Gas-liquid contact packing material

Abstract

[Problem] To obtain a gas-liquid contact packing material that has high gas-liquid contact efficiency and can be formed of a lightweight and inexpensive material. [Solution] Provided is a woven fabric or a knitted fabric formed from a composite yarn 44 composed of a single fiber and a wire, a combination of a single fiber yarn 42 consisting of a single fiber and a wire yarn 43 consisting of a wire, or a combination of all or any of the single fiber yarn 42, the wire yarn 43, and the composite yarn 44, wherein strip materials 71 provided with gaps between yarns 46 are each folded into a bellows-shape by repeatedly alternating between mountain folds and valley folds in a direction intersecting the length direction of each of the strip materials 41, and the bellows-shaped strip materials 41 are stacked together to form the woven fabric or knitted fabric.

Description

Packing for gas-liquid contact

[0001] The present invention relates to a packing for gas-liquid contact that keeps the pressure loss inside devices such as distillation columns, absorption columns, cooling water towers, and water treatment facilities involving air oxidation low, and causes effective mass transfer, heat transfer, or chemical transfer, or a combination thereof between gas and liquid by bringing the gas and liquid into contact in countercurrent, cocurrent, or crossflow.

[0002] Packings for gas-liquid contact include irregular packings that are randomly packed as shown in Patent Document 1 without considering individual positions and directions in the device space, and regular packings that are manufactured with predetermined dimensions so as to be regularly arranged inside the device. As regular packings, those formed by bending thin plates or mesh-like plates made of metal, plastic, etc. into a waveform and laminating them, or those formed by knitting a plurality of thin wires are generally used.

[0003] Since these conventional regular packings have a function that enables the material itself to maintain a three-dimensional shape, even when housed in a device, the shape, position, etc. of the packing are less likely to change due to the influence of the fluid, and it is possible to maintain the initial state until the end. However, such conventional packings are limited to materials that can maintain a three-dimensional shape inside the device, so it is difficult to achieve an ideal gas-liquid contact state, and problems such as high cost and heavy weight have occurred.

[0004] In order to solve such problems, it is ideal to form a woven or knitted fabric from fiber materials such as natural fibers, chemical fibers, glass fibers, and carbon fibers that are easy to mass-produce industrially and use it as a packing for gas-liquid contact. This is because by using such materials, the overall weight of the device can be made lightweight, and it is assumed that the efficiency of gas-liquid contact can be improved by obtaining a large surface area and a high liquid holding capacity (water retention capacity) due to capillary action.

[0005] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-090218

[0006] However, when woven or knitted fabrics made solely of fibers, as described above, are used as fillers for gas-liquid contact, a problem arises in that their softness makes it difficult to maintain a three-dimensional shape when they are installed as fillers in the device. Furthermore, the usefulness of using woven or knitted fabrics made solely of fibers as filler materials has not been sufficiently discussed, and conventionally, gas-liquid contact fillers primarily made of such woven or knitted fabrics have not been put into practical use.

[0007] Therefore, the present invention aims to solve the above-mentioned problems and to obtain a gas-liquid contact filler that has high gas-liquid contact efficiency and can be formed from a lightweight and inexpensive material.

[0008] To solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a woven or knitted fabric formed from a composite yarn composed of a single fiber and a wire, a combination of a single-fiber yarn composed only of single fibers and a wire yarn composed only of wire, or a combination of all or any of the single-fiber yarn, the wire yarn, and the composite yarn, wherein the fabric is made by layering strips of material with gaps between the yarns. In this application, when the term "yarn" is used simply as a general term encompassing the above-mentioned composite yarn, wire yarn, and single-fiber yarn.

[0009] One desirable condition for a gas-liquid contact packing is to maximize the surface area of ​​the gas-liquid contact packing per unit volume of the apparatus, as increasing the surface area increases the amount of gas-liquid contact. However, on the other hand, increasing the surface area increases the packing density, which in conventional packings can increase the fluid resistance of the gas and reduce the amount of gas that can be processed. Therefore, in order to obtain a gas-liquid contact packing with higher performance, it is necessary to increase the surface area while simultaneously keeping the fluid resistance of the gas as low as possible.

