Patent Application
20170226432
The present invention relates to a fuel-oil refining device, and more particularly, to a fuel-oil refining device, which can maximize removal of pollutants of polluted fuel oil and moisture in a chemical refining process, easily recover the physical property of the fuel oil, and provide an accurate quality.
In general, various kinds of industrial oils (e.g., mineral oils, vegetable oils, animal oils, synthetic oils, and bunker-C fuel oils) have been used in industrial plants including power generation facilities and hydraulic devices.
In particular, since the bunker-C fuel oil includes a distilled residual oil as its main component and is not chemically refined, it may have low-grade quality among petroleum products. However, the bunker-C fuel oil can be re-processed to produce a lubricant, asphalt, and petroleum coke, and thus it may be called a petroleum product that is made with a clear purpose.
Further, since the bunker-C fuel oil has the advantages of low heat loss, easy combustion adjustment, convenient ignition and fire-extinguishment, and high heat utility, it has been mainly used as a power source of a large-scale engine or a heat source such as boiler fuel.
Although the bunker-C fuel oil has a high heating value and is inexpensive and economical, it has the drawbacks of high viscosity, poor fluidity at ambient temperature, and difficult fuel supply and treatment. Accordingly, the bunker-C fuel oil is mainly used for large-scale boilers in the industry, and since it is a petroleum product having a lot of sludge and it should be preheated at about 50° C. in transport and utilization processes, it is partially mixed with light oils in order to be used as a general fuel.
In addition, the bunker-C fuel oil that is used as a fuel oil may become in the form of a moisture-containing body in which moisture is inevitably resolved during a long-term use in an industrial environment, and the resolved moisture that is contained in the moisture-containing body is a primary factor that expedites trouble and deterioration of an industrial machine. Saying in addition, since the resolved moisture causes deterioration of various mechanical characteristics, such as corrosion of the device, decrease of lubrication characteristics, oil film breakage, abrasion of mechanical elements, and oxidation of the lubricant, it is required to remove the resolved moisture.
As a prior art to remove resolved moisture that is contained in a fuel oil, Korean Registered Patent No. 10-0407161 (registered on Nov. 13, 2003) discloses a technique that is configured to evaporate moisture that is included in a used lubricant in accordance with correlations between saturated vapor pressure and temperature of the moisture and the lubricant when the used lubricant in a heated state is blown out and flows into an evaporation chamber by vacuum pressure, to perform cooling condensation of the evaporated moisture through a condenser so as to store the condensed moisture in a condensation water storage tank, and to make the moisture-removed used lubricant flow into a discharge chamber through a discharge means so as to store the used lubricant in a used lubricant storage tank through an oil pump.
According to the prior art as described above, upper and lower position sensors are respectively installed in the evaporation chamber and the discharge chamber to sense water levels therein, and if the amount of the used lubricant that is injected into the evaporation chamber reaches a predetermined amount, the used lubricant is transported to the discharge chamber through the operation of the discharge means. Further, if a predetermined amount of the used lubricant flows into the discharge chamber, a vent pipe that is installed in the discharge chamber is opened to fuzz the vacuum state in the discharge chamber, and thus the moisture-removed used lubricant is moved to the used lubricant storage tank through the discharge means (oil pump).
However, according to the prior art as described above, it is required to change the pressure condition in the discharge chamber so that a vacuum pressure state that is balanced with the evaporation chamber and an atmospheric pressure state (or low pressure state that is near to the atmospheric pressure) for discharging the used lubricant are repeatedly formed, and this may cause the operation efficiency of the device to deteriorate.
Korean Registered Patent No. 0407161 (registered on Nov. 13, 2003)
Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems occurring in the prior art, and one subject to be achieved by the present invention is to provide a fuel-oil refining device, which can perform viscosity management and fine pulverization of a bunker-C fuel oil using ultrasound and simultaneously remove moisture and polluted particles using an ion chamber.
Another subject to be achieved by the present invention is to provide a fuel-oil refining device, which can greatly reduce moisture removal processing capacity and processing time and maximize moisture removal efficiency through spraying of the moisture that is included in a bunker-C fuel oil into a vacuum tank in a multi-baffle method.
Still another subject to be achieved by the present invention is to provide a fuel-oil refining device, which can easily recover the physical property of a fuel oil, provide an accurate quality, and recycle sludge that is extracted in a fuel-oil refining process.
