ES2733698T3 - Crematoriums - Google Patents

Abstract

A crematorium (10), comprising a primary chamber (20), a secondary chamber (28), an air distributor chamber (22) and a tertiary chamber (24) sequentially interconnected, the primary chamber (20) being a chamber of combustion with a shape and size to accommodate a human body and comprising one or more burners (30) adapted, in use, to ignite and maintain the combustion of a human body placed inside the primary combustion chamber (20); characterized by: both the secondary chamber (28) and the tertiary chamber (24) comprise one or more additional burners (34, 32) adapted, in use, to reheat the flue gases expelled from the primary chamber (20), and in wherein the air distributor chamber (22) is located adjacent to the primary chamber (20) so that the superheated flue gases expelled from the secondary chamber (28) heat at least one wall (50) of the primary chamber (20) ).

Description

DESCRIPTION

Crematoriums

This invention relates to crematoriums and, in particular, mobile or portable crematoriums suitable for use in humanitarian applications.

Crematories are used to burn human or animal remains and generally comprise a combustion chamber where a human or animal body is placed, typically inside a coffin (coffin). The combustion chamber comprises a primary burner that ignites and maintains the combustion of the body inside. Once the contents of the combustion chamber have been completely burned, the resulting ash is collected and removed, and the procedure can be repeated when necessary.

Unlike an incinerator, which is used to burn general waste, a crematorium must be specially adapted to take into account several factors. For example, combustion gases in an incinerator typically pass through a secondary burner to minimize or eliminate toxic combustion products, while in the case of a crematorium, particularly in cases where infected bodies must be burned (such as the in the case of the recent Ebola outbreak in Africa), secondary burning must be maintained to ensure that potentially hazardous biological combustion products are not released into the atmosphere. Secondly, in an incinerator the ashes are removed after several combustion cycles or continuously; In the case of a crematorium, the ashes should be collected separately at the end of each cycle to avoid mixing the ashes of different bodies, which is of utmost importance when it comes to respecting religious and cultural customs. Third, incinerators can operate continuously: that is, by adding waste in batches or by continuous feeding. However, in the case of a crematorium, this is generally not considered respectful and tends to violate many religious and cultural customs and requirements.

Crematoria are typically infrastructure facilities, that is, they comprise specially designed buildings that house the crematorium itself, as well as chapels, warehouses and other facilities that often integrate respectful cremation of human remains. In many cultures or areas of the world, crematoria are not widely available due to the cultural and religious taboos associated with cremation. However, there are circumstances where cremation is recommended, despite the lack of facilities. For example, during the outbreak of a contagious disease, or after a natural disaster, there may be a large number of bodies that must be incinerated because it is not possible or safe, under these circumstances, to follow burial practices. In addition, in the case of certain natural disasters, especially when the main infrastructure has been damaged, any available crematorium that had been used under normal conditions could be out of service.

Therefore, there is a need for a portable crematorium that can be deployed quickly and that respects cultural and religious customs and requirements.

Several examples of known incinerators are described in: document KR100824597 (Sung, April 23, 2008), which describes a crematorium according to the preamble of claim 1, document EP2194324 (Park, June 9, 2010) and document EP2045525 (Allessandretti, April 8, 2009).

In circumstances such as those described above, it is known that portable incinerators are used to incinerate human remains. Containerized incinerators are well known and have been used, in extreme situations, to incinerate human remains. However, the use of portable incinerators to incinerate human remains is not generally considered an acceptable solution for several reasons.

First, the secondary burning of a waste incinerator is often insufficient to kill or neutralize biological pathogens in flue gases. In the case of an epidemic, the use of incinerators to incinerate human remains may result in the discharge of biohazard materials into the atmosphere near the incinerator.

Second, an incinerator cannot respect the cultural and religious requirements associated with cremation. The reasons for this are that the incinerators are not adapted for intermittent use: there is a requirement for prolonged preheating and a cooling cycle before it can be used again. This is not conducive to the cremation of one body at a time.

Third, due to the size of known containerized incinerators, they are intrinsically inefficient: they are designed to burn much larger amounts of general waste than a crematorium, which is designed to incinerate a single human body.

Fourth, the collection of ashes per cycle is neither possible nor practical with an incinerator.

Therefore, there is a need for a solution for one or more of the above problems. This invention aims to provide a solution to one or more of the above problems and / or provide an improved and / or alternative crematorium.

The invention is set forth in the attached independent claim. Optional and / or preferred features of the invention are set forth in the attached dependent claims.

