REFRIGERANT INJECTION DEVICE FOR REFRIGERANT DESTRUCTION FACILITY
Featured is a refrigerant injection device which is particularly suitable for use in a refrigerant destruction facility using an incinerator. Such an injection device includes a storage device which stores the refrigerant and a decompressor fluidly coupled to the storage device. The injection device further includes two flow meters and a cutoff-valve that are fluidly coupled to the decompressor. The cutoff valve is configured to cut off the injection of refrigerant. The injection device further includes bypass flow members that are fluidly coupled to the two flow meters. The bypass flow members and flow meters are configured and arranged to selectively measure the flow rate and to perform flow meter calibration without stopping the feeding of refrigerant to the injection device.
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This application claims under 35 U.S.C. §119(a) the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2009-0091452 filed Sep. 28, 2009, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND(a) Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a refrigerant injection device for a refrigerant destruction facility. More particularly, it relates to a refrigerant injection device which is applicable to a refrigerant destruction facility using an incinerator such as a gasification melting system, a rotary Kiln furnace, a stocker furnace, etc. and a dedicated combustion furnace.
(b) Background Art
A refrigerant gas such as Freon is generically used in various refrigeration systems. When Freon is released into the air or atmosphere, it becomes an environmental pollutant as it destroys the ozone layer. Therefore, the use and discharge of Freon is regulated by laws.
The waste refrigerant that is produced during collection, recovery, and disposal typically includes chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) which is as an ozone-depleting substance, and hydrofluorocarbon (HFC), which is a global warming substance.
In general, more than 99.9% of refrigerant such as CFC and HFC is destroyed using an incinerator such as a gasification melting system, a rotary Kiln furnace, a stocker furnace, etc. or using a dedicated combustion furnace, which maintains the temperature above 800° C. with a retention time of more than 2 seconds.
There is shown in
The refrigerant injection device includes a hot-water bath type vaporizer 10, a valve 11, a heater 12, an oil filter 13, a mist filter 14, a flowmeter 15 and a metering valve 16. The hot-water bath type vaporizer 10 vaporizes the refrigerant in a refrigerant container. The valve 11 is provided for selectively opening and closing the vaporizer 10. The heater 12 is connected to the vaporizer 10 and heats the vaporized refrigerant to room temperature. The oil filter 13 and mist filter 14 are connected to the heater 12 and remove oil and mist. The flowmeter 15 and metering valve 16 are connected to the filters 13 and 14 and control the flow rate of refrigerant.
Such a refrigerant injection device includes an injection pipe 17 that is connected to the incinerator 18 so as to directly inject the refrigerant into the incinerator 18 and a cooler 19. The cooler is provided to prevent the device from being damaged by the heat of the incinerator 18.
Because the refrigerant is discharged from the refrigerant container without pressure control, the refrigerant injection device should increase the evaporation rate of refrigerant using the hot-water bath type vaporizer 10 and the heater 12 to improve the injection of the refrigerant into the incinerator 18.
The vaporizer 10 vaporizes the refrigerant in the refrigerant container using hot water of 20 to 40° C. Alternatively, a hot-water spray type vaporizer or a hot blast heating type vaporizer is used for the hot-water bath type vaporizer 10 of
The heater 12 is maintained at a temperature of 40 to 60° C. using an external heating coil. The heater 12 heats the vaporized refrigerant such that it is above room temperature.
Any oil or mist that may be in the refrigerant gas is/are removed from the refrigerant gas at a temperature above room temperature by the oil and mist filters 13, 14. The flow rate of the refrigerant gas is controlled by the flowmeter 15 and the metering valve 16. The refrigerant gas is injected into the incinerator 18 through the injection pipe 17. Coolant having a temperature of 5 to 20° C. produced from the cooler 19, circulates through the injection pipe 17. As provided herein, this is done to prevent damage to the injection device by the heat of the incinerator 18.
