Electric resistance heating devices – Heating devices – Continuous flow type fluid heater
Patent
1992-03-03
1995-06-27
Jeffery, John A.
Electric resistance heating devices
Heating devices
Continuous flow type fluid heater
174 47, F16L 11127, H05B 358
Patent
active
054287065
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to a flexible tubular conduit comprising incorporated heating means and more specifically a flexible tubular conduit for the transport of liquid and/or gaseous fluids under pressure, in which the temperature of the fluid at the outlet of the conduit must be maintained approximately equal to the intake temperature despite the unavoidable heating exchanges with a relatively cold ambient environment or in which the temperature drop of the fluid transported between the intake and the outlet of the conduit must be limited to a relatively small value.
By way of examples of application of conduits according to the invention, flexible tubular conduits can becited that are used for the transport of hydrocarbons in petroleum production installations, particularly undersea (offshore) production installations or conduits for transport of hydrocarbons, particularly in the Arctic zone where it is necessary to heat the conduit continuously or else provide for a reheating of the transported fluid, for example to resume the flow after a stop that has caused a freezing up of the transported liquid.
Flexible conduits within the meaning of the invention are, of course, not limited to the transport of hydrocarbons but can also be used for the transport of various products such as natural products that must be kept at a more or less elevated temperature such as oily products, the conduits also being able to be used in other applications, for example such as sampling pipes in the refining industry or more generally in the chemical industry.
The flexible tubular conduits according to the invention are of the type comprising a protective flexible outer tubular sheath, a group of stiffening reinforcements, a flexible inner tubular sheath or tube and, if applicable, at least one intermediate flexible tubular sheath, and comprise heating means in the form of electrically conductive wires connected to an electric power source and releasing heat by Joule effect, said wires being arranged on the length of the conduit.
Numerous examples of embodiments of flexible tubular conduits using electric conductors embedded in insulating structures such as an elastomer material or sheathed conductive wires arranged along the conduit.
Known solutions provide relative satisfaction for conduits of short length not requiring elevated mechanical characteristics but are not suitable in particular for the transport of fluids such as hydrocarbons at high pressures and/or at a great depth with sections of conduits of great length, particularly greater than 1000 m.
The conduits for this purpose must in particular have elevated mechanical characteristics particularly of tensile strength, crushing strength and to the internal pressure of the transported fluid.
In addition, conductors embedded in an elastomer material, or sheaths, that are found in known heated conduits have relatively small metal sections and exhibit the drawback of being limited in terms of heat flow that can be emitted and of possible continuous conduit section length, as well as the drawback of operating at a relatively high temperature of the conductors, with poor characteristics of distribution and transmission of the heat to the transported fluid.
The applicant company has already proposed performing a heating of the transported fluid in such conduits and has thus described in its U.S. Pat. No. 4,364,418 a conduit comprising sheathed heating wires incorporated into metal shapes in the form of hollow cases interposed between the solid wires that make up a tensile strength reinforcement of the conduit.
Nevertheless, this solution which makes it possible to make a heated flexible conduit with elevated mechanical characteristics exhibits the drawback that the heating power that can be obtained is relatively limited particularly because of the low heat dissipation surface of the conductors. The maximum length of each section is relatively small, in practice, limited to 1000 m, and the production and positioning of special hollow shapes considerably increases the produc
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Coflexip
Jeffery John A.
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