RU2794725C1 - Centrifugal vortex separator - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: oil and gas production.

SUBSTANCE: separation apparatus for separating gas-liquid flows in a centrifugal field and can be used, for example, in gas separation processes in the oil refining, petrochemical and gas industries. Centrifugal-vortex separator contains a housing, inlet and outlet branch pipes, a separation chamber with vortex tubes, an internal cylindrical insert forming an annular space with the housing walls for draining the breakout liquid. The gas-liquid flow is introduced into the separator by means of a single-flow tangential branch pipe into the cyclone device, which is located in the lower part of the internal space of the cylindrical insert. The cyclone device consists of the lower and upper cones adjoining the bases to the cyclone branch pipe, on which there are through tangential slots. The upper cone is closed from above by a bottom, on which a separation chamber is placed, which is closed by a disk on top. The bottom has a through annular channel equal to the difference in diameters of the outer perimeter of the cylindrical generatrix of the separation chamber and the outer contour of the vortex tubes. And on top, above the separation chamber, a cone with a base equal to the inner diameter of the insert is coaxially placed on the disk. A sleeve is coaxially placed in the upper part of the cone for fastening the input ends of the blades of a tangential-axial vortex tube, consisting of blades symmetrically installed along a conical generatrix with an angle of inclination of the blades to the axial one, fixed along a generatrix of a larger diameter. Above the bladed tangential-axial vortex tube, a vertical separation bumper is installed, in the form of a cylinder with the helical plates, diameters equal to the inner surface of the cylindrical insert, closely adjacent to its inner surface on the outer surface. In places where the cylindrical insert adjoins, there is an annular space along the contact perimeter, and in the upper part of the cylindrical insert there is a cone adjoining the base close to the insert. In the area between the end of the cylinder and the cavity framing the cone, there is a tip with a branch pipe with the output of the separated gas and a fine adjustment valve installed on it, located on the branch pipe extending beyond the separator body to output the separated gas - flow II. In the lower cubic part of the separator insert, there is a drain funnel and a branch pipe to output the separated liquid - flow III. The gas-liquid flow is introduced by means of a tangential pipe 2 and a valve 3 - flow I, and mounting guides are installed along the perimeter of the inner annular space and he cylindrical insert 8 is centered in the housing 1.

EFFECT: increase in the efficiency of separation of gas-liquid flows.

1 cl, 3 dwg

Description

The invention relates to separation apparatus for separating gas-liquid flows coming under a pressure head determined by the conditions of the process plant, for example, the pressure of gas coming from a well in a field or a GDS system to a separator. Among the most important technological problems are the processes of separation of two-phase gas-liquid systems and their separation into constituent phases, which are carried out in separators. Separation processes in separators are determined by pressure and temperature parameters, as well as by structural elements of the separator, on which its performance and efficiency depend.

The rate of gas movement and the residence time in the separators is determined by the efficiency of the separation apparatus.

At the same time, the separation pressure parameters are determined by retrograde phenomena, i.e. the nature of the gas itself, which cannot be influenced. The separation temperature is determined by the given conditions.

An analogue of the claimed technical solution is a centrifugal-vortex separator according to patent RU 2320395 C2 B01D 45/12(2006.01) dated 26.02.2006 [1]. The separator contains a vertical body, a cover, inlet, outlet, drain pipes, a deflector installed in the direction of rotation of the gas-liquid flow; flat and false bottoms with central holes and a hollow cylinder mounted in them; a vertical separation package consisting of flat plates with inlet and outlet edges bent in opposite directions, forming separation slots in the overlap zone.

The invention is intended for settling and separating a film, droplet, fine suspension from a gas-liquid flow.

The initial gas-liquid mixture is supplied to the apparatus through the inlet pipe 5, displaced horizontally relative to the axial line of the body, allows you to create a sliding impact on the surface of the deflector 6 installed in the direction of rotation of the flow, allows as a result of the impact of the gas-liquid mixture, will lead to crushing of the most enlarged liquid drops and the formation fine mixture, which will penetrate into the separation package, which will lead to entrainment with a gas vortex into the outlet pipe of already separated gas, which is unacceptable.

