US 4,334,861 AGranted

Method and apparatus for generating a hot air blast

AssigneeBricmont & Associates, Inc.

InventorFrancis H. Bricmont

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Abstract

A system to supply high temperature blast air and a method for providing preheating of a cold air blast by gas-to-air heating in a tube-type heat exchanger with heat from waste products of combustion. Such combustion products are recovered in a header by the use of valves at different times to form a continuous supply from a plurality of horizontal regenerators. The regenerators are horizontal metal vessels wherein a mid-portion is filled with checkerbrick forming horizontal flow spaces. Each regenerator has a burner to generate hot products of combustion for heating the refractory of the checkerbrick and recovery by the header. The burner is turned OFF when the checkerbricks are highly heated and preheated air is directed by valves through a header and into the regenerator by the checkerbricks. The resulting hot air blast, which may be tempered with cold air, is fed by a main to a blast furnace.

Claims10

Dependent claims

A system to supply high temperature blast air, said system including the combination of:

at least one recuperator for heating a cold air blast with heat from a separate countercurrent flow of waste products of combustion,
means to deliver a cold air blast to said recuperator for providing a substantially continuous preheated air blast,
a plurality of horizontal regenerators each having heat storage refractories forming horizontal passageways between opposite end portions for heat exchange with media while flowing in either of opposite directions at different times along the refractories,
burner means to feed combustion media into a first end portion of each of said horizontal regenerators for generating hot products of combustion to heat the refractory therein,
first conduit means including a header and flow controllers for providing a substantially continuous supply of hot waste products of combustion to said recuperator from second end portions of alternatively preselected ones of said horizontal regenerators,
second conduit means including a heater and flow controllers for delivering the preheated air blast from said recuperators to the second end portion of a preselected one of said horizontal regenerators, and
third conduit means including a hot blast main coupled for delivering a hot air blast from the first end portion of each of said horizontal regenerators.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.