As the energy consumed by the vaporizer 10, the heater 12, and the cooler 19 is increased, the cost for treating the waste refrigerant is increased, and the space required for the vaporizer 10, the heater 12, and the cooler 19 also is increased.
In addition, when using the conventional refrigerant injection device having a single flowmeter 15, it is difficult to precisely control the flow rate. Also, it is necessary to stop the injection of refrigerant during calibration of the flowmeter 15 and in the event of a failure in the flowmeter 15.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.
SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSUREThe present invention features a refrigerant injection device for a refrigerant destruction facility. Such a refrigerant injection device of the present invention advantageously reduces energy cost and installation space requirements of the device. In more particular embodiments, such a refrigerant injection device of the present invention includes a decompressor. As further described herein such a decompressor provides a mechanism by which the evaporation rate of refrigerant gas can be increased as compared to a conventional refrigerant injection device which employs a vaporizer, a heater, and a cooler which require large energy consumption.
In further embodiments, such a refrigerant injection device for a refrigerant destruction facility includes two flowmeters for measuring the flow rate of refrigerant. This arrangement provides a mechanism for precisely measure the flow rate of refrigerant thereby also providing a mechanism dor stably injecting the refrigerant into an incinerator of the refrigerant destruction facility.
According to another aspect of the present invention such a refrigerant injection device for a refrigerant destruction facility, includes a refrigerant container in which is stored refrigerant; a decompressor connected to the refrigerant container which is operated to decompress the refrigerant and thereby easily evaporated the refrigerant; and a flowmeter measuring the flow rate of the refrigerant as decompressed by the decompressor.
It is understood that the term “vehicle” or “vehicular” or other similar term as used herein is inclusive of motor vehicles in general such as passenger automobiles including sports utility vehicles (SUV), buses, trucks, various commercial vehicles, watercraft including a variety of boats and ships, aircraft, and the like, and includes hybrid vehicles, electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, hydrogen-powered vehicles and other alternative fuel vehicles (e.g. fuels derived from resources other than petroleum). As referred to herein, a hybrid vehicle is a vehicle that has two or more sources of power, for example both gasoline-powered and electric-powered vehicles. Other aspects and embodiments of the present invention are discussed below.
The above and other features of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing figures which are given hereinbelow by way of illustration only, and thus are not limitative of the present invention, wherein like reference characters denote corresponding parts throughout the several views and wherein:
Reference numerals set forth in the drawing figures include reference to the following elements as further discussed below:
It should be understood that the appended drawings are not necessarily to scale, present a somewhat simplified representation of various preferred features illustrative of the operation of the invention. Also, the specific features of the present invention as described herein, can include, for example, specific dimensions, orientations, locations, and shapes; however these are not intended to be limiting as these features will be determined by one skilled in the art in part by the particular intended application and use environment.
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DETAILED DESCRIPTIONFeatured is a refrigerant injection device which is particularly suitable for use in a refrigerant destruction facility using an incinerator. Such an injection device includes a storage device which stores the refrigerant and a decompressor that is fluidly coupled to the storage device. The injection device further includes two flow meters and a cutoff-valve that are fluidly coupled to the decompressor. The cutoff valve is configured to cut off the injection of refrigerant. The injection device further includes bypass flow members that are fluidly coupled to the two flow meters. The bypass flow members and flow meters are configured and arranged to selectively measure the flow rate and to perform flow meter calibration without stopping the feeding of refrigerant to the injection device.
Hereinafter reference will now be made in detail to various embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings and described below. While the invention will be described in conjunction with exemplary embodiments, it will be understood that present description is not intended to limit the invention to those exemplary embodiments. On the contrary, the invention is intended to cover not only the exemplary embodiments, but also various alternatives, modifications, equivalents and other embodiments, which may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
Referring now to the various figures of the drawing wherein like reference characters refer to like parts, there is shown in
Such a refrigerant injection device includes a refrigerant container 100, a decompressor 110, an oil filter 130, a mist filter 131, a plurality of flowmeters 140, 145, and a metering valve 160.