This creates a lot of swirl zones that generate turbulence, resulting in reduced separation efficiency, productivity and increased hydrodynamic losses.

Known vortex gas cleaner RU 1060206 B01D 45/12 dated 12/15/1983 [2], containing a housing with inlet and outlet axial pipes, a drain chamber, swirlers and a shielding insert located coaxially between the pipes and the housing, while it is equipped with a partition mounted on the outlet branch pipe and forming a channel with the walls of the housing, connecting the cavity of the housing with the drain chamber, and the shielding insert is made in the form of a truncated body expanding along the gas flow with a curved side surface, the larger base of which passes into an annular trough communicated by tubes with the drain chamber.

The goal is achieved by the fact that the vortex gas cleaner, by cleaning from liquid or solid suspended particles, enters the annular channel 18 through the inlet pipe 2, passes the swirler 5, which forms the main vortex, and is sent to the working pipe 6. In the working pipe, the flow rotation frequency increases in proportion to the decrease radius and, accordingly, the centrifugal forces acting on the particles increase. Under the action of these centrifugal forces, immediately after passing through the swirler, the gas to be purified begins to stratify into layers more and less saturated with particles. The closer to the periphery of the vortex flow are the layers of gas, the more they are saturated with suspended particles pushed back there by centrifugal forces.

Then, the purified gas enters the chamber 11, where the peripheral contaminated layers of the main flow merge with the secondary vortex with the release of suspensions. As a result of the joint interaction 22 of the secondary vortex and the movement of suspended particles and the movement of gas along the arrow 19, the gas is separated from suspensions. At the same time, non-extracted gas particles coagulate and separate over time. The separated particles are removed through the annular channel 17 and enter the chamber 16, and then the separated gas of the main vortex enters the nozzle 8 and enters the consumer.

Disadvantages: a very complex design for streamlining the movement of the secondary vortex flow and the system for cleaning it from suspended particles and their removal, and the difficulty in the practical manufacture of geometric profiles of the separated structural elements.

The prototype of the claimed invention is a centrifugal-vortex separator according to the patent of the Russian Federation: RU 2760690 B01D 45/12 (2021.08), dated 30.03.2021 [3]. The separator contains a vertical cylindrical body, inlet and outlet branch pipes, a cylindrical insert forming an annular channel with the body walls for removing the separated liquid, and the gas-liquid flow is introduced separately by double-flow tangential lower and upper branch pipes, which are located at different elevations of the body.

The flow was introduced through the lower tangential branch pipe into the separation chamber through an annular channel and a swirler with slotted tangential slots. The separation chamber is closed from below by the bottom, and from above - by a disk, in the center of which there is a working branch pipe with a conical outlet-diaphragm, and there are through holes at the disk installation site at the interface with the cylindrical insert. At the outlet of the opening - the diaphragm of the working branch pipe, a conical guide is installed, above which a cyclone device is installed, consisting of lower and upper cones, adjoining the bases to the cyclone branch pipe. In this case, the upper cone is equal to the inner diameter of the cylindrical insert and adjoins it closely, and the lower cone is smaller than the inner diameter of the cylindrical insert and forms an annular gap with it. There are through tangential slots on the cyclone branch pipe.

In the upper section, a coaxially vertical separation bumper is placed, representing a cylinder, lower and upper cones connected to each other. At the same time, the lower cone is docked with the upper cone of the cyclone branch pipe, there are vertical through slots on the cylindrical branch pipe, and on the outer surface of the cylindrical branch pipe, there are helical plates with diameters smaller than the inner diameter of the cylindrical insert, forming a gap between the edges of the helical plates and the cylindrical insert .

The separation bumper is closed from above by a conical generatrix having a hole in the center, and at some distance with a parallel gap, the central region above the hole is closed by a cone that covers this hole. In the upper zone of the separator there is a branch pipe with a conical tip coming out of the separator body and placed on the branch pipe of the shut-off and control valve. In the lower zone of the separator housing, there is a branch pipe extending beyond the limits of the housing with a shut-off and control valve installed on the branch pipe to output the separated liquid.

