Counterflow Rotary Cooler
AssigneeIndustrial Process Systems, Inc.
InventorsLeonard Loesch, John R. Brink, Oscar Mathis
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A counterflow rotary cooler including an elongated rotary vessel having first and second ends, at least one inner tube nested inside one outer tube and defining an annulus space between said inner and outer tubes, with cooling water flowing from said first end to said second end through said annulus and then returning to said first end through the inner tube.
Claims18
A counterflow rotary cooler for cooling solid granular material product, the cooler comprising:
- an elongated rotary vessel having a vessel first end and a vessel second end, the vessel first end being at a lower elevation relative to the vessel second end;
- a cooling fluid inlet located proximate said vessel first end;
- a cooling fluid outlet located proximate said vessel first end;
- an outer tube having a first outer tube end and a second outer tube end and extending substantially from said vessel first end to said vessel second end inside said elongated rotary vessel, said outer tube being in fluid communication with said cooling fluid inlet;
- an inner tube nested inside said outer tube and having a first inner tube end and a second inner tube end extending substantially from said vessel first end to said vessel second end but terminating short of the outer tube second end, whereby said inner tube and said outer tube form a nested tube set and define an annulus between said inner tube and said outer tube through which cooling fluid flows;
- and
- a cap enclosing said outer tube second end of said nested tube set, such that when cooling fluid flows into said fluid inlet, it flows through said annulus to said outer tube second end and is directed by said cap into said inner tube at said inner tube second end and flows from said vessel second end to said vessel first end and then out said cooling fluid outlet proximate to said vessel first end;
- an auger disposed proximate to said vessel second end for introducing solid product into said vessel at said vessel second end;
- and
- a product outlet at said vessel first end, so that when product enters the vessel through said auger, it flows to said vessel first end and out said product outlet.
A method for cooling product passed through a rotary cooler by heat exchange with a cooling fluid, the rotary cooler having a cylindrical rotary vessel having first and second ends, the first end being opposite and at a lower elevation than the second end, the method comprising:
- introducing product into an inlet at a second end of a rotary vessel;
- passing product through an interior space of a rotary vessel, the product flowing in a first direction from the second end to the first end, the product exiting the rotary vessel at the first end;
- introducing cooling fluid at a generally stationary cooling fluid inlet and discharging cooling fluid at a generally stationary cooling fluid outlet located near the first end of the cylindrical rotary vessel;
- providing a tube assembly set disposed uniformly about the interior surface of the rotary vessel, each tube assembly of the tube assembly set extending essentially the length of the rotary vessel and comprising an outer tube and an inner tube nested within the outer tube and defining an annulus in a space between the inner tube and the outer tube, the outer tube having an inlet essentially located at the first end of the rotary vessel for receiving cooling fluid into the annulus, the inner tube having an inlet for receiving cooling fluid from the outer tube and having an outlet essentially located at the first end of the rotary vessel, wherein the cooling fluid flows in the annulus in a second direction opposite the first direction;
- wherein the product is physically separated from the cooling fluid and is in thermal communication with the cooling fluid running through the annulus of the tube assembly set, and wherein the cooling fluid entering the inner tube at the second end is at a temperature lower than the temperature of the product as it enters the rotary cooler whereby a heat exchange occurs between the product and the cooling fluid to lower the temperature of the product as it travels through the rotary vessel.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.