KR101144960B1 - Apparatus for cooling gas - Google Patents

Abstract

The gas cooling apparatus includes a housing including an inlet through which gas is introduced, a tube connected to one side of the inlet of the housing and extending to the inside of the housing, a temperature sensor attached to the inlet for measuring the temperature of the introduced gas, And a thermoelectric element that is attached to a battery and a tube that accumulates electric power and that receives power from the battery when the temperature of the gas is equal to or higher than a specified value and absorbs heat in the inner side direction.

Description

[0001] APPARATUS FOR COOLING GAS [0002]

The present invention relates to a gas cooling apparatus, and more particularly to a gas cooling technique using a thermoelectric element.

Among the currently used power generation methods, the Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle converts coal into syngas composed mainly of hydrogen and carbon monoxide, removes harmful substances contained in the syngas, and purifies it to a level similar to that of natural gas It is a way of doing combined power generation.

The syngas produced from coal gas and combined power generation is discharged at a temperature of 1200 ° C to 1800 ° C at the outlet of the gasifier, and at a temperature of 500 ° C Or less.

To this end, a gas cooling system is used which lowers the syngas discharged from the outlet of the gasifier to below the specified temperature. However, the syngas gas discharged from the outlet of the gasifier has a high temperature, and the shape of the syngas cooler is complicated and the size of the syngas is inevitably increased.

The present invention provides a gas cooling apparatus for increasing the cooling efficiency by using a thermoelectric element.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a fuel cell system including: a housing including an inlet through which gas is introduced; A tube connected to one side of the inlet of the housing and extending into the housing; A temperature sensor attached to the inlet and measuring the temperature of the introduced gas; A power generating element attached to the housing to generate an electromotive force; A storage battery for storing the electromotive force; And a thermoelectric element attached to the tube, the thermoelectric element being adapted to receive an electromotive force from the battery and to absorb heat in an inner side direction.

The housing includes a first passage between the inner side and the outer side, and the power generating element can be attached to the inner side direction of the first passage.

The tube includes a second passage between the inner side and the outer side, and the thermoelectric element can be attached to the inner side direction of the first passage.

The housing may include a refrigerant inlet through which the refrigerant flows into the first passage and the second passage.

The housing may have a tubular shape in which the inlet port is formed at one end and the outlet port is formed at an intermediate area.

Wherein an end of the tube is coupled to the inlet and an intermediate region is spaced from the housing and an outlet through which the gas introduced from the inlet flows out is formed in the housing at the other end of the tube, Can be formed closer to the inlet.

The gas introduced into the inlet may flow sequentially through the outlet, the gap between the housing and the tube, and the outlet.

According to the embodiment of the present invention, the size of the gas cooling device can be reduced.

Further, according to the embodiment of the present invention, the gas can be cooled using the thermoelectric element without separately providing power.

1 is a block diagram briefly illustrating each component of a gas cooling apparatus;
2 is a front view illustrating the shape of the gas cooling device;
Figure 3 illustrates a second passageway formed between the inner and outer sides of the tube illustrated in Figure 2;
4 is a plan view of a gas cooling device;

While the present invention has been described in connection with certain exemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments, but, on the contrary, is intended to cover various modifications and similarities. It should be understood, however, that the invention is not intended to be limited to the particular embodiments, but includes all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In addition, numerals (e.g., first, second, etc.) used in the description of the present invention are merely an identifier for distinguishing one component from another.

Further, in this specification, when an element is referred to as being "connected" to another element, the element can be directly connected to the other element, but unless there is a specially opposite substrate, It should be understood that they may be connected through other components.

1 is a block diagram briefly illustrating each component of a gas cooling apparatus.

Referring to FIG. 1, a gas cooling apparatus includes a temperature sensor 110, a power generation element 120, a battery 130, a thermoelectric element 140, and a control unit 150.

The temperature sensor 100 measures the temperature of the gas flowing into the gas cooling unit and transmits information indicating the measured temperature (hereinafter referred to as temperature information) to the controller 150.

The power generation element 120 is an element that exhibits a seeback effect in which an electromotive force is generated according to a temperature difference between a gas and a coolant, and stores the generated electromotive force in the battery 130.

