Weatherford/lamb, Inc.

United States Filter Corporation

Johnson Filtration Systems

Philippe O Lavernhe

David Bruxelle

Raphaël Reig

Alain M Blanchon

Pierre M Ham

Hossein A Naderi

Replaceable outer support structurefor a particulate material bedin a radial flow system comprises a plurality of hollow conduits, at least some of which have a generally trapezoidal cross-section. The conduits are arranged in a ring around the inside wall surfaceof the vesseland have flat or slightly concave inner wall surfacesformed of segments of vertically extending screen members which have slots or openingswhich provide uniform flow through the uniform thickness particulate bed which they help define The side wallsof the conduits extend generally radially outwardly to engage the inner surfaceof the outside wallof the vessel and at least those of them which have a trapezoidal cross-section have their side walls formed at an included angle &#x3b1; which is less than if they extended radially relative to the axis of the vessel. An embodiment having alternating generally trapezoidaland generally rectangular cross-sectionsfor the conduit members maximizes the total internal flow area of the ring of conduits as compared to an embodiment in which all of the conduit members have a trapezoidal shape, while still allowing the inward movement of individual conduit members during installation or replacement operations.

Plural conduit replaceable outer support structure for radial flow system

The drain element for collecting hydrocarbons comprises a screen (TM) surrounding a suction cylinder (CA) extending in a longitudinal direction (AL). The screen is made up of rods (TT, TC) which extend along said longitudinal direction (AL) and which are regularly spaced apart around the suction cylinder. At least one of said rods is hollow in order to form a collector rod (TC), said collector rod (TC) having a lateral orifice and communicating with the inside of the suction cylinder via one of its ends.

Drain element comprising a liner consisting of hollow rods for collecting in particular hydrocarbons

A compact double screen assembly (20), which can be used alone or mounted on a perforated pipe base (22), has a plurality of rods (30) arranged in cylindrical fashion around an axis (23). A wire (34) is helically wound about the rods (30) and welded thereto at every intersection. Adjacent rods (30) are separated by an inter-rod gap having a slot distance X while adjacent turns of the wire have an inter-turn slot distance Y therebetween. The rods (30) are closely spaced together such that the inter-rod slot distance X is on the order of 80-120% of the inter-turn slot distance Y, and preferably equal to it. A packing cavity (42) is provided between the rods (30) and the wire (34) for accommodating a porous media or packing material (40). Specially tapered or concave sidewall surfaces on the rods (30) according to the present invention enhance the size of the packing cavity (42) and, when the assembly is mounted on a perforated pipe base 22, permit flow to take place beneath the rods through perforations (24) in the pipe base (22). Rods (30', 30', 30'', 30'') according to the present invention have a center of mass which is closer to a pipe base-contacting end (52) of the rod than to a wire-contacting apex (52) of the rod.

Compact double screen assembly

Growing community of inventors

Poitiers, France

Philippe O Lavernhe