Patent Application
20220290922
The disclosure relates to a seal valve for a PCI system of a blast furnace.
The injection of auxiliary fuels (natural gas, oil, coal or other carbonaceous materials) into the blast furnace has been driven by economic factors. Mid of last century, oil was, due to its low price, the preferred auxiliary fuel to reduce the consumption of expensive metallurgical coking coals and to avoid capital expenditures linked to the expansion of the coke-making plant.
A first major re-evaluation considering auxiliary fuel injection had to be done due to the oil crisis in the 1970s. Although pulverized coal injection (PCI) had been practiced in some blast furnaces since the early 1960s, it was only in the 1980s that the interest for PCI escalated due to the oil price shocks.
A second, more recent re-evaluation of auxiliary fuel injected into the blast furnace is caused by the drastically increasing energy prices, including the natural gas price and the decoupled price evolution for non-coking coals. Due to the higher availability, it is much probable that the non-coking coal prices will, also in future, remain lower than those for oil and natural gas.
It is well known that the injection of fuel, such as e.g. pulverized or granular coal, into the hot-air blast, which is blown through a plurality of tuyeres into a lower portion of the blast furnace, has many advantages. In particular, the injection of coal decreases the overall cost of produced hot metal, not only through the replacement of coke, but also through an increased productivity and the possibility of a prompt control of the blast furnace operation.
The injection of pulverized coal is performed conventionally by means of a fuel injection lance into the hot air blast at a certain distance upstream from the tuyere end opening into the furnace. In other words, the coal is injected through the hot-air passage in the tuyere. The coal fed through the fuel injection lance is in suspension in a carrier gas.
Before the pulverized coal is injected into the tuyere, it may undergo various stages of grinding, drying, sieving, intermediate storing and conveying. Most commonly, the pulverized coal is temporarily stored in conveying hoppers and/or distribution hoppers. In current PCI conveying lines, standard ball valves are normally used. In such valves, the ball-shaped valve member and the sealing elements are completely enclosed in the valve housing and are not accessible from the outside when the ball valve is installed. Thus, for any maintenance work on the valve, it must be completely removed from the conveying line and dismantled and/or repaired in an appropriate workshop. This requires temporary shutdown of the PCI system or at least of the respective conveying line. Precautionary inspection or maintenance is therefore not possible with this kind of valve.
Another issue is that there is only a small space between the ball and the housing. This, in turn can easily lead to blocking of the valve by pulverized coal jamming the space, possibly leading to a failure of the valve. It is generally impossible to detect any problems in the valve at an early stage and cleaning or repair of the valve is a complicated process that may lead to unwanted shutdown times.
The present disclosure facilitates maintenance of a seal valve for a PCI system.
The disclosure provides a seal valve for a PCI system of a blast furnace. The general working principle of a blast furnace is known in the art and therefore will not be explained herein. The PCI (pulverized coal injection) system comprises all components that are adapted for preparing, storing, conveying, guiding and injecting pulverized coal into the blast furnace. In general, most parts of the PCI system are pressurized during operation. It is understood that apart from pulverized coal as such, the PCI system contains a carrier gas, which can be used to carry the pulverized coal and is injected into the blast furnace along with the pulverized coal. Typically, a material gate is provided to open or close the flow of material through the PCI piping system. The present seal valve is arranged downstream of the material gate and is adapted to form, when shut, a gas tight seal. In other words, the present seal valve may be part of the pulverized coal injection system and located in the conveying hopper filling lines. The seal valve of the present disclosure is normally directly mounted (e.g. screwed) to the top of the conveying hopper and is used to separate a charging line from the conveying hopper.
The seal valve comprises a valve housing with an inlet opening, an outlet opening and a maintenance opening. The valve housing, which may also be referred to as a valve casing, provides an outer shell around an inner volume of the seal valve. During operation, pulverized coal can enter the inner volume through the inlet opening and/or exit the inner volume through the outlet opening. In some embodiments, the valve housing may be funnel-shaped towards the outlet opening. It is understood that the housing may comprise mounting structures around each of the inlet and outlet opening to facilitate a connection to other elements of the PCI system. For instance, a flange and/or a plurality of bores for receiving connecting bolts could be disposed around the respective opening. The inlet and outlet opening may be aligned along a central axis and may be symmetrical with respect to the central axis. This central axis may more or less correspond to the direction of material transport (or material flow) through the valve. The valve housing could be made of a single piece or of several pieces that are permanently or non-permanently connected with each other. For example, the housing could be made of cast steel or iron. Apart from the inlet opening and the outlet opening, which serve to transfer pulverized coal in and out of the valve housing, a maintenance opening is provided. As will be explained below, the function of the maintenance opening is not as an inlet or outlet for pulverized coal, but it is used during maintenance and/or repair of the seal valve.
