CA1141678A - Pumpless flow system for a corrosive liquid - Google Patents
Pumpless flow system for a corrosive liquidInfo
- Publication number
- CA1141678A CA1141678A CA000354178A CA354178A CA1141678A CA 1141678 A CA1141678 A CA 1141678A CA 000354178 A CA000354178 A CA 000354178A CA 354178 A CA354178 A CA 354178A CA 1141678 A CA1141678 A CA 1141678A
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- Canada
- Prior art keywords
- corrosive liquid
- valve
- reservoirs
- air
- inlet
- Prior art date
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Abstract
Pumpless Flow System for a Corrosive Liquid Abstract A system for transporting a highly corrosive liquid solely by pressure differential without the need of mechanical pumps for transporting the corrosive liquid. The system includes a source of gas under pressure and first and second corrosive liquid reser-voirs connected in parallel to the source via a valve such that one or the other, but not both, may receive pressured gas. A valve connects one or the other, but not both, of the reservoirs to a point of use of the corrosive liquid and is specifically designed for con-necting the reservoir receiving the pressurized gas to the point of use. A valve receives corrosive liquid from the point of use and directs the same to one or the other, but not both, of the reservoirs, and is specifically designed to provide the corrosive liquid to the reservoir not then receiving pressurized gas from the source. Air displaced from the reservoir receiving the corrosive liquid is directed to a scrub-ber and then returned to the pressurized gas source for subsequent reuse.
Description
Description PUMPLESS FLOW SYSTEM FOR A CORROSIV:E: LIQUID
Technical Field _ . .
This invention relates to the movement of highly corrosive liquids in a flow system without the use of mechanical pumps in contact with the corrosive liquid.
Background Art In United States Letters Patent 3,606,921, issued September 21, 1971, to Grawey, there is des-cribed a method of fabricating hollow articles having a substantially closed center, namely, a vehicle tire.
In the course of forming the tire, a toroidal core structure is employed as a mandrel upon which the tire is built. The core structure is basically a particulate material such as sand. The particulate material is formed to the desired shape and bonded together to hold that shape to thereby form the r7gid core. The article, a tire, is then formed on the core and after the article is completed, it is necessary to remove the core from the interior of the article and cure the tire.
Core removal and tire cure have been achi~ved by flowing a hot caustic solution through the interior of the article. The hot caustic material dissolves the bond holding the grains of the particulate material together and additionally entrains the loosened particu-late grains to remove them from the interior of the article in the fluid stream.
Motive force for the corrosive liquid to drive the same through the interior of the article has been provided by mechanical pumps of various types as, for example, centrifugal pumps which, of course, have ~s'~'~
.
components in actual contact with the caustic mater-ial. Consequently, the corrosive nature of the caustic material rapidly deteriorates seals in the pump or pumps used with the consequence that leaks develop.
This is quite undesirable since the system must be taken out of production frequently for seal replacement and, of course, the presence of hot, highly corrosive caustic material, usually under elevated pressure, ema-nating from leaks in a flow path provides a hostile working environment.
All of the caustic material will be reused after it has washed the particulate core out of an article and cured the tire. To the extent that small quantities of particulate fines may be entrained in the recirculating solution, such fines further increase the wear rate of pump seals and accentuate the problem.
Disclosure of the Invention The present invention is directed to over-coming one or more of the problems as set forth above.
According to one aspect of the present inven-tion there is provided a high pressure fluid flow system for transporting a mixture of a corrosive liquid and a particulate material and separating the latter from the former while recovering the corrosive liquid and not requiring mechanical pumps comprising a source of high pressure gas under pressure; first and second corrosive liquid reservoirs sonnected in parallel to said source, said source comprising a compressor having an outlet connectable to one or the other, but not both concurrently, of said reservoirs and an inlet connect-able to one or the other, but not both concurrently, of said reservoirs, and specifically the reservoir not then connected to said outlet, and gas supply regulat-ing means comprising a gas storage tank, a low pressure ~ ;~
, -2a-regulator connecting the gas storage tank to said com-pressor inlet, and a high pressure regulator connecting the gas storage tank to said compressor outlet; means for connecting one or the other, buk not both concur-rently, of said reservoirs to a point of use of thecorrosive liquid and specifically, for connecting the reservoir receiving pressurized gas to said point of use; means for receiving a mixture of the corrosive liquid, after use, and particulate material and for separating the mixture into its components of particulate material and corrosive liquid; and means for conveying the separated corrosive liquid to one or the other, but not both concurrently, of the reser-voirs, and specifically the reservoir not then receiving pressurized gas from the source.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a closed system for trans-porting a mixture of a corrosive liquid and a particu-late material and separating the latter from the former while recovering the corrosive liquid and not requiring mechanical pumps comprising an air compressor having an inlet for receiving air under a relatively low pressure and an outlet for providing air under relatively high pressure; an air scrubber connected to said inlet; a storage tank connected between said inlet and said out-let; means for directing high pressure air from said outlet to said storage tank when the pressure exceeds the desired operating pressure of the liquid transport system; means for directing air from said storage tank to said compressor inlet when the pressure at the inlet drops below a preselected minimum suction pressure;
first and second pressure vessels each having an inlet, an outlet, and an inlet-outlet port; first valve means for cross connecting said air compressor outlet and said scrubber with said vessel ports; second valve ~. . . . . . : . .