The method of operation of the centrifugal-vortex separator is that the gas-liquid mixture is supplied under pressure by two streams (streams I and II) to the vertical cylindrical body of the separator 1. The two-stream supply is carried out tangentially by the lower pipe 2 and the upper pipe 4, which are located at different elevations of the body . The flow supply of the lower tangential branch pipe 2 with a shut-off valve 3 was introduced into the separation chamber 8 through the annular channel 9 and swirlers 10 with slotted tangential slots 11.

As a result, the gas-liquid gas flow swirling in the cyclone device, due to centrifugal forces, is divided into two rotating flows into axial and peripheral, and therefore, from the peripheral, the separated liquid is released, which flows down into the annular slot 20 along the wall of the cylindrical insert downwards, accumulates on surface of the disk 13, and then flows through the holes (14a) into the annular space 7, with subsequent entry into the bottom collection 34.

Disadvantages: the apparatus uses a vortex device at the first stage, and a cyclone device is used after the vortex one. This sequence does not allow the centrifugal vortex separator to be used with maximum efficiency. It is most expedient to use a sequence of stages with increasing tangential velocity, namely from the cyclone stage, which has a more moderate tangential velocity, and after that, the vortex stage, which has higher tangential velocities.

The above drawbacks were eliminated in the proposed invention - a multi-stage centrifugal-vortex separator, in which the following tasks are solved:

- at the first stage, a cyclone device is provided, in which the main amount of the liquid phase is separated in the field of centrifugal forces, and then for subsequent separation, a vortex separation chamber is installed;

- after the separation chamber, a tangential-axial and vertical separation bumper with helical plates with diameters equal to the inner diameter of the cylindrical insert is installed, designed for the subsequent separation of the residual amount of fine suspension of the liquid phase.

The essence of the claimed technical solution is that the centrifugal separator contains a housing, inlet and outlet pipes, swirlers, while a cylindrical insert having a smaller diameter of the housing is coaxially placed in the housing, and between the housing and the cylindrical insert there is an annular space for draining the separated liquid.

The gas-liquid flow was introduced into the separator by means of a single-flow tangential branch pipe into the cyclone device, which is located in the lower part of the internal space of the cylindrical insert.

The cyclone device consists of the lower and upper cones adjoining the bases to the cyclone branch pipe, on which there are through tangential slots, while the cyclone branch pipe is closed from above by a lid with a hole in the center, and from below the branch pipe is closed by the bottom with a hole in the center, and at the border of the base docking the lower cone with a cyclone branch pipe has an annular gap, while the lower cone is equal to the inner diameter of the cylindrical insert and adjoins it closely, and the upper cone is smaller than the inner diameter of the cylindrical insert and the top of the cone is closed with a bottom equal to the inner diameter of the cylindrical insert.

At the same time, a separation chamber is installed at the bottom, located in the middle part of the separator, and the chamber is closed by a disk from above, while the bottom has a through annular channel equal to the difference in diameters of the outer perimeter of the cylindrical generatrix of the separation chamber and the outer contour of the swirlers.

And above, on the disk of the separation chamber, a cone with a base equal to the inner diameter of the insert is coaxially placed, while in the upper part of the cone a sleeve is coaxially placed for fastening the inlet ends of the blades of a tangential-axial swirler, consisting of blades symmetrically mounted along a conical generatrix with an angle of inclination blades to the axial one, while the input ends of the blades are fixed in the sleeve of a smaller diameter, in relation to the ends of the blades, fixed along the generatrix of a larger diameter.

Moreover, the sleeve and the ends of the blades are fixed by means of mounting sieves installed on the inner surface of the insert, while above, in the upper part of the separator housing, a vertical separation bumper is installed, representing a cylinder, on the outer surface of which there are helical plates with diameters equal to the inner surface of the cylindrical insert closely adjacent to its inner surface.

