Automatic exhaust system and method suitable for ship oil-water replacement cabin

Abstract

The invention belongs to the field of ships, and discloses an automatic exhaust system suitable for an oil-water replacement cabin of a ship, comprising a medium sensor used for detecting the type of a medium discharged from a cabin body; the control box is electrically connected with the medium sensor and is used for receiving and processing a medium type signal output by the medium sensor; the electric valve is used for controlling on-off of a medium discharged from the cabin body; and the control box controls the on-off of the electric valve according to a signal transmitted by the medium sensor. The closing time of the electric valve is accurately controlled through the medium sensor, and then air residues on the top of the replacement cabin are reduced.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention belongs to the field of ships and relates to an automatic exhaust system suitable for an oil-water exchange tank of a ship. Background Art

[0002] Space utilization, stability, and endurance are important indicators for measuring the overall performance of ships. In order to maintain and improve stability, ships are usually equipped with ballast tanks; due to navigation needs, fuel tanks and other compartments that carry consumable liquids are also required. The use of ballast tanks takes up a certain amount of ship space, limits the amount of fuel the ship can carry, and thus affects its endurance; as the fuel is consumed, the center of gravity of the ship changes, and the contradiction of ship stability may manifest itself. Therefore, there is a mutually restrictive and contradictory relationship between the space utilization, stability, and endurance of the ship. The use of an oil-water exchange system in a ship is an effective technical means to resolve this contradiction.

[0003] Oil-water replacement means that during the fuel consumption process, the ship continuously injects an equal amount of seawater into the bottom of the fuel tank, so that the liquid load of the ship basically does not decrease with the fuel consumption, and ultimately maintains the overall stability without decreasing with the fuel consumption. At the same time, compared with the traditional fuel tank system, the use of the oil-water replacement system can also reduce the free liquid surface above the fuel and ballast tank, reduce the oil and gas mixing space above the fuel tank, and improve the stability and navigation safety performance of the ship.

[0004] The fuel replacement system mainly includes expansion tank, fuel replacement tank, fuel collection tank and receiving tank. Functions of each tank:

[0005] (1) Expansion tank: A compartment containing seawater. When the system is working, seawater first enters the expansion tank. In an open system, there is a certain height between the expansion tank and the replacement tank. At this time, the seawater entering the expansion tank uses the height difference to flow into the replacement tank to replace the fuel. However, a closed system does not necessarily require the existence of a height difference. The replacement power can be provided by a seawater pump. In order to keep a constant water level in the expansion tank, an overflow port is provided in the expansion tank.

[0006] (2) Fuel replacement tank: Before the system is put into operation, the fuel replacement tank is used to store fuel. After the system is put into operation, seawater from the expansion tank is injected into the tank to replace the fuel consumed by the power system. This type of tank is initially filled with fuel and gradually filled with seawater as the replacement proceeds.

[0007] (3) Fuel oil gathering tank: After the fuel oil from the replacement tank enters the gathering tank, the seawater is separated by sedimentation using the specific gravity difference between the fuel oil and seawater. When the system is running, the fuel oil from each replacement tank first enters this tank to precipitate and separate the seawater that may be mixed in the fuel oil. The precipitated and separated fuel oil is then sent to the daily fuel oil tank. To ensure the safety of the system, seawater cannot be replaced and enter this tank.

[0008] (4) Receiving tank: The fuel in the gathering tank enters the receiving tank and is then transferred to the daily fuel tank. The receiving tank can also be used as an injection tank when adding fuel.

[0009] According to the power source of the oil-water exchange system, it is divided into open and closed systems.

[0010] (1) Open system: During the replacement process, the vent valve of the expansion tank is in the open state, and the replacement pipeline uses the height difference between the liquid level in the expansion tank and the liquid level in the replacement tank to achieve oil-water replacement.

[0011] (2) Closed system: During the closed expansion tank replacement process, the expansion tank vent valve is in a closed state, and the replacement pipeline uses the fluid pressure generated by the oil-water replacement pump to achieve oil-water replacement.

