JP4994709B2 - Fluidized bed equipment - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a fluidized bed apparatus for granulating, coating, and drying a granular material in various fields such as pharmaceutical production, food production, and agricultural chemical production.

  In general, a fluidized bed apparatus performs granulation, coating, and drying while forming a fluidized bed by floating and flowing powder particles in a fluidized bed container with a gas (fluidized gas) introduced from the bottom of the fluidized bed container. Is what you do. This type of fluidized bed apparatus includes those accompanied by rolling, jetting, stirring, and the like of powder particles (referred to as a combined fluidized bed apparatus). There are a rolling fluidized bed apparatus in which a rotating body is disposed at the bottom of a bed container, and a Wurster fluidized bed apparatus in which a draft tube (inner tower) is installed inside the fluidized bed container.

In this type of fluidized bed apparatus, a filter unit for separating the gas from the solid-gas mixed gas containing the granular material is disposed above the processing chamber in the fluidized bed container. As the filter of the filter section, a woven fabric filter called a bag filter (for example, see Patent Documents 1 and 2 below), a pleated breathable resin sheet (filter material) is formed in a cylindrical shape and held in a retainer The cartridge type filter etc. which were made to use are used (for example, refer the following patent documents 3-5).
Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 6-16827 JP 2002-172320 A JP 2001-817 A JP 2000-42336 A Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2005-152883

  In order to prevent clogging of the filter, the filter unit normally performs a fine powder adhering operation (shaking operation, pulse jet air injection, etc.). Cannot be completely removed, and it is necessary to clean the filter portion depending on the situation. In addition, when the processing operation of the granular material is changed (when the type of the granular material or the type of spray liquid to be sprayed is changed), the filter portion needs to be cleaned.

  As a method for cleaning the filter unit, manual cleaning is performed by removing the filter unit from the fluidized bed container, and automatic cleaning is performed by injecting cleaning liquid into the filter unit from the cleaning nozzle installed in the fluidized bed container. ing. However, removal and attachment of the filter part is troublesome in manual cleaning, and details may not be sufficiently cleaned by automatic cleaning using a cleaning nozzle.

  The subject of this invention is enabling it to wash | clean a filter part efficiently and reliably.

In order to solve the above problem, the present invention provides a fluidized bed apparatus that performs at least one of granulation, coating, and drying while floating and flowing a granular material in a fluidized bed container. , A processing chamber for processing the granular material, a filter chamber located above the processing chamber and provided with a filter unit having a cartridge type filter for solid-gas separation, and a gas dispersion plate below the processing chamber And a cleaning liquid supply unit that supplies a cleaning liquid to a lower space including the processing chamber and the supply chamber, and the filter unit supports the plurality of cartridge type filters and the plurality of cartridge type filters. And an exhaust chamber into which gas separated by a plurality of cartridge-type filters flows is provided at the upper part of the filter unit. Between the inner and circumference of the outer periphery of the exhaust chamber is sealed by the expansion seal, filter elevating mechanism vertically moving the filter unit is provided, the filter lifting mechanism is coupled to the support member of the filter unit, the filter lift mechanism, the filter The filter unit is lowered to a position where the unit is immersed in the cleaning liquid, and the filter unit is cleaned by at least one means among the vertical movement, rotation operation, water flow of the cleaning liquid, and application of ultrasonic waves to the cleaning liquid. I will provide a.

According to the present invention, the filter can be efficiently and reliably washed in the fluidized bed container . At the same time, the inside of the fluidized bed container in contact with the cleaning liquid, that is, the lower space including the processing chamber, the gas dispersion plate, and the air supply chamber can be cleaned with the cleaning liquid.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 schematically shows a configuration example of a fluidized bed apparatus according to this embodiment.

  The fluidized bed container 1 is disposed above the processing chamber 2 for processing the granular material M, for example, granulating or coating the granular material M, and a filter unit 3 for solid-gas separation. A filter chamber 4 and an exhaust chamber 7 provided in the upper part of the filter unit 3.

  At the bottom of the processing chamber 2, a gas dispersion plate 2 a made up of a perforated plate (or metal mesh) such as punching metal is disposed. The gas A such as hot air supplied from the air supply duct 8 to the air supply chamber 9 is introduced into the fluidized bed container 1 through the gas dispersion plate 2a. A spray nozzle 10 for spraying a spray liquid (film agent liquid, binder liquid, etc.) is installed in the upper part of the processing chamber 2. Further, a cleaning liquid supply unit 11 that supplies a cleaning liquid C to be described later into the fluidized bed container 1 and a cleaning liquid discharge unit 14 that discharges the cleaning liquid C are provided.

