US2574738A

US2574738A - Recuperator tile structure

Info

Publication number: US2574738A
Application number: US78644A
Authority: US
Inventors: Frank H Graham; Edwin G Smith
Original assignee: AMSLER MORTON CORP
Current assignee: AMSLER MORTON Corp
Priority date: 1949-02-26
Filing date: 1949-02-26
Publication date: 1951-11-13
Anticipated expiration: 1968-11-13

Description

4NOV. 13, 1951 FQH, GRAHAM ETAL 2,574,738

RECUPERATOR TILE STRUCTURE Filed Feb. 2e, i949 y2 Z6 Z ,////f' l @9 5 of Patented Nov. 13, 1951 RECUPERATOR TILE STRUCTURE Frank H. Graham, Edgewood, and Edwin G. Smith, Mount Lebanon, Pa., assignors to Amsler Morton Corporation, Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Delaware Application February 26, 1949, Serial No. 78,644

i Claims. l

This invention relates generally to industrial heat exchangers known as recuperators and more particularly to recuperator tile structures consisting of cast or moulded parts made of rei, fr actory clay and similar materials which are assembled and cemented together with air setting cement to form a monolithic structure providing'a plurality of vertical iiues extending through spaced horizontal partitions that form independent horizontal passes around the vertical' iiues. Such heat exchanger tile structures are built inside an insulated six walled rebrick hot gases to ow down through the vertical iiues,

and to introduce the air or gases to be heated at the bottom of the structure causing them to iiow upward through the several horizontal passes progressively toward the top of the structure.-

When operating recuperators in connection with certain types of steel mill heating furnaces, it has been found that the hot waste gases from the furnacesometimes carry with them certain finely divided dusts, parts of which are deposited on the ilat surface of the top sealing course of the recuperator structure between the openings of the vertical ues where this dust forms a crustation that builds up and eventually overhangs and clogs the top openings of the vertical flues. These accumulations adhere tightly to the tile and cannot be removed without breaking or otherwise damaging the whole of the recuperator tile structure.

permit easy removal of fused dust and foreign matter accumulated above the sealing course of the recuperator structure without endangering or disturbing the recuperator structure. This is accomplished by laying an uncemented course of tile blocks and tube flues on the top sealing' course ofthe recuperator tile structure without attaching it thereto. The tube tile projects above the tile blocks and are unsupported at their upper ends, thus forming a reservoir therebetween for the accumulation of fused dust. When this reservoir becomes filled the entire course of blocks and tubes with the accumulation can readily be removed and replaced.

Another object is the provision of a separable and independent course above the monolithic recuperative tile` structure that is thermally insulated from said tile structure and shields it from thermal shock'.

Another object of this invention is to make it possible to remove and replace a selected number of upper horizontal courses of recuperator tile without disturbing or damaging those horizontal courses therebelow. This is accomplished by introducing a separate course of uncemented tube tile blocks at any selected position to permit the removal of the selected separate course and all of `the tile Astructure thereabove without disturbing or otherwise replacing the tile structure therebelow. The practice of this invention also permits the repair of a recuperator tile structure by smoothing off the upper surface of a selected horizontal course below the tile found to be fractured and rebuilding thereon by starting with an additional horizontal course without attaching it thereto.

Other objects and advantages appear hereinafter in the following description and claims.

The accompanying drawing shows, for the purpose of exemplification without limiting the invention or the claims thereto, certain practical embodiments of the invention wherein:

Fig. l is a view in vertical section of the recuperator tile structure assembled in a refractory chamber and embodying the principles of this invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of the flue block which is employed in the horizontal course of the recuperator tilestructure;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged perspective view of a center filling block employed in the horizontal course of the recuperator tile structure;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged perspective view of an edge filling block employed in the horizontal course of the recuperator tile structure;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged perspective view of a corner filling block employed in the horizontal course of the recuperator tile structure; and

Fig. 6 is an enlarged view in vertical section of an extra horizontal course with upstanding. tubular ues mounted on a horizontal course of the recuperator tile structure and the parts broken away.

Referring to the drawings, each of the tile members making up the recuperator tile struc 3 ture is made of a refractory material capable of withstanding the waste gas heat and a high degrec of thermal shock. 'I'his recuperator tile structure is assembled within the recuperator refractory chamber I closed by the refractory heat insulating walls 2 and l' in the arch roof 4 which contains the passage through which the waste gases are drawn from the furnace chamber.

The bottom of the recuperator chamber I is provided with a bridge wall i designed to support the recuperator tile structure within the chamber I and which is provided with a plurality of openings 1 that are aligned with the vertical nues of the recuperator structure for the purpose of conducting the waste gases from the recuperator through the passage I to additional heat exchangers or to the stack as the case may be.

The horizontal courses of the recuperator tile l structure are made up of a plurality of four different characters of tile members similar to those shown in United States letters Patent No. 2,092,402. 'Ihe flue blocks Il as shown in Fig. 2, the center blocks Il as shown in Fig. 3, the edge blocks .I2 as shown in Fig. 4 and the comer blocks Il as shown in Fig. 5 are all preformed tile blocks capable of withstanding considerable heat.