[0012] In a closed oil-water exchange system, control valves must be installed at the vent pipes of the oil-water exchange expansion tank and the fuel oil gathering tank. During the exchange process, the control valves must be closed to ensure the stability of the fluid pressure generated by the exchange pump. Whether it is a manual or remote control valve, it is difficult to accurately control the closing time, which leads to residual air on the top of the exchange tank. During the closed exchange process, the air layer in the exchange tank is prone to local high pressure during the exchange process, which in turn creates the risk of a tank explosion and affects the safety of the system. At the same time, the top air layer is prone to form an oil-gas mixture with the fuel, which is prone to explosion and fire.

[0013] Relevant journals and patents such as "Analysis of Ship's Complete Stability Based on Oil-Water Exchange System" by Zhang Xiangrui et al., "Ship" No. 5, October 2009, and CN213200041U "A Ship Oil-Water Exchange System" all provide overall design for ship oil-water exchange systems, focusing on cabin layout and pipe connection systems between cabins, that is, the open and closed design of the system and the series and parallel relationship of pipes between expansion tanks, exchange tanks and fuel oil collection tanks. None of the above public documents involve the residual air exhaust structure or method of the closed system.

[0014] In addition to the above-mentioned public documents, the CN217842229U patent is designed for an automatic exhaust valve, while the CN117490291A is provided with a refilling tank, which is used as a transfer to achieve rapid exhaust, and the objects and systems it is aimed at are different from the present solution.

[0015] The existing oil-water exchange system mainly detects the liquid level through the liquid level sensor installed in the exchange tank, and then determines the time to close the valve on the vent pipe. However, due to the constraints of the tank structure, its own installation base, ship posture, etc. during the installation process, there is a dead zone that cannot be measured, which makes it impossible to exhaust the air on the top of the expansion tank and the exchange tank, thus affecting the safety and stability of the system. In the field of oil-water exchange systems, or in the field of ships, there is no automatic exhaust measure designed for liquid tanks, and the solution of the present invention is the first of its kind. Summary of the invention

[0016] In order to solve the above technical problems, the present invention provides an automatic exhaust system suitable for an oil-water exchange tank of a ship, which accurately controls the closing time of an electric valve through a sensor, thereby reducing the residual air on the top of the exchange tank.

[0017] In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, as a first aspect of the present invention, the technical solution of the present invention is to provide an automatic exhaust system suitable for an oil-water exchange tank of a ship, comprising:

[0018] A medium sensor, used to detect the type of medium discharged from the cabin;

[0019] A control box, electrically connected to the medium sensor, receiving and processing a signal of the medium type output by the medium sensor;

[0020] Electric valve, controlling the on and off of the medium discharged from the cabin;

[0021] The control box controls the on and off of the electric valve according to the signal transmitted by the medium sensor.

[0022] According to the present invention, further, the electric valve is an electric butterfly valve.

[0023] According to the present invention, further, the installation position of the electric butterfly valve is higher than the highest point of the replacement pipeline of the cabin.

[0024] According to the present invention, further, it also includes a vent pipe with one end connected to the cabin, the medium sensor detects the type of medium flowing in the vent pipe, and the electric butterfly valve controls the on-off of the vent pipe; the medium passing through the vent pipe is gas and non-gas, and when the medium sensor detects that the medium in the vent pipe is non-gas, the control box closes the electric butterfly valve after receiving the medium sensor signal. The sensor and the electric butterfly valve are arranged at the vent pipe to further control the residual exhaust and improve the exhaust efficiency.

[0025] According to the present invention, further, the end section of the vent pipeline is connected to an overflow pipeline provided with an electric overflow valve.

[0026] According to the present invention, further, the electric overflow valve is arranged behind the electric butterfly valve; the residual liquid in the air permeable pipeline behind the electric butterfly valve is discharged to the sewage collecting well through the overflow pipeline.

[0027] According to the present invention, further, a float type automatic exhaust valve is arranged on the ventilation pipeline.

[0028] According to the present invention, further, an overflow observation mirror is included to judge the liquid level and manually close the electric butterfly valve.