Refrigerant, such as that recovered from any of a number of articles known to those skilled in the art which utilize refrigerant, such as air conditioners, refrigerators, is stored in the refrigerant container 100. Typically the refrigerant is stored under a high pressure such as for example, 5 to 10 kgf/cm2. Such a injection device also includes a first valve 101 that is fluidly coupled to the container 100 and is provided for opening and closing a refrigerant flow path of the refrigerant container 100. In more particular embodiments, the first valve 101 is installed in piping on the top of the refrigerant container 100.
In further embodiments, the injection device further includes a pressure gauge 102 that measures measure the pressure of the refrigerant being discharged from the refrigerant container 100. Such a pressure gauge is any of a number of pressure gauges known to those skilled in the art and otherwise appropriate for the intended use. In a particular embodiment, the pressure gauge 102 is a manometer that is fluidly coupled to piping extending between and fluidly coupling the first valve 101 and the decompressor 110.
The decompressor 110 is any of a number of decompressors known to those skilled in the art and otherwise appropriate for the intended use. [IS THERE AN EXAMPLE OF SUCH A DECOMPRESSOR??] In particular embodiments, the decompressor is configurable so that the refrigerant stored in the refrigerant container 100 evaporates responsive to the decompression action of the decompressor. In yet more particular embodiments, the decompressor is configured so as to increase the evaporation rate of the refrigerant as compared to conventional injection devices.
For example and in illustrative embodiments, the decompressor 110 is configured so as to be operable to reduce the pressure of the refrigerant from a high pressure (e.g., 5 to 10 kgf/cm2) to a low pressure (e.g., 0 to 3 kgf/cm2) such that the refrigerant in the refrigerant container 100 has an appropriate pressure (e.g., about 1.0 kgf/cm2) whereby the refrigerant is injected into a refrigerant destruction facility 170.
The oil filter 130 is fluidly connected to the decompressor 110 via a pipe and configured so as to remove oil contained in the refrigerant vaporized by the decompressor 110. The mist filter 131 is fluidly connected to the oil filter 130 and is configured so as to remove impurities such as dust and foreign matter contained in the refrigerant from which oil is removed. In further embodiments, such an injection device further includes a drain box 120 for storing oil and mist filtered by the oil filter 130 and the mist filter 131. Such a drain box is provided at the bottom of the oil and mist filters 130,131.
In yet further embodiments, such an injection device further includes a sampling port 123 for analyzing the purity of the refrigerant being injected into the refrigerant destruction facility 170. In more particular embodiments, the sampling port 123 is provided downstream of the mist filter, more particularly at the rear of the mist filter 131. In yet more particular embodiments, a flexible hose is provided and connected to the sampling port 123 to facilitate the collection of a sample.
In yet further embodiments, another pressure gauge 102 or manometer is installed in the piping extending downstream of the filters 130, 131 (e.g., downsteam of the sampling port 123. Such a pressure gauge is provided to measure the pressure of injected refrigerant and is used together when the decompressor 110 is controlled to provide an appropriate pressure at which the refrigerant is injected into the refrigerant destruction facility 170.
The flowmeters 140, 145 and the metering valve 160 are arranged and configured so as to control the flow rate of the refrigerant in which oil and foreign matter are removed. In more particular embodiments, the injection device includes at least two flowmeters 140 and 150 that are connected in series. Also included at each of the flow meters 140, 150 are bypass pipes 142 and 152 and valves 141, 143, 151, and 153. The bypass pipes and vales are configured and arranged at each of the flowmeters 140 and 150 so refrigerant can be injected into the refrigerant destruction facility 170 in the case one of the flowmeters has failed or when a flowmeter is undergoing calibration.
