KR101520858B1 - Multi stage compression apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

A multistage compression apparatus is provided to reduce the power consumption of intercooling and to improve the overall efficiency, by comprising: a main flow path that takes in the gas fluid in the outside and loads to the loading position; compressors installed in order at the main flow path; at least one heat exchanger installed in between the compressors; and a cooling fluid supply unit that supplies a cooling fluid that cools the gas fluid at the heat exchanger, the cooling fluid supply unit comprising: a tank; a voltex tube that divides the fluid received from the tank into a fluid of a high temperature and a cooling fluid of a low temperature; a cooling fluid supply line that supplies the cooling fluid to the heat exchanger; and a collecting line that collects the fluid which has finished the heat exchange with gas fluid at the heat exchanger to the tank.

Description

[0001] MULTI STAGE COMPRESSION APPARATUS [0002]

The present invention relates to a compression apparatus for compressing a fluid, and more particularly, to a multi-stage compression apparatus using a cooling fluid by a vortex tube for compressor cooling.

Modern Industry A variety of compression devices are used that require compressible fluids in various fields and thus use compressors. Particularly, a multistage compression apparatus in which a plurality of compressors for generating high-pressure, high-pressure compressed fluid are connected in series is widely used. In multi-stage compression systems, cooling of the fluid is an essential element for high pressure compression. The conventional technology uses a cooler to cool a compressed fluid by introducing a cool fluid into an intercooler in a compressor. However, the conventional technique has a problem of making a cooling fluid for cooling the compressed fluid, that is, consuming a lot of power to cool the fluid, thereby deteriorating the overall efficiency.

On the other hand, the multi-stage compression device has a problem of high occurrence of surge in the compressor due to its operating characteristics. The surge phenomenon can have a serious adverse effect on the performance and durability of the compression device. On the other hand, the surge means abnormal pulsation in the compressor. If the surge occurs continuously with vibration and noise, the internal parts of the compressor will be destroyed. In addition, since the degree of occurrence is very short, the response of the surge control should also be excellent. In the current method, a valve is installed at the rear end of the compressor to open the valve when a surge occurs, thereby increasing the flow rate at the outlet. A multi-stage compression device for air compression has been commercialized. This multi-stage compression device has a surge control valve at the rear end of the compressor. By opening the surge control valve when a surge occurs, the flow rate is instantaneously increased .

However, since the conventional multi-stage compression device as described above is required to discharge compressed gas to the atmosphere, there is a problem that it can not be applied to a gas that should not be discharged into the atmosphere, such as natural gas or refrigerant. Further, in the existing multi-stage compression apparatus, since the surge control valve is located at the outlet end, it is difficult to precisely control each stage, and power loss and pressure loss are generated, which adversely affects the entire operation. In recent chemical plants, centrifugal compressors have been applied to unexhausted energy recovery devices. Centrifugal compressors are excellent in efficiency and can be easily compressed at high pressure, and are being used for compressing pulmonary vapors containing air pollution impurities in chemical plants. If the surge control method of the conventional multi-stage compression apparatus is applied to the above-mentioned applications, it causes air pollution.

The object of the present invention is to cool a compressed fluid that is compressed while passing through a multi-stage compressor using a vortex tube that separates the compressed fluid into two fluids of low temperature and high temperature without any combustion or chemical action, And the power consumption of the intercooling is reduced, thereby providing a multistage compression device with improved efficiency as a whole.

A multi-stage compression apparatus according to one aspect of the present invention includes: a main flow path for introducing an external gas fluid into a loading position; Compressors sequentially installed in the main flow path; At least one heat exchanger installed between the compressors; And a cooling fluid supply unit for supplying a cooling fluid for cooling the gaseous fluid in the heat exchanger, wherein the cooling fluid supply unit comprises a tank and a tank for separating the fluid received from the tank into a high temperature fluid and a low temperature cooling fluid A vortex tube, a cooling fluid supply line for supplying the cooling fluid to the heat exchanger, and a recovery line for recovering the heat-exchanged fluid with the gas fluid in the heat exchanger to the tank.

According to one embodiment, the compressors comprise a first compressor, a second compressor and a third compressor, which are arranged in order along the main flow path, the at least one heat exchanger being located between the first compressor and the second compressor And a second heat exchanger positioned between the second compressor and the third compressor, wherein the cooling fluid separated from the high temperature fluid through the vortex tube is distributed to the first heat exchanger and the second heat exchanger Is provided.

