Scrubber unit for a paint booth

{
  "publication_number": "US11084058B2",
  "country": "US",
  "kind": "B2",
  "title": "Scrubber unit for a paint booth",
  "abstract": "A paint booth assembly includes a paint booth having a pair of side walls and a flood sheet extending between the pair of side walls to separate the paint booth between a spray portion disposed above the flood sheet and a paint recovery portion disposed below the flood sheet. The flood sheet defines at least one flood sheet opening, and a scrubber unit extends down from the flood sheet opening to establish a shared path of fluid communication of a flow of water from the flood sheet and a downdraft of process air from the spray portion to the paint recovery portion. A scrubber pod is disposed within the scrubber unit and defines a plurality of perforations to induce an initial mixing of the paint particles entrained in the downdraft of process air into the flow of water.",
  "claims": [
    "1. A paint booth assembly including at least one scrubber unit for removing paint particles from a downdraft of air, the paint booth assembly comprising: a paint booth having a pair of side walls; a flood sheet extending between said pair of side walls to separate said paint booth between a spray portion disposed above said flood sheet and a paint recovery portion disposed below said flood sheet; said flood sheet defining at least one flood sheet opening for receiving a flow of water from said flood sheet and a downdraft of process air including entrained paint particles from said spray portion; a scrubber unit extending downwardly from said at least one flood sheet opening and including a mixing chute to establish a shared path of fluid communication of the flow of water and the downdraft of process air from said spray portion to said paint recovery portion; said scrubber unit including a scrubber pod removably disposed in said mixing chute and extending from a pod top being open and in fluid communication with said spray portion to a pod bottom being closed along a bottom edge; and said scrubber pod defining a plurality of perforations disposed between said pod top and said pod bottom to induce a mixing of the paint particles entrained in the downdraft of process air into the flow of water for improving an efficiency of recovery of the paint particles in the paint booth assembly.",
    "2. The paint booth assembly of claim 1, further comprising: said mixing chute extending downwardly from a mixing chute mouth disposed adjacent said at least one flood sheet opening to a mixing chute exit for establishing a residence time of the shared path of fluid communication within said scrubber unit; and said scrubber pod disposed adjacent said mixing chute mouth to induce the mixing of the paint particles into the flow of water during an early portion of the residence time of the shared path of fluid communication in said mixing chute.",
    "3. The paint booth assembly of claim 2 wherein said scrubber pod includes a pair of pod surfaces converging towards one another from said pod top to an integral connection extending along said bottom edge to establish said closed pod bottom and define a generally triangular prism shape for said scrubber pod.",
    "4. The paint booth assembly of claim 3 wherein said plurality of perforations are disposed in a series along each of said pair of pod surfaces and extend longitudinally from adjacent said pod top to adjacent said bottom edge.",
    "5. The paint booth assembly of claim 4 wherein each of said plurality of perforations having a rhombus shape.",
    "6. The paint booth assembly of claim 3 wherein said scrubber pod includes a lift bar extending centrally between said pair of pod surfaces and disposed adjacent said pod top for allowing a paint booth operator to remove said scrubber pod from said mixing chute.",
    "7. The paint booth assembly of claim 2 wherein said mixing chute includes a throat disposed between said scrubber pod and said mixing chute exit and narrowing relative to said mixing chute mouth and said mixing chute exit for increasing the velocity of the flow of water and the process air in the mixing chute to induce a subsequent mixing of the paint particles entrained in the downdraft of process air into the flow of water.",
    "8. The paint booth assembly of claim 7 wherein said throat is disposed in spaced and adjacent relationship with said mixing chute exit to define a body portion of said mixing chute extending between said mixing chute mouth and said throat and a terminal portion of said mixing chute extending between said throat and said mixing chute exit.",
