This relates generally to coke ovens, and more particularly to the walls of coke ovens and to methods of replacing those walls.
Coke oven batteries include a number of horizontal coke ovens that range up to twenty feet or more in height and up to fifty feet in length. An oven is approximately eighteen inches wide. Individual ovens are laterally arranged in groups to form a battery. A coke oven has a chamber with opposite open ends closed by doors. Positioned on both sides of a coke oven chamber are heating walls.
Internally of the heating walls are vertical heating flues in which combustion of air and gas takes place. The combustion produces heat which moves vertically through the flues. Heat is then supplied to the coking chambers from the adjacent heating flues through the heating walls.
The heating walls are heated to an elevated temperature to carry out the coking process. The coke oven doors at both the pusher side and the coke side are closed when coal is being coked within the coke oven chambers. These doors are removed when the coke is pushed out of the ovens. Thermal expansion and contraction of the bricks, and normal wear due to pushing the coke out of the coking chamber, results in spalling, deterioration, and eventually disintegration of entire brick sections of the heating walls.
One method of replacing the heating walls entails replacing one-by-one the old refractory brick with new refractory brick. The new bricks are laid in courses to form the new, replacement wall. Such a process is laborious, expensive, and time consuming, especially when an entire wall requires not just repair but wholesale replacement.
It is desirable to provide a method of replacing coke oven walls which is not nearly so laborious, expensive, and time consuming.
Accordingly, methods of replacing a damaged wall of a coke oven having a height h and a length I are provided. In one aspect, the method comprises removing the damaged wall from the coke oven, casting, outside of the oven, a replacement wall section having a length equal to the length I of the damaged coke oven wall and a height equal to the height h of the damaged coke oven wall, and positioning, inside the coke oven, the replacement wall section.
In another aspect, the method comprises removing the damaged wall from the coke oven, casting, outside of the oven, a plurality of replacement wall sections, each replacement wall section having a length equal to the length I of the damaged coke oven wall and a height equal to a fraction of the height h of the damaged coke oven wall, and positioning, inside the coke oven, the plurality of replacement wall sections one on top of another, such that the plurality of replacement wall sections has a combined height equal to the height h of the damaged coke oven wall.
The plurality of replacement wall sections can comprise a lower half section and an upper half section.
In yet another aspect, the method comprises removing the damaged wall from the coke oven, casting, outside of the oven, a plurality of replacement wall sections, each replacement wall section having a length equal to a fraction of the length l of the damaged coke oven wall and a height equal to the height h of the damaged coke oven wall, and positioning, inside the coke oven, the plurality of replacement wall sections end to end, such that the plurality of replacement wall sections has a combined length equal to the length l of the damaged coke oven wall.
The plurality of replacement wall sections can comprise a pusher side section, a middle section, and a coke side section. Abutting ones of the pusher side, middle, and coke side sections can be formed to have mating, interlocking ends. The replacement wall sections can be cast with air/gas passages and vertical flues therein.
In still another aspect, a method of replacing a damaged wall of a coke oven comprises removing the damaged wall from the coke oven, casting, outside of the oven, a replacement wall section, providing first and second fixture plates, sandwiching the replacement wall section between the plates, lifting the replacement wall section by lifting the plates, positioning the plates and hence the replacement wall section inside the coke oven, and removing the plates from the replacement wall section.
The method can further comprise providing a layer of rubber on each of the fixture plates for contacting the replacement wall section so as to avoid damage to the wall section during installation of the wall section in the oven. The method can further comprise providing rolling trucks secured to the fixture plates for rolling movement of the replacement wall section and plates in the oven during installation of the wall section in the oven. The method can further comprise interconnecting the rolling trucks and the fixture plates with hydraulic cylinders to facilitate leveling and load distribution of the fixture plates and hence replacement wall section during installation of the replacement wall section in the oven. The method can further comprise providing a computer and a controller in operable association with the hydraulic cylinders to automate leveling and load distribution of the fixture plates and hence replacement wall section during installation of the replacement wall section in the oven. The method can further comprise casting holes through the replacement wall section, and compressing the replacement wall section between the fixture plates by compression pins which pass through the holes in the wall section and connect the fixture plates. The replacement wall section can be installed in the oven through an open end of the oven or through an open roof of the oven. The method can further comprise casting mortar joints in at least one of upper and lower surfaces of the replacement wall section. The method can further comprise providing a vertically movable leveling bed adjacent the coke oven, and at least partially supporting the replacement wall section and fixture plates with the leveling bed as the replacement wall section is installed in the oven. The method can further comprising providing a frame, and interconnecting the leveling bed and the frame with hydraulic cylinders to facilitate vertical movement of the leveling bed during installation of the replacement wall section in the oven. The method can further comprise providing a computer and a controller in operable association with the hydraulic cylinders to automate vertical movement of the leveling bed during installation of the replacement wall section in the oven.
