EP1682719A2

EP1682719A2 - Device for the production and/or treatment of strip or sheet material

Info

Publication number: EP1682719A2
Application number: EP04791256A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Roland Mayer; Ulrich Begemann
Original assignee: Voith Paper Patent GmbH
Current assignee: Voith Patent GmbH
Priority date: 2003-11-05
Filing date: 2004-10-20
Publication date: 2006-07-26
Also published as: WO2005045130A2; JP2007514118A; CN1875149A; WO2005045130A3; DE10351623A1; US20080023166A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a machine for the production and/or treatment of strip or sheet material (20), particularly paper or cardboard, which is connected to at least one associated fuel cell (26) such that the thermal energy produced by the fuel cell unit (26) can be supplied to the machine as operating energy. Thermal energy produced by the fuel cell (26) can be supplied to at least one heating section (10) of the machine, said section being embodied in such a way that it can heat or be heated during an operating state of the machine.

Description

Arrangement for the production and / or treatment of web or sheet material

The present invention relates to a machine for the production and / or treatment of web or sheet material, in particular paper or cardboard.

Such machines include, for example, paper machines which are known from the paper industry. In general, paper machines essentially comprise a headbox in which the paper stock is fed and distributed evenly, a wire section in which the sheet is formed by a filtration process, a press section in which pulp water contained in the material web is expelled by means of pressure, and a drying section Drying the material web, a surface tempering section, for example a coating device, for smoothing, coating, etc. the material web, as well as a reel for the finished material web. Depending on the surface treatment process used, further drying devices can be provided in this part of the system. In addition, sub-processes in the manufacture or / and processing of web or sheet material are often carried out in separate plants. For example, an offline coating device can be used for the surface coating of a paper web or a calender for smoothing.

In general, machines of the type mentioned at the beginning contain

Components that work with an operating temperature above room temperature (heated components) or thermal

Energy for heating operating media, such as an air stream or a coating medium, provide (heating components). The use of drying cylinders, in which a material web to be dried passes through an arrangement of drying cylinders, is particularly common for drying devices, such as the drying section or the surface treatment section. For their part, about two thirds of the drying cylinders are circulated by a drying felt, which absorbs the moisture of the material web and is dried on a felt dryer in a return area of the arrangement. The material web to be dried is threaded between the drying felt and the heated drying cylinders and thus brought into close contact with the respective drying cylinder on the one hand and the drying felt on the other (contact drying). For heating the drying cylinders, it is known to use steam which is taken as process steam from another section of the paper machine or is made available with the aid of electrical energy, for example using cogeneration. The use of gas-powered steam generators is also known.

Hot air dryers are also used to dry a running material web, which heat an air stream to a temperature of several hundred degrees Celsius and thus act on the material web to be dried. Such hot air dryers are operated with gas and have various known advantages over drying cylinder arrangements, such as the possibility of contactless web guidance, a high power density and a higher operating speed. On the other hand, however, they are associated with higher operating and acquisition costs.

It is an object of the present invention, in a machine of the type mentioned at the outset, which has at least one heating or heated

Has heating section, the operation of these heating sections, especially in

With regard to the overall energy balance and exhaust emissions of the machine, to improve. Another object of the invention is to provide drying devices for a machine of the type mentioned above, which can be operated in an effective and energy-saving manner.

To solve at least one of these tasks, the present invention provides that the machine is connected to at least one assigned fuel cell unit, such that thermal energy generated by the fuel cell unit can be supplied to the machine as operating energy.

A fuel cell is used in a manner known per se to convert chemical energy into electrical energy. The classic fuel cell comprises an anode and a cathode, to which hydrogen or oxygen are supplied as energy sources. Inside the cell, the hydrogen oxidizes, releasing water and free charges, which are made available via the electrodes as electrical energy in the form of a direct current. Fuel cells used to generate electricity can now achieve an efficiency of more than 50 percent.

