KR102019769B1 - Mixed refrigerant separating and recovering apparatus for recovering refrigerant residue in non-condensating gas - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an apparatus for separating and recovering, with high purity, each refrigerant from a mixed refrigerant in which refrigerants having different boiling points are mixed. According to the present invention, the high-purity mixed refrigerant separating and recovery apparatus comprises: a mixed refrigerant supply unit recovering and supplying a mixed refrigerant having different boiling points; a mixed refrigerant separation unit formed at a predetermined height and separating the mixed refrigerant supplied from the mixed refrigerant supply unit into a liquid refrigerant and a gaseous refrigerant; a condensation unit condensing the gaseous refrigerant separated by the mixed refrigerant separation unit and circulating and supplying the liquid refrigerant to an upper end of the mixed refrigerant separation unit; a vaporizer vaporizing the liquid refrigerant separated by the mixed refrigerant separation unit and circulating and supplying the gaseous refrigerant to a lower end of the mixed refrigerant separation unit; a refrigerant purity measurement sensor measuring the purity of the refrigerants separated by the condensation unit and the vaporizer; a circulating refrigerant control unit controlling the flow rate of the liquid and gaseous refrigerants circulated and supplied to the separation unit by the condensation unit and the vaporizer according to the purity of the refrigerants measured by the refrigerant purity measurement sensor; and a residual refrigerant recovery unit removing a non-condensable gas present in the refrigerants separated by the mixed refrigerant separation unit and recovering the refrigerants remaining in the non-condensable gas.

Description

MIXED REFRIGERANT SEPARATING AND RECOVERING APPARATUS FOR RECOVERING REFRIGERANT RESIDUE IN NON-CONDENSATING GAS}

The present invention relates to an apparatus for separating and recovering each refrigerant from a mixed refrigerant in which refrigerants having different boiling points are mixed, and more particularly, a liquid phase and a gaseous phase which are recycled according to the purity of the separated mixed refrigerant and heat exchanged by contact. By controlling the supply amount of the refrigerant, removing the non-condensable gas, which is an impurity remaining in the separated refrigerant, and recovering the remaining amount of the refrigerant, the mixed refrigerant separation and recovery can be recovered by separating and purifying the mixed refrigerant with high purity more efficiently. Relates to a device.

Cooling products such as refrigerators, home air conditioners, and car air conditioners mostly use refrigerants of the CFC, HFC, and HCFC series, all of which have high greenhouse gas index or are the main causes of global warming by destroying the ozone layer. Recovery and reuse of refrigerant is important for environmental protection.

In order to reuse the recovered refrigerant, a process of removing impurities such as freezer oil (lubricating oil), moisture, acid, residue, and non-condensable gas contained in the recovered waste refrigerant is required. As disclosed in Republic of Korea Patent No. 1500394, a technique for removing impurities using a separator is disclosed in Republic of Korea Patent Publication No. 2015-0119711, and various technologies have been developed to remove impurities from a refrigerant.

Meanwhile, different types of waste refrigerants are mixed and recovered by various refrigeration facilities, and it is necessary to separate them into respective refrigerants before removing impurities during waste refrigerant recovery. As such, when different refrigerants are mixed, a fractional distillation method using a difference in boiling point is used (Patent Documents 3 and 4 below), and the fractional distillation method uses a boiling point difference between refrigerants so that a material having a low boiling point is vaporized first. Thereafter, the vaporized gas is cooled and recovered in the liquid phase.

However, when recovering the mixed refrigerant using the fractional distillation method, different refrigerants are mixed in the recovery process to reduce the purity, and thus, each refrigerant must be separated and purified with high purity as in the recovery process of a single refrigerant. There is a demand for a technology capable of minimizing energy consumed in the refrigerant recovery process.

