Oxygen generator unit pipeline for improving purity of argon

Abstract

The utility model belongs to the technical field of oxygen generator unit pipeline, and relates to an oxygen generator unit pipeline for improving argon purity, which comprises a crude argon tower, a first condenser arranged at the top of the crude argon tower, liquid oxygen deposited at the bottom of the crude argon tower, a raw material pipeline connected to the middle of the crude argon tower, a conveying pipeline led out from the first condenser, the conveying pipeline connected to a refined argon tower, a second condenser arranged at the top of the refined argon tower, an evaporator arranged at the bottom of the second condenser, the top of the second condenser connected to the top of the refined argon tower through a return pipeline on one side of the bottom of the second condenser, a venting pipeline arranged on one side of the top of the second condenser, the evaporator connected to the crude argon tower pipeline at the bottom, the crude argon tower pipeline connected to the raw material pipeline, and an inlet storage pipeline led out from the crude argon tower pipeline. The utility model effectively separates oxygen, nitrogen and other impurities in argon through two-stage rectification in combination with the condenser, the evaporator and the reflux design, thereby improving the purity of argon products.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This utility model belongs to the field of oxygen generator unit pipeline technology, specifically relating to an oxygen generator unit pipeline for improving the purity of argon gas. Background Technology

[0002] In the air separation oxygen generator unit, after the oxygen and nitrogen products from the main tower are qualified, the argon system further extracts high-purity liquid argon as a byproduct. This not only stabilizes the distillation operation of the oxygen generator, but also effectively reduces the overall cost of the oxygen generator unit through the sale of the byproduct.

[0003] The argon system setup is divided into three stages: precooling, initial loading, and purification. The purification stage is the most time-consuming, taking more than 24 hours. The argon system includes a crude argon column and a refined argon column. The argon fraction first undergoes oxygen removal in the crude argon column and then enters the refined argon column to remove nitrogen, obtaining qualified liquid argon. In actual purification operations, the purity of the crude argon column is required to determine whether the liquid argon product is qualified; the purification work revolves around the crude argon column.

[0004] During argon system purification, both the crude argon column and the refined argon column are simultaneously activated. However, the crude liquid argon entering the refined argon column partially evaporates at the evaporator at its bottom and returns to the crude argon column via a manual reflux valve to participate in distillation, accelerating the improvement of argon purity. After evaporation, the actual amount of crude liquid argon returning to the crude argon column from the refined argon column evaporator decreases and becomes unstable, prolonging the purification time required to reach the acceptable purity. To ensure a stable liquid level in the refined argon column evaporator, operators must frequently visit the site to manually adjust the opening of the reflux valve. The low frequency of argon system activation and deactivation annually, relying on frequent manual intervention, increases labor intensity and hinders the improvement of purification efficiency.

[0005] There is an urgent need for a technical solution that can optimize reflux control, shorten purification time, and simplify operation. Therefore, an oxygen generator pipeline for improving argon purity is proposed. Utility Model Content

[0006] The purpose of this utility model is to provide an oxygen generator pipeline that improves the purity of argon gas, with optimized reflux control, shortened purification time and simplified operation, solving the problems of long purification time, poor operational stability, high dependence on manual labor and high labor intensity in the prior art.

[0007] To achieve the above objectives, the technical solution adopted by this utility model is as follows: This utility model provides a pipeline for an oxygen generator unit to improve the purity of argon gas, including a crude argon tower, a first condenser at the top of the crude argon tower, liquid oxygen deposited at the bottom of the crude argon tower, a raw material pipeline connected to the middle of the crude argon tower, a conveying pipeline leading out from the first condenser, a conveying valve installed on the conveying pipeline, the conveying pipeline connected to a refined argon tower, a second condenser at the top of the refined argon tower and an evaporator at the bottom, one side of the bottom of the second condenser connected to the top of the refined argon tower via a return pipeline, a venting pipeline installed on one side of the top of the second condenser, a return pipeline to the crude argon tower at the bottom of the evaporator, a reflux valve installed on the return pipeline, the return pipeline to the crude argon tower connected to the raw material pipeline, a storage inlet pipeline leading out from the return pipeline, a storage inlet valve installed on the storage inlet pipeline, and the storage inlet pipeline connected to a storage tank.

