1. In an apparatus for removing contaminants from liquid fuels, lubricants and other oil based industrial liquids of the type having a particulate filter configured for removing solid contaminants from a selected oil based industrial liquid, a water coalescer positioned downstream of said particulate filter and configured for removing dispersed contaminant liquid water particles from the oil based industrial liquid, and a pump configured for sequentially flowing the oil based industrial liquid through said particulate filter and said water coalescer, the improvement of a liquidliquid coalescer element for said water coalescer, comprising:
a porous support tube having a hollow interior, a radially oriented exterior surface, a radially oriented interior surface, and a permeable sidewall through which an oil based industrial liquid flows in an inside out direction from said interior surface to said exterior surface; and
a coalescer pleat block having a hollow interior, a radially oriented exterior surface, and a radially oriented interior surface overlying said exterior surface of said support tube, and including a plurality of individual pleats arranged side-by-side and formed from an integrated, multilayer coalescence media, comprising:
at least one layer of non-woven fibrous material that is partially wettable by the dispersed contaminant liquid water particles in the oil based industrial liquid, having a downstream face, an oppositely disposed upstream face disposed adjacent to said exterior surface of said support tube, and a predetermined thickness, mean flow pore size, hydrophilic level and stiffness sufficient to commence coalescence of the dispersed contaminant liquid water particles in the incoming oil based industrial fluid as the same flows therethrough and thereby form a plurality of relatively small primary water droplets; and
at least one sheet of precisely woven monofilament fabric that is substantially completely wettable by the dispersed contaminant liquid water particles in the oil based industrial liquid, having a downstream face, an oppositely disposed upstream face abuttingly overlying said downstream face of said layer of non-woven fibrous material, and a fixed open mesh with uniformly sized and spaced apart pore openings, and a predetermined mean flow pore size and hydrophilic level sufficient to continue coalescence of the dispersed contaminant water particles in the incoming oil based industrial liquid in a manner such that as the oil based industrial liquid passes through said pleat block, said primary water droplets flow in a generally uniform pattern from said downstream face of said layer of non-woven fibrous material onto said upstream face of said sheet of precisely woven monofilament fiber, attach to the monofilament fibers of said open mesh due to strong droplet wettability over the same, and while so attached, experience bidirectional hydrodynamic interactions with adjacent primary water droplets and the oil based industrial liquid flowing therethrough which cause said primary water droplets to deform and reflow on said sheet of precisely woven monofilament fiber, thereby growing the same in size into relatively large secondary water droplets, which are in turn distributed in a generally homogeneous spatial relationship across said downstream face of said sheet of precisely woven monofilament fiber, and continue to grow in size thereon through reflowing andor colliding with other primary andor secondary water droplets into relatively large water drops having a size sufficient that the viscous drag forces of the oil based industrial liquid flowing through said coalescer element cause said large water drops to release from said downstream face of said precisely woven monofilament fabric and fall downwardly under gravitational forces from said pleat block for collection adjacent a bottom portion of said coalescer element.
2. An apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein:
said sheet of precisely woven monofilament fabric is constructed from a material with hydrophilic fiber surfaces having a degree of fabric wettability in the range of 0.0-90.0 degrees contact angle.
3. An apparatus as set forth in claim 2, wherein:
said sheet of precisely woven monofilament fabric is constructed of fixedly interconnected threads having a diameter in the range of 5.0-100.0 microns.
4. An apparatus as set forth in claim 3, wherein:
said pore openings in said sheet of precisely woven monofilament fabric have an average size in the range of 5.0-150.0 microns.
5. An apparatus as set forth in claim 4, wherein:
said multilayer coalescence media includes a plurality of sheets of said precisely woven monofilament fabric arranged with adjacent faces thereof overlying each other in a tight stack, whereby said bidirectional hydrodynamic interactions of said primary water droplets with adjacent primary water droplets and the oil based industrial liquid take place both across said faces of said sheets in a direction generally normal to the direction of flow of the oil based industrial fluid, and through said stack of said sheets in a direction generally parallel to the direction of flow of the oil based industrial fluid.