Republic of Korea Patent Publication No. 1500394 (Invention name: Waste refrigerant recycling method and apparatus) Republic of Korea Patent Publication No. 2015-0119711 (name of the invention: waste refrigerant reuse purification system) Republic of Korea Patent Application Publication No. 2016-0042778 (name of the invention: refrigerant recovery in the natural gas liquefaction process) Republic of Korea Patent Publication No. 1575965 (Invention name: Refrigerant regeneration purification system)

Therefore, the present invention was devised to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is that each of the liquid phase and the gaseous phase are recycled and exchanged according to the purity when separating the mixed refrigerant mixed with different refrigerants into the respective refrigerants. By controlling the supply amount of the refrigerant, removing the non-condensable gas, which is an impurity remaining in each of the separated refrigerant, and recovering the remaining amount of the refrigerant, the mixed refrigerant capable of separating and recovering the mixed refrigerant with high purity more efficiently It is to provide a separate recovery device.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a mixed refrigerant supply unit for recovering and supplying a mixed refrigerant having different boiling points, and mixed refrigerant separation for separating the mixed refrigerant supplied from the mixed refrigerant supply unit into liquid and gaseous refrigerants having a predetermined height. The condensation unit of the gaseous phase separated by the mixed refrigerant separation unit is condensed to circulate and supply the liquid phase refrigerant to the upper end of the mixed refrigerant separation unit. The refrigerant purity measuring sensor for measuring the purity of the refrigerant separated by the vaporizer, the condenser and the vaporizer, which is circulated and supplied to the lower end of the mixed refrigerant separator, and the condenser and vaporizer according to the purity of the refrigerant measured by the refrigerant purity measurement sensor. Circulating refrigerant control unit for controlling the flow rate of the liquid and gaseous refrigerant circulated to the separation unit, and separated from the mixed refrigerant separation unit The present invention provides a mixed refrigerant separation and recovery apparatus including a residual refrigerant recovery unit for removing non-condensable gas present in the refrigerant and recovering the refrigerant remaining in the non-condensed gas.

In the present invention, the remaining refrigerant recovery unit, the first refrigerant storage tank in which the refrigerant condensed by the condensation unit is stored, the second refrigerant storage tank in which the refrigerant separated by the vaporizer is condensed and stored, and the first and second It is preferable to have a residual refrigerant storage tank connected to the refrigerant storage tank for recondensing and storing the refrigerant remaining in the uncondensed gas in the first and second refrigerant storage tanks.

In the present invention, the residual refrigerant storage tank is preferably provided with a level sensor for measuring the flow rate of the residual refrigerant to be recondensed and stored.

In the present invention, the residual refrigerant storage tank is preferably provided with a discharge valve for discharging the gas that is not condensed.

In the present invention, the circulating refrigerant control unit, a flow control valve for controlling the flow rate of the liquid refrigerant supplied from the condenser to the separation unit, an internal heating tube installed inside the vaporizer and the hot water circulated, the outer circumference of the vaporizer A vaporizer heating unit having an external heating means installed to surround the vaporizer, the refrigerant being below a predetermined flow rate, and the opening and closing of the flow control valve and the heating of the vaporizer heating unit according to the purity of the refrigerant measured by the refrigerant purity measurement sensor. It is preferable to have a flow control part which controls temperature.

In addition, in the present invention, the outer heating means, the inner layer is formed of a fabric, the heat conductive layer formed of a metallic material surrounding the heating tube circulating the hot water is formed on the outside of the inner layer, and the rubber outside the thermal conductive layer It is preferably made of a heat insulating layer formed of a material, it is preferably provided with a coupling band to surround the outer periphery of the vaporizer.

According to the present invention, the purity of each of the liquid and gaseous refrigerants which are repeatedly circulated and purified from a mixed refrigerant in which different refrigerants are mixed is measured in real time to control the amount of each refrigerant supplied to be recycled and supplied according to the refrigerant purity. By removing the non-condensable gas, which is an impurity remaining in the refrigerant, and recovering the remaining amount of the refrigerant, the energy of the refrigerant recycle can be efficiently saved, and the mixed refrigerant can be separated and recovered with higher purity. .