One type of fuel cell that is preferably used to generate electricity operates at an operating temperature of approximately 600 ° C.-1,000 ° C. If the associated thermal energy according to the invention is now supplied to the machine for the production and / or treatment of web or sheet material, this energy can flow into the energy balance of the machine. In addition, when operating fuel cell systems as exhaust gases, essentially only hot air and water vapor are generated, so that pollution of the environment of the machine and the environment is avoided.

In addition, it can be particularly effective and economical if, in addition to the thermal energy, the electrical energy generated by the fuel cell

Energy can be supplied to the machine. Because in this way the vast majority

Part of the energy generated by the fuel cell as for the machine usable energy is provided, such a combination of a fuel cell unit and a machine for the production and / or treatment of web or sheet material can provide an overall system with particularly high efficiency.

In order to be able to use the thermal energy provided by the fuel cell unit directly and to avoid energy losses when converting the thermal energy into other forms of energy, it will generally be preferred that at least one heating section of the machine, which is designed to do so, during an operating state of the machine to heat or to be heated, thermal energy generated by the fuel cell unit can be supplied as operating energy.

For this purpose, it is proposed that the exhaust air emitted by the fuel cell unit can be supplied to the at least one heating section. The exhaust air from a fuel cell has a temperature of about 300 ° C to 600 ° C and thus represents a simple transmission medium for the transport of thermal energy from the fuel cell to the machine.

In a first embodiment of the present invention it is provided that the at least one heating section or at least one of the heating sections comprises a drying device, through which the web or sheet material can be passed or / and along which the sheet or sheet material can be guided, the drying device at least one heatable Drying roller comprises, along which the web or sheet material can be guided directly or adjacent to a drying felt running on the drying roller, thermal energy generated by the fuel cell unit being able to be supplied to the drying roller. The thermal energy required by a drying device with heatable drying rollers for heating the drying rollers can thus be supplied effectively by a fuel cell unit. As a simple technical implementation of the machine according to the first embodiment of the invention, it is proposed that exhaust air emitted by the fuel cell unit flows through the at least one drying roller and / or that a fluid flows through the drying roller, which contains thermal energy generated by the fuel cell unit, in particular from the Exhaust air emitted from the fuel cell unit can be supplied. This ensures uniform and continuous heating of the drying rollers.

According to a second embodiment of the present invention, it is proposed that a machine designed according to the invention comprises a hot gas drying device, through which the web or sheet material can be passed or / and along which the web or sheet material can be guided, the hot gas drying device being based on drying gas works with which the web or sheet material can be acted upon, the drying gas being able to be provided on the basis of thermal energy emitted by the fuel cell unit. In this way, the drying gas can be heated to an operating temperature in an economical manner and without significant pollutant emission, using the thermal energy of the fuel cell unit.

To provide the drying gas, it is conceivable that exhaust air emitted by the fuel cell unit can be combined with gas provided by a gas supply, as a result of which the heat transfer from the fuel cell unit to the gas is achieved in a particularly simple manner using the exhaust air. Alternatively or additionally, exhaust air emitted by the fuel cell unit can be fed to a heat exchanger which is designed to heat gas provided by a gas supply and thus to provide it as a drying gas. In this variant, the paths of the exhaust air and the drying gas can be separated from one another. Beyond that, however it is also conceivable that exhaust air emitted by the fuel cell unit can be supplied as drying gas to the hot gas drying device. This variant is structurally particularly simple and therefore inexpensive, since the provision of a separate drying gas and a heat exchanger is not necessary.

For a machine according to the first or second embodiment and generally for a machine according to the present invention, it will be advantageous to arrange the fuel cell unit in the vicinity, preferably at a distance of less than approximately 100 meters, of at least one heating section of the machine. Losses of thermal energy, in particular in guide channels for heat transfer media which transmit the thermal energy from the fuel cell to the heating section of the machine, can thus be reduced.

The invention also provides a combination of a machine according to the type described above with the associated fuel cell unit.