A first surge control valve, a second surge control valve, and a third surge control valve provided at the outlet sides of the first compressor, the second compressor and the third compressor, respectively, according to one embodiment; A first bypass passage, a second bypass passage, and a third bypass passage connected to the first surge control valve, the second surge control valve, and the third surge control valve, respectively; And a by-pass mixing tank for mixing the bypass gas introduced through the first bypass passage, the second bypass passage, and the third bypass passage, and reducing the pressure of the bypass passage to the inlet side of the first compressor .

According to one embodiment, the bypass flow mixing tank is provided at its front end with a first gas inlet, a second gas inlet and a second gas inlet, to which the first bypass passage, the second bypass passage and the third bypass passage are respectively connected, 3 gas inlet is formed at a rear end of the bypass flow mixing tank, and a gas discharge port for discharging the bypass gas mixed in the bypass flow mixing tank to the inlet side of the first compressor is formed at the rear end of the bypass flow mixing tank, Between the front end and the rear end of the tank, a gas decompression section for lowering the pressure of the by-pass gas is provided by reducing the flow rate of the bypass gas.

According to one embodiment, the first check valve, the second check valve, and the second check valve, which are opened only in a direction in which the bypass gas is introduced into the first gas inlet, the second gas inlet, and the third gas inlet, respectively, And a third check valve.

According to one embodiment, the multi-stage compression apparatus further includes a current-bypass merging section provided at a position where the main flow path meets an outlet line from the bypass flow mixing tank at the inlet side of the first compressor.

According to an embodiment, there are provided a first pressure sensor, a second pressure sensor and a third pressure sensor provided on the outlet side of the first compressor, the outlet side of the second compressor, and the outlet side of the third compressor, And a control unit for controlling the first surge control valve, the second surge control valve and the third surge control valve on the basis of a pressure value measured by the first pressure sensor, the second pressure sensor and the third pressure sensor, Each of the first surge control valve, the second surge control valve and the third surge control valve is preferably a three-way valve.

According to the present invention, a compressed fluid that is compressed while passing through a multi-stage compressor is cooled by using a vortex tube that separates the compressed fluid into two fluids of low temperature and high temperature without any combustion or chemical action, The power consumption of the cooling is reduced, thereby realizing a multistage compression device with improved efficiency as a whole. The multi-stage compression apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is provided with a plurality of compressors, more specifically, a plurality of surge control valves at their outlet sides corresponding to each of the three or more compressors, Is possible. That is, by providing a surge control valve on each of the outlet sides of each of the compressors, it is possible to minimize the power loss of the compressors, in particular the centrifugal compressors, and to increase responsiveness in the event of a surge. Further, according to the present invention, all of the compressed gas flowing through the first bypass passage, the second bypass passage and the third bypass passage through the first, second and third surge control valves enters the bypass flow mixing tank It is advantageous in that there is no malfunction in the operation which can cause the bypassed compressed gas to be introduced into the various compressors because the refrigerant flows only to the inlet side with the first compressor at the most upstream side after being mixed and decompressed.

1 is a configuration diagram illustrating a multi-stage compression apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a configuration diagram showing a multi-stage compression apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a view for explaining a by-pass mixing tank of the multi-stage compression apparatus shown in FIG.
FIG. 4 is a view for explaining a source-bypass merging section provided at the inlet side of the first compressor in the multistage compression apparatus shown in FIG. 2. FIG.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The following embodiments are provided as examples for allowing a person skilled in the art to sufficiently convey the idea of the present invention. Therefore, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described below, but may be embodied in other forms. In the drawings, the width, length, thickness, and the like of the components may be exaggerated for convenience.

1 is a configuration diagram illustrating a multi-stage compression apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, a multi-stage compression apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a main flow path 100 for introducing a gas fluid from the outside and loading the gas fluid to an arbitrary loading position, And a plurality of compressors, that is, first, second, and third compressors 200a, 200b, and 200c, which are sequentially installed in the main flow path 100. In addition, the multi-stage compression apparatus includes a plurality of heat exchangers (700a, 700b) provided on each end of compressors on the main flow path (100).

In the present embodiment, the plurality of heat exchangers 700a and 700b are provided to lower the temperature of the gas fluid compressed in the upstream compressor and to send the gas fluid of a lower temperature to the downstream compressor, A first heat exchanger 700a located between the second compressor 200a and the second compressor 200b and a second heat exchanger 700b located between the second compressor 200b and the third compressor 200c do.

The multi-stage compression apparatus also includes a cooling fluid supply unit that supplies cooling fluid to the plurality of heat exchangers (700a, 700b) to cool the compressed gas fluid in each of the plurality of heat exchangers (700a, 700b) do.