1 is an overall configuration diagram showing a mixed refrigerant separation recovery apparatus according to the present invention.
2 is a view showing the functional configuration of the circulating refrigerant control unit according to the present invention.
3 is a perspective view showing a vaporizer according to the present invention.
4 is a view showing an external heating means provided on the outside of the vaporizer according to the present invention.
5 is a cross-sectional view showing the interior of the vaporizer according to the present invention.

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

This embodiment is provided to more completely explain the present invention to those skilled in the art, the shape of the elements in the drawings, the size of the elements, the distance between the elements and the like to emphasize more clear description. It may be exaggerated or reduced.

In addition, in describing the embodiments, when a component is described as being “formed”, “equipped”, “coupled”, or “fixed” to another component, it is directly formed on the other component, It may be provided, coupled or fixed, but it will be understood that other components may be present in between.

In addition, in describing the embodiments, in the case where it is determined that the technical features of the present invention may be unnecessarily obscured as a matter already known to those skilled in the art, such as known functions or known configurations, the details of the embodiments will be described in detail. The description will be omitted.

1 is an overall configuration diagram showing a mixed refrigerant separation and recovery apparatus according to the present invention, referring to FIG. 1, the mixed refrigerant separation apparatus 100 according to the present invention is a mixed refrigerant supply unit 10 and a mixed refrigerant separation unit 20. , Condensation unit 30, vaporizer 40, circulating refrigerant control unit 50, and residual refrigerant recovery unit 60.

The mixed refrigerant supply unit 10 is configured to supply the refrigerant recovered from an air conditioner, a freezer, etc., and the recovered refrigerant is supplied to the mixed refrigerant separation unit 20 which will be described later by mixing a liquid refrigerant having a different boiling point and a refrigerant in a gaseous phase. do.

The mixed refrigerant separating unit 20 is configured to separate the liquid and gaseous mixed refrigerant supplied from the mixed refrigerant supplying unit 10, and is formed at a predetermined height in a vertical direction to supply the liquid refrigerant supplied into the separating unit 20. The lowering by gravity is supplied to the vaporizer 40 to be described later by the transfer pump, the refrigerant in the gas phase is raised to the upper portion of the separation unit 20 is supplied to the condensation unit (30). The liquid refrigerant supplied to the vaporizer 40 is vaporized and circulated in a gaseous state at the bottom of the separation unit 20, and the gaseous refrigerant supplied to the condenser 30 is condensed to form an upper end of the separation unit 20. It is supplied circulated in a liquid state. As such, the liquid refrigerant re-supplied to the upper end of the mixed refrigerant separation unit 20 descends, and the gaseous refrigerant re-supplied to the lower end of the separation unit 20 rises, so that the gaseous and liquid refrigerants enter the interior of the separation unit 20. In the refining according to the heat exchange in the separation efficiency of the mixed refrigerant is improved.

In order to efficiently diffuse and contact the gaseous phase and the liquid refrigerant re-supplied to the bottom and the top of the mixed refrigerant separator 20, the separator 20 is a gas distributor 21 from the bottom to the top direction. ), A liquid collector 22 and a liquid distributor 23 are provided. The gas distributor 21 is provided so that the refrigerant of the gaseous phase supplied from the lower part is evenly distributed in the separator 20. The lower half of the gas is a pipe having a constant shape so that a certain amount of gas can pass through the middle of the pipe. A diaphragm is arranged at every interval. The liquid distributor 22 is provided to prevent the channeling by evenly distributing the liquid resupply from the upper portion inside the separator 20, and consists of a plurality of pipes that cross each other, A discharge port through which the refrigerant can be discharged is formed. A conical passage is formed in which the diameter decreases toward the lower side so that the liquid refrigerant supplied to the liquid distributor 22 can be smoothly transferred in the lower direction of the separator 20, and a gas phase is formed between the liquid distributors 23. The packing 24 is provided to allow the refrigerant in the liquid phase to contact with the liquid refrigerant in a large area, thereby further improving the separation efficiency of the mixed refrigerant.

