KR101750754B1 - Ballast water neutralizing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a ballast water neutralizing apparatus, and more particularly, to a ballast water neutralizing apparatus for producing a liquid neutralizing agent by heating a neutralizing agent introduced with a solid neutralizing agent.
The ballast water neutralizing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a solvent generating unit for generating a neutralizing agent solvent, and a neutralizing unit for mixing the neutralizing agent solvent and the solid neutralizing agent to produce a neutralizing agent solution.

Description

[0001] Ballast water neutralizing apparatus [0002]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a ballast water neutralizing apparatus, and more particularly, to a ballast water neutralizing apparatus for producing a liquid neutralizing agent by heating a neutralizing agent introduced with a solid neutralizing agent.

The restoring force of the ship is determined by the interaction of gravity and buoyancy acting on the ship. If the ship is not tilted, gravity and buoyancy are present on the same line of action, and no force is generated. However, when the ship is tilted, gravity and buoyancy are present on different lines of action, resulting in a combined force of gravity and buoyancy, .

Here, the gravity is determined by the weight of the ship, and the buoyancy is determined by the volume of the ship submerged in seawater. In order to improve the restoring force, it is preferable to increase the buoyancy by increasing the volume of the ship submerged in seawater.

On the other hand, in the case of a ship carrying cargo, the volume of the ship submerged in seawater may be changed as the weight of the cargo is changed or the cargo is loaded or unloaded, and a ballast water treatment system may be provided to compensate the volume.

The ballast water treatment system is a system that recovers seawater to raise the weight of the ship or recover the weight of the ship by releasing the incoming seawater. For example, if the cargo is unloaded, the ballast water treatment system can increase the weight of the ship by introducing seawater, and when the cargo is loaded, it can reduce the weight of the ship by discharging seawater to the ballast water treatment system. In this way, as the seawater is introduced or discharged depending on the situation, the total weight of the ship can be maintained to be optimum, and a sufficient restoring force can be secured.

The inflow and outflow of seawater can be done in the same place, but it can cause problems in different places. There are various microorganisms in seawater, and the types of microorganisms may be different in each sea water. When seawater is introduced into a different sea water from a certain sea water, seawater may be contaminated by mixing different microorganisms.

In order to prevent this, a ballast water treatment system is provided with a filter for preventing inflow of microorganisms, and a sterilizing agent can be used for destroying the microorganisms not filtered by the filter. That is, by injecting the microbicide into the inflowed seawater, microbes remaining in the stored seawater are destroyed.

However, the ballast water treatment system emits seawater after removing the disinfectant component, because the disinfectant contained in the seawater may also cause contamination of the seawater when the stored seawater is discharged.

Here, a neutralizing agent may be used to remove the disinfectant component. The neutralizing agent may be classified into a solid neutralizing agent and a liquid neutralizing agent.

The liquid neutralizing agent has the advantage that it can be applied directly to the seawater to be discharged, but it has a disadvantage that it can be deteriorated during long-term storage.

On the contrary, the solid neutralizing agent is applied to the seawater after liquefaction. It has an advantage that it can be appropriately produced only as needed and is easy to store.

For this reason, solid neutralizers are often used in many cases, and it may take a long time to liquefy the solid neutralizer. Even if seawater is to be released in order to secure the balance of the ship, if the generation of the neutralization solution is delayed, the seawater can not be discharged, which may cause the problem that the cargo can not be loaded when necessary.

Therefore, the emergence of an invention capable of rapidly liquefying a solid neutralizing agent is required.

Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2011-0010321 (2011.02.01)

The object of the present invention is to produce a liquid neutralizing agent by heating a neutralizing agent to which the solid neutralizing agent has been added.

The objects of the present invention are not limited to the above-mentioned objects, and other objects not mentioned can be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following description.

In order to achieve the above object, a ballast water neutralizing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a solvent generating unit for generating a neutralizing agent solvent, and a neutralizing unit for mixing the neutralizing agent solvent and a solid neutralizing agent to produce a neutralizing agent solution.