In yet more particular embodiments, the injection device includes a first flowmeter 140 and a second flowmeter 150 that are connected in series. The second valves 141 are provided at the front and the rear of the first flowmeter 140, and the third valves 151 are also provided at the front and the rear of the second flowmeter 150. In addition, a first bypass pipe 142 and a second bypass pipe 152 are provided at the first flowmeter 140 and the second flowmeter 150. The bypass pipes are particualry suitable for performing calibration of the first and second flowmeters 140 and 150.
One end of the first bypass pipe 142 is connected between the second valve 141 at the upstream side and the pressure gauge 102 or manometer. The other end of the first bypass pipe 142 is connected between the second valve 141 at the downstream side and the third valve 151 at the upstream side such that the refrigerant, from which oil and dust are removed, is introduced into the second flowmeter 150, without passing through the first flowmeter 140. Also, a bypass valve 143 for opening and closing the pipe is installed in the first bypass pipe 142.
One end of the second bypass pipe 152 is connected between the second valve 141 at the downstream side and the third valve 151 at the upstream side, and the other end of the second bypass pipe 152 is connected between the third valve 151 at the downstream side and the metering valve 160 such that the refrigerant measured by the first flowmeter 140 is introduced into the metering valve 160, without passing through the second flowmeter 150. Also, a bypass valve 153 for opening and closing the pipe is disposed in the second bypass pipe 152.
In yet further embodiments, the injection device further includes a check valve 161 that is disposed in the pipe at the rear of the metering valve 160 to prevent the refrigerant, which is introduced into the refrigerant destruction facility 170, from flowing backward.
In further embodiments, the injection device includes an injection pipe 171 that is provided at one side of the refrigerant destruction facility 170, and a cut-off valve 162 is provided between the check valve 161 and the injection pipe 171. The cut-off valve 162 provides a mechanism so as to rapidly cut off the flow rate of refrigerant in the event of an emergency of the refrigerant destruction facility 170.
The refrigerant destruction facility 170 serves to decompose the refrigerant by allowing the refrigerant introduced through the injection pipe 171 to react with steam at a high temperature.
The operation and effect of the refrigerant injection device for the refrigerant destruction facility 170 in accordance with the present invention is discussed below. Reference shall be made to
Typically, waste refrigerant is recovered from the place where it is produced or where it was being utilized in a container of 20 to 1,000 Kg by a refrigerant recovery machine. As the boiling point of the refrigerant such as CFC and HFC injected into the refrigerant injection device is less than −20° C., it is evaporated under atmospheric conditions.
Therefore, in the present invention, the pressure of refrigerant to be injected into the refrigerant destruction facility is reduced by the decompressor 110 and thereby evaporated.
The decompressor 110 reduces the pressure of refrigerant stored in the refrigerant container 100 from 5 to 10 kgf/cm2 to 0 to 3 kgf/cm2 such that the refrigerant in the refrigerant container 100 can be injected into the refrigerant destruction facility 170.
As described herein, any oil and/or mist that is contained in the refrigerant (gas) at a temperature above room temperature and decompressed to a predetermined pressure by the decompressor 110, are removed by the oil filter 130 and the mist filter 131. Also, the flow rate of the refrigerant is controlled by the flowmeters 140, 150 and the metering valve 160. Therrafter, the refrigerant gas is injected into the refrigerant destruction facility 170 through the injection pipe 171 and decomposed by the reaction with steam at a high temperature.
Thus and unlike the conventional refrigerant injection device which employs a vaporizer, a heater, and a cooler which require large energy consumption, when using the refrigerant injection device of the present invention, the refrigerant gas is evaporated by the decompressor 110. In this way, it is possible to reduce the cost of energy consumed for treating the waste refrigerant and reduce the installation space of the device.
The refrigerant such as CFC and HFC is decomposed by the reaction with steam at a high temperature.
In general, more than 99.9% of refrigerant such as CFC and HFC is destroyed at a temperature above 800° C. for a retention time of more than 2 seconds. Hydrogen chloride (HCl) and hydrogen fluoride (HF) produced by the destruction of refrigerant are neutralized into CaCl2 and CaF2 by the addition of an alkaline reagent such as Ca(OH)2 and then removed in post-treatment equipment of the refrigerant destruction facility as follows.
