Patents Assigned to Westfalia Separator AG
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Patent number: 6387032Abstract: The invention relates to a screw-type centrifuge configured in such a way that the use of multistage planetary gear trains allows for high peripheral speeds of the drum and large drum diameters. According to the invention the drum bearing on the gear train side is positioned between two stages of the multistage planetary gear train. The housing jacket of the multistage planetary gear train, which is connected to the drum jacket and therefore rotates at the same r.p.m., has an intermediate piece which has a small diameter and is housed by the drum bearing together with a shaft connecting the gear train stages. The system provided for in the invention, according to which the drum bearing on the gear train side is positioned between two stages of the multistage planetary gear train, is used in the case of very large decanters for which the drum rotates at very high peripheral speeds.Type: GrantFiled: August 17, 2000Date of Patent: May 14, 2002Assignee: Westfalia Separator AGInventor: Hans-Joachim Beyer
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Patent number: 6248055Abstract: A housing structure adapted for use in a horizontal solid-bowl screw decanter centrifuge, includes an outer housing body having a bottom area formed with an assembly opening which extends over a substantial length of the housing body and is destined for insertion of a tubular inner bowl. The inner bowl is secured to the housing body at opposite end faces of the housing body and is formed for discharge of solids and liquids with connection ports which extend radially with respect to an axis of rotation of the centrifuge. The outer housing body has opposite axial ends formed with access openings for insertion of a rotor and a transmission into the interior space of the inner bowl.Type: GrantFiled: June 14, 1999Date of Patent: June 19, 2001Assignee: Westfalia Separator AGInventor: Wilhelm Ostkamp
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Patent number: 6169191Abstract: 1. Method and Apparatus for the production of stearin from fat of animal or plant origin. 2.1 A method is carried out such that during the duration of a production run, a sharp separation between the stearin phase and the oil phase is maintained at a constant rate, to achieve an optimum quality of stearin and stearin yield. 2.2. Crystallized oil of a temperature from 10 C to 40 C is fed into inlet (12) of a nozzle-type centrifuge (11) which is not self-emptying and is equipped with a stack of plates (15) and a stationary gripping device (16) for the oil phase. The solid phase is guided through flow chambers tapering towards the nozzles (20) and discharged through these nozzles. To realize a high degree of separation between the stearin phase and the oil phase, the ratio between the feed rate in I/h and the nozzle capacity in I/h is adjusted in the range between 2:1 and 4:1. 2.3 The method is used for stearin production from animal or plant fats. 3. FIG. 2.Type: GrantFiled: January 11, 1999Date of Patent: January 2, 2001Assignee: Westfalia Separator AGInventors: Wolfgang Wieking, Ernst Dolle
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Patent number: 6033356Abstract: A centrifugal drum (1) has an inlet chamber (12) connected to a discharge chamber (10) via ducts (21), with the supplied fluid flowing radially through rib-free annular chambers (24, 25, 26) on the way to the discharge chamber (10). A through-flow resistance is thereby generated which ensures that the inlet chamber (12) is filled completely. Since the ducts (21) start in the vicinity of the inlet pipe (8), the acceleration of the supplied fluid to the speed of rotation of the centrifugal drum (1) occurs over a small diameter with the result that the stress on the centrifuged material is relatively low.Type: GrantFiled: September 11, 1998Date of Patent: March 7, 2000Assignee: Westfalia Separator AGInventors: Wilfried Mackel, Johannes Droste, Ludger Thiemann
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Patent number: 6015375Abstract: A centrifuge has a centrifugal drum with a peeling chamber and a hydrohermetic chamber (locking chamber) (7). The centrifuge is so designed that solids deposited at the periphery (outer bottom 19) of the locking chamber (7) are carried away with the overflow stream of the sealing liquid or/and with the flow of the cleaning medium during CIP method of the space located between the centrifugal drum (2) and the centrifuge housing. A second locking chamber lid (1) is located between a locking disk (9) of the locking chamber (7) and a lid (17) for forming with the first lid a flow channel (20) for carrying away solids deposited on the outer bottom of the locking chamber via an overflow weir (16). The centrifuge is used in the field of separation technology, in particular when high hygienic requirements are applied, e.g. in the field of the foodstuff industry.Type: GrantFiled: July 17, 1998Date of Patent: January 18, 2000Assignee: Westfalia Separator AGInventor: Reinhard Moss
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Patent number: 5865719Abstract: A self-emptying centrifuge drum has a collecting channel for emptying the drum and a fitting for introducing water into the collecting channel. The drum is rotatable and is hydraulically actuatable by water introduced into the collecting channel through the fitting. The collecting channel rotates with the drum about an axis of rotation and the fitting is stationary and has at least one outlet. A baffle extends up from below the collecting channel and between the collecting channel and the fitting and has a lower portion below the collecting channel and an upper portion extending into an area radially inward of the collecting channel with respect to the axis of rotation. The at least one outlet of the fitting is aimed at the lower portion of the baffle.Type: GrantFiled: March 7, 1997Date of Patent: February 2, 1999Assignee: Westfalia Separator AGInventors: Johannes Droste, Norbert Wegener
