KR200494538Y1 - Hybrid Wood Chips Drying Apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

A hybrid wood chip drying apparatus is disclosed. The wood chip drying apparatus of the present invention can dry a large amount of wood chips used in a wood chip boiler using sunlight and solar heat. The wood chip drying device of the present invention uses a hot air drying method that produces and supplies hot air using a solar hot air blower. On the other hand, electricity for operating a blower, etc. uses an eco-friendly method that does not use fossil fuels as a whole by using solar power generation.

Description

Hybrid Wood Chips Drying Apparatus

The present invention relates to a hybrid wood chip drying apparatus for drying wood chips used in a wood chip boiler in large quantities using sunlight and solar heat.

With growing interest in climate change, wood is receiving attention again as a heating material. This is because wood is not only a stable alternative energy in the era of high oil prices, but also an eco-friendly material that emits relatively little carbon dioxide. Trees also emit carbon dioxide when they burn, but the carbon dioxide emitted at this time is carbon dioxide absorbed by the trees as they grow, so the total amount of greenhouse gases does not increase.

Since wood is a living organic material, it contains considerable moisture. The moisture content, which indicates the amount of moisture contained in the wood, is more than 60%. In order to burn well in the boiler, it should be dried so that the moisture content is less than 20% and crushed to a certain size or less. Therefore, wood used for boilers is usually processed in the form of wood pellets or wood chips.

Wood pellets are fuel obtained by grinding logs and pulverizing them to a fine size comparable to sawdust, then compressing them again and drawing them to a certain size. Wood pellets burn better and have better thermal efficiency than unprocessed logs. The disadvantage is that the production process of wood pellets is relatively complicated and expensive compared to wood chips. Wood pellets require a crusher, but also a high-power compressor. Therefore, wood pellets are more expensive than logs and are difficult to purchase in small quantities.

An eco-friendly fuel that compensates for the disadvantages of wood pellets is wood chips. Wood chips are made of small logs in the form of chips for easy combustion. The process of processing logs into wood chips is very simple compared to wood pellets, as only breaking them with a cutter.

Once cut into chips, the wood chips must be dried to lower the moisture content. It is best to completely dry it at 100%, but it is inefficient considering the energy and time required for drying, so dry it with a moisture content of 20% or less.

drying method

1 is a conventional wood chip drying apparatus. The wood chip drying device 100 includes a wood chip container 110 and a hot air device connected to the container 110 to provide hot air at a high temperature. The warm air device includes a heat exchanger 130 connected to the container 110 on one side, and a blower 140 for transferring air to the heat exchanger 130 . If necessary, a filter 151 is provided at the front end of the blower 140 or the rear end of the heat exchanger 130 to remove dust, etc. contained in the air. The heat exchanger 130 heats the air transferred through the blower 140 with thermal energy of the high-temperature hot water supplied from the outside to a high temperature, and supplies the high-temperature hot air into the container 110 through the duct 131 .

The container 110 accommodates the wood chips, and a bottom chamber 111 is provided on the inner floor. The bottom chamber 111 is a kind of space into which the hot air supplied from the hot air device flows, and the upper surface is flat to support the wood chips. Since numerous exhaust ports 111a are evenly provided on the upper surface of the floor chamber 111, the hot air supplied from the warm air device flows into the floor chamber 111, and then is supplied to the receiving unit 113 through the exhaust port 111a. Dry the chips with hot air.

The container 110 is designed with a large capacity in order to reduce the hassle of storing and unloading wood chips, and is manufactured in a form that is combined with a hot air device if necessary. Although this feature is a natural choice for an industrial drying apparatus, the method shown in FIG. 1 by this choice has several problems. The wood chips accommodated in the accommodating part 113 are densely stacked, so the total amount is considerable and the total load is very heavy. Therefore, no matter how strong the wind speed, it is difficult to pass between the wood chips while maintaining the wind speed. Therefore, the efficiency of hot air drying is inevitably reduced.