The cooling fluid supply unit includes a tank 910 in which a fluid is stored and a vortex tube 920 for separating the fluid supplied from the tank 910 and more specifically a compressed air low temperature fluid and a high temperature fluid do. The cooling fluid supply unit supplies the low temperature fluid separated from the high temperature fluid to the plurality of heat exchangers 700a and 700b in the vortex tube 920 and the first and second compressors 200a and 200b And a cooling fluid supply line 930 for cooling the passed high-pressure fluid. The cooling fluid supply unit also includes recovery lines 940 that collect heat from the heat exchanges in the first and second heat exchangers 700a, 700b back to the tank 910. [

The fluid recovered in the tank 910 is in a state in which the temperature has increased while passing through the heat exchangers 700a and 700b. The vortex tube 920 generates the cooling fluid to be supplied to the heat exchangers 700a and 700b through a method of separating the high temperature fluid and the low temperature fluid from the tank 910 as described above. The low temperature cooling fluid cools the compressed fluid at the downstream end of the compressor in the heat exchanger, and the high temperature fluid separated from the low temperature fluid is discharged through another path. It is also conceivable to utilize the heat of the discharged hot fluid as an energy source of another system.

In this embodiment, the low-temperature cooling fluid separated from the high-temperature fluid in the vortex tube 920 is supplied to the first and second heat exchangers 700a and 700b through a distribution valve, in the present embodiment, .

The above-mentioned vortex tube 920 is a device for separating compressed fluid into two kinds of fluids of low temperature and high temperature without any combustion or chemical action by using a circular tube of simple structure. When the fluid is air, It is known that it can be separated into air-50 ° C and high temperature air 22 ° C. Further, the vortex tube 920 is easy to operate, has a simple structure and has a low maintenance cost, and is very economical and can be turned on / off with a high degree of accuracy, has a high response speed, and is less susceptible to sparks and explosions.

3 is a view for explaining a by-pass mixing tank of the multi-stage compression apparatus shown in FIG. 2, and FIG. 4 is a cross- Bypass merging section provided at the inlet side of the first compressor in the multistage compression apparatus shown in FIG.

Referring to FIG. 2, the multi-stage compression apparatus according to the present embodiment includes a main flow path 1 for introducing gas from the outside and loading the gas at a certain loading position L, Second, and third compressors 2a, 2b, and 2c installed at the outlet sides of the first, second, and third compressors 2a, 2b, and 2c, respectively, Second and third surge control valves 3a, 3b and 3c connected to the first, second and third surge control valves 3a, 3b and 3c, respectively, One by-pass mixing tank 5 in which both ends of the first, second and third bypass flow paths 4a, 4b and 4c are connected to each other, Bypass merging section (6) installed between the mixing tank (5) and the first compressor (2a). The upstream-side flow merging section 6 is provided at a position where the outlet line 5a of the by-pass mixing tank 5 meets the inlet line 1a of the main flow passage 1 through which the gas flows .

Like the previous embodiment, the multi-stage compression apparatus according to the present embodiment includes a plurality of heat exchangers 7a and 7b provided at the respective ends of the compressors on the main flow path 1.

In the present embodiment, the plurality of heat exchangers 7a and 7b are provided to lower the temperature of the gaseous fluid compressed in the upstream compressor and to send the gaseous fluid of the lower temperature to the downstream compressor, A first heat exchanger 7a located between the second compressor 2b and the second compressor 2b and a second heat exchanger 7b located between the second compressor 2b and the third compressor 2c do.

The multi-stage compression apparatus also includes a cooling fluid supply unit that supplies cooling fluid to the plurality of heat exchangers (7a, 7b) to cool the compressed gas fluid in each of the plurality of heat exchangers (7a, 7b) do.

The cooling fluid supply unit includes a tank 9a for storing a fluid and a vortex tube 9b for separating the fluid supplied from the tank 9b into a high temperature fluid and more specifically a compressed air low temperature fluid do. The cooling fluid supply unit supplies the low temperature fluid separated from the high temperature fluid in the vortex tube 9b to the plurality of heat exchangers 7a and 7b to discharge the first and second compressors 2a and 2b And a cooling fluid supply line 9c for cooling the passed high-pressure fluid. The cooling fluid supply unit also includes collection lines 9d for collecting the fluid after the heat exchange in the first and second heat exchangers 7a and 7b is returned to the tank 9a.

The fluid recovered in the tank 9a passes through the heat exchangers 7a and 7b, and the temperature thereof is raised. The vortex tube 9b generates the cooling fluid to be supplied to the heat exchangers 7a and 7b through a method of separating the high temperature fluid and the low temperature fluid from the tank 9a by receiving the fluid having the temperature raised as described above.

