examples below). The removal of particulate 5 from screen(s) 40, for example, prevents clogged screens, conveyor flooding and insufficient flow to pumps of high pressure coolant system 300.

(28) Conveyor track or belt 120 of conveyer system 100 may, for example, be designed to collect the particulate removed from screen 40 via wipers 122 within conveyer enclosure or housing 110 that approximately matches the path of the wipers so that particulate 5 (along with other particles and chips from machine tool 200 is collected and conveyed to a chip hopper 150 (see FIG. 1A). In a number of embodiments, wipers 122 were formed from a KEVLAR reinforced material. KEVLAR is an aramid fiber available from DuPont of Wilmington, Del. In a number of embodiments, wipers 122 do not contact screen 40 as wipers 122 pass thereby.

(29) Coolant liquid from first section 22 of tank 20 is substantially completely filtered via screen(s) 40 before entering second section 24 of tank 20. In the illustrated embodiment, coolant liquid from first section 22 must pass through screen 40 and conduit 58 (which is the only flow path from conveyor system 100 and first section 22 of tank 20 to second section 24) to enter second section 24. Because the coolant entering second section 24 is substantially completely filtered, virtually no particulate chips get into second section 24. Low coolant alarms and other machine fault conditions are essentially eliminated and material changeover times are improve as compared to currently available systems. Furthermore, damage to the pumps of high-pressure coolant system 300 by chips and/or contamination is reduced or prevented. Contamination that may be introduced into machine tool 200 via unfiltered pumps (which can cause damage to all machine tool components) is reduced or prevented. Moreover, there is no need to manually clean conveyor system 100, for example, when material change occurs.

EXAMPLES

Example 1Small Part with 24-Hour Operation

(30) The part being manufactured is a high pressure fitting. The total cycle time is 2.5 minutes, including part change. The number of tools used is 11. 2.5 minutes/11 tool changes results in 4.4 tool changes per minute. In a 24-hour day there are 1,440 minutes (24 hours per day60 minutes per hour=1440 minutes per day). There are thus 6336 possible tool changes per day (1440 minutes per day4.4 tool changes per minute=6336 possible tool changes per day). In the case of 80% efficiency, there will be 5068 blast of high pressure coolant from nozzles 60 per day (6336 possible tool changes per day80% efficiency=5068 blasts of high pressure coolant per day). The coolant system motor decelerates from 5 kw to zero in 2 seconds, so the average energy released is 2.5 kw for 2 seconds. There will be 2.81 hours of coolant fluid blasts each day (5068 blasts of high pressure coolant per day2=10,136 seconds of dump or 2.81 hours) 11.7% (2.81/24) of the high pressure coolant system energy use will be redirected to clean the filter screens 60. 5000 watts (5 kw)2.81 hours=14,050 watts.

Example 2Larger Part with 24-Hour Operation

(31) The part in this example is a ring used as the top of a filter vessel. The total cycle time is 6.5 minutes including part change. The number of tools used is 10. Thus, there will be 0.65 tool changes per minute (6.5 minutes/10 tool changes=0.65 tool changes per minute). There will be 936 possible tool changes per day (1440 minutes per day0.65 tool changes per minute=936 possible tool changes per day). At 80% efficiency, there will be 748 blasts of high pressure coolant from nozzles 60 per day (936 possible tool changes per day80% efficiency=748 blasts of high pressure coolant per day). As described above, the coolant system motor decelerates from 5 kw to zero in 2 seconds so the average energy released is 2.5 kw for 2 seconds. There will be 0.415 hours of coolant fluid blasts each day (748 blasts of high pressure coolant per day2=1496 seconds of dump or 0.415 hours). 1.7% (0.415/24) of the high pressure coolant system energy use will be redirected to clean filter screens 60. 5000 watts (5 kw)0.415 hours=2075 watts.

(32) The foregoing description and accompanying drawings set forth a number of representative embodiments at the present time. Various modifications, additions and alternative designs will, of course, become apparent to those skilled in the art in light of the foregoing teachings without departing from the scope hereof, which is indicated by the following claims rather than by the foregoing description. All changes and variations that fall within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are to be embraced within their scope.