EP0698423B1 - Tube cleaner for removing hard deposits - Google Patents

Tube cleaner for removing hard deposits Download PDF

Info

Publication number
EP0698423B1
EP0698423B1 EP95305517A EP95305517A EP0698423B1 EP 0698423 B1 EP0698423 B1 EP 0698423B1 EP 95305517 A EP95305517 A EP 95305517A EP 95305517 A EP95305517 A EP 95305517A EP 0698423 B1 EP0698423 B1 EP 0698423B1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
tube
cleaner
scraper
fingers
shaft
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired - Lifetime
Application number
EP95305517A
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
French (fr)
Other versions
EP0698423A1 (en
Inventor
Gregory J. Saxon
Jerzy Krysicki
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Conco Systems Inc
Original Assignee
Conco Systems Inc
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Conco Systems Inc filed Critical Conco Systems Inc
Publication of EP0698423A1 publication Critical patent/EP0698423A1/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP0698423B1 publication Critical patent/EP0698423B1/en
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Expired - Lifetime legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B08—CLEANING
    • B08B—CLEANING IN GENERAL; PREVENTION OF FOULING IN GENERAL
    • B08B9/00—Cleaning hollow articles by methods or apparatus specially adapted thereto 
    • B08B9/02—Cleaning pipes or tubes or systems of pipes or tubes
    • B08B9/027—Cleaning the internal surfaces; Removal of blockages
    • B08B9/04—Cleaning the internal surfaces; Removal of blockages using cleaning devices introduced into and moved along the pipes
    • B08B9/053—Cleaning the internal surfaces; Removal of blockages using cleaning devices introduced into and moved along the pipes moved along the pipes by a fluid, e.g. by fluid pressure or by suction
    • B08B9/055—Cleaning the internal surfaces; Removal of blockages using cleaning devices introduced into and moved along the pipes moved along the pipes by a fluid, e.g. by fluid pressure or by suction the cleaning devices conforming to, or being conformable to, substantially the same cross-section of the pipes, e.g. pigs or moles
    • B08B9/0557—Pigs with rings shaped cleaning members, e.g. cup shaped pigs
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B08—CLEANING
    • B08B—CLEANING IN GENERAL; PREVENTION OF FOULING IN GENERAL
    • B08B9/00—Cleaning hollow articles by methods or apparatus specially adapted thereto 
    • B08B9/02—Cleaning pipes or tubes or systems of pipes or tubes
    • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F28—HEAT EXCHANGE IN GENERAL
    • F28G—CLEANING OF INTERNAL OR EXTERNAL SURFACES OF HEAT-EXCHANGE OR HEAT-TRANSFER CONDUITS, e.g. WATER TUBES OR BOILERS
    • F28G1/00—Non-rotary, e.g. reciprocated, appliances
    • F28G1/12—Fluid-propelled scrapers, bullets, or like solid bodies

