JP2001317847A - Apparatus for cooling air - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To cool air through effective use of cold heat of LNG. SOLUTION: Air is cooled by heat-exchanging with LNG in a vaporizer 2, and dehumidified by a total heat-exchanger 3. A rotor 10 of the total heat- exchanger 3 is divided into a section cooled by introducing partly the air cooled by the vaporizer 2, a section in which moisture of the air turns into ice-accretion and frosting, and a section for melt-evaporating the moisture adhered on the fin, and dry up. The air cooled by an LNG vaporizer 14 in an air-cooling chamber 21 is sucked into a compressor 31 to operate a regenerative gas turbine 6 with high efficiency. The exhaust gas of the gas turbine 6 is introduced in a rotor-drying chamber 23 to melt and dry the ice accretion or frosting. Since the air supplied to the vaporizer 14 is dehumidified, the air fins 16 can be tightly disposed, and the vaporizer 14 can be made small, and the efficiency of the heat exchanger can be improved.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an air cooling apparatus that cools air by utilizing cold heat of liquefied natural gas (hereinafter, may be abbreviated as "LNG").

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a large amount of LNG has been imported for use as a raw material for city gas or fuel for thermal power generation. Natural gas (hereinafter may be abbreviated as "NG") is converted to LNG at an LNG liquefaction base on the production side with an electric power of about 380 kWh per ton for convenience of transportation. On the demand side of natural gas, LNG transported in a low-temperature liquid state must be vaporized and heated to near normal temperature. Although a large amount of cold can be obtained during the process of raising the temperature and vaporizing LNG,
Is a very low temperature of about -150 ° C., which is much lower than normal temperature, and effective utilization is difficult. The applicant of the present application has proposed, for example, in Japanese Patent Application No. 11-359985, a concept of using cold energy of LNG for air cooling and utilizing the cooled air for various applications to make it easy to use the cold energy of LNG. ing.

[0003]

In the case of cooling air using the cold heat of LNG, the moisture in the air adheres to the surface of the heat exchanger as frost, thereby lowering the heat transfer efficiency. This blocks the air flow path, making continuous cooling of the air difficult. Therefore, when air is to be cooled using the cold heat of LNG, it is an essential condition to remove moisture from the air to be cooled. Note that Japanese Patent Application No. Hei 11-
In 359985, instead of directly cooling the air with LNG, the air is cooled via a heating medium in the middle to remove moisture from the air. However, since the intermediate medium is used, there is a problem that the configuration as a whole becomes complicated and the device becomes large.

[0004] An object of the present invention is to provide an air cooling apparatus which can cool air by effectively utilizing the cold heat of liquefied natural gas with a simple structure.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an air cooling device for cooling air by utilizing the cold heat of liquefied natural gas. A rotating body having air permeability, a substantially cylindrical shape, having a shape extending in the axial direction of the rotating body, rotatably housing the rotating body, and, along the rotating direction of the rotating body, a moisture absorption zone and a regeneration zone. And a blower that forms an air flow that sucks air from around one end of the housing and discharges the air to the other end of the housing via a moisture absorption zone, A vaporizer for heat exchange between liquefied natural gas and the air stream to vaporize the liquefied natural gas and raise the temperature, and a regeneration zone for regenerating the moisture absorbing function of the rotating body. An air cooling device, comprising: a regeneration unit for flowing a regeneration gas. A.

According to the invention, the housing of the air cooling device is
It includes a rotating body, a blower, a vaporizer, and drying means. The air cooled by the heat exchange with the liquefied natural gas in the vaporizer is sucked from the surrounding atmosphere into the moisture absorption zone by the blower. The rotating body has air permeability in the axial direction and rotates around the axis. Moisture in the sucked air is dehumidified by the rotating body, and air which is dried and hardly hinders heat transfer due to icing or frost is supplied to the vaporizer. When the rotating body that has absorbed moisture rotates and the moisture-absorbing portion moves to the regeneration zone, the drying unit blows the drying gas. By blowing the drying gas, moisture is dried and removed from the moisture absorbing portion of the rotating body, and the moisture absorbing function of the rotating body can be regenerated. The rotator continuously rotates while repeating moisture absorption and regeneration, and continues to dehumidify the air, and can efficiently cool the air with the cold heat of the liquefied natural gas.

In the present invention, the rotator is a total heat exchanger having a large number of fins, and the regeneration zone includes a cooling zone adjacent to an upstream side and a downstream side of the moisture absorption zone in a rotational direction. The regeneration means is divided into a drying zone, and the regeneration means takes out the air flow cooled by the vaporizer as cooling air, separates a part of the cooling air, and guides the cooling air to the cooling zone to cool the rotating body. It is characterized by including air separation means and drying means for supplying a drying gas to the drying zone.