In a further aspect, a fixture for installing a replacement wall section into a coke oven comprises a pair of plates for sandwiching the replacement wall section therebetween, rolling trucks for rolling movement of the replacement wall section and the plates during installation of the wall section in the oven, hydraulic cylinders interconnecting the plates and trucks, and a computer/controller in operable association with the hydraulic cylinders to automate leveling and load distribution of the fixture plates and hence the wall section during installation of the wall section in the oven.
Each of the fixture plates can have a layer of rubber thereon for contacting the wall section so as to avoid damage to the wall section during installation of the wall section in the oven. Angle clips can be removably secured to bottoms of the plates to add support for the wall section during installation of the wall section in the oven. The upward facing surface of each of the angle clips can have a layer of rubber thereon for contacting a bottom of the wall section so as to avoid damage to the wall section during installation of the wall section in the oven. The fixture can further comprise a plurality of compression pin assemblies for securing the plates to the wall section. Each compression pin assembly can comprise a two-piece outer sleeve, and a two-piece inner pin. One portion of the two-piece inner pin can have a male threaded portion on one end which fits in a complimentary female threaded portion of the other portion of the two-piece inner pin. Beilville washers can be placed on the other end of the one portion of the two-piece inner pin, which can be threaded, and a nut can be placed on the other end of the one portion of the two-piece inner pin. The fixture plates can be a side plates, and can further comprise a pair of end plates removably secured to ends of the side plates. The side plates and the end plates can each have a layer of rubber thereon for contacting the wall section so as to avoid damage to the wall section during installation of the wall section in the oven.
In yet a further aspect, a method of replacing a damaged portion of a wall of a coke oven, the coke oven wall having a height h and a length l, the damaged coke oven wall portion having a height h and a length l1, comprises removing the damaged wall portion from the coke oven, casting, outside of the oven, a replacement wall section having a length equal to the length l1 of the damaged coke oven wall portion and a height equal to the height h of the damaged coke oven wall portion, and positioning, inside the coke oven, the replacement wall section.
The replacement wall section can be cast with at least one vertical flue therein, for example from one to ten vertical flues therein, and l1 can be equal to l or l1 can be less than l.
Referring first to
In the embodiment shown in
Referring back to
Each side plate 42 can have self leveling transport truck assemblies 60 to assist during the installation of the wall section 10 into the oven chamber. The truck assemblies 60 can each comprise a wheel housing 62 housing a plurality of wheels 64. Hydraulic cylinders 66 can be interconnected between the rolling trucks 60 and their respective fixture side plate 42. For example, a hydraulic cylinder 66 can have its piston end 68 pivotally connected to the upper end of the truck wheel housing 62 at 70, and its cylinder end 72 pivotally connected to a support 74 at 76, which support 74 can be secured to beam 45 (or otherwise to side fixture plate 42). The axes of the pivot connections 70, 76 of the hydraulic cylinders 66 to the truck assemblies 60 and beams 44, respectively as illustrated can be perpendicular to one another to thereby help to distribute the load of the wall section 10 evenly. The hydraulic cylinders 66 can be computer controlled via a computer processor/controller 80 (
As shown in
Lastly,
The embodiments shown and described are merely for illustrative purposes only. The drawings and the description are not intended to limit in any way the scope of the claims. Those skilled in the art will appreciate various changes, modifications, and alternative embodiments. All such changes, modifications and embodiments are deemed to be embraced by the claims. For example, only a portion of the coke oven wall, rather than the entire coke oven wall, may require replacement. In that case, only the portion requiring replacement need be replaced by the method and/or apparatus herein. For example, often times only a relatively short length of coke oven wall at the pusher side and/or coke side of the oven is damaged requiring replacement. See, for example,
This application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 11/681,228, hereby incorporated by reference herein as if fully set forth in its entirety.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 11681228 | Mar 2007 | US |
Child | 11849327 | US |