  In this embodiment, the filter unit 3 includes a plurality of cartridge type filters 3a and a support member 3b that supports the plurality of cartridge type filters 3a.

  As shown in FIG. 3 in an enlarged manner, the cartridge type filter 3a includes, for example, a filter medium 3a1 in which a breathable resin sheet or the like that has been subjected to pleating is formed into a cylindrical shape, a retainer 3a2 that extrapolates the filter medium 3a1, and a retainer 3a2. The exhaust port 3a3 is fixed to the upper part, and the end cap 3a3 is detachably attached to the lower part of the retainer 3a2. Each cartridge type filter 3a is inserted through a mounting hole provided in the support member 3b, and a flange 3a4 provided at the base of the exhaust port 3a3 is fixed to the support member 3b with screws 3b1. Further, the gap between the flange 3a4 and the support member 3b is sealed by the seal member 3b2.

  The filter unit 3 is covered from above by a dome-shaped exhaust chamber member 7a, and the exhaust chamber 7 is formed inside the exhaust chamber member 7a. The exhaust chamber member 7a is fixed to the upper wall 6 by appropriate means such as welding, or is integrally formed with the upper wall 6, and an exhaust duct 13 is connected to a part of the exhaust chamber member 7a (see FIGS. 1 and 2). The space between the filter unit 3 and the exhaust chamber member 7a (and the upper wall 6) is sealed by an expansion seal 7a1. In this embodiment, an expansion seal 7a1 is attached to the inner periphery of the exhaust chamber member 7a so as to face the upright wall 3b3 formed on the outer peripheral edge of the support member 3b of the filter portion 3. When compressed air is supplied to the internal space of the expansion seal 7a1, the expansion seal 7a1 expands due to the pressure of the compressed air and comes into close contact with the standing wall 3b3. Thereby, the space between the filter unit 3 and the exhaust chamber member 7a (and the upper wall 6) is sealed. On the other hand, when compressed air is discharged from the internal space of the expansion seal 7a1, the expansion seal 7a1 is restored to the initial shape and separated from the upright wall 3b3 as shown in FIG.

  When processing the granular material M, the space between the filter unit 3 and the exhaust chamber member 7a (and the upper wall 6) is always sealed by the expansion seal 7a1. The gas A solid-gas separated by the filter medium 3a1 of the cartridge type filter 3a flows into the exhaust chamber 7 from the exhaust port 3a3 through the inside of the filter medium 3a1. When the filter unit 3 is moved up and down during cleaning or the like, the compressed air is discharged from the internal space of the expansion seal 7a1 to release the contact state with the upright wall 3b3.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the filter unit 3 can be moved up and down by a filter lifting mechanism, in this embodiment, by an air cylinder 12. The air cylinder 12 is fixed to the upper wall of the exhaust chamber member 7 a by an appropriate means, and the piston rod 12 a penetrates the exhaust chamber 7 and is connected to the central portion of the support member 3 b of the filter unit 3. When the air cylinder 12 is operated at the time of cleaning or the like, the filter unit 3 is lowered from the position shown in the figure (see FIG. 4). The filter lifting mechanism is not limited to the air cylinder 12, but may be other mechanisms (wire mechanism, link mechanism, ball screw mechanism, etc.). Further, a function of rotating the filter unit 3 may be added to the filter lifting mechanism.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the granular material M accommodated in the processing chamber 2 of the fluidized bed container 1 is suspended and flowed by the gas A introduced into the fluidized bed container 1 through the gas dispersion plate 2a. Then, spray liquid (film agent liquid, binder liquid, etc.) is sprayed from the spray nozzle 10 toward the fluidized bed of the granular material M. At the same time that the granular material particles M are wetted by the spray liquid sprayed from the spray nozzle 10, for example, a mist of the film agent liquid, the solid component contained in the film agent liquid adheres to the surface of the granular particle M, After drying and solidifying, a coating layer is formed on the surface of the powder particles M (coating). Alternatively, the powder particles M are wet, adhered and agglomerated by a spray liquid sprayed from the spray nozzle 10, for example, a mist of a binder liquid, dried, and grown into particles of a predetermined diameter (granulation).

  The gas A in which the powder M is suspended and flowed rises in the processing chamber 2 and enters the filter chamber 4, is solid-gas separated by each cartridge type filter 3 a of the filter unit 3, and flows into the exhaust chamber 7. Then, the gas is exhausted to the outside of the fluidized bed container 1 through the exhaust duct 13 connected to the exhaust chamber 7.

  Moreover, in the fluidized bed apparatus of this embodiment, the filter unit 3 can be cleaned in the manner shown in FIG.