According to the present invention, an air cooling device includes a total heat exchanger, a blower, a vaporizer, an air separating means, and a drying means. The air cooled by heat exchange with the liquefied natural gas in the vaporizer is drawn from the surrounding atmosphere by a blower through a part of the total heat exchanger. The total heat exchanger has a rotating body that rotates around an axis and has a number of fins.
A part of the air flow cooled by the vaporizer is separated by the air separating means, and guided to a part on the upstream side in the rotation direction with respect to a part that sucks the air flow with the rotating body of the total heat exchanger,
Cool the fins of the rotating body. The sucked air is cooled by touching the cooled fin, and the moisture in the air adheres to the surface of the fin as water or frost. In the rotating body, in the part on the downstream side in the rotation direction with respect to the part that sucks the air flow,
Drying gas is blown by the drying means. By spraying the drying gas, ice and frost adhering to the surface of the fin of the rotating body are melted, dried and removed. With respect to the rotation direction of the rotating body, a part for guiding the cooling gas and cooling is continued downstream of the part for blowing the drying gas, and after adhering ice and frost to remove moisture, it is supplied to the vaporizer, It is cooled by heat exchange with liquefied natural gas. Since the moisture in the air is removed by the total heat exchanger before the air flow reaches the vaporizer, the moisture in the vaporizer hardly adheres as ice or frost, and the small vaporizer efficiently removes the air. Cooling can be performed. The rotating body of the total heat exchanger has a part that sucks air to cool it, and a part that cools the rotating body to remove moisture in the air by attaching it as ice or frost in the air sucking part. And a part to be dried in order to remove the water from the part where the water has formed as frost. The rotating body of the total heat exchanger is continuously rotated while repeatedly cooling, adhering moisture, and drying, so that the air can be efficiently cooled by the cold heat of the liquefied natural gas.

Further, in the present invention, the drying means sprays a gas having a temperature higher than ambient air on the rotating body as the drying gas while maintaining the temperature of the drying gas passing through the rotating body at a predetermined temperature. The flow rate of the drying gas is controlled so that

According to the present invention, the flow rate of the drying gas for drying the rotating body of the total heat exchanger is controlled such that the temperature of the drying gas passing through the rotating body becomes a predetermined temperature. It is possible to prevent the temperature of the rotating body from being too high with the drying gas, thereby making it difficult to cause icing or frosting, or preventing insufficient drying of icing or frosted water.

Further, the present invention is characterized in that an air dehumidifier using a low-temperature natural gas vaporized by the vaporizer as a cold heat source is installed at an inlet side of a part of the total heat exchanger where air is sucked from the surroundings. It is characterized by.

According to the present invention, the water in the air is removed by using the air dehumidifier before the air is sucked into the total heat exchanger to remove the moisture. Can reduce the heat load of the device and make it more compact.

In the present invention, the rotator is a rotary humidifier carrying a desiccant, and the regeneration zone is located between an upstream side and a downstream side of the humid zone with respect to a rotation direction of the rotary humidifier. The drying unit is divided into a cooling zone and a drying zone, each of which is adjacent to the drying zone, and the regeneration unit supplies a drying gas having a temperature higher than room temperature to desorb moisture from the desiccant adsorbing moisture to the drying zone. An air separation unit that takes out a part of the air flow sucked from the outside air by the blower as cooling air, guides the cooling air to the cooling zone, and cools the rotary moisture absorber heated by the regeneration gas. Features.

According to the present invention, the air cooling device includes a rotary moisture absorber, a blower, a vaporizer, an air separation unit, and a drying unit. The air flow cooled by the heat exchange with the liquefied natural gas in the vaporizer is sucked from the surrounding atmosphere by the blower into the moisture absorption zone. The rotary moisture absorber carries a moisture absorbent and rotates around an axis. The air flow sucked from the outside air is removed in the moisture absorption zone by adsorbing moisture to the moisture absorbent carried by the rotary moisture absorber. When the portion that has absorbed moisture in the rotary moisture absorber moves to the drying zone, a drying gas is blown by the drying means on the surface of the rotary moisture absorber that carries the moisture absorbent that has absorbed moisture. By blowing the drying gas, the moisture adsorbed on the moisture absorbent of the rotary moisture absorber is desorbed and removed, and the moisture absorbing ability is regenerated. After removing the moisture by means of a rotary dehumidifier, the air stream is fed to a vaporizer and cooled by heat exchange with liquefied natural gas. Before the air flow reaches the vaporizer, the moisture in the air is removed by the rotary moisture absorber, so that the moisture in the vaporizer becomes less likely to adhere as ice or frost, and the small vaporizer efficiently removes the air. Cooling can be performed. Cool the rotary moisture absorber in the cooling zone,
By continuously rotating while repeatedly depositing moisture in the moisture absorption zone and drying in the drying zone, the air can be efficiently cooled by the cold heat of the liquefied natural gas.

Further, according to the present invention, an air pre-cooler for pre-cooling air using a low-temperature natural gas vaporized by the vaporizer as a cold heat source is provided at an inlet side of the moisture absorption zone where the air from the surroundings is sucked. A demister for removing moisture condensed from air is provided, and at the outlet side of a drying zone to which the drying gas is supplied by the drying means, the drying gas is used as a heat source and heated by air in a pre-cooler of the air. And a heater for further heating the natural gas.

According to the present invention, before the air is sucked into the rotary humidifier to remove the moisture, the air is pre-cooled by the air pre-cooler, and the water condensed by the pre-cooling is removed by the demister. Further, the heat load when cooling the rotary moisture absorber can be reduced. Since the drying gas is also used for heating the natural gas, it is possible to efficiently heat the natural gas and make the apparatus compact.

Also, in the present invention, the vaporizer is provided with an air fin type heat exchanger for performing heat exchange between the air flow sucked through the rotating body and liquefied natural gas.

According to the present invention, in the vaporizer, heat exchange between the air stream and liquefied natural gas is performed by the air fin heat exchanger,
Since the air flow has a rotating body to remove moisture, ice and frost will not adhere, there is no need to defrost,
In addition, heat exchange can be performed with high efficiency even in a small size by arranging air fins densely.

Further, according to the present invention, the cooling air from the vaporizer is supplied to a compressor, and the air compressed by the compressor is preheated by exchanging heat with exhaust gas by a regenerator to burn fuel and drive a turbine. And a part of the exhaust gas of the regenerative turbine is used as a heating heat source for raising the temperature of the vaporized low-temperature natural gas to room temperature, and as a drying gas of the drying unit. .