The invention therefore provides a crematorium having three combustion chambers. This provision can be considered to have several advantages, such as:

By reheating the combustion gases twice after leaving the primary combustion chamber, it may be possible to operate the primary combustion chamber at a lower temperature, thus shortening the interval between cremation cycles (due to the shorter intervals of heating and cooling). In the case of an incinerator, which only has a secondary burner, to achieve the same levels of combustion gas neutralization, the primary burning must be much hotter than in the case of the invention.

The air distribution chamber can act as a heat accumulator under the primary combustion chamber. Therefore, the effects of cyclic thermal expansion and contraction (for example, cracking of refractory materials lining the chambers) associated with intermittent combustion cycles can be reduced by maintaining the base wall (at least) of the chamber of primary combustion at an elevated temperature, even when the primary burners are off. In addition, heat retention in the air distribution chamber can serve to accelerate the reheating cycle of the primary combustion chamber when the crematorium is put back into operation.

The use of a tertiary burner allows already preheated combustion gases to heat to a much higher temperature without necessarily requiring higher capacity tertiary burners. In humanitarian situations, where fuel may be scarce, it is generally considered advantageous to be able to use smaller burners with lower fuel requirements.

By reheating combustion gases in the tertiary chamber, drainage in the chimney can be increased.

By causing the combustion gases to pass through the secondary chamber, the air distribution chamber and the tertiary chamber, the combustion gas residence time increases at an elevated temperature. It is generally accepted that a longer time at a given temperature results in a greater neutralization of combustion gases, which in the case of cremation of biohazard residues can be very advantageous.

Other possible advantages of the invention will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art.

The crematorium comprises a primary combustion chamber, which has a shape and size to adapt to a human body. Typically, therefore, the primary combustion chamber will have a length of about 2 to 2.5 meters, a width of 1 to 1.5 meters and an internal height of 1 to 1.5 meters. The primary combustion chamber is suitably manufactured from a refractory material, such as concrete or other refractory materials or cast-moldable ceramics.

The primary combustion chamber suitably comprises an inlet gate, at one end, through which a body to be incinerated can be placed inside the primary combustion chamber. The entrance gate is manufactured properly coated with a refractory material and, due to its weight, it can be mounted on a hinge or sliding device assisted by an elevator.

Suitably, the primary combustion chamber comprises one or more ash dumps in its base wall through which the ashes fall into a collection chamber. An ash compartment can be provided within the collection chamber to conveniently contain the ashes and allow their recovery from the primary combustion chamber.

The primary combustion chamber suitably comprises a plurality of primary burners. Such configuration may serve to distribute heat more evenly with the primary combustion chamber and / or may allow burners of smaller capacity to be used.

The first outlet leads to the secondary chamber and suitably comprises an opening in a side wall of the primary combustion chamber that provides fluid communication with an adjacent secondary chamber.

The secondary chamber may comprise a plurality of secondary burners for reasons similar to those indicated above.

The second outlet leads to the air distribution chamber and suitably comprises an opening in a side wall of the secondary combustion chamber that provides fluid communication with an adjacent air distribution chamber. The air distribution chamber suitably comprises one or more baffles to cause the combustion gases to follow a meandering path below the primary combustion chamber. This can increase the residence time of the flue gases in a reheated state (longer at a given temperature) and can also help to heat the base wall of the primary combustion chamber more evenly.

The third outlet leads to the tertiary chamber, and suitably comprises an opening in a side wall of the air distributor chamber that provides fluid communication with an adjacent tertiary chamber. The tertiary chamber may comprise a plurality of tertiary burners for reasons similar to those indicated above.

The chimney suitably comprises a tubular chimney duct, which in a preferred embodiment of the invention can be removed for storage and transport.

Suitably, the crematorium is containerized, that is, designed to fit, and fit into, an ISO bulk transport container. The containerization of the crematorium facilitates the storage of the crematorium, in use, and also facilitates its transport by land, sea or air. Suitably, the ISO container surrounding the crematorium is slightly oversized to provide some free space for fuel storage for burners, the chimney duct removed and / or other items (such as flat-packed coffins, religious objects , etc.) that are necessary when a body is incinerated.