6. An apparatus as set forth in claim 5, wherein:
said support tube is partially wettable by the dispersed contaminant water particles in the oil based industrial fluid to ensure substantially homogeneous distribution of the oil based industrial liquid onto said upstream face of said coalescer pleat block.
7. An apparatus as set forth in claim 6, wherein:
said porous support tube is constructed from porous pipe having a pore opening size in the range of 5.0-100.0 microns.
8. An apparatus as set forth in claim 7, wherein:
said pleat block includes a first porous support layer having sufficient rigidity to support at least a portion of said pleat block, with a downstream face overlying said upstream face of said layer of non-woven fibrous material and an upstream face exposed to the incoming oil based industrial liquid.
9. An apparatus as set forth in claim 8, wherein:
said pleat block includes a second porous support layer having sufficient rigidity to support at least a portion of said pleat block, with a downstream face and an oppositely disposed upstream face overlying said downstream face of said sheet of precisely woven monofilament fiber.
10. An apparatus as set forth in claim 9, wherein:
said coalescer element includes a rigid support jacket having a hollow interior in which said pleat block is closely received, a radially oriented interior surface abutting said downstream face of said second porous support layer, and a perforate sidewall through which the oil based industrial liquid flows.
11. An apparatus as set forth in claim 10, wherein:
said at least one layer of non-woven fibrous material comprises upstream and downstream layers of non-woven fibrous material disposed in an overlying, tightly stacked relationship;
said downstream layer of non-woven fibrous material has a water repellency that is substantially greater than the water repellency of said upstream layer of non-woven fibrous material, based upon similar thicknesses of said material layers; and
said upstream layer of non-woven fibrous material has a water repellency in the range of 3.0-30.0 inches of Water Gauge per test standard MIL-STD-282.
12. An apparatus as set forth in claim 11, wherein:
at least one of said sheets of non-woven fibrous material has a basis weight in the range of 25.0-100.0 lbs.ft.2 and a thickness in the range of 10.0-30.0 mils.
13. An apparatus as set forth in claim 12, wherein:
at least one of said sheets of non-woven fibrous material has a mean flow pore size in the range of 0.5-8.0 microns and a stiffness in the range of 1000.0-3000.0 mgs.
14. A liquidliquid coalescer element for removing dispersed contaminant liquid water particles from liquid fuels, lubricants and other oil based industrial liquids, comprising:
a porous support tube having a hollow interior, a radially oriented exterior surface, a radially oriented interior surface, and a permeable sidewall through which an oil based industrial liquid flows in an inside out direction from said interior surface to said exterior surface; and
a coalescer pleat block having a hollow interior, a radially oriented exterior surface, and a radially oriented interior surface overlying said exterior surface of said support tube, and including a plurality of individual pleats arranged side-by-side and formed from an integrated, multilayer coalescence media, comprising:
at least one layer of non-woven fibrous material that is partially wettable by the dispersed contaminant liquid water particles in the oil based industrial liquid, having a downstream face, an oppositely disposed upstream face disposed adjacent to said exterior surface of said support tube, and a predetermined thickness, mean flow pore size, hydrophilic level and stiffness sufficient to commence coalescence of the dispersed contaminant liquid water particles in the incoming oil based industrial fluid as the same flows therethrough and thereby forming a plurality of relatively small primary water droplets; and
at least one sheet of precisely woven monofilament fabric that is substantially completely wettable by the dispersed contaminant liquid water particles in the oil based industrial liquid, having a downstream face, an oppositely disposed upstream face abuttingly overlying said downstream face of said layer of non-woven fibrous material, and a fixed open mesh with uniformly sized and spaced apart pore openings, and a predetermined mean flow pore size and hydrophilic level sufficient to continue coalescence of the dispersed contaminant liquid water particles in the incoming oil based industrial liquid in a manner such that as the oil based industrial liquid passes through said pleat block, said primary water droplets flow in a generally uniform pattern from said downstream face of said layer of non-woven fibrous material onto said upstream face of said sheet of precisely woven monofilament fiber, attach to the monofilament fibers of said open mesh due to strong droplet wettability over the same, and while so attached, experience bidirectional hydrodynamic interactions with adjacent primary water droplets and the oil based industrial liquid flowing therethrough which cause said primary water droplets to deform and reflow on said sheet of precisely woven monofilament fiber, thereby growing the same in size into relatively large secondary water droplets, which in turn are distributed in a generally homogeneous spatial relationship across said downstream face of said sheet of precisely woven monofilament fiber, and continue to grow in size thereon through reflowing andor colliding with other primary andor secondary water droplets into relatively large water drops having a size sufficient that the viscous drag forces of the oil based industrial liquid flowing through said coalescer element cause said large water drops to release from said downstream face of said precisely woven monofilament fabric and fall downwardly under gravitational forces from said pleat block for collection adjacent a bottom portion of said coalescer element.