Accordingly, the seal valve comprises a maintenance door that is adapted to close the maintenance opening in an operating position during operation of the seal valve and that is removable from the maintenance opening into a maintenance position. The maintenance door, which may also be referred to as a maintenance lid or maintenance cover, may at least partially be made of the same material as the valve housing. During operation of the seal valve, i.e. when pulverized coal may be received through the inlet opening and/or drained through the outlet opening, the maintenance door is in an operating position in which it closes the maintenance opening. In other words, in the operating position, the maintenance door is in contact with the maintenance opening, or rather with the valve housing around the maintenance opening, so that the maintenance opening is closed. Normally, the maintenance opening is sealingly closed by the maintenance door so that any leakage of pulverized coal and/or gases from the inside of the valve housing to the outside is prevented or at least reduced to a negligible amount. In order to improve the sealing effect, at least one of the maintenance door and the valve housing (around the maintenance opening) may have a sealing element capable of forming a gas tight seal, such as e.g. metallic spiral wound gaskets or O-ring seals made from silicon or nitrile rubber. When in the operating position, the maintenance door may be secured to the valve housing e.g. connected by a plurality of bolts. The maintenance door is movable into a maintenance position, in which it is removed from the maintenance opening. In other words, when the maintenance door is in the maintenance position, the inside of the valve housing is in communication with the outside through the maintenance opening.
The seal valve further comprises a valve member movably mounted to the maintenance door, wherein, when the maintenance door is in the operating position, the valve member is movable between a closed position for closing the seal valve and an open position, and, when the maintenance door is in the maintenance position, the valve member is accessible from outside the valve housing. The function of the valve member, which may be made of one or several pieces, is to provide the control function of the valve as such by at least alternatively closing the seal valve in a closed position or opening the valve in an open position. The valve member is not (directly) mounted to the valve housing, but to the maintenance door. Consequently, when the maintenance door is moved from the operating position to the maintenance position, the valve member is moved at the same time. The valve member can be moved between the open position and the closed position when the maintenance door is in the operating position. When the maintenance door is in the maintenance position, however, the valve member normally cannot be brought into a position in which it closes the seal valve. However, as explained above, the maintenance door is only positioned in the maintenance position when the seal valve is not operating, wherefore the closing function of the valve member is not needed in this case.
Advantageously, the maintenance door of the seal valve is pivotably mounted to the valve housing to be pivotable about a first pivot axis for movement between the operating position and the maintenance position. In other words, when the maintenance door is removed from the maintenance opening, it remains connected to the valve housing, normally by at least one bearing. The connection to the valve housing allows for movement between the operating position and the maintenance position. Normally, this is a guided movement, i.e. the maintenance door moves along a predetermined path. On the one hand, the fact that the maintenance door is movably mounted (or connected) to the valve housing facilitates handling of the maintenance door during e.g. an inspection operation. On the other hand, this also facilitates the process of moving the maintenance door back into the operating position, since proper alignment is normally guaranteed. Preferably, the movable connection reduces the degrees of freedom of the maintenance door to one. Therefore, it is easy for personnel to move the maintenance door back into the operating position.
The connection can normally be kept simple, while still achieving a high range of motion for the maintenance door by employing a pivot mount. Therefore, the maintenance door is pivotably mounted to the valve housing to be pivotable about a first pivot axis. In other words, the maintenance door is connected to the valve housing via at least one pivot bearing or hinge. For instance, the first pivot axis may be parallel to the above-mentioned central axis.
As the maintenance door is moved into the maintenance position, the valve member becomes accessible from the outside of the valve housing. Preferably, the valve member is at least partially disposed outside the valve housing when the maintenance door is in the maintenance position. However, even if it remains inside the valve housing, the valve member is moved closer to the maintenance opening by the movement of the maintenance door, wherefore it is easily accessible from the outside. Therefore, at least the valve member can be easily inspected, cleaned, repaired or replaced without the need for a complete dismantling of the seal valve. Rather, it is only necessary to remove the maintenance door from the maintenance opening, while the valve housing can remain connected to the rest of the PCI system. This is in particular a great advantage when inspection of the valve member and possibly other elements of the seal valve is considered as a precautionary measure. Other seal valves used in the art for PCI systems would require complete dismantling to allow for a precautionary inspection, wherefore such inspection is usually not performed. With the inventive seal valve, this can be done on a regular basis without the need of a shutdown of the PCI system and possibly the blast furnace itself.