In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a fuel-oil refining device which includes a main body portion including a fuel inlet port for supplying a fuel oil, a fuel discharge port for discharging the refinement-completed fuel oil, a drain pipe for collecting and discharging the untreated fuel oil, and a sludge box for storing therein sludge that is separated from the fuel oil; an ultrasound tank configured to receive the fuel oil that is supplied from the fuel inlet port and to adjust a particle size, viscosity, and surface tension of the fuel oil by means of ultrasound; a vacuum chamber configured to receive the fuel oil that is supplied from the ultrasound tank and to maintain an inside thereof in a vacuum state so that a specific volume and a surface area of the fuel oil are maximized through a baffle panel; a moisture removal tank having one side that is connected to the vacuum chamber and the other side that is connected to a vacuum pump and configured to remove the moisture from the fuel oil using air which is pressure-reduced to the vacuum state by the vacuum chamber and is heated to a high temperature; an oil refining filter configured to receive the fuel oil that is supplied from the vacuum chamber and to collect the sludge that is included in the fuel oil through filtering of the received fuel oil through centrifugation; an ion chamber configured to remove and burn particles including fine foreign substances that remain in the sludge-removed fuel oil; and a control panel provided on one surface of the main body portion to set driving conditions of the ultrasound tank, the vacuum chamber, and the moisture removal tank and to control whether to provide a power for refining the fuel oil.
According to the aspect of the present invention, the main body portion may further include an exhaust pipe configured to exhaust harmful gases that are generated during the refining of the fuel oil; and an air vent configured to discharge high heat that is generated during driving of the fuel-oil refining device.
According to the aspect of the present invention, the ultrasound tank may include an oil storage tank configured to store therein the fuel oil that is transported from the oil tank; and a particle adjustment tank configured to pulverize particles of the fuel oil through emission of the ultrasound onto the fuel oil that is stored in the oil storage tank so that the fuel oil is composed of the particles having a predetermined size.
According to the aspect of the present invention, the oil refining filter may include a plurality of mesh filter members composed of predetermined mesh nets to perform filtering in stages; a sludge removal means configured to remove the sludge that sticks to outer surfaces of the mesh filter members; and a discharge screw member configured to collect and discharge the removed sludge.
According to the aspect of the present invention, the fuel oil refining device may further include an oil cooling system configured to cool the refinement-completed fuel oil.
According to the aspect of the present invention, the drain pipe may withdraw the untreated fuel oil into an oil recycle tank or re-transport the untreated fuel toward the ultrasound tank by means of a recycle pump.
The fuel-oil refining device according to the aspect of the present invention can perform viscosity management and fine pulverization of a bunker-C fuel oil using ultrasound and simultaneously remove moisture and polluted particles using an ion chamber.
The fuel-oil refining device according to the aspect of the present invention can greatly reduce moisture removal processing capacity and processing time and maximize moisture removal efficiency through spraying of the moisture that is included in a bunker-C fuel oil into a vacuum tank in a multi-baffle method.
The fuel-oil refining device according to the aspect of the present invention can easily recover the physical property of a fuel oil, provide an accurate quality, and recycle sludge that is extracted in a fuel-oil refining process.
The above objects, other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent by describing the preferred embodiments thereof with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In adding reference numerals to constituent elements in respective drawings, the same reference numerals are used for the same constituent elements across various figures. Further, in explaining the present invention, detailed description of well-known technology and typical technology incorporated herein may be omitted to avoid obscuring the subject matter of the present invention.
Further, in explaining the constituent elements of the present invention, the terms “first, second, A, B, (a), and (b)” may be used. The terms are used only to discriminate a constituent element from other constituent elements, and the essence, turn, or order of the corresponding constituent element is not limited by the terms. It should be understood that the term “connected to”, “coupled to”, or “contact with” that is used to designate a connection, coupling, or contact of one element to another element includes both a case that an element is “directly connected or coupled to” another element and a case that an element is connected or coupled to another element via still another element.
The present invention is configured to cause the size of particles of a bunker-C fuel oil (hereinafter also referred to as “fuel oil”) to be small using an effect of thinning viscosity of the bunker-C fuel oil through heating and ultrasound, and thus can minimize oil components and sludge that are included in the bunker-C fuel oil. Further, the present invention can reduce the viscosity and surface tension of the bunker-C fuel oil through maintaining of a constant temperature in a state where the particles have become small through the ultrasound, and thus can minimize an influence exerted on the flow and spray of the oil. As illustrated in
As illustrated in
Here, the fuel discharge port 106 is connected to the oil cooling system 700 to be described later.
