Abstract:
A vessel includes an outer wall and an inner wall arranged at a distance therefrom within the vessel and leaving an annular space relative to the outer wall. The inner wall is supported on the outer wall so as to allow for relative movements. In order to provide a vessel with which the danger of oscillations of the inner wall is avoided, with which a simple supply of medium is possible, which is easy to clean and with which the danger of an implosion of the inner wall is reduced, the inner wall is comprised of individual annular sections subsequently arranged in an axial direction of the vessel. Each section is supported on the outer wall independently of the other sections. An expansion joint is provided between two neighboring annular sections each.
Abstract:
A replaceable inspection plug assembly and method for its use with pressure vessels. The plug assembly comprises a collar seal welded onto a pressure vessel outer wall, and a threaded plug removably threaded into the collar and the vessel wall. The plug has a shoulder portion which is seal welded to the collar. For removal of the plug, the seal weld is first machined away using a special cup-shaped rotary machining tool. The plug is then cooled and contracted relative to the collar, and is then unscrewed and removed. Following inspection of the vessel interior, the plug is replaced in the threaded hole and the plug shoulder portion is rewelded to the collar to provide a structurally-rigid and leak-tight joint without need for subsequent stress relieving the welded joint.
Abstract:
An improved pressure-activated interlock system for a pressure vessel such as a pressure fryer, the interlock system includes a safety lock which cooperates with a latching mechanism to prevent opening of the pressure vessel while potentially hazardous pressure levels exist within the vessel. The safety lock includes a pin and associated solenoid actuator mounted on an arm which both mounts the latching mechanism and also serves to lift the lid of the pressure vessel. The existence of pressure conditions of a given level within the pressure vessel causes the solenoid to force the pin into engagement with one of a plurality of spaced radial slots formed in a hub portion of the latching mechanism, thereby preventing operation of the latching mechanism and thus opening of the pressure vessel. The solenoid is actuated by means of a pressure switch which directly senses the pressure within the pressure vessel.
Abstract:
An automated system for controlling the curing process of structures formed of fiber-reinforced composite material and the like in an autoclave is disclosed. The system uses sensors to monitor autoclave pressure, ambient and structure surface temperature, and structure viscosity during the cure cycle. Real time measurements are taken for each of these parameters, and the measured values are compared with predetermined optimum values which themselves change as the curing cycle progresses. The results of the comparisons are used to control the application of temperature and pressure in the autoclave to achieve the desired visco-elastic states of the structure which continually change as the curing process progresses. The viscosity data are obtained through measurements of attenuation of an ultrasonic wave in the composite material of the structure. It was found that the attenuation is directly related to the viscosity of the structure. Thus, the direct, non-destructive, in-process measurements of the ultrasonic wave attenuation permits generation of an actual, real time -versus- viscosity behavior profile which is then instantaneously compared with a "model" profile. The difference between the actual viscosity -versus- time profile and the "model" profile is also used to generate appropriate signals for controlling the curing process so as to bring the parameters of the process into close conformity with the "model" profile.
Abstract:
Vacuum support for a burst protection device of graphite, which support is a graphite disc formed by a multiplicity of graphite rings, each of which consists of at least two parts and has a prismatic cross section, the prism surfaces being inclined relative to the plane of the disc.
Abstract:
A polymerization autoclave for the suspension polymerization of vinyl compounds in the aqueous phase having a volume of from 50 to 200 m.sup.3, an impeller agitator driven from below at the bottom of the autoclave and two cylindrical displacement bodies acting as flow interrupters, secured downwardly from the autoclave dome, where the autoclave has a height-to-diameter ratio of from 2.4 to 3 with a critically dimensioned agitator and critically dimensioned flow interrupter fittings. By the use of this invention in the case large-scale autoclaves, the heat of polymerization can be removed merely by wall-cooling. The autoclave according to the invention are very economical, as shown by, for example, a spatial capacity of 0.3 to 0.4 metric tons of polyvinyl chloride per m.sup.3 autoclave volume.
Abstract:
A system for recovering energy from a pressured reactor comprising a reactor, a reciprocating engine connected to the reactor to receive reaction effluent from said reactor thereby driving the pistons of the reciprocating engine by expansion of the effluent and recovery apparatus downstream of the engine for recovering products from the effluent.The expanding reactor effluent is used to drive the pistons which are especially valved in conjunction with the effluent inlet port in the cylinder to facilitate handling the effluents, the pistons in turn operate a crankshaft through a crosshead which may power compressors or operate a generator to produce electricity. It is reasonable to expect recovery in a directly usable form, such as electricity, of over 25% of the energy theoretically available in the pressured reactor effluent in some cases.
Abstract:
An apparatus or system for cooling the interior of an autoclave furnace vessel after it has been pressurized with a gas and heated. The system comprises a heat conducting conduit opening at one end to the furnace interior and at the other end to a shut-off valve exterior to the vessel. Intermediate the two ends of the conduit is a coil portion comprising a heat exchanger positioned at a location in the furnace where hot vessel gases may be forced through or past the coil. Furnace gases are forced into the conduit and therefore through the coiled portion where they are heated prior to being exhausted. According to a preferred embodiment of this invention, there is a Joule-Thomson valve before the coiled portion of the conduit to reduce the temperature of the exhausting gases prior to arriving at the coiled portion.
Abstract:
A turbine mixer for a polyethylene reactor of the stirred autoclave type in which a turbine rotor is mounted on a rotating stirrer shaft extending along the longitudinal axis of the reactor and a turbine stator is mounted adjacent to and upstream of the rotor. The turbine mixer is positioned in the final stage of a three-stage, stirred autoclave reactor, and a baffle plate is positioned so as to extend across the reactor at the inlet to the final zone. The mixer produces intense stirring of the reactor materials within the final stage, but does not cause significant backmixing into the reactor zone immediately upstream thereof. The turbine mixer may also be utilized in other zones of the reactor wherein intense axial mixing of the reactor materials is required, in which case the baffle plate would be omitted so as to produce intensive axial mixing of the reactor materials within that zone.
Abstract:
An arrangement for absorbing the thermal expansions of the steel lining of a prestressed cast pressure tank by means of the mounting support of an armored or steel-plated pipe which is passed through the lining and the prestressed cast pressure tank. The steel-plated pipe, at that opening thereof which faces the interior of the tank, has a circumferential, collar-like mounting support which is open toward the interior of the tank. One end of the mounting support is welded to the lining in such a way that the connection is impermeable to gas. The shoulder of the mounting support is positively connected with the cast pressure tank.