According to the present invention, air cooled by heat exchange with liquefied natural gas is supplied to a compressor of a regenerative turbine,
The air compressed by the compressor is preheated by exchanging heat with exhaust gas by a regenerator, and the fuel is burned to drive the turbine. Since the air compressed by the compressor is cooled, the efficiency of the regenerative turbine can be increased. The exhaust gas from the regenerative turbine is used to preheat the air in the drying means regenerator and to dry the frost that has formed on the rotating body as the drying gas, so the heat energy generated in the regenerative turbine is used effectively. Can be used for

Further, in the present invention, the drying means includes an auxiliary heater for heating the drying gas when exhaust gas from the regenerative turbine is insufficient.

According to the present invention, the drying means is provided with an auxiliary heater for heating the drying gas when exhaust gas from the regenerative turbine runs short, so that the regenerative turbine is operated in accordance with the demand for power and the demand for power is reduced. Even if the exhaust gas becomes insufficient, the function of removing water from the air flow required for vaporization of liquefied natural gas by the rotating body and the function of raising the temperature of low-temperature natural gas to room temperature will not be affected. be able to.

[0023]

FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of an air cooling device 1 as one embodiment of the present invention. The air cooling device 1 of the present embodiment accommodates main components in a substantially cylindrical housing, includes an LNG vaporizer 2 as one of the components, and uses the cold heat obtained when the LNG is vaporized. ,
The air sucked from one end of the housing is cooled and supplied to the other end. When heat exchange between air and LNG is performed in the vaporizer 2, the air to be cooled is supplied to the total heat exchanger 3 in order to prevent moisture in the air from becoming frost and adhering to the surface of the vaporizer 2.
Through to remove moisture. Air in the surrounding atmosphere is pushed into the total heat exchanger 3 by the forced air blower 4, and the air passing through the total heat exchanger 3 is guided to the vaporizer 2 to exchange heat with LNG. In the vicinity of the total heat exchanger 3, a suction blower 5 is also arranged. The air cooled by heat exchange with LNG in the vaporizer 2 is supplied to the regenerative gas turbine 6. Part of the exhaust gas from the regenerative gas turbine 6 is introduced by the suction blower 5 as drying means for drying the rotating body 10. Further, a part of the air cooled by the vaporizer 2 is also sucked by the suction blower 5, and cools the rotating body 10 heated by drying. The flow rate at which the cooled air is separately sucked is adjusted by the flow rate adjusting valve 7. The opening of the flow control valve 7 is controlled by the controller 9 based on the result of the temperature detector 8 detecting the temperature of the air passed through the total heat exchanger 3 and drawn into the suction blower 5.

The total heat exchanger 3 is a rotary heat storage type heat exchanger in which a rotating body 10 having a large number of fins having a substantially disk shape rotates around a rotating shaft 11. The rotating shaft 11 of the rotating body 10 is parallel to the axial direction of the cylindrical housing of the air cooling device 1, and is rotationally driven by a rotating body drive motor 12 via a speed reducer 13. Such a rotary total heat exchanger 3
Is widely used for air conditioning and the like. When used for air conditioning, it is used to take in outside air and bring it close to the temperature and humidity of the air-conditioned indoor air for efficient air conditioning. In the present embodiment, the rotating body 10 is cooled using a part of the air cooled by the vaporizer 2, and the air from the surrounding atmosphere is pushed into the cooled part to cool the moisture in the air. Used as frost on the fin surface to remove moisture.

The air flow from which moisture has been removed by attaching moisture to the rotating body 10 of the total heat exchanger 3 is supplied to the vaporizer 2. The vaporizer 2 is formed by dividing into an LNG vaporizer 14 that vaporizes LNG to about −30 ° C. to −50 ° C. and raises the temperature, and a heater 15 that raises the temperature of the vaporized natural gas to near normal temperature. . The LNG vaporizer 14 and the heater 15 are air fin type heat exchangers provided with a large number of air fins 16. In particular, although the LNG vaporizer 14 directly exchanges heat with LNG, moisture in the air is removed. Because
There is no risk of icing or frosting, the air fins 16 are densely arranged, the LNG vaporizer 14 can be downsized, and heat exchange can be performed efficiently.

In order to adjust the flow rate of LNG flowing to the vaporizer 2, a flow control valve 17 is provided. The opening degree of the flow control valve 17 is detected by a temperature detector 18 which detects the temperature of air cooled through the carburetor 2 and is controlled by a controller 19 according to the detection result. In the present embodiment, the temperature of the cooled air is controlled to be −100 ° C. The LNG whose flow rate has been adjusted by the flow rate adjusting valve 17 flows through the heat transfer tube 20 of the vaporizer 2, evaporates in the LNG vaporizer 14, and
In 5 the temperature is raised to room temperature. The LNG vaporizer 14 of the vaporizer 2 is housed in an air cooling chamber 21, and cooling air for cooling the rotating body 10 of the total heat exchanger 3 is guided to a rotating body cooling chamber 22. In order to remove the frost from the rotating body 10 to which the frost has adhered in the air cooling chamber 21, the rotating body drying chamber 23
Is also provided. The supply of LNG supplied to the heat transfer tube 20 via the flow control valve 17 can be stopped entirely by closing the shutoff valve 24.