Further, the main body portion 100 includes a drain pipe 108 connected to the ultrasound tank 200 to collect and discharge the untreated fuel oil in the fuel oil that has been processed through ultrasound, and this drain pipe 108 is configured to withdraw the untreated fuel oil into an oil recycle tank 50 or to re-transport the untreated fuel toward the ultrasound tank 200 by means of a recycle pump 40.
The main body portion 100 further includes an exhaust pipe 102 configured to exhaust harmful gases that are generated during a fuel-oil refining process, and an air vent 120 configured to discharge high heat that is generated during driving of the fuel-oil refining device.
On one surface of the main body portion 100, a control panel 130 is provided to set driving conditions of the ultrasound tank 200, the vacuum chamber 300, and the moisture removal tank 400, to control whether to provide a power for refining the fuel oil, and to receive and display whether to drive an oil pump 20 and the recycle pump 40 and signals sensed from various kinds of sensors to be described later.
Further, the main body portion 100 includes a sludge box 110 for storing therein sludge that is separated from the fuel oil through the operation of the oil refining filter 500, and may further include a buzzer means (not illustrated) that generates a predetermined alarm when the amount of sludge that is stored in the sludge box 110 reaches a threshold limit value.
As illustrated in
The ultrasound tank 200 as described above includes an oil storage tank 210 for storing therein the fuel oil that is transported from the oil tank 30, and a particle adjustment tank 220 for pulverizing particles of the fuel oil through emission of the ultrasound onto the fuel oil that is stored in the oil storage tank 210 so that the fuel oil is composed of the particles having the predetermined size.
The oil storage tank 210 senses the amount of the fuel oil that is contained therein, transmits a sensed signal to the control panel 130, and controls whether to drive the oil pump 20 that is connected to the oil tank 30. A level sensor 212 is provided to block the supply of the fuel oil that is stored in the oil tank 30 when a predetermined amount of fuel oil is stored in the oil storage tank 210.
In addition, the oil storage tank 210 is connected to the drain pipe 108, and transports the fuel oil of which the treatment has not been completed through the ultrasound, that is, the fuel oil of which the particles have not been pulverized through the ultrasound, to the oil recycle tank 50 to resupply the untreated fuel oil.
The fuel oil that is stored in the oil storage tank 210 flows into the particle adjustment tank 220, and the particle adjustment tank 220 pulverizes the particles of the fuel oil through emission of predetermined ultrasound onto the inflow fuel oil for a predetermined time. The particle adjustment tank 220 is a constituent element that makes the flow of the fuel oil smooth by lowering the viscosity and surface tension of the fuel oil through adjustment of the particle size to be smaller.
An ultrasound emission unit 222 is provided on an upper portion of the particle adjustment tank 220 to emit predetermined ultrasound onto the fuel oil that flows from the oil storage tank 210, and a drive unit 230 is provided on one side of the ultrasound emission unit 222 to rotate the fuel oil of which the particle size has been adjusted.
The ultrasound emission unit 222 is configured to continuously emit the ultrasound of 30 Hz for 5 minutes with a power of 3 KW so that the particles of the fuel oil can be efficiently pulverized to have a predetermined size.
Here, the drive unit 230 includes a drive motor 232 configured to provide a predetermined rotating force to the fuel oil, and a mixing wing 234 that is rotated by the drive motor 232 to prevent the fuel oil from sticking to a gap between magnets 242 and to facilitate removal of pollutants that are included in the fuel oil.
In addition, a magnetic filter means 240 is further provided on a lower portion of the mixing wing 234 to restore the original function and physical property of the fuel oil through removal of the pollutants included in the fuel oil.
The magnetic filter means 240 is typically composed of magnets, and includes a plurality of magnets 242 that are spaced apart from one another for a predetermined distance, and an airtight cover 244 that is openably configured to easily separate the magnets 242 from the particle adjustment tank 220.
Further, a heating member 260 is provided on a lower portion of the particle adjustment tank 220 to heat the fuel oil up to a predetermined temperature. The heating member 260 maintains the temperature of the fuel oil at 80° C. to 160° C. through heating of four surfaces and a lower surface of the particle adjustment tank 220.
