Particle recovery device and recovery method

Abstract

To provide a recovery apparatus and a recovery method capable of quickly collecting particles stored in a tank.SOLUTION: A recovery apparatus 1 includes: a water supply hose 3 that supplies pressurized pure water; jetting means 4 that is connected to the water supply hose 3 and jets pure water supplied from the water supply hose 3; a suction cover 5 that supports the jetting means 4 so that the pure water is jetted from an inlet side to an outlet side of the internal space and sucks an ion exchange resin to be recovered by a jet pump action by the injection from the jetting means 4; and a discharge hose 6 that is connected to an end on the outlet side of the suction cover 5, and discharges the pure water jetted from the jetting means 4 and the ion exchange resin to be recovered sucked by the suction cover 5 to the outside.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for recovering particles. [Background technology]

[0002] In electrical equipment such as power converters, pure water cooling devices are sometimes used to cool internal elements using pure water with low electrical conductivity. The pure water cooling device is provided with an ion exchanger that produces pure water, as disclosed in Patent Document 1, for example. The particulate ion exchange resin contained in the ion exchanger deteriorates in function with age, and therefore must be replaced periodically. In conventional replacement work, a drain valve is attached to the lower flange of the ion exchanger, and the ion exchanger is vibrated while water is supplied from the upper flange with the drain valve open, thereby discharging the ion exchange resin. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2003-185321 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] The above method has a problem that it takes time to attach and detach the drain valve to the lower flange of the ion exchanger and to drain all the ion exchange resin by its own weight. Such a problem is not limited to the case of recovering the ion exchange resin contained in the ion exchanger, but also exists in the case of recovering other particles contained in the tank.

[0005] The present invention has been made based on the above background, and has an object to provide a recovery device and a recovery method that are capable of quickly recovering particles contained in a tank. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] In order to achieve the above object, the recovery device according to the present invention comprises: a supply hose for supplying pressurized liquid; an ejection means connected to the supply hose for ejecting the liquid supplied from the supply hose; a suction cover that supports the jetting means so that liquid is jetted from the inlet side to the outlet side of the internal space, and that sucks in particles to be collected by a jet pump action caused by the jet from the jetting means; a discharge hose connected to an end of the outlet side of the suction cover and formed to be grippable by a user, for discharging the liquid sprayed from the spray means and the particles to be collected that are sucked by the suction cover to the outside; A collection tank in which the base end side end of the discharge hose is disposed, and a drain hole is provided on the lower side of a wall portion for draining the liquid discharged from the discharge hose to the outside so as to dehydrate the particles to be collected discharged from the discharge hose; Equipped with. Effect of the Invention

[0007] According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a recovery device and a recovery method capable of quickly recovering particles contained in a tank. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] 1 is a diagram showing a relationship between a pure water cooling device including an ion exchanger in which ion exchange resin is recovered by a recovery device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and a power converter. [Diagram 2] 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a recovery device according to an embodiment of the present invention; [Diagram 3] 1 is a diagram showing a state in which a recovery device according to an embodiment of the present invention sucks up ion exchange resin contained in an ion exchanger. FIG. [Figure 4] 2 is an enlarged view of a part of the configuration of the recovery device according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. [Diagram 5] 5 is a cross-sectional view of the recovery device of FIG. 4 taken along line AA. [Figure 6] 2 is a flowchart showing the flow of a method for exchanging an ion exchange resin according to an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0009] Hereinafter, a recovery device and a recovery method according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In each drawing, the same or equivalent parts are given the same reference numerals. In the embodiment, the case of replacing an ion exchange resin contained in an ion exchanger will be described as an example.

[0010] The recovery device according to the embodiment is a device that recovers ion exchange resin by sucking it from an ion exchanger using a suction force that uses a jet pump action. The jet pump action is an action in which a jet of fluid draws in other fluids in the vicinity.

[0011] As shown in Fig. 1, the ion exchanger is provided in a pure water cooling device that generates pure water for cooling the power converter. The pure water cooling device includes a heat exchanger that cools the pure water generated by the ion exchanger, and is connected via piping to circulate the pure water between the power converter and the pure water cooling device. The power converter includes an inverter and a converter that require cooling with pure water during operation. Pure water is used as the cooling water to prevent short circuits from occurring in the inverter and the converter.