The cooling air cooled by the LNG vaporizer 14 in the air cooling chamber 21 can be taken out through a cooling air pipe 25. Some of the cooling air is
It is guided to the rotating body cooling chamber 22 via the separation pipe 26. The flow rate of the cooling air separated through the separation pipe 26 serving as the air separation means is controlled by the flow rate control valve 7 and the temperature detector 8.
Is controlled to be, for example, 0 ° C.

The exhaust gas from the regenerative gas turbine 6 is used as a drying gas for drying the moisture adhering to the rotating body 10 by being guided to the rotating body drying chamber 23. The flow rate of the exhaust gas guided to the rotating body drying chamber 23 can be adjusted by a flow rate control valve 27. This exhaust gas is, for example, 150
C., and heats the heater 15 in the rotating body drying chamber 23 to reduce the natural gas in the heat transfer tube 20 to room temperature, for example, 20 ° C.
Heat up to ° C. The temperature of the exhaust gas cooled when the natural gas is heated by the heater 15 is detected by a temperature detector 28 so that the temperature thereof becomes, for example, 40 ° C., and the controller 29 adjusts the opening degree of the flow control valve 27 by the controller 29. By controlling, temperature control is performed. The air whose temperature is controlled to 40 ° C. passes through the rotating body 10 and melts and evaporates ice and frost attached to the rotating body 10. The temperature of the exhaust gas used for the drying is set to a temperature necessary for drying the rotating body 10, and excessive heating is avoided so that the rotating body cooling chamber 22 can quickly cool the rotating body 10. .

The regenerative gas turbine 6 includes a gas turbine 3
0, including a compressor 31, a combustor 32, and a regenerator 33.
The compressor 31 sucks and cools air cooled to −100 ° C. from the air cooling chamber 21 via the cooling air pipe 25. As will be described later, the efficiency can be increased by compressing the low-temperature air. The temperature of the compressed air rises to about 20-100C. The compressed air exchanges heat with the exhaust gas of the gas turbine 30 in the regenerator 33, and is preheated to about 500 ° C. The preheated air preheated to about 500 ° C. is supplied to a combustor 32, mixed with natural gas or the like as a fuel and burnt, and
Is driven to rotate. The exhaust gas of the gas turbine 30 is cooled by exchanging heat with combustion air in the regenerator 33, cooled to about 150 ° C., and discharged. A part of the exhaust gas is supplied to the rotating body drying chamber 23 through the exhaust gas pipe 34, and the flow is adjusted by the flow adjustment valve 27 in the middle of the supply.

The temperature rise state of the natural gas in the heater 15 due to the exhaust gas is adjusted by mixing room temperature air from the blower fan 4 into the exhaust gas pipe 34 through the bypass pipe 35. That is, the natural gas heated to the normal temperature by the heater 15 is sent out from the natural gas pipe 36 to an external demand, and the opening degree of the flow rate adjusting bypass valve 37 provided in the bypass pipe 35 is changed to the natural gas pipe 36. The controller 39 adjusts the temperature of the natural gas by the output from the temperature detector 38 which detects the temperature of the natural gas.

In the air cooling apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1, an auxiliary heater 40 is provided, and the flow rate of the exhaust gas supplied from the regenerative gas turbine 6 for removing moisture adhering to the rotating body 10 becomes insufficient, or the regenerative gas It is provided so that LNG can be vaporized by the carburetor 2 even when the operation of the turbine 6 is stopped. By using the auxiliary heater 40, even when the regenerative gas turbine 6 is stopped,
It is also possible to vaporize LNG and raise the temperature. Various heat sources can be used as the heat source of the auxiliary heater 40. Even if natural gas is burned as fuel, only a part of natural gas vaporized from LNG need be used.

FIG. 2 shows a rotating body 10 of the total heat exchanger 3 of FIG.
Shows a state in which the surface of the air cooling device 1 is divided into three partial sections along the rotation direction in the housing of the air cooling device 1. The part facing the air cooling chamber 21 in FIG.
The rotating body 10 is cooled to, for example, −30 ° C. or lower, and adheres to moisture in the passing air to cause icing or frosting, thereby forming a moisture absorption zone in which moisture is removed. The cooling zone 42 of the rotating body cooling chamber 2 of FIG. 1 is located on the upstream side of the icing / frosting zone 41 with respect to the rotation direction of the rotating body 10.
2 is formed. In the cooling zone 42, -100
The rotating body 10 is cooled by cooling air of about
Is cooled to, for example, −30 ° C. or less. The drying zone 43 is formed at a position upstream of the cooling zone 42 and downstream of the icing / frosting zone 41 with respect to the rotation direction of the rotating body 10, facing the rotating body drying chamber 23 of FIG. 1. You. Ice or frost adhering to the surface of the rotating body 10 is melted by the exhaust gas of the regenerative gas turbine 6 introduced into the rotating body drying chamber 23, evaporated and dried. The flow rate adjustment of each section as described above is performed so that the temperature of the exhaust gas becomes an appropriate temperature of, for example, about 40 ° C. It can be considered that the drying zone 43 and the cooling zone 42 function as a regeneration zone for regenerating the moisture absorbing ability of the rotating body 10 that has been reduced by moisture absorption in the moisture absorbing zone.

FIG. 3 shows the regenerative gas turbine 6 shown in FIG.
4 shows the relationship between intake air temperature and efficiency. “HHV” indicates the relationship based on the high heat value, and “LHV” indicates the efficiency based on the low heat value. It can be seen that, when the regenerator outlet temperature is fixed at 500 ° C., if the intake air temperature is cooled to −100 ° C., an efficiency of 50% or more can be obtained.