..~ 78 means for connecting one or the other o said vessel outlets, but not both concurrently, to a point of use of corrosive liquid; and third valve means for receiv-ing a corrosive liquid downstream from said point of use and directing the corrosive liquid to one or the other of said vessel inlets, but not both concurrently, whereby air under relatively high pressure from said compressor may alternately be directed by said first valve means to (a) one of said pressure vessels to drive corrosive liquid therefrom via said second valve means to said point of use and thence via said third valve means to the other of said pressure vessels with air displaced from said other pressure vessel by said corrosive liquid being conveyed to said compressor inlet via said first valve means and said scrubber, or (b) the other of said pressure vessels to drive corrosive liquid therefrom via said second valve means to said point of use and thence via said third valve means to said one vessel with air displaced therefrom by said corrosive liquid being conveyed to said compressor inlet via said first valve means and said scrubber.
Brief Description of Drawings The Figure is a schematic flow diagram of a corrosive liquid transporting system made according to the invention.
Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention With reference to the Figure, a point of use of a highly corrosive liquid is generally designated 10 and for explanatory purposes may be considered to be a tire 12 made according to the teachings of the pre-viously identified United States Letters Patent to Grawey. Typically then, the corrosive liquid will be a .
^~ i'7~
-3a hot caustic solution under pressure which is driven into the interior of the tire via a valve stem shown schematically at 14 and which exits the tire 12 from an opposed valve stem, shown schematically at 16. How-ever, it is to be understood that the system is not limited to use in the formation of tires but may be used wherever the transporting of highly corrosive materials, whether caustic or acidic, in a flow path is required and pump wear and/or leaks is a significant problem. The invention i.s particularly advantageous where not only is corrosive liquid being moved in a -.6~
flow path, but where there is a mixture of the corros-ive liquid and a particulate material.
Corrosive liquid may ~e supplied to the point of use via a line 18 which is connectable through a three-way valve 20 to either of two reservoirs 22 and 24, both in form of pressure vessels.
The pressure vessels 22 and 24 have outlets 26 and 28, respectively, connected to the valve 20.
The valve 20 is operable, either manually or by means of a control actuator, to direct liquid from the vessel 24 exiting the outlet 28 to the line 18 while sealing the outlet 26 of the vessel 22 or vice versa. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, each of the pressure vessels 22 and 24 is provided with interior heating elements 30 by which the corrosive liquid con-tained in either may be selectively heated to an ele-vated temperature.
Each of the vessels 22 and 24 is provided with an inlet, 32 and 34, respectively, and the inlets 32 and 34 are connected in parallel to a three-way valve 36. Corrosive liquid in a line 40 is recovered from the point of use 10 by means to be described in greater detail hereinafter and directed to the valve 36. The valve 36, either manually or automatically, may be conditioned to direct the corrosive liquid to the interior of the vessel 22 via the inlet 32 while blocking the inlet 34 for the pressure vessel 24 or vice versa.
The corrosive liquid directed to the line 40 is received from the point of use 10 via a line 42 con-nected to the valve stem 16. The line 42 is connected to the inlet of a settling tank 44 which is a sealed pressure vessel and of sufficient size so that liquid velocity therein is minimal. Particulate material from the dissolving core within the tire 12 is entrained in !
7~
the liquid exiting the tire 12 on the line 42 and enters the settling tank 44 therewith. By gravity, the same settles to the bottom of the settling tank 44.
The bottom of the tank 44 is provided with a valved outlet 46 which may be periodically opened to allow accumulated particulate material to exit the vessel 44 into a hopper 48.
The settling tank 44 also includes an upper out-let 50 which is connected to the inlet of a conven-tional cyclone separator 52. An upper outlet 54 of thecyclone separator is connected to the line 40 while a lower outlet 56 from the cyclone separator 52 is con-nected to a sealed holding tank 58 which in turn has a valved outlet 60 leading to the hopper 480 Particulate fines which do not readily separate within the settling tank 44 are separated from the cor-rosive liquid in the cyclone separator 52 and will settle in a conventional fashion to accumulate in the holding tank 58. They may be periodically removed therefrom through suitable operation of the valved out-let 60.
Separated particulate received in the hopper 48 is then directed to a conventional draining and/or drying system, generally designated 62, to be collected for subsequent reuse or disposal as desired.