Here, the solvent generator includes a water generator for converting seawater into fresh water, and a heat exchanger for heating at least one of the seawater and fresh water.

In addition, the neutralizing agent solvent is fresh water heated by the heat exchanger, or seawater heated by the heat exchanger is converted into clean water by the water purifier.

Further, the heat exchanger heats at least one of the seawater and the fresh water using fuel or engine waste heat.

Further, the seawater is stored in the ballast tank as ballast water after being heated by the heat exchanger.

Further, the ballast water neutralizing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention further includes a cooler for cooling the neutralizing agent solution.

In addition, the ballast water neutralizing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention further includes a cooler for cooling the ballast water mixed with the neutralizing agent solution and discharged.

The details of other embodiments are included in the detailed description and drawings.

According to the ballast water neutralization apparatus of the present invention as described above, the neutralizing agent added with the solid neutralizing agent is heated to generate a liquid neutralizing agent, thereby reducing the time required for liquefying the solid neutralizing agent.

1 is a view illustrating a ballast water neutralizing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a view illustrating a heat exchanger in a ballast water neutralizing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a view showing that a fresh water generator is provided in the ballast water neutralizing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a view showing that seawater is heated and stored in a ballast tank according to an embodiment of the present invention.
5 is a diagram illustrating that both seawater and fresh water are heated in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a view illustrating that seawater and fresh water are heated by one heat exchanger according to another embodiment of the present invention.
FIGS. 7 and 8 are views showing a cooler installed in the ballast water neutralizing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The advantages and features of the present invention and the manner of achieving them will become apparent with reference to the embodiments described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The present invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. Is provided to fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art, and the invention is only defined by the scope of the claims. Like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout the specification.

Unless defined otherwise, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein may be used in a sense commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. Also, commonly used predefined terms are not ideally or excessively interpreted unless explicitly defined otherwise.

1 is a view illustrating a ballast water neutralizing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The ballast water neutralization apparatus 10 includes a ballast pump 11, a filter 12, a water treatment apparatus 13, a ballast tank 14, and a neutralization apparatus 15.

The ballast pump 11 generates a pressure difference and serves to introduce seawater outside the ship into the inside of the ship. The seawater is introduced into the ship through a sea chest (20) by the pressure of the ballast pump (11). The seed chest 20 is a reservoir provided at a lower portion of the vessel for temporarily storing seawater and may be provided with a grating to prevent foreign matter from entering.

The seawater flowing through the seed chest 20 may contain various microorganisms. The filter 12 plays a role of preventing inflow of microorganisms. The filter 12 may be configured to include an element that performs filtering, as the filtering proceeds, the filtered microorganisms remain in the element and thus the effect of inflow of seawater may be reduced.

This is accompanied by an operation of cleaning the element to remove the microorganisms remaining in the element, and when the filter 12 is configured to include a plurality of elements, some of the elements may be subjected to cleaning Work can proceed.

The seawater from which the microbes have been removed by the filter 12 can be transferred to the ballast tank 14 and stored as ballast water.

On the other hand, most of the microorganisms can be removed from the seawater introduced by the filter 12, but the microorganisms not filtered by the filter 12 remain in the seawater as they are.

These microorganisms can be eliminated using a sterilizing liquid, and the water treatment apparatus 13 plays a role of generating a sterilizing liquid.

The water treatment apparatus 13 can electrolyze a part of the incoming seawater to generate hypochlorous acid (HClO), which is a raw material of the sterilizing liquid, and generate a sterilizing liquid by various methods such as inputting ozone or chlorine material have. Therefore, the water treatment apparatus 13 for generating hypochlorous acid by performing electrolysis will be mainly described below, but the water treatment apparatus 13 of the present invention is not limited thereto.

The amount of hypochlorous acid produced may vary depending on the salinity of the seawater. A salinity meter (not shown) may be provided to measure the salinity of the seawater to produce an appropriate amount of hypochlorous acid.