[0029] As a second aspect of the present invention, a method for an automatic exhaust system of an oil-water exchange tank of a ship is provided, comprising the following steps:

[0030] The electric butterfly valves of all liquid tanks are in the open state, the replacement begins, the liquid level in the liquid tank rises, and the medium sensor transmits the "air" signal to the medium signal acquisition module in the control box;

[0031] The substitution continues, and the medium in the breathable pipeline is converted from air to liquid. At this time, the medium sensor transmits the "liquid" signal to the medium signal acquisition module in the control box, and the control box outputs the switch quantity to control the electric butterfly valve to close; the substitution continues, and the remaining small amount of air is discharged to the atmosphere through the float exhaust valve;

[0032] The electric overflow valve of the overflow pipeline is controlled by the control box to open, so that the residual liquid in the pipe section behind the electric butterfly valve is discharged to the sewage collection well through the overflow pipeline.

[0033] Furthermore, if the sensor fails, the liquid level is observed through the overflow sight glass and the electric butterfly valve is closed manually.

[0034] The beneficial effects of the present invention are:

[0035] 1. The present invention combines the characteristics of the closed oil-water replacement process to add an automatic exhaust device, thereby solving the problem of residual air during the exhaust process and preventing the occurrence of problems such as cabin explosion and oil-gas mixing.

[0036] 2. The present invention can effectively improve the reliability and safety of the oil-water replacement system, and has important significance for the promotion and application of the oil-water replacement system.

[0037] 3. In order to ensure that the automatic exhaust system can still work stably when the sensor fails, the present invention sets an overflow observation mirror at the highest point of the replacement pipeline. At this time, the corresponding valve can be manually closed according to the observation situation, thereby increasing the operability of the present invention and thus improving the working stability of the present invention. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0038] Figure 1 It is a schematic diagram of the automatic exhaust device of the closed oil-water replacement system of the present invention;

[0039] Figure 2 A reference diagram of a scaled model of the oil-water substitution system of the present invention;

[0040] Figure 3 It is a schematic diagram of the connection of pipelines of each cabin of the oil-water replacement system of the present invention.

[0041] 1- medium sensor, 2- electric butterfly valve, 3- float type exhaust valve, 4- overflow observation mirror, 5- control box, 6- electric overflow valve, 7- cabin, 71- replacement injection pipeline, 72- replacement discharge pipeline, 8- ventilation pipeline, 9- overflow pipeline. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0042] The present invention will be further described below in conjunction with specific embodiments. It should be understood that these embodiments are only used to illustrate the present invention and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. In addition, it should be understood that after reading the content taught by the present invention, those skilled in the art can make various changes or modifications to the present invention, and these equivalent forms fall within the scope limited by the appended claims of the application equally.

[0043] The embodiment of the present application discloses an automatic exhaust system suitable for a ship oil-water exchange tank, which is suitable for the cabin of the oil-water exchange system. The cabin is divided into an expansion tank, an exchange tank, and a fuel oil gathering tank according to its function. The fuel oil gathering tank is a conventional liquid tank without a special structural design, such as Figure 3 shown.

[0044] The automatic exhaust system is connected to the cabin 7 and is used to exhaust the air inside the cabin 7; wherein the cabin 7 includes an expansion cabin and a replacement cabin connected thereto. The expansion cabin is connected to a replacement injection pipeline 71, and the replacement cabin is connected to a replacement discharge pipeline 72; the automatic exhaust system includes a medium sensor 1, an electric butterfly valve 2, a float exhaust valve 3, an overflow observation mirror 4, a control box 5, and an electric overflow valve 6, such as Figure 1 As shown. During the oil-water replacement process, seawater enters the expansion tank through the injection port, and as the liquid level rises, it is discharged from the seawater discharge port into the replacement tank, providing power for the replacement process. During the replacement and debugging process, the oil-water replacement system needs to exhaust the air inside the cabin to prevent local high pressure from being generated during the replacement process. The liquid level sensor generally installed inside the cabin has a measurement blind spot on the top due to the installation space limitation, and it is difficult to accurately measure the liquid level height in the cabin, which leads to the inability to exhaust the air. In order to solve this problem, a medium sensor 1 is provided on the air vent pipe 8 connected to the cabin body 7, which is used to determine whether the medium in the air vent pipe is liquid or gas. During the replacement and debugging process, seawater is first injected into the expansion tank at a small flow rate for the exhaust process. At the initial stage of exhaust, the medium in the air vent pipe is air. As seawater is continuously injected into the air and the air is exhausted, the medium in the air vent pipe is converted to liquid. The signal of the sensor 1 is transmitted to the medium signal acquisition module in the control box 5 through RS485. When the sensor signal is switched to liquid, the electric butterfly valve 2 installed on the air vent pipe is closed through the output switch quantity of the control box 5 to complete the initial exhaust process.

