RU2716428C1 - Complex of cavitation-vacuum mixing of viscous liquids - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: technological processes.

SUBSTANCE: invention relates to production of hydrocarbon mixtures, for example, oils for internal combustion engines, hydraulic devices, transmissions, lubricant-cooling liquids and other, and can also be used for mixing and dissolving medium-phase complexes, the phase in which is composed of micro-, nano- and finely dispersed substances, and compounds aggregated into micelles. Complex of cavitation-vacuum mixing of viscous fluids includes initial components storage container, cavitation unit, end product storage capacity, pumps, pumping over the liquid, pressure sensors, at least one tank for preliminary mixing of liquids, at least one mixer, changing into vacuum chamber, cavitator, coil, filters, shutoff valves.

EFFECT: technical result of the invention is more thorough mixing of liquids of different viscosity into a homogeneous mass without heating, shorter time for obtaining the finished product, as well as simplification of the device for mixing liquids.

1 cl, 4 dwg

Description

The invention relates to the production of hydrocarbon mixtures, for example, oils for internal combustion engines, hydraulic devices, transmissions, cutting fluids and others, and can also be used for mixing and dissolving medium-phase complexes, the phase of which is micro-, nano - and finely dispersed substances, and compounds aggregated into micelles (the vast majority of packages of dopants).

In the production of marketable oils, blending has long been widely used. The main advantage of blending is its relative simplicity. However, as lubricants improved, their composition became more complex. They became more and more complex, multicomponent, and difficult to mix, and blending no longer provides a good quality product. The disadvantages of blending are the following:

- insufficient crushing of micelles of additives, which means a smaller area of interaction with the medium;

- unstable quality when mixing base oils of various nature with alloying additives, as a result of which, over time, a complete or partial separation of the resulting product occurs;

- huge energy consumption during technological heating of the entire mass of the prepared product (heating from 70 ° C to 90 ° C);

- phased introduction and dissolution in base oils of polymers (viscosity modifiers and depressants) and dopants.

With other dissolution methods, such as vibration, ultrasound, etc., the main difficulty is the dissolution of polymers, since before dissolving in oil, polymers have a high tendency to mechanical degradation and a “rough” effect can lead to a significant change in their structure, which negatively affects the quality of marketable oil.

The prior art method for preparing a water-fuel emulsion, a static cavitation device for emulsification and a hydrodynamic multi-section cavitation device for homogenizing an emulsion (patent for invention RU 2202406, published on 04/20/2003, Bull. No. 11). The method includes mixing liquid fuel and water, emulsifying in a static cavitation device, cleaning and finishing in a hydrodynamic cavitation multisection device, each section of which contains a rotor and a stator. The static cavitation device is made in the form of a pipe with an internal tubular partition. Cavitators of plates are placed in the annular cavity and inside the central pipe. A swirl chamber is installed at the entrance. The hydrodynamic cavitation device contains several sections, counter-directed and having stators with confusers and rotors with diffusers. However, this invention relates to a technology for producing water-fuel emulsions used as fuels. The disadvantages of this device include the fact that it is not able to mix viscous substances and is designed only for flowing, and therefore easily miscible substances.

The closest technical solution is the cold oil mixing line (patent for utility model RU 134927 U1, published on November 27, 2013), in which cavitation is used to mix oil and liquid during heating using pressure and heat from cavitation bubbles. The disadvantages of the described technical solutions include the fact that the device is not intended for mixing several lubricants. For the closest analogue, it adopted a cavitation column, which is the main component of the line of "cold" mixing of lubricants. A cavitation column creates a pressure drop, and, acting as a cavitator, at the same time it does not allow mixing of more than three base oils, whereas modern oils can include up to six base oils of various nature (distillates, hydroisomerization products, polyalphaolefins, esters, alkyl naphthalenes, polyalkylene glycols, fatty acid-based products). In addition, in the described column, before mixing the mixture with cavitation, preliminary mixing of base oils with high molecular weight polymers, which serve as friction modifiers in most modern, high-tech oils, is not provided, and when using the described cavitation column, it is necessary to normalize the temperature of the mixture.

