FR2573100A1 - Autoclave for treating a substance with liquids. - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention will find its application especially, but not exclusively, in plants for dying textile materials. According to the invention the autoclave 1 essentially comprises a vessel 2 intended to contain the treatment bath, in which the textile material 11 to be treated is arranged on material-supports 12. Means for circulating the treatment liquid, consisting chiefly of a pump, are placed near the bottom of the vessel 13, forcing the circulation of the liquid in the vessel 2, the said pump 5 comprising a body 22 which has a suction zone 23 and a delivery zone 24. In addition, the autoclave 1 comprises means for external circulation 27 connecting the bottom of the vessel 13, where the delivery zone 24 of the pump is situated, and the suction part 23 of the pump which is situated externally to the vessel 2, to allow the bath to be circulated through the textile material 11 to be treated.

Description

 The invention relates to an autoclave for treating materials with liquids. More particularly, the invention relates, in particular but not exclusively, to an autoclave for dyeing textile materials which finds its use in a dyeing installation.

 There are known methods for treating materials with specific liquids, in particular used for dyeing textile materials, by which the treatment is carried out in closed containers, resistant to pressure and completely filled with a bath which is generally heated to temperatures in the range of 140 "C.

 The material to be treated, such as, in particular, spools of thread, hanks, is placed on material holders adapted to the different bodies, these material carriers being arranged inside the autoclave tank.

To reduce the quantity of the treatment bath, it is known to fill the tank only with a quantity of treatment liquid just necessary for the material to be completely submerged, the free space existing at the top being filled with a gas under pressure.

 During the various stages required by the treatment, it is necessary to fill the tank, or to empty it, with the treatment liquid, and to carry out various rinses of the material. These different liquid circulations are generally controlled by an auxiliary pump placed outside the autoclave.

 In addition, during the treatment of the materials with the specific liquid, it is necessary to create in the tank of the autoclave a forced circulation of the treatment bath which allows to cross the material from the inside to the outside and from the outside to inside to obtain a good homogeneity of the impregnation of the material. For example, in the case of dyes, this makes it possible to have a homogeneous shade and avoids obtaining differences between the inside and the outside of the coil of the treated materials.

 In many existing devices, this forced circulation is carried out by a pump placed inside the tank in the lower part. This arrangement is interesting because the pump has better hydraulic efficiency, no pressure drop being created in the various pipes.

 These various existing treatment devices have several drawbacks which contribute to raising the cost price of such treatment.

 Indeed, although some autoclaves use a limited quantity of liquid, the bath ratios, that is to say the ratio between the weight of the treatment bath and the weight of the material to be treated, remains high, which requires consumption more energy to heat the bath, fill or empty the tank.

 In addition, the treatment devices using two pumps, one of large displacement to establish forced circulation in the bath and one of smaller displacement to carry out the filling and emptying, oblige to have fairly significant treatment times which, from this done, increases the value of the cost price.

In addition, it is desired during rinsing of the material not to mix the bath with the rinsing water, this to avoid the problems of oxidation so as to have a better fixing of the dyes on the material. However, many devices mix clean water with the treatment liquid during rinsing, which reduces the oxygen content of the rinsing water.

 The main object of the present invention is to present an autoclave for treating materials with liquids, the investment cost of which is lower and which moreover makes it possible to reduce the cost price of the materials treated by mainly effecting energy savings. and by reducing the manpower times necessary for the treatment.

 One of the aims of the present invention is to provide an autoclave for treating materials with liquids which has a large displacement bath circulation pump which is also used to supply the liquid or drain the autoclave.

As a result, the annex filling and emptying pump can be removed from the treatment installation and, moreover, the supply, rinsing and emptying times are reduced thanks to the large displacement of the pump.

 Another object of the present invention is to allow energy savings during treatment by significantly reducing the value of the bath ratio.

 Another object of the present invention is to provide an autoclave for treating matter with liquids which makes it possible to avoid mixing clean water and treatment liquid at the level of the matter, this improving the fixing of the dyes.

 Other objects and advantages of the present invention will appear during the description which follows, which is given for information only and which is not intended to limit it.

 The autoclave for treating materials with liquids, in particular but not exclusively, used for dyeing textile materials, essentially comprising a tank, intended to contain the treatment bath, in which the textile material is placed on material carriers to be treated, and means for circulating the treatment liquid, mainly consisting of a pump, placed near the bottom of the tank, forcing the circulation of the liquid in the tank, the said pump comprising a body having a suction zone and a discharge zone, is characterized by the fact that it comprises external circulation means, connecting the tank bottom where the pump discharge zone is located, and the suction part of the pump which is located outside the tank , to allow the circulation of the bath through the textile material to be treated.

