GB2115794A - A bin for flowable solid fuels - Google Patents

Abstract

A bin (1) for flowable coal products such as coal in the form of dust or grains or the like, and designed for use in buildings, as for example in cellars, has walls made of flexible air tight material and a bottom outlet (4). The bin is supported in a frame (8) and at a certain distance under the flexible top wall (5) of the bin there is a sheet (6) of material of such a nature that while letting through gas it is impermeable to dust. An inlet line or pipe (15) for filling the bin is run through into the space under this sheet. The top wall of the bin has an opening (14) for letting off air therefrom. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION A bin for flowable solid fuels The present invention is with respect to a bin for flowable coal material as for example coal in a dust-like or breeze-like state of division, for use indoors and and more specially to such a bin having an outlet at the lower end of the bin and furthermore an inlet line or pipe for pneumatically filling material into the bin.

In the face of the increase in the price of liquid and gas fuels for heating purposes and shortfalls in their supply, more attention is being given to the idea of making greater use, as in the past, of solid fossil fuels for heating systems of small and medium size, as for example in private houses, groups of flats, administrative buildings, halls and the like. A condition that has to be kept to in this respect is that the storing and processing of the fuel have to be able to take place more or less completely automatically, the consumer in fact being become used to this because of the use liquid and gas fuels.The technical design side of conveying systems for such a purpose has largely been taken care of, inasfar as the fuel used is flowabie coal material such as coal in a breezelike or dust form, and there are furthermore no troubles in connection with the technical side of transport systems, when such solid, flowable fuels are selected, because they may be transported to the point of use in tanker vehicles, and then pumped from the vehicle pneumatically into the consumer's bin.

The present invention has to do with the binstoring of coal by the consumer. In this respect a condition to be kept to by such a storing system, if it to be competitive, is that, more importantly, it have a low purchase price in the first place.

Furthermore it has to be possible for the solid fuel to be stored like heating oil indoors. If this is to be possible the bins have to be so designed that they may be installed in buildings very simply.

One purpose or object of the present invention is that of meeting these needs.

In keeping with the invention such a bin for flowable coal material for use as an indoors storage container, comprises an inlet line for pneumatic'filling of the bin, an outlet at a lower end of the bin, a support frame, flexible air tight material forming top and side walls of said bin that are supported by said frame, and a sheet placed under said top wall, said sheet walling off a space between it and the top wall, said sheet being made of a material that is pervious to gas and impervious to dust, the inlet line opening into the bin under the said sheet, said top wall having an opening for letting off air therethrough.

Bins of flexible material as for example textile material with a coating to make them air tight have so far only been used for other purposes, as for example for storing foodstuffs such as flour in bakeries or the like. Furthermore such bins made of textile material have been fitted with a pneumatic conveying system. For solid fuels however, no suggestions have been made so far for the use of such bins, and furthermore in their normal form such materials would not have the right properties: solid flowable fuel, such as coal in the form of grains or dust, always has volatile substances in it so that when the fuel shut off in a bin there is a greater danger of an explosion.It is for this reason that in the present invention the flexible-walled bin has an air let-off line or pipe that at the same time is used for ventilation of the coal so that the volatile substances collecting in the bin are diluted. This being so, such a bin may furthermore not be filled with systems normally so far used for this purpose, as for example with a compressed air conveying system, because of the great amounts of dust mixed with air. For this reason, in keeping with the invention, there is the sheet of material placed some distance under the top of the bin with the inlet line opening under it.

The sheet of material, working as a sort of filter, lets through the volatile substances whereas the dust that has been pumped or produced is kept back by the sheet, it then settling so that it may be later supplied to the combustion system with rest of the coal in a breeze-like or dust form.

The flexible nature of the bin is furthermore put to good use in the invention in another way as well: if the bin is filled using a pressure or vacuum system, its walls, and more more specially the sheet of material, will take on a form dependent on the pressure or vacuum building up in the bin.

That is to say, there is a change in form and the walls are bent. Because of this effect, more specially in the case of the sheet, grains of coal sticking to the inner faces of the bin will be cleared therefrom so that there is no clogging or stopping up of the sheet.

