Liquid heaters and vaporizers – Cleaning
Reexamination Certificate
2000-01-31
2001-09-04
Wilson, Gregory (Department: 3749)
Liquid heaters and vaporizers
Cleaning
C122S390000, C015S246500
Reexamination Certificate
active
06283069
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a drive system for a water lance blower for cleaning a heating installation having wall areas and a hatch, wherein the heating installation is operational with flames and/or smoke flowing therethrough.
The cleaning of heating installations, in particular of furnaces of high powered steam boilers during operation takes place inter alia with the aid of water lance blowers, which supply a focused water jet through the furnace onto the wall lying opposite. As a result of the thermal shock occurring, the kinetic water jet energy and of the sudden vaporisation of water forced into the pores of the deposits, peeling off of the dirt composed of rust, slag and ashes is effected. Typical arrangements and the associated field of such water lance blowers are described, for example, in DD 276 335 A1, DD 281 452 A5 and DD 281 468 A5.
The water jet from water lance blowers generally follows a specific predetermined path onto the surface to be cleaned, also known as the blowing pattern, wherein this path is generally wave-form or spiral and where appropriate avoids obstacles, apertures or other sensitive areas.
In addition to control of the drive systems by means of a template, which inevitably produces a very specific blowing pattern, mainly dual axis controls are fitted with axes of control at right-angles to one another, in particular a horizontal and a vertical axis, in order to be able to control wave-form paths particularly easily. In this manner, it was always possible until now to produce specific wave-form blowing patterns purely by means of time control or control of the individual axial drives from a minimum impact to a maximum impact.
This type of control makes it necessary, however, to align the drive system as precisely as possible as is described, for example, in DD 234 479 A1. Here, two actuating elements act upon the water lance, wherein these two actuating elements are arranged at an angle of 90° on a frame, wherein in addition the fixing points of the actuating elements must lie in a plane with the point of movement of the water lance.
A further dual axis control is also known from WO 93/12398, which precisely controls the water lance by means of two spindle mechanisms running perpendicularly to one another.
It is also known from DD 239 656 A1 to control the cleaning parameters of a water lance blower by means of temperature measurements of the surface to be cleaned.
Lastly, it is also known from DE 33 43 992 C1 that water lance blowers can be provided with a housing, in order to prevent uncontrolled gas exchange through the hatch and to protect the water lance and movable parts from soiling.
The previously known water lance blowers have the disadvantage that the guidance of the blower lance takes place by means of complex mechanisms and central drives, wherein in the space around the blowing guides drive and bearing elements are supported and arranged in a bulky frame construction, take up a large amount of space, and inhibit the ability of the lance to move and allow the supply of water only from the rear. Consequently there is a long water supply path with a hose connection which inevitably has to be connected from the rear to the end of the blower pipe. The consequently large lengths of the lance and the water supply necessary leads to large leverages and forces which in turn necessitate substantial guides, drives and frames.
In addition there is not always enough space available in the area of every hatch in which a water lance blower ought advantageously to be arranged. Numerous interior components, such as steam pipes, switchgear cupboards, working platforms and so forth, impede the attachment of large rectangular frameworks.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invention is therefore to provide a drive system for a water lance blower which can be arranged flexibly even where there are restricted spaces, and in addition allows free choice of any blowing patterns and any speeds of movement. The object of the invention is also to provide a suitable method for operating such water lance blowers.
According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a water lance blower for cleaning a heating installation having wall areas and a hatch, wherein the heating installation is operational with flames and/or smoke flowing therethrough, the water lance blower comprising: a water lance having a mouth, wherein the water lance is movably arranged with the mouth at the hatch for blowing a water jet through the heating installation onto the wall areas which can be reached from the hatch, at least one movement element, of the water lance, which is connected in a stationary manner at one end, outside a vertical plane through a point of movement of the water lance, to the heating installation and which is connected at another end to the water lance; and path sensors which determine a position of the water lance.
According to a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for operating a water lance blower for cleaning a heating installation having wall areas and a hatch, wherein the heating installation is operational with flames and/or smoke flowing therethrough, the method comprising: arranging a water lance movably with a mouth at the hatch for blowing a water jet through the heating installation onto wall areas which can be reached from the hatch; moving the water lance by at least one movement element which is connected at one end, outside a vertical plane through a point of movement of the water lance, to the heating installation, and connected at another end to the water lance, wherein the moving is along pre-calculated lines of movement at pre-calculated speeds dependent upon position.
The water lance blower according to the invention for cleaning heating installations is moveable by at least one movement element, which is joined stationarily to the heating installation by one end outside a vertical plane through the point of movement of the water lance, and by the other end to the water lance. In addition, the drive system is equipped with path sensors for precise determination of the position of the water lance, whereby a regulated manner of operation can be implemented. The arrangement of one or more movement elements outside a vertical plane through the movement point allows this point of movement to be shifted far forward into the hatch or the heating installation, whereby larger slewing ranges and more advantageous leverage behaviour are produced with the drive system. If only one movement element is used, it must be changeable in its length and its direction, that is to say approximately fulfil the functions of a manipulator arm. If two movement elements are present, they need only to be provided with drives for length in order to move the water lance along any paths.
Nevertheless, with two movement elements it may happen that they almost come into a position of alignment, whereby driving of the water lance is no longer possible, or is very difficult. For such arrangements, a third movement element which can then support the driving is very important. According to the requirements for the precision of the movement and the stability of the system, more than three movement elements can also be used.
Common to all the arrangements described is that, for example, for carrying out a wave-form blowing pattern, highly complex, non-linear movements of the movement elements are necessary so that a simple control, in particular a time control, can no longer be considered for such arrangements. For this reason the drive system according to the invention is provided with path sensors for precise determination of the position of the water lance, so that now there is no longer elementary control but instead regulated control along a set line of movement is possible. The path sensors make possible the precise control of the blowing pattern so that the movement elements can be controlled accordingly. The drive system also allows certain parts of the blowing pattern to be gone over at a first
Albers Karl
Bude Friedrich
Simon Stephan
Clyde Bergemann GmbH
Greenberg Laurence A.
Lerner Herbert L.
Stemer Werner H.
Wilson Gregory
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