15. An apparatus as set forth in claim 14, wherein:
said sheet of precisely woven monofilament fabric is constructed from a material with hydrophilic fiber surfaces having a degree of fabric wettability in the range of 0.0-90.0 degrees contact angle.
16. An apparatus as set forth in claim 15, wherein:
said sheet of precisely woven monofilament fabric is constructed of fixedly interconnected threads having a diameter in the range of 5.0-100.0 microns.
17. An apparatus as set forth in claim 16, wherein:
said pore openings in said sheet of precisely woven monofilament fabric have an average size in the range of 5.0-150.0 microns.
18. An apparatus as set forth in claim 17, wherein:
said multilayer coalescence media includes a plurality of sheets of said precisely woven monofilament fabric arranged with adjacent faces thereof overlying each other in a tight stack, whereby said bidirectional hydrodynamic interactions of said primary water droplets with adjacent primary water droplets and the oil based industrial liquid take place both across said faces of said sheets in a direction generally normal to the direction of flow of the oil based industrial fluid, and through said stack of said sheets in a direction generally parallel to the direction of flow of the oil based industrial fluid.
19. An apparatus as set forth in claim 18, wherein:
said support tube is partially wettable by the dispersed contaminant water particles in the oil based industrial fluid to ensure substantially homogeneous distribution of the oil based industrial liquid onto said upstream face of said coalescer pleat block, and is constructed from porous pipe having a pore opening size in the range of 5.0-100.0 microns.
20. A method for removing contaminants from liquid fuels, lubricants and other oil based industrial liquids, comprising:
filtering solid particles from a selected oil based industrial fluid; and
after said solid particle filtering step, coalescing dispersed contaminant liquid water particles from the oil based industrial fluid, including the steps of:
forming a porous support tube with a hollow interior, a radially oriented exterior surface, a radially oriented interior surface, and a permeable sidewall through which an oil based industrial liquid flows in an inside out direction from the interior surface to the exterior surface;
forming a coalescer pleat block with a hollow interior, a radially oriented exterior surface, and a radially oriented interior surface shaped to overlie the exterior surface of the support tube, and including:
providing at least one layer of non-woven fibrous material that is partially wettable by the dispersed contaminant liquid water particles in the oil based industrial liquid, with an upstream face, an oppositely disposed downstream face, and a predetermined thickness, mean flow pore size, hydrophilic level and stiffness sufficient to commence coalescence of the dispersed contaminant liquid water particles in the incoming oil based industrial fluid as the same flows therethrough;
providing at least one sheet of precisely woven monofilament fabric that is substantially completely wettable by the dispersed contaminant liquid water particles in the oil based industrial liquid, with a downstream face, an oppositely disposed upstream face, and a fixed open mesh with uniformly sized and spaced apart pore openings, and a predetermined mean flow pore size and hydrophilic level sufficient to continue coalescence of the dispersed contaminant liquid water particles in the incoming oil based industrial liquid;
positioning the upstream face of the sheet of precisely woven monofilament fabric abuttingly over the downstream face of the layer of non-woven fibrous material in a tightly stacked relationship;
pleating the stacked layer of non-woven fibrous material and the sheet of precisely woven monofilament fabric to securely interconnect the same and form a media strip with a plurality of individual pleats arranged in a side-by-side relationship;
cutting the media strip to a predetermined length; and
forming the cut media strip into a predetermined shape similar to the exterior surface of the support tube and sealingly interconnecting adjacent edges to define the coalescer pleat block;
positioning the coalescer pleat block around the support tube with the upstream face of the layer of non-woven fibrous material disposed adjacent to the exterior surface of the support tube;