The task to which the technical solution is directed is to develop a complex of cavitation-vacuum mixing of viscous fluids that can solve a wide range of problems in which there are no stator and rotor, membranes, where cavitation is initiated due to a sharp pressure relief, the vacuum in the chamber is created by vacuum created by fluid flow. In the claimed cavitation-vacuum installation for mixing viscous liquids there is no need to modify the product after leaving the second unit, the product is already in its commercial form, and this installation can be immediately connected to the product bottling line.

The problem is solved in that the complex of cavitation-vacuum mixing of viscous liquids, including the storage capacity of the starting components, cavitation installation, storage capacity of the final product, pumps, pumping liquid, pressure sensors, characterized in that it also contains at least one container for preliminary mixing liquids, at least one mixer passing into the vacuum chamber, cavitator, coil, filters, shutoff valves, while the tank for preliminary mixing of liquids is equipped with a pump ohm pumping liquid from the lower part of the tank to the collector located above, through which the liquid is discharged into the tank, where the collector consists of a pipe from which several pipes go down at an equal distance, at the bottom of each of which there is a nozzle and along the entire length which have slit-like openings, the mixer is a pipe in which a divider is installed, which is a disk with holes, plates mounted at an angle and creating a spiral flow, and at the entrance to the vacuum chamber inside loss, a nozzle that creates the effect of cavitation is installed, the vacuum chamber is made spherical, behind the vacuum chamber there is a pipeline leading through the nozzle to the cavitator, while the nozzle also contains plates mounted at an angle that create a spiral flow, after the cavitator a coil is installed leading to the storage capacity of the final product, filters are installed at the inlet and outlet of the complex, pipelines are laid between all elements of the complex. The complex also contains an induction heater located between the cavitator and the coil.

The technical result achieved by the set of essential features is a more thorough mixing of liquids of different viscosities into a homogeneous mass without heating, reducing the time for obtaining the finished product, as well as simplifying the construction of a complex for mixing liquids. Mixing liquids is also possible at low temperatures.

The complex of cavitation-vacuum mixing of viscous liquids allows to obtain improved quality lubricating oil on an unlimited number of base oils with alloying additives and additives in the form of high molecular weight polymers due to the internal device, which ensures uniform mixing of the mixture.

The complex is designed for homogeneous mixing of petroleum products with a viscosity range of 5 cSt -100000 cSt.

The complex can also find application, for example, with:

- mixing liquids based on difficult to mix components (distillates, hydroisomerization products, polyalphaolefins, esters, alkyl naphthalenes, fatty acids, and other acids of weak bases);

- the creation of water-fuel emulsions;

- dissolution of sparingly soluble phases in aggregates of solutions. The invention is illustrated by drawings, which depict:

- in FIG. 1 - one of the options for a possible scheme of the complex;

- in FIG. 2 is a collector diagram;

- in FIG. 3 is a diagram of a vacuum chamber;

- in FIG. 4 is a diagram of a cavitator mounted behind a vacuum chamber, where:

1 - capacity with the source component

2 - pre-mixing tank

3 - collector

4 - liquid exit after preliminary mixing from the first block

5 - fluid inlet to the second block

6 - cavitator

7 - vacuum chamber

8 - pressure measuring device

9 - nozzle

10 - induction heater

11 - coil

12 - in the container for storage of finished products

13 - the main pipe of the collector

14 - collector nozzles

15 - slotted holes

16 - branch pipe

17 - vacuum zone

18 - liquid

19 - cavitation zone

20 - plate with hole

21 - guides (plates) for swirling the flow.

In FIG. 1 lines show pipelines, arrows indicate the direction of fluid flow.

The complex of cavitation-vacuum mixing of viscous liquids consists of two blocks for mixing liquids. The first block serves for pre-mixing, the second for final mixing.

The first block consists of at least one tank 2, each with a volume of 10 m ³ , pipelines, valves, pumps and filters. The number of tanks depends on the volume of production. Filters are located at the entrance to the tank. The tank is equipped with pumps pumping fluid from the bottom of the tank to the collector (comb) 3, located horizontally and parallel to the tank from above, through which the liquid is discharged into the tank. The collector 3 (comb) consists of a common pipe 13, from which three pipes go down at an equal distance to the tank, at the bottom of each pipe there is a nozzle 14, along the entire length of the pipes on four sides and to a height of 3/4 of the tank slit-like openings 15 necessary to increase throughput.