The condensation unit 30 condenses the refrigerant in the gaseous phase supplied from the mixed refrigerant supply unit 10 and discharged to the upper end of the separation unit 20, and circulates and supplies the refrigerant in the gas phase to the upper end of the separation unit 20. And a first refrigerant storage tank 32 in which the condensed liquid phase stores the refrigerant. The first refrigerant storage tank 32 is provided with a refrigerant purity measurement sensor 33 for measuring the purity of the refrigerant, the supply amount is controlled by the flow control valve 51 to be described later in accordance with the measured refrigerant purity. In addition, when the refrigerant stored in the first refrigerant storage tank 32 is measured to a predetermined purity or more, the remaining refrigerant storage tank (described below) is described below the gas not condensed in the first refrigerant storage tank 32 by the residual refrigerant recovery unit 60 ( 61).

The vaporizer 40 is configured to vaporize the liquid refrigerant supplied from the mixed refrigerant supply unit 10 and discharged to the lower end of the separation unit 20 to circulate and supply the lower end of the separation unit 20, and stored in the vaporizer 40. A refrigerant purity measuring sensor 41 for measuring the purity of the refrigerant is provided. As such, the refrigerant purity of the first refrigerant storage tank 32 and the vaporizer 40 measured by the refrigerant purity measurement sensors 33 and 41 is transferred to the circulating refrigerant control unit 50 and circulated according to the measured refrigerant purity. The refrigerant control unit 50 controls the heating temperature of the vaporizer 40, the amount of gaseous phase refrigerant supplied to the mixed refrigerant separation unit 20 is adjusted. When the stored refrigerant of the vaporizer 40 is measured to a predetermined purity or more, the circulating refrigerant controller 50 condenses the refrigerant of the vaporizer 40 and stores it in the second refrigerant storage tank 42, the second refrigerant storage tank 42 When the refrigerant stored in the predetermined purity or more is measured by the remaining refrigerant recovery unit 60, the gas not condensed in the second refrigerant storage tank 32 is moved to the remaining refrigerant storage tank 61 which will be described later.

As shown in FIG. 1, the circulating refrigerant control unit 50 may be formed by the vaporizer 40 and the condenser 30 according to the refrigerant purity measured by the refrigerant purity measurement sensors 33 and 41. It controls the flow rate of the liquid and gaseous refrigerant circulated to the inside. The functional configuration of such a circulating refrigerant control unit 50 is shown in FIG. 2. Referring to FIG. 2, the circulating refrigerant control unit 50 is a pipe between the first refrigerant storage tank 32 and the mixed refrigerant separation unit 20. Measured by the flow control valve 51 installed in the, the vaporizer heating unit 52 for heating the vaporizer 40, the temperature sensor 53 installed in the vaporizer 40, and the refrigerant purity measuring sensors (33, 41) The flow rate control unit 54 controls the opening and closing degree of the flow control valve 51 and the heating temperature of the vaporizer heating unit 52 according to the purity of the refrigerant.

In the initial stage of separating the mixed refrigerant, the refrigerant separated and stored in the separator 20 has a low flow rate and low purity. Therefore, the flow rate controller 54 opens the flow control valve 51 to the maximum as the amount of refrigerant must be increased by recycling a large amount of refrigerant from the condenser 31 and the vaporizer 40 to the separator 20. By supplying a large amount of liquid refrigerant to the top of the separation unit 20, and also by heating the vaporizer heating unit 53 to a high temperature to supply a large amount of vaporized refrigerant to the top of the separation unit 20. As the liquid and gaseous refrigerants having a considerable flow rate are repeatedly recycled and supplied to the separator 20, the separation speed of the refrigerant is increased, and the purity of the liquid and gaseous refrigerants is gradually purified. When the purity of the stored refrigerant increases, the flow rate controller 54 gradually reduces the flow rate of the mixed refrigerant recycled to the mixed refrigerant separator 20, thereby stably reducing the energy for recycling the refrigerant of the apparatus, and stably maintaining a high quality of more than a certain purity. The refrigerant can be separated and recovered.