The storage battery 130 accumulates an electromotive force generated from the power generation element 120. Also, the storage battery 130 applies the stored power to the thermoelectric element 140 under the control of the controller 150. [

The thermoelectric element 140 is a device that receives a current and absorbs heat on the surface of the gas cooling device in the gas direction, and exerts a Peltier effect in which the surface in the coolant direction generates heat. The thermoelectric element 140 receives the electromotive force from the battery 130 to generate a Peltier effect to cool the gas flowing into the gas cooling apparatus.

The control unit 150 controls the storage battery 130 to apply power to the thermoelectric element 140 when the temperature information received from the temperature sensor 110 is equal to or greater than a predetermined value.

The above-described temperature sensor 110, the power generation element 120, and the thermoelectric element 140 may be attached to the housing and the tube constituting the gas cooling apparatus.

Hereinafter, the shape of the gas cooling apparatus to which the temperature sensor 110, the power generation element 120, and the thermoelectric element 140 are attached will be described in detail.

2 is a front view illustrating the shape of the gas cooling apparatus.

Referring to FIG. 2, the gas cooling apparatus includes a housing 210 and a tube 250.

An inlet (220) for introducing gas into one end of the housing (210) is formed. In addition, an outlet 230 for discharging the cooled gas may be formed in an intermediate region of the housing. At this time, the temperature sensor 110 of FIG. 1 may be attached to the inlet 220.

One end of the tube 250 is engaged with the inlet 220 of the housing 210, and the middle region is spaced from the housing 210. At the other end of the tube 250, an outlet 260 through which the gas introduced from the inlet 220 flows out is formed inside the housing 210. At this time, the outlet 230 may be formed closer to the inlet 220 than the outlet 260.

Accordingly, the gas introduced from the inlet port 220 of the housing 210 may move along the inside of the tube 250 and may flow out to the outlet port 260. The outflowed gas may then be convected through the housing 210 and discharged to the outside through the outlet 230.

In other words, the arrows illustrated in FIG. 2 illustrate paths through which the gas moves, and the gas can be discharged to the outlet 230 correspondingly to the heat of the gas after flowing out to the outlet 260 as indicated by the arrows.

In addition, at least one first passage through which the refrigerant can flow is formed in the wall of the housing 210. That is, the first passage is formed between the inner side surface and the outer side surface of the housing 210 to cool the gas inside the housing 210 through the refrigerant introduced into the first passage. The first passage may have a refrigerant inlet port 240 through which the refrigerant can flow and a refrigerant outlet 245 through which the refrigerant that has cooled the gas inside the housing 210 is discharged from the other side of the first passage.

In addition, at least one second passage through which the refrigerant can flow is formed in the wall of the tube 250. Although not shown in FIG. 2, the second passage is provided with a refrigerant inlet port through which the refrigerant can flow through the housing 210 at one end, and a refrigerant cooled by the gas inside the tube 250 is discharged to the other end surface of the second passage A refrigerant outlet port may be formed.

At this time, the refrigerant inlet ports of the first passage and the second passage are connected to an air separation unit (ASU) 270 so that the nitrogen produced from the air separation unit 270 flows through the first passage and the second passage Can be introduced into the refrigerant. The air separator 270 separates the air to produce oxygen, and the generated oxygen is used as an oxidizer during the coal gasification combined cycle power generation process. At this time, the air separator 270 produces incidental nitrogen at a low temperature other than oxygen. That is, the air separation unit separates the air and exhausts oxygen and nitrogen, respectively. The refrigerant inlet of the first passage and the second passage is connected to the nitrogen outlet 272 of the air separating device so that the gas cooling device can use low temperature nitrogen as the refrigerant. Although the air separator 270 and one inlet are illustrated in FIG. 2, they may be connected to a plurality of inlet ports. Of course, it is apparent that refrigerant other than the nitrogen discharged from the air separator 270 may be introduced into the refrigerant inlet of the first passage and the second passage.

The power generation element 120 may be attached to one side of the first passage and the thermoelectric element 140 may be attached to one side of the inside of the second passage.

3, a structure in which the power generation element 120 or the thermoelectric element 140 is attached to the first passage or the second passage will be described in detail.