The second block consists of pipelines, valves, vacuum chambers 7, mixers, induction heater 10 (if necessary), coil 11, pump, filters and control devices. Filters are located at the input and output of the second unit.

The pump, which is located at the entrance to the second unit, draws liquid from the tank 2 and through mixers in which nozzles (confusers) are located, dividers and vacuum chambers 7 supplies liquid to the induction heater 10 (if necessary), then through the coil 11 and the filter, the liquid served in a container for storing finished products.

The mixer is a pipe segment, at the entrance to which there is a divider, which is a disk 20 with seventeen holes. The disk is made with a diameter equal to the inner diameter of the pipe. After the divider, plates 21 are installed at an angle at the pipe, creating a spiral-shaped fluid flow and giving it acceleration. The plates are mounted one above the other, and preferably at an angle of 25-30 degrees. Mostly used four plates with a height of 40 mm. The twisting of the liquid into a spiral will depend on the height of the plate, if it is made low, the thick liquid will not twist, but simply flow through it.

The mixer ends with a nozzle followed by a vacuum chamber. Due to the presence of a nozzle in front of the vacuum chamber 7, a cavitation effect is created. Thus, the mixer acts as a cavitator (position 6-I in FIG. 1). The vacuum chamber is made spherical in shape. At the top of the chamber there is a pipe necessary for connecting a monovacuum meter 8 and a bypass tube 16, which creates additional vacuum. Behind the spherical chamber there is a pipeline leading through the nozzle 9 to the cavitator 6-II. Next, the coil 11. The coil 11 in front of the tank for the finished fluid transfers the fluid flows from the laminar flow to turbulent. Filters after the coil ensure clean screening.

Both blocks are interconnected by pipelines with valves.

The following describes the principle of operation of the first block.

In accordance with the statement of work, components suspended on the scales (base oils and additives) are poured into one of the tanks of the first block. The components can be poured into the tank both from above through the neck and through the suction line.

Base oils typically have a viscosity of 15 cSt at 20 ° C to 1000 cSt at 20 ° C. Additives used in mixing have a viscosity of 30 cSt at 20 ° C to 10,000 cSt. All components with a viscosity above must first be heated.

The components are pumped and pre-mixed into the tank through a suction line with a gear or screw pump capable of pumping liquids with the above viscosity.

After the components are pumped into the tank, the taps open in such a way as to ensure that liquid is drawn in by the pump at the bottom of the tank and dumped back into the tank through a comb on top. The upper comb consists of a common pipe with a diameter of 89 mm, from which three pipes with a diameter of 57 mm go down into the tank at an equal interval. A nozzle with a bore of 15 mm is welded into the bottom of each pipe. Along the entire length of the pipes, from four sides and to a height of 3/4 of the volume, there are slit-like openings 1.5 mm wide, which are necessary to increase the throughput. Due to the fact that the passage of the pipelines in the comb is narrowed, the pump creates a pressure of up to 10 atmospheres, liquid is sprayed through the lower nozzles and side flowing, because nozzles and slit-like openings are in the liquid and do not come in contact with air; foaming remains minimal. Mixing is carried out at ambient air temperature.

The above method provides preliminary mixing of the components. Pre-mixing time depends on the volume and viscosity of the components. When mixing liquids and using the full volume of the tank (10 m ³ ), the mixing time is 60 minutes, after which a visual inspection of the mixed liquid takes place. The fluid should look uniform. If the liquid does not look uniform, the mixing time is increased. Sampling is carried out through a tap located on the pressure pipe, while the pump must be turned off, pouring into the beaker is carried out by gravity.

To change the physicochemical properties of the liquid, it is driven through the second block. The principle of operation of the second block is as follows.

The pump, located on the second block, draws liquid from the tank for pre-mixing and through the mixers in which the nozzles, dividers and vacuum chambers are located, delivers the liquid to the induction heater (if necessary), then through the coil and filter the liquid is fed into the tank for storing finished products .