[0012] As shown in Fig. 2, the ion exchanger includes a tank that contains a large number of ion exchange resins. A removable upper flange is provided on the top surface of the tank, and a removable lower flange is provided on the wall surface of the tank below. By removing each flange, an opening provided on the wall surface of the tank is exposed, and the ion exchange resin can be introduced or discharged. A part of the recovery device 1 according to the embodiment is inserted into the ion exchanger through the opening exposed by removing the upper flange.

[0013] An ion exchange resin is a resin that removes ions from a solvent, such as water, by performing ion exchange. In ion exchange, the ions held by the ion exchange resin are dissolved into the solvent and absorbed in return. For example, a positive ion in water, such as calcium ion Ca+ , sodium ion Na + It takes in hydrogen ions H + and releases anions in the water, e.g., chloride ion Cl - It takes in hydroxide ion OH - H released into the water + and OH - The ions bond with each other and turn into water, so no new ions are generated in the water. The ion exchange resin is a lightweight and minute particle with a diameter of, for example, about 1 mm, so it can be easily sucked up by the recovery device 1 according to the embodiment.

[0014] Next, the configuration of the recovery device 1 according to the embodiment will be described. 2, the recovery device 1 includes a pressurizing means 2 for pressurizing water, a water supply hose 3 connected to the pressurizing means 2 and supplying pressurized water, a jetting means connected to the tip end of the water supply hose 3 and jetting water supplied from the water supply hose 3, a suction cover 5 that supports the jetting means so that liquid is jetted from the inlet side to the outlet side of the internal space and sucks up particles to be recovered by a jet pump action caused by jetting from the jetting means, a discharge hose 6 connected to the base end end of the suction cover 5 and discharges the water jetted from the jetting means and the ion exchange resin sucked by the suction cover 5 to the outside, and a recovery tank 7 in which the base end end of the discharge hose 6 is disposed. The water used for jetting in the recovery device 1 is, for example, pure water.

[0015] As shown in FIG. 3, the recovery device 1 injects water pressurized by the pressurizing means 2 from the tip end (inlet side) of the suction cover 5 toward the base end (outlet side) by the injection means 4, thereby generating a suction force by the jet pump action in the suction cover 5, and sucks in the particulate ion exchange resin in the ion exchanger. In order to increase the suction force by the jet pump action, it is preferable to increase the pushing pressure when injecting water from the injection means 4 as much as possible. With the pressurizing means 2 activated, the user can hold the water supply hose 3 and the discharge hose 6 of the recovery device 1 and move them freely in the ion exchanger, thereby sucking in and recovering the ion exchange resin in the ion exchanger one after another. The supply pipe shown in FIG. 3 is a pipe that returns the pure water used to cool the power converter to the inside of the ion exchanger, and the discharge pipe is a pipe that discharges the high-purity pure water generated in the ion exchanger to the outside.

[0016] Returning to FIG. 2, the pressurizing means 2 includes, for example, a motor and a pump. The motor of the pressurizing means 2 drives the pump, which pressurizes and sprays the pure water taken from the water supply tank 2A ​​by the pump. The water supply tank 2A ​​stores, for example, pure water. Note that a submersible pump 2B is installed in the water supply tank 2A, and the pure water can be supplied into the ion exchanger via a water supply hose 2C separate from the water supply hose 3. The submersible pump 2B and the water supply hose 2C may be used when supplying pure water into the ion exchanger after new ion exchange resin has been filled in.

[0017] The water supply hose 3 is an example of a supply hose that supplies pressurized liquid. The water supply hose 3 is a deformable hose in which pure water flows through an internal pipe, and is, for example, a rubber hose. The base end side end of the water supply hose 3 is connected to the pressurizing means 2. As the pressurizing means 2 and the water supply hose 3, for example, a general-purpose high-pressure washer may be used.

[0018] 4 and 5, the jetting means 4 is supported by the suction cover 5, receives water supplied from the water supply hose 3, and jets it into the suction cover 5. The jetting means 4 is supported by the suction cover 5 so as to be disposed in the internal space of the suction cover 5, and includes a pipe 4a to which the water supply hose 3 is detachably connected, and a nozzle 4b connected to the end of the tip side of the pipe 4a and jets the water supplied from the pipe 4a into the suction cover 5.