The primary, secondary, distributed air and tertiary chambers can be interconnected to form a unit. However, in certain embodiments of the invention, the crematorium is at least partially modular, that is, it has individual primary, secondary, distributed air and tertiary individual chambers. In one embodiment of the invention, a shared tertiary chamber is provided having a plurality of inputs that can be registered and / or connected to a respective plurality of third outputs of a respective plurality of air distribution chambers. This configuration allows multiple crematoria to be deployed on one side and benefit from the use of a single tertiary chamber. In a further embodiment of the invention, a modular crematorium system is provided where there is a shared secondary chamber and a tertiary chamber to which a plurality of modular crematoriums are connected, where each modular crematorium comprises its own main chambers and will distribute air whose outputs are configured to register or otherwise connect to the respective inputs of the shared secondary and tertiary cameras.

Several embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, where:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a crematorium according to the invention;

Figure 2 is a sectional view of the crematorium of Figure 1 in M-M;

Figure 3 is a sectional view of the crematorium of Figure 1 showing its internal configuration;

Figures 4, 5 and 6 are schematic perspective, side and plan views, respectively, of a first type of modular crematorium according to the invention; Y

Figures 7, 8 and 9 are schematic perspective, side and plan views, respectively, of a second type of modular crematorium according to the invention.

With reference to Figure 1 of the drawings, a crematorium 10 according to the invention comprises a main body part 12 that is mounted inside an external enclosure 14 in the form, in the illustrated embodiment, of a bulk transport ISO container.

In Figure 1 of the drawings, one of the side walls of the outer enclosure 14 has been removed for clarity. The ISO 14 container is accessible through two sets of gates 16 located at opposite ends of the container, and it can be seen in Figure 1 in particular that, when the gates 16 have opened, a narrow passage is formed on one side of container 14, whose passage 18 that allows personnel to access crematorium 10 for maintenance, commissioning and repair.

The passage 18 additionally provides an empty space within the container 14, which allows the transport of other items together with the crematorium 10, for example, fuel supplies, flat-packed coffins, etc., as necessary.

The main body 12 of the crematorium 10 is formed by a series of chambers, namely: a primary combustion chamber 20, which is located on an air distributor chamber 22. The air distributor chamber 22 is connected to a tertiary chamber 24 and chamber 24 is vented into the atmosphere through a chimney duct 26.

Although not apparent in the drawings, the chimney duct 26 can be removed for transport and storage purposes, and can be stored in passage 18 when crematorium 10 is not in use.

As can be seen more clearly in Figures 2 and 3 of the drawings, the crematorium 10 further comprises a secondary combustion chamber 28, which interconnects the primary combustion chamber 20 and the air distribution chamber 22.

Each of the primary 20, secondary 28 and tertiary chambers 24 are provided with burner units 30, 32, 34, whose functions will be described below.

Each of the chambers 20, 22, 24, 28 is coated with refractory materials, such as cast concrete or refractory ceramic slabs, to withstand the high temperatures they experience, in use. The refractory materials are held within a steel structure 36 to provide a robust construction and to prevent the movement of the chambers from each other, for example during transport.

Referring now to Figure 2 of the drawings, which shows the main body 12 of the crematorium 10 in section, it can be seen that the primary combustion chamber 20 is formed by sheets of relatively thick refractory material 38, which are held in place by means of the steel support sheet and the structure support system 36 mentioned above.

The primary combustion chamber 20 has a shape and size that adapts to a human body, although it will be appreciated that the dimensions of the primary combustion chamber can be selected to satisfy various requirements and also to optimize the combustion process, as you will easily understand Those skilled in the art.

The primary combustion chamber 20 is accessible through a gate 40, which is also coated with refractory material, which selectively opens and closes one end of the primary combustion chamber 20 to allow a body to be placed inside. As can be seen in Figure 3 of the drawings, the door 40 is supported by a hinge system comprising gas dampers 42 to facilitate the lifting and lowering of the considerable weight of the gate 40 in use.

The primary combustion chamber 20 comprises a base wall 50, which separates the primary combustion chamber 20 from the air distribution chamber 22 below it. The base wall 50 comprises an ash spout 52 that allows the ashes that remain in the combustion chamber 20 after cremation to be dragged or otherwise fed into an ash collection compartment 54 located below. The ash collection compartment 54 facilitates the removal of the ashes from the primary combustion chamber 20 after each cremation cycle. A service hatch 56 is also provided to facilitate maintenance of the interior of the primary combustion chamber 20.

The primary combustion chamber 20 is equipped with two primary burners 30, which ignite and maintain the combustion of the contents of the primary combustion chamber, in use. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the provision of a series of primary burners 30 may be advantageous from the point of view of a more uniform distribution of heat and the combustion process within the primary combustion chamber 20. The precise configuration of the primary burners is beyond the scope of this description, but will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art.