The installation provides mixers with different sizes of nozzles and dividers. The number of mixers can be any and depends on the degree of homogenization. In FIG. 1 shows an example with four mixers. In this installation, for better homogenization, the liquid can pass sequentially through two chambers, but due to shut-off valves, after the first mixer, the flows can be sent to a parallel pipeline, which will lead the mixture to the nozzle and further to the coil, filter and into the container with the finished product. The withdrawal of fluid into the nozzle is a prerequisite for creating a vacuum in the vacuum chamber. You can exclude the nozzle from the circuit, but then at the outlet of the mixer, to create a vacuum, you must install a second pump. The first mixer is a piece of pipe with a diameter of 89 mm and a length of 700 mm, at the entrance to which a divider is welded, which is a disk with seventeen holes, each with a diameter of 7 mm. The divider works on the principle of a sieve and breaks up clots in a liquid. After the divider, plates are welded into the pipe at an angle, creating a spiral-shaped fluid flow and giving it acceleration. The swirling liquid enters a nozzle having a diameter of 15 mm under a pressure of 20 atmospheres and exits from it into a vacuum chamber, where there is a sharp release of pressure to minus 0.7 atm, resulting in cavitation. In the process of cavitation, the formation and collapse of gas bubbles in the liquid occurs. A pressure gauge is welded in front of the nozzle to control the pressure in the mixer and to prevent overpressure and rupture of the pipeline. In case of overpressure, part of the liquid is redirected to a parallel mixer. Pressure balancing in parallel mixers is regulated by shutoff valves.

The vacuum chamber is a ball with a diameter of 220 mm. A 20 mm pipe is welded into the top of the chamber, which is necessary to connect a monovacuum meter and a branch pipe, which creates additional vacuum. The liquid entering the vacuum chamber falls down under the action of gravity, space is created above it, when opening the valve located on the tube for discharge, an additional vacuum is created. The effect of rarefaction creates a section of the pipeline with a smaller diameter in the tube, in which, due to a decrease in the diameter of the pipeline, an increase in the flow rate occurs.

Different mixing chambers are used depending on the viscosity of the mixture. The passage through a certain chamber is regulated by shutoff valves. Different nozzle sizes are required for fluids with different viscosities and for creating a cavitation effect. Mixing chambers are installed in pairs, the first chambers have a smaller nozzle diameter than those behind them.

The cavitation effect is created due to a sharp drop in pressure during the transition of fluid from the confuser to the diffuser, and the vacuum in the chambers due to ejection created in the section with a pipeline of smaller diameter, but with a higher flow rate. Both sections are interconnected by pipelines with valves. If necessary, the ejection effect can be turned off.

To control the flow rate, the state of pressure and discharge, the chambers are equipped with flow rate meters (flow meters), manometers and vacuum gauges.

Due to the fact that the liquids have different viscosities, chambers with different diameters of confusers and diffusers are provided, which can work both together at high viscosities of liquids and separately at low viscosities.

If it is necessary to heat the liquids, an induction heater is connected. Due to the special design, the coil is necessary for the transition of fluid flows from laminar to turbulent. Filters provide a screening accuracy of 15 microns.

For a quick transition from one type of product to another and the release of pipelines and filters from liquid, the installation provides reverse movement. In the first block due to shutoff valves, in the second due to the reverse of the pump.

Thus, in a cavitation-vacuum installation for mixing viscous liquids there are no cavitation columns, and the initiation of vacuum occurs due to the discharge created by the Bernoulli effect (law). The vacuum can be adjusted by shut-off valves. The liquid, getting into the vacuum chamber (Fig. 3) literally boils, a large number of bubbles are created, which also contribute to mixing and changing physical properties. In a conical pipe of small diameter (Fig. 4), due to an increase in the flow rate, the pressure drops and the vacuum increases. The higher the flow rate, the higher the discharge. Cavitation is created by abrupt depressurization. Pressure is artificially created due to obstacles in the form of partitions and nozzles.

Using the claimed technical solution, pilot tests were carried out to mix SAE 5w-40 multi-component commercial synthetic oil consisting of four base oils:

- Base oil III gr. by API (hydrocracking) - 20%;

- Base oil IV gr. by API (polyalphaolefins) - 20%;

- Base oil V gr. by API (alkyl naphthalenes) - 10%;

- Base oil II gr. API 26.48%, and additives:

- a package of alloying additives HITEC 8788 V - 12%

- friction modifier (organomolybdenum) HITEC 9552 - 0.02%

- polymethyl acrylate depressant - 0.5%

- thickener (olefin copolymer) (solution in the 2nd group according to API) - 11%.

