Alignment Tool and Clamping Mechanism for Collecting Plates

Electrostatic separators are commonly used to separate particulates which are entrained in an air or gas stream. For example, in the power generation industry fossil fuel, such as bituminous coal, is pulverized, burned, water in a boiler generates steam, and the steam drives steam turbines which in turn drive generators to produce electricity. The ash resulting from the burnt fossil fuel is blown into electrostatic separators which may include a series of housings defining chambers in which electrostatic collecting plates are suspended and/or supported in so-called "fields" and "bays." Thousands of such collecting plates are located in a typical chamber and these collecting plates must be in precise parallel spaced relationship to each other with planes passing therethrough being generally parallel to the air flow through the chambers. As the particulate-entrained air passes between the collection plates, the particulate material is separated therefrom electrostatically in a conventional manner, drops to the bottom of the housing and is discharged through conventional hoppers with the clean air leaving the housing through an associated discharge opening for further treatment, should such be necessary, as might be dictated by emission criteria of state, municipal or federal agencies, such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Typically, a single collecting plate ranges in height between approximately 40-48 feet and a typical width would be approximately 11/4 feet. Typically, each collecting plate might weigh between 173-207 pounds and normally such plates are roll formed and are easily bent and/or twisted. Thus, extreme care must be exercised at all times in handling the collecting plates, including during installation, maintenance, etc.

However, collecting plates are subject to normal distortion over time and the desired parallelism between adjacent collecting plates can lessen to a point at which one or more collecting plates can become extremely inefficient and/or inoperative. A typical collecting plate might over time develop undesired longitudinal camber, longitudinal bow, transverse twist, transverse bow, or the like. Longitudinal camber in a collecting plate of approximately 40-48 feet must be in the range of plus or minus 3/16". Longitudinal bow of a like dimensioned collecting plate must not exceed 1/16" in 3 feet of collecting plate length. The total transverse twist of the collecting plate must be no more than 3/4", whereas the transverse bow must be between plus or minus 1/8". Thus, tolerances of collecting plates must be exactingly maintained over time to likewise maintain the efficiency of the associated electrostatic separation process. Heretofore, distorted, bent, twisted, etc. collecting plates had to be removed and replaced by new collecting plates or those found unacceptable tolerance-wise or might otherwise be inoperative were necessarily removed, repaired and replaced, all at appreciable costs, including, of course, downtime of the electrostatic separator or at least a portion thereof (bay and/or field) from which particular collecting plates are being repaired and/or replaced.

In keeping with the foregoing, the present invention is directed to a novel alignment tool which can be utilized to align any misaligned collecting plates of an electrostatic separator and, upon alignment thereof, a novel clamping mechanism is utilized to maintain the now-aligned collecting plates in proper spaced substantially parallel relationship relative to each other and to the direction of air flow therebetween in a typical electrostatic separator installation.

The novel alignment tool of the present invention includes a pair of alignment members which are relative long and can span a plurality of the collecting plates, at least one of which is misaligned, but all of which must be aligned with each other relative to a common plane which is also parallel to the direction of air flow through the electrostatic separator. At least one of the alignment members, but preferably both, are of a shallow convex curvature along the length thereof and the convex surfaces are positioned in opposing relationship to each other at opposite sides of a line of the collecting plates. Opposite ends of the alignment members are then forcefully brought together which brings the alignment members into parallel relationship to each other and inherently forces all of the collecting plates sandwiched therebetween, including any misaligned collecting plates, into aligned relationship to each other in a common plane. The elongated members of the alignment tool are then at least temporarily secured together incident to clamping the aligned collecting plates together. The clamping mechanism for clamping the aligned collecting plates together includes a pair of elongated clamping rods, one of which carries a series of loops with the loops being spaced from each other a distance slightly greater than the width of the collecting plates such that each loop can be positioned in a gap between adjacent collecting plates. Each loop projects through the gaps and a second clamping rod is slid through the loops thereby clampingly sandwiching the aligned collecting plates together after which the alignment tool can be removed and reused to repeat the process to align any other misaligned collecting plates requiring alignment.