FIG. 3 is a view illustrating a second passage formed between an inner side surface and an outer side surface of the tube illustrated in FIG. 2. FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a portion 225 of the tube 250 of FIG. 3 may be the same as or similar to the structure of the first passage formed in the housing 210. In this case,

Referring to FIG. 3, the second passage may be formed between the inner side surface 310 and the outer side surface 320, and both side surfaces of the second passage may be separated from the refrigerant flowing through the second passage The tube 330 may be positioned. Of course, the tube 330 may be replaced with a barrier depending on the method of implementation of the tube 250.

Accordingly, the second passage can isolate the refrigerant from the inside and the outside of the tube 250, and the refrigerant introduced into the second passage can be discharged to the outside without being mixed with the other gas.

One or more thermoelectric elements 140 may be attached to the inner surface of the wall surface inside the second passage. At this time, the thermoelectric element 140 is connected to a power line provided along the inside of the second passage, and can receive power from the battery 130 provided outside the housing 210 through a power line.

4 is a plan view of the gas cooling device.

Referring to FIG. 4, the first passage and the second passage described above with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3 are formed between the inner side surface and the outer side surface of the tube 250 or the housing 210. The gas introduced into the gas cooling device can be cooled by the refrigerant flowing through the inside of the tube 250 while flowing inside the second passage.

The gas exiting through the outlet 260 of the tube 250 may be moved through a space formed between the tube 250 and the housing 210. In this case, the power generating device attached to the first passage can generate an electromotive force by using the temperature difference between the heat of the gas moving between the tube 250 and the housing 210 and the refrigerant moving inside the first passage.

The thermoelectric element 140 attached to the second passage of the tube 250 can be controlled by the controller 130 under the control of the controller 150 when the temperature of the gas introduced through the inlet 220 is equal to or greater than a specified value The gas moving in the tube 250 can be cooled by absorbing the heat in the direction of the tube according to the electric power and discharging heat in the direction of the refrigerant moving through the second passage through which the refrigerant moves.

Therefore, when the temperature of the gas to be introduced is high enough to be unable to be cooled only by using the refrigerant provided in the gas cooling apparatus (that is, when the temperature of the introduced gas is equal to or higher than the specified value), the thermoelectric element 140 By increasing the cooling effect, the gas can be cooled to a desired temperature. Accordingly, in case that the temperature of the inflowing gas is abnormally high, the abnormally high temperature gas can be cooled to the target temperature due to the cooling effect of the thermoelectric device 140 without making the gas cooling device large.

The present invention has been described above with reference to the embodiments thereof. Many embodiments other than the above-described embodiments are within the scope of the claims of the present invention. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. The disclosed embodiments should, therefore, be considered in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense. The scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description, and all differences within the scope of equivalents thereof should be construed as being included in the present invention.

Claims (8)

A housing including an inlet through which gas flows;
A tube connected to one side of the inlet of the housing and extending into the housing;
A temperature sensor attached to the inlet and measuring the temperature of the introduced gas;
A power generating element attached to the housing to generate electric power;
A battery for storing the power; And
And a thermoelectric element attached to the tube and absorbing the electric power from the battery when the temperature of the gas is equal to or higher than a specified value to cool the gas by absorbing the heat of the gas.
The method according to claim 1,
The housing including a first passage between an inner side and an outer side,
And said power generating element is attached to said inner surface in said first passage.
3. The method of claim 2,
The tube comprising a second passage between the inner side and the outer side,
Wherein the thermoelectric element is attached to the inner surface in the second passage.
The method of claim 3,
Wherein the housing includes a refrigerant inlet for allowing the refrigerant to flow into the first passage and the second passage.
5. The method of claim 4,
Wherein the coolant inlet port is connected to a nitrogen outlet of an air separation unit.
The method according to claim 1,
The housing has the inlet formed at one end thereof,
And an outlet is formed in an intermediate region of the gas cooling device.
The method according to claim 6,
One end of the tube is coupled to the inlet,
The intermediate region forms an interval with the housing,
An outlet port through which the gas introduced from the inlet port flows is formed in the housing at the other end of the tube,
Wherein the outlet is formed closer to the inlet than the outlet.
8. The method of claim 7,
Wherein the gas introduced into the inlet flows sequentially through the outlet, the space corresponding to the interval between the outlet, the housing and the tube.

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