Returning to the reservoirs 22 and 24, at the upper ends of each there is provided an inlet-outlet port, 64 and 66, respectively. For the configuration shown in the Figure, port 64 on the reservoir 22 is serving a gas outlet function while the port 66 on the reservoir 24 is serving a gas inlet function.
The ports 6~ and 66 are~connected in parallel vïa valves 5~ and 70, resp~otively, to ~he inlet of a conventional gas scrubbing device 72. The outlet of 7~
the gas scrubbing device is connected to a low pressure regulator 74 and then to a line 75 to the inlet 76 of an air compressor 78.
The ports 64 and 66 are also connected to a three-way valve 80 which in turn is connected to the outlet 82 of the air compressor 78 by a line 84.
The outlet 82 of the air compressor 78 is con~
nected via a high pressure regulator 86 to a surge or storage tank 88. The line 75 is also connected to the storage tank 88 via a low pressure regulator 90. Last-ly, a heater 92 may be incorporated in the line 18 in addition to or as an alternate for the heaters 30.
Thus, it will be appreciated that the three-way valve 80 can be adjusted, either manually or auto-matically~ to direct air under pressure from the aircompressor 78 to the interior of the pressure vessel 24 as shown while blocking the port 64 of the pressure vessel 22 or vice versa. It will be appreciated from the foregoing description that the entire system is sealed save for the regulatable outlets for the partic-ulate materials, namely, the valved outlets 46 and 60.
The described system is a closed system and during the operational cycle no gas enters or leaves the system.
Thus, the mass of gas in the system remains constant but the volume ratio of high to low pressure gas changes as the liquid level changes in the vessels 22 and 24. The storage tank 88 serves as a reservoir for that mass of gas not active in the system during part of the cycle, and either receives gas from the pressure regulator 86, when pressure is higher than required in line 84, or expels gas through the pressure regulator 90 when the pressure in the line 75 is less than that controlled by the pressure regulator 74. The pressure regulator 74 may be set at any desired pressure so long as it is lower than the pressure setting on th~ regula-tor 86 so that a pressure differential will exist ` ;
~or flow purposes as will be seen. This is particular-ly desirable where the corrosive liquid is to be heated by the heaters 30 to a temperature in excess of its boiling point at atmospheric pressure. The minimum system pressure can be set on the regulator 74 at a sufficiently high level so as to prevent the occurrence of boiling of the corrosive liquid anywhere within the system.
A further high pressure air inlet to the system may be provided between the outlet of the air compressor 78 and the pressure regulator 86 for the purpose of initially charging the system with a suffi-cient volume of air so as to enable closed loop operation thereafter, as will be seen.
Industrial Applicability Operation of the system is as follows. Assum-ing the three-way valves 20, 36 and 80 are in the positions illustrated in the figure, the valve 70 will be closed while the valve 68 will be opened. Typical-ly, the valved outlets 46 and 60 will be closed, although they may be periodically opened when a prede-termined particulate level in either the settling tank 44 or the holding tank 58 has been reached, to bring the particulate level down to some predetermined mini-mum. Compressed air from the air compressor 78 will be provided at a relatively high pressure to the line 84.
The high gaseous pressure will be applied via the line 84, the three-way valve 80, and the port 66 to the interior of the pressure vessel 24. Heated, highly corrosive caustic will be driven from the pressure vessel 24 via the valve 20 and the line 18 to the inlet 14 for the tire 12. The hot caustic will dissolve or loosen the bond between the particulate material in the core of the tire 12 and a mixture of corrosive liquid ~`
.~.
-7a-and particulate will exit the tire 12 via the valve stem 16 on the line 4~. From there, the mixture will enter the settling tank 44 wherein the vast majority of the particulate will settle out. The corrosive liquid, containing a small amount of particulate fines, will then exit the settling tank 44 via the outlet 50 to enter the cyclone separator 52 in which the fines will be ~ ... .
' - : .
separated from the corrosive liquid. The ~ully separated corrosive liquid will exit the outlet 54 of the cyclone separator and on the line 40 be directed by the three-way valve 36 to the inlet 32 of the reservoir 22. Since the outlet 26 of the reservoir 22 is closed by the valve 20, air within the pressure vessel 22 will be displaced by the incoming corrosive liquid and will exit the vessel 22 via the port 64. The air will pass through the open valve 68 to the scrubber 72 which will remove any fine droplets or vapor ~rom the corrosive liquid. It will then pass at the pressure determined by the pressure regulator 74 to the line 75 and the inlet 76 for the compressor 78 to have its pressure elevated for recycling.