With the above and other objects in view that will hereinafter appear, the nature of the invention will be more clearly understood by reference to the following detailed description, the appended claims and the several views illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an electrostatic separator, and illustrates a housing defining a chamber in which a multiplicity of collecting plates are hung/supported and into which particulates entrained in air are fed incident to conventional electrostatic separation.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary perspective view with parts broken away for clarity of the electrostatic separator of FIG. 1, and illustrates a plurality of collecting plates grouped in bays and fields with the collecting plates being disposed in spaced generally parallel planes and between which particulate entrained air flows from left-to-right.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary perspective view of one of a pair of elongated alignment members defining an alignment tool of the present invention, and illustrates the substantially convex curvature thereof.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged transverse cross-sectional view taken generally along line 4--4 of FIG. 3, and illustrates the generally C-shaped cross-sectional configuration of the alignment member.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a temporary holding clamp which holds the alignment members of the alignment tool together in generally parallel relationship during the performance of a collecting plate alignment process, as is further illustrated in FIGS. 9 and 11 of the drawings.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a loop or link, and illustrates the general configuration thereof prior to being welded to an elongated clamping rod (FIGS. 12 and 13) of a clamping mechanism.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a bracket, and illustrates the particular configuration thereof which is secured to selected ones of the collecting plates to augment support of the clamping mechanism of FIGS. 12 through 14.

FIG. 8 is a schematic top plan view looking down in FIG. 2 at one of the rows of collecting plates which are illustrated as being misaligned, and illustrates the position of the elongated alignment members incident to the performance of an alignment procedure.

FIG. 9 is a top view, similar to FIG. 8, and illustrates the alignment members being brought into generally parallel relationship to each other which automatically aligns the misaligned collecting plates relative to each other and to other aligned collecting plates.

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view taken generally along line 10--10 of FIG. 9, and illustrates the alignment members in parallel relationship to each other and in abutting contact with opposite sides of all of the collecting plates for retaining the collecting plates in generally parallel relationship to each other and to a common plate.

FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view similiar to FIG. 10 but taken along line 11--11 of FIG. 9, and illustrates a temporary holding clamp for temporarily holding the alignment members together relative to the aligned collecting plates.

FIG. 12 is a perspective view of a first clamping rod or member of a clamping mechanism for permanently holding the aligned collecting plates in aligned relationship, and illustrates a plurality of loops projecting transversely from the first clamping rod.

FIG. 13 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken generally along line 13--13 of FIG. 12, and illustrates the manner in which a plurality of the loops of FIG. 6 are individually welded along the length of the first clamping rod.

FIG. 14 is a perspective view of a second clamping rod or member of the clamping mechanism, and illustrates the second clamping rod having a tapered end.

FIG. 15 is a fragmentary enlarged view of the tapered end of the second clamping rod of FIG. 14, and illustrates the tapered end having an offset axis relative to a central axis of the elongated second clamping rod.

FIG. 16 is an end view looking from left-to-right in FIG. 15, and more clearly illustrates the offset tapered end.

FIG. 17 is a perspective view of the alignment members of FIG. 9, and illustrates the manner in which the first clamping rod of FIG. 12 is positioned atop a horizontal wall of one of the elongated alignment members with each loop disposed vertically and aligned with an associated gap between adjacent aligned collector plates.

FIG. 18 is a perspective view similar to FIG. 17, but illustrates the opposite side of the collecting plates after the first rod has been pivoted approximately 90 degrees to project the loops through the gaps between the collecting plates and after the second clamping rod has been passed through the loops.

FIG. 19 is an enlarged fragmentary view looking from left-to-right in FIG. 17, and more clearly illustrates the position of the first clamping rod and its associated loops incident to being rotated through 90 degrees.

FIG. 20 is a perspective view looking from right-to-left in FIG. 18, and illustrates the clamped position of the two clamping rods.

FIG. 21 is a perspective view similar to FIG. 18, and illustrates the alignment members removed from the now aligned and clamped collecting plates.

FIG. 22 is a perspective view of the last two of the clamping collecting plates illustrated in FIG. 1, and illustrates the bracket of FIG. 7 secured to a lateral edge of the last collecting plate and receiving in supporting relationship an endmost one of the loops.

A conventional electrostatic static separator S is illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawings and includes an inlet I and an outlet O through which flows a particulate/air admixture and relatively clean air, respectively. The electrostatic separator S includes a main housing defining an interior chamber C which might, for example, be subdivided into a plurality of conventional fields and bays in which are conventionally hung and/or supported conventional electrostatic collecting plates Cp which remove particulates from the air/particulate admixture in a conventional manner. These particulates are subsequently discharged through bottom hoppers H.