The hypochlorous acid produced by the water treatment apparatus 13 may be injected into the ballast tank 14 or may be injected into seawater filtered by the filter 12 and transferred to the ballast tank 14.

An ultraviolet irradiation system may be used to extinction microfilms that are not filtered by the filter 12. In this case, an ultraviolet irradiation system (not shown) may be provided instead of the water treatment system 13.

The ballast tank 14 serves to receive the microbial depleted ballast water, and is preferably formed along the lower surface or along the lower surface and the side surface of the ship in order to lower the center of gravity of the ship.

1 shows one ballast tank 14, a plurality of ballast tanks may be arranged on the lower surface and the side surface of the ship, respectively.

As the hypochlorous acid generated by the water treatment device 13 is injected into the ballast tank 14, the ballast water contained in the ballast tank 14 contains a sterilizing component, but the sterilizing component disappears over time.

However, if sufficient time has not elapsed, the ballast water may still contain germicidal components, which must be removed in discharging the ballast water contained in the ballast tank 14. This is because seawater may be contaminated by the removal of microorganisms in the seawater where the ship is located.

In order to neutralize the sterilizing component, the neutralizer 15 serves to inject neutralizing agent into the ballast water discharged from the ballast tank 14.

As described above, when hypochlorous acid produced by the water treatment apparatus 13 is used as the disinfectant, the neutralization apparatus 15 can inject a neutralizing agent that reacts with the chlorine component, for example, ascorbic acid (C6H8O6) A neutralizing agent having components such as sodium sulfite (Na2SO3), sodium hydrogen sulfite (NaHSO3), sodium bisulfite (NaHSO3), and sodium thiosulfate (Na2S2O3) can be injected.

On the other hand, when an excessive amount of neutralizing agent is injected, it may also cause contamination of seawater. In order to inject a proper amount of neutralizing agent, TRO (Total Residual Oxidant) sensors 16 and 17 may be provided have. The TRO sensors 16 and 17 measure the TRO concentration of the ballast water contained in the ballast tank 14 and the TRO concentration of the ballast water reflected by the neutralizer 15 injected by the neutralizer 15 The neutralizer 15 may determine the amount or concentration of the neutralizing agent injected referring to the TRO concentration detected by the TRO sensors 16 and 17.

The neutralizing agent can be classified into a solid neutralizing agent and a liquid neutralizing agent. The liquid neutralizing agent has a merit that it can be directly applied to seawater to be discharged, but it has a disadvantage that it can be deteriorated during long-term storage.

The solid neutralizing agent is applied to seawater after liquefaction. It has the advantage of producing as much neutralizing agent as needed and the advantage of easy storage, but it takes a long time to liquefy the solid neutralizing agent.

The neutralization apparatus 15 according to the embodiment of the present invention may use a heated neutralizing agent solvent to shorten the time required to liquefy the solid neutralizing agent. The mixing ratio of the neutralizing agent solvent to the solid neutralizing agent is increased by adding the solid neutralizing agent in a state where the temperature of the neutralizing agent solvent as a base of the neutralizing agent solution is raised.

For this purpose, the ballast water neutralizing apparatus 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention may include a solvent generating unit for generating a neutralizing agent solvent. FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a ballast water neutralizing apparatus 10 in which a heat exchanger 210 .

The heat exchanger 210 serves to heat the base solution as a base of the neutralizing agent solvent. For example, fresh water can be heated as a base solution and converted into a heated neutralizing agent solvent.

In the present invention, the solvent generating unit may include a water purifier 300 for converting seawater to fresh water, and a heat exchanger for heating at least one of seawater and fresh water. Fig.

However, as described below, the solvent generating unit including both the heat exchanger 210 and the water purifier 300 may be provided, and it is preferable that at least the heat exchanger 210 is included in the solvent generating unit.

