US 12,228,391 B2
Device and method for measuring a filter cake thickness
Martin Schäfer, Sonthofen (DE); Detlef Steidl, Sonthofen (DE); and Wolfgang Süss, Sonthofen (DE)
Assigned to BHS-Sonthofen GmbH, Sonthofen (DE)
Appl. No. 17/045,720
Filed by BHS-Sonthofen GmbH, Sonthofen (DE)
PCT Filed Apr. 2, 2019, PCT No. PCT/EP2019/058285
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Oct. 6, 2020,
PCT Pub. No. WO2019/193002, PCT Pub. Date Oct. 10, 2019.
Claims priority of application No. 10 2018 205 236.0 (DE), filed on Apr. 6, 2018.
Prior Publication US 2021/0156672 A1, May 27, 2021
Int. Cl. G01B 11/06 (2006.01); B01D 33/06 (2006.01); B01D 33/80 (2006.01); B01D 35/143 (2006.01); B01D 35/30 (2006.01); B01D 37/04 (2006.01); B01D 33/067 (2006.01)
CPC G01B 11/0691 (2013.01) [B01D 33/06 (2013.01); B01D 33/804 (2013.01); B01D 35/143 (2013.01); B01D 35/308 (2013.01); B01D 37/04 (2013.01); B01D 33/067 (2013.01); B01D 2201/309 (2013.01)] 19 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A rotary pressure filter, comprising:
a filter drum for filtering material, wherein a filter cake is formed on a surface of the filter drum when the material is filtered;
a process chamber that surrounds the filter drum, wherein the filter drum is rotatably mounted in the process chamber, and wherein the filter cake is formed in the process chamber;
a housing that surrounds the process chamber, wherein the process chamber is configured to exhibit an internal pressure which is higher than a pressure in an external environment of the housing, and wherein the housing includes a light-permeable section;
a connecting piece arranged at an opening of the housing in such a way that it forms an airtight seal between the process chamber and the external environment of the housing;
a sensor arranged in the external environment of the housing and attached to the housing by way of the connecting piece, wherein the connecting piece accommodates the light-permeable section of the housing, wherein the sensor emits light from the external environment of the housing through the light-permeable section of the housing into the process chamber in a direction of the filter cake and receives light from within the process chamber that is reflected from the filter cake through the light-permeable section of the housing and wherein the sensor is arranged such that the emitted light travels from the sensor to the surface of the filter cake substantially orthogonally; and
a processor configured to receive information from the sensor representing properties of the emitted light and properties of the received light, wherein the processor is further configured to (1) compare the properties of the emitted light with the properties of the received light and, (2) based on the comparison, determine a thickness of the filter cake.