A last point is the very useful effect produced inasfar as the complete bin may be moved through narrow openings into a room where it may be put in place quite simply and without any complex operation of fitting different parts together. This being so, it is possible for such bins to be put up in rooms so far used for storing heating oil, which normally have very narrow doorways.

In keeping with one more specially preferred part of the invention the inlet line or duct is run through the top of the bin generally in the middle of it, it then running through the sheet, that lets through gas, the top and sheet being fixed to the inlet line so that on the one hand when filling is taking place (because of the pressure difference between the coal space in the bin and the gas space over the sheet) the sheet will be evenly changed in form, this being the best way of cleaning it, while on the other hand the filling line will at the same time have the effect of a distance piece between the sheet and the top of the bin so that there will at this point be a defined space to take up the volatile substances.

A useful effect is produced as well if there is a dome of stiff material placed gas-tightly in the middle of the bin top with the inlet line and air letoff line fixed to it.

This dome with the inlet line or part thereof and the air let-off line may readily be fitted on putting up the bin in the room to be used for it, for example after making an opening in the top of the bin, by joining the edge of the opening with the dome using a grommet.

Turning now to the figure herein, it will be seen that the bin 1 has a cylindrical part 2 and a downwardly narrowing, cone-like floor 3 having an outlet opening 4 and a top or top wall 5 for shutting off the bin at its upper end. The bin is made of a flexible material, that does not let air through it, as for example a coated textile material, that has been stitched together into a pipe-like casing, the floor being made narrower in a downward direction by using pleats or hems.

The top wall 5 is placed in this pipe-like casing.

The parts of the bin may be joined together by stitching, welding or the like. Under the top wall 5 and spaced therefrom there is a sheet 6 in the bin, it forming a sort of filter cloth and being stitched to the sides of the bin 1.

This filter cloth is made of a very dense material that while letting through volatile gaslike substances, keeps back dust grains.

Furthermore loops 7 are stitched to the outer face of the top part of the bin 1, the loops being for example of the same material as the bin 1 itself and are used for looping round the beams of a support frame 8, the bin hanging directly from the frame or being supported therein by a further frame. There are further loops 9 fixed at the join between the pipelike part 2 and the narrowing floor 3 of the bin 1, these loops again being put round beams of a frame 10, that is used for keeping the bin pulled out tight at the join between the pipe-like part 2 and the floor 3 to make certain that the coal grains or dust may freely make its way down to the outlet 4.

The top of the bin has an opening 11 in the middle, in which a stiff dome 12 is fitted. The edge of this opening in the top wall 5 is air-tightly joined with the dome 12 using a grommet 13.

The dome may be made of metal or synthetic resin, it being fitted with a pipe connector 14 for joining up with a pipe (not figured) for letting air into and out of the space between the gas permeable sheet 6 and the top 5. There is furthermore an irilet line 1 5 running air-tightly through the dome 12, this line for example being part of a pneumatic conveying line run under pressure . The downwardly elbowed part 16 of the inlet line 1 5 is run through the sheet 6, it opening in the space of the bin thereunder. The part 16 of the inlet line 15 is fixed to the sheet 6 by way of a flange-like plate 1 7.

Claims (5)

Claims

1. A bin for flowable coal material for use as an indoors storage container, comprising an inlet line for pneumatic filling of the bin, an outlet at a lower end of the bin, a support frame, flexible airtight material forming top and side walls of said bin that are supported by said frame, and a sheet placed under said top wall, said sheet walling off a space between it and the top wall, said sheet being made of a material that is pervious to gas and impervious to dust, the inlet line opening into the bin under the said sheet, said top wall having an opening for letting off air therethrough.

2. A bin as claimed in claim 1 wherein the inlet line is placed running through the top wall generally at the middle thereof and running through the gas-pervious sheet, it being fixed to the two of them.

3. A bin as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 further comprising a line for letting off air from the bin and a dome of stiff material gas-tightly fitted in an opening in the middle of the top wall of the bin, the inlet line and air let-off line being fixed to the dome.

4. A bin as claimed in claim 3 comprising a grommet forming a join between the dome and the top wall of the bin.

5. A bin as claimed in claim 1 substantially as described hereinbefore with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying figure.