The vessels 22 and 24 can be suitably sized so that they will contain a sufficient amount of corrosive liquid as to fully dissolve the core and completely cure the largest tire 12 for which the system is intended. Thus, once the reservoir 24 has been exhausted of corrosive liquid, the valve 20 may be suitably operated so as to close off both of the out-lets 26 and 28 or the vessels 22 and 24 and the tire 12 removed and another tire with core intact replaced therein. During the preceding operation, the corrosive liquid that has been accumulated in the vessel 22 can be heated. Assuming that it has been sufficiently heated, the valve 20 may then be operated so as to con-nect the outlet 26 of the vessel 22 to the line 18 while blocking the outlet 28 of the vessel 24. The valve 68 will then be closed while the valve 70 will be opened. Additionally, the valve 36 will be manipulated so as to direct recovered corrosive liquid incoming on the line 40 to the vessel 24 via its inlet 34. Final-ly, the valve 80 will be adj~sted so as to direct air under elevated pressure incoming on the line 84 from the storage tank 88 to the port 64 for the vessel 22.
As a consequence, the recovered caustic will be driven therefrom and through the newly placed tire 12 at the point of use 10. During this subsequent operation, re~
covered corrosive liquid will replenish the vessel 24 and air driven therefrom will be scrubbed by the scrubber 72 and recompressed by the compressor 78 until the cycle is completed. At this time, a new tire with core intact is placed at the point of use lO and suitably connected to the lines 18 and 42, and the operation repeated using corrosive liquid from the vessel 24.
Alternately, where the vessels 22 and 24 are of lesser size and each one containingan insu~f~cient ~uan~i~y of corrosive liquid to complete a core washout and cure cycle, the system may be operated in the same fashion described above until either the vessel 22 or the vessel 24 is nearly empty and the receiving vessel 24 or 22 very nearly full. At this time, flow is stopped by placing both valves 68 and 70 in an open condition thereby allowing gas pressure in the vessels 22 and 24 to equalize. Valves 20, 36 and 80 are then switched and one or the other of the valves 68 and 70 closed to cause the liquid to flow from the nearly full one of the ves-sels 22 and 24 as soon as the air compressor 78 has established an adequate pressure differential.
From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that flow of the corrosive liquid is accomplished entirely through the use of pressure differentials established by suitable adjustment of the pressure regulator 74, 86 and 90 and that mechanical pumps are not required in the system. As a result, rapid seal deterioration and associated down time and corrosive liquid leaks found in the prior art system are entirely avoided. Efficiency of the operation is therefore greatly enhanced and the troublesome pump leaks at seals therein completely eliminated to provide a more desir-able working environment.
Technical Field _ . .
This invention relates to the movement of highly corrosive liquids in a flow system without the use of mechanical pumps in contact with the corrosive liquid.
Background Art In United States Letters Patent 3,606,921, issued September 21, 1971, to Grawey, there is des-cribed a method of fabricating hollow articles having a substantially closed center, namely, a vehicle tire.
In the course of forming the tire, a toroidal core structure is employed as a mandrel upon which the tire is built. The core structure is basically a particulate material such as sand. The particulate material is formed to the desired shape and bonded together to hold that shape to thereby form the r7gid core. The article, a tire, is then formed on the core and after the article is completed, it is necessary to remove the core from the interior of the article and cure the tire.
Core removal and tire cure have been achi~ved by flowing a hot caustic solution through the interior of the article. The hot caustic material dissolves the bond holding the grains of the particulate material together and additionally entrains the loosened particu-late grains to remove them from the interior of the article in the fluid stream.
Motive force for the corrosive liquid to drive the same through the interior of the article has been provided by mechanical pumps of various types as, for example, centrifugal pumps which, of course, have ~s'~'~
.
components in actual contact with the caustic mater-ial. Consequently, the corrosive nature of the caustic material rapidly deteriorates seals in the pump or pumps used with the consequence that leaks develop.
This is quite undesirable since the system must be taken out of production frequently for seal replacement and, of course, the presence of hot, highly corrosive caustic material, usually under elevated pressure, ema-nating from leaks in a flow path provides a hostile working environment.
All of the caustic material will be reused after it has washed the particulate core out of an article and cured the tire. To the extent that small quantities of particulate fines may be entrained in the recirculating solution, such fines further increase the wear rate of pump seals and accentuate the problem.
Disclosure of the Invention The present invention is directed to over-coming one or more of the problems as set forth above.