In particular, the seal valve may be adapted for connection to a PCI conveying hopper. In many PCI systems, the pulverized coal is temporarily stored in one or several conveying hoppers, from where it may be transferred either directly to the injection lines or to a distribution hopper, which in turn is connected to the injection lines. As the pulverized coal is transferred from the distribution hopper to the injection lines or the conveying hopper, respectively, the inside of the distribution hopper is pressurized. For the most part, a plurality of conveying hoppers is used, which are operated in a staggered manner, so that pulverized coal can be provided from at least one conveying hopper while another conveying hopper is refilled. It is understood that, for connection to a PCI conveying hopper, the seal valve needs to be gas tight even under an elevated pressure.
In order to facilitate inspection, maintenance, cleaning, repair and/or replacement of the valve member, as well as in order to allow for better access to the inside of the valve housing, it is highly preferred that in the maintenance position, the valve member is disposed outside the valve housing. In other words, as the maintenance door is moved from the operating position to the maintenance position, the valve member is moved from the inside of the valve housing through the maintenance opening to the outside of the valve housing.
In order to facilitate a firm connection in the operating position, it is preferred that the valve housing comprises a planar flange surrounding the maintenance opening and the maintenance door rests against the flange in the operating position. The flange is planar, i.e. it is arranged along a plane and has a planar surface against which the maintenance door rests. This plane may in particular be parallel to the above-mentioned central axis. The flange may comprise a plurality of holes or bores arranged around the maintenance opening, which are adapted to receive bolts for connecting the maintenance door to the flange.
In general, the disclosure is not limited to a particular working mechanism of the valve member. It is preferred, though, that the valve member is pivotable, about a second pivot axis, between the closed position and the open position. That is, opening and closing of the valve member is achieved by a pivot movement about the second pivot axis. More specifically, the valve member is pivotably mounted to the maintenance door. When the maintenance door is in the operating position and is secured to the valve housing, this is also a pivot movement with respect to the valve housing. The second pivot axis is stationary with respect to the maintenance door and therefore its orientation with respect the valve door generally depends on the position of the maintenance door.
In particular, but not exclusively, in combination with the above-mentioned embodiment in which the involvement is pivotable, it is preferred that the valve member is a disc-like valve flap. The valve flap is disk-like, which may in particular correspond to a circular shape. However, the shape could also be different, e.g. rectangular or polygonal. In general, the valve flap is more or less flat, i.e. it has one dimension (which can be referred to as its thickness) that is considerably smaller than its other two dimensions. Such a valve flap can in particular be used to close an inner opening in the valve member by a pivot motion, similar to a hinged door. The corresponding second pivot axis can be disposed near an edge of the valve flap.
According to one embodiment, the first pivot axis is perpendicular to the second pivot axis. For instance, if the first pivot axis is parallel to the central axis, the second pivot axis is also perpendicular to the central axis. As mentioned above, the central axis usually more or less corresponds to a direction of material flow through the seal valve. In this case, the described arrangement usually facilitates an opening and closing process of a valve flap as described above.
Preferably, the seal valve comprises a valve seat inside the valve housing, wherein in the closed position, the valve member sealingly engages the valve seat to close the seal valve, and in the open position, the valve member is removed from the valve seat. The valve seat is disposed inside the valve housing, which in general includes the possibility that it is a part of the valve housing and may be made as a single piece with other parts of the valve housing. The shape of the valve seat and the shape of the valve member are at least to some extent adapted to each other in order to allow for a sealing engagement. For example, if the valve member is a valve flap having a circular disc-like shape, the valve seat normally also has a circular, e.g. annular, geometry. In order to improve the sealing effect, at least one of the valve seat and the valve member may comprise an elastically deformable sealing element.
It is understood that optimum co-operation of the valve seat and the valve member is essential for the functionality of the seal valve as a whole. Therefore, it is beneficial if the valve seat can be inspected, cleaned, repaired and/or replaced as easily as possible. According to one embodiment, the valve seat is detachably connected to the valve housing. For instance, it can be bolted to the valve housing. When the bolts are removed, the valve seat can be detached from the valve housing. Normally, the bolts are accessible through the maintenance opening.
It is further preferred that the valve seat is removable through the maintenance opening. While it is conceivable that the valve seat could be moved out of the valve housing through the inlet opening or the outlet opening, this would necessitate detaching the seal valve from other components of the PCI system, which is generally undesirable. If the valve seat is removable through the maintenance opening, i.e. if it can be moved out of the valve housing through the maintenance opening, maintenance operations like repair or replacement of the valve seat can be carried out easily without the necessity of dismantling the seal valve as a whole.
Preferably, the seal valve comprises a sealing element with a double sealing system between the valve seat and the valve member. Such a double sealing system may comprise a metallic seal and a soft seal. During operation, a high pressure force is acting on the valve flap, which enables a so-called “positive sealing”. The pressure difference between the area below and above the seal flap will push the valve flap with high force against the valve seat. The double sealing system, which is a redundant sealing system, will ensure 100% tightness, even after a certain period of time.
