Pressure relief system for treating fibrous materials under pressure
AssigneeWestvaco Corporation
InventorJames P. Cox, Jr.
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A process and apparatus is disclosed for treating fibrous material under pressure which includes at least two pressure relief devices. The pressure relief devices are arranged so that only one at a time is exposed to pressure during the treatment process. When the exposed pressure relief device is ruptured in response to an abnormal increase in pressure, the ruptured device may be isolated and the second pressure relief device exposed to the operating pressure so that the treatment apparatus may be operated on a substantially continuous basis.
Claims14
Apparatus for refining fibrous material in a pressurized refining device which comprises at least one pair of refining disks located in a refiner housing and mounted for relative rotation with respect to one another, said refining disks including inner refining surfaces which define a refining space therebetween through which the fibrous material passes during refining, an inlet conduit for feeding fibrous material into said housing for refining, and a discharge conduit for removing the refined fibrous material from said housing, the improvement wherein at least two pressure relief devices are provided in communication with said discharge conduit and a means is provided for exposing only one pressure relief device at a time to the pressure in said discharge conduit said means actuated when an increase in the pressure within the discharge conduit is sufficient to cause a failure of one of the pressure relief devices.
In a mechanical device for treating a fibrous material under pressure, said mechanical device including a discharge conduit for conducting treated fibrous material away from said mechanical device, a pressure relief system in communication with said discharge conduit which permits the mechanical device to operate on a substantially continuous basis despite increases in the pressure in said mechanical device, said pressure relief system comprising at least two rupturable pressure release devices in communication with said discharge conduit and a means for exposing only one pressure release device at a time to the pressure in the discharge conduit so that, upon an increase in pressure in the discharge conduit sufficient to rupture the first pressure release device, the first pressure release device may be isolated from the discharge conduit and the second pressure release device may be exposed to the discharge conduit to maintain the substantially continuous operation of the mechanical device.
The method for treating fibrous material under pressure in a mechanical device and for discharging the treated fibrous material from the mechanical device on a substantially continuous basis comprising the steps:
- (a) providing a mechanical device for treating the fibrous material;
- (b) providing an inlet conduit for feeding material to be treated into the mechanical device;
- (c) providing a discharge conduit for conducting the treated material away from the mechanical device;
- (d) providing at least two rupturable pressure relief devices in communication with the discharge conduit of step (c);
- (e) providing a valve means for exposing only one pressure relief device at a time to the pressure in the discharge conduit of step (c);
- and,
- (f) actuating the valve means of step (e) to switch from a first pressure relief device to a second pressure relief device upon an increase in the pressure in the discharge conduit sufficient to rupture the first pressure relief device, so that the first pressure relief device may be isolated from the discharge conduit and the second pressure relief device may be exposed to the pressure in the discharge conduit to maintain the substantially continuous operation of the mechanical device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.