Patent Application
20070039487
The present invention relates to a transporting and cooling device; more particularly, relates to transporting a metal bucket to a lava-discharge cooling unit through a transport unit to carry lava, then transporting and cooling down the metal bucket in a cooling tunnel, and then hanging the metal bucket to a storage bucket in a hanging cabinet to be stored, where the present invention can be applied to a plasma melting process for radioactive material.
Using plasma with 10000° C. (centigrade) to deal with waste is becoming a mature technology. Because the plasma torch is run under 1650° C. when dealing with the waste, it is required to find ways to discharge and cool down the plasma lava, and to operate a plasma furnace under a negative pressure to prevent off-gas from escaping into the factory building.
As disclosed in Taiwan, “a cooling device for an incinerator with a dust-collecting by a high-pressure spray” comprises a washing section in a high-pressure spray dust-collecting room, a drift eliminator, and a cooling dust-collecting water trough. The washing section is provided with water by a filtering tank through a water inlet. The water in let is connected with U-turn pipes at two ends for gas to pass along an S-type path. At the end of the washing section is the drift eliminator. The drift eliminator comprises a stop per and a dehydration grid, where air is exhausted by an exhaust blower above the dehydration grid. The cooling dust-collecting water trough is located between the washing section and the drift eliminator at the bottom of the high-pressure spray dust-collecting room. By the above structure, the hot gas, dust and water are fully integrated and so the impurity in the air is kept in water and is precipitated. The air exhausted from the drift eliminator is dehydrated by the dehydration grid. In the above cooling device, water is directly in touch with the material to cool it down, so it is not suitable for cooling plasma lava of 1650° C.; especially the plasma lava will be cooled down into grains in lack of radioactive stabilization. So, the prior art does not fulfill users' requests on actual use.
Therefore, the main purpose of the present invention is to provide a device for transporting lava and cooling lava continuously, stabilizing plasma lava, and not polluting environment.
To achieve the above purpose, the present invention is a transporting and cooling device for plasma lava, where a metal bucket is hanged to a conveyer by a hanger; the conveyer is driven by an electric motor to transport the metal bucket to a lava-discharge room; an elevating plate in the lava-discharge room lifts the metal bucket and positions it in a cooling jacket to joint with an opening of a plasma furnace for being loaded with plasma lava while the high-temperature plasma lava is cooled down by the cooling jacket; after finishing discharging the plasma lava and sealing the metal bucket with a cover, the metal bucket is remained still for at least 2 hours to be cooled down below 500° C.; the metal bucket is pushed to a carrying track of a cooling tunnel and the cooling tunnel comprises a cooling-water jacket, a cooling-air entrance, an air distribution pipe and a cooling-air exit; the metal bucket is transported seat by seat in a cooling tunnel with a transport caravan to its exit to be positioned and the temperature on the exterior surface of the metal bucket is cooled down to 60° C. during 20 hours by a water cooling system and an air cooling system; the metal bucket is hanged by a positioning hanging device out of the cooling tunnel to be processed with a surface radiation dosage detection, a weight measuring and a recording; and, the metal bucket is hanged to a hanging cabinet to be stored in a storage bucket of 55 gallons sealed with a cover. As a result, the present invention is an air-locked device preventing radioactive pollutants from escaping out; continuously transports and cools down plasma lava without the risk of gas explosion under an indirect cooling; comprises fewer rotating parts for transportation; and, avoids motor of transport caravan being operated under high temperature, where the present invention can be applied to a plasma melting process for radioactive material. Accordingly, a novel transporting and cooling device for plasma lava is obtained.
The present invention will be better understood from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment according to the present invention, taken in con junction with the accompanying drawings, in which
a is a view showing an air-cooling system of a cooling tunnel according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention; and
b is a view showing the storage unit according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention.
The following description of the preferred embodiment is provided to understand the features and the structures of the present invention.
