US12569860USUSPTO Grant XML

Spiral separator and apparatus therefor

An apparatus for a spiral separator, for provision operatively intermediate upstream and downstream spiral trough parts of the spiral separator, including a slurry receiving region for receiving a mineral slurry flow from said upstream spiral trough part of the spiral separator; a splitter for splitting the mineral slurry flow into a concentrate part, a semi-concentrate part and a remainder part; a mixing region for mixing a more fluid radially more outward part of the remainder part with a less fluid radially more inward part of the remainder part, to provide a mixed remainder part for feeding onto the downstream spiral trough part; and a semi-concentrate bypass channel for conveying the semi-concentrate part towards the downstream spiral trough part, such that the semi-concentrate component bypasses and is segregated from the mixing region.

Patent

Brief

Patent brief

Problem

How can battery fires and thermal runaway in EV packs be prevented?

Novelty

Thermal shutdown separators is reinforced by front-page matches on separator.

Uses

EV packs, Battery modules, Rechargeable cells

Assignee

OREKINETICS INVESTMENTS PTY LTD

Published

Mar 10, 2026

Inventors

Peter Gates

Domain

Mobility / storage

Plain-English summary

Problem

How can battery fires and thermal runaway in EV packs be prevented?

Solution

apparatus for a spiral separator, for provision operatively intermediate upstream and downstream spiral trough parts of the spiral separator, including a slurry receiving region for receiving a mineral slurry flow from said upstream spiral trough part of the spiral separator; a splitter for splitting the mineral slurry flow into a concentrate part, a semi-concentrate part and a remainder part; a mixing region for mixing a more fluid radially more outward part of the remainder part with a less fluid radially more inward part of the remainder part, to provide a mixed remainder part for feeding onto the downstream spiral trough part; and a semi-concentrate bypass channel for conveying the semi-concentrate part towards the downstream spiral trough part, such that the semi-concentrate component bypasses and is segregated from the mixing region.

Key novelty

Thermal shutdown separators is reinforced by front-page matches on separator.

Applications

EV packsBattery modulesRechargeable cells

Relevant search intents

separator

Claims preview

1 . A spiral separator comprising: an upstream spiral trough part; a downstream spiral trough part, downstream of the upstream spiral trough part, the downstream spiral trough part having a trough floor configured such that in use more dense mineral particles migrate inwardly from an outer region, across the trough floor, to concentrate at an inner region thereof; and an apparatus provided operatively intermediate the upstream and downstream spiral trough parts of said spiral separator, the apparatus comprising: a slurry receiving region for receiving a mineral slurry flow, comprising more dense mineral and less dense mineral from said upstream spiral trough part of said spiral separator; a first splitter for splitting a concentrate part of the received mineral slurry flow from a semi-concentrate part of the mineral slurry flow, the first splitter defining a first splitting position; a concentrate channel part radially further inward of the first splitting position; a second splitter for splitting the semi-concentrate part of the slurry flow from a remainder part of the slurry flow, the semi-concentrate part comprising a lower concentration of the more dense mineral than the concentrate part; and the semi-concentrate part comprising a higher concentration of the more dense mineral than the remainder part, the second splitter defining a second splitting position further radially outward than the first splitting position; a semi-concentrate channel part radially further outward than the first splitting position and radially further inward than the second splitting position; a mixing region for mixing a more fluid radially more outward part of the remainder part with a less fluid radially more inward part of the remainder part, to form a mixed remainder part for feeding onto the downstream spiral trough part; and a semi-concentrate bypass channel for conveying the semi-concentrate part away from the semi-concentrate channel part and towards the downstream spiral trough part, wherein the apparatus and the semi-concentrate bypass channel are configured so that the semi-concentrate part bypasses the mixing region; wherein the apparatus provides a semi-concentrate outlet, configured to direct said semi-concentrate part from the bypass channel to the inner region of the more downstream trough part at an upstream part of the more downstream trough part; and wherein the apparatus provides a mixed remainder outlet, configured to direct said mixed remainder part from the mixing region to the outer region of the more downstream trough part at an upstream part of the more downstream trough part. 2 . The spiral separator in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the apparatus comprises a modular unit. 3 . The spiral separator in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the apparatus is an integral part of the spiral separator.

Linked approaches

Thermal shutdown separators

Battery separators engineered to interrupt runaway propagation.

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