Patents by Inventor Werner Kohlstette

Werner Kohlstette has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 8092362
    Abstract: A separator arrangement includes a separator having a drum with a vertical rotation axis. The drum is placed on a rotatable drive spindle and is surrounded by a shroud. A separating wall separates the separator arrangement into a sanitary area that includes the drum and the shroud and a drive area that includes the drive device. The separator and the drive device are decoupled as a unit, in terms of vibration, by at least one of the separating wall and a foundation attachment. The drive device includes a motor, a coupling, at least one bearing device, and a flange section around the drive spindle underneath a drive cover, and a sealing device. A membrane arrangement is formed in a region of the drive cover and, for vibration purposes, decouples the drive cover from the machine frame in a region around the drive spindle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 7, 2007
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2012
    Assignee: Westfalia Separator AG
    Inventors: Werner Kohlstette, Olaf Müller, Thomas Homann
  • Publication number: 20090253565
    Abstract: A separator arrangement includes a separator having a drum with a vertical rotation axis. The drum is placed on a rotatable drive spindle and is surrounded by a shroud. The drum is rotatable during operation by a drive device at a rotation speed of more than 1000 rpm but less than 8500 rpm.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 7, 2007
    Publication date: October 8, 2009
    Applicant: Werner Separator AG
    Inventors: Werner Kohlstette, Olaf Müller, Thomas Homann
  • Patent number: 7074173
    Abstract: A centrifuge including a centrifugal drum that includes a centrifugal chamber and a centrifugal chamber bottom part displaceable relative to the centrifugal drum. Also included is a piston slide axially displaceably arranged to be in and/or on the centrifugal drum. At least one seal is arranged in a surrounding groove on an outer circumference of the centrifugal drum bottom part and further arranged between the piston slide and the outer circumference of the centrifugal chamber bottom part to seal off a gap between the piston slide and the centrifugal chamber bottom part. The groove is configured to be constructed at least in sections and axially open toward the centrifugal chamber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 25, 2003
    Date of Patent: July 11, 2006
    Assignee: Westfalia Separator AG
    Inventors: Werner Kohlstette, Willi Niemerg, Thomas Kleimann
  • Publication number: 20050143245
    Abstract: A centrifuge including a centrifugal drum that includes a centrifugal chamber and a centrifugal chamber bottom part displaceable relative to the centrifugal drum. Also included is a piston slide axially displaceably arranged to be in and/or on the centrifugal drum. At least one seal is arranged in a surrounding groove on an outer circumference of the centrifugal drum bottom part and further arranged between the piston slide and the outer circumference of the centrifugal chamber bottom part to seal off a gap between the piston slide and the centrifugal chamber bottom part.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 25, 2003
    Publication date: June 30, 2005
    Inventors: Werner Kohlstette, Willi Niemerg, Thomas Kleimann
  • Patent number: 6530871
    Abstract: A centrifuge, comprising: a centrifuge basket for separating a fed substance to be centrifuged into different constituents; a receptacle surrounding a portion of the basket; a bag insertable into the receptacle, the bag having an exterior wall and an interior for catching at least a portion of the constituents delivered by the centrifuge basket; a space surrounding the bag; and wherein the interior of the bag near an axis of rotation of the centrifuge basket is connected by a hose with the space surrounding the bag. A method of operating the centrifuge including the steps of mounting the receptacle, feeding the substance to be centrifuged, rotating the centrifuge basket and catching solids in the bag while separating the solids and liquid.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 5, 2001
    Date of Patent: March 11, 2003
    Assignee: Westfalia Separator AG
    Inventors: Wilfried Mackel, Werner Kohlstette, Thomas Kleimann, Willi Niemerg
  • Patent number: 5899845
    Abstract: A centrifuge drum and a method of filling an automatically discharging centrifuge drum with a mixture of liquids that is to be separated. The mixture is introduced through an intake pipe and a header. The header's intake section communicates with a stack of disks through openings in the header's base. The base is provided with radial supply channels. Channels at the center of the stack divert the separated lighter liquid phase into a diversion chamber and channels at the periphery of the stack divert the separated heavier liquid phase into another diversion chamber. The drum is charged with an auxiliary liquid obtained from a lower section of the base up to a radially inward level that covers the intake openings into the supply channel in an upper section of the base of the foot. The mixture is then introduced at full power through both sections of the base.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 8, 1997
    Date of Patent: May 4, 1999
    Assignee: Westfalia Separator Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Werner Kohlstette, Marie-Theres Sedler, Gottfried Heinze
  • Patent number: 5477021
    Abstract: Spacers are roller welded or laser welded to a disk, welding the interstices between the spacers and the disk liquid tight. Nothing can accordingly accumulate in the interstices to contaminate the centrifugate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 1994
    Date of Patent: December 19, 1995
    Assignee: Westfalia Separator
    Inventors: Werner Kohlstette, Walter Tohermes, Alfons G. Beikel