[0019] The pipe 4a is an L-shaped pipe that extends from the wall side of the suction cover 5 toward the central axis and bends so as to extend on the central axis from the tip side to the base end side of the suction cover 5. The nozzle 4b extends from the tip side to the base end side of the suction cover 5 and increases the flow rate of water pressurized by the pressurizing means 2 and sprays it to the outside. The nozzle 4b is, for example, a tapered nozzle whose pipe cross-sectional area is reduced in the flow direction. To increase the suction force, it is advisable to increase the flow rate (jet pressure) of the jet sprayed from the nozzle 4b as much as possible.

[0020] The suction cover 5 is a truncated cone-shaped cover tapered from the tip side to the base side. A drain hose 6 is connected to the base end of the suction cover 5, and the suction ion exchange resin is supplied to the drain hose 6. The maximum diameter of the suction cover 5 is set so that it can pass through an opening provided in the ion exchanger. Since the water supply hose 3 and the drain hose 6 are configured to be deformable, the user can freely move the suction cover 5 within the tank of the ion exchanger.

[0021] A connector 5a to which an end of the water supply hose 3 is detachably connected and to which the pipe 4a is connected is provided on the wall surface of the suction cover 5. The connector 5a has a through hole that communicates between the water supply hose 3 and the pipe 4a.

[0022] The drain hose 6 is a deformable hose through which a mixture of ion exchange resin and pure water flows in an internal conduit, and is, for example, a rubber hose. The drain hose 6 has a larger inner diameter than the water supply hose 3 in order to allow the mixture of ion exchange resin and pure water to flow. However, it should be noted that if the inner diameter of the drain hose 6 is made too large, the suction force in the drain hose 6 decreases.

[0023] The drain hose 6 includes, for example, a first hose disposed at the tip side, and a second hose connected to the first hose and disposed at the base end side. The first hose is formed to have higher rigidity than the second hose in consideration of workability near the bottom surface inside the ion exchanger. The second hose is disposed on the floor and may be stepped on by a user, so has a wall thickness greater than that of the first hose to ensure a flow path against external forces.

[0024] Returning to Fig. 2, the recovery tank 7 is a resin tank that has an opening at the top into which the end of the drain hose 6 is inserted and that stores the ion exchange resin discharged from the drain hose 6. A drain hole is provided at the bottom of the wall of the recovery tank 7 to drain water while retaining the ion exchange resin.

[0025] The drain hole is an example of a liquid discharge means for retaining the ion exchange resin and discharging the liquid water. The drain hole includes, for example, a through hole formed to penetrate the wall of the tank, and a filter provided in the wall of the tank to cover the through hole and for discharging the water while retaining the ion exchange resin. The collection tank 7 is preferably placed on a dolly 8 in consideration of the subsequent transportation work. The recovery device 1 has the above configuration.

[0026] Next, the operation of the recovery device 1 according to the embodiment will be described. When the pure water taken from the water supply tank 2A ​​is pressurized by the pressurizing means 2 and supplied to the water supply hose 3, the pure water is sprayed at high speed from the nozzle 4b of the spraying means 4 towards the inside of the suction cover 5. At this time, the jet of pure water is sprayed from the inlet side towards the outlet side along the central axis of the suction cover 5. When the flow velocity of the pure water sprayed from the nozzle 4b reaches or exceeds a certain speed, the jet pump action of the pure water jet draws the pure water in the ion exchanger into the suction cover 5. At this time, the ion exchange resin is light and tiny particles of about 1 mm, so it is drawn into the suction cover 5 together with the pure water.

[0027] The ion exchange resin and pure water sucked by the suction cover 5 are discharged through the discharge hose 6 together with the pure water sprayed onto the discharge hose 6 side within the suction cover 5. At this time, if the discharge hose 6 is lifted high midway, the suction force decreases, so it is preferable to keep the position of the discharge hose 6 as low as possible. The operation of the recovery device 1 has been described above.

[0028] Next, the flow of a method for exchanging ion-exchange resin particles using the recovery device 1 according to the embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, as shown in FIG. 2, an upper flange provided on the upper part of the ion exchanger is removed to expose an opening (step S1).