At the junctions of the plates with the cylindrical insert along the contact perimeter, there are through holes for draining the separated liquid into the annular space, and a cone is installed in the upper part of the cylindrical insert, adjoining the base close to the insert.

In this case, the area between the end of the cylinder and the cavity framing the cone, there is a tip with a branch pipe and a fine adjustment valve installed on it located on the branch pipe extending beyond the separator body to remove the separated gas, and in the lower cubic part of the separator insert there is a drain funnel and a branch pipe is installed , extending beyond the separator housing with a shut-off and control valve installed on the branch pipe to output the separated liquid, and the gas-liquid flow is introduced through a tangential branch pipe and a valve, and mounting guides are installed to install and center the cylindrical insert in the housing along the perimeter of the inner annular space.

Technical solution for the design of a centrifugal-vortex separator.

The figure 1 shows a schematic section of the centrifugal separator, the figure 2 shows the section of the separator in the section "A-A", the figure 3 shows the section of the "node B".

Technological flows (figure 1): I - input of the original gas flow through a tangential pipe; II - output of the separated gas; III - withdrawal of the separated liquid.

Structural elements of a centrifugal-vortex separator: 1 - housing; 2 - inlet tangential branch pipe; 3 - fine adjustment valve; 4 - outlet pipe of the separated gas; 5 - fine adjustment valve; 6 - outlet pipe of the separated liquid; 7 - fine adjustment valve; 8 - cylindrical insert; 8a - openings for withdrawing the separated liquid: 9 - annular space; 10 - cyclone device; 11 - cyclone pipe; 12 - lower cone of the cyclone pipe; 12a - drain annular gap; 13 - upper cone of the cyclone pipe; 14 - tangential slots in the cyclone nozzle; 15 - bottom of the cyclone pipe; 16 - hole in the bottom of the cyclone pipe; 17 - cover of the cyclone pipe; 18 - hole in the cover of the cyclone pipe; 19 - bottom of the upper cone of the cyclone pipe; 20 - entrance to the annular channel in the disk 19; 21 - separation chamber; 22 - swirlers; 23 - slotted tangential slots; 23a - entrance from the annular channel to the swirlers; 24-disk separation chamber; 24a - outer cylindrical generatrix of the annular channel; 25 - through hole in the disk of the separation chamber; 26 - cone adjacent to the top cover of the separation chamber; 26a - holes for the withdrawal of the separated liquid; 27 - space between the cover of the separation chamber and the cone; 28 - bushing of the tangential-axial swirler; 29 - mounting grid of the ends of the blades of the tangential-axial swirler; 30 - blades of the tangential-axial swirler; 31 - mounting grid of the ends of the swirler blades; 32 - cylinder of the separation bumper; 33 - helical plates; 34 - holes in the cylindrical insert for draining the separated liquid; 35 - cone placed at the end of the cylindrical insert; 36 - cone outlet; 37 - tip; 38 - drain funnel; 39 - mounting guides placed in the annulus.

The technical essence of a centrifugal-vortex separator is that a centrifugal separator containing a vertical cylindrical body (1), inlet (2) and outlet pipes (4,6), a separation chamber (21) with swirlers (22), an internal cylindrical insert ( 8), which forms with the walls of the housing (1) an annular space (9) for draining the separated liquid, and the gas-liquid flow is introduced into the separator through a single-flow tangential pipe (2) into the cyclone device, which is located in the lower part of the internal space of the cylindrical insert (8) , and the cyclone device (10), consisting of the lower (12) and upper cones (13), adjoining the bases to the cyclone nozzle (11), on which there are through tangential slots (14).

At the same time, the cyclone branch pipe is closed from above by a lid (17) with a hole (18) in the center, and from below the branch pipe is closed by a bottom (15) with a hole in the center (16), and there is an annular gap (12a) at the interface between the base of the lower cone and the cyclone branch pipe , while the lower cone (12) is equal to the inner diameter of the cylindrical insert and adjoins it closely, and the upper cone (13) is smaller than the inner diameter of the cylindrical insert and the top of the cone is closed by the bottom (19) equal to the inner diameter of the cylindrical insert.