[0008] Preferably, the first condenser is a plate-fin heat exchanger.

[0009] Preferably, the second condenser and evaporator are integrated into a single argon condenser evaporator.

[0010] Preferably, an argon purity analyzer is installed in the upper part of the argon tower, and a regulating valve connected to the signal of the argon purity analyzer is installed on the vent pipe.

[0011] Preferably, an online purity analyzer and a flow meter are also installed on the inlet pipeline after the inlet valve.

[0012] Preferably, a liquid subcooler is installed on the crude argon tower pipeline before it exits the storage pipeline.

[0013] Preferably, a crude argon purification device is installed on the conveying pipeline before the conveying valve, and the crude argon purification device is filled with a catalyst.

[0014] Compared with the prior art, the advantages and positive effects of this utility model are as follows:

[0015] 1. This utility model effectively separates impurities such as oxygen and nitrogen from argon through two-stage distillation, combined with condenser, evaporator and reflux design, thereby improving the purity of argon products;

[0016] 2. This utility model has the functions of optimizing reflux control, shortening purification time and simplifying operation, which solves the problems of long purification time, poor operation stability, high dependence on manual labor and high labor intensity of the prior art. Attached Figure Description

[0017] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of this utility model, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are some embodiments of this utility model. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative effort.

[0018] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of an oxygen generator pipeline for improving argon purity according to one embodiment.

[0019] In the diagram above, 1. Crude argon tower, 2. First condenser, 3. Liquid oxygen, 4. Raw material pipeline, 5. Delivery pipeline, 6. Delivery valve, 7. Refined argon tower, 8. Second condenser, 9. Evaporator, 10. Return pipeline, 11. Vent pipeline, 12. Regulating valve, 13. Return pipeline to crude argon tower, 14. Reflux valve, 15. Storage pipeline, 16. Storage valve, 17. Argon purity analyzer, 18. Online purity analyzer, 19. Flow meter, 20. Liquid subcooler, 21. Crude argon purification device. Detailed Implementation

[0020] To better understand the above-mentioned objectives, features, and advantages of this utility model, the present utility model will be further described below with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments. It should be noted that, unless otherwise specified, the embodiments and features described in these embodiments can be combined with each other.

[0021] Many specific details are set forth in the following description in order to provide a full understanding of the present invention. However, the present invention may also be implemented in other ways different from those described herein. Therefore, the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiments disclosed in the following specification.

[0022] Example 1, as Figure 1 As shown, an oxygen generator pipeline for improving argon purity includes a crude argon tower 1. The crude argon tower 1 performs primary distillation of the argon fraction. A first condenser 2 at the top condenses and refluxes the oxygen component in the rising gas, thus initially removing most of the oxygen component from the argon fraction. The first condenser 2 is located at the top of the crude argon tower 1, providing reflux liquid and purifying the rising gas. It also receives argon gas from the top of the crude argon tower 1 that still contains a small amount of oxygen, condensing the oxygen into liquid and returning it to the tower. Liquid oxygen 3 is deposited at the bottom of the crude argon tower 1, serving as a cold source. A raw material pipeline 4 is connected to the middle of the crude argon tower 1.