The regenerative gas turbine 6 of this embodiment can be used, for example, to drive a generator. In particular, gas turbine power generation that performs intake air cooling as shown in FIG. 1 is performed using a normal gas turbine or Advanced Combined Cycle.
Therefore, there is an advantage even when compared with a high-efficiency combined cycle, which is abbreviated as “ACC” and considered to be the most efficient in current LNG thermal power generation. For example, the power generation efficiency when generating power is as shown in Table 1 below.

[0035]

[Table 1]

The power generation efficiency of a normal gas turbine GT is 30
% And the turbine inlet combustion temperature is 1100 ° C.
The power generation efficiency of CC is 40%, and the power generation efficiency of ACC having a turbine inlet combustion temperature of 1300 ° C. or higher is 50%, whereas the power generation efficiency of the intake cooling gas turbine of this embodiment is 1200 ° C. 55 at combustion temperature
% Can be achieved.

In the intake cooling gas turbine of this embodiment,
The power generation efficiency is increased to 55%, and the cost of LNG used as fuel can be reduced. Turbine inlet temperature 1300 ° C
Although the above ACC can obtain a close value, the combustion temperature at the turbine inlet becomes very high at 1300 ° C.,
Advanced technology is required for cooling blades used in turbines, and it is difficult to apply these technologies to small and medium-sized gas turbines.

FIG. 4 shows a schematic configuration of an air cooling device 51 as another embodiment of the present invention. In the air cooling device 51 of the present embodiment, main parts common to the air cooling device 1 of the embodiment of FIG. 1 such as the LNG carburetor 14 and the rotating body 10 are housed in a substantially cylindrical housing. In the present embodiment, portions corresponding to the embodiment of FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description will be omitted. In the air cooling device 1 of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the heat transfer tube 20 constituting the air fin heat exchanger of the vaporizer 2 is directly connected from the LNG vaporizer 14 to the heater 15, and the natural gas vaporized by the LNG vaporizer 14. The gas is immediately heated by the heater 15 to normal temperature. In the air cooling device 51 of the present embodiment, an air dehumidifier 52 is provided between the LNG vaporizer 14 and the heater 15 for the heat transfer tube 20 of the vaporizer 2. The air dehumidifier 52 is arranged on the inlet side of the total heat exchanger 3 while the air flow is being pushed by the push blower 4 toward the icing / frosting zone 41 of the total heat exchanger 3. To the air dehumidifier 52, for example, low-temperature natural gas at −35 ° C. is supplied via a low-temperature natural gas pipe 53 connected to the heat transfer pipe 20 of the LNG vaporizer 14. The air dehumidifier 52 uses the low-temperature natural gas as a cold heat source to cool the air sucked into the total heat exchanger 3. The sucked air is
The temperature is reduced to about 1 ° C. by the air dehumidifier 52, and the moisture in the air is reduced. Through the low-temperature natural gas pipe 54, the natural gas is supplied to the heat transfer pipe 20 of the heater 15 that heats the natural gas to room temperature. As described above, by providing the air dehumidifier 52 using the evaporated low-temperature natural gas as a cold heat source, the heat load of the total heat exchanger 3 can be reduced and the total heat exchanger 3 can be made compact.

FIG. 5 shows an air cooling device 6 having a rotary dehumidifier 60 as a rotating body as still another embodiment of the present invention.
1 shows a schematic configuration. Air cooling device 6 of the present embodiment
1 also has an LNG vaporizer 14 in a substantially cylindrical housing,
The main part common to the air cooling device 1 of the embodiment of FIG. 1 or FIG. 4 is housed. In the present embodiment, portions corresponding to the embodiment of FIG. 1 or FIG. 4 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description will be omitted. In addition, a flow control valve, a temperature detector,
Some controllers and the like are not shown. In addition, among the units attached to numerical values indicating examples of the operating conditions, “N” in “Nm ³ / h” indicates that the flow rate is in the standard state. An example of the operating condition shows a case where the ambient air temperature is 20 ° C. However, the operating conditions shown with “()” are for the case where the atmospheric temperature is 30 ° C.

The air cooling device according to the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 4
1, 51 is a regenerative heat exchanger as the rotating body 10
Using the rotor of the total heat exchanger 3, cool down to low temperature to accumulate moisture
Ice and frost are absorbed. Rotation used in this embodiment
The dehumidifier 60 is provided with a honeycomb absorbent having a moisture absorbing property.
Since it is supported on a layered body, it adsorbs moisture more efficiently.
Can be Metal silicates (metal
Silicate: MSiO _Three), Silica gel (SiO_Two ),
Use lithium chloride (LiCl), zeolite, etc.
be able to.

The air cooling device 61 of this embodiment is also an LNG
Cool the air to below -100 ° C using cold heat. Outside air containing moisture is sucked by the push-in blower 4 for intake,
An airflow is generated that passes through the rotary dehumidifier 60 and the LNG vaporizer 14. Apart from the passage of the airflow, the space around the rotary dehumidifier 60 in the housing of the air cooling device 61 includes a rotary body cooling chamber 62 and a rotary body drying chamber 63.
Is provided. A part of the airflow sucked by the forced air blower 4 is introduced into the rotating body cooling chamber 62 via a damper 64 which is an air separating means. The flow rate of the introduced air can be adjusted by the opening degree of the damper 64. Gas turbine exhaust gas sucked by the suction blower 4 as drying means is introduced into the rotating body drying chamber 63. A damper 65 is provided in the housing of the air cooling device 61,
When opened, the surrounding air can be introduced into the suction blower 4. In the rotating body drying chamber 63, an auxiliary heater 66 and an emergency heat storage body 67 are arranged on the upstream side of the rotary dehumidifier 60 with respect to the introduction direction of the gas turbine exhaust gas and the like.