As is best illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 8 of the drawings, the collecting plates Cp are aligned in spaced relationship in substantially vertical planes, such as the planes P1, P2 shown in FIGS. 2 and 8 of the drawings. The collecting plates Cp and each plane P, P1, . . . Pn or the like, are spaced from each other a predetermined distance to define therebetween a gap G (FIG. 8). The collecting plates Cp are individually identified in FIG. 8 by the reference characters Cp1 through Cp9. The collecting plates Cp1, Cp2, Cp4-Cp6 and Cp9 lie substantially in the plane P1, for example. However, the collecting plates Cp3 and Cp8 are misaligned, namely, each is out of the plane P1 because of longitudinal camber while the collecting plate Cp7 is transversely twisted. The misalignment of the collecting plates Cp3, Cp7 and Cp8 is unacceptable because of reduced efficiency and/or attendant shorting or grounding which can prevent electrostatic separation of the particulates from the air/particulate admixture. Therefore, it is highly desirable and virtually necessary that all of the collecting plates Cp in a particular plane P1 are substantially aligned and the latter assures that substantially identical spacing Sp (FIG. 2) is maintained between all collecting plates Cp in adjacent planes P1, P2, . . . Pn through which air A passes in generally parallel relationship thereto from left-to-right in FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawings.

A novel alignment tool for aligning the misaligned collecting plates Cp3, Cp7 and Cp8 in a group of collecting plates Cp (FIG. 8) is generally designated by the reference numeral 10 and includes a pair of substantially identical elongated alignment members 11, 12, each of which is of a generally C-shaped cross-sectional configuration, as is best illustrated in FIG. 4 of the drawings. Each of the elongated alignment members 11, 12 includes a vertical wall or bight wall 13, a lower generally horizontal wall 14 and an upper, generally horizontal wall 15 with the walls 14, 15 being in substantially parallel relationship to each other (FIG. 4). The bight wall or vertical wall 13 of each of the elongated alignment members 11, 12 includes an exterior generally convex surfaces Cs (FIGS. 3, 4 and 8). Each elongated alignment member 11, 12 is preferably constructed from relatively resilient metallic material, though each alignment member 11, 12 can be constructed from synthetic polymeric/copolymeric plastic material. The curvature of each of the elongated alignment members 11, 12 is exaggerated in FIG. 8 for purposes of description, and the actual curvature is far less shallow than that illustrated. The curvature of the alignment members 11, 12 must be sufficiently shallow to allow the same to be inserted in the spaces Sp between the collecting plates Cp in the adjacent planes P1, P2 . . . Pn, and once inserted on opposite sides of a plane P1 (FIG. 8) and the collecting plates Cp therein, the opposite ends (unnumbered) of the elongated alignment members 11, 12 are manually pushed toward each other by, for example, a person standing at each end thereof and applying oppositely directed forces, as is indicated by the force-indicating arrows F of FIG. 8. As the elongated alignment members 11, 12 are brought to their parallel position (FIG. 9), the convex surfaces Cs thereof bear against and eventually bring the misaligned collecting plates Cp3, Cp7 and Cp8 into planar alignment substantially with the remaining collecting plates and substantially in the plane P1, as is illustrated in FIG. 9 of the drawings.

Due to the inherent resilience of the elongated alignment members 11, 12, the same tend to rebound from the position shown in FIG. 9 to the position shown in FIG. 8 upon the release of the forces F. Accordingly, the parallel relationship of the alignment members 11, 12 shown in FIGS. 9 and 10 of the drawings must be retained incident to permanently clamping together the collecting members Cp in the aligned relationship shown in FIG. 9.

As is best illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 11 of the drawings, temporary clamping means for clamping together the alignment members 11, 12 is generally designated by the reference numeral 20 which includes a generally shallow C-shaped clamping block of metal, wood, rubber, plastic or the like. The clamping block includes a bight portion 21 and a pair of generally parallel leg portions 22, 23 which are generally in spaced parallel relationship to each other. The leg portions 22, 23 are slipped or pushed upwardly from the phantom outline position shown in FIG. 10 to the solid line position shown in FIG. 11 during which time the forces F remain applied to the ends (unnumbered) of the alignment members 11, 12. However, when the forces F are released, the natural rebound characteristics of the resilient elongated alignment members 11, 12 bring the free edges (unnumbered) of the lower horizontal walls 14 of each of the alignment members 11, 12 into clamping engagement with the legs 22, 23, respectively (FIG. 11). In the position illustrated in FIGS. 9 and 11, all of the collecting plates Cp are temporarily held substantially in the plane P1 by the clamping means 20 and, of course, must be permanently held thus aligned upon the removal of the clamping means 20 from the alignment means 10.

In FIGS. 12 through 14 of the drawings is illustrated a clamping mechanism 30 for permanently clamping the collecting plates Cp in the aligned condition illustrated in FIGS. 9 and 10 of the drawings. The permanent clamping mechanism or means 30 includes a first clamping member 31 (FIGS. 12 and 13) and a second clamping member 32. The first clamping member 31 includes an elongated cylindrical clamping rod 33 formed of metallic material and having welded along its length a plurality of loops 34 each including an opening 35. The loops 34 are spaced from each other a distance D which corresponds essentially to the center-to-center distance D' (FIG. 8) between adjacent gaps G between the collecting plates Cp. Thus, each loop 34 can be presented in and passed through each of the gaps G. Preferably, each loop 34 is simply a link, as shown in FIG. 6, which can be welded by appropriate welds W (FIG. 13) to the clamping rod 33.