In this embodiment, the low-temperature cooling fluid separated from the high-temperature fluid in the vortex tube 9b is supplied to the first and second heat exchangers 7a and 7b through a distribution valve, in the present embodiment, .

Although the three compressors 2a, 2b and 2c described above and the three surge control valves 3a, 3b and 3c and three bypass flow paths 4a, 4b and 4c corresponding thereto are used, It should be noted that four or more surge control valves and four or more bypass flow paths may be used correspondingly. In this case, the number of heat exchangers will also increase accordingly. It goes without saying that the cooling fluid supply unit described above also supplies the cooling fluid to the increased heat exchanger.

An IGV (Inlet Guide Vane) is installed between the first compressor 2a and the upstream-side flow merging portion 6 at the inlet side of the first compressor 2a, and more specifically, between the first compressor 2a and the upstream- . In addition, heat exchangers (not shown) for lowering the temperature of the gas to be compressed are provided on the downstream sides of the compressors except the inlet side of the first compressor 2a, that is, on the inlet sides of the second compressor 2b and the third compressor 2c 7a and 7b are installed. As described above, the heat exchangers 7a and 7b cool the compressed fluid using the low-temperature cooling fluid separated from the high-temperature fluid in the vortex tube 9b.

The first and second compressors 2b and 2c are provided at the outlet side of the first compressor 2a, the outlet side of the second compressor 2b and the outlet side of the third compressor 2c, And third pressure sensors 8a, 8b and 8c. At this time, each of the first, second, and third compressors 2a, 2b, and 2c is preferably a centrifugal compressor.

Based on the pressure values measured at the first, second and third pressure sensors 8a, 8b and 8c, a control unit (not shown) controls the first, second and third surge control valves 3a, 3b, 3c) to perform anti-surge control against sudden surge occurrence. Each of the first, second, and third surge control valves 3a, 3b, and 3c includes a three-way valve (not shown) for selectively controlling the inlet, the main flow passage outlet, and the bypass flow passage outlet through the main flow passage 1, .

For example, when a surge occurs in the first compressor 2a, the surge control valve opens to the side of the bypass flow mixing tank 5, that is, to the bypass flow passage side, and the gas flows to the bypass flow mixing tank 5 . In this case, the term "surge occurrence" refers to a case where there is a pressure fluctuation defined as a surge in a pressure gauge on the downstream side of the first compressor 2a. It is possible to eliminate the surge of the compressor by gas recirculation through the bypass flow path through the bypass type mixed tank 5 and further to suppress the discharge of the compressed gas into the atmosphere.

 According to an embodiment of the present invention, a first surge control valve (3a), a second surge control valve (3a), and a second surge control valve (3a) are provided at their outlet sides corresponding to the first compressor (2a), the second compressor Since the valve 3b and the third surge control valve 3c are provided, more improved and precise surge control is possible.

In the conventional multi-stage compression apparatus, since the surge control valve is provided only at the rear end side of the compressors connected in series, the surge control valve is operated irrespective of the stage where the surge occurs. For example, even when a surge occurs at the first stage, the surge control valve operates at the last stage, which results in a loss of power of the compressor and a low surge prevention response.

On the other hand, according to the present embodiment, by providing the surge control valves 3a, 3b, and 3c on the outlet side of each of the compressors, the power loss of the compressor can be minimized and the responsiveness upon occurrence of a surge can be increased.

According to the present embodiment, the first bypass passage 4a, the second bypass passage 4b and the third bypass passage 4b are connected via the first, second and third surge control valves 3a, 3b and 3c, All the compressed gas flowing respectively through the flow path 4c enters the bypass flow mixing tank 5 and is mixed. This prevents the compressed gas passing through the bypass flow path from affecting the operation of the compressor corresponding to the other bypass flow path. If there is no by-pass mixture tank 5, high-pressure compressed gas flowing through the bypass passage flows directly to the inlet side of any compressor, which can seriously adversely affect the overall operation of the entire apparatus.

In the present embodiment, the by-pass mixing tank 5 and the upstream-to-upstream merging section 6 serve to sufficiently reduce the pressure of the compressed gas.

Referring to FIG. 3, the bypass mix tank 5 includes first, second and third gas inlets 51, 52 and 53 located at the front end and a gas outlet 55 located at the rear end. The first, second, and third check valves 51a, 52a, and 53a are opened in the first, second, and third gas inlets 51, 52, and 53 only in one direction, 53a. Each of the first, second and third gas inlets 51, 52 and 53 is connected to each of the first, second and third bypass channels 4a, 4b and 4c (see FIG. 2) The flow path 55 is connected to the outlet line 5a of the bypass flow mixing tank 5 which meets the main flow path 1 at the source-bypass flow merging section 6 (Fig. 2).