In addition, for this reason, the blower 140 of the warm air device is designed as a turbo fan with a maximum capacity. Therefore, the warm air device has no choice but to be designed as a large capacity device as a whole. Not only is it a relatively low-efficiency and high-cost device, but also very large energy consumption and noise, as well as a gap in the duct 131 connecting the container 110 and the blower 140, is not uncommon for wind to leak. However, it takes a considerable amount of time to dry. Above all, wood chips are intended to be used as raw materials for eco-friendly heating devices, and the production of wood chips itself uses significant fossil fuels.

Korean Patent Laid-Open Patent No. 10-2017-0021732 (Wood Chip Drying Method and Apparatus)

An object of the present invention is to provide a wood chip drying apparatus for drying wood chips used in a wood chip boiler in large quantities using sunlight and solar heat.

In order to achieve the above object, the wood chip drying apparatus of the present invention includes a container body having a floor chamber and a drying chamber, a hot air fan, a blower, and a photovoltaic unit.

The drying chamber is provided above the floor chamber to accommodate the wood chips, and the floor chamber is provided with a connector through which hot air is introduced from the hot air blower. The hot air blower is provided on one side of the container body to produce warm air by sunlight and supplies the warm air through the connector. A blower is provided between the hot air blower and the connector and supplies hot air produced by the hot air blower to the floor chamber through the connector. The photovoltaic unit is provided with the photovoltaic panel to produce the operating power of the blower.

According to an embodiment, the solar power generation unit, one side is fixed to the outer surface of the container body and the other side is attached to one side of the solar panel using a hydraulic cylinder or a pneumatic cylinder to lift the solar panel support member may include more.

According to another embodiment, the top plate may be implemented as a panel that has good thermal conductivity and can serve as a hard flooring material.

According to another embodiment, the drying apparatus of the present invention may further include a bottom panel disposed on the upper surface of the top plate. The bottom panel is a panel in which a plurality of through-holes facing the plurality of exhaust ports of the upper plate of the floor chamber are formed, and the through-hole portion is processed higher than other portions, and fragments of wood chips accommodated in the drying chamber may not block the exhaust port have.

1 is a block diagram of a conventional wood chip drying apparatus;
2 is a view showing a wood chip drying apparatus of the present invention;
3 is a view showing a state in which the posture of the solar panel of the drying device of the present invention is changed, and
4 is a view showing a wood chip drying apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the drawings.

2 and 3, the wood chip drying apparatus 200 of the present invention includes a container body 210, a hot air fan 230, a blower (FAN) 250 and a photovoltaic unit 270, The hot air machine 230 produces and dries the wood chips with high-temperature hot air.

The container body 210 accommodates wood chips, but the interior is divided into a drying chamber 211 and a floor chamber 213 provided at the bottom of the drying chamber 211 . Since the upper part of the drying chamber 211 is open, the wood chips can be loaded in the drying chamber 211 as they are, and the container body 210 can be turned over to empty the dried wood chips.

The bottom chamber 213 serves as a passage for supplying high-temperature hot air supplied from the warm air blower 230 to the drying chamber 211, and a connector 213a through which the hot air from the warm air blower 230 is introduced is provided on one side, The blower 250 is connected between the connector 213a and the air inlet 237 of the hot air blower 230 .

The top plate 215 of the bottom chamber 213 serves as a bottom plate of the drying chamber 211 , and a plurality of exhaust ports 215a are provided. The exhaust port 215a is preferably provided evenly throughout the upper plate 215 in the form of a through hole or a through slit. The hot air introduced into the bottom chamber 213 through the connector 213a is supplied to the drying chamber 211 through the exhaust port 215a. The top plate 215 of the bottom chamber 213 is implemented with a material having good thermal conductivity so that it can be heated by the hot air introduced into the bottom chamber 213 , and it is preferable to directly heat the wood chips loaded on the top plate 215 . Meanwhile, since the upper plate 215 has to support the wood chips accommodated in the drying chamber 211 , it is preferable to use a solid flat panel, for example, a copper plate or an iron plate may be used.