According to one aspect of the present inven-tion there is provided a high pressure fluid flow system for transporting a mixture of a corrosive liquid and a particulate material and separating the latter from the former while recovering the corrosive liquid and not requiring mechanical pumps comprising a source of high pressure gas under pressure; first and second corrosive liquid reservoirs sonnected in parallel to said source, said source comprising a compressor having an outlet connectable to one or the other, but not both concurrently, of said reservoirs and an inlet connect-able to one or the other, but not both concurrently, of said reservoirs, and specifically the reservoir not then connected to said outlet, and gas supply regulat-ing means comprising a gas storage tank, a low pressure ~ ;~
, -2a-regulator connecting the gas storage tank to said com-pressor inlet, and a high pressure regulator connecting the gas storage tank to said compressor outlet; means for connecting one or the other, buk not both concur-rently, of said reservoirs to a point of use of thecorrosive liquid and specifically, for connecting the reservoir receiving pressurized gas to said point of use; means for receiving a mixture of the corrosive liquid, after use, and particulate material and for separating the mixture into its components of particulate material and corrosive liquid; and means for conveying the separated corrosive liquid to one or the other, but not both concurrently, of the reser-voirs, and specifically the reservoir not then receiving pressurized gas from the source.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a closed system for trans-porting a mixture of a corrosive liquid and a particu-late material and separating the latter from the former while recovering the corrosive liquid and not requiring mechanical pumps comprising an air compressor having an inlet for receiving air under a relatively low pressure and an outlet for providing air under relatively high pressure; an air scrubber connected to said inlet; a storage tank connected between said inlet and said out-let; means for directing high pressure air from said outlet to said storage tank when the pressure exceeds the desired operating pressure of the liquid transport system; means for directing air from said storage tank to said compressor inlet when the pressure at the inlet drops below a preselected minimum suction pressure;
first and second pressure vessels each having an inlet, an outlet, and an inlet-outlet port; first valve means for cross connecting said air compressor outlet and said scrubber with said vessel ports; second valve ~. . . . . . : . .
..~ 78 means for connecting one or the other o said vessel outlets, but not both concurrently, to a point of use of corrosive liquid; and third valve means for receiv-ing a corrosive liquid downstream from said point of use and directing the corrosive liquid to one or the other of said vessel inlets, but not both concurrently, whereby air under relatively high pressure from said compressor may alternately be directed by said first valve means to (a) one of said pressure vessels to drive corrosive liquid therefrom via said second valve means to said point of use and thence via said third valve means to the other of said pressure vessels with air displaced from said other pressure vessel by said corrosive liquid being conveyed to said compressor inlet via said first valve means and said scrubber, or (b) the other of said pressure vessels to drive corrosive liquid therefrom via said second valve means to said point of use and thence via said third valve means to said one vessel with air displaced therefrom by said corrosive liquid being conveyed to said compressor inlet via said first valve means and said scrubber.
Brief Description of Drawings The Figure is a schematic flow diagram of a corrosive liquid transporting system made according to the invention.
Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention With reference to the Figure, a point of use of a highly corrosive liquid is generally designated 10 and for explanatory purposes may be considered to be a tire 12 made according to the teachings of the pre-viously identified United States Letters Patent to Grawey. Typically then, the corrosive liquid will be a .
^~ i'7~
-3a hot caustic solution under pressure which is driven into the interior of the tire via a valve stem shown schematically at 14 and which exits the tire 12 from an opposed valve stem, shown schematically at 16. How-ever, it is to be understood that the system is not limited to use in the formation of tires but may be used wherever the transporting of highly corrosive materials, whether caustic or acidic, in a flow path is required and pump wear and/or leaks is a significant problem. The invention i.s particularly advantageous where not only is corrosive liquid being moved in a -.6~
flow path, but where there is a mixture of the corros-ive liquid and a particulate material.
Corrosive liquid may ~e supplied to the point of use via a line 18 which is connectable through a three-way valve 20 to either of two reservoirs 22 and 24, both in form of pressure vessels.
The pressure vessels 22 and 24 have outlets 26 and 28, respectively, connected to the valve 20.
The valve 20 is operable, either manually or by means of a control actuator, to direct liquid from the vessel 24 exiting the outlet 28 to the line 18 while sealing the outlet 26 of the vessel 22 or vice versa. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, each of the pressure vessels 22 and 24 is provided with interior heating elements 30 by which the corrosive liquid con-tained in either may be selectively heated to an ele-vated temperature.
Each of the vessels 22 and 24 is provided with an inlet, 32 and 34, respectively, and the inlets 32 and 34 are connected in parallel to a three-way valve 36. Corrosive liquid in a line 40 is recovered from the point of use 10 by means to be described in greater detail hereinafter and directed to the valve 36. The valve 36, either manually or automatically, may be conditioned to direct the corrosive liquid to the interior of the vessel 22 via the inlet 32 while blocking the inlet 34 for the pressure vessel 24 or vice versa.
The corrosive liquid directed to the line 40 is received from the point of use 10 via a line 42 con-nected to the valve stem 16. The line 42 is connected to the inlet of a settling tank 44 which is a sealed pressure vessel and of sufficient size so that liquid velocity therein is minimal. Particulate material from the dissolving core within the tire 12 is entrained in !
7~
the liquid exiting the tire 12 on the line 42 and enters the settling tank 44 therewith. By gravity, the same settles to the bottom of the settling tank 44.