The ilue blocks I2 are octagonal in shape and are provided with an upper recess Il and a lower recess I5 between which is an inwardly extending ange member I6 that deilnes the opening therethrough. The outer surface of the block is recessed on each of the eight sides, as indicated at I1 to receive a complementary flange of the other blocks adjacent thereto or cement which interlocks it with adjacent iiue blocks.

Each of the other three blocks, that is.. the center block II,vthe edge blocks I2, and the corner block Il. is provided with projecting flanges Il that follow the contour of their respective block members and are arranged to nt in the grooves I1 of the flue blocks Il.

Upon constructing the recuperator tile in the refractory chamber I. which is ordinarily square or rectangular in cross section, the corner blocks Il are placed is their respective corners and the i'lue blocks I0. together with the center blocks II and the edge blocks I2, are interlocked and cemented together to complete in a uniform pattern the horizontal course 20 on the door i at the bottom of the recuperator chamber, with the openings oi' each flue block being aligned with the openings 1 in the door l. Thus, each piece is interengaged with its adjacent piece to complete the horizontal course and the blocks are cemented together but lnot to the refractory chamber I as the refractory tile of the recuperator must be able to expand and contract within the refractory chamber I. After the first horizontal course is completed the tubular ilue members 2| are cemented in their respective sockets I4 in each of the iiue blocks I0. It will be noted that the tubular ilues 2l are of suilicient height to receive the whole of the ilow of air or a mixture of air and gas from the inlet pipe or pipes 22 that enter the wall 2 at the bottom of the recuperator.

The second and other additional horizontal courses 28, .24 and 25 are then laid in turn on each of the series of vertically disposed tubular j ilues until the horizontal course 2t is reached, at

which time an extra horizontal course 21 may be inserted wherein each tile block member is merely .placed on top of the corresponding tile 4 without cementing the upper course 21 lower course 2l. The recuperator tile structure is then continued upwardly adding the horizontal courses 20. 30 and 2i to complete the recuperator tile structure within the refractory chamber I, which is capped by the course of seal tile blocks having openings that are aligned with the iiue tile structures as shown at 2l. The course 2l is also provided with the annular sand seal I2 that extends into the recuperator wall.

At the top of the tile structure an additional or extra horizontal course It is added by placing the same on top of the horizontal seal course 2l of the series without cementing it thereto. An additional set of tubes is cemented in the respective sockets of the nue blocks in the horizontal course The tubes as shown at ll extend upwardly within the chamber I. They are usually shorter than the tubes 2I but not necessarily so.

Selected center blocks II in the intermediate horizontal courses of the series are removed. as indicated at 34, for the purpose of providing passage for the air orgas to be heated in traversing back and forth through the horizontal passes of the recuperator tile structure from the. bottom to the top thereof where it is discharged through the passage Il and thence conducted to the furnace chamber.

A greater portion of the material, which may be carried through the passage l into the refractory chamber I, will fall to the side of the tubes l! and collect until it builds upl to the .topz of these tubes and tends to choke or close of! the bores of these tubes, at which time it'vwill ybe necessary to enter the top of the recuperator and remove this material together with the whole course consisting of the blocks'l and the tubes 32 without disturbing or otherwise destroying the horizontal courses 2l and Il. New parts for the extra upper course together with the tubes I2. may then be installed and the recuperator reestablished in service without further delay.

It is also evident that in the selected horizontal courses of the recuperator structure above an uncemented Joint such as between courses 2l and 21 can be removed and replaced without disturbing the structure below such a joint.

The sue blocks le' that are to be used as me top or bottom course of Va section or the masking course I3 need only one recess I4 as illustrated in Fig. 6.

While. for clarity of explanation, certain preferred embodiments of this invention have been shown and described it is to be understood that this invention is capable of many modifications, and changes in the construction and arrangement may be made therein and that certain parts may be employed without conjoint use of other parts and without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention.

We claim:

l. A refractory tile recuperator structure assembled in a refractory lined chamber. consisting of a sexies of vertically spaced horizontal tile courses each of which is made up of a series of iiat interengaged quadrilaterally disposed flue blocks, with filling blocks including center blocks.

edge blocks land corner lling blocks cemented together with -the flue blocks in vertical alignment. vertically disposed tubular flues connecting subjacent ilue blocks and cemented to provide independent horizontal passes and vertical flues, filling blocks at selected ends of each horizontal block member of the horizontal course 28 but 75 course being omitted to connect the horizontal touw.

passes forming a zigzag path from the bottom of the recuperator to the top, and a separate and additional duplicate horizontal tile course having upwardly extending tubular ues above the at tile ot the course and cemented thereto, said separate and additional course mounted directly on and coordinated with one of the horizontal courses of the series without being cemented thereto for permitting the removal of said separate and additional course and the tile structure thereabove without disturbing the tile structure therebelow.

2. The structure of claim 1 characterized in that said separate and additional horizontal course is mounted on the uppermost horizontal course of the sexies and the tubular iiues thereon project upwardly above said separate and additional course and are supported only at their lower ends.

3. The structure of claim 1 characterized in that said separate and additional horizontal course is mounted on the uppermost horizontal course of the series and the tubular ues thereon project upwardly to above said separate and additional course but to a less extent than the flue separating the courses ot the series.

4. The structure of claim 1 characterized'in that said separate and additional horizontal course is mounted on an intermediate horizontal Fenske Oct. 4. 1938