A gas pressure reducing portion 54 having a muffler structure is formed between the front end where the gas inlets 51, 52, 52 are located and the rear end where the gas outlet 55 is located. The gas pressure reducing portion 54 reduces the gas flow rate by the muffler structure having a plurality of inwardly projecting portions, thereby reducing the pressure of the gas exiting the discharge opening 55. At this time, the gas pressure is reduced to the same pressure as the atmospheric pressure. The by-pass type mixing tank 5 mixes the pressures of the recirculated gases bypassed at different pressures, decompresses the mixed gas and supplies it to a single centrifugal compressor, that is, the first compressor 2a send.

Referring to FIG. 4, the source-bypass flow merging section 6 is connected to the source gas inlet 11 at the end of the source inlet line and is connected to the connection section 61 where the bypass inlet hole 612 is formed . The source gas inlet (11) has a shape in which the cross-sectional area of the flow passage gradually decreases toward the end where the outlet is located. The by-pass gas decompressed through the by-pass mixing tank 5 is naturally merged and mixed with the source gas by the ejector principle in the source-bypass merging section 612, and then mixed with the first compressor 2a; Fig. 1).

1, 100: main flow path 2a, 2b, 2c, 200a, 200b, 200c: compressor
7a, 7b, 700a, 700b: heat exchanger 9a, 910: tank
9b: 9920: Vortex tube

Claims (7)

delete delete A main flow path for introducing an external gas fluid into the loading position;
Compressors sequentially installed in the main flow path;
At least one heat exchanger installed between the compressors; And
And a cooling fluid supply unit for supplying a cooling fluid for cooling the gas fluid in the heat exchanger,
The cooling fluid supply unit includes a tank, a vortex tube for separating the fluid received from the tank into a high temperature fluid and a low temperature cooling fluid, a cooling fluid supply line for supplying the cooling fluid to the heat exchanger, And a recovery line for recovering the heat-exchanged fluid with the gas fluid to the tank,
Wherein the compressors include a first compressor, a second compressor, and a third compressor, which are sequentially installed along the main flow path,
Wherein the at least one heat exchanger comprises a first heat exchanger located between the first compressor and the second compressor and a second heat exchanger located between the second compressor and the third compressor, There is provided a valve for distributing a cooling fluid separated from a fluid to the first heat exchanger and the second heat exchanger,
A first surge control valve, a second surge control valve, and a third surge control valve provided on an outlet side of each of the first compressor, the second compressor, and the third compressor; A first bypass passage, a second bypass passage, and a third bypass passage connected to the first surge control valve, the second surge control valve, and the third surge control valve, respectively; And a by-pass mixing tank which mixes and bypasses the by-pass gas fluid flowing through the first bypass passage, the second bypass passage and the third bypass passage, and sends the mixture to an inlet side of the first compressor Wherein the compression mechanism is a compression mechanism. The method of claim 3,
A first gas inlet, a second gas inlet, and a third gas inlet are connected to the front end of the bypass flow mixing tank, to which the first bypass passage, the second bypass passage, and the third bypass passage are connected, respectively And a gas discharge port through which the by-pass gas fluid mixed in the by-pass mixing tank is discharged to the inlet side of the first compressor is formed at the rear end of the by-pass mixing tank, Wherein a gas decompression section for lowering the pressure of the by-pass gas is located between the first bypass passage and the second bypass passage by reducing the flow rate of the by-pass gas fluid. The method of claim 4,
The first check valve, the second check valve, and the third check valve, which are opened only in a direction in which the by-pass gas fluid flows in at least a predetermined pressure, are introduced into the first gas inlet, the second gas inlet and the third gas inlet, Is provided on the downstream side of the compression mechanism. The method of claim 3,
Bypass merging section provided at a position where an outlet line from the bypass flow mixing tank at the inlet side of the first compressor meets the main flow passage. The method of claim 3,
A first pressure sensor, a third pressure sensor, and a second pressure sensor provided on an outlet side of the first compressor, an outlet side of the second compressor, and an outlet side of the third compressor, 2 pressure sensor, and a control unit for controlling the first surge control valve, the second surge control valve and the third surge control valve on the basis of the pressure value measured by the third pressure sensor, Valve, the second surge control valve and the third surge control valve are three-way valves.

Images