flowing the oil based industrial liquid sequentially through the porous support tube and the pleat block in an inside out direction, thereby forming relatively small primary water droplets in the layer of non-woven fibrous material, and flowing the same in a generally uniform pattern from the downstream face of the layer of non-woven fibrous material onto the upstream face of the sheet of precisely woven monofilament fiber, attaching the same to the monofilament fibers of the open mesh due to strong droplet wettability over the same, and while so attached, experiencing bidirectional hydrodynamic interactions with adjacent primary water droplets and the oil based industrial liquid flowing therethrough causing the primary water droplets to deform and reflow on the sheet of precisely woven monofilament fiber, thereby growing the same in size into relatively large secondary water droplets, which in turn are distributed in a generally homogeneous spatial relationship across the downstream face of the sheet of precisely woven monofilament fiber, and continue growing in size thereon through reflowing andor colliding with other primary andor secondary water droplets into relatively large water drops having a size sufficient that the viscous drag forces of the oil based industrial liquid flowing through the coalescer element cause said large water drops to release from said downstream face of the precisely woven monofilament fabric and fall downwardly under gravitational forces from said pleat block to a bottom portion of said coalescer element; and
collecting the large water drops at the bottom portion of the coalescer element and removing the same from the oil based industrial liquid for disposal.
21. A method for removing dispersed contaminant liquid water particles from liquid fuels, lubricants and other oil based industrial liquids, comprising:
forming a porous support tube with a hollow interior, a radially oriented exterior surface, a radially oriented interior surface, and a permeable sidewall through which an oil based industrial liquid flows in an inside out direction from the interior surface to the exterior surface; and
forming a coalescer pleat block with a hollow interior, a radially oriented exterior surface, and a radially oriented interior surface shaped to overlie the exterior surface of the support tube, and including:
providing at least one layer of non-woven fibrous material that is partially wettable by the dispersed contaminant liquid water particles in the oil based industrial liquid, with an upstream face, an oppositely disposed downstream face, and a predetermined thickness, mean flow pore size, hydrophilic level and stiffness sufficient to commence coalescence of the dispersed contaminant liquid water particles in the incoming oil based industrial fluid as the same flows therethrough;
providing at least one sheet of precisely woven monofilament fabric that is substantially completely wettable by the dispersed contaminant liquid water particles in the oil based industrial liquid, with a downstream face, an oppositely disposed upstream face, and a fixed open mesh with uniformly sized and spaced apart pore openings, and a predetermined mean flow pore size and hydrophilic level sufficient to continue coalescence of the dispersed contaminant liquid water particles in the incoming oil based industrial liquid;
positioning the upstream face of the sheet of precisely woven monofilament fabric abuttingly over the downstream face of the layer of non-woven fibrous material in a tightly stacked relationship;
pleating the stacked layer of non-woven fibrous material and the sheet of precisely woven monofilament fabric to securely interconnect the same and form a media strip with a plurality of individual pleats arranged in a side-by-side relationship;
cutting the media strip to a predetermined length;
forming the cut media strip into a predetermined shape similar to the exterior surface of the support tube and sealingly interconnecting adjacent edges to define the coalescer pleat block;
positioning the coalescer pleat block around the support tube with the upstream face of the layer of non-woven fibrous material disposed adjacent to the exterior surface of the support tube;
