Heat exchange – Intermediate fluent heat exchange material receiving and... – Solid fluent heat exchange material
Patent
1996-01-30
1998-01-13
Hepperle, Stephen M.
Heat exchange
Intermediate fluent heat exchange material receiving and...
Solid fluent heat exchange material
165119, 110245, 122 4D, 422147, 422145, F28D 1300
Patent
active
057068844
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The invention relates to an apparatus for carrying out a physical and/or chemical process, such as a heat exchanger, comprising a reservoir provided with upwardly-directed tubes accommodated, at the top and bottom ends thereof, in tube plates, and which are in open communication with a top box and a bottom box, in which bottom box at least one distribution plate is arranged for supporting a fluidized bed consisting of granular material capable of being held in a quasi-stationary, fluidized condition by means of a medium to be treated or heated which is supplied via the bottom box and flows through the tubes, which apparatus further comprises means for feeding fluidized bed particles back from the top box to the bottom box in the form of a downcomer arranged outside the reservoir and connected, at the top end thereof, to the top box by means of a separating device, and whose bottom end, through switching on and off, is communicable with the bottom box of the reservoir.
Such an apparatus is disclosed in GB-A-2 087 534. In the apparatus known from FIG. 3 of that publication, a valve construction is built in in the downcomer, which valve construction consists of an upper and lower conical valve member interconnected by a valve stem extending in the longitudinal direction of the downcomer. The passage of the downcomer is closed by either the upper or the lower valve member. If the lower valve member is in the closed position, an amount of fluidized bed particles collects on that valve member until the weight of that amount becomes so great that the valve member is pressed downward into its open position, which at the same time means that the upper valve member is moved into the closed position. By opening the lower valve member, the amount of fluidized bed particles collected thereon will flow away in the direction of the bottom box of the reservoir. As a result, the lower valve member is unloaded, the valve construction being such that after a certain amount of fluidized bed particles has flowed away, the lower valve member moves toward its higher closed position again, as does the upper valve member, connected therewith via the valve stem, which upper valve member reaches the open position again, so that fluidized bed particles collected at that location fall toward the closed lower valve member. In this manner, a cyclic, intermittent recirculation of the fluidized bed particles is obtained. Practice has shown that the upward and downward movement of the valve members, connected by means of the valve stem, may take place jerkily, causing adverse shocks on or vibrations in the apparatus. Further problems may occur due to the fact that the two valve members operate in an abrasive environment, i.e. the fluidized bed particles may give rise to a quick and premature wear and replacement of the valve members and their seats. The intermittent action further results in a low circulation capacity of the fluidized bed particles, which in turn may lead to the necessity of using several downcomers.
The objects of the invention is to provide an apparatus of the type described hereinabove, wherein the drawbacks mentioned have been overcome. According to the invention, this object is realized in that the bottom end of the downcomer opens into a collecting reservoir which, by means of a distribution plate, is divided into a top and a bottom section, the bottom section being closably connected, by means of a conduit, to the feed line for the medium to be treated, and the bottom end of the downcomer opening into the top section connected, via a conduit, to the bottom box of the reservoir.
In this manner, an apparatus is obtained which allows the fluidized bed particles to be continuously fed back from the top box to the bottom box by conveying the fluidized bed particles located in the top section of the collecting reservoir to the bottom box of the reservoir by means of the medium fed via the bottom section. The relevant process parameters can be measured on the downcomer in a simple manner with known, available equipment. By
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Atkinson Christopher
Bronswerk Heat Transfer B.V.
Hepperle Stephen M.
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