(1) Stabilization reaction of CFC-12 refrigerant:
2HCl+Ca(OH)2→CaCl2+2H2O
(2) Stabilization reaction of HFC-134a refrigerant:
2HF+Ca(OH)2→CaF2+2H2O
The refrigerant injection device for the refrigerant destruction facility in accordance with the present invention employs first and second flowmeters 140 and 150 connected in series. with such an arrangement, it is possible to increase the time of use and to precisely measure and accumulate the amount of refrigerant injected into the refrigerant destruction facility.
Referring now to
In this embodiment, the first and second flowmeters 140 and 150 measure the flow rate of the refrigerant, respectively, to obtain a more precise flow rate by correcting the measurement values obtained by the two flowmeters 140 and 150.
Referring now to
Because an error can occur in the flowmeter when it is being used for a long time, it is typical practice to periodically calibrate the flowmeter. The calibration is done to correct the measurement value of the used flowmeter by comparing it with that of a reliable standard flowmeter.
Because conventional refrigerant injection device usually have a single flowmeter, it is necessary to stop operation of the device during calibration. In contrast, as the refrigerant injection device according to the present invention has the two flowmeters and two bypass pipes, the injection device can continue perform calibration without stopping operation of the injection device.
The calibration of the flowmeters according to the present invention is discussed below.
When the first flowmeter 140 is to be calibrated, as shown in
The flow rate of the refrigerant gas, which passes through the bypass pipe 142 of the first flowmeter 140, is measured by the second flowmeter 150, and then the refrigerant gas is injected into the refrigerant destruction facility 170.
When the second flowmeter 150 is to be calibrated, see
Also, the flow rate of the refrigerant gas is measured by the first flowmeter 140, and the refrigerant gas is injected into the refrigerant destruction facility 170 through the bypass pipe 152 of the second flowmeter 150.
In
During the calibration of the first flowmeter 140, the refrigerant passes through the first bypass pipe 142 and is then injected into the refrigerant destruction facility 170 through the second flowmeter 150. During the calibration of the second flowmeter 150, the refrigerant passes through the first flowmeter 140 and is then injected into the refrigerant destruction facility 170 through the second bypass pipe 152. Therefore, it is possible to perform the calibration of the flowmeter without stopping the operation of the device.
Moreover, in the event of a failure of one of the flowmeters 140 and 150, the flow rate can be measured using the other flowmeter 140 or 150, and when the two flowmeters 140 and 150 are connected in series, it is possible to reduce the margin of error to about 0.05%.
The refrigerant injection device for the refrigerant destruction facility 170 according to the present invention is usable for refrigerant destruction using the refrigerant destruction facility such as a gasification melting system, a rotary Kiln furnace, a stocker furnace, etc.
As described above, the refrigerant injection device for the refrigerant destruction facility according to the present invention has a number of advantages and advantageous effects such as:
1. Unlike the conventional refrigerant injection device which employs a vaporizer, a heater, and a cooler which require large energy consumption, for the refrigerant injection device of the present invention, the evaporation rate of refrigerant gas is increased comparatively by the use of the decompressor. Thus, it is possible to reduce the cost of energy consumed for treating the waste refrigerant and also reduce the installation space requirements for such a device.
2. Because the refrigerant injection device of the present invention employs two flowmeters, it is possible to more precisely measure and accumulate the amount of refrigerant injected into the refrigerant destruction facility through the correction between the flow rates measured by the two flowmeters, thus improving the accuracy about ten times that of the single flowmeter; and
3. It is possible to selectively measure the flow rate and perform the calibration without stopping the operation of the device through the two flowmeters and bypass pipes connected in series, and thereby it is possible to effectively use the device.
The invention has been described in detail with reference to preferred embodiments thereof. However, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the appended claims and their equivalents.
