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US 12,565,390 B2Granted
System and method for feeding bulk material into a pressurized environment
AssigneeJenike & Johanson, Inc.
InventorsJayant V. Khambekar, David A. Craig, Thomas G. Troxel, T. Anthony Royal
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system and method for feeding a high volume of low-bulk-density and pressure-sensitive feedstocks into a pressurized environment. The system includes a lock hopper filling system, one or more lock hoppers, a feed bin, and a feeder. The methods involve using such a system to feed bulk materials into a pressurized environment by feeding bulk material from a low pressure into the surge bin, filling the one or more lock hoppers from the surge bin, operating the lock hoppers, and discharging lock hoppers into feed bin, and discharging feed bin into the high-pressure zone using feeder.
Claims61
A lock hopper filling system, comprising:
- a surge bin for receiving bulk material, the surge bin comprising:
- a top end having an opening for receiving the bulk material;
- a bottom end having one or more circumferential opening for discharging/emitting the bulk material, each circumferential opening of the one or more circumferential opening being in fluid communication with one of the one or more converging-diverging hoppers;
- and
- at least one diverging wall extending from the top end to the bottom end;
- a material propagation mechanism disposed in the surge bin comprising an agitator configured to push the bulk material from a center of the surge bin toward the one or more circumferential openings, the agitator comprising:
- a bar vertically extending from the bottom end of the surge bin toward the top end of the surge bin;
- a first set of horizontal arms extending from the bar in proximity to the bottom end of the surge bin, the first set of horizontal arms comprising two or more horizontal arms symmetrically placed about the bar, wherein each arm is configured to push the bulk material from the center of the surge bin toward the one or more circumferential openings;
- and
- a second set of horizontal arms extending from the bar in proximity to a mid-height of the surge bin comprising two or more horizontal arms symmetrically placed about the bar;
- one or more converging-diverging hoppers in fluid communication with the surge bin;
- and
- one or more screw feeders, each screw feeder disposed at an outlet of each converging-diverging hopper and configured to move bulk material from the hopper into an inlet valve of a lock hopper.
10 more elements
A lock hopper comprising:
- a housing having a top inlet, a bottom outlet, and internal volume defined by diverging walls that are diverging toward the bottom outlet;
- a gas pressure sealing valve at the top inlet;
- a gas pressure sealing valve at the bottom outlet;
- and
- at least three gas injection nozzles arranged to be equidistant from each other and configured to inject or withdraw gas into the lock hopper in a tangential manner.
2 more elements
A system for feeding bulk material into a pressurized environment, the system comprising:
- a lock hopper filling system comprising:
- a surge bin for receiving bulk material;
- a material propagation mechanism disposed in the surge bin;
- one or more converging-diverging hoppers in fluid communication with the surge bin;
- and
- one or more screw feeders, each screw feeder disposed at an outlet of each converging-diverging hopper and configured to move material from the hopper into an inlet valve of a lock hopper;
- one or more lock hoppers each in fluid communication with one of the one or more screw feeders, each lock hopper comprising:
- a housing having a top inlet, a bottom outlet, and internal volume defined by diverging walls that are diverging toward the bottom outlet;
- a gas pressure sealing valve at the top inlet;
- a gas pressure sealing valve at the bottom outlet;
- and
- at least three gas injection nozzles arranged to be equidistant from each other and configured to inject or withdraw gas into the lock hopper in a tangential manner;
- a feed bin in fluid communication with the bottom outlet of each of the one or more lock hoppers, the feed bin having diverging walls;
- and
- a feeder comprising one or more screws configured to continuously discharge bulk material from the feed bin into an inlet opening of the pressurized environment.