    "9. The paint booth assembly of claim 8 wherein said body portion of said mixing chute having a body cross-sectional area being constant from said mixing chute mouth to said throat and said terminal portion of said mixing chute having a terminal cross-sectional area being constant from said throat to said mixing chute exit.",
    "10. The paint booth assembly of claim 9 wherein each of said body and terminal cross-sectional areas are rectangular and said body cross-sectional area is larger than the terminal cross-sectional area.",
    "11. The paint booth assembly of claim 9 further comprising: a trough disposed in said paint recovery portion immediately below and in aligned relationship with said mixing chute exit for receiving an impingement of the shared path of fluid communication to induce a final mixing of the paint particles entrained in the downdraft of process air into the flow of water and maintaining a pool of sludge comprised of mixed paint particles and water; a sloped floor disposed in said paint recovery portion and extending in downwardly sloped relationship towards said trough for collecting and directing splashed sludge from the impingement back towards said trough; and a deflection skirt extending outwardly from said body portion of said mixing chute and extending at least partially over said sloped floor for directing the splashed sludge produced by the impingement towards said sloped floor.",
    "12. The paint booth assembly of claim 11 wherein said deflection skirt includes a collar extending transverse from said body portion of said mixing chute and a lip sloping downwardly from said collar.",
    "13. The paint booth assembly of claim 2 wherein said scrubber unit includes a funnel extending downwardly from a funnel mouth disposed adjacent said at least one flood sheet opening to a funnel exit disposed adjacent said mixing chute mouth; and said funnel having four trapezoidal sheets sloping downwardly from said funnel mouth to said funnel exit for increasing a velocity of the downdraft of process air and the flow of water approaching said scrubber pod."
  ],
  "description_excerpt": "The subject disclosure relates in general to the field of paint booths, and more particularly to a scrubber unit for capturing and removing paint particles from a downdraft of process air in a paint booth.\n\nThis section provides background information related to the present invention which is not necessarily prior art.\n\nEfficiency of capturing and removing paint particles from a downdraft of process air in a paint booth continues to provide challenges for paint booth design. For example, a scrubber unit for a paint booth is ideally designed to capture and remove nearly all of the paint particles from the downstream of process air, such that non-captured paint particles do not escape the scrubber and reach disposable air filters. A measure used to describe the amount of paint particles that escape a scrubber unit and thus need to be captured by a filter is grains/1000 CFM (a grain being a unit of mass wherein 1 pound is equal to 7000 grains). Different manufacturers have different efficiency targets, yet prior commercially viable designs have failed to reduce paint particle escape from the scrubber unit down to below 1.25 grains/1000 CFM of air flow. Poor capture of paint particles with a scrubber unit means that more disposable filters need to be used and regularly replaced relative to a more efficient system in order to reduce pollution and meet the air safety standards required for paint booths. Further, replacing filters in paint booths has a labor cost that rises as filters need to be replaced more often.",
  "cpc": [
    "B05B 14/468",
    "B01D 47/025",
    "B01D 47/10",
    "B05B 13/0431",
    "B05B 13/0452",
    "B05B 16/60",
    "B05C 15/00",
    "Y02P 70/10"
  ],
  "ipc": [
    "B01D 47/02",
    "B01D 47/10",
    "B05B 14/468",
    "B05C 15/00"
  ],
  "assignees": [
    "Gallagher Kaiser Corp"
  ],
  "inventors": [
    "Adrien de Borchgrave",
    "Bruce Roesler",
    "Larry Cook",
    "Ken Eisbrenner"
  ],
  "filing_date": "2019-10-01",
  "publication_date": "2021-08-10",
  "grant_date": "2021-08-10",
  "priority_date": "2018-10-01",
  "application_number": "US-201916589473-A",
  "family_id": "68296731",
  "cited_by_count": 3,
  "citations": [
    "US3934495A",
    "US4345921A",
    "US4440554A",
    "US4521227A",
    "US4732589A",
    "US5020470A",
    "US5147422A",
    "US5360539A",
    "US6228154B1",
    "US8813679B2"
  ]
}