[0029] Next, the ion exchange resin is discharged from the ion exchanger using the recovery device 1 (step S2). Specifically, first, the recovery device 1 is placed in the ion exchanger. In this step, the user holds the discharge hose 6 of the recovery device 1 and inserts the tip side part including the suction cover 5 of the recovery device 1 into the ion exchanger from the opening on the upper side as shown in FIG.

[0030] Next, the pressurizing means 2 of the recovery device 1 is started, and the ion exchange resin contained in the ion exchanger is sucked in one after another. In this process, the user only needs to move the suction cover 5 around inside the ion exchanger while holding the discharge hose 6 of the recovery device 1. Water pressurized by the pressurizing means 2 is sprayed from the nozzle 4b into the suction cover 5, so that the ion exchange resin is drawn into the suction cover 5 together with the pure water as shown in FIG. 4, and is discharged through the discharge hose 6 into the recovery tank 7. At this time, since the recovery tank 7 is provided with a drain hole, the ion exchange resin can be dehydrated simply by recovering it in the recovery tank 7.

[0031] If the amount of pure water in the ion exchanger falls below a certain level during operation and air is sucked in through the suction cover 5, the suction force produced by the jet pump action will decrease, making it difficult to suck in the ion exchange resin. For this reason, if the amount of pure water in the ion exchanger falls below a certain level in the process of step S2, the submersible pump 2B should be operated to replenish the pure water from the water supply hose 2C into the ion exchanger.

[0032] Next, the recovery device 1 is removed from the ion exchanger. In this step, the user only needs to pull out the tip end of the recovery device 1 from the ion exchanger while still holding the discharge hose 6 of the recovery device 1. Then, the operation of the pressurizing means 2 can be stopped. Note that, although low purity water can be used in the process of step S2, it is preferable to use pure water if possible, since it is necessary to wash the inside of the tank with pure water after the process.

[0033] Next, the recovery tank 7 containing the ion exchange resin recovered in step S2 is transported to a storage facility (step S3). Since the recovery tank 7 is already placed on the dolly 8 at the time of step S2, it may be transported using the dolly 8 as it is. The ion exchange resin may be disposed of as industrial waste together with the recovery tank 7.

[0034] Next, new ion exchange resin is filled into the ion exchanger, and pure water is replenished (step S4). The pure water can be replenished by using a submersible pump 2B installed in a water supply tank 2A ​​shown in FIG.

[0035] Next, an upper flange is attached to close the opening of the ion exchanger (step S5), and all steps are completed. The above is the flow of the ion exchange resin replacement method.

[0036] As described above, the recovery device 1 according to the embodiment includes the water supply hose 3 that supplies pressurized water, the jetting means 4 that is connected to the water supply hose 3 and jets the water supplied from the water supply hose 3, the suction cover 5 that supports the jetting means 4 so that liquid is jetted from the inlet side to the outlet side of the internal space and sucks in particles to be recovered by a jet pump action caused by jetting from the jetting means 4, and the discharge hose 6 that is connected to the end of the outlet side of the suction cover 5 and discharges to the outside the water jetted from the jetting means 4 and the particles to be recovered sucked by the suction cover 5. Therefore, the ion exchange resin contained in the ion exchanger can be recovered simply by sucking it from above.

[0037] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and the following modifications are possible.

[0038] (Modification) In the above embodiment, the pressurizing means 2 is installed on the floor, but this is not limited to this. It may be replaced with a small pressurizing means that is small and light enough for a user to hold. This allows the length of the water supply hose 3 to be shortened, thereby suppressing pressure loss due to the water supply hose 3.

[0039] In the above embodiment, the water supply hose 3 and the drain hose 6 are separate, but the present invention is not limited to this. At least in the portion disposed inside the ion exchanger, the water supply hose 3 and the drain hose 6 may be integrated with a ligature band or the like.

[0040] In the above embodiment, the water supply hose 3 and the drain hose 6 are held by hand, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the drain hose 6 may be provided with a handle that can be held by the user. In addition, the water supply hose 3 and the drain hose 6 may be supported by a support means installed on the floor surface.

[0041] In the above embodiment, the pipe 4a is connected to one nozzle 4b, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the pipe 4a may be a branched pipe, and multiple nozzles 4b that spray a jet flow from the tip side to the base side of the suction cover 5 may be connected to such a pipe.