12 more elements
A method for transferring bulk materials from a low-pressure zone to a high-pressure zone, the method comprising:
- providing a system for feeding bulk material into a pressurized environment, the system comprising:
- a lock hopper filling system comprising:
- a surge bin for receiving bulk material;
- a material propagation mechanism disposed in the surge bin;
- one or more converging-diverging hoppers in fluid communication with the surge bin;
- and
- one or more screw feeders, each screw feeder disposed at an outlet of each converging-diverging hopper and configured to move material from the hopper into an inlet valve of a lock hopper;
- one or more lock hoppers each in fluid communication with one of the one or more screw feeders, each lock hopper comprising:
- a housing having a top inlet, a bottom outlet, and internal volume defined by diverging walls that are diverging toward the bottom outlet;
- a gas pressure sealing valve at the top inlet;
- a gas pressure sealing valve at the bottom outlet;
- and
- at least three gas injection nozzles arranged to be equidistant from each other and configured to inject or withdraw gas into the lock hopper in a tangential manner;
- a feed bin in fluid communication with the bottom outlet of each of the one or more lock hoppers, the feed bin having diverging walls;
- a feeder comprising one or more screws configured to continuously discharge bulk material from the feed bin into an inlet opening of the pressurized environment;
- providing bulk material from a low pressure to the surge bin, continuously or intermittently, such that a material level in the surge bin is maintained above a certain minimum level;
- actuating the material propagation mechanism continuously or intermittently to fill the converging-diverging hoppers;
- for each lock hopper:
- operating the screw feeder configured to move material from the converging-diverging hopper into an inlet valve of a lock hopper, when the inlet valve of the lock hopper in communication with a converging-diverging hopper opens to fill the lock hopper with a desired amount of bulk material;
- closing the inlet valve of the lock hopper upon filling a desired quantity of material;
- injecting a gas into the lock hopper using the at least three tangential injection nozzles until desired high pressure is reached in the lock hopper;
- opening the outlet valve of the lock hopper;
- discharging the material from the lock hopper into the feed bin;
- closing the outlet valve;
- withdrawing gas from the lock hopper using the injection nozzles until a desired low-pressure is reached in the lock hopper;
- and
- opening the inlet valve;
- continuously discharging the bulk material from the feed bin, which is at the high pressure, into the high pressure zone using the feeder.
25 more elements
A lock hopper filling system comprising:
- a surge bin for receiving bulk material, the surge bin comprising:
- a top end having an opening for receiving a bulk material;
- a bottom end having an outlet for dispensing a bulk material in fluid communication with one of the one or more converging-diverging hoppers;
- and
- a sloping surface extending from proximal the top end to the bottom end;
- wherein the sloping surface acts as a chute where an angle of the sloping surface is steeper than a critical chute angle of the bulk material, and which causes the bulk material to flow to the material propagation mechanism disposed in the surge bin due to gravitational force on the bulk material;
- a material propagation mechanism disposed in the surge bin, the material propagation mechanism comprising a distributor screw comprising right-handed flights on a first half of its length and left-handed flights on a second half of its length, such that the distributor screw distributes the bulk material from a center toward both a first end and a second end opposite the first end of the propagation mechanism;
- one or more converging-diverging hoppers in fluid communication with the surge bin;
- and
- one or more screw feeders, each screw feeder disposed at an outlet of each converging-diverging hopper and configured to move material from the hopper into an inlet valve of a lock hopper.
7 more elements
A lock hopper filling system comprising:
- a surge bin for receiving bulk material, the surge bin comprising:
- a top end having an opening for receiving a bulk material;
- a bottom end having an outlet for dispensing a bulk material in fluid communication with one of the one or more converging-diverging hoppers;
- and
- a sloping surface extending from proximal the top end to the bottom end;
- wherein the sloping surface acts as a chute where an angle of the sloping surface is steeper than a critical chute angle of the bulk material, and which causes the bulk material to flow to the material propagation mechanism disposed in the surge bin due to gravitational force on the bulk material;
- a material propagation mechanism disposed in the surge bin;
- one or more converging-diverging hoppers in fluid communication with the surge bin;
- and
- one or more screw feeders, each screw feeder disposed at an outlet of each converging-diverging hopper and configured to move material from the hopper into an inlet valve of a lock hopper;
- wherein the surge bin has a rectangular outlet, which has a linear array of several outlet openings evenly distributed, each outlet opening being in fluid communication with one of the one or more converging-diverging hoppers.
8 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.