Method and apparatus for wireless measuring in a closed space
Background of the invention
The present invention relates to a measuring method according to the preamble of claim 1 and an apparatus according to the preamble of independent claim 5 for imple¬ menting said method.
The conditions prevailing in various furnaces and reactors and reactor-like mainly closed spaces, such as furnaces of recovery boilers used in cellulose pulping industry are often highly demanding. The conditions may be corrosive, and in addition to that the temperatures inside these closed spaces, such as recovery boilers, may rise very high during various chemical processes and burning processes. For example the tem¬ perature of the gaseous atmosphere inside a furnace of a recovery boiler may be in the range of 900 - 1400 degrees Celsius, depending on the location inside the mainly closed space, such as a furnace of a recovery boiler. Difficult conditions, which result from the large dimentions of the closed spaces, such as a recovery boiler, and chemi¬ cal substances, which often are in molten form in the bottom part of the recovery boiler, and specific conditions of the gaseous atmosphere, such as reducing conditions, make measuring in the closed space, such as a recovery boiler and other reactors, highly laborious and demanding, as well as expensive. It is especially laborious and expen¬ sive to determine the flow and velocity fields of gases and to measure the temperatures and compositions of gases. Numerical simulations and also various calculation models are thus commonly used nowadays for clarifying the operation of a recovery boiler.
However, numerous simplifications and assumptions have to be made to a significant extent ,when using numerical methods and various calculation models, due to inade¬ quate or nonexistent measuring data, and therefore the results obtained by means of calculation models and numerical methods are inaccurate and deficient.
SE-patent publication 445389 (US 4590466) discloses a method, in which sensors are mixed at a blast furnace inlet into a mass traveling through the blast furnace, which sensors are equipped with means for measuring a desired property of the mass. Addi¬ tionally the sensors are equipped with a wireless transmitter connected to the measur- ing means and transmit signals with information on the obtained measuring results to a receiver. The position of the sensor in the mass traveling in the blast furnace is deter¬ mined based on a property of the obtained signal, such as strength or time position. In addition to that, also the measured mass property is determined based on the signal.
An o bject of the present invention is to provide a new k ind of method for obtaining measurement data on gas flows in mainly closed spaces, such as recovery boilers used in cellulose pulping industry, and a further object of the invention is an apparatus for effecting the measurements. The invention allows to avoid prior art problems and to obtain reliable measurement results from closed spaces, where it is difficult or impossi¬ ble to effect measurements by means of conventional, known apparatuses and meth¬ ods.
Brief description of the invention
A characteristic feature of the method according to the invention is that at least one measuring device, preferably having the form of a ball, is made to fall freely and move freely in a gaseous atmosphere inside a closed space and that the measuring device comprises a wireless transmitter/receiver unit, w hich transmits and/or receives elec¬ tromagnetic/acoustic signal, which is further submitted to a transmitter/receiver station communicating with a calculation unit, and the location of the measuring device is cal¬ culated based on time differences or phase differences of signals entering various measuring points.
The apparatus according to the invention is characterized in that it comprises at least one measuring device, such as measuring ball, which travels freely in the gaseous atmosphere inside the closed space and con¬ tains a wireless transmitter/receiver unit for transmitting/receiving an electromagnetic/acoustic signal, at least three transmitter/receiver stations, and a calculation unit, which communicates with the transmitter/receiver stations and calculates the l ocation of the measuring ball based o n time differences or phase differences of signals entering various measuring points.
More exactly, the method and apparatus according to the invention are characterized in what is stated in the appended claims.
The solution according to the invention provides significant advantages, as the method and apparatus in accordance with the solution allow measurements in a closed space, wherefrom it earlier has been even impossible to obtain reliable measurement results due to the demanding and very complicated measuring conditions.
Brief description of the drawings
In the following, the invention is described in more detail by means of exemplary em- bodiments with reference to Figures 1 and 2, of which
Fig. 1 outlines the measuring method according to the invention in general terms.
Fig. 2 illustrates an enlarged view of a measuring ball according to the invention.
Detailed description of the invention
Figure 1 is a general illustration of the wireless measuring method according to a solu¬ tion of the invention.
In the method for measuring various measurable variables wirelessly in a closed space 8, at least one measuring device, preferably a measuring ball 2, is made to fall freely or move freely in the closed space. In the closed space the measuring device, such as the ball, is deflected under the effect of gas from an ideal falling path. If the ball is light- weighted in relation to the streams prevailing in the space, the ball may rise upwards and travel together with the flowing medium in the space being measured. In practice, however, the ball cannot be so light that it would follow the gas streams exactly, but the travel of the measuring ball is determined by the intensity of active forces. Active forces include e.g. aerodynamic forces generated by gas flows, pressure differences, lift gen- erated by density differences, and earth gravity.