 The invention will be better understood if reference is made to the description below and to the accompanying drawing which forms an integral part thereof.

 FIG. 1 represents a side view in section of an autoclave for treating materials with liquids produced according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

 The autoclave 1 for treating materials with liquids, illustrated in FIG. 1, is in particular, but not exclusively, intended for an installation for dyeing textile materials. Other applications of this autoclave could be envisaged without departing from the scope of the present invention.

 The autoclave-1 essentially consists of a tank 2 which is arranged along a vertical axis 3. One end is hermetically closed by a cover 4, the other end comprising the circulation pump 5.

The treatment tank 2 also has at its upper part an orifice 6, controlled by a valve 7, making it possible to pressurize the bath to prevent it from vaporizing, and an orifice 8, controlled by a valve 9, allowing during rinses, to evacuate the overflow of liquid from the tank. These two orifices being placed respectively above and below the filling line 10 of the tank 2.
Inside the tank 2, the textile materials 11 to be treated, of all fibers and of all shapes, such as in particular spools of thread, are arranged on a material holder 12 resting on the tank bottom 13.

 In the case of spools of wire 14 as shown in FIG. 1, the material holder 12 consists of a base 15 on which is arranged a multitude of pins 16 on which are threaded the different spools of wire 14 to be treated. It should be noted that the base 15 and the different pins 16 have hollow internal volumes capable of being traversed by the circulating treatment liquid placed in the tank 2, the different pins 16 having a liquid-permeable surface.

 The tank 2 of the autoclave has at its lower part two devices known to those skilled in the art, there are heating elements 17 and a device 18 capable of creating an adjustable leak during the circulation of the fluid.

 The heating device 17 is generally either constituted by electrical resistances placed in a serpentine form or by a set of sealed tubes traversed by a heat transfer fluid.

 The leakage device 18 is notably constituted by a fixed perforated ferrule 19 placed under the plate 15 of the material holder and a shutter ferrule 20 adjustable from the outside of the tank by a lever 21. This device 18 allows either channel the entire flow of the liquid or establish an adjustable leak, by deflecting part of the circulating liquid.

According to the present invention, the autoclave 1 has means for circulating the treatment liquid which consist mainly of a circulation pump 5. This pump essentially comprises a body 22 which
has a suction zone 23 as well as a discharge zone 24.

 According to the present invention, the pump 5 is placed near the bottom of the tank 13, outside the tank 2, so that the discharge zone 24 is approximately tangent to the wall forming the bottom of the tank 13.

 In fact, the delivery manifold 25 of the pump 5 is fixed on the lower part of the tank 2, in the axis 3 of the tank, the propeller 26 being substantially tangent to the bottom 13 of the tank 2.

 According to the present invention, the autoclave 1 comprises external circulation means 27, connecting the tank bottom 13 and the suction zone 23 of the pump to allow the circulation of the bath through the textile material 11 to be treated.

 Indeed, the autoclave 1 has a multitude of external pipes 28 advantageously constituted by bent, sealed tubes, capable of being traversed by the flow of the treatment liquid created by the propeller 26 of the pump 5, these external pipes 28 connecting the bottom of the tank 13 to the manifold 29 of the pump intake.

The number and section of external pipelines
laughs 28 are a function of propeller 26 and displacement
of the pump 5. According to a preferred embodiment,
there are one to eight of these pipes.

In addition, the means of exterior circulation
27 placed between the tank bottom 13 and the suction part
23 of the pump are joined by isolation valves 30
to 34 to external auxiliary devices.

According to a preferred mode of the present invention
tion, autoclave 1 is first isolated by a valve
30 general, the other valves 31 to 34 carrying out selective
respectively a connection with an eva circuit
cuation of the fluid, a liquid supply circuit,
an air circuit to create a vacuum inside
of the autoclave, a circuit for recovering the liquid from
treatment used.

In addition, the said means of circulation ex
27, connecting the bottom of the tank 13 and the part
pump suction 23, can be closed to control
the circulation of liquids passing through them.

Indeed, the external pipes 27 com
each carry a shutter device 35, operable
from the outside from manual control device 36,: designed so that it can be sealed
the passage of liquid through it
By these provisions which have just been described,
we realize a treatment tank having a volume in
lower than that of the tanks fitted to the dis
known positives in which the pump is placed inside
rieur of the tank, in the lower part. Therefore, the quan
required amount of process liquid can be reduced
and therefore, we decrease the forward bath ratio
cheerfully.