The bottom of the tank 44 is provided with a valved outlet 46 which may be periodically opened to allow accumulated particulate material to exit the vessel 44 into a hopper 48.
The settling tank 44 also includes an upper out-let 50 which is connected to the inlet of a conven-tional cyclone separator 52. An upper outlet 54 of thecyclone separator is connected to the line 40 while a lower outlet 56 from the cyclone separator 52 is con-nected to a sealed holding tank 58 which in turn has a valved outlet 60 leading to the hopper 480 Particulate fines which do not readily separate within the settling tank 44 are separated from the cor-rosive liquid in the cyclone separator 52 and will settle in a conventional fashion to accumulate in the holding tank 58. They may be periodically removed therefrom through suitable operation of the valved out-let 60.
Separated particulate received in the hopper 48 is then directed to a conventional draining and/or drying system, generally designated 62, to be collected for subsequent reuse or disposal as desired.
Returning to the reservoirs 22 and 24, at the upper ends of each there is provided an inlet-outlet port, 64 and 66, respectively. For the configuration shown in the Figure, port 64 on the reservoir 22 is serving a gas outlet function while the port 66 on the reservoir 24 is serving a gas inlet function.
The ports 6~ and 66 are~connected in parallel vïa valves 5~ and 70, resp~otively, to ~he inlet of a conventional gas scrubbing device 72. The outlet of 7~
the gas scrubbing device is connected to a low pressure regulator 74 and then to a line 75 to the inlet 76 of an air compressor 78.
The ports 64 and 66 are also connected to a three-way valve 80 which in turn is connected to the outlet 82 of the air compressor 78 by a line 84.
The outlet 82 of the air compressor 78 is con~
nected via a high pressure regulator 86 to a surge or storage tank 88. The line 75 is also connected to the storage tank 88 via a low pressure regulator 90. Last-ly, a heater 92 may be incorporated in the line 18 in addition to or as an alternate for the heaters 30.
Thus, it will be appreciated that the three-way valve 80 can be adjusted, either manually or auto-matically~ to direct air under pressure from the aircompressor 78 to the interior of the pressure vessel 24 as shown while blocking the port 64 of the pressure vessel 22 or vice versa. It will be appreciated from the foregoing description that the entire system is sealed save for the regulatable outlets for the partic-ulate materials, namely, the valved outlets 46 and 60.
The described system is a closed system and during the operational cycle no gas enters or leaves the system.
Thus, the mass of gas in the system remains constant but the volume ratio of high to low pressure gas changes as the liquid level changes in the vessels 22 and 24. The storage tank 88 serves as a reservoir for that mass of gas not active in the system during part of the cycle, and either receives gas from the pressure regulator 86, when pressure is higher than required in line 84, or expels gas through the pressure regulator 90 when the pressure in the line 75 is less than that controlled by the pressure regulator 74. The pressure regulator 74 may be set at any desired pressure so long as it is lower than the pressure setting on th~ regula-tor 86 so that a pressure differential will exist ` ;
~or flow purposes as will be seen. This is particular-ly desirable where the corrosive liquid is to be heated by the heaters 30 to a temperature in excess of its boiling point at atmospheric pressure. The minimum system pressure can be set on the regulator 74 at a sufficiently high level so as to prevent the occurrence of boiling of the corrosive liquid anywhere within the system.
A further high pressure air inlet to the system may be provided between the outlet of the air compressor 78 and the pressure regulator 86 for the purpose of initially charging the system with a suffi-cient volume of air so as to enable closed loop operation thereafter, as will be seen.
Industrial Applicability Operation of the system is as follows. Assum-ing the three-way valves 20, 36 and 80 are in the positions illustrated in the figure, the valve 70 will be closed while the valve 68 will be opened. Typical-ly, the valved outlets 46 and 60 will be closed, although they may be periodically opened when a prede-termined particulate level in either the settling tank 44 or the holding tank 58 has been reached, to bring the particulate level down to some predetermined mini-mum. Compressed air from the air compressor 78 will be provided at a relatively high pressure to the line 84.
The high gaseous pressure will be applied via the line 84, the three-way valve 80, and the port 66 to the interior of the pressure vessel 24. Heated, highly corrosive caustic will be driven from the pressure vessel 24 via the valve 20 and the line 18 to the inlet 14 for the tire 12. The hot caustic will dissolve or loosen the bond between the particulate material in the core of the tire 12 and a mixture of corrosive liquid ~`
.~.
-7a-and particulate will exit the tire 12 via the valve stem 16 on the line 4~. From there, the mixture will enter the settling tank 44 wherein the vast majority of the particulate will settle out. The corrosive liquid, containing a small amount of particulate fines, will then exit the settling tank 44 via the outlet 50 to enter the cyclone separator 52 in which the fines will be ~ ... .