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Patent number: 5799679Abstract: A device for washing the teat cups in a milking head, comprising an axially displaceable milking-head holder and a fitting therefor having rinsing nipples over which teat cups fit, wherein the milking-head holder has an axis which is eccentric to an axis of the fitting, and wherein the milking-head holder has an alignment rod mounted for sliding movement back and forth axially in a guide sleeve and whereas the device operates in a specific position wherein the axes of the milking-head holder and the milking-head fitting deviate from the vertical.Type: GrantFiled: November 14, 1996Date of Patent: September 1, 1998Assignee: Westfalia Separator AGInventor: Heinrich Bucker
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Patent number: 5674322Abstract: In the process, a starch-containing suspension 1 is divided at admixture of washing liquid 5 in a centrifuge "A" into starch-containing concentrate 2, a first liquid phase 3 with primarily dissolved substances and a second liquid phase 4 with primarily undissolved substances. The first liquid phase 3 is especially suitable as washing liquid in counterflow washing processes as it contains no obstructive undissolved substances. Also, the disposal of this liquid phase is simpler. The second liquid phase 4 with the undissolved substances is generated in higher concentration compared to conventional processes so that the processing of this phase is less cumbersome.Type: GrantFiled: May 31, 1995Date of Patent: October 7, 1997Assignee: Westfalia Separator AGInventor: Herbert Kunz
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Patent number: 5634428Abstract: A device for removing a set of teat cups from a dairy animal. The device includes a piston-and-cylinder mechanism. The cylinder is attached to the teat-cup set by a cord secured to the piston. The device is intended for use in a milking parlor where the teat cups are removed through the animal's hind legs after milking. The object is to prevent the milker from being impeded in his duties by the teat cups when they are not being used. The cord is provided with a guide that can be shifted by mechanical controls out of an active position wherein the cups can be removed along a vertical plane exactly between the animal's hind legs and into an inactive position horizontally remote therefrom and from the milker's head.Type: GrantFiled: January 16, 1996Date of Patent: June 3, 1997Assignee: Westfalia Separator AGInventor: Ludger Koster
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Patent number: 5570870Abstract: An air-flow meter for milking machines, comprising an enclosed housing with a connection to a line that is to be tested for flow and pressure and with an air-intake mechanism with a variable cross-section. The air-intake mechanism is an air intake with a slot-shaped cross-section. A rotating cylinder is accommodated inside the housing and operates in conjunction with the slotted intake. The cylinder has a breach that tapers out along a considerable length of its circumference. The longitudinal axis of the intake parallels the axis the cylinder rotates around, the free cross-section of the intake is only a fraction of length of the breach along the circumference of the cylinder, and any area of the breach can be aligned with the air intake by rotating the cylinder.Type: GrantFiled: October 6, 1994Date of Patent: November 5, 1996Assignee: Westfalia Separator AGInventor: Erwin Bilgery
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Patent number: 5508196Abstract: A method for continuously preparing a sterile culture medium comprises combining separate unsterilized fluid components in separate streams into a single mainstream. The mainstream is applied to a transverse flow filtration module having a membrane which separates the mainstream into a permeate and a retentate. The permeate is fed to a bioreactor and the retentate is diverted to a centrifuge to precipitate contaminants. The clarified retentate is returned into the mainstream upstream of the transverse flow filtration module.Type: GrantFiled: July 11, 1994Date of Patent: April 16, 1996Assignee: Westfalia Separator AGInventors: Klaus Mannweiler, Ralf Kuchenbecker, Werner Rosenthal
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Patent number: 5492090Abstract: A valve for the reverse-flow flushing of teat cups in milking machinery has a housing with an interior and a channel to the atmosphere. The housing has three connections, a first connection for connecting with the teat cups, a second connection for connecting with the milk line and a third connection for connecting with the reverse-flow flush line. A disk is mounted for rotation in the interior of the housing and has channels permitting communication through the interior of the housing between the first and second connections and blocking the third connection when the disk is in the milking position, permitting communication through the interior of the housing between the first and third connections and blocking the second connection when the disk in the reverse-flow position and permitting communication through the interior of the housing between the first and second connections while blocking the third connection and the channel when the disk is in the rinsing position.Type: GrantFiled: September 1, 1994Date of Patent: February 20, 1996Assignee: Westfalia Separator AGInventor: Heinrich Bucker
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Patent number: 5492716Abstract: A method of harvesting natural milk proteins by treating a fraction of the milk with a precipitant. The treatment separates the mixture into concentrated natural casein and a fraction that contains the precipitant. The object is to use less polysaccharide. An anionic polysaccharide solution is used as a precipitant. The mixture is separated in a centrifuge into a polysaccharide fraction and a milk fraction. The polysaccharide fraction is exploited to separate the milk fraction into concentrated casein and another polysaccharide fraction.Type: GrantFiled: August 20, 1993Date of Patent: February 20, 1996Assignee: Westfalia Separator AGInventors: Valery Molochnikov, Karl-Heinz Zettier