The neutralizer 15 is supplied with clean water as a base solution, and the supplied clean water is heated by the heat exchanger 210 and supplied to the neutralizer 15 again.

The fresh water may be provided in the vessel or the sea water may be converted by the water generator 300, wherein the sea water may be a ballast water. That is, the ballast water may be supplied to the water generator 300 and converted into fresh water. FIG. 3 shows the ballast water neutralizing apparatus 10 provided with the water generator 300.

The ballast water in the ballast tank 14 is supplied to the water generator 300 and converted into fresh water, and the converted fresh water is supplied to the heat exchanger 210 And is heated and supplied to the neutralization device 15.

As shown in FIG. 2 or 3, the neutralizing device 15 is supplied with heated fresh water. The neutralizing device 15 mixes the heated fresh water, that is, the neutralizing agent solvent and the solid neutralizing agent, have.

The neutralizer solution thus generated is injected into the ballast water discharged from the ballast tank 14 and used to neutralize the sterilizing component remaining in the ballast water.

Although the above description has been made on the assumption that the heated neutralizing agent supplied to the neutralizing unit 15 is fresh water heated by the heat exchanger 210, the heated neutralizing agent supplied to the neutralizing unit 15 is heated by the heat exchanger 220 The heated seawater may have been converted by the water generator 300.

That is, the seawater can be used as a base solution and heated by the heat exchanger 220. In this case, the heated seawater is converted into fresh water by the water generator 300 to serve as a neutralizing agent solvent.

4 is a view showing that seawater is heated and stored in a ballast tank according to an embodiment of the present invention. After the seawater is heated by the heat exchanger 220 as a base solution, it is stored in the ballast tank 14 as ballast water .

That is, the ballast tank 14 stores the heated ballast water. When the ballast water is discharged due to the de-ballasting, part of the ballast water is converted into clean water through the water generator 300, , And the neutralization apparatus 15 generates a neutralizing agent solution by dissolving the solid neutralizing agent using the supplied fresh water, that is, the neutralizing agent solvent.

5 is a diagram illustrating that both seawater and fresh water are heated in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

The seawater filtered by the filter 12 is stored in the ballast tank 14 after being heated by the heat exchanger 220 and the ballast water of the ballast tank 14 is discharged by the water generator 300 After being converted into fresh water, it is again heated by the heat exchanger 210 and supplied to the neutralization device 15.

As described above, by repeatedly heating the base solution, the temperature of the neutralizing agent solvent is further increased and the efficiency of dissolving the solid neutralizing agent can be improved.

5 shows that the heat exchanger 220 for heating the filtered seawater and the heat exchanger 210 for heating the fresh water converted by the water generator 300 are separately provided. However, in another embodiment of the present invention One heat exchanger 200 can heat both the filtered seawater and fresh water converted by the water generator 300. [ FIG. 6 shows this, in which seawater and fresh water are heated by one heat exchanger 200.

In the present invention, the heat exchanger (200, 210, 220) can heat the base solution using the supplied fuel, and can heat the base solution using the engine waste heat.

Here, the base solution may be the seawater filtered by the filter 12 or the fresh water converted by the water generator 300, and the heat exchanger 200 of FIG. 6 may heat at least one of seawater and fresh water. For example, the heat exchanger 200 can heat only seawater, heat only fresh water, and heat both seawater and fresh water.

The object to be heated by the heat exchanger 200 may vary depending on the amount of energy supplied (for example, the fuel amount or the waste heat amount). For example, if the amount of energy is sufficient, the heat exchanger 200 heats both seawater and fresh water, and if the amount of energy is insufficient, the heat exchanger 200 can heat only seawater or fresh water.

Even when only the seawater or fresh water is heated, the heat exchanger 200 can determine the object to be heated according to the amount of energy to be supplied. For example, the seawater or fresh water can be determined as a heating object depending on whether or not the amount of supplied energy exceeds a preset threshold value.