Claims
1. A refrigerant injection device for a refrigerant destruction facility, the refrigerant injection device comprising:
- a refrigerant container storing refrigerant;
- a decompressor connected to the refrigerant container and decompressing the refrigerant to be easily evaporated; and
- a flowmeter measuring the flow rate of the refrigerant decompressed by the decompressor.
2. The refrigerant injection device of claim 1, further comprising:
- an oil filter and a mist filter removing oil and mist contained in the refrigerant decompressed by the decompressor; and
- a drain box storing the oil and mist filtered by the oil filter and the mist filter.
3. The refrigerant injection device of claim 1, further comprising a sampling port for analyzing the purity of the refrigerant provided in a pipe at the rear of the oil filter and the mist filter.
4. The refrigerant injection device of claim 1, wherein the flowmeter comprises a first flowmeter and a second flowmeter, which are connected in series, such that the flow rates measured by the first and second flowmeters are compared and corrected to obtain a more precise flow rate of the refrigerant.
5. The refrigerant injection device of claim 1, wherein the first flowmeter and the second flowmeter are connected to a first bypass pipe and a second bypass pipe, respectively, and wherein, during calibration of the first flowmeter, the first flowmeter is closed such that the refrigerant passes through the first bypass pipe and is then injected into the refrigerant destruction facility through the second flowmeter for measuring the flow rate of the refrigerant and, during calibration of the second flowmeter, the second flowmeter is closed such that the refrigerant passes through the first flowmeter for measuring the flow rate of the refrigerant and is then injected into the refrigerant destruction facility through the second bypass pipe, thus performing the calibration of the flowmeter without stopping the operation of the device.
6. A refrigerant injection device for a refrigerant destruction facility, the refrigerant injection device comprising:
- a refrigerant container in which is stored refrigerant; and
- a decompressor fluidly coupled to the refrigerant container, the decompressor being configured to decompress the refrigerant being stored in the refriferant container. to be easily evaporated
7. The refrigerant injection device of claim 6, further comprising:
- a flowmeter operably coupled to the decompressor for measuring the flow rate of the decompressed refrigerant from decompressor.
8. The refrigerant injection device of claim 6, further comprising:
- an oil filter and a mist filter being configured so as to remove oil and mist that is contained in the decompressed refrigerant; and
- a drain box operably coupled to the oil and mist filters and being configured so as to store the oil and mist filtered by the oil filter and the mist filter.
9. The refrigerant injection device of claim 6, further comprising a sampling port for analyzing the purity of the refrigerant, the port being located in piping downstream of the oil filter and the mist filters.
10. The refrigerant injection device of claim 6, further comprising a first flowmeter and a second flowmeter that are connected in series.
11. The refrigerant injection device of claim 10, wherein:
- the first flowmeter and the second flowmeter are connected to a first bypass pipe and a second bypass pipe, respectively,
- wherein, during calibration of the first flowmeter, the first flowmeter is closed such that the refrigerant passes through the first bypass pipe and is then injected into the refrigerant destruction facility through the second flowmeter for measuring the flow rate of the refrigerant and, during calibration of the second flowmeter, the second flowmeter is closed such that the refrigerant passes through the first flowmeter for measuring the flow rate of the refrigerant and is then injected into the refrigerant destruction facility through the second bypass pipe, thus performing the calibration of the flowmeter without stopping the operation of the device.
Type: Application
Filed: Aug 31, 2010
Publication Date: Mar 31, 2011
Applicants: HYUNDAI MOTOR COMPANY (Seoul), LS-NIKKO COPPER INC. (Ulsan)
Inventors: Dae Sung Jung (Incheon), Han Seok Kim (Yongin), Hee Jeong Yim (Yongin), Tae Wook Yoo (Seongnam), Jae Keun Kim (Seoul), Dae Jun Kim (Seoul), Joon Haeng Kim (Seoul), Jae Sob Kim (Seoul)
Application Number: 12/872,380
International Classification: F25D 11/00 (20060101); F25B 43/02 (20060101);
