Oil separator

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10087798-B2
Application number	US-201314380810-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 27, 2013
Priority date	Feb 27, 2012
Publication date	Oct 2, 2018
Grant date	Oct 2, 2018

Abstract

An oil separator is provided with a housing having an inlet for air, an expansion chamber provided inside the housing, and a heating device for heating the lower part of the expansion chamber. The oil separator introduces, into the housing, air containing oil that has passed through the inlet, and separates and recovers the oil from the air that has been introduced. The transverse cross-sectional area of the expansion chamber is larger than the opening area of the inlet.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
a compressor that supplies compressed air;
an air dryer that is connected to the compressor, and dries the compressed air supplied from the compressor and supplies dried compressed air, the air dryer comprising a supplying line that supplies the dried compressed air and an exhaust line that discharges purge air containing oil and water; and
an oil separator connected to the exhaust line, comprising:
a housing including an inlet for introducing the purge air from the air dryer and an outlet for discharging cleaned air;
an expansion chamber and at least one additional expansion chamber provided in the housing, the expansion chamber being arranged between the at least one additional expansion chamber and a lower part of the housing;
at least one through hole formed in at least one partition between the expansion chamber and the at least one additional expansion chamber, the at least one through hole being configured to permit the purge air introduced through the inlet to flow vertically downward through the expansion chamber and the at least one additional expansion chamber; and
a heating device, wherein
the oil separator is configured to introduce the purge air into the housing through the inlet, and to separate and recover the oil and the water from the introduced purge air, and
a transverse cross-sectional area of the expansion chamber is greater than the opening area of the inlet,
the oil separator further comprises a collected liquid storage portion at the lower part of the housing, which is lower than the inlet and the outlet, wherein
the collected liquid storage portion stores the collected liquid containing separated oil and water, and
the heating device is configured to heat the collected liquid stored in the collected liquid storage portion such that the water in the collected liquid is evaporated.

2. The system according to claim 1 , wherein
an accommodation portion for accommodating the heating device is provided at the lower part of the housing, and
the heating device is configured to heat the housing.

3. The system according to claim 1 , wherein an insertion hole for inserting the heating device into the housing is provided at the lower part of the housing, and
the heating device is configured to heat a collected liquid stored at a lower part of the expansion chamber.

4. The system according to claim 1 , wherein
the expansion chamber includes an impingement plate,
the oil separator is configured to cause the introduced purge air to strike the impingement plate so that oil is separated and recovered from the introduced purge air, and
the collected liquid storage portion is configured to be detachable with respect to the housing.

5. The system according to claim 1 , wherein
during loading operation, the air dryer passes the compressed air through a desiccant to remove oil and water from the compressed air, and discharges the dried compressed air via the supplying line,
during unloading operation, the air dryer passes the dried compressed air supplied via the supplying line through the desiccant to regenerate the desiccant, and discharges the purge air including the removed oil and water via the exhaust line, and
the oil separator, during the unloading operation, causes the purge air introduced through the inlet to strike the impingement member to separate oil from the introduced purge air, thereby recovering the oil.

6. A system comprising:
a compressor that supplies compressed air;
an air dryer that is connected to the compressor, and dries the compressed air supplied from the compressor and supplies dried compressed air, the air dryer comprising a supplying line that supplies the dried compressed air and an exhaust line that discharges purge air containing oil and water; and
an oil separator connected to the exhaust line, comprising:
a lid including an inlet for introducing the purge air from the air dryer and an outlet for discharging cleaned air;
a plurality of expansion chambers arranged next to one another in a vertical direction;
a housing mountable to the lid;
a collected liquid storage portion at a lower part of the housing lower than the inlet and the outlet;
a mounting and dismounting mechanism for allowing the lid to be detachable with respect to the housing; and
a heating device, wherein
the oil separator is configured to cause the purge air to flow into the housing and strike an impingement member to separate oil and water from the purge air, thereby recovering liquid containing oil and water, and discharge cleaned air,
at least one through hole, which permits the purge air introduced through the inlet to flow vertically downward, is formed in at least one partition between the expansion chambers,
the collected liquid storage portion stores the collected liquid containing separated oil and water, and
the heating device is configured to heat the collected liquid stored in the collected liquid storage portion such that the water in the collected liquid is evaporated.

7. The system according to claim 6 , wherein the inlet and the outlet are provided on a horizontal surface of the lid.

8. The system according to claim 6 , wherein the heating device is configured to heat the collected liquid stored in the collected liquid storage portion, wherein an insertion hole for inserting the heating device into the housing is formed at the lower part of the housing.

9. The system according to claim 6 , wherein the heating device is configured to heat the collected liquid storage portion, wherein an accommodation portion for accommodating the heating device is provided at the lower part of the housing.

10. The system according to claim 6 , wherein
during loading operation, the air dryer passes the compressed air through a desiccant to remove oil and water from the compressed air, and discharges the dried compressed air via the supplying line,
during unloading operation, the air dryer passes the dried compressed air supplied via the supplying line through the desiccant to regenerate the desiccant, and discharges the purge air including the removed oil and water via the exhaust line, and
the oil separator, during the unloading operation, causes the purge air introduced through the inlet to strike the impingement member to separate oil from the introduced purge air, thereby recovering the oil.

11. A system comprising:
a compressor that supplies compressed air;
an air dryer that is connected to the compressor, and dries the compressed air supplied from the compressor and supplies dried compressed air, the air dryer comprising a supplying line that supplies the dried compressed air and an exhaust line that discharges purge air containing oil and water; and
an oil separator connected to the exhaust line, comprising:
a housing including an inlet for introducing the purge air from the air dryer and an outlet for discharging cleaned air;
an expansion chamber and at least one additional expansion chamber provided in the housing, the expansion chamber being arranged between the at least one additional expansion chamber and a lower part of the housing;
at least one through hole formed in at least one partition between the expansion chamber and the at least one additional expansion chamber, the at least one through hole being configured to permit the purge air introduced through the inlet to flow vertically downward through the expansion chamber and the at least one additional expansion chamber; and
a heating device,
wherein the oil separator is configured to cause the purge air to flow into the housing to separate oil and water from the purge air, thereby recovering a liquid that contains

Assignees

• Nabtesco Automotive Corp

Inventors

• Sugio Takuya
• Minato Ichiro

Classifications

• B01D46/0031

  with collecting, draining means · CPC title

• F01M2013/0472

  using heating means · CPC title

• F04B39/16 Primary

  Filtration; Moisture separation · CPC title

• F01M2013/045

  using compression or decompression of the gas · CPC title

• B01D45/08

  by impingement against baffle separators · CPC title