[0042] In the above embodiment, the suction cover 5 is provided with the connector 5a for connecting the end of the water supply hose 3 and the end of the pipe 4a, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the pipe 4a may be configured to penetrate the wall portion of the suction cover 5, and the end of the pipe 4a exposed to the outside and the end of the water supply hose 3 may be detachably connected.

[0043] In addition, the piping 4a may be supported by the wall portion of the suction cover 5, wrap around the end of the tip side of the suction cover 5 and extend toward the central axis of the suction cover 5, bend on the central axis, and extend along the central axis from the tip side to the base end side of the suction cover 5.

[0044] In the above embodiment, the suction cover 5 has a truncated cone shape, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the suction cover 5 may have a cylindrical shape.

[0045] In the above embodiment, the recovery tank 7 is used to recover the ion exchange resin discharged from the discharge hose 6, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a bag capable of leaching water may be used to recover the ion exchange resin.

[0046] In the above embodiment, the ion exchange resin recovered from the ion exchanger is transported, and then new ion exchange resin is filled into the ion exchanger, but the present invention is not limited to this. New ion exchange resin may be filled into the ion exchanger, an upper flange may be attached, and then the ion exchange resin recovered from the ion exchanger may be transported.

[0047] In the above embodiment, the recovery device 1 is used to recover particulate ion exchange resin from the ion exchanger, but the present invention is not limited to this. The recovery device 1 may also be used to recover other particles, sand, combustion ash, and other dust contained in the tank from the tank.

[0048] In the above embodiment, pure water is sprayed in the recovery device 1, but the present invention is not limited to this. The liquid to be sprayed is not limited to pure water, and other liquids may be used according to the particles to be recovered from the tank.

[0049] The above-mentioned embodiments are merely examples, and the present invention is not limited to these, and various embodiments are possible without departing from the spirit of the invention described in the claims. The components described in the embodiments and modifications can be freely combined. In addition, inventions equivalent to the inventions described in the claims are also included in the present invention. [Explanation of symbols]

[0050] 1 Recovery device 2. Pressurizing means 3 Water supply hose 4 Injection means 4a Piping 4b Nozzle 5 Suction cover 6 Discharge Hose 7. Recovery Tank

Claims

1. a supply hose for supplying pressurized liquid; an ejection means connected to the supply hose for ejecting the liquid supplied from the supply hose; a suction cover that supports the jetting means so that liquid is jetted from the inlet side to the outlet side of the internal space, and that sucks in particles to be collected by a jet pump action caused by the jet from the jetting means; a discharge hose connected to an end of the outlet side of the suction cover and formed to be grippable by a user, for discharging the liquid sprayed from the spray means and the particles to be collected that are sucked by the suction cover to the outside; A collection tank in which the base end side end of the discharge hose is disposed, and a drain hole is provided on the lower side of a wall portion for draining the liquid discharged from the discharge hose to the outside so as to dehydrate the particles to be collected discharged from the discharge hose; A recovery device comprising:

2. The recovery tank is configured to be able to be placed on a cart. The recovery device according to claim 1 .

3. The discharge hose is deformable so as to freely move the suction cover within a tank containing the particles to be collected. The recovery device according to claim 1 .

4. The injection means is a pipe supported by the suction cover and connected to the supply hose for receiving liquid from the supply hose; a nozzle connected to an end of the tip side of the pipe and configured to increase the flow rate of the liquid supplied from the pipe and spray the liquid; The recovery device according to claim 1 .

5. The suction cover has a truncated cone shape or a cylindrical shape, The nozzle is disposed so as to extend on the central axis of the suction cover. The recovery device according to claim 4.

6. A recovery method using the recovery device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, A placement step of placing the suction cover in a tank containing the particles to be collected; a suction step of suctioning the particles to be collected that are contained in the tank in which the suction cover is placed in the placement step; a removal step of removing the suction cover from the tank into which the particles to be collected have been sucked in the suction step; Recovery methods including.

7. The recovery method further includes a step of loading the recovery tank onto a cart before performing the placement step; The removal step is performed while the collection tank is placed on the cart. The recovery method according to claim 6.

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