It is possible to determine the object to be heated according to the amount of energy to be supplied and to heat the specific base solution only when the heat exchangers 210 and 220 are separated as shown in FIG. And a controller (not shown) for controlling the operation of each of the heat exchangers 210 and 220 may be separately provided.

FIGS. 7 and 8 are views showing a cooler installed in the ballast water neutralizing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

As the dibutting is performed, the neutralization apparatus 15 generates a neutralizing agent solution by heating the base solution to generate a heated neutralizing agent solvent and dissolving the neutralizing agent using the neutralizing agent.

The neutralizing agent solution thus generated is mixed with the ballast water discharged from the ballast tank 14 to neutralize the sterilizing component remaining in the ballast water. The neutralizing agent solution having a high temperature causes the temperature of the ballast water discharged to the outside of the vessel .

In other words, the temperature of the ballast water discharged from the ship may be different from the sea water temperature at the seawater in which the vessel is located, and the sudden elevated temperature may disturb the ecosystem in the sea.

In order to prevent this, the ballast water neutralizing apparatus 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention may include coolers 410 and 420, and FIG. 7 is a schematic view of a ballast water neutralizing apparatus 10 having a cooler 410 for cooling a neutralizing agent solution The device 10 is shown. The cooler 410 serves to cool the neutralizing agent solution, and a temperature sensor (not shown) may be provided to determine the degree of cooling.

The cooler 410 may cool the neutralizer solution to be similar to the temperature of the ballast water stored in the ballast tank 14 using the temperature of the neutralizer solution sensed by the temperature sensor.

FIG. 8 shows a ballast water neutralizing apparatus 10 provided with a cooler 420 for cooling ballast water mixed with a neutralizing agent solution and discharged. The cooler 420 serves to cool the neutralized ballast water, and a temperature sensor (not shown) may be provided to determine the degree of cooling.

The temperature sensors may be provided on both sides of the cooler 420 for the flow of ballast water. That is, a temperature sensor that senses the temperature of the neutralized ballast water and a temperature sensor that senses the temperature of the ballast water cooled by the cooler 420 may be provided. The cooler 420 may sense The degree of cooling of the ballast water can be adjusted with reference to the temperature.

In addition, a temperature sensor for sensing the temperature of the seawater outside the ship may be provided. As a result, it is understood that the cooler 420 controls the degree of cooling so that the temperature of the ballast water discharged to the outside of the ship is similar to the temperature of the seawater .

Only one of the temperature sensors for sensing the temperature of the neutralized ballast water and the temperature sensor for sensing the temperature of the ballast water cooled by the cooler 420 may be provided. The degree of cooling of the ballast water can be adjusted so as to be similar to the temperature of the external seawater by referring to the temperature sensed by the provided temperature sensor.

While the present invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be practical exemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments, but, on the contrary, It will be understood. It is therefore to be understood that the above-described embodiments are illustrative in all aspects and not restrictive.

11: Ballast pump 12: Filter
13: water treatment device 14: ballast tank
15: Neutralizing device 16, 17: TRO sensor
200, 210, 220: heat exchanger 300:
410, 420: Cooler

Claims (5)

A solvent producing part for producing a heated neutralizing agent solvent by heating a base solution as a base of the neutralizing agent solvent by using a heat exchanger;
A neutralizing device for mixing the heated neutralizing agent solvent supplied from the solvent producing section with a solid neutralizing agent to produce a neutralizing agent solution; And
And a controller for controlling operation of the heat exchanger,
Wherein the solvent generating unit includes a water heater for converting seawater into fresh water,
The heat exchanger heats the base solution using the supplied energy,
Wherein the controller controls the heat exchanger to heat at least one of the seawater and the fresh water with reference to a magnitude of energy supplied to the heat exchanger. delete The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the heat exchanger heats the base solution using fuel or engine waste heat. The method according to claim 1,
And a cooler for cooling the neutralizer solution. The method according to claim 1,
And a cooler for cooling the ballast water mixed and discharged with the neutralizing agent solution.

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