  • Patent number: 5199938
    Abstract: 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: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 1991
    Date of Patent: April 6, 1993
    Assignee: Westfalia Separator AG
    Inventors: Werner Kohlstette, Aloys Bokamp, Friedhelm Siegmann
  • Patent number: 5167609
    Abstract: 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: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 1991
    Date of Patent: December 1, 1992
    Assignee: Westfalia Separator AG
    Inventors: Georg Graw, Werner Kohlstette, Herbert Hohmann, Detlef Grabbe
  • Patent number: 4950220
    Abstract: A throughput centrifuge for the industrial production of proteins from human blood plasma, with a cylindrical centrifuge drum provided with several concentric chambers that communicate at the bottom and with the blood plasma or similar material being supplied to the central zone and a liquid phase continuously extracted from the outer zone. The drum accordingly accommodates plastic containers constituting concentric annular or annular-segmental chambers that communicate through at least one channel at the bottom, wherein the container or containers toward the axis that the drum rotates around have an inlet connection and the container or containers in the outer zone of the drum have an outlet channel at the top, and wherein the outer surfaces of the containers, of the communicating channel or channels, of the outlet channel or channels, and of the inlet connection or connections rest against the inner surfaces of the drum and against structures that can be inserted into and removed from the drum.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 19, 1988
    Date of Patent: August 21, 1990
    Assignee: Westfalia Separator AG
    Inventors: John R. Wells, Gunthard Pautsch, Detlef Grabbe, Werner Kohlstette
  • Patent number: 4894050
    Abstract: A centrifuge, preferably a sterile laboratory centrifuge, with an intake channel for the material being centrifuged, a runoff channel for the clear phase, and a drum with a centrifuging space comprising a separation space equipped with a package of disks and a solids. The centrifuge has an initial operation that comprises introducing material to be centrifuged into the separation space and separating the solids from the clear phase, which is followed by another operation that comprises discontinuing the intake of material to be centrifuged and introducing rinse into the drum through the clear-phase runoff channel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 13, 1989
    Date of Patent: January 16, 1990
    Assignee: Westfalia Separtor AG
    Inventors: Werner Kohlstette, Ulrich Rotermund
  • Patent number: 4828865
    Abstract: A method for producing citrus juices with low final percentages of pulp. A centrifuge is used, with the space in the drum that receives the heavier phase, the phase with a high concentration of pulp, discontinusously emptied of at least some of the pulp through slide-activated extraction openings in the jacket of the drum. The light phase, the clarified juice, is continuously extracted. To ensure that the juice will be clarified considerably more effectively in the centrifuge at low energy and equipment costs, with the throughput increased incrementally, juice with a high concentration of pulp is continuously extracted from the centrifuge through channels or through an annular space that is demarcated on the inside by a large separating disk and that has an inflow opening at the largest inside diameter of the drum.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 12, 1987
    Date of Patent: May 9, 1989
    Assignee: Westfalia Separator AG
    Inventors: Werner Kohlstette, Peter Schottler, Friedhelm Siegmann
  • Patent number: 4810374
    Abstract: A self-emptying centrifuge drum has an intake for the centrifugate, a peeling chamber that accommodates a peeling disk for diverting the clarified liquid, and an automatic device that senses the level of solids in the separating space of the drum. The sensing device consists of channels extending from the separating space to another peeling chamber with another peeling disk. The outflow channel from the second peeling disk communicates with a measuring instrument that operates in conjunction with controls that introduce the extracted solids into the drum. Peeling channels are provided in the second peeling disk, extending out from its circumference and opening tangentially into an annular space that does not have any ribs and that extends radially inside the disk to detect the level of solids in the separating space even when centrifugates that do not block the channels sufficiently are being clarified.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 1988
    Date of Patent: March 7, 1989
    Assignee: Westfalia Separator AG
    Inventors: Paul Bruning, Werner Kohlstette
  • Patent number: 4781670
    Abstract: A centrifuge drum has a chamber that can accommodate fluid formed by a concentric component inserted into the drum. The concentric component has a sealing ring accommodated in an annular groove at its outer diameter. The base of the annular groove can be supplied with control medium through a channel and emptied again through an outlet device. When the channel is full, the sealing ring is forced against a cylindrical surface and seals off an annular gap. When the channel is empty, the pressure of the fluid in the chamber forces the sealing ring in, releasing the annular gap for the chamber to empty through. In addition to acting as a seal, the sealing ring also acts as a valve, and allows a very simple design for all types of centrifuge-drum chambers that must be filled and emptied again during operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 12, 1987
    Date of Patent: November 1, 1988
    Assignee: Westfalia Separator AG
    Inventor: Werner Kohlstette
  • Patent number: 4670005