With respect to the air sucked from the surroundings for cooling,
A demister 70 is arranged on the upstream side of the push-in blower 5, and the demister 70 is provided on the upstream side of the demister 70. 1NG heater 71
Is arranged. The demister 70 and the No. 1NG
Instead of the combination of the heaters 71, an air dehumidifier 52 as shown in FIG. 4 can be used. Regarding drying gas such as gas turbine exhaust gas introduced into the rotating body drying chamber 63,
On the downstream side of the suction blower 4, No. A 2NG heater 72 is provided. No. The 1NG warmer 71 is supplied with the low-temperature natural gas vaporized by the LNG vaporizer 14 and heat-exchanges with natural air to heat the natural gas. No. No. 2 NG heater 72 includes The natural gas heated by the 1NG heater 71 is supplied to further heat the natural gas.

The outside air at room temperature sucked by the push-in blower 4 for intake is It is introduced into one heater 71. N
o. Low-temperature natural gas is supplied from the LNG vaporizer 14 to the 1NG heater 71 and is heated by air. By this heat exchange, the air is cooled to about 5 ° C. That is, No. The 1NG heater 71 also functions as an air precooler. As the air cools, the amount of saturated water vapor in the air decreases, and the excess water vapor condenses as mist droplets. The moisture in the cooled air is
When passing through the demister 70, it is removed as drain, and the rotary dehumidifier 60 is supplied with saturated air at about 5 ° C.
As described above, since the rotary dehumidifier 60 carries a desiccant, water vapor is removed from saturated air at about 5 ° C. by adsorption to the desiccant, and the dew point temperature is reduced to about −30 ° C. Dehumidified until At that time, due to heat of adsorption, etc.
The air temperature rises to about 30-50C. The dehumidified air is supplied to an air fin type LN that functions as a main air cooler.
Heat exchange with LNG is performed in the G vaporizer 14, and the gas is cooled to about -100 ° C. The cooled air is taken out from the other end side of the housing of the air cooling device 61, and is used as combustion air for the gas turbine, raw material air for the air separation device, and the like as described above.

FIG. 6 shows the state of division of the surface of the rotary dehumidifier 60 inside the housing of the air cooling device 61. The rotary dehumidifier 60 is separated into a regeneration zone 80 and a moisture absorption zone 81 by a housing and a heat-resistant seal structure. Moisture absorption zone 81
Is carried out by adsorption of water molecules on the surface of the supported moisture absorbent. As the amount of adsorption increases, the adsorption and dehumidifying ability of the desiccant decreases. In the regeneration zone 80, a process for regenerating the adsorbing and dehumidifying ability of the hygroscopic agent is performed.
The regeneration zone 80 is divided into a cooling zone 82 and a drying zone 83 adjacent to each other on the upstream side and the downstream side of the moisture absorption zone 81 in the rotation direction. In the drying zone 83,
The high-temperature drying gas is allowed to flow from the opposite direction to the moisture absorption zone 81 to desorb moisture adsorbed by the moisture absorbent. In the cooling zone 82, the rotary dehumidifier 60 is pre-cooled with air in order to further increase the adsorption and dehumidification capacity of the desiccant.

Rotary dehumidifier 6 introduced into drying zone 83
As the drying gas of 0, gas turbine combustion exhaust gas, waste nitrogen gas of an air separation device, or the like can be used. FIG.
As shown in (2), when waste nitrogen gas is used, it is necessary to constantly warm the auxiliary heater 66 to the regeneration temperature of the desiccant.
When the gas turbine exhaust gas is used, the emergency regenerator 67 and the auxiliary heater 66 are installed so that the operation as the LNG vaporizer 14 can be continued even when the supply of the gas turbine exhaust gas is stopped in an emergency. After the gas for drying is used for regeneration by drying of the rotary dehumidifier 60 in the drying zone 83, the gas for drying is no. The low-temperature natural gas is heated to room temperature by the 2NG heater 72. In a cooling zone 82 provided as a final stage of the regeneration zone 80, a part of air precooled to about 5 ° C. is introduced through a damper 64 to cool the rotary dehumidifier 60, so that the air in the dehumidification zone 81 is cooled. The dew point after dehumidification can be reduced.

LNG is an air fin type LNG vaporizer 1
In step 4, heat exchange with air at about 30 ° C. is performed to evaporate. The low temperature natural gas of about −40 ° C. that has exited the LNG vaporizer 14 is no. 1
In the NG heater 71, the air is heated by the suction air. Depending on the temperature of the suction air, the No. Since the outlet temperature of the 1NG heater 71 may be 0 ° C. or lower in some cases, the drying gas of the rotary dehumidifier 60 is used as a heat source. 2NG heater 72
And heat the natural gas to room temperature.