Moreover, a separation chamber (21) is installed at the bottom, located in the middle part of the separator, and the top of the chamber is closed by a disk (24), while in the bottom (19) there is a through annular channel (20), equal to the difference in diameters of the outer perimeter of the cylindrical generatrix (24a) the separation chamber and the outer contour of the swirlers (22), and above, above the separation chamber, a cone (26) with a base equal to the inner diameter of the insert is placed coaxially on the disk.

Moreover, in the lower zone of the installation of the cone on the disk and the docking of the disk (24) with the cylindrical insert (8), there are through holes (26a) along the perimeter of the cone (26a) and inserts (8a) for withdrawing the separated liquid,

at the same time, in the upper part of the cone, a sleeve (28) is coaxially placed, for fastening the input ends of the blades of the tangential-axial swirler, consisting of blades (30), symmetrically installed along a conical generatrix with an angle of inclination of the blades to the axial one, fixed along a generatrix of a larger diameter, moreover, the sleeve and the ends of the blades are fixed by means of mounting sieves (29) and (31) mounted on the inner surface of the insert.

In the upper part of the separator body, a vertical separation bumper is installed, representing a cylinder (32), on the outer surface of which there are helical plates (33), with diameters equal to the inner surface of the cylindrical insert, closely adjacent to its inner surface.

In the places where the cylindrical insert adjoins along the perimeter of contact, there is an annular space (9), and in the upper part of the cylindrical insert there is a cone (35) adjoining the base close to the insert, and in the area between the end of the cylinder and the cavity framing the cone, there is a tip (37) with branch pipe (4) with the outlet of the separated gas and a fine adjustment valve (5) installed on it, located on the branch pipe extending beyond the separator body for the outlet of the separated gas (flow II).

In the lower cubic part of the separator insert, there is a drain funnel (38) and a branch pipe (6) is installed that extends beyond the separator body with a shut-off and control valve (7) installed on the branch pipe to output the separated liquid (flow III).

The gas-liquid flow is introduced through a tangential branch pipe (2) and valve 3 (flow I), and to install and center the cylindrical insert (8) in the housing (1), mounting guides (39) are installed along the perimeter of the inner annulus.

The method of operation of the centrifugal-vortex separator is that the gas-liquid mixture (flow I) is supplied under pressure to the vertical cylindrical body of the separator (1), through a single-flow tangential pipe (2) to the cyclone device (10).

As a result of the action of centrifugal forces from the swirling gas-liquid flow in the cyclone space, the resulting flow is divided into axial and peripheral ones, which makes it possible to separate the main amount of the liquid phase from the peripheral flow, which is discharged through the drain annular gap (12a) with subsequent output to the cubic part of the separator.

The subsequent separation of the flow from the residual content of finely dispersed moisture is carried out in successively installed bottom-up separation and outlet, after the cyclone device, first - in the cyclone nozzle (11), then, in the subsequent swirling in through tangential slots (14), and after, in located above the separation chamber (21) with swirlers (22), then in the subsequent swirling of the flow in a tangential-axial bladed swirler (30) and the subsequent vertical separation fender with helical plates (33) placed above.

At the same time, stepwise separated moisture is removed from each sequentially placed separation device with swirlers, which is removed immediately as it is released, which makes it possible to prevent secondary moistening and separation in subsequent separation devices.

Compared with known inventions, the claimed centrifugal vortex separator has the following advantages:

- timely withdrawal is characterized by a perfect innovative design, since they are sequentially placed in height from the bottom up. In each separation device, a complex of processes is carried out: tangential flow input, its swirling, separation into gas and liquid phases, separation and withdrawal of the liquid phase into the annular channel between the inner surface of the separator housing and the cylindrical insert, while the separated liquid phase does not come into contact with the processed gas-liquid mixture;

- the presence of an annular space, located along the entire height of the separator, allows for the separation and removal of the separated liquid during the direct-flow movement of the gas-liquid flow in series: in the cyclone device, the separation chamber, the bladed tangential-axial swirlers and the vertical separation fender with the direct-flow movement of the separated flow, independent stepwise separation with simultaneous removal of the separated liquid. This makes it possible to ensure flow swirling and to implement the optimal mode of separation of the gas-liquid flow, which affects the separation efficiency.

