Appeal No. 1998-0425 Page 28
Application No. 08/272,527
a plurality of flow regulators distributed about a
submerged
portion of the network capable of receiving the aforementioned
treating gas and cleaning agent and discharging them into said
plurality of plenums downstream of the flow regulators, said
flow
regulators tending to promote flow into said plenums at
similar
rates;
a plurality comprising hundreds of multi-pore area
release
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, said elements exhibiting 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
regulator device through its own individual plenum downstream
of the flow regulator 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
at least one measuring device capable of measuring
changes in operating parameters of the apparatus indicating
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
25 inches of water gauge above a base condition of said
elements.
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