The ultrasound tank 200 includes a fuel transport unit 250 that is provided on one surface of the magnetic filter means 240 to transport the fuel oil, of which the particle size, viscosity, and surface tension have been completely adjusted, to the vacuum chamber 300.
An infrared sensor is further provided in the particle adjustment tank 220 of the ultrasound tank 200 according to the present invention to facilitate sensing and measurement of the capacity in the case of the fuel oil having high viscosity.
As illustrated in
The vacuum chamber 300 includes the baffle panel 310 that is provided with the heating member 260 which heats the fuel oil that is transported from the ultrasound tank 200 to remove the moisture included in the fuel oil.
The baffle panel 310 is in a plate shape, and serves to guide evaporation of the moisture while the fuel oil that has flowed into the vacuum chamber 300 is heated by the heating member 260 as moving downward, and to give a long time for the evaporation at the same time. A plurality of baffle panels may be provided in the form of a lattice along upward/downward directions in the vacuum chamber 300.
The heating member 260 is configured in a body on a bottom portion of the baffle panel 310, and heats air in the vacuum chamber 300 so as to heat the fuel oil that moves downward through the baffle panel 310.
That is, the vacuum chamber 300 according to the present invention is configured to make the fuel oil flow successively along the baffle panel 310 as heating the fuel oil through the heating member 260, and thus the fuel oil that flows into the vacuum chamber 300 is prevented from sticking.
The vacuum chamber 300 may further include a capacity sensor 320 that senses the capacity of the fuel oil in the vacuum chamber 300 by means of a high-level member and a low-level member.
As illustrated in
In addition, a measurement sensor 430 for measuring the viscosity of the fuel oil, the humidity, the moisture that is removed from the fuel oil, and the amount of oil mist may be provided in the moisture removal tank 400 to easily measure the change of the physical property of the fuel oil.
Further, a differential pressure gauge 420 for sensing the vacuum level of the vacuum chamber 300 is provided in the moisture removal tank 400 to check internal vacuum levels of the vacuum chamber 300 and the moisture removal tank 400.
In the moisture removal tank 400, a plurality of moisture absorption members are provided to be spaced apart from one another for a predetermined distance from an upper side to a lower side to form an autodesicator structure. In particular, a dehumidifier, zeolite, and silica gel are provided in the moisture absorption member 410, and the absorbed moisture that is liquefied due to a cooling action is discharged through a drain pipe 108 that is formed on a lower end portion of the moisture removal tank 400.
The moisture absorption member 410 as described above prevents the vacuum pump 402 from being damaged due to the moisture and oil mist that flow from the vacuum chamber 300, and removes and discharges the moisture that is included in the oil components.
On the other hand, the vacuum pump 402 according to the present invention makes the inside of the vacuum chamber 300 in a vacuum state to remove the moisture that is included in the fuel oil through maximization of the specific volume and the surface area of the fuel oil. It is preferable that the vacuum pump 402 is connected to the other side surface of the moisture removal tank 400 to maintain not only the vacuum chamber 300 but also the moisture removal tank 300 in a vacuum state.
That is, the vacuum chamber 300 according to the present invention is configured to remove the moisture of the fuel oil that flows from the ultrasound tank 200 in a manner that it reduces the internal pressure through the vacuum pump 402, heats the inflow fuel oil through the heating member 260 provided in the baffle panel 310 to separate the oil mist and the moisture included in the fuel oil, and makes the separated oil mist and moisture flow out to the moisture removal tank 400 for the absorption thereof. That is, the moisture evaporation and the moisture condensation are performed through vacuuming and heating, and the moisture is automatically discharged toward the moisture removal tank 400.
As illustrated in
The oil refining filter 500 is configured to include a plurality of mesh filter members 510 composed of predetermined mesh nets to perform the filtering in stages, a sludge removal means 520 for removing the sludge that sticks to outer surfaces of the mesh filter members 510, and a discharge screw member 530 for collecting and discharging the removed sludge.
The mesh filter member 510 is composed of three mesh nets in stages, and in this case, the mesh nets are independently configured from the uppermost side as 200 meshes, 100 meshes, and 20 meshes, respectively.
The mesh filter member 510 is rotated by a predetermined rotating force that is provided from an operation means 540 to remove the sludge included in the fuel oil. It is preferable that a rotary support member 550 is further provided on one end of the mesh filter member 510 to support the rotating force of the mesh filter member 510.