In addition, the main pump can be used
of circulation to carry out the various movements
liquid including feeding, draining, rinsing,
which saves the auxiliary pump provided for this
effect in known devices, while reducing the execution times of these different stages, the main pump having a large displacement.

 According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the body of the pump 5 is placed under the treatment tank 2, the collector fixing flange 25 being centered on an opening made in the bottom 13 of the tank 3 coaxially with the axis of symmetry 3 of the tank.

 Furthermore, the pump is driven by a motor not shown in the figure in particular by means of a pulley and belt transmission 37. The drive motor is able to rotate in both directions of rotation so that the circulation pump 5 which is reversible allows two directions of circulation of the liquid in the tank, these two directions being necessary to supply the tank, empty the tank, and create an alternating circulation of the bath through the textile material during the treatment.

 By using an autoclave as described above in a material processing installation, it is possible to operate according to the following steps.

 The material to be treated i1 is placed on the material holder 12, and this material holder is positioned inside the tank 2, the tank then being closed by means of the cover 4.

 The filling phase of the dye bath is then carried out, the isolation valves 30 and 32 are opened, and the closure devices 35 of each external pipe 27 are closed.

 The circulation pump is then driven in one of the directions of rotation, the latter taking the liquid useful for filling the autoclave 1 through isolation valves 30 and 32 by suction at the level of the manifold 23, the liquid being discharged inside the material holder 12 by the propeller 26 of the delivery manifold 25.

 During this filling phase, to facilitate wetting of the material, the flow rate is varied through the material by acting on the leakage device 18 by diverting part of the liquid towards the bottom due to the tank, which makes it possible to have a lower flow rate inside the pins 16 of the material holder.

 When this filling phase is completed, the valves 30 and 32 are closed, the autoclave is then isolated from the external pipes. The various obturation devices 35 are then opened and the bath is brought to a temperature of approximately 140 ° C. under a pressure of the order of 4.5 bars by means of the reheating device 17 and the pressure valve 7.

 The dyeing phase can then take place, the pump 5 creating a forced circulation. Depending on the direction of rotation of the pump, the treatment liquid is either circulated from the inside of the coil to the outside of the coil, the pump sucking through zone 23 and discharging the liquid through zone 24, or circulating the treatment liquid from the outside towards the inside of the coil, the pump then sucking in through zone 24 and discharging the liquid through zone 23.

 Thanks to this reversibility of the pump and to its paths of circulation of the liquid, the material can be treated in a homogeneous manner, which allows to have a good distribution of the nuances throughout the material to be treated.

The dyeing phase having ended, it is possible, depending on the case and the materials treated, either to carry out an emptying prior to rinsing, or to directly carry out a rinsing without emptying
The emptying phase is carried out in the following manner: the various devices 35 for closing the external pipes 28 are closed, the isolation valves 30 and 31 are opened, and the pump 5 is turned in the opposite direction so to be sucked in through zone 24 and discharged through zone 23, the leakage device 18 being completely open to empty the entire tank.

 The tank being emptied, we can then proceed to the rinsing phase, we then fill the tank with clean water by proceeding in a similar manner to the filling phase of the dye bath described above.

 When a rinsing is carried out without having first emptied the tank, the operation is carried out directly after the dyeing phase, to a supply of clean water to the tank 2 by means of the pump 5, the shutter devices 35 preventing the circulation of liquid in the external pipes 28, the overflow discharging from the tank through the orifice 8 and the valve 9.

 It should be noted that by this method, the material is always traversed by new water, in fact, the pump 5 sucks clean water through the zone 23 and discharges it through the zone 24 into the base 15 of the door. -materials 12 by forcing a direction of circulation of clean water from the inside of the coil to the outside. As a result, a better yield is obtained, the oxygen contained in the fresh water favorably fixing the dyes.

 It should be noted that, in the autoclave 1 produced according to the present invention, it is also possible to recover the treatment bath for reuse later, for example, by directing the liquid from the drained bath to a reservoir through the valve 34, this bath being able to be reintroduced into the tank 2 in a supply phase, the role of the valve 34 canceling the role of the valve 32 described above in the supply phase.

 It is also sometimes desired after having completely emptied the tank 2, to decrease the humidity prevailing inside the autoclave. To do this, the interior volume of the tank 2 is connected to an air vacuum system by means of the isolation valves 30 and 32, the air circulation then taking place on the one hand by the external pipes 28 and on the other hand by the internal volume of the pump 5.

