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EP-4513167-B1 - SYSTEMS FOR SEPARATING PARTICLES IN FLUIDS

EP4513167B1EP 4513167 B1EP4513167 B1EP 4513167B1EP-4513167-B1

Inventors

  • MORAVEC, DAVIS B.
  • QUAM, Daryl L.
  • DALLAS, ANDREW J.
  • Yoder, Mikayla A.
  • Lauer, David D.

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20201125

Claims (11)

  1. A system comprising: a particle separation element (102; 302) comprising: one or more microfluidic channels (201; 221; 241; 340) in parallel fluid communication, each microfluidic channel defining: an inlet configured to receive a first fluid and particles dispersed in the first fluid, wherein the particles have a different composition than the first fluid, and an outlet comprising a first flow branch and a second flow branch; a flow routing element (230) positioned along at least one flow branch of at least one outlet; a particle sensor (112; 200) positioned along the one or more microfluidic channels (201; 221; 241; 340) configured to provide signal data representing a signal corresponding to the first fluid and the particles dispersed in the first fluid; and a controller (110) operably coupled to the flow routing element (230) and operably coupled to the particle sensor (112; 200) to receive the signal data, the controller (110) configured to: control the flow routing element (230) to direct fluid flow to the first flow branch of the at least one outlet of at least one microfluidic channel, characterized in that the controller (110) is configured to: determine whether a threshold level of particles is present in at least one microfluidic channel based on the signal data from the particle sensor (112; 200), and control the flow routing element (230), in response to determining that the threshold level of particles is present in the at least one microfluidic channel, to direct fluid flow to the second flow branch of the at least one microfluidic channel, and wherein the particle separation element (102; 302) comprises a hydrodynamic separator element including one or more hydrodynamic separators, the one or more hydrodynamic separators comprising the one or more microfluidic channels (201; 221; 241; 340), wherein each microfluidic channel is curved.
  2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the particle sensor (200) comprises: a light source configured to direct a light beam in a frequency band along a path through at least one microfluidic channel, wherein the frequency band is selected to have a different absorbance by the particles than by the first fluid; an aperture element defining a light aperture positioned in the path of the light beam from the light source; and a light detector positioned to receive the light beam in a sensing area after passing through the at least one microfluidic channel and the light aperture, the light detector configured to provide the signal data representing an amount of light in the frequency band that remains after passing through the at least one microfluidic channel.
  3. The system according to claim 1, wherein the particle sensor (112) comprises a capacitance sensor.
  4. The system according to any one of claims 1-3, further comprising a source reservoir in fluid communication with the inlet and second flow branch, wherein the first fluid and the particles are pumpable from the source reservoir to the separation element and selectively back to the source reservoir through the second flow branch.
  5. The system according to any one of claims 1-4, wherein the particles comprise a second fluid different than the first fluid.
  6. The system according to claim 5, wherein the controller (110) is further configured to determine an amount of the second fluid in droplet form per unit volume of the first fluid based on the signal data.
  7. The system according to claim 6, wherein the amount excludes the second fluid dissolved in the first fluid.
  8. The system according to any one of claims 5-7, wherein the controller (110) is configured to determine a droplet rate or a droplet size of one or more droplets of the second fluid dispersed in the flow of the first fluid based on the signal data.
  9. The system according to claim 8, wherein the controller (110) is configured to determine the droplet rate or the droplet size based on at least one of: a magnitude of a pulse contained within the signal data, a width of a pulse contained within the signal data, a first threshold signal level for detecting a minimum size droplet in a sensing area, a second threshold signal level for detecting a droplet that fills the sensing area, and a threshold signal level crossing rate.
  10. The system according to claim 9, wherein the controller (110) is further configured to determine at least one of: an amount of second fluid in droplet form per unit volume of the first fluid based on the droplet rate and droplet size; the droplet size based on the magnitude of a pulse contained within the signal data in response to the signal not crossing the second threshold signal level; the droplet size based on the width of a pulse contained within the signal data in response to the signal crossing the second threshold signal level; and the droplet size based on the droplet rate.
  11. The system according to any one of claims 5-10, wherein the first fluid comprises a hydrocarbon fluid and the second fluid comprises water.

