Optics: measuring and testing – For light transmission or absorption – Of fluent material
Reexamination Certificate
2000-09-28
2003-07-15
Rosenberger, Richard A. (Department: 2877)
Optics: measuring and testing
For light transmission or absorption
Of fluent material
C356S442000, C138S040000, C138S044000, C251S175000, C251S193000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06594017
ABSTRACT:
This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §§119 and/or 365 to Appln. No. 199 46 921.0 filed in Germany on Sep. 30, 1999, now published as German Offenlugungsschrift DE 19946921 A1; the entire content of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to methods and devices for cleaning pipe conduits, and, more particularly to methods and devices for temporarily removing measuring sensors from the pipe conduits during the cleaning process.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In many applications, it is necessary to clean conduits or vessels before they are put into operation. Putting into operation may, in this case, be commissioning, during which any residues from the manufacturing process must be removed beforehand, or else recommissioning. In the latter instance, residues from prior use, for example residues of a chemical substance, often have to be removed. To clean such conduits or vessels, it is frequently expedient to blow them out with steam. Thus, for example, the water/steam circuit of a power station is also blown out, as a rule with steam, before the power station is put into operation, in order to remove residues. So that the degree of cleanliness can be measured, a metallic mirror is positioned at a suitable location in the flow. The number of particle impacts within a specific period of time is then evaluated as a measure of cleanliness.
Due to the way in which the mirror has usually been mounted hitherto, above all the operation of changing the mirror has presented problems, particularly with regard to relatively long conduit systems closed on themselves. The mirror is usually installed in the conduit or vessel at a suitable location in a nonadjustable arrangement which cannot be demounted during the blow-out operation. The conduit or vessel is subsequently blown out. For this purpose, the conduit or vessel is mostly subjected to excess pressure. Furthermore, because of the high temperatures of the steam, the conduit or vessel usually has a high temperature. So that the degree of cleanliness of the conduit or vessel can be determined after a predefined measuring time has elapsed, then, it is necessary to remove the measuring mirror from the conduit or vessel and count the particle impacts. For this purpose, the blow-out operation has hitherto had to be discontinued, in order to demount the measuring mirror from the conduit or vessel. However, it has been possible to demount the measuring mirror only after the pressure in the conduit or vessel has been discharged. Also, the conduit or vessel has first had to be cooled to an extent such that demounting work could be carried out on it. For this reason, the operation of blowing out the water/steam circuit of a power station has hitherto had to be interrupted, as a rule, for several days in total, merely in order to remove the respective measuring mirrors from the flow and/or in each case position a new measuring mirror in the flow.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the invention is, therefore, to provide a device and a method, with the aid of which it is possible to position a measuring sensor in and remove it from a pressurized or flow-through conduit or a pressurized or flow-through vessel, without the pressure previously having to be discharged or the flow through the conduit or vessel having to be interrupted.
The device according to the invention for moving a measuring sensor into and out of a pressurized or flow-through conduit or a pressurized or flow-through vessel comprises a holding element for holding the measuring sensor, a guiding element for guiding the holding element and a volume element. The holding element may, in this case, be positioned in such a way that the measuring sensor held by the holding element is arranged in the interior of the volume element. Furthermore, the volume element is capable of being sealed off relative to the conduit or the vessel by means of at least one sealing-off device. Preferably, furthermore, the device also comprises a second sealing-off device which is executed preferably separately from the first sealing-off device and by means of which the volume element is capable of being sealed off relative to the surroundings.
It is thus possible for the fluid located in the volume element to be separated completely from the fluid located in the conduit or vessel. At the same time, the volume element is open to the surroundings or, in the case of the preferred version of the device with a second sealing-off device which seals off the volume element relative to the surroundings, may be opened to the surroundings. Thus, in this state, fluid exchange and consequently also pressure equalization between the fluid located in the volume element and the fluid of the surroundings may take place. It is thereby possible to remove the measuring sensor located in the volume element from the holding element or else arrange a new measuring sensor in the holding element, without this necessitating a disruption in the flow through the conduit or vessel or even a discontinuation of the throughflow operation. Furthermore, there is also no further need to equalize any overpressure or underpressure in the conduit or vessel in relation to the pressure of the surroundings in order to make it possible to change the sensor.
In principle, for the purpose of mounting or removing the measuring sensor, it is possible to leave the holding element in the guiding element and therefore mount or demount only the measuring sensor or to remove the holding element together with the measuring sensor from the guiding element in order to carry out the mounting and demounting of the measuring sensor in the demounted state.
If, in a preferred version, the second sealing-off device is also arranged according to the invention, it is thereby advantageously possible, on the one hand, to seal off the volume element relative to the surroundings and, on the other hand, to open said volume element relative to the fluid located in the conduit or vessel. In the event of a pressure difference between the surrounding pressure and the pressure in the conduit or vessel, there is in this case merely a pressure equalization of the pressure in the conduit or vessel and the pressure in the volume element, but no permanent flow through the volume element. In this state, the holding element may be moved or displaced through an introduction orifice located in the conduit or vessel, in such a way that the measuring sensor located in the holding element projects into the region of the flow or into the region of the fluid located in the conduit or vessel or else is arranged completely in the flow. Accordingly, measurement can be carried out, with the measuring sensor in this position, without disruption being caused by an inflow or an outflow of fluid through the introduction orifice of the holding element.
Thus, with the aid of the device according to the invention, it is no longer necessary to interrupt the flow through the conduit or vessel or to vent the conduit or vessel relative to the surroundings so that the measuring sensor can be introduced into or removed from the conduit or vessel. In particular, it is also possible to renew the measuring sensor, without at the same time having to interrupt the operation of blowing through the conduit or vessel. This results in enormous amounts of time being saved, as compared with the previous measurement sequence. As regards the application in which a water/steam circuit of a power station is cleaned, a time saving of up to several days can be achieved as compared with cleaning methods conventional hitherto, as result of the use of the device according to the invention.
In a preferred embodiment, the volume element is designed as a T-shaped tubular piece with at least three orifices, two orifices serving for leading the guide or the holding element and a further orifice expediently being designed as an inspection orifice for mounting or demounting and removing the measuring sensor. The two orifices serving for leading through the guide are preferably
Alstom
Barth Vincent P.
Burns Doane Swecker & Mathis L.L.P.
Rosenberger Richard A.
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