Patent Application
20070277965
For the purposes of promoting an understanding of the principles of the invention, reference will now be made to a number of illustrative embodiments illustrated in the drawings and specific language will be used to describe the same.
Referring to
The pipe(s) 12 may be mounted or coupled to the plate 24 in any suitable manner including for example and without limitation by welding along the length of the pipe 12 on each side or mounting end 14, 15 thereof. Any pipe mounting end 14, 15 illustratively and optionally may have an extended portion or lip 16. As best seen in
The tube 12 has several dimensions including without limitation an inner diameter 21 representing the length of the diametrical plane extending between mounting ends 14, 15; the inner radius 19 and the outer radius 20 respectively representing the length of a plane between a mid-point of the diametrical plane and any point on the respective inner surface 17 and outer surface 18. These dimensions 19, 20, 21 may be selected as desired. For example, and without limitation, the inner radius 19 may be about one (1) inch to about two (2) inches or more and the inner diameter 21 may be about two (2) inches to about four (4) inches or more as desired. The outer radius 20 can be selected to reflect the desired thickness of the tube wall, which would be defined by the difference between the length of inner radius 19 and the length of the outer radius 20. The distance 27 from the midpoint of one tube 12 to another 12, is depicted in
Illustratively, the exemplary half-tube/pipes 12 may be connected to form an illustrative closed loop cooling circuit or cooling elements 10, 1A, 10B and 10C, which illustratively may be configured in a single parallel flow configuration 10A as depicted in
The tube(s) 12 illustratively and selectively may be fabricated from any suitable material including for example and without limitation: steel, including for example and without limitation stainless steel, cast steel, extruded steel and drawn steel; iron, including without limitation cast iron; nickel, including without limitation nickel alloy; as well as any other suitable element, composite or alloy including for example and without limitation aluminum-bronze alloys. In addition, the invention will allow the material selections for the tube to be selected from a wider range of flat or shaped materials. In any event, the selected material of fabrication may be fabricated using any suitable method including for example and without limitation rolling, forging, casting or extruding into the desired shape including without limitation the illustrative semi-cylindrical shape.
In one non-exclusive but illustrative method of fabrication a length of flat bar material (material to be selected based on the application requirement as known to those skilled in the art) is be rolled, formed, cast or extruded into a desired arc, along its length, to meet the desired cross-sectional area requirement of the cooling element. This cross-sectional area illustratively and selectively may be adjusted to meet the resulting coolant velocity, pressure drop and residence time in the element required to optimize the operating life of the element.
Illustratively, the entire length of the bar will have a generally consistent geometry throughout its length. For example in the illustrative semi-cylindrical half pipe, the arc that is rolled, formed, cast or extruded will generally be about a 180 degree arc from end to end 14, 15 to define the illustrative half pipe/tube layout. The resulting half tube/pipe arcs 12 may but need not be designed to have lips or wings 16 on their opposing ends 14, 15 to allow the plurality of tubes to be welded together. For example, in the event that wings 16 are provided, a single weld can be used to attach together the adjacent wings 16 of adjacent tubes 12 and the mounting plate 24. It will be appreciated that tubes 12 could be disposed in close enough proximity to allow for a single-weld connection even without the use of wings 16.
The outer surface 18 illustratively could be generally smooth or it could incorporate geometries as required for a particular application such as for example and without limitation any slag retention devices, such as ridges or splines 44 as disclosed in the incorporated Manasek U.S. Pat. No. 6,330,269 and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/732,618 and depicted illustratively in
In the event that the resulting cooled element illustratively requires a radius to be used in the equipment/apparatus to be protected, for example and without limitation in water cooled ducts or water cooled elements for arc furnace sidewalls used in steel making, the entire element 10 may be designed to be rolled in a typical plate roll to the desired radius in a specially modified plate roll.
Those skilled in the art will appreciate that other suitable substantially bisected shapes may be used as desired. For example and without limitation a hollow and bisected, i.e., half or semi: polyhedron, hexahedron, octahedron, dodecahedron, icosahedron, square, cube, parallelepiped, prism, cone, plinth, cylinder and the like may be used as desired. As with the illustrative generally bisected half pipe 12 or semi-cylindrical hollow body, the foregoing bisected bodies could have a closed configuration to form the conduit 28, rather than having an open side with the conduit 28 being formed subsequently by mounting to a plate 24 or piece of equipment/apparatus. No matter the geometry of the generally substantially bisected half pipe 12, it will be appreciated that the illustrative bisected bodies, including the illustrative half pipe 12, described herein may decrease the thickness of the cooling element by as much as 50% compared to a non-bisected body, such as in the case of complete cylindrical or square pipe or tube element configuration. As such, the effective working volume of the equipment or apparatus to be cooled or protected will be increased. In the alternative, the thinner design of the bisected bodies of the invention compared with existing conventional box plate construction or non-bisected cylindrical tube/pipe designs, illustratively allows for one generally bisected or half-tube cooling element to be stacked on top of another generally bisected or half-tube cooling element in the apparatus/equipment/device to be cooled or protected. In such a configuration, if the exterior element, for example the one on the hot side exposed directly to molten slag in an electric arc furnace, fails, then the rear element (i.e., the one not directly exposed to the exemplary slag) may take over cooling of the equipment without a costly down-time intervention for repair and or change out of the damaged element as must happen if only one cooling element is used.
The illustrative embodiments 10, 10A, 10B, 10C will allow the coolant flowing within or through the element(s) to reach velocities of at least double the velocities through conventional tubes. Illustratively, coolant velocities up to and in excess of about 12 to 20 feet per second through the half tube(s) are possible according to the invention. The illustrative embodiments will also maximize the heat transfer rate of the tube/element(s) relative to the characteristics of the specific material chosen for any particular element(s).
Also provided is a method of protecting a piece of equipment comprising the steps of providing a protective element comprising a plurality of the above described half pipes, and attaching together the piece of equipment and the protective element, and allowing a fluid to flow through each half pipe. The half pipes may be in fluid communication with each other or in fluid communication with supply and return headers as desired. Illustratively, all desired aspects of the half pipe may be selected including for example and without limitation the shape, including the dimensions of the half pipe, the material from which the half pipe will be fabricated, the method of fabrication, and the method of attachment.
While the invention has been illustrated and described in detail in the foregoing drawings and description, the same is to be considered as illustrative and not restrictive in character, it being understood that only illustrative embodiments thereof have been shown and described and that all changes and modifications that come within the spirit of the invention are desired to be protected.
This application claims priority to and the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/746,145, filed May 1, 2006, the disclosure of which is now incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60746145 | May 2006 | US |