flowing the oil based industrial liquid sequentially through the porous support tube and the pleat block in an inside out direction, thereby forming relatively small primary water droplets in the layer of non-woven fibrous material, and flowing the same in a generally uniform pattern from the downstream face of the layer of non-woven fibrous material onto the upstream face of the sheet of precisely woven monofilament fiber, attaching the same to the monofilament fibers of the open mesh due to strong droplet wettability over the same, and while so attached, experiencing bidirectional hydrodynamic interactions with adjacent primary water droplets and the oil based industrial liquid flowing therethrough causing the primary water droplets to deform and reflow on the sheet of precisely woven monofilament fiber, thereby growing the same in size into relatively large secondary water droplets, which in turn are distributed in a generally homogeneous spatial relationship across the downstream face of the sheet of precisely woven monofilament fiber, and continue growing in size thereon through reflowing andor colliding with other primary andor secondary water droplets into relatively large water drops having a size sufficient that the viscous drag forces of the oil based industrial liquid flowing through the coalescer element cause said large water drops to release from said downstream face of the precisely woven monofilament fabric and fall downwardly under gravitational forces from said pleat block to a bottom portion of said coalescer element; and
collecting the large water drops at the bottom portion of the coalescer element and removing the same from the oil based industrial liquid for disposal.
22. A liquidliquid coalescer element for removing dispersed contaminant liquid water particles from liquid fuels, lubricants and other oil based industrial liquids, comprising:
a support tube having a hollow interior, a radially oriented exterior surface, a radially oriented interior surface, and a permeable sidewall through which an oil based industrial liquid flows in an inside out direction from said interior surface to said exterior surface;
a coalescer cartridge having a hollow interior, a radially oriented exterior surface, a radially oriented interior surface overlying said exterior surface of said support tube, and an integrated, multilayer coalescence media, comprising:
at least one layer of non-woven fibrous material that is partially wettable by the dispersed contaminant liquid water particles in the oil based industrial liquid, having a downstream face, an oppositely disposed upstream face disposed adjacent to said exterior surface of said support tube, and a predetermined thickness, mean flow pore size, hydrophilic level and stiffness sufficient to commence coalescence of the dispersed contaminant liquid water particles in the incoming oil based industrial fluid as the same flows therethrough and thereby forming a plurality of relatively small primary water droplets; and
at least one sheet of precisely woven monofilament fabric that is substantially wettable by the dispersed contaminant liquid water particles in the oil based industrial liquid, having a downstream face, an oppositely disposed upstream face abuttingly overlying said downstream face of said layer of non-woven fibrous material, and a fixed open mesh with uniformly sized and spaced apart pore openings, and a predetermined mean flow pore size and hydrophilic level sufficient to continue coalescence of the dispersed contaminant liquid water particles in the incoming oil based industrial liquid; and
a rigid support jacket having a hollow interior in which said coalescer cartridge is closely received, a radially oriented interior surface abutting said downstream face of said sheet of precisely woven monofilament fabric, and a perforate sidewall through which the oil based industrial liquid flows.
23. A coalescer element as set forth in claim 22, wherein:
said sheet of precisely woven monofilament fabric is constructed from a material with hydrophilic fiber surfaces having a degree of fabric wettability in the range of 0.0-90.0 degrees contact angle.
24. A coalescer element as set forth in claim 23, wherein:
said sheet of precisely woven monofilament fabric is constructed of fixedly interconnected threads having a diameter in the range of 5.0-100.0 microns.
25. A coalescer element as set forth in claim 24, wherein:
said pore openings in said sheet of precisely woven monofilament fabric have an average size in the range of 5.0-150.0 microns.
26. A coalescer element as set forth in claim 25, wherein:
said multilayer coalescence media includes a plurality of sheets of said precisely woven monofilament fabric arranged with adjacent faces thereof overlying each other in a tight stack, whereby bidirectional hydrodynamic interactions of said primary water droplets with adjacent primary water droplets and the oil based industrial liquid take place both across said faces of said sheets in a direction generally normal to the direction of flow of the oil based industrial fluid, and through said stack of said sheets in a direction generally parallel to the direction of flow of the oil based industrial fluid.
