Intra-body flow distributor for heat exchanger

Abstract

A flow distributor for mounting in an inlet of a heat exchanger includes a nose cone and one or more diverting rings. The nose cone is aerodynamically shaped to divert impingent gas flow around the nose cone. A first diverting ring is spaced outwardly from the nose cone and can be oriented such that at least a portion of the gas flow diverted by the nose cone is redirected into the wake of the nose cone. A second diverting ring can be spaced outwardly from the first diverting ring and can be oriented to divert gas flow impingent thereon. Struts connect the nose cone and one or more rings. Refractory on the wall of the inlet is shaped to reduce the recirculation at the outer perimeter thereof. The flow distributor is installed in the inlet with refractory to achieve substantially equal flow across the tube sheet of the heat exchanger.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0001] The subject matter of the present disclosure relates generally to a device for distributing gas flow in a pipe that feeds the gas into a heat exchanger. More particularly, the subject matter of the present disclosure relates to a flow distributor mounted in an inlet section of a transfer line heat exchanger for evenly distributing gas flow to a tube sheet of the heat exchanger. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] Thermal cracking of hydrocarbons is a large-scale process for the production of light olefins, such as ethylene and propylene, which are major building blocks of the petrochemical industry. Referring to FIG. 1, a portion of a thermal cracking process is schematically illustrated. Feedstock, such as naphtha, methane, ethane, propane, or butane, is cracked in a pyrolysis or cracking furnace (not shown) to generate light hydrocarbons. The process gas leaves the furnace at temperatures ranging from 750 to 900° C. (1400 to 1650° F.) and at pressures ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

"The patent describes an intra-body flow distributor for distributing gas flow in a heat exchanger. The distributor includes a nose cone and one or more diverting rings that help to evenly distribute gas flow. The distributor is designed to improve the distribution of gas flow in an existing heat exchanger system by optimizing the shape of the refractory and the size and orientation of the diverter rings. The technical effect of this invention is to improve the efficiency and performance of heat exchangers by achieving better gas flow distribution."

Problems solved by technology

The products in the process gas leaving the furnace are not stable at the high temperature at the outlet of the furnace.

Due to the recirculation, the process gas may be poorly distributed at the face of the tube sheet, and the velocity of the process gas is greater than ideally desired.

In addition, recirculation can cause fouling on certain portions of the tube sheet 38, for example the outer edge, so that the chances of plugging of certain tubes 34 are increased.

Such fouling conditions decrease the efficiency of the system.

As is known in the art, film boiling can cause the welded joint of the tubes 34 to the sheet to fail and can exacerbate corrosion at the welded joint.

Unfortunately, the intense heat of the process gas in the inlet section 22 can quickly destroy any such coatings.

Because the heat of the process gas is so intense, the equipment used to break up the flow can be quickly destroyed, which can lead to additional problems.

Images