The proposed technical solution - the use of a sequential stepped swirl of the gas flow with the use of an individual tangential input at each stage using innovative swirlers with efficient removal of separated moisture into an isolated annular space along the entire height of the separator, which does not allow re-entrainment, is a new design solution for centrifugal separators, therefore, meets the criterion of "novelty".

The above set of distinguishing features of the claimed centrifugal separator design is not known at this level of technology development and does not follow from the well-known rules for these designs of once-through centrifugal separators, which proves compliance with the "inventive step" criterion.

Information sources

1. RU 2320395 С2 B01D 45/12(2006.01) dated 26.02.2006.

2. RU 1060206 B01D 45/12 dated 12/15/1983.

3. RU 2760690 B01D 45/12 (2021. 08), dated 30.03.2021 - prototype.

Claims (1)

Centrifugal-vortex separator for separating gas-liquid flows, containing a vertical cylindrical body, inlet and outlet nozzles, a separation chamber with swirlers, an internal cylindrical insert forming an annular space with the walls of the body for removing the separated liquid, characterized in that the gas-liquid flow is introduced into the separator by means of a single-flow tangential branch pipe into a cyclone device, which is located in the lower part of the internal space of the cylindrical insert, and the cyclone device, consisting of the lower and upper cones, adjoining the bases to the cyclone branch pipe, on which there are through tangential slots, while the cyclone branch pipe is closed from above with a lid with a hole in the center, and from below, the branch pipe is closed by the bottom with a hole in the center, and at the border of the docking of the base of the lower cone with the cyclone branch pipe there is an annular gap, while the lower cone is equal to the inner diameter of the cylindrical insert and adjoins it closely, and the upper cone is smaller than the inner diameter of the cylindrical insert and from above the cone is closed by a bottom equal to the inner diameter of the cylindrical insert, and at the bottom there is a separation chamber located in the middle part of the separator, while the chamber is closed by a disk from above, and in the bottom there is a through annular channel equal to the difference in diameters of the outer perimeter of the cylindrical generatrix of the separation chamber and of the outer contour of the swirlers, and above, above the separation chamber, a cone with a base equal to the inner diameter of the insert is coaxially placed on the disk, and in the lower zone of the installation of the cone on the disk and the docking of the disk with the cylindrical insert, there are through holes along the perimeter of the cone and inserts for withdrawing the separated liquid , at the same time, in the upper part of the cone, a bushing is coaxially placed for fastening the input ends of the blades of the tangential-axial swirler, consisting of blades symmetrically installed along the conical generatrix with the angle of inclination of the blades to the axial one, fixed along the generatrix of a larger diameter circle, and the bushing and the ends of the blades are fixed by mounting grids mounted on the inner surface of the insert, while in the upper part of the separator housing there is a vertical separation bumper representing a cylinder, on the outer surface of which there are helical plates with diameters equal to the inner surface of the cylindrical insert, closely adjacent to its inner surface, and in places At the junction of the cylindrical insert along the contact perimeter there are through holes for draining the separated liquid into the annular space, and in the upper part of the cylindrical insert there is a cone adjoining the base close to the insert, and in the area between the end of the cylinder and the cavity framing the cone there is a tip with a branch pipe with an outlet of the separated gas and a fine adjustment valve installed on it, located on the branch pipe extending beyond the separator body for removing the separated gas - flow II, and in the lower cubic part of the separator insert there is a drain funnel and a branch pipe is installed that extends beyond the separator body with installation on in the branch pipe of the shut-off and control valve for withdrawing the separated liquid, - flow III, and the gas-liquid flow is introduced through a tangential branch pipe and valve - flow I, and mounting guides are installed to install and center the cylindrical insert in the housing along the perimeter of the inner annular space.

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