In addition, the invention provides a method for producing or / and treating, in particular for heating or / and drying, sheet or sheet material using a machine, in particular a machine according to one of claims 1 to 11, in which the machine consists of a fuel cell unit generated thermal (and possibly also electrical) energy is supplied. In this way, for example when drying a material web, the energy balance can be improved and pollution of the environment and possibly costs can be reduced.

The invention is described below with reference to embodiments and exemplary embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings. 1 shows a drying device of a machine combined with a fuel cell unit according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

2 shows a drying device of a machine according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

3 and 4 each show further exemplary embodiments for drying devices of a machine according to the invention.

1 shows a drying device, generally designated 10, of a paper machine according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The drying device 10 comprises an arrangement of drying rollers 12 in two mutually parallel rows. A drying felt 16 is guided around the drying rollers 12 of a row with the aid of felt guide rollers 14 in such a way that it rotates about two thirds of each drying roller 12 and is then guided around a felt dryer 18. A material web section 20 to be dried enters the drying device 10 on the left in FIG. 1 by running between the drying felt 16 of the first row and the first drying roller 12 of the first row. The material web section 20 then runs around a first drying roller 12 of the second row, again enclosed between the drying roller 12 on the one hand and a second drying felt 16 of the second row on the other. In this way, the material web section 20 to be dried rotates alternately around the drying rollers of the first and second rows and is in each case pressed by the corresponding drying felts 16 against the peripheral surface of the drying rollers 12, as a result of which the dry felt 16 extracts moisture from the material web 20. The dry felt 16 is in turn dried in a felt dryer 18 during its return. To increase the drying capacity of drying devices with drying rollers, it is known to heat the drying rollers. In the drying device 10 of the first embodiment of the present invention, each drying roller 12 is connected to a feed channel 22, via which a heating medium can be fed to the respective drying cylinder 12. According to FIG. 1, a supply channel 22 is provided for each row of drying rollers 12, both supply channels 22 being connected to a main supply line 24, which in turn is connected to a fuel cell unit 26.

In the example shown in FIG. 1, the main feed line 24 is fed with the exhaust air from the fuel cell unit 24, which then flows into the feed channels 22 at a temperature of several hundred degrees Celsius and is fed directly from there into the individual drying rollers 12. The exhaust air supplied there gives off part of its thermal energy to the drying rollers 12, for example on the walls thereof, as a result of which the drying rollers 12 are heated to a certain temperature or are kept at a certain temperature. After the exhaust air has released at least part of its thermal energy to the drying rollers 12, it flows out of the drying rollers 12 through openings (not shown) and can then be derived or reused.

In addition to the example of a direct supply of the exhaust air from the fuel cell unit 26 to the drying rollers 12 shown in FIG. 1, it is also conceivable to use a heat exchanger whose primary side is heated by the hot exhaust air and whose secondary side is connected to the drying rollers 12 in via a heat transfer medium is in thermal contact to transfer the thermal energy of the exhaust air to the drying rollers 12. It is then also conceivable for the fuel cell unit 26 to also provide any electrical energy required to drive pumps, motors or the like for moving the exhaust air or the heat transfer medium. In connection with the invention, a fuel cell unit with a high-temperature fuel cell whose operating temperature is in the range from approximately 600 ° C. to approximately 1,000 ° C. can advantageously be used, so that the exhaust air emitted by the fuel cell has a temperature of approximately 300 ° C. to approximately 600 ° C. An example of such a fuel cell unit 26, shown schematically in FIG. 1, comprises a gas processing unit 28, a central unit 30 with fuel cell stacks 32 arranged therein and an electrical unit 34 with an energy processing unit 36 and a control / regulating unit 38. The gas processing unit is supplied with fresh air via a fresh air inlet 40 and via a gas inlet 42 is supplied with natural gas, town gas, or other suitable fuel gas. The gas supplied via the gas inlet 42 is processed in the gas processing unit, in particular desulphurized and preheated, and then supplied to the central unit 30 as process gas via a gas line 44. At the same time, the fresh air supplied to the gas processing unit 28 via the fresh air inlet 40 is fed to the central unit 30 via a fresh air line 46. In the central unit, process gas and atmospheric oxygen react at the electrodes of the fuel cell stack 32 to form electrical charges and thermal energy.