All components were loaded into a container for preliminary preparation of the mixture with a comb (Fig. 2), mixed for 30 minutes with a gear pump. Next, a run was carried out in one cycle through the second block at ambient temperature, which at that time was equal to 10 ° C. The entire mixing operation in the proposed installation was carried out in 40 minutes.

Since the closest analogue (patent RU 134927) is not intended for mixing more than three base oils, therefore, it cannot provide marketable oil of improved quality, which was obtained using the claimed technical solution. To compare the quality indicators of the obtained oil in a standard reactor, a sequence of operations was carried out with traditionally used blending.

Blending was carried out in the following sequence: base oils: gr. II + gr. III - heating to 75 ° С + gr. IV heating to 75 ° C + gr. V, heating to 75 ° C, stirring for an hour + depressor + thickener, heating to 75 ° C, stirring for an hour + HITEC 8788B, stirring for an hour + HITEC 9552 heating to 75 ° C stirring for 3 hours.

When using traditional blending, approximately 7.5 hours are spent on the production of 1 m ^{3 of} marketable oil, in contrast to 40 minutes when using the proposed technical solution. In addition, it should be noted that the energy consumption in the cold method is incomparably lower, because no additional heating of the mixture is required.

Obtained using the claimed complex of oils come out with better performance than those obtained in the traditional way (blending). For example, the viscosity index after installation is higher than after the reactor and is 175 versus 173, the pour point is below -48 degrees, whereas in the traditional way it is 46 degrees. Destruction is also better after setting 6% versus 7%.

To confirm the ability of the complex to produce improved quality marketable oil, pilot tests were conducted to obtain more complex SAE 0w-30 oil based on five base oils with alloying additives, a friction modifier, a depressant and a thickener. The quality indicators of the obtained commercial oil were even better than that of commercial oil based on four base oils. A decrease in the thickening additive degradation to 5.8%, pour point to -53 ° C.

Obtained using the proposed complex oil, was subjected to centrifugation, as well as long-term storage to control separation and precipitation. During the test, no delamination and precipitation were recorded, which confirms the high degree of homogenization of the mixture.

Thus, experimental tests of the proposed complex have confirmed the ability to obtain improved quality lubricating oil on an unlimited number of base oils with alloying additives and additives in the form of high molecular weight polymers with a decrease in the mechanical degradation of the latter and an increase in the degree of homogenization of the mixture. The design of the cavitation column, described in the closest analogue, does not allow to obtain lubricating oil of similar quality. The claimed complex provides for a reverse movement of liquids, which is necessary in order to completely free the installation and pipelines from previous products, thereby preventing the mixing of different types of products, which invariably affects its quality.

Claims (2)

1. A complex of cavitation-vacuum mixing of viscous liquids, including a storage tank for the starting components, a cavitation unit, a storage tank for the final product, pumps for pumping liquids, pressure sensors, characterized in that it also contains at least one tank for preliminary mixing of liquids, at least one mixer passing into the vacuum chamber, cavitator, coil, filters, shutoff valves, while the tank for pre-mixing liquids is equipped with a pump pumping liquid from the bottom of the tank to the collector located on top, through which the liquid is discharged into the tank, where the collector consists of a pipe, from which several pipes go down at an equal distance, in the lower part of each of which there is a nozzle and along the entire length of which there are slit-like openings , the mixer is a pipe in which a divider is installed, which is a disk with holes, plates mounted at an angle and creating a spiral flow, and a nozzle is installed at the entrance to the vacuum chamber inside the pipe, creating a cavitation effect, the vacuum chamber is spherical, behind the vacuum chamber there is a pipeline leading through the nozzle to the cavitator, while the nozzle also contains angled plates creating a spiral flow, after the cavitator a coil is installed leading to the storage tank of the final product, the filters are installed pipelines were laid at the entrance and exit of the complex, between all elements of the complex. 2. The complex according to claim 1, characterized in that it also contains an induction heater located between the cavitator and the coil.

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