Injection of a solids-laden water stream into a centrifugal separator

Abstract

A centrifugal separator comprising a separation barrel with an upper end, a lower end, a central axis, and an internal circularly cylindrical axially extending wall forming a separation chamber, a collection chamber adjacent to the lower end, a spin plate extending across the separation chamber adjacent to the lower end, a solids slot adjacent to the lower end fluidly interconnecting the collection chamber and separation chamber, a closure containing the upper end having a centrally located exit port, an acceptance chamber wall surrounding the separation barrel adjacent to the upper end to form an annular acceptance chamber between the separation barrel and the acceptance chamber wall, a supply nozzle tangentially entering the annular acceptance chamber and forming a circular flow therein, and a plurality of radially spaced apart axially-extending slots passing through the wall of the separation barrel fluidly interconnecting the annular acceptance chamber and the separation chamber, entering the separation chamber tangentially in the same rotational direction as the rotational direction in the acceptance chamber, each of the slots having an upper end and a lower end; the slots being formed in a plurality of axially-disposed ranks, each rank including a plurality of equally angularly spaced apart slots, the upper ends of the slots in each lower rank having an elevation not appreciably higher than the lower ends of the slots in the rank just above it, the slots being formed in a staggered pattern.