[0023] A delivery pipe 5 leads out from the first condenser 2, which delivers the pre-purified crude argon gas to the argon refining tower 7. A delivery valve 6 is installed on the delivery pipe 5 to control or cut off the gas flow to the argon refining tower 7. The delivery pipe 5 connects to the argon refining tower 7. A second condenser 8 is installed at the top of the argon refining tower 7, and an evaporator 9 is installed at the bottom. The argon refining tower 7 performs argon fraction distillation to remove residual nitrogen from the crude argon. The nitrogen component is condensed at the top of the argon refining tower 7 by the second condenser 8, and the argon component is evaporated at the bottom by the evaporator 9, achieving complete separation of oxygen, argon, and nitrogen. One side of the bottom of the second condenser 8 is connected to the top of the argon refining tower 7 via a return pipe 10. A portion of the nitrogen-rich liquid formed after condensation in the second condenser flows back to the top plate of the argon refining tower by gravity through the return pipe 10. A vent pipe 11 is installed on one side of the top of the second condenser 8, and a return argon column pipe 13 is installed at the bottom of the evaporator 9. A reflux valve 14 is installed on the return argon column pipe 13, which is connected to the raw material pipe 4. During the start-up and purification stage, the reflux valve 14 is fully opened to allow all the crude liquid argon from the bottom of the refined argon column 7 to return to the raw material pipe 4 of the crude argon column 1 through the return argon column pipe 13, so that it can re-participate in the rectification of the crude argon column 1. This avoids the loss of a large amount of crude liquid argon due to evaporation in the second evaporator 9 of the refined argon column 7, significantly accelerates the improvement of the purity of the crude argon column 1, and shortens the purification time. At the same time, due to the maximized reflux, the liquid level in the second evaporator 9 of the refined argon column 7 does not need to be deliberately maintained, reducing the labor intensity of frequent manual adjustments by the operator.

[0024] A storage inlet pipe 15 is led out from the crude argon tower pipeline 13. A storage inlet valve 16 is installed on the storage inlet pipe 15, which is connected to the storage tank. When the product purity is qualified, the storage inlet valve 16 is opened, and high-purity liquid argon enters the storage tank through the storage inlet pipe 15 for storage.

[0025] The specific design of the aforementioned key components will be discussed in detail below:

[0026] The first condenser 2 is a plate-fin heat exchanger. The first condenser 2 adopts a plate-fin heat exchanger structure, consisting of baffles, fins, seals, and guide vanes, and is manufactured into a robust plate-fin heat exchanger core using a vacuum brazing process. The gas at the top of the crude argon column 1 flows in multiple channels of the heat exchanger, while the cryogenic liquid air or other refrigerant from the air separation main column flows counter-currently in adjacent channels.

[0027] The second condenser 8 and evaporator 9 are integrated into a single argon condenser-evaporator 9. The second condenser 8 at the top and the evaporator 9 at the bottom of the argon refining column 7 are combined into a single physical unit, namely the argon condenser-evaporator 9, designed as a tubular or plate-and-tube structure. In the argon refining column 7, the gas rises to the top in the tube side and is condensed by the low-temperature medium in the shell side, such as oxygen-rich liquid air from the lower column; part of the condensate serves as reflux, and the uncondensed nitrogen is discharged from the vent pipe 11. Simultaneously, the liquid argon collected at the bottom absorbs heat from another refrigerant, such as liquid oxygen 3 from the main coolant in the shell side, and evaporates. The vapor rises and participates in distillation.

[0028] An argon purity analyzer 17 is installed in the upper part of the argon purification tower 7, and a regulating valve 12 connected to the argon purity analyzer 17 is installed on the vent pipe 11. The upper part of the argon purification tower 7 can sensitively reflect changes in the nitrogen concentration within the tower. The argon purity analyzer 17 is preferably a thermal conductivity analyzer, and it is connected to the regulating valve 12 installed on the vent pipe 11 through a DCS control system for signal connection and closed-loop control. When the purity analyzer detects that the nitrogen content in the gas exceeds the standard, it will immediately send a signal to the regulating valve 12 to increase its opening and accelerate the discharge of non-condensable gases; conversely, it will close the valve to reduce product loss.

[0029] A purity online analyzer 18 and a flow meter 19 are also installed on the inlet pipeline 15, downstream of the inlet valve 16. The purity online analyzer 18 is a high-precision trace oxygen and nitrogen analyzer, and the flow meter 19 is a cryogenic vortex flow meter or a Coriolis mass flow meter, forming the final product inspection and measurement checkpoint. The purity online analyzer 18 performs a final inspection on the liquid argon about to be stored to ensure it is qualified, while the flow meter 19 accurately measures the product yield.