The vaporizer heating unit 52 is configured to heat the vaporizer 40, the vaporizer 40 according to the present invention is shown in Figure 3, Figure 4 shows the external heating means provided on the outside of the vaporizer, 5 shows the inside of the carburetor. 3 to 5, the vaporizer heating unit 52 is provided to heat the inside and the outside of the vaporizer 40 together, so that the heating is possible regardless of the flow rate of the refrigerant purified in the vaporizer 40. To this end, the vaporizer heating unit 52 is provided inside the vaporizer 40 and has an internal heating tube 43 through which hot water is circulated, and an external heating means 44 installed to surround the outer circumference of the vaporizer 40. . That is, when the coolant flow rate is not much as in the initial stage of the mixed refrigerant, and when the coolant is stored below the inner heating tube 43 installation section, the coolant inside the vaporizer 40 may be effectively heated through the external heating means 44. .

The external heating means 44 is formed to have a plane having a predetermined thickness so as to surround the outer periphery of the vaporizer 40, both ends are provided with a coupling band 45 to surround and secure the vaporizer 40. As shown in FIG. 4, the external heating means 44 is formed in a multilayer structure in which the inner skin layer 46, the heating tube 47, the heat conductive layer 48, and the heat insulation layer 49 are sequentially stacked. The inner skin layer 46 is made of a rubber material having friction protrusions formed therein and is interviewed with the outer surface of the vaporizer 40 to fix the external heating means 44 without moving with a predetermined frictional force. The heating tube 47 is a pipe having a circular cross section so that hot water supplied from the outside is circulated, and is bent at a predetermined interval so as to be evenly distributed on a plane. The thermal conductive layer 48 is made of aluminum material having high thermal conductivity and may be bent to surround the heating tube 47 and may be provided on the outer side of the endothelial layer 46 to evenly transfer heat to the hot water. The heat insulation layer 49 is configured to prevent heat from being dissipated to the outside of the vaporizer 40 and to increase the thermal efficiency. The heat insulation layer 49 is made of a rubber material having a high heat insulation rate and can be bent.

The remaining refrigerant recovery unit 60 is configured to remove the non-condensable gas present in the refrigerant separated in the mixed refrigerant separation unit 20 and recover the refrigerant remaining in the non-condensed gas, as shown in FIG. 1. 2, the remaining refrigerant storage tank 61 in which uncondensed gas is transferred and stored in the refrigerant storage tanks 32 and 42, and a recondenser 62 for recondensing the refrigerant transferred to the remaining refrigerant storage tank 61; Equipped. Accordingly, the refrigerant remaining in the non-condensed gas is effectively transferred by recondensing the uncondensed gas during the first condensation to the remaining refrigerant storage tank 61 for storage in the first and second refrigerant storage tanks 32 and 42. It can be recovered. The remaining refrigerant storage tank 61 is provided with a level sensor 63 for measuring the flow rate of the residual refrigerant to be recondensed and stored, and when the stored refrigerant flow rate is above a certain level, the refrigerant in the remaining refrigerant storage tank 61 is first and second. The gas, which is transferred to the refrigerant storage tanks 32 and 42 and is not condensed even after recondensation in the remaining refrigerant storage tank 61, is discharged to the atmosphere through the discharge valve 64.