The thermal energy generated is removed from the central unit 30 in the form of hot exhaust air and returns via an exhaust air line 48 to the gas processing unit 28, from which it exits through an exhaust air outlet 50. Depending on whether part of the thermal energy of the hot exhaust air in the gas processing unit 28 is used for preheating fuel gas, the exhaust air leaves the fuel cell unit 26 at a temperature of approximately 400 ° C. or at a temperature of approximately 600 ° C.

The one in the combustion process on the electrodes of the fuel cell Charges generated are discharged via a power line 43 and made available to the energy processing unit 36 of the electrical unit 34. If desired, the energy processing unit 36 can convert the direct current supplied by the fuel cell into an alternating current, which can ultimately be used by a consumer. The operation of the fuel cell unit 26 is controlled and monitored by a control unit 38, which is connected to the central unit 30 and the gas treatment unit 28 via lines 45 and 39, respectively.

FIG. 2 shows a hot gas drying device 100 of a machine according to the second embodiment of the present invention. The hot gas drying device 100 comprises two blower units 152, to which hot exhaust air from a fuel cell unit 126, which is only indicated schematically, can be supplied via heating gas connections 154 and air via fresh air connections 156. In the blower units 152, the air is brought into thermal contact with the hot exhaust gas via a heat exchanger and heated to an operating temperature. The heated air then flows as drying gas from nozzles 158 in the blower units 152 and acts on a web of material 120 passed between the blower units 152. The drying of the web of material 120 thus takes place in a stream of hot drying gas without contact, using the thermal energy provided by the fuel cell unit 126. After at least part of the thermal energy of the exhaust air has been transferred to the supplied air, cooled exhaust air leaves the blower unit 152 via outlets 160.

It should be mentioned that the blower units 152 can also be designed in such a way that the fresh air supplied is mixed with the supplied exhaust air of the fuel cell unit in the blower units 152 and the resulting gas mixture leaves the blower units 152 through the nozzles 158 as drying gas, around the material web 120 to act upon. In addition, it would be conceivable to approach a fresh air supply line entirely dispense and let the exhaust air of the fuel cell unit 126 exit directly from the nozzles 158 of the blower units 152 in order to dry the material web 120 directly in the flow of the hot exhaust air.

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, in which an infrared drying device 200 of a machine, for example a paper machine, is connected to the exhaust air outlet 250 of a fuel cell unit 226, which is only indicated in FIG. 3. The infrared drying device 200 comprises two infrared radiators 252 with radiation surfaces 258, which face a material web 220 to be dried and carried out between the infrared radiators 252.

Hot exhaust air from the fuel cell unit 226 is fed to the infrared radiators 252 via heating gas connections 254, which then releases part of its thermal energy to the infrared radiators 252 and then leaves the infrared radiators 252 via outlets 260. The exhaust air from the fuel cell unit 226 is thus brought into thermal contact with the infrared radiators 252 in order to heat the radiation surfaces 258 of the infrared radiators 252 to an operating temperature. The radiation surfaces 258 then radiate heat radiation in the direction of the material web 220 to be dried, as a result of which this is heated and dried. FIG. 4 shows another example of a drying device of a machine according to the present invention. In the drying device 300, hot exhaust air is fed to a blower unit 352 via a heating gas connection 354 to a fuel cell unit 326, which heats fresh air there, analogously to the drying device 100 from FIG was fed to the blower unit 352 via a fresh air connection 356. The fresh air thus heated to an operating temperature then flows out of the blower unit 352 through nozzles 358 and acts on a material web 320 which is guided past the blower unit 352. Cooled exhaust air leaves the blower unit 352 via an outlet 360. In contrast to the drying device 100 of FIG. 2, the surface 362 facing the material web 320, in which the nozzles 358 are also arranged, has a convex curvature, so that the path of the material web 320 has a curvature in this area. In this area, the material web 320 runs on an air bed which is formed by the hot drying gas emerging from the nozzles 358. This principle for deflecting a running material web is known as a so-called air turn. In that a blower unit 352, which is designed in accordance with the principle of an air turn and is now supplied with hot exhaust air from a fuel cell unit 326, the hot air drying device according to the invention can also be used for material web deflection.