When the centrifugation type sludge removal means 520 is operated to clean the plurality of mesh nets, the mesh filter member 510 according to the present invention operates to store the fuel oil that remains in the mesh filter member 510 in the recycle tank 5, so that the refining is performed through recycling of the fuel oil by means of the recycle pump 40 and the oil pump 20.
The sludge removal means 520 is configured to remove the sludge that sticks to the outer surface of the mesh filter member 510 when the sludge that is included in the fuel oil is removed through the mesh filter member 510. The sludge removal means 520 is provided in each mesh filter member 510 that is independently configured to remove the sludge that sticks to the mesh filter member 510 through the centrifugation.
The sludge removal means 520 is configured to include a rotating shaft 522 for rotating the mesh filter member 510 through reception of a predetermined rotating force that is transferred from the operation means 540, a connection member 528 for connecting the rotating shaft 522 and the mesh filter member 510 to each other, a support panel 524 for supporting the rotation of the rotating shaft 522 and preventing the sludge that is separated from the mesh filter member 510 from leaking, and a corrugated pipe 526 configured to surround an outer periphery of the rotating shaft 522.
The sludge removal means 520 as described above is configured to separate the sludge that sticks to the outer periphery by rotating the mesh filter member 510 at high speed, and to discharge the separated sludge toward the discharge screw member 530.
The discharge screw member 530 is a constituent element which collects the sludge that is separated from the mesh filter member 510 through the centrifugation of the sludge removal means 520 and discharges the collected sludge to the sludge box 110 to store the sludge in the sludge box 110.
The discharge screw member 530 condenses the sludge that is separated from the mesh filter member 510 in a solid state to transport and discharge the solidified sludge. The discharge screw member 530 is configured to include a screw member 532 for transporting the separated sludge, a screw operation member 534 for rotating the screw member 532, and a sludge discharge unit 536 for discharging the sludge that is transported through the screw member 532 to the sludge box 110.
Here, the sludge discharge unit 536 may further include a transport means for discharging the solidified sludge or an absorption means, such as an absorption pump, for discharging the sludge by its absorption force, but is not limited thereto.
The ion chamber 600 is configured to remove and burn the particles including fine foreign substances that remain in the sludge-removed fuel oil, and as illustrated in
The ion chamber 600 is configured to remove primary particles by stimulating the electrode panels 610 through a supply of 15,000 Vdc and to remove secondary particles by means of a fine filter 620, so that only pure fuel oil remains. A transport pipe 630 is provided in the ion chamber 600 to transport the particle-removed fuel oil toward the oil cooling system 700.
In this case, it is preferable that a plurality of fine filters 620 are installed in a space that is formed between the electrode panels 610 to remove the secondary particles, but are not limited thereto.
The oil cooling system 700 is a constituent element that cools the fuel oil, of which the refinement has been completed by the above-described constituent elements, in the temperature range of 10° C. to 50° C. using an air cooling system.
According to the present invention as configured above, the viscosity management and the fine pulverization of the fuel oil (bunker-C fuel oil) can be performed using the ultrasound, and at the same time, the moisture and the polluted particles can be removed using the ion chamber. Further, the moisture removal processing capacity and the processing time can be greatly reduced and the moisture removal efficiency can be maximized through spraying of the moisture that is included in the fuel oil into the vacuum chamber 300 in the multi-baffle method.
In the above-described embodiment of the present invention, it is exemplified that all constituent elements are combined into one or operate in a combination manner, but the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment. That is, so far as in the object range of the present invention, one or more of all constituent elements may be selectively combined to operate.
Further, the term “includes”, “is composed of”, or “has” used in the description means that one or more other constituent elements are not excluded in addition to the described constituent elements unless specially defined on the contrary. Unless specially defined, all terms (including scientific terms) used in the description could be used as meanings commonly understood by those ordinary skilled in the art to which the present invention belongs.
Although the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments in the attached figures, it is to be understood that various equivalent modifications and variations of the embodiment can be made by a person having an ordinary skill in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. The matters defined in the description, such as the detailed configurations, are nothing but specific details provided to assist those of ordinary skill in the art in a comprehensive understanding of the invention, and the present invention is only defined within the scope of the appended claims.
According to the present invention, the removal of the pollutants of the fuel oil that is polluted in the chemical refining process and the moisture can be maximized, the physical property of the fuel oil can be easily recovered, and the accurate quality can be provided.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10-2014-0104435 | Aug 2014 | KR | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/KR2015/008416 | 8/11/2015 | WO | 00 |