The seal valve may further comprise a valve seat with a heated seat surface in order to prevent any accretions on the seat surface. A vapor layer is generated, such that no bulk material, or pulverized coal, can bond to the heated surface. As no material build-up occurs on the valve seat, the latter maintains its capability to ensure proper closing of the seal valve.
A considerable problem in context with seal valves in a PCI system is clogging or jamming by pulverized coal. In other words, voids or spaces between moving parts could be blocked by coal particles which impairs the functionality of the seal valve or even renders the seal valve non-functional. This problem can be alleviated in various ways. According to one embodiment, the valve is designed so that the valve member is spaced-apart from an inner surface of the valve housing when being moved between the open position and the closed position. When the valve member is in the closed position, it needs to be in contact with the valve seat or some part of the valve housing. However, the geometry of the valve housing and the valve member as well as the mechanism of the valve member within the above housing are adapted so that the member is not in contact with the inner surface, but spaced apart from it. The spacing between the valve member and the inner surface could e.g. correspond to an expected maximum size of the coal particles. However, the spacing could be chosen to be larger to ensure undisturbed operation of the seal valve.
In particular when the valve member is pivotable about the second pivot axis, a rotational driving motion needs to be transferred to the valve member. For this case (and possibly other cases), it is preferred that a drive shaft for transmitting a drive force from a drive unit outside the valve housing to the valve member is guided through the maintenance door. The drive unit can also be referred to as a motor unit or motor. Normally, it is electrically powered, but could also be powered pneumatically, by a combustion process or other. It is beneficial to dispose the drive unit outside the seal valve to prevent any pollution or clogging by coal particles. Although there are other concepts for transferring the drive force to the valve member, it is preferred that the drive force is transferred through the maintenance door. In this embodiment, this is achieved by the drive shaft that is guided through the maintenance door. The maintenance door may comprise one or several bearings (roller bearings or other) to facilitate the rotation of the drive shaft. Normally, the drive shaft is made of a single piece, but it could also comprise several connected pieces.
It is preferred that during operation, the drive unit is mounted to the maintenance door and the connection between the maintenance door and the valve housing is designed so that the drive unit remains mounted to the maintenance door when the door is moved to the maintenance position. The drive unit, which may have a substantial weight, is mounted to the maintenance door, i.e. it is connected to the maintenance door so that its weight is supported. The connection between the drive unit and the maintenance door has to be designed accordingly. As long as the maintenance door is in operating position, it is normally secured to the valve housing e.g. by a plurality of bolts so that the force exerted by the weight and the reaction force of the drive unit are well distributed and transferred to the valve housing. According to this embodiment, though, and the connection between the maintenance door and the housing is designed so that the drive unit can remain connected to the maintenance door as the maintenance door is moved to the maintenance position. For example, if the maintenance door is pivotably connected to the valve housing, the at least one pivot bearing supports the combined weight of the maintenance door and the drive unit. This embodiment greatly facilitates precautionary inspection of the valve member and other components of the seal valve, since the drive unit does not have to be dismantled for such an inspection.
Preferred embodiments of the disclosure will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
The housing 2 comprises a planar flange 2.3 that is parallel to the central axis A. A maintenance door 3 is connected to the flange 2.3 by two hinges 4, which define a first pivot axis B.
This changes when the valve flap 9 is moved into the open position shown in
Since the valve flap 9 is mounted to the maintenance door 3, it is moved outside of the valve housing 2 when the maintenance door 3 is pivoted into the maintenance position. Therefore, any inspection, maintenance, cleaning, repair or replacement of the valve flap 9 can easily be performed. Furthermore, the maintenance opening 2.4 provides easy access to the inside of the valve housing 2. Above all, the present seal valve allows for easily accessing an elastic sealing element 14 integrated into the valve seat 8, which is most likely to require replacement. Also, it is possible to access the bolts 13 that connect the valve seat 8 to the valve housing 2. By loosening these bolts 13, the valve seat 8 can be disconnected from the valve housing 2 and can afterwards be moved outside the valve housing 2 through the maintenance opening 2.4. This greatly facilitates repair or replacement of the valve seat 8 or the sealing element 14. Moreover, the inner surface 2.5 of the valve housing 2 can be inspected, cleaned or repaired by the access provided through the maintenance opening 2.4.
As can be seen more clearly from
All these operations do not require dismantling the seal valve 1 from the PCI system. Therefore, any shutdown time of the PCI system—or at least part of it—can be minimized. In particular precautionary inspection of any part of the seal valve 1 can be performed easily, which enables to detect any possible problems at an early stage.
As can be noticed from the drawings, the valve housing is formed as a shell that provides an inner volume or chamber. Referring to the orientation of
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| LU101340 | Aug 2019 | LU | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/EP2020/070882 | 7/23/2020 | WO |
