Appeal No. 1998-0425 Page 24
Application No. 08/272,527
3. Liquid treatment apparatus comprising:
a gas distribution network in a tank;
means for introducing treating gas into said network;
a source of cleaning agent;
means including valve means for intermittently
introducing into said network said cleaning agent alone or in
admixture with the treating gas;
a plurality of synthetic thermoplastic or thermoset resin
plenums;
a plurality of flow regulating means distributed about a
submerged portion of the network for receiving the
aforementioned treating gas and cleaning agent and for
discharging them into a plurality of plenums downstream of the
flow regulating means, said flow regulating means tending to
promote flow into said plenums at similar rates;
a plurality comprising hundreds of diffusion elements
sealingly engaged and in communication with said plenums for
receiving said treating gas and cleaning agent, said elements
having air diffusion pores extending therethrough, but being
free of through-holes other than air diffusion pores, said
pores defining paths for discharge of said treating gas and
cleaning agent and which exhibit an increase in dynamic wet
pressure and/or bubble release pressure as a result of
deposition of foulants, each of said diffusion elements being
in communication with its own individual flow regulating means
through its own individual plenum downstream of the flow
regulating means for tending to promote gas flow through said
diffusion elements at similar rates;
retaining means engaging said diffusion elements about
their peripheries for securing said elements to said plenums;
sealing means adjacent the peripheries of the diffusion
elements for preventing leakage of air from said plenums past
the peripheries of said elements; and
measuring means for monitoring the operation of said
liquid treatment apparatus by measuring changes in operating
parameters of the apparatus that indicate dynamic wet pressure
changes across the diffusion elements with sufficient
precision for initiating the flow of cleaning agent with
sufficient frequency for maintaining the dynamic wet pressure
across the diffusion elements in a range not to exceed about
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