  First, the cleaning liquid C is supplied from the cleaning liquid supply unit 11 into the fluidized bed container 1, and the cleaning liquid C is accumulated until a predetermined liquid level L is reached. The liquid level L of the cleaning liquid C is set such that the entire part of the filter unit 3 is immersed in the cleaning liquid C when the filter unit 3 is lowered by the air cylinder 12. In the example shown in the figure, the liquid level L is set at the upper limit position of the processing chamber 2 or slightly above it. Next, the air cylinder 12 is operated to lower the filter unit 3 to a position where the entire part of the filter unit 3 is immersed in the cleaning liquid C.

  The filter unit 3 is moved up and down with a predetermined amplitude by the air cylinder 12. The mode of vertical movement of the filter unit 3 is an mode in which the entire part of the filter unit 3 is immersed in the cleaning liquid C at the upper limit of the amplitude, and the upper part of the filter unit 3 is above the liquid level L of the cleaning liquid C at the upper limit of the amplitude. A mode in which all parts of the filter unit 3 are immersed in the cleaning liquid C at the lower limit of the amplitude, and a mode in which all parts of the filter unit 3 are positioned above the liquid level L at the upper limit of the amplitude (the filter at the lower limit of the amplitude Any part of the part 3 may be immersed in the cleaning liquid C). As the filter unit 3 moves up and down in the cleaning liquid C, fine powder adhering to the filter unit 3, particularly the filter medium 3 a 1 of the cartridge type filter 3 a, is effectively removed by the cleaning liquid C. At the same time, the inside of the fluidized bed container 1 in contact with the cleaning liquid C, that is, the processing chamber 2, the gas dispersion plate 2a, the air supply chamber 9, and the like are also cleaned by the cleaning liquid C.

  Further, in addition to the above vertical movement of the filter unit 3, the cleaning effect can be further enhanced by causing the cleaning liquid C to generate a water flow or applying ultrasonic waves by appropriate means. Alternatively, the filter unit 3 may be rotated in the cleaning liquid C (in this case, a rotation function is added to the filter lifting mechanism). These means may be employed alone or in combination of two or more instead of the vertical movement of the filter unit 3.

  After the filter unit 3 and the like are cleaned as described above, the cleaning liquid discharge unit 14 is opened and the cleaning liquid C is discharged.

  The present invention is not limited to the fluidized bed apparatus as described above, but can be similarly applied to a composite fluidized bed apparatus such as a rolling fluidized bed apparatus or a Wurster type fluidized bed apparatus.

It is sectional drawing which shows typically the example of 1 structure of the fluidized-bed apparatus which concerns on embodiment. It is the figure which looked at the fluidized bed apparatus from the upper part. It is sectional drawing which shows the peripheral part of a cartridge type filter. It is sectional drawing which shows the state at the time of washing | cleaning.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Fluidized bed container 2 Processing chamber 3 Filter part 3a Cartridge type filter 3b Support member 4 Filter chamber 7 Exhaust chamber 12 Air cylinder (filter raising / lowering mechanism)
A gas M powder

Claims (4)

In a fluidized bed apparatus that performs at least one of granulation, coating, and drying while suspending and flowing a granular material with gas in a fluidized bed container,
The fluidized bed container includes a processing chamber for processing a granular material, a filter chamber positioned above the processing chamber and provided with a filter unit including a cartridge type filter for solid-gas separation, and the processing chamber An air supply chamber located below the gas dispersion plate, and a cleaning liquid supply unit for supplying a cleaning liquid to a lower space including the processing chamber and the air supply chamber,
The filter section includes a plurality of cartridge type filters and a support member that supports the plurality of cartridge type filters,
An exhaust chamber into which the gas solid-gas separated by the plurality of cartridge type filters flows is provided at the upper part of the filter unit,
Between the outer periphery of the support member of the filter part and the inner periphery of the exhaust chamber is sealed by an expansion seal,
A filter lifting mechanism for moving the filter part up and down is provided, and the filter lifting mechanism is connected to a support member of the filter part;
By the filter lifting mechanism, the filter unit is lowered to a position where the filter unit is immersed in the cleaning liquid, and the filter unit is moved up and down, rotated, the water flow of the cleaning liquid, and the application of ultrasonic waves to the cleaning liquid. The flow device is characterized in that the filter unit is washed by at least one means.   The fluidized bed apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the filter unit is moved up and down in the cleaning liquid.   The fluidized bed apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for applying at least one of an ultrasonic wave and a water flow to the cleaning liquid.   The fluidized bed apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the filter unit is rotated in the cleaning liquid.

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