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Patent number: 5397547Abstract: A method of and device for sterilizing the hose of a hose pump in a system operating in sterile conditions. Before the system is sterilized, the hose is transferred from the pump, but not disconnected from the system's lines, to a device that surrounds it snugly. The device comprises two halves. Each half has a depression shaped and dimensioned to match half the outer surface of the hose and accordingly surrounding it tightly over its total length when the two halves are together.Type: GrantFiled: November 2, 1993Date of Patent: March 14, 1995Assignee: Westfalia Separator AGInventors: Fred Woolhouse, Ulrich Rotermund, Josef Bonhoff
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Patent number: 5267937Abstract: A centrifuge with a self-evacuating drum, with a line for feeding the drum with the stock to be centrifuged, with at least one outlet line with an elastic section for extracting a liquid phase from the drum under pressure, and with a mechanism for expelling solids from the drum at prescribed intervals. The elastic section is accommodated in an air-tight housing. The housing communicates with a compressor through a line. The line accommodates a valve that opens prior to every solids expulsion and subjects the elastic section to pressure from outside, compressing it in response to the reduction in pressure accompanying the solids expulsion and forcing as much product from the elastic section as solids are expelled from the drum.Type: GrantFiled: August 12, 1992Date of Patent: December 7, 1993Assignee: Westfalia Separator AGInventors: Karl-Heinz Zettier, Siegfried Smigielski
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Patent number: 5260079Abstract: A method of and equipment for controlling the content of fat in milk. Whole milk is separated into skim milk. Some of the cream is returned to the skim milk to create a standardized milk. The standardized milk is employed to derive a parameter that dictates how much cream is to be added. The fat contents detected in the standardized milk are exploited to vary the amount of added cream. The density of the skim milk is measured at intervals and the results are stored. The density of the standardized milk is measured and more or less cream is added until a prescribed difference between the skim milk and the standardized milk, corresponding to the desired fat content in the standardized milk, is obtained. The density of the skim milk and that of the standardized milk are measured in the same sensor. The result of each measurement of the density of the skim milk is compared with the stored result.Type: GrantFiled: November 17, 1992Date of Patent: November 9, 1993Assignee: Westfalia Separator AGInventors: Karl-Heinz Zettier, Werner Hanschmann, Wolfgang Wieking
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Patent number: 5199938Abstract: A centrifuge drum for concentrating suspended solids, which are conveyed through channels out of an outer solids space in the drum and into a radially inner peeling chamber, whence they are diverted by a peeler and by an associated concentrate line. A separated clear phase is continuously extracted from the interior of the drum by another peeler and by an associated clear-phase line. The object is to prevent the concentrated solids from heating up undesirably even when their volume is small. There is an opening-and-closing communicating line between the concentrate line and the clear-phase line and an opening-and-closing recirculation line extending into the first peeling chamber from the clear-phase line. The communicating line and the recirculation line are closed to divert the solids and opened to discontinue the diversion.Type: GrantFiled: October 31, 1991Date of Patent: April 6, 1993Assignee: Westfalia Separator AGInventors: Werner Kohlstette, Aloys Bokamp, Friedhelm Siegmann
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Patent number: 5171205Abstract: A solid-bowl centrifuge with an intake pipe and a peeling disk that conveys the peeled-off material out through its hub and comprises a stationary eccentric and a rotating lid that allows the disk to rotate on a carrier positioned in a radial slot. The hub comprises two concentric components, wherein the inner component is secured to the stationary eccentric and the outer component is secured to the rotating peeling-disk lid.Type: GrantFiled: March 11, 1991Date of Patent: December 15, 1992Assignee: Westfalia Separator AGInventor: Alfons Monkenbusch
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Patent number: 5167200Abstract: A pulsator for milking machines comprises a bolt which travels back and forth in a housing and activates a slide. The slide alternately connects the pulsator's outlets to a source of vacuum and to the atmosphere. A diaphragm accommodated in a chamber at each end of the slide moves the bolt back and forth. An alternator is triggered by the slide as it arrives at one end or the other of its stroke. The alternator connects the chambers back and forth and alternately to the source of vacuum and to the atmosphere. The distance between the slide and at least one of the diaphragms is varied to suppress stagger.Type: GrantFiled: January 14, 1992Date of Patent: December 1, 1992Assignee: Westfalia Separator AGInventors: Friedrich Icking, Otto Krone
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Patent number: 5167609Abstract: The peeling chamber in a head of a centrifuge has an upstream barrier chamber that seals it off from the atmosphere. A barrier disk secured to a peeler extends into the barrier chamber. Compressed gas is supplied to between barrier disk and peeler through a channel to prevent gas from escaping from the solvent. Another channel supplies liquid to the barrier chamber. Solvent from the periphery is supplied to the barrier chamber through a channel and simultaneously by the peeler through the barrier-liquid channel. An area of separation becomes established between the two liquids in the barrier chamber. If any solid particles enter the barrier chamber as the result of gas leaving the solvent, they will dissolve again in the solvent in the periphery of the barrier chamber and will be prevented from making the chamber malfunction.Type: GrantFiled: April 30, 1991Date of Patent: December 1, 1992Assignee: Westfalia Separator AGInventors: Georg Graw, Werner Kohlstette, Herbert Hohmann, Detlef Grabbe