' - : .
separated from the corrosive liquid. The ~ully separated corrosive liquid will exit the outlet 54 of the cyclone separator and on the line 40 be directed by the three-way valve 36 to the inlet 32 of the reservoir 22. Since the outlet 26 of the reservoir 22 is closed by the valve 20, air within the pressure vessel 22 will be displaced by the incoming corrosive liquid and will exit the vessel 22 via the port 64. The air will pass through the open valve 68 to the scrubber 72 which will remove any fine droplets or vapor ~rom the corrosive liquid. It will then pass at the pressure determined by the pressure regulator 74 to the line 75 and the inlet 76 for the compressor 78 to have its pressure elevated for recycling.
The vessels 22 and 24 can be suitably sized so that they will contain a sufficient amount of corrosive liquid as to fully dissolve the core and completely cure the largest tire 12 for which the system is intended. Thus, once the reservoir 24 has been exhausted of corrosive liquid, the valve 20 may be suitably operated so as to close off both of the out-lets 26 and 28 or the vessels 22 and 24 and the tire 12 removed and another tire with core intact replaced therein. During the preceding operation, the corrosive liquid that has been accumulated in the vessel 22 can be heated. Assuming that it has been sufficiently heated, the valve 20 may then be operated so as to con-nect the outlet 26 of the vessel 22 to the line 18 while blocking the outlet 28 of the vessel 24. The valve 68 will then be closed while the valve 70 will be opened. Additionally, the valve 36 will be manipulated so as to direct recovered corrosive liquid incoming on the line 40 to the vessel 24 via its inlet 34. Final-ly, the valve 80 will be adj~sted so as to direct air under elevated pressure incoming on the line 84 from the storage tank 88 to the port 64 for the vessel 22.
As a consequence, the recovered caustic will be driven therefrom and through the newly placed tire 12 at the point of use 10. During this subsequent operation, re~
covered corrosive liquid will replenish the vessel 24 and air driven therefrom will be scrubbed by the scrubber 72 and recompressed by the compressor 78 until the cycle is completed. At this time, a new tire with core intact is placed at the point of use lO and suitably connected to the lines 18 and 42, and the operation repeated using corrosive liquid from the vessel 24.
Alternately, where the vessels 22 and 24 are of lesser size and each one containingan insu~f~cient ~uan~i~y of corrosive liquid to complete a core washout and cure cycle, the system may be operated in the same fashion described above until either the vessel 22 or the vessel 24 is nearly empty and the receiving vessel 24 or 22 very nearly full. At this time, flow is stopped by placing both valves 68 and 70 in an open condition thereby allowing gas pressure in the vessels 22 and 24 to equalize. Valves 20, 36 and 80 are then switched and one or the other of the valves 68 and 70 closed to cause the liquid to flow from the nearly full one of the ves-sels 22 and 24 as soon as the air compressor 78 has established an adequate pressure differential.
From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that flow of the corrosive liquid is accomplished entirely through the use of pressure differentials established by suitable adjustment of the pressure regulator 74, 86 and 90 and that mechanical pumps are not required in the system. As a result, rapid seal deterioration and associated down time and corrosive liquid leaks found in the prior art system are entirely avoided. Efficiency of the operation is therefore greatly enhanced and the troublesome pump leaks at seals therein completely eliminated to provide a more desir-able working environment.
Claims (8)
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:
1. A high pressure fluid flow system for transporting a mixture of a corrosive liquid and a particulate material and separating the latter from the former while recovering the corrosive liquid comprising:
a source of high pressure gas under pressure;
first and second corrosive liquid reservoirs connected in parallel to said source, said source comprising a compressor having an outlet connectable alternately to one or the other of said reservoirs and an inlet connectable to alternately one or the other of said reservoirs, and specifically the reservoir not then connected to said outlet, and gas supply regulating means comprising a gas storage tank, a low pressure regulator connecting the gas storage tank to said compressor inlet, and a high pressure regulator connecting the gas storage tank to said compressor outlet;
means for alternately connecting one or the other of said reservoirs to a point of use of the corrosive liquid and specifically, for connecting the reservoir receiving pressurized gas to said point of use;
means for receiving a mixture of the corrosive liquid, after use, and particulate material and for separating the mixture into its components of particulate material and corrosive liquid; and means for alternately conveying the separated corrosive liquid to one or the other of the reservoirs, and specifically the reservoir not then receiving pressurized gas from the source.
a source of high pressure gas under pressure;
first and second corrosive liquid reservoirs connected in parallel to said source, said source comprising a compressor having an outlet connectable alternately to one or the other of said reservoirs and an inlet connectable to alternately one or the other of said reservoirs, and specifically the reservoir not then connected to said outlet, and gas supply regulating means comprising a gas storage tank, a low pressure regulator connecting the gas storage tank to said compressor inlet, and a high pressure regulator connecting the gas storage tank to said compressor outlet;
means for alternately connecting one or the other of said reservoirs to a point of use of the corrosive liquid and specifically, for connecting the reservoir receiving pressurized gas to said point of use;
means for receiving a mixture of the corrosive liquid, after use, and particulate material and for separating the mixture into its components of particulate material and corrosive liquid; and means for alternately conveying the separated corrosive liquid to one or the other of the reservoirs, and specifically the reservoir not then receiving pressurized gas from the source.
