US2770830A - Air lance for blowing out superheater elements and the like - Google Patents

Description

Nov; 20, 1956 w. J. VOGEL ET AL 2,770,830

AIR LANCE FOR BLOWING OUT SUPERHEATER ELEMENTS AND THE LIKE Filed Jan. 9, 1951 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fig. l.

su r dhr Hui" Superhcdir 4 x I Q i r mvzu'rons l I r i WiliorlnKJ. Vgxgel m F mi mm 2 I BY Paul J. Kiefer Nov. 20, 1956 w. J. VOGEL 'ErAL 2,770,830

AIR LANCE FOR BLOWING CUT SUPERHEATER ELEMENTS AND THE LIKE Filed Jan. 9, 1951 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 kmm INVENTORS William J. VOQeI Emil Knuuz POU' \I- K er AT T NEY Nov. 20, 1956 w. J. VOGEL ETAL 2,770,830

AIR LANCE FOR BLOWING OUT SUPERHEATER ELEMENTS AND THE LIKE Filed Jan. 9, 1951 3 Sheets-Shet 5 ll un Emil Knqutz BY Paul J. Klefer bqf nited States Patent AIR LANCE FOR BLOWING OUT SUPER- HEATER ELEMENTS AND THE LIKE William J. Vogel, Upper Montclair, N. 1., Emil Knautz, Hartsdale, N. Y., and Paul J. Kiefer, Chattanooga, Tenn., assignors to Combustion Engineering, Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Application January 9, 1951, Serial No. 205,136

Claims. c1. 15--406) This invention relates to lances for blowing foreign matter out of the interior of tubes and particularly for blowing water and other foreign matter out of the tubular elements of steam superheaters and the like.

In large steam generating units the tubular elements of the steam superheaters or reheaters are often arranged so that solids and moisture cannot drain off, the solids presenting the possibility of clogging the elements and the moisture causing corrosion of the. elements. If a trapped accumulation of water within a tubular superheater element should freeze, it may injure the element. This can occur following a hydrostatic test of the superheater in a climate where a freezing temperature prevails at the time.

To overcome these difliculties the superheater may, after a shut down of the steam generating. unit, be blown out with air at high velocity so as to rid the elements of the accumulated foreign matter. However, to effectively clear all elements of foreign matter it has-been found necessary to blow out or lance each element separately. To do this requires the use of lance means that can be operated within the limited space of a superheater header.

Broadly stated, the object of this invention is to provide novel lance means placeable within the superheater or reheater header and there effective to'blow accumulated water and other foreign matter out of each superheater or reheater element that is connected with the header.

A more specific object is novelly to design the foregoing lance apparatus so that it can be inserted intotheheader interior through conventional handhole openings in the header ends, and so that necessary manipulation of the apparatus can conveniently be accomplished from the header exterior.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be come apparent from the following description of illustrative embodiments when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. l is a vertical section of a superheater header show ing a form of lance according to the invention mounted within the header in position to blow through one of the tubular superheater elements.

Fig. 2 is a vertical cross section of the lance of Fig. 1 taken generally on line 22 of Fig. 4 and to alarger scale than the Fig. 1' showing.

Fig. 3 is a plan view taken on line.3-3 of Fig. 2 indicating how individual portions of the lance can be inserted through a hand hole opening represented in dashed and dotted outline.

Fig. 4 is an end view of the new lance taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a vertical cross section, similar to Fig. 2, showing a modified form of the new lance.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, the lance, generally designated as A, is mounted within the superheater header 2 so as to be alignedover one of the tubular superheater elements 3 as shown, .by means to be described presently. In the form here illustrativelyrepresented, thisilance'A comprisesa hollow body portion 4 having a chamber 5, a cylinder 6 removably mounted on the body 4'as by screw thread 7 (Fig. 2), a piston 8 within the cylinder 6 (see also Fig. 2), and a piston rod 9 upon which the piston 8 is mounted as by a stud 10 passing through a bore 11 in the piston. The stud 10 is screwed into the piston rod 9 and receives a nut 12 to hold the piston 8 onto the rod 9.

