Pressurising of bulk material in lock hoppers

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10150925-B2
Application number	US-201515508217-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 2, 2015
Priority date	Sep 3, 2014
Publication date	Dec 11, 2018
Grant date	Dec 11, 2018

Abstract

A process for pressurizing bulk material in a hopper; wherein the hopper is configured as a lock hopper (29) containing a bulk material, a source of pressurized gas, lines (22, 26, 28) to convey the pressurized gas from the source to one or more inlets (30) of the lock hopper, a valve arranged in the lines, wherein the opening position of said valve (34, 35) is controlled to provide pressurizing gas to the lock hopper at a preset constant gas volume flow rate.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A process for pressurizing bulk material in a hopper; wherein the hopper is configured as a lock hopper containing a bulk material, a source of pressurized gas, lines to convey the pressurized gas from the source to one or more inlets of the lock hopper, a valve arranged in the lines, wherein the process comprises
providing pressurizing gas to the lock hopper to pressurize the bulk material in the hopper; and
controlling the opening position of said valve to provide the pressurizing gas to the lock hopper at a preset constant gas volume flow rate,
wherein the opening position of the valve is controlled based
on the actual gas volume flow rate of the pressurizing gas measured downstream the valve using a volume flow rate or velocity measurement device and/or
on the gas volume flow rate of the pressurizing gas calculated based on actual upstream and downstream pressures measured using a pressure sensor upstream of the valve and a pressure sensor downstream of the valve during the pressurizing.

2. The process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the opening position of the valve is controlled based on the actual gas volume flow rate of the pressurizing gas measured downstream the valve using a volume flow rate or velocity measurement device.

3. The process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the source of pressurized gas is a gas supply main and/or an intermediate buffer vessel arranged between the gas supply main and said valve.

4. An apparatus for pressurizing bulk material in a hopper; comprising a hopper configured as a lock hopper for containing a bulk material, a source of pressurized gas, lines configured to convey the pressurized gas from the source to one or more inlets of the lock hopper, a valve arranged in the lines, wherein the apparatus is characterized in that said valve is a controllable valve, the opening position of which is controllable by a control unit, the control unit being configured to control the opening position of the valve in order to provide pressurizing gas to the lock hopper at a preset constant gas volume flow rate, wherein the opening position of the valve is controllable by said control unit based
on the actual volume flow rate of the pressurizing gas measured downstream the valve using a volume flow rate or velocity measurement device and/or
on the volume flow rate of the pressurizing gas calculated based on actual upstream and downstream pressures measured using a pressure sensor upstream of the valve and a pressure sensor downstream of the valve during the pressurizing.

5. The apparatus as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the opening position of the valve is controllable by said control unit based on the actual volume flow rate of the pressurizing gas measured downstream the valve using a volume flow rate or velocity measurement device.

6. The apparatus as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the source of pressurized gas is a gas supply main and/or an intermediate buffer vessel arranged between the gas supply main and said valve.

7. The apparatus as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the control unit is configured to control the opening position of the valve in order to provide pressurizing gas through the lines at a preset constant gas volume flow rate.

8. The process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the process comprises controlling the opening position of said valve to provide pressurizing gas through the lines at a preset constant gas volume flow rate.

9. The process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the opening position of the valve is controlled based on the gas volume flow rate of the pressurizing gas calculated based on actual upstream and downstream pressures measured using a pressure sensor upstream of the valve and a pressure sensor downstream of the valve during the pressurizing.

10. The process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the opening position of the valve is controlled based
on the actual gas volume flow rate of the pressurizing gas measured downstream the valve using a volume flow rate or velocity measurement device, and
on the gas volume flow rate of the pressurizing gas calculated based on actual upstream and downstream pressures measured using a pressure sensor upstream of the valve and a pressure sensor downstream of the valve during the pressurizing.

11. The apparatus as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the opening position of the valve is controllable by said control unit based on the volume flow rate of the pressurizing gas calculated based on actual upstream and downstream pressures measured using a pressure sensor upstream of the valve and a pressure sensor downstream of the valve during the pressurizing.

12. The apparatus as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the opening position of the valve is controllable by said control unit based
on the actual volume flow rate of the pressurizing gas measured downstream the valve using a volume flow rate or velocity measurement device, and
on the volume flow rate of the pressurizing gas calculated based on actual upstream and downstream pressures measured using a pressure sensor upstream of the valve and a pressure sensor downstream of the valve during the pressurizing.

Assignees

• Wurth Paul Sa

Inventors

• Schmit Louis
• Muller Ben

Classifications

• B65G53/12 Primary

  the gas flow acting directly on the materials in a reservoir · CPC title

• C10J3/50

  Fuel charging devices · CPC title

• B65G53/66

  Use of indicator or control devices, e.g. for controlling gas pressure, for controlling proportions of material and gas, for indicating or preventing jamming of material {(controlling the flow of coal firing systems C21B5/003)} · CPC title

• C10J2200/156

  Sluices, e.g. mechanical sluices for preventing escape of gas through the feed inlet · CPC title

• B65G53/4616

  with axis of turning parallel to flow · CPC title