Method and plant for supplying a variable flow rate of a gas from air
AssigneeL'Air Liquide, Societe Anonyme pour l'Etude et l'Exploitation des Procedes Georges Claude
InventorsAlain Guillard, Patrick Le Bot
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Up to a certain value (D1) of the demanded flow rate (D), this flow rate is brought to the working pressure and is sent to the consumer pipe. When the demanded flow rate is less than the value (D1), the complement to (D1) is brought to a high pressure, greater than the working pressure, and is sent into a buffer tank. Above the value (D1), the flow rate is supplemented by a flow rate which is drawn from the buffer tank and expanded to the working pressure. The method is useful in supplying oxygen to steel works with electric arc furnaces or to copper refineries.
Claims17
Method for supplying a consumer pipe for a time interval with a variable demanded flow rate of a constituent of air produced by an air distillation apparatus, the method comprising:
- drawing a total flow rate of the constituent at a constant value from the distillation apparatus;
- dividing the time interval into several periods, namely:
- at least a first period during which the demanded flow rate is equal to the total flow rate;
- at least one second period during which the demanded flow rate is less than the total flow rate;
- and
- at least one third period during which the demanded flow rate is greater than the total flow rate;
- during the second period:
- bringing the demanded flow rate to the working pressure and sending said demanded flow rate to the consumer pipe;
- and
- bringing a storage flow rate of the constituent, equal to the difference between the total flow rate and the demanded flow rate to a high pressure greater than the working pressure, and storing said storage flow rate in at least one buffer tank;
- and
- during the third period:
- bringing the total flow rate to the working pressure and sending the total flow rate to the consumer pipe, and
- also sending to the consumer pipe a supplementary flow rate of the constituent, equal to the difference between the demanded flow rate and the total flow rate, said supplementary flow rate being drawn from at least one buffer tank and expanded to the working pressure.
Air distillation plant for supplying a consumer pipe with a variable flow rate of a constituent of air produced by an air distillation apparatus, the plant comprising:
- means for drawing a constant flow rate of the constituent from the distillation apparatus;
- a buffer tank;
- first means for bringing at least a part of the total flow rate to a working pressure and in the form of gas, said first means being connected to the consumer pipe;
- second means for bringing a second flow rate of the constituent to a high pressure greater than the working pressure and in the form of gas, said second means being connected to the buffer tank;
- and
- an auxiliary pipe fitted with a controlled pressure-reducer valve, connecting the buffer tank to the consumer pipe.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.