The portion of the piston rod extending downwardly through the body 4 and beyond is hollow containing a bore 13 and is provided with a multiplicity of ports 14 which establish communication for fluid flow from the chamber 5 (see Fig. 2) of the body 4 into the bore 13 and out through the bottom of the piston rod 9; The bottom of the piston rod 9 is provided with a nozzle 15, here shown as screwed onto the rod, which fits snugly into the bore 16 in the header 2 opposite the end of the tubular superheater element 3 with which the lance apparatus is shown as being aligned.

Preferably this nozzle 15 has a spherical surface 17 fitting into'the bore 16 and is provided with a packing ring 17' in a groove as shown. The piston 8 is preferably provided with a packing ring 18 in agroove adjacent the inner wall of cylinder 6 and with another packing ring 19 in a groove around stud 10. Both packing rings 18 andv 19 (Fig. 2) areheld in place by the removable piston head 20 under nut 12.

The body portion 4 of the lance A is provided with aligned bores 21 and 22 through which the piston rod 9 slides longitudinally. The bores 21 and 22 are preferably provided with packing rings '23. and 24 in grooves to prevent air leaking from. the chamber 5. A threaded.

opening 25 permits the attachment of an air hose 26 for delivering air under pressure into the chamber 5, thence to flow through ports 14 into the. bore 13 of piston rod 9 and through nozzle 15 into the superheater element 3 being acted upon. As may be seen in Fig.3,

the transverse shape of the body 4 is such that it will pass longitudinally through a hand hole such as 27, shown by Fig. 3 in dashed and dotted outline and by Fig. l as to location in the header end portion.

The aforesaid cylinder 6 is provided with ports 28' and 29; above and below the top and bottom of the pis ton 8 in its extreme positions of travel. Each port '28 and 29 has a threaded portion for the attachment of air hoses 30 and 31 by which air under pressure may be admitted into the .cylinder 6 to drive the piston 8 and therewith the piston rod 9 respectively down or up.

To support the lance Awithin the header 2, shoes 32 are provided and fastened, as 'by welding, to a plate 33 which in turn is bolted to the body portion 4 by knurled headed screws shown at 34 in Fig. 2. .Fig 4 shows the shoes 32 to'be placed at about degrees around the inner circumference of the header 2, and shows a slight clearance between each shoe 32 and the header. The top of the cylinder 6 is shown as contacting the header 2 because the piston 3, as represented in Fig.

2, is forced by air pressure (on top of the .piston) to its lowest position, that is, where the nozzle 15'is firmly seated by the piston in the bore 16 of the header 2, in line with the tubular superheater element 3.

As a consequence the cylinder 6 is pushed up to con tact the header 2 and therewith the body portion 4 is raised and the shoes 32 are lifted out of contact from the inner surface of the header 2. Obviously the shoes 32 may be placed at other positions, or at angles other than 90 degrees around the inner circumference of the header. For example, should lance A operate on. a

through i a hand hole :27.

Thebody portion 4 of the lance is further provided,

with threaded recesses 35' (see Fig. 2), into which rods 35 are screwed; these rods being placed on opposite sides of the body portion 4 and preferably in substantial alignment with the axis of the header 2. A keyway 36 is provided in both the recesses 35' and the rods 35 to receive a key to assure the rotation of the lance A about the axis of the header 2 by means of the rods 35. An extension 37 to one or to both rods 35, Fig. 1, is fastened to the rod 35 by means of a clamp 38, said extension continuing through the header 2 and out through a hand hole 39 at the end 40 of the header, Fig. l:

The outer end of said rod extension 37 has fastened thereto a cross bar shown at 41 in Fig. 1, whereby the lance A may be rotated. By this extension 37 the lance A is advanced longitudinally through the header 2 to each element 3 that is to be acted upon, and the extension may be marked at the header end 40 for the location of each element 3 by said marks. The rod 35 and its extension 37 may be supported by additional shoes 42 clamped thereto as shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 4.