The primary combustion chamber 20 comprises a first outlet 68 through which combustion gases can escape (as indicated by arrow 62) to the secondary combustion chamber 28.

The secondary combustion chamber comprises a secondary burner 32 that reheats the combustion gases, and the downward angle of the secondary burner 32 is such that it pushes the combustion gases down into the secondary chamber 28 and into the air distribution chamber 22 located below the primary combustion chamber 20. Therefore, the configuration of the secondary burner 32 facilitates the extraction of combustion gases from the primary chamber 20 in the air distribution chamber 22, through the secondary chamber 28.

The air distribution chamber 22 is also formed from slabs of refractory material so that they can withstand the high temperatures of use. The slabs are arranged to support the base wall 50 of the primary combustion chamber 20, and also to form a series of stepped baffles 64, which cause the combustion gases to follow a meandering path (as indicated by arrow 66) through the air distributor chamber 22 below the primary combustion chamber 20.

The provision of baffles 64 serves to increase the residence time of the combustion gases within the air distribution chamber 22, thereby increasing their time at a given temperature and thus improving the neutralization of the flue gases, as will be readily apparent to Those skilled in the art.

The combustion gases pass through the air distribution chamber 22, following the winding path 66 described above, before passing through an internal opening 68 in one of the deflectors 64 and then advancing in the opposite direction, along an opposite side of the air distribution chamber 22 (as indicated by dashed arrow 70), until the flue gases are discharged into the tertiary chamber 24 at the far end of the main body 12.

The tertiary chamber 24 comprises a tertiary burner 34 located towards its base and at a slightly downward angle, to direct the combustion gases along the base of the tertiary chamber 24 before they escape through the chimney duct 26, which is in fluid communication with it.

It will be appreciated, from the above description, that the crematorium 10 of the invention essentially comprises three chambers, namely the primary combustion chamber 20 where the body is incinerated; a secondary chamber 28 where combustion gases overheat; an air distribution chamber 22, through which the gases from combustion and, in doing so, the residence time of the combustion gases is increased at elevated temperature and heat is also stored in the base wall 50 of the primary combustion chamber 20; and a tertiary chamber 24 where the combustion gases are reheated again by the tertiary burner 34 before escaping into the atmosphere through the chimney 26.

This particular configuration can be advantageous because the time at a given temperature of the combustion gases increases considerably, which increases the efficiency of neutralization of the system. In addition, part of the heat generated by the system, in use, can be stored in a heat accumulator formed by the different chambers of the crematorium 10.

Several modular embodiments of the invention are now shown in the remaining drawings.

With reference to Figures 4 to 6 of the drawings, a first type of modular crematorium 100 according to the invention is shown, comprising a central shared secondary chamber 102 and a tertiary chamber 104 formed as a unit 105, to which one or more main body parts 106 can be selectively fixed. Each main body part 106 comprises a primary combustion chamber 20 as described above, which sits on an air distributor chamber 22. The primary combustion chamber 20 has an outlet tube 60 that is connected to an inlet 108 of the secondary chamber 102. The secondary chamber 102 has an outlet 110 that is connected to an inlet tube 112 of the air distributor chamber 22. In this way, the flue gases flow, as indicated by arrow 62, from the chamber of primary combustion 20 to the air distribution chamber 22, through the secondary chamber 102.

The air distribution chamber 22 has baffles (not shown) that cause the flow of combustion gases, as indicated by arrow 66, to flow through the air distribution chamber 22 towards an air distribution outlet tube 114 which is connected to an inlet 116 of the tertiary chamber 104. The chimney duct 26 provides an outlet for the twice reheated combustion gases, as indicated by arrow 116.

Referring now to Figures 7 to 9 of the drawings, a second type of modular crematorium 120 according to the invention is shown, comprising a shared central tertiary chamber 104 formed as a unit 105 to which one or more main body parts 106 It can be set selectively. Each main body part 106, in this embodiment, comprises a primary combustion chamber 20 as described above, which sits atop an air distributor chamber 22 and adjacent to a secondary chamber 122.

The primary combustion chamber 20 has an outlet 60 that is connected to an input of the secondary chamber 122. The secondary chamber 122 has an outlet 130 that is connected to an input of the air distribution chamber 22. Therefore, the gases of combustion flow, as indicated by arrow 62, from the primary combustion chamber 20, into the air distribution chamber 22, through the secondary chamber 122.