The second clamping member or rod 32 is also constructed from metallic material, is generally a cylindrical rod, and includes a center axis 36 (FIG. 15). An end portion 37 of the rod 32 is tapered toward a terminal end 38 which is of a relatively small diameter and includes an offset axis 39 (FIG. 15) which is offset from but parallel to the center axis 36 of the rod 32. Thus, the tapered end 37 is itself offset or is non-concentric to the center axis 36 and when the clamping rod 32 is rotated about its center axis 36, the end 38 is displaced arcuately or orbitally about the center axis 36. Stated otherwise, when the clamping rod 32 is rotated, the axis 39 of the tapered end rotates about the center axis 36 to position the end 38 at any one of numerous different circumferential locations about the center axis 36, as viewed from left-to-right in FIG. 15. This allows the tapered end 37 to be more readily inserted through all of the openings 35 of the loops 34, as will be described more fully immediately hereinafter.

In FIG. 17 of the drawings, the alignment mechanism 10 is shown temporarily clamped in place, as was heretofore described relative to FIG. 9. In this position, all of the collecting plates Cp are in alignment with each other and are generally substantially in the plane P1 (See FIG. 9). In order to maintain all of the collecting plates Cp in the plane P1 when thus aligned, the clamping rod 31 of the permanent clamping mechanism 30 is positioned atop either of the horizontal walls 15 of the elongated alignment members 11, 12 with the loops upright and aligned with the gaps G between the collecting plates Cp (FIGS. 17 and 19). The clamping rod 31 is then rotated from the position shown in FIGS. 17 and 19 to the position shown in FIGS. 18 and 20 at which time the loops 34 project through the gaps G and rest atop the horizontal wall 15 of the alignment member 11. The clamping rod 32 can now be inserted through all of the openings 35 of the loops 34 by inserting the same from right-to-left or left-to-right, as viewed in FIG. 18 until the position illustrated in FIG. 18 is achieved. During this insertion, the clamping rod 32 can be rotated which circumferentially displaces the nose or end wall 38 to facilitate its insertion in any one of the openings 35 of any one of the loops 34 which might be somewhat offset from or slightly misaligned relative to the others of the loops 34. However, by appropriately longitudinally sliding and rotating the clamping rod 32 in clockwise and/or counterclockwise directions, the clamping rod 32 can be inserted into the final clamping position shown in FIG. 18. Once the latter position is achieved, the temporary clamping blocks 20 are removed and the natural resiliency of the previously misaligned collecting plates (CP3, Cp7, Cp8) tending to return to their misaligned positions hold the permanent clamping means or mechanism 30 in the position shown in FIG. 18 which in turn retains all the collecting plates Cp aligned in the plane P1.

If found necessary or desirable, a bracket 40 (FIGS. 7 and 22) having an offset ledge 41 and apertures 42 can be suitably secured by threaded bolts or screws passing through the apertures 42 into the endmost ones of the collecting plates Cp1 and Cp9 to support the clamping mechanism 30 by supporting the link 34 associated therewith, as is clearly evident in FIG. 22 of the drawings.

Though a single clamping mechanism 30 is shown in FIGS. 21 and 22, it is to be understood that more than one clamping mechanism 30 might necessarily be associated with each group of the collecting plates Cp. For example, the clamping mechanism 30 shown in FIG. 21 might be located substantially medially between opposite upper and lower ends (unnumbered) of the collecting plates Cp. However, if the misaligned collecting plates are severely misaligned, the clamping at the mid portions or medial portions thereof may not suffice to maintain the upper and lower ends of the misaligned collecting plates in aligned relationship. Therefore, the alignment mechanism 10 can be utilized as was earlier described in conjunction with the upper and lower ends of the collecting plates Cp, and additional permanent clamping mechanisms, such as the clamping mechanism 30, can be utilized at the same upper and lower ends of the collecting plates Cp to thereby positively permanently clamp together with such permanent clamping mechanism 30 the upper ends (unnumbered) of the collecting plates Cp, the mid portions thereof, as shown in FIG. 21, and the lower end portions.

Although a preferred embodiment of the invention has been specifically illustrated and described herein, it is to be understood that minor variations may be made in the apparatus without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, as defined the appended claims.