One or more additional hand holes shown at 27 in Fig. 1 are provided in the header 2 adjacent the end hand hole 39 through which the lance A, its rods 35, extensions 37 and shoes 32, 42 are assembled, and the air hoses 30, 31, and 26 are attached; the represented arrangementof these openings 27 and 39 being more or less conventional.

In operation of the lance apparatus shown by Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4, the body portion 4, the cylinder 6, the piston 8 and piston rod 9, preferably all assembled, are first passed through one of said hand holes 27 into the header 2; or the body portion 4 and cylinder 6 may be separately passed into the header and assembled therein. The shoes 32 are next passed through one of said hand holes into the header and fastened to the lance body 4 by means of the knurled screws 34; the main air hose 26 is thereupon passed through the end hand hole 39 into the header and is connected to the lance body 4; one or both rods 35 are passed through one of said hand holes into the header and fastened to the lance body 4; and the shoes 42 follow and are clamped to the rod. The rod extension 37 is next passed through the end hand hole 39 into the header and clamped to the rod 35. Finally, the control air hoses 30 and 31 are passed through the end hand hole 39 into the header and are connected to the ports 28 and 29 of the cylinder 6.

Air under pressure is now admitted into the cylinder 6 beneath the piston 8 through control hose 31 causing the piston to rise and lift the nozzle 15 up and clear of the inside wall of the header 2. The lance A is then supported by the shoes 32 which now rest upon inside wall of the header 2. By means of the portion of the extension 37 projecting through the end hand hole 39, the lance A may now be slid on shoes 32 longitudinally of the header and placed over the bore 16 of a superheater tubular element 3. When in this position the air under pressure beneath the piston 8 is released through control hose 31 and air under pressure is admitted above the piston 8 through control hose 30, thereby jamming the nozzle 15 into the bore 16 of header 2 leading into the superheater element 3. Air under pressure may now be admitted through main hose 26 into the chamber 5, through ports 14, thence through the bore 13 in the piston rod 9 and down into the superheater element 3 to blow it clear of foreign matter.

When the element 3 has been blown, the air under pressure in main hose 26 is shut off and the piston 8 is again raised by releasing the air above it through control hose 30 and admitting air under pressure beneath it through control hose 31. The lance A is now ready to move into position over another element 3 and the steps described above are repeated to blow that element.

After all elements are blown, the lance of Figs. 1-2-3-4 is moved to a position in the header adjacent 4 said end hand holes and is disassembled for removal from the header. It will be understood that suitable valves (not shown) are provided in the respective air hoses (main 26 and control 3031) to govern the air flow into and out of the lance.

The modification of the lance shown in Fig. 5, generally designated as A, is similar to the lance A of Fig. 2 except that the port 29 of Fig. 2 is reduced in size to become a vent 29' which is open to the atmosphere and the control air hose 31 of Fig. 2 is omitted. The gasket 23 and its recess in the body portion 4 of Fig. 2, is lowered to a position shown at 23' in Fig. 5; and the body portion 4 in Fig. 5 is provided with a recess 43 extending from the cylinder 6 down to just above gasket 23, which recess accommodates a spring 44 under compression.

This spring 44 urges the piston 8 upwardly in the cylinder 6 so that when the air pressure on top of the piston is released through port 28 via control hose 30, the piston 8 and therewith the pisotn rod 9 will rise and lift the nozzle 15 from the bore 16 (see Figs. 1, 2, 4) over a superheater element 3. By admitting the air under pressure through control hose 30 onto the top of piston 8, the piston 8 is moved downward, compressing spring 44 and again driving the nozzle 15 into the bore 16 of a superheater element 3.