[0030] A liquid subcooler 20 is installed on the crude argon return pipeline 13 before the inlet storage pipeline 15. The liquid subcooler 20 is installed on the crude argon return pipeline 13 and located before the outlet point of the inlet storage pipeline 15. The liquid subcooler 20 is a small finned tube heat exchanger that uses a lower-temperature fluid, such as liquid nitrogen or waste nitrogen from the lower column, to cool the reflux liquid, reducing its temperature to below the saturation temperature corresponding to the current pressure. This "subcooling" of the reflux liquid argon effectively eliminates vaporization caused by pressure reduction or absorption of ambient heat during subsequent flow.

[0031] A crude argon purification device 21 is installed on the conveying pipeline 5 before the conveying valve 6. The crude argon purification device 21 is filled with a catalyst. The crude argon purification device 21 is a vertically installed cylindrical container filled with a dehydrogenation catalyst and a molecular sieve adsorbent. Shut-off valves and bypass pipelines are provided before and after the crude argon purification device 21 for easy isolation and maintenance. The crude argon purification device 21 efficiently catalyzes the removal of trace amounts of hydrogen from the crude argon and adsorbs other hydrocarbon impurities. This prevents impurities from accumulating in the low-temperature zone of the subsequent argon refining tower 7, making the argon system safer to operate and the product quality more reliable.

[0032] All standard parts used in this utility model can be purchased from the market, and irregular parts can be customized according to the description and drawings. The specific connection methods of each part adopt conventional methods such as bolts, rivets, and welding that are mature in the prior art. The machinery, parts and equipment adopt conventional models in the prior art. In addition, the circuit connection adopts conventional connection methods in the prior art, which will not be described in detail here. The contents not described in detail in this specification belong to the prior art known to those skilled in the art.

[0033] The above description is merely a preferred embodiment of the present utility model and is not intended to limit the present utility model in any other way. Any person skilled in the art may make changes or modifications to the above-disclosed technical content to create equivalent embodiments for application in other fields. However, any simple modifications, equivalent changes, and modifications made to the above embodiments based on the technical essence of the present utility model without departing from the technical solution of the present utility model shall still fall within the protection scope of the technical solution of the present utility model.

Claims

1. A pipeline for an oxygen generator unit to improve the purity of argon gas, characterized in that, The system includes a crude argon tower, a first condenser at the top, liquid oxygen deposited at the bottom, a raw material pipeline connected to the middle of the crude argon tower, a conveying pipeline leading out from the first condenser, a conveying valve on the conveying pipeline, and a refined argon tower. A second condenser is located at the top of the refined argon tower, and an evaporator at the bottom. One side of the bottom of the second condenser is connected to the top of the refined argon tower via a return pipeline. A venting pipeline is located on one side of the top of the second condenser. A return pipeline to the crude argon tower is located at the bottom of the evaporator, with a reflux valve on the return pipeline. The return pipeline to the crude argon tower is connected to the raw material pipeline, and a storage inlet pipeline leading out from the return pipeline is equipped with a storage inlet valve and connected to a storage tank.

2. The oxygen generator pipeline for improving argon purity according to claim 1, characterized in that, The first condenser is a plate-fin heat exchanger.

3. The oxygen generator pipeline for improving argon purity according to claim 1, characterized in that, The second condenser and evaporator are integrated into a single argon condenser evaporator.

4. The oxygen generator pipeline for improving argon purity according to claim 1, characterized in that, An argon purity analyzer is installed in the upper part of the argon tower, and a regulating valve connected to the signal of the argon purity analyzer is installed on the vent pipe.

5. The oxygen generator pipeline for improving argon purity according to claim 1, characterized in that, An online purity analyzer and a flow meter are also installed on the inlet pipeline after the inlet valve.

6. The oxygen generator pipeline for improving argon purity according to claim 1, characterized in that, A liquid subcooler is installed on the crude argon tower pipeline before it exits the storage pipeline.

7. A pipeline for improving the purity of argon gas in an oxygen generator unit according to any one of claims 1-6, characterized in that, A crude argon purification device is also installed on the conveying pipeline before the conveying valve, and the crude argon purification device is filled with a catalyst.

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