Improvements relating to the acration of water

摘要

PICT:0942754/C1/1 Relates to a method of, and apparatus for, aerating water in lakes 10, pools and aquaria in which a below-surface water current 52 produced by a submerged motor 28 driving an impeller 24 entrains air drawn from above the surface 16 through a pipe 42 connected to a float 40. The water enters through a strainer 26 and is passed to a header 34 with risers 36 connected to Venturi nozzles 38 with air inlets from a header 44. The nozzles are adjustable for direction laterally and vertically and may be made to turn or sweep intermittently or continuously by means not shown. The operation of the motor 28 may be intermittent; cont.rolled from the shore or by a timer 30. Most of the air is entrained in small bubbles which subsequently dissolve; but some large bubbles 54 are formed which keep the water surface 16 free from ice or scum 58. The Specification states that water picked up by the impeller 24 from the bottom is of a different temperature and density than that surrounding the nozzles 38 so that the "shaft" of water ejected by the nozzles does not readily mix with the water into which it is discharged. An embodiment in which a sealed motor drives a simple propeller under water and air is received on the low pressure side of the propeller through a pipe from the surface (Fig. 4, not shown). A regulating valve may be included in the air inlet pipe.