Freezing temperature controllable spray freezing tower for preparing micron-sized spherical ice particles

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10436493-B2
Application number	US-201615541763-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 29, 2016
Priority date	Mar 9, 2016
Publication date	Oct 8, 2019
Grant date	Oct 8, 2019

Abstract

A freezing temperature controllable spray freezing tower for preparing micron-sized spherical ice particles includes a tower body, an atomization system, a material feeding system, a circulatory air supplying system, a refrigeration system and a tower wall cooling and thermal insulation system. An air storage cavity is formed at a top of the tower body, a freezing chamber is formed inside the tower body, a material collecting chamber is formed at a bottom of the tower body. The atomization system is in communication with the air storage cavity, the material feeding system is in communication with the atomization system, the circulatory air supplying system is in communication with the bottom of the freezing chamber and the refrigeration system respectively, the refrigeration system is connected to the air storage cavity and a tower wall of the tower body. Thus the operation is convenient and simple.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A freezing temperature controllable spray freezing tower for preparing micron-sized spherical ice particles, comprising:
a tower body,
an atomization system,
a material feeding system,
a circulatory air supplying system,
a refrigeration system, and
a tower wall cooling and thermal insulation system, wherein
an air storage cavity is formed at a top portion of the tower body, a freezing chamber is formed inside the tower body, a material collecting chamber is formed at the bottom of the tower body, and the air storage cavity, the freezing chamber and the material collecting chamber are in communication with one another; and
the atomization system is in communication with the air storage cavity, the material feeding system is in communication with the atomization system via a material feeding pipe, the circulatory air supplying system is in communication with the bottom of the freezing chamber and the refrigeration system respectively via a circulating air return pipe and an air pipe, the refrigeration system is connected to the air storage cavity and a tower wall of the tower body, and the tower wall cooling and thermal insulation system is wrapped around the tower wall.

2. The freezing temperature controllable spray freezing tower for preparing micron-sized spherical ice particles according to claim 1 , wherein the tower body comprises a plurality of tower cylinders arranged to be stacked and detachablely built to form the tower body.

3. The freezing temperature controllable spray freezing tower for preparing micron-sized spherical ice particles according to claim 2 , wherein the number of the tower cylinders is four, and each one of the tower cylinders has an inner diameter of 360 mm, an outer diameter of 660 mm and a height of 400 mm.

4. The freezing temperature controllable spray freezing tower for preparing micron-sized spherical ice particles according to claim 1 , wherein a plurality of holes are provided in the bottom of the air storage cavity, and the air storage cavity is in communication with the freezing chamber via the plurality of holes.

5. The freezing temperature controllable spray freezing tower for preparing micron-sized spherical ice particles according to claim 1 , wherein the atomization system comprises an atomizer, an atomizing air pipe and a rotor flow meter; and
the atomizer has an inlet in communication with the material feeding system and an outlet located in the air storage cavity, the rotor flow meter is arranged on the atomizing air pipe, and the atomizing air pipe extends through the refrigeration system to be connected to the atomizer, and the outlet of the atomizer is arranged to face towards the freezing chamber.

6. The freezing temperature controllable spray freezing tower for preparing micron-sized spherical ice particles according to claim 5 , wherein a check valve and a dehumidifier are provided at an inlet of the atomizing air pipe.

7. The freezing temperature controllable spray freezing tower for preparing micron-sized spherical ice particles according to claim 1 , wherein the material feeding system comprises a pressure regulating valve, a pressure gauge, a material tank and a filter; and
the pressure regulating valve and the pressure gauge are arranged on a material tank compressed air inlet pipe connected to an inlet of the material tank, an outlet of the material tank is in communication with the atomization system via the material feeding pipe, and the filter is arranged on the material feeding pipe.

8. The freezing temperature controllable spray freezing tower for preparing micron-sized spherical ice particles according to claim 1 , wherein the circulatory air supplying system comprises a fan, a frequency converter and a controller; and
the fan has an inlet in communication with the material collecting chamber via the circulating air return pipe and an outlet in communication with the refrigeration system via the air pipe, the frequency converter is arranged on a pipeline between the circulating air return pipe and the air pipe, and the controller is arranged on the air pipe.

9. The freezing temperature controllable spray freezing tower for preparing micron-sized spherical ice particles according to claim 8 , wherein the circulatory air supplying system further comprises an air volume regulating valve and a flow rate measuring device, the air volume regulating valve is arranged on a pipeline between the circulating air return pipe and the air pipe, and the flow rate measuring device is arranged on the air pipe.

10. The freezing temperature controllable spray freezing tower for preparing micron-sized spherical ice particles according to claim 1 , wherein the refrigeration system comprises a thermocouple, a cold air liquid thermostatic bath, a tower wall liquid thermostatic bath, a heat exchanger, a refrigeration unit and a thermostat;
a plurality of thermocouples are provided, and the plurality of thermocouples are arranged in the freezing chamber and the refrigeration system;
the thermostat, the refrigeration unit, the cold air liquid thermostatic bath, the heat exchanger and the thermocouples are connected in series in the listed sequence to form a first closed-loop control system, in the first closed-loop control system, the cold air liquid thermostatic bath is in communication with the heat exchanger via an inlet pipe of the cold air liquid thermostatic bath and an outlet pipe of the cold air liquid thermostatic bath, the heat exchanger is in communication with the air storage cavity via a circulating air inlet pipe; and
the thermostat, the refrigeration unit, the tower wall liquid thermostatic bath and the thermocouples are connected in series in the listed sequence, to form a second closed-loop control system, in the second closed-loop control system, the tower wall liquid thermostatic bath is in communication with the tower wall cooling and thermal insulation system via an inlet pipe of the tower wall liquid thermostatic bath and an outlet pipe of the tower wall liquid thermostatic bath.

11. The freezing temperature controllable spray freezing tower for preparing micron-sized spherical ice particles according to claim 10 , further comprising a display device, wherein the plurality of thermocouples are connected to the display device.

12. The freezing temperature controllable spray freezing tower for preparing micron-sized spherical ice particles according to claim 11 , wherein a pressure measuring device and a pressure relief valve are arranged inside the tower body on the tower wall, the pressure measuring device is connected to the display device, the pressure relief valve has a preset pressure value, and in the case that the pressure inside the tower body is equal to the preset pressure value, the pressure relief valve relieves pressure automatically.

13. The freezing temperature controllable spray freezing tower for preparing micron-sized spherical ice particles according to claim 1 , wherein the tower wall cooling and thermal insulation system comprises a heat exchanging coil and a thermal insulation material; and
the heat exchanging coil is wound around the tower wall of the tower body, the thermal insulation material is wrapped on the heat exchanging coil, and the heat exchanging coil is in communication with the refrigeration system.

Assignees

• Univ Soochow

Inventors

• Wu Duo
• Zhang Shengyu
• Liao Zhenkai
• Wu Zhangxiong
• Xiao Jie
• Chen Xiaodong

Classifications

• B01J2/04

  in a gaseous medium {(if combined with suspending the material in a gas, e.g. fluidised beds B01J2/16)} · CPC title

• B01J2/02 Primary

  by dividing the liquid material into drops, e.g. by spraying, and solidifying the drops · CPC title

• B01J2208/00017

  Controlling the temperature · CPC title

• F25C1/00 Primary

  Producing ice (F25C3/00 takes precedence) · CPC title

• F25C1/12 Primary

  by freezing water on cooled surfaces, e.g. to form slabs · CPC title