The measuring ball 2 contains a wireless transmitter/receiver unit 5 for determining the location of the measuring ball in the closed space 8. The transmitter/receiver unit of the measuring ball transmits and/or receives electromagnetic/acoustic signal, which is supplied to a transmitter/receiver station 3 and further to a calculation unit 4. The calcu¬ lation unit 4 is a numerical simulation program or the calculation unit uses a neural net¬ work or neural networks, statistic methods or combinations thereof for calculating the flow field around the measuring ball in the closed space. The location of the measuring ball is calculated from the time differences or phase differences of signals received by various receiving points (measuring points) or from time differences or p hase differ¬ ences of signals received by the measuring ball, and the above-mentioned calculation methods in t heir turn are used for calculating, what a re the forces o r velocities that have effected the ball and made the ball travel in the measured way. The signal
transmitted by the measuring ball 2 allows to calculate the exact location of the meas¬ uring ball 2 inside the closed space and to monitor the travel of the measuring ball in¬ side the closed space as a function of time. This way, gas streams (flow field of the gases, velocity field of the gases) in the closed space may be determined.
As the measuring ball travels in the closed space, various measurement variables may be measured simultaneously, such as temperature, pressure, gas composition and other properties prevailing in the gaseous atmosphere inside the closed space, and this data is submitted further to a transmitter/receiver station 3, the number of which in the method is at least three. The obtained signal representing the measuring results is received and p rocessed i n the calculation u nit i nto data on the measured p roperty's values as a function of time and location. This way, the temperature history of the gaseous atmosphere in the closed space and the history of the physical or chemical composition of gases are obtained as a function of time and coordinates, which data together with velocity data can be used for determining e.g. various turbulent variables prevailing in a furnace of a recovery boiler.
From the measured variables transmitted by the measuring ball 2 and further submitted by the transmitter/receiver station 3, the calculation unit calculates (and stores) data on conditions prevailing in the closed space, whereby by combining the data on the meas¬ ured variables and the location data of the measuring ball, continuous monitoring of the chemical and physical conditions in the closed space may be accomplished. In accor¬ dance with the invention, the measuring ball 2 may also function so that it receives sig¬ nals transmitted by the transmitters 3, which signals are submitted to the calculation unit 4.
By means of the invention it is thus typically possible to determine the flow field sur¬ rounding the measuring ball, the temperature history and the history of physical or chemical composition as a function of time and coordinates. By means of data thus obtained, numerical simulation models a nd various calculation models may b e more exactly d efined, w hich p reviously inevitably h ad b een d rawn up making different as¬ sumptions and simplifications.
The wavelength of the signal transmitted by the measuring ball 2 (digitalized signal) has been selected thus that reflections caused by the walls of the closed space (due to the geometry of the closed space) and the conditions prevailing in the closed space or other possible disturbance sources do not hamper or prevent the travel of the signal into the transmitter/receiver station 3.
According to the method, in order to obtain reliable measurement results, the measur¬ ing balls 2 are introduced into the closed space 8 at various locations of the closed space or correspondingly the measuring balls are introduced at the same location but with different velocities and at different angles into the closed space, so that measure¬ ment results are obtained from several locations inside the closed space.
Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of the measuring ball of the apparatus according to the in¬ vention.
The measuring ball has an outer casing 7 made of dense and highly heat-resistant ma¬ terial, such as ceramic or corresponding highly heat-resistant materials. Inside the outer casing the measuring ball is provided with an insulating shell 6, which is made of heat-insulating material and protects the transmitter/receiver unit 5 located inside the measuring ball. The transmitter/receiver unit 5 comprises devices required for transmit¬ ting and receiving electromagnetic/acoustic signals and sensor systems as well as other measuring means for obtaining the measurable data from the closed space.
The method and apparatus according to the invention for wireless measuring in a closed space may be used, in addition to measurements effected in a recovery boiler, especially in the furnace thereof, in the cellulose pulping industry, also in m easure- ments performed in various chemical reactors, thermal reactors and other correspond¬ ing closed spaces.
Further, the method and apparatus according to the invention may be applied for use in various containers and pipe systems or channels.
It is also evident for a person skilled in the art that various embodiments of the inven¬ tion are not limited to the above-presented examples only, and thus they may vary in the scope of the appended claims.