 Other embodiments of the present invention, within the reach of ordinary skill in the art, could have been envisaged without departing from the scope thereof.

 More particularly, the embodiment of the present invention described above a material treatment autoclave having a vertical treatment tank, but the invention could also find its application in the case of a treatment tank with horizontal axis ; the essential characteristics of the invention may be adapted by a person skilled in the art.

 Furthermore, the shutter devices 35 of the external connecting means 27 located, in the preceding description, in the external pipes 28 could be placed in other zones such as in particular near the suction zone 23 or in the manifold 29 of the pump 5 inlet, in this case the positioning of the valve 30 would be modified accordingly.

 In addition, the systems for manual control of the leakage device 18 and of the shutter devices 35 can be made to be automatically controlled by conventional means known to those skilled in the art.

 In addition, the operation of the pump 5 can be at fixed speed or at variable speed in order to vary the pressure-flow curve as a function of the presentation of the materials to be treated. The variable speed can be obtained by known mechanical, electrical or electrical techniques.

Claims (10)

 REYENDICATIONS  P. Autoclave (1) for treating materials with liquids, in particular, but not exclusively, used for stretching textile materials (11), essentially comprising a tank (2), intended to contain the treatment bath, in which is disposed , on portematieres (12), the textile material (to be treated, and means for circulating the treatment liquid, consisting mainly of a pump (5), placed near the bottom of the tank (13);; forcing the circulation of the liquid in the tank (2), said pump (5) comprising a body (22) having a suction zone (23) and a discharge zone (24), characterized in that it comprises circulation means outer (27) connecting the bottom of the tank (13) where the delivery area (24) of the pump (5) is located, and the part (23) of the pump which is located outside the tank (2) to allow the circulation of the bath through the textile material (11) to be treated.  2. Autoclave for treating materials with liquids, according to claim 1, characterized in that the said external circulation means (27) placed between the bottom of the tank (13) and the suction part (23) of the pump ( 5) are joined by isolation valves (30 to 34) -a external annex devices.  3. Autoclave for treating materials with liquids, according to claim 1, characterized in that said external circulation means (27) placed between the bottom of the tank (13) and the as ration part (23) of the pump ( 5), are closable to control the circulation of liquids passing through them.  4. Material treatment autoclave with liquids, according to claim 1, characterized by the fact that the discharge manifold (25) of the pump (5) is fixed on the lower part of the tank (2), in the axis (3) of the tank, the propeller (26) of the pump being substantially tangent to the bottom of the tank (13).  5. Autoclave for treating materials with liquids, according to claim 1, -characterized by the fact that the circulation pump (5) is reversible allowing two directions of circulation of the liquids in 1-a tank (2).  6. Autoclave for treating materials with liquids, according to claim 1, characterized in that the external circulation means (27) are constituted by sealed external pipes (28) capable of being traversed by the flow of liquid from treatment-created by the propeller (26) of the pump (5) connecting the tank bottom (13) and the  the pump intake manifold (29) (5).  7. Autoclave for treating materials with liquids, according to claims 2 and 6, taken in combination, characterized in that at least one of said external pipes (28) is connected by isolation valves (30 to 34 ) to ancillary pipes such as in particular for emptying, supply of treatment liquid, supply of clean water, air intake.  8. Autoclave for treating liquid display materials, according to claims 2 and 6, taken in combination, characterized in that said external pipes (27) each comprise a shutter device (35) operable from the outside which closes off sealing the passage.  9. Autoclave for treating materials with liquids, according to claims 1 to 8, taken in combination, characterized in that the de.circulation pump (5) takes the liquid useful for filling the autoclave- (1) au- through spray valves (30) and (32) connecting the tank to an auxiliary supply device, the closure device (35) preventing the circulation of the liquid in the external pipes (28).  10. Autoclave for treatment of material with liquids, according to claims 1 to 8, taken in combination, characterized in that the pump (5) creates a forced flow of circulation of the treatment liquid, the tank (2) being isolated of the annex circuit by the isolation valve (30), the closure device (35) authorizing the circulation of the liquid in the external pipes (28),  he. Autoclave for treating materials with liquids, according to claims 1 to 8, taken in combination, characterized in that the circulation pump (5) takes the liquid used to empty the autoclave tl) through isolation valves (30 and / 31 or 34) connecting the tank to an auxiliary evacuation device, the closure device (35) preventing the circulation of the liquid in the external pipes (28).