The air cooling device 61 of this embodiment has the following features. By employing the rotary dehumidifier 60, air containing moisture can be continuously cooled. The rotary dehumidifier 60 is made compact by pre-cooling the air at the inlet side to the rotary dehumidifier 60 using the cold heat of LNG and removing moisture in the air as drain before entering the rotary dehumidifier 60. In addition, the energy required for regeneration can be reduced. The operation of the LNG vaporizer 14 can be safely continued even when the load of the low-temperature air utilization equipment changes and when the operation is stopped. The air fin type heat exchanger used as the LNG vaporizer 14 is supplied with dehumidified air, so that frost on the heat transfer surface and heat transfer inhibition due to icing do not occur. The heat transfer area can be smaller than that of the formula LNG vaporizer. No. The air fin heat exchanger used as the 2NG heater 72 is heated by the heated drying gas.
The heat transfer area can be reduced as compared with a heating section of a generally used air-heated LNG vaporizer. No. The temperature of the air at the outlet side of the 1NG heater 71 is adjusted by adjusting the flow rate of the pre-cooling air introduced into the cooling zone 82 by the opening degree of the damper 64, and changing the air outlet temperature of the rotary dehumidifier 60. , The natural gas temperature at the outlet side of the LNG vaporizer 14 can be adjusted. No. The temperature of the natural gas at the outlet of the 2NG heater 72 is adjusted by the damper 65 on the suction side of the suction blower 5 for exhaust.
It is also possible to adopt a method of opening the air and sucking the outside air, a method of adjusting the temperature of the drying gas on the inlet side to the rotary dehumidifier 60, or a method of controlling the rotation speed of the suction blower 5. The use of cold air at about -100 ° C can increase the efficiency of existing regenerative gas turbines by up to about 60%. Using cold air at about -100 ° C can reduce the power of the air compressor by about 40%.

The low-temperature cooling air obtained in each of the embodiments described above is used not only for cooling the intake air of the regenerative gas turbine 6 but also for supplying it to an air separation facility or for use in a refrigerated warehouse or frozen food production. It can also be used for low-temperature grinding of home appliances and the like. If the power is supplied to the air separation equipment, the required power of the raw material air compressor can be reduced. If it is used in a refrigerated warehouse or in the manufacture of frozen foods, no chlorofluorocarbon refrigerant is required, and the power can be greatly reduced. If used for low-temperature pulverization of home electric appliances and the like, inexpensive refrigeration instead of liquid nitrogen can be supplied.

[0049]

As described above, according to the present invention, the air cooled by heat exchange with the liquefied natural gas in the vaporizer is drawn into the moisture absorption zone from the surrounding atmosphere by the blower. Moisture in the sucked air is dehumidified by the rotating body, and air which is dried and hardly hinders heat transfer due to icing or frost is supplied to the vaporizer. When the rotating body rotates and the moisture-absorbing portion moves to the regeneration zone, drying gas is blown by the drying means, and moisture is removed from the moisture-absorbing portion of the rotating body,
The moisture absorbing function of the rotating body can be reproduced. The rotating body is
By continuously rotating while repeating moisture absorption and regeneration, dehumidification of air is continued, and air can be efficiently cooled by the cold heat of liquefied natural gas.

Further, according to the present invention, moisture in the air is removed by using a rotary total heat exchanger, and the air from which the moisture has been removed is exchanged with liquefied natural gas for cooling to obtain cooled air. be able to. The vaporizer for exchanging heat between air and liquefied natural gas does not cause icing or frosting due to the adhesion of moisture, so that it can be reduced in size and increase the efficiency of heat exchange. Since the cooled air is not at a very low temperature like liquefied natural gas, it can be used for various uses such as refrigeration and freezing, or low-temperature pulverization of home electric appliances and the like.

According to the present invention, the flow rate is adjusted so that the temperature of the drying gas passing through the rotating body becomes constant while the gas having a higher temperature than the surrounding air is blown to the rotating body as the drying gas. To remove water adhering to the rotating body,
This can be performed without excessively heating the rotating body.

Further, according to the present invention, the heat load of the low-temperature natural gas is utilized at the inlet side of the total heat exchanger to reduce the water content from the air to be sucked. Can be achieved.

Further, according to the present invention, the rotary moisture absorber carries the moisture absorbent, rotates around the axis, and removes moisture in the air sucked from the outside air by the moisture absorbent in the moisture absorption zone. . When the portion absorbed by the rotary moisture absorber moves to the drying zone, the moisture adsorbed on the moisture absorbent of the rotary moisture absorber is removed by spraying the drying gas, and the moisture absorbing ability is regenerated. Before the air flow reaches the vaporizer, the moisture in the air is removed by the rotary moisture absorber, so that the moisture in the vaporizer becomes less likely to adhere as ice or frost, and the small vaporizer efficiently removes the air. Cooling can be performed. Cooling the rotary type moisture absorber in the cooling zone, depositing moisture in the moisture absorption zone, and continuously drying while repeating the drying in the drying zone, to efficiently cool the air with the cold heat of liquefied natural gas Can be.

Further, according to the present invention, before the air is sucked into the rotary humidifier to remove the water, the air is pre-cooled, and the water condensed by the pre-cooling is removed by the demister. The load can be reduced. The drying gas is
Since it is also used for heating natural gas, it is possible to efficiently heat natural gas and to reduce the size of the apparatus.

Further, according to the present invention, the vaporizer for exchanging the air from which moisture has been removed by the rotating body with the liquefied natural gas is provided with the air fin type heat exchanger. High heat exchange can be performed.

Further, according to the present invention, the air supplied to the compressor of the regenerative turbine is cooled, the regenerative turbine is operated with high efficiency, power is taken out, and the exhaust gas is used to evaporate the low-temperature natural gas. It is possible to raise the temperature of the gas to normal temperature and to remove moisture from the rotating body.

According to the present invention, the drying gas can be heated by the auxiliary heater even when the demand for the power of the regenerative turbine decreases and the amount of exhaust gas becomes insufficient. The removal of moisture in the air by the body is ensured, and the liquefied natural gas can be vaporized and heated without reducing the efficiency of the vaporizer.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an air cooling device 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a piping system diagram showing a schematic configuration of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a view showing a state in which the surface of a rotating body 10 of the total heat exchanger 3 of FIG. 1 is sectioned.