27. A coalescer element as set forth in claim 26, wherein:
said support tube is partially wettable by the dispersed contaminant water particles in the oil based industrial fluid to ensure substantially homogeneous distribution of the oil based industrial liquid onto said upstream face of said coalescer pleat block.
28. A coalescer element as set forth in claim 27, wherein:
said porous support tube is constructed from polyethylene porous pipe having a pore opening size in the range of 5.0-100.0 microns.
29. A coalescer element as set forth in claim 28, wherein:
said layer of non-woven fibrous material has a water repellency in the range of 3.0-30.0 inches of Water Gauge per test standard MIL-STD-282.
30. A coalescer element as set forth in claim 29, wherein:
said layer of non-woven fibrous material has a basis weight in the range of 25.0-100.0 lbs.ft.2.
31. A coalescer element as set forth in claim 30, wherein:
said layer of non-woven fibrous material has a mean flow pore size in the range of 0.5-10.0 microns and a stiffness in the range of 1000.0-3000.0 mgs.
32. A coalescer element as set forth in claim 31, wherein:
said layer of non-woven fibrous material comprises upstream and downstream layers of non-woven fibrous material disposed in an overlying, tightly stacked relationship; and
said downstream layer of non-woven fibrous material has a water repellency that is substantially greater than the water repellency of said upstream layer of non-woven fibrous material, based upon similar thicknesses of said material layers.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A heated massage ball comprising:
a spherically shaped ball;
a grip body formed as a handheld unit having a massaging side and an opposing bottom side, wherein the massaging side has a first aperture that the ball protrudes out of for massaging wherein the ball is held within the grip body and can rotate freely within the grip body;
a finger hole formed as a second aperture and bottom opening in the bottom side of the grip; whereby a user can eject the ball from the grip body by depressing the ball through the bottom opening a heated conductor electrically heated, the heated conductor extending through the bottom opening and touching the ball for heating by thermal conduction.
2. The heated massage ball of claim 1 wherein the ball is hollow and at least partially filled with liquid, whereby a user can heat the ball in a microwave.
3. The heated ball of claim 1 further comprising:
a heated base;
a base depression snugly receiving the grip body and ball, wherein the heating conductor element heats water when water is present in the base depression, wherein when a user puts the ball unit into the base depression, the ball is heated to present temperature.
4. The heated ball of claim 3, further comprising a display showing the preset ball temperature.
5. The heated ball of claim 3, further comprising a knob for setting the preset ball temperature.
6. The heated ball of claim 3, further comprising a thermocouple in the conductor and wherein a display further indicates the actual temperature of the massage ball.
7. The heated ball of claim 3, further comprising a power button and a power cord.
8. The heated ball of claim 3, wherein the depression is filled with a heating liquid and retains the heating liquid is the heating liquid heated by the heated conductor wherein the ball receives heat by conduction from the heating liquid.
9. The heated ball of claim 8 wherein the heating element does not contact the ball.
10. The heated ball of claim 9 further including:
an induction coil is included within the grip body, the induction coil for heating the ball and electrically connected to two contacts on a bottom side of the grip, and
two electrical contacts in the depression of the base, the two electrical contacts electrically connected to the circuit,
whereby when the grip body is retained in the depression of the base the electrical contacts of the base make electrical contact to the corresponding contacts of the grip body for supplying power to the induction coil.
11. A heated massage ball comprising:
a spherically shaped ball;
a grip body formed as a handheld unit holding the spherically shaped ball, wherein the ball can rotate freely within the grip; wherein the grip body has a massaging side and an opposing bottom side, wherein the massaging side has a first aperture that the ball protrudes out of for massaging;
a bottom opening in the grip body;
a second aperture in the bottom of the grip formed as a finger hole allowing a user to eject the ball from the grip body by depressing the ball through the finger hole; and
an electrically heated conductor extending through the bottom opening and touching the ball for heating by thermal conduction.