Known separator apparatuses use bundles of parallel corrugated wafers housed in panels that are bolted to a support structure. They generally also include a perforated sheet placed upstream from the bundles to spread out the incident flow of wet steam in a uniform manner. The perforated sheet is also bolted to the structure. Gutters are placed at the downstream end of the bundles of corrugated wafers. The gutters are of polygonal right cross section and serve to collect the water trapped by the corrugations of the wafers which water runs over the wafers and along their bottom edges. Drain tubes are connected to the gutters to remove the water.
Unfortunately, some drops of water get past the bundles of wafers and are entrained in the supposedly dried steam. One of the ways this can happen is for the water trapped by the wafers to flow under the effect of capillarity along their bottom edges and to form drops thereon which are then entrained by the flow rather than dropping into the gutters.
Preferred embodiments of the present invention considerably reduce the amount of water that gets past the apparatus in this manner.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds