Sight Glass Window Designs
Seeing is believing! More and more extractors are requesting to view the process more closely. Sight Glass Windows allow you to see different stages of the extraction. This can be useful for demos and showing investors the process. It can also act as a way to visually confirm each stage is operating how it should.
These designs were needed to increase the safety and confidence of workers running these machines. By creating these sight glass windows, I hope to set a standard in the industry of adding sight glass windows to all vessels.
Original 20lb Jacketed Extractor
Customers had been requesting to be able to view their extraction process more closely. To solve this problem, I designed a Sight Glass Window Spool to be added to the extractors.
This product is an inline sight window extension that adds 5" to the column and allows you to see the flow of solvent before and after it has made contact with the biomass. This creates an easy visual to tell the extractor if they need to increase or decrease the flow of solvent. It also serves as a bonus safety feature to be able to visualize if there is a blockage in flow or not.
Example of another style of sight window. This sight glass assembly was not suitable for our 3rd party engineers to approve.
Original 20lb Jacketed Extractor - Back View
Clients had requested to be able to view the inside of the evaporator vessel. To solve this problem, I designed a Jacketed Sight Glass Window Spool to be added to the evaporators.
This product is a Jacketed Sight Glass Window Spool. It has 6x sight glasses and an inlet/outlet for fluid recirculation. The jacketed section has baffling to allow the fluid to recirculate evenly across the jacket and allows for the inlet/outlet to be on the same side.
View of Baffling
View of the evaporator with Jacketed Sight Glass Window Spool on the bottom of the vessel. By adding this product, you are able to view when the solvent is getting low in your evaporator. This is a sign that you are nearing the end of the extraction process.
View of the evaporator with Jacketed Sight Glass Window Spool on the top of the vessel. By adding this product, you are able to view when the solvent is getting too high in your evaporator. This is a sign that you need to speed up the recovery of solvent or slow the input of solvent into the evaporator.
Why were these designs needed?
Added safety feature
Leads to a deeper understanding of extraction
Convenience
Peace of mind
What design skills were used in this project?
Sourcing existing products suitable for the design
Creating custom planes
Volumetric calculations
Creating various configurations
Creating products that reference other parts
Mating assemblies
Render multiple views
Producing manufacturer 2D drawings
Research of different baffling types
Research in sight glass options