FIG. 3 is a graph showing the effect of intake air cooling in the regenerative gas turbine 6 of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a piping diagram showing a schematic configuration of an air cooling device 51 according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a piping diagram showing a schematic configuration of an air cooling device 61 as still another embodiment of the present invention.

6 is a diagram showing a state where the surface of the rotary moisture absorber 60 of FIG. 5 is sectioned.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1,51,61 Air cooling device 2 Vaporizer 3 Total heat exchanger 4 Push blower 5 Suction blower 6 Regenerative gas turbine 7,17,27 Flow control valve 8,18,28,38 Temperature detector 9,19,29 , 39 Controller 10 Rotating body 14 LNG vaporizer 15 Heater 16 Air fin 21 Air cooling chamber 22, 62 Rotating body cooling chamber 23, 63 Rotating body drying chamber 25 Cooling air pipe 26 Separation pipe 30 Gas turbine 31 Compressor 33 Regenerator 34 Exhaust gas pipe 35 Bypass pipe 36 Natural gas pipe 40,66 Auxiliary heater 41 Icing / frosting zone 42,82 Cooling zone 43,83 Drying zone 52 Air dehumidifier 60 Rotary dehumidifier 64,65 Damper 70 Demister 71 No. 1 heater 72 No. 1 2 heater 80 regeneration zone 81 moisture absorption zone

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Koichiro Ikeda 4-1-2, Hirano-cho, Chuo-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka F-term in Osaka Gas Co., Ltd. (reference) 3E073 DB05 DC13 DD06 3L044 BA09 CA02 DB03 FA04 KA04 4D052 AA08 BA00 BB02 BB06 BB08 CB01 DA03 DB01 DB04 GA01 GA03 GB01 GB02 HA01 HA03 HA14 HB02

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. An air cooling device that cools air by utilizing the cold heat of liquefied natural gas, comprising: a rotating body having a substantially disk shape and rotating around an axis, having air permeability in the axial direction; A housing which is substantially cylindrical and has a shape extending in the axial direction of the rotating body, rotatably housing the rotating body, and provided with a moisture absorption zone and a regeneration zone along the rotating direction of the rotating body; A blower that forms an air flow that sucks air from around the one end of the housing through the zone and discharges the air to the other end of the housing; and a blower that is disposed downstream of the rotating body with respect to the air flow. A vaporizer for exchanging heat between the liquefied natural gas and the air stream to vaporize the liquefied natural gas and raise the temperature; and a regeneration means for flowing a regeneration gas for regenerating the moisture absorbing function of the rotating body to the regeneration zone. An air cooling device comprising: 2. The rotator is a total heat exchanger including a large number of fins, and the regeneration zone includes a cooling zone and a drying zone adjacent to an upstream side and a downstream side of the moisture absorption zone with respect to a rotation direction, respectively. Wherein the regeneration means takes out the air flow cooled by the vaporizer as cooling air, separates a part of the cooling air, guides it to the cooling zone, and cools the rotating body. The air cooling device according to claim 1, further comprising: a drying unit configured to supply a drying gas to the drying zone. 3. The drying means, wherein a temperature of the drying gas that has passed through the rotating body is predetermined while spraying a gas having a temperature higher than ambient air as a drying gas onto a drying zone of the rotating body. 3. The air cooling device according to claim 2, wherein the flow rate of the drying gas is controlled so as to be a temperature. 4. An air dehumidifier using a low-temperature natural gas vaporized by the vaporizer as a cold heat source is provided at an inlet side of a moisture absorption zone of the rotating body from which air from the surroundings is sucked. The air cooling device according to any one of claims 1 to 3. 5. The rotating body is a rotary moisture absorber that supports a moisture absorbent, and the regeneration zone is adjacent to an upstream side and a downstream side of the moisture absorption zone with respect to a rotation direction of the rotary moisture absorber. A drying zone for supplying a drying gas having a temperature higher than room temperature for desorbing moisture from the desiccant adsorbing moisture to the drying zone; and the blower. Air separation means for extracting a part of the air flow sucked from the outside air as cooling air, guiding the cooling air to the cooling zone, and cooling the rotary humidifier heated by the regeneration gas. The air cooling device according to claim 1. 6. An air pre-cooler for pre-cooling air using a low-temperature natural gas vaporized by the vaporizer as a cold heat source, on the inlet side of the moisture absorption zone where the air from the surroundings is sucked, and condensing from the pre-cooled air. A demister for removing moisture is installed, and at the outlet side of a drying zone to which the drying gas is supplied by the drying means, a natural gas heated by air in a pre-cooler of the air using the drying gas as a heat source. The air cooling device according to claim 5, further comprising a heater for further heating the gas. 7. The air vaporizer according to claim 1, wherein the vaporizer includes an air fin heat exchanger for exchanging heat between the air flow sucked through the rotating body and the liquefied natural gas.
An air cooling device according to any one of claims 1 to 6. 8. A regenerative type in which cooling air from the vaporizer is supplied to a compressor, and the air compressed by the compressor is preheated by exchanging heat with exhaust gas in a regenerator to burn fuel and drive a turbine. 2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising a turbine, wherein a part of the exhaust gas from the regenerative turbine is used as a heating heat source for raising the temperature of the vaporized low-temperature natural gas to room temperature, and as a drying gas for the drying means. ~ 7
An air cooling device according to any one of the above. 9. The air cooling device according to claim 8, wherein the drying unit includes an auxiliary heater for heating the drying gas when exhaust gas from the regenerative turbine is insufficient.