2. The system of claim 1 further including a scrubber and a pressure regulator in series with each other and with said inlet and said reservoirs.
3. The system of claim 2 wherein said receiving and separating means comprise a settling tank including selectively operable means for withdrawing particulate material and a cyclone separator, said settling tank being upstream of said cyclone separator.
4. The system of claim 1 wherein said source of high pressure gas is an air compressor having an inlet for receiving air under a relatively low pressure and an outlet for providing air under relatively high pressure;
means for directing high pressure air from said outlet to said storage tank when the pressure exceeds the desired operating pressure of the liquid transport system;
means for directing air from said storage tank to said compressor inlet when the pressure at the inlet drops below a preselected minimum suction pressure;
said first and second corrosive liquid reservoirs each having an inlet, an outlet, and an inlet-outlet port.
means for directing high pressure air from said outlet to said storage tank when the pressure exceeds the desired operating pressure of the liquid transport system;
means for directing air from said storage tank to said compressor inlet when the pressure at the inlet drops below a preselected minimum suction pressure;
said first and second corrosive liquid reservoirs each having an inlet, an outlet, and an inlet-outlet port.
5. The system of claim 4 further including a low pressure regulator interconnecting said air scrubber and said air compressor inlet, and heating means for heating the corrosive liquid in said system.
6. The system of claim 4 further including separating means upstream of said third valve and downstream of said point of use for separating particulate material from said corrosive liquid prior to receipt of the corrosive liquid by said third valve.
7. The system of claim 1 wherein said means for connecting includes a first valve for cross connecting said air compressor outlet and said air scrubber with said corrosive liquid reservoirs inlet ports;
a second valve for connecting one or the other of said corrosive liquid reservoir outlet ports alternately to a point of use of said corrosive liquid, and a third valve for receiving said corrosive liquid downstream from said point of use and directing the corrosive liquid to one or the other of said corrosive liquid reservoir inlets, but not both concurrently, whereby air under relatively high pressure from said air compressor may alternately be directed by said first valve to (a) one of said corrosive liquid reservoirs to drive the corrosive liquid therefrom via said second valve to said point of use and thence via said third valve to the other of said corrosive liquid reservoirs with air displaced from said other corrosive liquid reservoirs by said corrosive liquid being conveyed to said compressor inlet via said first valve and said air scrubber, or (b) the other of said corrosive liquid reservoirs to drive the corrosive liquid therefrom via said second valve to said point of use and thence via said third valve to said one corrosive liquid reservoirs with air displaced therefrom by said corrosive liquid being conveyed to said air compressor inlet via said first valve and said air scrubber.
a second valve for connecting one or the other of said corrosive liquid reservoir outlet ports alternately to a point of use of said corrosive liquid, and a third valve for receiving said corrosive liquid downstream from said point of use and directing the corrosive liquid to one or the other of said corrosive liquid reservoir inlets, but not both concurrently, whereby air under relatively high pressure from said air compressor may alternately be directed by said first valve to (a) one of said corrosive liquid reservoirs to drive the corrosive liquid therefrom via said second valve to said point of use and thence via said third valve to the other of said corrosive liquid reservoirs with air displaced from said other corrosive liquid reservoirs by said corrosive liquid being conveyed to said compressor inlet via said first valve and said air scrubber, or (b) the other of said corrosive liquid reservoirs to drive the corrosive liquid therefrom via said second valve to said point of use and thence via said third valve to said one corrosive liquid reservoirs with air displaced therefrom by said corrosive liquid being conveyed to said air compressor inlet via said first valve and said air scrubber.
8. The system of claim 5 wherein said corrosive liquid reservoirs have said heating means encapsulated therein.
Applications Claiming Priority (3)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| US10891079A | 1979-11-01 | 1979-11-01 | |
| US108,910 | 1979-11-01 | ||
| USPCT/US79/00931 | 1979-11-01 |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA1141678A true CA1141678A (en) | 1983-02-22 |
Family
ID=22324766
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA000354178A Expired CA1141678A (en) | 1979-11-01 | 1980-06-17 | Pumpless flow system for a corrosive liquid |
Country Status (1)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| CA (1) | CA1141678A (en) |
-
1980
- 1980-06-17 CA CA000354178A patent/CA1141678A/en not_active Expired
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