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to a tube cleaner or scraper that is fluid driven through a tube to remove deposits, specifically very hard deposits, from the inner surface of the tube wall.
  • a variety of heat exchangers use a series of tubes through which a cooling medium is passed so as to cool the tubes, while another medium of higher temperature is in contact with the exterior of the tubes, with heat transfer effected through the tube walls.
  • a series of small tubes are provided for heat transfer. After a period of time, impurities or minerals in the water flowing through the tubes tend to deposit on the inner surface of the tube wall and, in addition to narrowing the cross-sectional flow area of the tube passageway, such deposits form an insulating layer and detract from the heat transfer capabilities of the tubes.
  • a scraper element In order to remove deposits or encrustations, a scraper element is inserted into one end of a tube, while the condenser is out of service, and the scraper element is driven by fluid pressure, usually by pressurised water, through the tube, the scraper element scraping the deposits from the inner surface of the tube wall and the pressurised fluid flushing the loosened deposits from the tube.
  • fluid pressure usually by pressurised water
  • the scraper element scraping the deposits from the inner surface of the tube wall and the pressurised fluid flushing the loosened deposits from the tube.
  • various types of scrapers have been proposed. Examples of earlier tube scrapers are given in US-A-2,170,997, US-A-2,418,509, and US-A-2,734,208 while US-A-4,281,432 shows an improved tube cleaner with a flexible rubber skirt.
  • SU1414-482-A discloses a tube cleaning tool.
  • the cleaning tool has a rod supporting groups of cleaning elements.
  • the cleaning elements are provided with sprung leaves.
  • the leaves of adjacent cleaning elements are placed in tight contact following one another so that the leaves of each successive element are displaced with respect to the leaves of the preceding element in the transverse cross section plane.
  • Each successive cleaning element leaf is displaced with respect to the preceding cleaning element leaf along the outer diameter of the tool by not more than one leaf width.
  • US-5,305,488 discloses a fluid propelled tube cleaning tool for removal of deposits from the interior wall of a tube.
  • the cleaning tool is provided with a plurality of spaced cutters, each cutter having a plurality of cutting blades extending radially from the cutter.
  • This invention provides a tube cleaner for removing thin hard deposits from an inner surface of a tube
  • the tube cleaner comprising a shaft with at least one scraper element disposed on the shaft, the or each scraper element being formed from a single piece of material and comprising a plurality of resilient fingers extending generally axially of the shaft and which are biased radially outwardly when the tube cleaner is in use, each finger terminating as a radially outwardly extending blade portion wherein adjacent fingers on any one scraper element are of different length, and each blade portion has an arcuate blade edge shaped so that there is only minimal contact with the inner surface of the tube.
  • two or three spaced apart scraper elements are axially disposed along said shaft.
  • each said scraper element Conveniently six rearwardly extending outwardly biased fingers are provided on each said scraper element.
  • each said blade portion has an arcuate blade edge and is arranged to contact said inner surface along 0.0762mm - 0.2286mm (0.003 - 0.009 inch) of an arc of said blade edge.
  • each scraper element comprises an element punched from spring steel.
  • the fingers of the element are bent so that they form a circle with the blade portion extending radially outwardly from the shaft by a distance greater than the inner diameter of the tube to be cleaned.
  • a method of cleaning a tube to remove the deposits from the inner surface of the tube wall comprising the steps of inserting a tube cleaner into the tube with the blade portions of the fingers being outwardly biased into contact with the inner surface of the tube and moving the tube cleaner through the tube,
  • a tube cleaner for removing hard deposits from the inside of a tube has a shaft with a nose portion, a tail portion having an outwardly and rearwardly extending flexible skirt, and two or three spaced apart scraper elements disposed along the shaft.
  • the scraper elements are each formed from a single piece of spring steel and have a radially outwardly extending base portion and a plurality of rearwardly extending, outwardly biased fingers, with adjacent fingers being of different lengths.
  • a tube cleaner 1 for removing hard deposits having a shaft 2, with one end, or a nose portion 3, and a second end, or tail portion 4, the tail portion 4 having secured thereto an outwardly and rearwardly extending skirt 5.
  • Each scraper element 6 is formed of a single piece of metal, preferably spring steel, such as SAE 1050 carbon annealed spring steel.
  • Each scraper element 6 has a radially outwardly extending base portion 7 and a plurality, preferably six, rearwardly extending legs or fingers 8, with each finger 8 terminating as an outwardly extending blade portion 9.
  • the scraper elements 6 are constructed such that adjacent fingers 8 of the scraper element 6 are of different lengths, as seen by reference to Figure 2.
  • the scraper elements are of a size such that the blade portions 9, at rest position, extend radially outwardly from the shaft 2 a distance greater than the inner diameter of a tube to be cleaned.