    Abstract: The centrifuge has a self-emptying drum. There are expulsion apertures in the bottom of the drum. The apertures lead from a solids space and can be closed off with a piston slide. A closure chamber that can be charged with closure liquid is associated with the piston slide. The closure chamber communicates with a chamber through a bleed channel in the form of an annular gap and through a valve gap. The annular gap has an extensive cross-section that promotes rapid flow and accordingly especially accelerates bleeding the closure liquid out of the closure chamber into the other chamber. This makes it possible to increase the stroke of the piston slide at a prescribed extraction volume when the drum empties.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 1986
    Date of Patent: June 2, 1987
    Assignee: Westfalia Separator AG
    Inventors: Werner Kohlstette, Rudolf Koch
  • Patent number: 4514183
    Abstract: A centrifuge with a self-emptying drum is provided with expulsion openings in its jacket that lead from the solids space and that can be closed off by a piston slide. The piston slide is associated with a closure chamber, which can be supplied with a closure fluid and which has outlet channels around it that can be closed off by a valve body and that open into a blocking chamber. The blocking chamber can accommodate part of the closure fluid taken in by the closure chamber. The valve body and the piston slide are moved into the opening position for partial emptying. The valve body remains in the open position during partial emptying. The outlet channels are blocked by closure fluid taken in by the blocking chamber. This blocking fluid initiates the closing motion of the piston slide while closure fluid continues to be supplied to the closure chamber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 2, 1983
    Date of Patent: April 30, 1985
    Assignee: Westfalia Separator AG
    Inventor: Werner Kohlstette
  • Patent number: 4479788
    Abstract: A centrifuge with a self-emptying drum has ejection openings in its jacket that lead out of a solids space and can be blocked off with a piston valve. It has a closure compartment that can be charged with closure fluid and is associated with the piston valve. Part of the closure compartment is divided into an upper and a lower division by a disk. Outflow channels lead out of the drum from the lower division of the closure compartment. The disk can be displaced axially. When it is in its lower position, it hermetically seals off the lower division of the closure compartment from the rest of the compartment. When it is in its upper position, into which it can be displaced hydraulically, the disk allows the lower division to communicate with the rest of the closure compartment so that closure fluid flows out of the compartment through its lower division and through outflow channels.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 24, 1983
    Date of Patent: October 30, 1984
    Assignee: Westfalia Separator AG
    Inventor: Werner Kohlstette
  • Patent number: 4417885
    Abstract: A centrifuge that has a vertical axis of rotation and that is intended for separating or clarifying mixtures of liquids has a drum with a skimming compartment that accommodates a skimmer for diverting a clarified or separated liquid phase. Above the skimming compartment is a blocking compartment that can be filled with a blocking fluid into which a sealing disk that is rigidly connected to the skimmer is immersed and that is intended to prevent atmospheric air from getting into the skimming compartment. The skimmer and sealing disk are positioned in the compartments at a certain distance from the rotating components of the drum. The portions of the compartments communicate with each other that are below the sealing disk and above the skimmer and are connected to a channel through which a gas that is under higher-than-atmospheric pressure can be supplied to the chambers to prevent blocking fluid from squirting out of the blocking compartment into the skimming compartment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 1982
    Date of Patent: November 29, 1983
    Assignee: Westfalia Separator AG
    Inventors: Werner Kohlstette, Willi Niemerg
  • Patent number: 4305817
    Abstract: A self-emptying clarifying drum has a first paring disk disposed in a first paring chamber for the removal of the clarified liquid and an automatically operating apparatus for sensing the solids level in the separating chamber of the drum. The apparatus includes a plurality of passages formed between the drum cover and a separating plate and which lead from the separating chamber to a second paring chamber provided with a second paring disk for the removal of a small portion of the clarified liquid. The outlet passage of the second paring disk is in communication with the outlet for the clear phase and is connected to a flow measuring apparatus which is coactive with a control apparatus for effecting the discharge of solid matter from the drum.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 12, 1980
    Date of Patent: December 15, 1981
    Assignee: Westfalia Separator AG
    Inventor: Werner Kohlstette
  • Patent number: 4151951
    Abstract: Centrifugal separator provided with openings (4) for ejection of solids, a piston valve (3) for opening and closing of the ejection openings, and an outer closing chamber (7) outfitted with a valve (13) and an inner closing chamber (6) outfitted with a valve (12) for the partial or complete discharge of control fluid from the control chambers for partial or complete discharge of solids. Means including a passageway (19), a central bore in the inner valve (12), and a choke (22) are provided so that the inner valve opens promptly following opening of the outer valve for controlled discharge of control fluid from the inner closing chamber upon discharge of control fluid from the outer closing chamber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 1978
    Date of Patent: May 1, 1979
    Assignee: Westfalia Separator AG
    Inventor: Werner Kohlstette