[0045] Due to the swaying and posture problems of the ship, it is often difficult to completely exhaust the air through the initial exhaust. At this time, the remaining small amount of air is automatically exhausted through the float-type automatic exhaust valve 3 set on the ventilation pipeline 8.

[0046] If the medium sensor 1 fails, the liquid level can still be judged by the overflow observation mirror 4 provided in the automatic exhaust system and closed manually, thereby improving the operability of the automatic exhaust system.

[0047] In order to prevent the initial replacement pump flow fluctuation from causing the liquid to be discharged from the end of the vent pipe 8, the end of the vent pipe 8 is connected to an overflow pipe 9 equipped with an electric overflow valve 6. The end of the overflow pipe 9 is in the sewage collection well. The electric overflow valve 6 is arranged behind the electric butterfly valve 2. The residual liquid in the pipe section behind the electric butterfly valve 2 can be discharged to the sewage collection well through the overflow pipe 9. Among them, the installation position of the electric butterfly valve 2 should be higher than the highest point of the replacement pipe in this cabin.

[0048] The working process of the present invention is:

[0049] 1. The electric butterfly valves 2 of all liquid tanks are in the open state, the replacement begins, and the liquid level in the liquid tank rises. At this time, the medium sensor 1 transmits the "air" signal to the medium signal acquisition module in the control box 5;

[0050] 2. The replacement continues, and the medium in the air-permeable pipeline 8 is converted from air to liquid. At this time, the medium sensor 1 transmits a "liquid" signal to the medium signal acquisition module in the control box 5, and the control box 5 outputs a switch value to control the electric butterfly valve 2 to close;

[0051] 3. The replacement continues, and the remaining small amount of air is discharged to the atmosphere through the float exhaust valve 3; the electric overflow valve 6 of the overflow pipeline 9 is controlled by the control box 5 to open, so that the residual liquid in the pipe section after the electric butterfly valve 2 is discharged to the sewage collection well through the overflow pipeline;

[0052] 4. If the sensor 1 fails, the liquid level can be observed through the overflow observation mirror 4 installed on the air vent pipe 8, and the electric butterfly valve 2 can be manually closed.

[0053] Comparative Example 1: Figure 2 As shown in the figure, a closed replacement system replacement test was carried out through a scaled model of the replacement system. During the process, no automatic exhaust device was configured. A magnetic flap level gauge was set outside the cabin to monitor the liquid level. When the liquid level showed 100%, the valve on the vent pipe was manually closed and the replacement was stopped. After that, the liquid level in the cabin was measured by a depth gauge. A total of 3 tests were carried out, and there were air layers of 13mm, 10mm, and 12mm height on the top of the replacement cabin, respectively.

[0054] Comparative Example 2: A closed replacement system replacement test was conducted using a scaled model of the replacement system. During the process, no automatic exhaust device was configured. A side-mounted liquid level sensor was installed outside the cabin to monitor the liquid level (according to the sensor installation requirements, the installation height was 100mm from the top). When the liquid level showed 100%, the valve on the vent pipe was manually closed and the replacement was stopped. After that, the liquid level in the cabin was measured using a depth gauge. A total of three tests were conducted, and there were air layers of 93mm, 92mm, and 96mm height at the top of the replacement cabin, respectively.

[0055] Comparative Example 3: A closed replacement system replacement test was conducted using a scaled replacement system model. During the process, no automatic exhaust device was configured. A top-mounted liquid level sensor was set outside the cabin to monitor the liquid level. When the liquid level showed 100%, the valve on the vent pipe was manually closed and the replacement was stopped. After that, the liquid level in the cabin was measured using a depth gauge. A total of three tests were conducted, and there were air layers of 8mm, 8mm, and 9mm height on the top of the replacement cabin, respectively.

[0056] Example 1: A closed replacement system replacement test was conducted using a scaled model of the replacement system. During the test, the automatic exhaust device described in this patent was configured, and no other sensors were set outside the cabin to monitor the liquid level. The liquid level in the cabin was then measured using a depth gauge. A total of three tests were conducted, and there was no air layer on the top of the replacement cabin.