  • the outwardly biased scraper elements 6 must be slightly forced to a position closer to the shaft 2 in order to insert the tube cleaner 1 into the tube to be cleaned.
  • the outward biasing of the scraper element fingers then ensures contact of the blade portions 9 with the inner surface of a tube during movement of the tube cleaner through the tube.
  • a scraper element 6 is illustrated in flat form, as punched from spring steel, prior to bending the fingers 8 and blade portions 9 into the desired shape.
  • the scraper element 6 illustrated has six fingers, a, b, c, d, e and f. While the six fingers, as punched from spring steel, are of the same length in flat condition, adjacent legs constituting the fingers 8 are bent at different points so as to provide different length of adjacent legs 8 upon completion of the formation of the scraper element.
  • legs a and d are bent along line B, at a distance L 1 from the base portion 7, to provide long bent legs; legs b and e are bent along line B 2 , at a distance L 2 from base portion 7, to provide bent legs that are shorter than bent legs a and d; and legs c and f are bent along line B 3 , at a distance L 3 from base portion 7, to provide bent legs that are shorter than bent legs b and e.
  • a scraper element after bending to a desired shape ( Figure 4) that will have adjacent fingers 8 of the scraper element of different lengths, although a and d may be the same length, be and e may be the same length, and c and f may be the same length.
  • the blade portions 9 are arranged such that they form a circle having a diameter D which is slightly larger than the inner diameter of the tube that is to be cleaned with the scraper element 6.
  • D the distance from the shaft 2 to the outer arcuate edge 10 of the blade portion 9 is the same for all of the legs 8, although the distance from adjacent blade portions 9 to the outwardly extending base portion 7 will vary.
  • the staggered lengths of the fingers 8 of the scraper element 6 is an important factor. If the finger 8 were all of the same length, the total force of insertion into a tube would be too great to overcome by hand. With staggered finger lengths, however, the force for entry is reduced by providing three stages of actual insertion rather than a single stage for each scraper element 6.
  • the force required to insert conventional scrapers is about 48.93N (eleven (11) pounds) of pushing force
  • the scraper of the present invention about 200.17N (forty-five (45) pounds) of force are required to insert the tube scraper into an open end of a tube, with scraper size and tube size being comparable.
  • the scraper of the present invention requires about 4 to 5 times as much force to insert it into a tube as would a comparable sized conventional scraper if the lengths are equal.
  • SAE 1050 carbon annealed spring steel No. 2 finish
  • a tube 11 has a wall 12 with thin, hard scale 13 on the inner surface 14 of the wall 12.
  • the blade portion 9 is of an arcuate shape such that there is only minimal contact, by section 15 of the blade portion 9 contacting the inner surface 14 of the wall 12, with almost a point-to-point contact achieved, as the blade portion scrapes through the thin hard scale 13, forming grooves 16.
  • Conventional scrapers generally are designed to maximise the contact between a scraper blade edge and the inner surface of the tube wall. To remove a thin, hard scale, however, such a design is unusable.
  • the contact of a scraper blade with the inner tube wall should be effected with a contact surface of between 0.0762mm -0.2286mm (0.003 - 0.009 inch) of the arc of the blade surface with the tube inner wall surface 13 so as to provide scraped grooves 16 in the thin, hard deposits.
  • the blade portion should also have a sharp edge such that a cutting force is applied through the deposits.
  • the present tube cleaner with the use of six fingers on each scraper element will provide six spaced contact points on an inner surface of a tube wall by each scraper element to remove hard, thin scale and clean the tube wall to bare metal.
  • there will be twelve or eighteen scraper grooves which, with removal of the hard, thin scale, will greatly enhance the heat transfer of the tube.
  • a tube 11 is shown in Figure 6, after passage of a three scraper element tube cleaner as described above with grooves 16 formed in the hard, thin scale 13. By forming the grooves 16 through the deposits of hard, thin scale 13, the heat transfer capability of the tube wall 12 is significantly increased to an extent such that complete removal of the scale is not required.
  • a tube cleaner for removing hard deposits has two or three scraper elements spaced along a shaft, which elements have fingers that terminate as blades, the blades making a substantially point contact with the tube wall.
  • the present tube cleaner is specifically adapted for the transfer capability of the tube wall 12 is significantly increased to an extent such that complete removal of the scale is not required.
  • a tube cleaner for removing hard deposits has two or three scraper elements spaced along a shaft, which elements have fingers that terminate as blades, the blades making a substantially point contact with the tube wall.
  • the present tube cleaner is specifically adapted for the removal of thin, hard deposits from the tube wall inner surface, such as deposits of between 0.127mm - 0. 254mm (0.005 to 0.010 inch) of manganese or iron oxide scales, which, while not substantially restricting flow of a heat transfer fluid through the tube, tend to act as an insulating material and has a deleterious affect on the heat transfer capability of the wall of the tube.