The mixed refrigerant separating apparatus of the present invention configured as described above measures the purity of the mixed refrigerant that is repeatedly circulated and purified in real time to control the amount of liquid and gaseous refrigerant that is recycled and supplied to the separator according to the separated refrigerant purity, By removing the non-condensable gas, which is an impurity remaining in the refrigerant, and recovering the residual amount of the refrigerant, energy of the refrigerant recycle can be saved, and the mixed refrigerant can be separated and recovered with high purity more efficiently.

The present invention described above is not limited to the described embodiments, and it is apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, such modifications or variations will have to belong to the claims of the present invention.

10: mixed refrigerant supply unit 20: mixed refrigerant separation unit
21: gas distributor 22: liquid collector
23: liquid distributor 30: condensation unit
31, 34: condenser 32: first refrigerant storage tank
33,41: refrigerant purity measuring sensor 40: vaporizer
42: second refrigerant storage tank 43: internal heating tube
44: external heating means 45: bonding band
46: inner layer 47: heating tube
48: heat conductive layer 49: heat insulating layer
50: circulating refrigerant control unit 51: flow control valve
52: carburetor heating unit 53: temperature sensor
54: flow rate control unit 60: residual refrigerant recovery unit
61: remaining refrigerant storage tank 62: recondenser
63: level sensor 64: discharge valve

Claims (6)

In the apparatus for separating and recovering with high purity by removing impurities contained in mixed refrigerants having different boiling points,
A mixed refrigerant supply unit supplying the recovered mixed refrigerant;
A mixed refrigerant separation unit formed at a predetermined height and separating the mixed refrigerant supplied from the mixed refrigerant supply unit into a liquid phase and a gaseous phase refrigerant;
A condenser for condensing the refrigerant in the gas phase separated by the mixed refrigerant separator and circulating the liquid refrigerant to an upper end of the mixed refrigerant separator;
A vaporizer for vaporizing the liquid oil separated by the mixed refrigerant separator and circulating and supplying a gaseous refrigerant to the lower end of the mixed refrigerant separator;
A refrigerant purity measurement sensor for measuring purity of the refrigerant condensed and vaporized by the condenser and the vaporizer;
Flow rate control valve for adjusting the flow rate of the liquid refrigerant supplied from the condensation unit to the mixed refrigerant separator, an internal heating tube installed inside the vaporizer and circulating hot water, and is installed to surround the outer circumference of the vaporizer A friction protrusion is formed on the inside so as to heat the vaporizer having a predetermined flow rate or less, and the heat conduction layer is formed on the outside of the endothelial layer and surrounds a heating tube made of metal and circulating hot water. A vaporizer heating unit comprising an insulating layer formed of a rubber material on an outer side of the thermal conductive layer and having an outer heating unit including a coupling band to surround the outer circumference of the vaporizer, and the refrigerant measured by the refrigerant purity measurement sensor. Flow control unit for controlling the opening and closing of the flow control valve and the heating temperature of the vaporizer heating unit according to the purity Refrigerant circulation control comprising; And
And a residual refrigerant recovery unit which removes the non-condensable gas present in the refrigerant separated by the mixed refrigerant separation unit and recovers the refrigerant remaining in the non-condensed gas. The method of claim 1,
The remaining refrigerant recovery unit,
The first refrigerant storage tank in which the refrigerant condensed by the condenser is stored and the second refrigerant storage tank in which the refrigerant vaporized by the vaporizer are condensed and stored are not condensed in the first and second refrigerant storage tanks. Refrigerant storage tank in which undesired gas is transferred and stored; And
And a recondenser for recondensing the refrigerant transferred into the remaining refrigerant storage tank. The method of claim 2,
The remaining refrigerant storage tank is mixed refrigerant separation recovery device characterized in that it comprises a level sensor for measuring the flow rate of the residual refrigerant to be recondensed and stored. The method of claim 3,
The remaining refrigerant storage tank is mixed refrigerant separation recovery device characterized in that it comprises a discharge valve for discharging the uncondensed gas. delete delete

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