Please refer to
After discharging the plasma lava and sealing the metal bucket 11 and cooling the temperature of the metal bucket 11 down below 500° C., the elevating plate 212 is lowered down; and, by using a third pneumatic rod 22, the metal bucket 11 is pushed to the cooling tunnel 3 for further cooling down. The cooling tunnel 3 comprises a cooling-water jacket 36 on the wall, a carrying track 34 having a load capacity of 11200 kg for 8 metal buckets, and a transport caravan 35 having a maximum load of 1400 kg. By utilizing the transport caravan 35, the metal bucket 11 is moved on the carrying track 34 in the cooling tunnel 3 seat by seat. A cooling-air entrance 37 is set to connect with an air distribution pipe and a cooling-air exit 38 is set to connect with an exhausting pipe. Hence, by processing air-cooling and water-cooling for 20 hours, the surface temperature of the metal bucket 11 is cooled down below 60° C. The cooling tunnel 3 is divided into an upper space 31 and a lower space 32 with a cooling jacket end-plate 33 between the upper space 31 and the lower space 32 under the carrying track 34, so that radiant heat from the metal bucket 11 in the upper space is prevented from radiating directly to the transport caravan 35 in the lower space. Then, the metal bucket 11 is guarded by two security guiding-shaft to be safely positioned on the carrying track 34 without toppling or falling. The water run in the cooling-water jacket 36 is used to cool down 8 metal buckets and so the temperature of the metal bucket 11 is cooled down from 500° C. to 60° C., while the cooling-air entrance 37 has an air filter (not shown in the figures) and is connected with an air distribution pipe (not shown in the figures); and the cooling-air exit 38 has a prefilter (not shown in the figures) and a High Efficiency Particulate Air-Filter (HEPA) (not shown in the figures) to prevent radioactive pollutant from escaping out with cooling air flowed between the cooling-air entrance 37 and the cooling-air exit 38. The transport caravan 35 comprises a power motor and a positioning brake device; is made of a high-temperature insulation material to prevent from being damaged by high temperature; can be elevated by a brake device for 6 cm (centimeter); has a wheel at the bottom to roll on a skidding track for positioning the metal bucket 11 at a predestined location; and, carries the metal bucket 11 to an exit of the cooling tunnel 3.
After the metal bucket 11 is cooled down to 60° C. and is sealed with a cover, an outlet sealing gate 44 of the cooling tunnel 3 is opened; then, the metal bucket 11 is hanged to a storage bucket 42 of 55 gallons by a programmable positioning hanging device 41, which can move along X-axle, Y-axle and Z-axle. Because the gap between the metal bucket 11 and the storage bucket 42 is only 1.5 cm wide, the positioning done by the positioning hanging device 41 must be accurate. The storage unit 4 comprises a hanging cabinet 43. The hanging cabinet 43 comprises four side surfaces of reinforcing frames, where three of them are fixed while the other one can be actively opened. The hanging cabinet 43 comprises a metal ladder board at the bottom; 6 storage buckets 42, each of which is made of a carbonic steel and comprises a volume of 55 gallons, can be put on the metal ladder board; and, the maximum loading of the hanging cabinet 43 is 5000 kg. Because one of the four surfaces of the hanging cabinet 43 is a door actively opened, the metal ladder board can be forked, lifted and carried out by a lift truck. At the upper rim of each of the four surfaces of the hanging cabinet 43 is deposed a hanging ear for a sky-walking crane to hang the hanging cabinet 43. The present invention processes the discharging of plasma lava and the cooling down of the metal bucket under a thorough monitor with a closed-circuit television; and the present invention has advantages of continuous cooling operation, fewer rotating parts, no environment pollution, etc. Owing to the indirect cooling process, no gas explosion would happen; so, the present invention can be applied in a plasma melting process for radioactive material, where environment detection devices for positioning, temperature, air-pressure, water-pressure, wind volume and wind force are applied in the lava-discharge cooling unit 2 and the cooling tunnel 3 for safe operations.
To sum up, the present invention is a transporting and cooling device for plasma lava, which continuously transports and cools down plasma lava to obtain lava block with no gas explosion under an indirect cooling; comprises fewer rotating parts for transportation; prevents radioactive pollutants from escaping out with an air-locked environment; and, avoids motor of transport caravan being operated under a high temperature.
The preferred embodiment herein disclosed is not intended to unnecessarily limit the scope of the invention. Therefore, simple modifications or variations belonging to the equivalent of the scope of the claims and the instructions disclosed herein for a patent are all within the scope of the present invention.