The air distribution chamber 22 has baffles (not shown) that cause the flow of combustion gases, as indicated by arrow 66, to flow through the air distribution chamber 22 towards an air distribution outlet tube 124 which is connected to an inlet 126 of the tertiary chamber 124. The chimney duct 26 provides an outlet for the twice-reheated combustion gases, as indicated by arrow 116.

The modular systems described above allow a central unit 105 to be used together with one or more main body parts 106, 126, thus forming a group. The main advantages of such a configuration are rationalization, flexibility and expandability: the system 100, 120 can be adapted or modified to adapt to the different requirements of a parts kit. Furthermore, by grouping the central secondary chamber 102 and the tertiary chamber 104 as a unit 105, or simply by sharing a tertiary chamber 124, the burners (not shown) of these chambers can function independently of the burners of the primary combustion chambers 20, which possibly results in shorter cycle times for main body parts 106, which now only need to partially overheat between cycles.

Claims (15)

1. A crematorium (10), comprising a primary chamber (20), a secondary chamber (28), an air distributor chamber (22) and a tertiary chamber (24) sequentially interconnected, the primary chamber (20) being a combustion chamber with a shape and size to accommodate a human body and comprising one or more burners (30) adapted, in use, to ignite and maintain combustion of a human body placed within the primary combustion chamber (20); characterized by: both the secondary chamber (28) and the tertiary chamber (24) comprise one or more additional burners (34, 32) adapted, in use, to reheat the flue gases expelled from the primary chamber (20), and in wherein the air distributor chamber (22) is located adjacent to the primary chamber (20) so that the superheated flue gases expelled from the secondary chamber (28) heat at least one wall (50) of the primary chamber (20) ). 2. The crematorium (10) according to claim 1, wherein the primary chamber (20) and the air distribution chamber (22) are separated by a partition wall (50), partition wall that is heated by said superheated flue gases. 3. The crematorium (10) according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the primary chamber (20) is located above the air distributor chamber (22). 4. The crematorium (10) according to any preceding claim, wherein the tertiary chamber (24) comprises a removable chimney duct (26). 5. The crematorium (10) according to any preceding claim, wherein the primary chamber (20) comprises an inlet gate (40), through which, in use, a body to be incinerated can be placed inside the primary chamber (20 ), where the input gate (40) is mounted on a hinge or sliding device assisted by a lift (42). The crematorium (10) according to any preceding claim, wherein any one or more of the primary chamber (20), the secondary chamber (28), the air distributor chamber (22), the tertiary chamber (24) and the gate input (40), through which, in use, a body to be incinerated can be placed inside the primary chamber, manufactured from or coated with a refractory material. 7. The crematorium (10) according to any preceding claim, wherein the primary chamber (20) comprises one or more ash dumps (52) in a base wall (50) thereof, which leads to one or more collection chambers of ashes, and an ash compartment (54) inside the collection chamber. 8. The crematorium (10) according to any preceding claim, wherein the air distribution chamber (22) comprises one or more baffles (64) arranged, in use, to cause the combustion gases to follow a meandering path (66) through thereof. 9. The crematorium (10) according to any preceding claim, wherein the crematorium is a mobile crematorium, said mobile crematorium comprising an outer enclosure (12), the outer enclosure (12) comprising an ISO bulk transport container. 10. The crematorium (10) according to any preceding claim, wherein any one or more of the primary chamber (20), the secondary chamber (28), the air distributor chamber (22) and the tertiary chamber (24) comprise a hatch of service. 11. The crematorium (10) according to any preceding claim, wherein an outlet of one or more of the burners (32, 34) is inclined downwards. 12. The crematorium (10) according to any preceding claim, wherein the primary chamber (20), the secondary chamber (28), the air distributor chamber (22) and the tertiary chamber (24) are interconnected as a unit. 13. The crematorium (10) according to any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein the primary chamber (20) and the air distributor chamber (22) are formed as a first unit (106), and wherein the secondary chamber (28) and the tertiary chamber (24) is formed as a second unit (122), where the first (106) and the second (122) units can be separated from each other. 14. The crematorium (10) according to any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein the primary chamber (20), the secondary chamber (28) and the air distributor chamber (22) are formed as a first unit (106), and wherein the tertiary chamber (24) is formed as a second unit (105), where the first (106) and the second (105) units can be separated from each other. 15. The crematorium (10) according to claim 13 or 14, comprising a second unit (122, 105) and a plurality of first units (106, 105) connectable to the second unit.