Description

The present disclosure relates to separating particles. In particular, the present disclosure relates to separating particles in fluids. Particles dispersed in fluid may be problematic in certain systems, such as engine fuel systems, bulk fuel systems, hydraulic systems, or other systems for handling or storing fluid. For example, particles of water (or water droplets) in fuel may be problematic in engine fuel systems of internal combustion engines. Water in fuel may damage fuel injectors due to corrosion or vaporization during combustion. Damage to injectors may cause various problems in operation of the engine, such as failing to be able to comply with jurisdictional emission standards. Fuel injector damage may require repair or maintenance. Reduced operating time may be particularly costly for commercial or industrial vehicles. In general, the presence of gaseous, liquid, or solid particles dispersed in fluid may cause issues in various fluid systems, such as bulk fuel systems, hydraulic systems, etc. Traditional fluid filters capture particles in a media structure. The media structure may become plugged over time requiring maintenance or filter replacement. US2012/122084 A1 and US2019/084011 A1 disclose systems configured to sort cells by determining individual cell characteristics and comprising means for directing each cell toward a corresponding outlet based on such characteristics. CN108318394A and CN101765762A discloses devices for focusing particles suspended within a moving fluid into one or more localized stream lines. SUMMARY A system according to the invention is disclosed in claims 1 to 11. The techniques of this disclosure generally relate to focusing certain particles in fluid in various fluid systems and separating those certain particles from the fluid or from particles of other sizes. In general, fluid systems may include particle separation elements, such as hydrodynamic separation elements, to focus particles in a particular size range. The particle separation element may include an inlet and an outlet having at least two flow branches. Particles of the particular size range may be focused into one of the two flow branches. In some embodiments, particles exceeding a threshold size range are focused into one of the two flow branches. Any remaining particles may flow through the at least two flow branches. In some embodiments, the particle separation element may be used to supplement or replace a fluid filter. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Various embodiments of the disclosure are illustrated in the drawings, which are summarized as follows: FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing one example of a fluid system including a particle separation element configured to receive a flow of fluid from a fluid source according to the present disclosure.FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing one example of a fluid system that may be used to handle fuel on machine usable with the particle separation element of FIG. 1.FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram showing one example of a fluid system that may be used to handle bulk fuel usable with the particle separation element of FIG. 1.FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram showing one example of a fluid system that may be used to deliver hydraulic fluid usable with the particle separation element of FIG. 1.FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram showing one example of a fluid system that may be used to deaerate hydraulic fluid usable with the particle separation element of FIG. 1.FIG. 6 is a conceptual diagram showing one example of an optical or light-based particle sensor that may be usable in the particle sensor of FIG. 1.FIG. 7 is a conceptual diagram showing one example of an arrangement for using the particle sensor of FIG. 1 relative to a microfluidic channel.FIG. 8 is a conceptual diagram showing another example of an arrangement for using the particle sensor of FIG. 1 relative to a microfluidic channel.FIGS. 9-10 are conceptual diagrams showing another arrangement for using the particle sensor of FIG. 1 with a particle separation element and a microfluidic sensing element.FIGS. 11A-Bare conceptual diagrams showing one example of a technique for counting the number of particles in multiple microfluidic channels using a shared light detector usable with the particle sensor of FIG. 1.FIG. 12 is a conceptual diagram showing one example of a fluid system that may be used to remove particles usable with the particle separation element of FIG. 1.FIGS. 13A-Dare images and plots showing the hydrodynamic separator device and pixel intensity versus channel position, respectively.FIG. 14 is a conceptual diagram showing relative positions of angles around a hydrodynamic separator device of FIGS. 13A-D.FIG. 15 is a plot showing percent focused versus channel length for a hydrodynamic separator device of FIGS. 13A-D. DETAILED DESCRIPTION In the following detailed description, reference is made to several specific embodiments. It is to be understood that other embodiments are conte