Regardless of the specific implementation of the invention according to the described or other conceivable embodiments or exemplary embodiments of the invention, it will be expedient to supply the electrical energy provided by the fuel cell unit 26, 126, 226, 326 directly to the machine as direct current or as alternating current, in order thus to provide the to use the total energy delivered in front of the fuel cell unit 26, 126, 226, 326 as completely as possible and thus to optimize the total energy balance of the system consisting of the fuel cell unit 26, 126, 226, 326 and the machine.

Claims

Expectations

1. Machine for the production and / or treatment of web or sheet material (20; 120; 220; 320), in particular paper or cardboard, characterized in that the machine with at least one associated fuel cell unit (26; 126; 226; 326) in Connection is established in such a way that thermal energy generated by the fuel cell unit (26; 126; 226; 326) can be supplied as operating energy.

2. Machine according to claim 1, characterized in that at least one heating section (10; 110; 210; 310) of the machine, which is designed to heat or be heated during an operating state of the machine, by the fuel cell unit (26; 126 ; 226; 326) generated thermal energy can be supplied as operating energy.

3. Machine according to claim 2, characterized in that exhaust air emitted by the fuel cell unit (26; 126; 226; 326) can be fed to the at least one heating section (10; 110; 210; 310).

4. Machine according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the at least one heating section (10) or at least one of the heating sections (10) comprises a drying device (10) through which the web or sheet material (20) can be passed or / and along which the web or sheet material (20) can be guided, the drying device (10) having at least one heatable Drying roller (12) on which the web or sheet material (20) can be guided directly or adjacent to a drying felt (16) running off the drying roller (12), the drying roller (12) being generated by the fuel cell unit (26) thermal energy is feedable.

5. Machine according to claim 4, characterized in that through the at least one drying roller (12) from the fuel cell unit (26) exhaust air flows and / and through the drying roller (12) flows a fluid generated by the fuel cell unit (26) Thermal energy, in particular exhaust air emitted by the fuel cell unit (26), can be supplied.

6. Machine according to one of the preceding claims, characterized by a hot gas drying device (100; 300) through which the web or sheet material (120; 320) can be passed or / and along which the web or sheet material (120; 320) can be guided , wherein the hot gas drying device (100; 300) works on the basis of drying gas with which the web or sheet material (120; 320) can be acted upon, the drying gas being able to be provided on the basis of thermal energy emitted by the fuel cell unit (126; 326).

7. Machine according to claim 6, characterized in that from the fuel cell unit (126; 326) exhaust air can be combined with gas provided by a gas supply in order to provide the drying gas.

8. Machine according to one of claims 6 or 7, characterized in that from the fuel cell unit (126; 326) exhaust air can be fed to a heat exchanger (152; 352) which is designed to be provided by a gas supply To heat gas and thus provide it as a drying gas.

9. Machine according to one of claims 6 to 8, characterized in that from the fuel cell unit (126; 326) exhaust air discharged as drying gas of the hot gas drying device (100; 300) can be supplied.

10. Machine according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the fuel cell unit (26; 126; 226; 326) in the vicinity, preferably at a distance of less than approximately 100 m, from at least one heating section (10; 100; 200; 300) the machine is arranged.

11. Combination of a machine according to one of the preceding claims with the associated fuel cell unit (26; 126; 226; 326).

12. A method for producing or / and treating, in particular for heating or / and drying, sheet or sheet material using a machine, in particular a machine according to one of claims 1 to 11, in which the machine is supplied with thermal energy generated by a fuel cell unit ,

13. The method of claim 12, in which electrical energy generated by a fuel cell unit is supplied to the machine.