[0057] Effects of the present invention: By comparing Examples 1-3 with Example 1, a medium sensor is provided to ensure that the liquid tank is basically in a full state when the solenoid valve is closed. At the same time, a float exhaust valve is provided to further exhaust a small amount of residual air. An overflow observation mirror is provided to ensure that the device can still be used after the sensor fails. An overflow pipeline is provided to ensure that there is no liquid residue at the rear end of the solenoid valve.

[0058] The above is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and is not any formal or substantial limitation of the present invention. It should be pointed out that ordinary technicians in this technical field can make several improvements and supplements without departing from the present invention, and these improvements and supplements should also be regarded as the protection scope of the present invention. Any technician familiar with this profession, without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention, can make some changes, modifications and equivalent changes made by using the technical content disclosed above, which are equivalent embodiments of the present invention; at the same time, any changes, modifications and evolutions of any equivalent changes made to the above embodiments based on the essential technology of the present invention are still within the scope of the technical solution of the present invention.

Claims

1. An automatic exhaust system suitable for a ship's oil-water exchange tank, characterized in that: include: A medium sensor, used to detect the type of medium discharged from the cabin; A control box, electrically connected to the medium sensor, receiving and processing a signal of the medium type output by the medium sensor; Electric valve, controlling the on and off of the medium discharged from the cabin; The control box controls the on and off of the electric valve according to the signal transmitted by the medium sensor.

2. The automatic exhaust system for oil-water exchange tanks of ships according to claim 1, characterized in that: The electric valve is an electric butterfly valve.

3. The automatic exhaust system for oil-water exchange tanks of ships according to claim 2, characterized in that: The installation position of the electric butterfly valve is higher than the highest point of the replacement pipeline of the cabin.

4. The automatic exhaust system for oil-water exchange tanks of ships according to claim 2, characterized in that: It also includes a ventilation pipeline with one end connected to the cabin, the medium sensor detects the type of medium flowing in the ventilation pipeline, and the electric butterfly valve controls the on-off of the ventilation pipeline; The media passing through the air permeable pipeline are gas and non-gas. When the medium sensor detects that the medium in the air permeable pipeline is non-gas, the control box closes the electric butterfly valve after receiving the medium sensor signal.

5. The automatic exhaust system for oil-water exchange tanks of ships according to claim 4, characterized in that: The end section of the ventilation pipeline is connected to an overflow pipeline provided with an electric overflow valve.

6. The automatic exhaust system for oil-water exchange tanks of ships according to claim 5, characterized in that: The electric overflow valve is arranged behind the electric butterfly valve; the residual liquid in the air permeable pipeline behind the electric butterfly valve is discharged to the sewage collecting well through the overflow pipeline.

7. The automatic exhaust system for oil-water exchange tanks of ships according to claim 4, characterized in that: A float type automatic exhaust valve is arranged on the ventilation pipeline.

8. The automatic exhaust system for oil-water exchange tanks of ships according to claim 2, characterized in that: It also includes an overflow sight glass to judge the liquid level and manually close the electric butterfly valve.

9. A method for an automatic exhaust system of an oil-water exchange tank of a ship, characterized in that: The following steps are included: The electric butterfly valves of all liquid tanks are in the open state, the replacement begins, the liquid level in the liquid tank rises, and the medium sensor transmits the "air" signal to the medium signal acquisition module in the control box; The replacement continues, and the medium in the ventilation pipeline is converted from air to liquid. At this time, the medium sensor transmits the "liquid" signal to the medium signal acquisition module in the control box, and the control box outputs the switch quantity to control the electric butterfly valve to close; The replacement continues, and the remaining small amount of air is discharged to the atmosphere through the float exhaust valve; The electric overflow valve of the overflow pipeline is controlled by the control box to open, so that the residual liquid in the pipe section behind the electric butterfly valve is discharged to the sewage collection well through the overflow pipeline.

10. A method for an automatic exhaust system of an oil-water exchange tank of a ship as claimed in claim 9, characterized in that: If the sensor fails, observe the liquid level through the overflow sight glass and manually close the electric butterfly valve.

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