The blower 250 forms a negative pressure in the air pipe 231 in the warm air blower 230 to supply hot air produced in the warm air blower 230 into the bottom chamber 213 . If a plurality of air supply ports 237 are provided in the warm air blower 230 and are connected to a plurality of connectors 213a provided in the floor chamber 213, the blower 250 may be provided for each individual connection. The operating power of the blower 250 is supplied from the photovoltaic unit 270 as described below.

The hot air heater 230 uses a solar hot air heater using solar heat, and is provided on one side of the outer surface of the container body 210 . There are various types of solar hot air heaters in the prior art, and any conventionally known solar hot air heater may be used. For example, as shown in FIG. 2 , the hot air fan 230 accommodates the air pipe 231 through which outside air is introduced in the sealed inner space 233 , and the front surface 233a is made of a transparent or translucent material. In this case, sunlight is incident on the inner space 233 to heat the inner space 233 itself and the air pipe 231 . The air pipe 231 is provided with at least one intake port 235 through which outside air is introduced on one side and at least one air supply port 237 connected to at least one connection port 213a on the other side. It may be painted black for better absorption, or it may be implemented in the form of an aluminum corrugated tube to increase the outer surface. While outside air is introduced through the intake port 235 and discharged through the air supply port 237 , sunlight is incident into the internal space 233 through the front surface 233a of the warm air fan 230 . The sunlight incident on the internal space 233 through the front surface 233a of the hot air blower directly heats the air pipe 231, and the internal space 233 also traps the thermal energy of the sunlight to close the air pipe 231. warm up Accordingly, the air flowing through the air pipe 231 is also heated to a significant temperature. The temperature of the hot air discharged from the air supply port 237 may be 80 ℃ or more in summer, and may be 60 ℃ or more even in winter.

The air heated by the air pipe 231 is introduced into the bottom chamber 213 of the container body 210 through the connector 213a through the blower 250 . The blower 250 supplies the heated air inside the air pipe 231 to the inside of the bottom chamber 213 at a constant wind speed by creating a negative pressure inside the air pipe 231 .

The air supplied into the bottom chamber 213 through the connector 213a, that is, hot air, flows into the drying chamber 211 of high wind speed through the exhaust port 215a of the upper plate 215 to dry the wood chips. Meanwhile. Since the top plate 215 is also heated by the bottom chamber 213, the wood chips are dried by heating the air inside the drying chamber 211 as well as directly heating the wood chips. Wood chips just take too much time and dry at room temperature. According to the experiment, the wood chips can be sufficiently dried in about 24 hours in a warm air of 80° C. or more, and about 35 hours or more in a hot air of 25° C. or more.

The solar power generation unit 270 is also provided on one side of the outer surface of the container body 210 like the hot air blower 230 , and supplies operating power of the blower 250 . The photovoltaic unit 270 may also be implemented in various conventionally known methods. For example, referring to FIG. 3 , the photovoltaic unit 270 includes a photovoltaic panel 271 that converts sunlight into electrical energy, and a blower ( 250), and an inverter system 273 for converting it into operating power.

Examples; Solar panel support member (Fig. 3)

On the other hand, since the solar panel 271 and the hot air heater 230 are disposed on the same side, it is not a big problem if the container body 210 can be arranged so that the solar panel 271 and the hot air fan 230 face the south. However, if the solar panel 271 and the hot air fan 230 are installed on different outer surfaces of the container body 210 , one of the solar panel 271 and the hot air fan 230 of the photovoltaic power generation unit 270 . needs to change its posture so that the incidence of sunlight is maximized.

Therefore, in the present invention, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 , a structure in which the posture of the solar panel 271 is changed is designed. Referring to FIG. 3 , the solar panel 271 has an upper side fixed to the container body 210 , and a lower portion is disposed in a structure that is lifted up to 90° by a hinge structure. To this end, the photovoltaic unit 270 has one side fixed to the outer surface of the container body 210 and the other side of the photovoltaic panel 271 using a hydraulic cylinder or a pneumatic cylinder attached to one side of the photovoltaic panel 271 . ) may further include a support member 275 for lifting.