The operation of assembling the lance A shown in Fig. 5 and moving it into position over an element 3 with the aid of rods 35 and the extensions 37 as shown in Fig. l, is the same as described above for the assembling and moving the lance A in Figs. l23-4. After the nozzle 15 has been seated in superheater element bore 16 in the manner aforesaid, the air is admitted through the main hose 26 into chamber 5, through the hollow piston rod 9 and thence into the element 3 to blow it out.

Looking once more at Figs. 1 to 5, it will be obvious that the rods 35 and extensions 37 shown by those drawing views may be omitted and the main air conduit 26 :may take the form of rigid tube which may be used to advance the lance A, A, through the header 2.

While there have been shown and described illustrative embodiments of our invention, it will be understood that changes in construction, combination and arrangement of parts may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed.

What we claim is:

1. For use in blowing tubular elements connected with a header that has apertures receiving those elements and that further has hand holes through which access may be had to the header interior, a lance comprising assembled parts each of which is formed to be passable through one of said hand holes, one of said parts comprising a body portion bounding a chamber, a cylinder fastened to said body portion, a piston in said cylinder and a piston rod extending from said piston through aligned bores in said body portion in sliding fit and through the chamber thereof and beyond, a bore in the portion of said piston rod extending through said chamber and beyond and ports in said rod connecting said bore with said chamber for fluid flow from the chamber into said bore and out of the extending end of said rod into a selected one of said elements, a nozzle on said extending end of said piston rod formed to fit snugly into the aperture in said header that receives said selected element, a fluid inlet in said body portion communicating with said chamber, a main conduit connected to said inlet to deliver blow out fluid under pressure into said chamber, ports on the wall of said cylinder adjacent each end of said cylinder and conduits connected to said ports to deliver or release control fluid under pressure into or out of said cylinder above or below said piston to move said piston and therewith said piston rod into and out of contact with said selected aperture in said header, another of said parts being means supporting said lance in said header when said piston rod nozzle is out of contact with said aperture in said header and means fastening said supporting means to said lance, still another of said parts being a manipulator rod means fastened to said lance and extending longitudinally through the header whereby the lance may be advanced through the header for selective placement over any one of the aforesaid tubular elements that are connected with the header, yet another of said parts being means supporting said manipulator rod means in said header and means fastening said supporting means to said rod means within said header.

2. A lance for use in a boiler header to blow out the tubes connected therewith comprising a generally vertically disposed body portion bounding a chamber, a generally vertical hollow shaft extending through the body portion, being guided at the opposite ends thereof and having its interior in communication with said chamber, a motor connected to the upper end of said shaft operative to effect longitudinal movement of the shaft, the lower end of said shaft being adapted to be associated with one of said tubes when the shaft occupies its lower position, means associated with said body portion and including support members engageable with the interior of the header wall effective to maintain a predetermined minimum distance between the lower end of the body portion and the header wall therebelow into which distance the lower end of the shaft retracts when in its upper position.

3. A lance as defined in claim 2 wherein the support members comprise two .pairs of angularly arranged shoes with the body portion disposed intermediate the two pairs.

4. A lance as defined in claim 2 wherein said motor comprises cylinder and piston means operated by fluid pressure.

5. A lance as defined by claim 2 wherein said motor comprises cylinder and piston means operated by fluid pressure and including spring means urging said shaft towards its upper position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 793,834 Hodge July 4, 1905 929,377 Beland et a1 July 27, 1909 1,183,417 Zeitz May 16, 1916 1,441,431 Kirgan Jan. 9, 1923 1,512,360 Orr Oct. 21, 1924 1,709,167 DWyer, Jr Apr. 16, 1929 1,773,801; Wilson Aug. 26, 1930 1,836,101 Young Dec. 15, 1931 1,982,590 Church et al Nov. 27, 1934 1,994,616 Leitzell Mar. 19, 1935 2,358,557 Boyd et al. Sept. 19, 1944 2,361,660 Sneddon Nov. 27, 1944 FOREIGN PATENTS 286,594 Germany Aug. 16, 1915

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