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Fluid Mechanics (AREA)
  • Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
  • Combustion & Propulsion (AREA)
  • General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Cleaning In General (AREA)
EP95305517A 1994-08-08 1995-08-08 Tube cleaner for removing hard deposits Expired - Lifetime EP0698423B1 (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US28713594A 1994-08-08 1994-08-08
US287135 1994-08-08

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0698423A1 EP0698423A1 (en) 1996-02-28
EP0698423B1 true EP0698423B1 (en) 1999-01-13

Family

ID=23101605

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP95305517A Expired - Lifetime EP0698423B1 (en) 1994-08-08 1995-08-08 Tube cleaner for removing hard deposits

Country Status (5)

Country Link
EP (1) EP0698423B1 (es)
KR (1) KR100228757B1 (es)
CA (1) CA2155622C (es)
DE (1) DE69507221T2 (es)
ES (1) ES2128667T3 (es)

Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US9505040B2 (en) 2010-07-20 2016-11-29 Tdw Delaware, Inc. Pipeline debris shearing device
USD803910S1 (en) 2015-10-09 2017-11-28 Crossford International, Llc Tube scraper projectile
US20240091827A1 (en) * 2022-09-21 2024-03-21 Saudi Arabian Oil Company Pipeline pig with retractable scraper

Families Citing this family (15)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5940922A (en) * 1997-09-12 1999-08-24 Conco Systems Inc. Easy insert composite tube cleaner
US5784745A (en) * 1997-09-12 1998-07-28 Conco Systems, Inc. Easy insert tube cleaner
US6691446B2 (en) * 2002-06-19 2004-02-17 Barry L. Graves Rifle barrel cleaning, retrieval tool
DE102007016688A1 (de) 2007-04-04 2008-10-09 Immug Rohr & Schlauch Gmbh Rohr für Rohrleitungen mit einer Einrichtung zur Ablösung von anhaftenden Bestandteilen
DE202010017794U1 (de) 2010-02-12 2012-09-14 Karl-Heinz Grüter Vorrichtung zur Innenreinigung von Rohren
WO2011098112A2 (de) 2010-02-12 2011-08-18 Jarin Gmbh Vorrichtung zur innen-reinigung von rohren
DE102010010281A1 (de) 2010-03-07 2011-09-08 Karl-Heinz Grüter Vorrichtung zur Innen-Reinigung von Rohren
DE202010017786U1 (de) 2010-03-07 2012-08-28 Karl-Heinz Grüter Vorrichtung zur Innenreinigung von Rohren
CN101839670B (zh) * 2010-05-27 2012-04-18 北京化工大学 换热管内导流式自撑紧挂件
CN102688871B (zh) * 2012-06-08 2016-06-01 哈尔滨工业大学 一种无牵引变径式刮管装置
US9332826B2 (en) 2014-07-09 2016-05-10 Ricky Spillman, JR. Cleaning device
CN104196565B (zh) * 2014-08-15 2016-11-23 重庆国翔新材料有限公司 隧道排水管道自动除结晶结构及具有该结构的隧道排水系统
CN105032870B (zh) * 2015-08-25 2018-02-13 首钢京唐钢铁联合有限责任公司 一种氧化铁皮清理工具及方法
CN105642621A (zh) * 2016-03-03 2016-06-08 厦门精图信息技术有限公司 一种管路内壁粘连物清理装置
CN112620382A (zh) * 2020-10-27 2021-04-09 佛山市三水凤铝铝业有限公司 一种挤压机用的清缸设备

Family Cites Families (9)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US2734208A (en) 1956-02-14 Tube cleaner
US1835238A (en) * 1930-03-10 1931-12-08 Franklin Dev Company Condenser slug
US2170997A (en) 1936-05-23 1939-08-29 Cecil M Griffin Tube cleaner
US2418509A (en) 1944-11-28 1947-04-08 Cecil M Griffin Fluid propelled articulated scraper for cleaning tubes
US4281432A (en) 1979-08-02 1981-08-04 Condenser Cleaners Mfg. Co., Inc. Tube cleaner
SU1414482A1 (ru) * 1984-10-17 1988-08-07 Трест "Южводопровод" Устройство дл очистки внутренней поверхности трубопровода
SU1674992A1 (ru) * 1989-09-01 1991-09-07 Инженерный Центр "Кавитрон" По Сельскохозяйственному Водоснабжению И Трубопроводам Устройство дл очистки внутренней поверхности трубопровода
US5153963A (en) 1991-06-05 1992-10-13 Conco Systems Inc. Tube cleaning tool for removal of hard deposits
US5305488A (en) * 1992-06-15 1994-04-26 Lyle Daniel C Tube cleaning tool

Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US9505040B2 (en) 2010-07-20 2016-11-29 Tdw Delaware, Inc. Pipeline debris shearing device
USD803910S1 (en) 2015-10-09 2017-11-28 Crossford International, Llc Tube scraper projectile
US20240091827A1 (en) * 2022-09-21 2024-03-21 Saudi Arabian Oil Company Pipeline pig with retractable scraper

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
KR960007024A (ko) 1996-03-22
DE69507221T2 (de) 1999-05-27
ES2128667T3 (es) 1999-05-16
KR100228757B1 (ko) 1999-11-01
CA2155622A1 (en) 1996-02-09
EP0698423A1 (en) 1996-02-28
CA2155622C (en) 2001-01-30
DE69507221D1 (de) 1999-02-25

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