Abstract:
AIR CLEANERS ARE PROVIDED PARTICULARLY SUITED FOR USE AS ONE OF AN ARRAY OF CLOSELY SPACED AIR CLEANERS FOR EFFICIENTLY REMOVING CONTAMINANT PARTICLES FROM RELATIVELY HIGH VELOCITY AIR WITH A LOW PRESSURE DROP. THE AIR CLEARNER HAS A TUBULAR BODY, WITH AN INLET AT ONE END, AN OUTLET AT THE OPPOSITE END, AND A CENTRAL PASSAGE THEREBETWEEN, AND A DEFLECTOR COAXIALLY MOUNTED IN THE PASSAGE ADJACENT THE INLET CREATING A VORTEX STREAM OF INFLUENT AIR IN THE PASSAGE, WITH A GENERALLY COAXIALLY TUBULAR OUTLET MEMBER POSITIONED WITHIN THE OUTLET END OF THE TUBULAR BODY, SEPARATING THE CONTAMINANT PARTICLES AT THE PERIPHERY FROM RELATIVELY CLEAN AIR AT THE CORE OF THE TURBULENT FLOW OF AIR THROUGH THE PASSAGE. IN ONE EMBODIMENT, THE PASSAGE HAS AN INSIDE DIAMETER OF LESS THAN ABOUT ONE INCH, AND THE VANES OF THE DEFLECTOR EXTEND ALONG THE CENTRAL PASSAGE FOR A LENGTH WITHIN THE RANGE FROM ABOUT 50% TO ABOUT 60% OF THE TOTAL LENGTH OF THE PASSAGE. IN ANOTHER EMBODIMENT, THE PITCH LENGTH IN INCHES OF THE VANES OF THE DEFLECTOR AND THE INSIDE DIAMETER IN INCHES OF CENTRAL PASSAGE OF THE TUBULAR BODY HAVE A RELATIONSHIP THAT IS EXPRESSD ACCORDING TO THE EQUATION PL=KD.68, IN WHICH K IS WITHIN THE RANGE FROM ABOUT 2.2 TO ABOUT 3.2.