According to another embodiment, unlike FIGS. 2 and 3 , a structure in which the posture of the warm air blower 230 is changed may be designed. In this case, the warm air blower 230 may be disposed in a structure in which the upper side is fixed to the container body 210 and the lower side is lifted up to 90° by a hinge structure. To this end, one side of the photovoltaic unit 270 is also fixed to the outer surface of the container body 210 and the other side uses a hydraulic cylinder or a pneumatic cylinder attached to one side of the solar panel 271 to operate the hot air blower 230 . It may further include a lifting support member (not shown).

Example: floor panel (Fig. 4)

Although there are fine fragments in the wood chips themselves loaded in the drying chamber 211 , fine fragments may be made from the wood chips even by the hot air supplied from the bottom chamber 213 . The finely pulverized fragments repeat the process of accumulating on the bottom of the drying chamber 211 , and eventually the exhaust port 215a of the upper plate 215 may be blocked. When the exhaust port 215a is blocked, the hot air effect is also lost, but it may cause a malfunction of the drying apparatus 200 due to fine debris.

To solve this problem, the drying apparatus 400 according to another embodiment of the present invention may further include a bottom panel 401 disposed on the upper surface of the top plate 215 . The bottom panel 401 is formed with a plurality of through-holes 401a facing the exhaust port 215a of the upper plate 215 . The bottom panel 401 is not a complete flat plate, but a through-hole 401a portion is formed as a trough surface processed higher than other portions. Therefore, when the bottom panel 401 is installed on the top plate 215, it has a shape as if a cap is put on each exhaust port 215a of the top plate 215, and the through hole 401a becomes a mountain and the remaining part is like a valley. will have the same shape as The fragments of the wood chips accommodated in the drying chamber 211 do not block the through-hole 401a and the exhaust port 215a while first being accumulated from the valley.

In the above, a preferred embodiment of the present invention has been illustrated and described, but the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiment described above, and it is common in the technical field to which the present invention belongs without departing from the gist of the present invention as claimed in the claims. Various modifications can be made by those with the knowledge of

delete

Claims (4)

In the wood chip drying apparatus,
A container body 210 having a bottom chamber 213 and a drying chamber 211 . The drying chamber 211 is provided on the upper portion of the bottom chamber 213 to accommodate wood chips, and the bottom chamber 213 is provided with a connector 213a through which hot air from the hot air heater 230 is introduced, and a top plate 215 . provided with a plurality of exhaust ports;
the hot air fan 230 provided on one side of the container body 210 to produce warm air by solar heat and supply hot air through the connector 213a;
a blower 250 provided between the hot air blower 230 and the connector 213a and supplying the hot air produced by the hot air blower 230 to the floor chamber 213 through the connector 213a; and
It includes a photovoltaic power generation unit 270 that includes a photovoltaic panel 271 to produce operating power of the blower 250,
One side of the photovoltaic unit 270 is fixed to the outer surface of the container body 210 and the other side is attached to one side of the photovoltaic panel 271 using a hydraulic cylinder or a pneumatic cylinder to the photovoltaic panel 271 ) Wood chip drying apparatus, characterized in that it further comprises a support member (275) for lifting.
delete According to claim 1,
The top plate 215 is a wood chip drying apparatus, characterized in that it is implemented as a panel that can serve as a hard floor material with good thermal conductivity.
According to claim 1,
A bottom panel 401 disposed on the upper surface of the top plate 215 as a panel in which a plurality of through-holes 401a facing the plurality of exhaust ports 215a are formed and the through-hole portion is processed higher than the other portions. Including, wood chips drying apparatus characterized in that the fragments of the wood chips accommodated in the drying chamber (211) do not block the exhaust port (215a).

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