[0010] Furthermore, by forming a gas-liquid contact filler using woven or knitted fabrics made of single fibers with a large surface area and high liquid retention capacity (water retention), it is believed that even gas-liquid contact can be achieved when the entire surface of the gas-liquid contact filler is wetted, thereby further improving the gas-liquid contact effect. In addition, it is important for both gas and liquid to be distributed uniformly throughout the entire device and to move at a uniform speed while gas-liquid contact occurs, as this is also important for improving the gas-liquid contact effect.

[0011] Therefore, as described above, the present invention constructs a woven or knitted fabric using threads made by combining one or more single fibers and one or more wires, thus allowing for a large overall surface area. Furthermore, by constructing such a woven or knitted fabric, a strip material can be obtained in which gaps are provided between the threads. As a result, the fluid resistance of the gas can be reduced due to the presence of these gaps, and because the gas and liquid pass through these gaps, both gas and liquid are distributed uniformly throughout the entire apparatus, making it easier for gas-liquid contact to occur at a uniform speed.

[0012] Furthermore, as described above, since the present invention uses a yarn that combines a single fiber and a wire, even when a woven or knitted fabric is formed with this yarn, the presence of the wire prevents deformation and allows the three-dimensional shape to be maintained in good condition. The single fiber material of the present invention can be any fiber material that is easily mass-produced industrially, such as natural fibers, chemical fibers, glass fibers, or carbon fibers. The wire material can be any material such as stainless steel, copper, nickel, or titanium.

[0013] The above-mentioned strip material may be made into an accordion shape by alternately folding mountain folds and valley folds in a direction intersecting the length direction of the strip material, and may be made by stacking multiple such accordion-shaped strip materials.

[0014] Furthermore, the above-mentioned strip material may be composed of a thread consisting of one or more single fibers and one or more wires, or it may be composed of a single-fiber thread consisting of one or more single fibers, a wire thread consisting of one or more wires, or a composite thread consisting of one or more single fibers and one or more wires. In this invention, the single fibers refer to short fibers and / or long fibers, and threads containing single fibers can be made of twisted short fibers, converged long fibers, or a combination of short and long fibers, and can be appropriately selected depending on the application.

[0015] Furthermore, since the strip material is made of woven or knitted fabric, fluid can pass through the gaps between the threads. Therefore, the gas not only diffuses onto the surface of the strip material and flows along the liquid film formed, but also passes through the gaps between the threads to which the liquid adheres, causing countless minute gas-liquid contacts to occur simultaneously. As a result, the contact interface between the gas and liquid fluids is constantly renewed, enabling efficient gas-liquid contact.

[0016] Furthermore, the above-mentioned strip material may be made into an accordion shape by alternately folding mountain folds and valley folds in a direction intersecting the length direction of the strip material, and the front and back sides of the strip material may be overlapped alternately. By overlapping the strip material in this way, it becomes possible to bring the mountain-fold side of one strip material into contact with the mountain-fold side of another strip material, and the gas and liquid moving vertically or horizontally along the strip material from the contact point can easily combine and disperse repeatedly.

[0017] As described above, the present invention allows for the formation of a strip material by appropriately selecting single fiber yarn, wire yarn, and composite yarn. For example, by increasing the proportion of wire in the strip material as shown in Figure 8(a), the rigidity of the strip material can be increased, and by widening the gap between the bellows-like mountain folds and valley folds as shown in Figure 9(a), the amount of fluid that can be processed can be increased. Conversely, by decreasing the proportion of wire in the strip material as shown in Figure 8(b), the gap between the bellows-like mountain folds and valley folds can be narrowed as shown in Figure 9(b), thereby increasing the surface area of ​​the gas-liquid contact packing.

[0018] Furthermore, the strip material may be formed by winding it from one end to the other in the longitudinal direction. By forming the filler by winding the strip material in this way, manufacturing is easy and no other special parts are required. Therefore, manufacturing costs can be kept low.

[0019] As described above, the present invention is composed of a composite yarn made of a single fiber and a wire, a combination of a single fiber yarn made of only single fibers and a wire yarn made of only wire, or a woven or knitted fabric formed from all or any combination of the single fiber yarn, the wire yarn, and the composite yarn. Therefore, it is possible to obtain a product that is inexpensive, has a large overall surface area, and is lightweight. Furthermore, at the intersection of the warp and weft threads in a woven fabric, or the threads in a knitted fabric, the gas flowing along the threads and moving upward or laterally repeatedly merges and disperses with the descending liquid, thereby obtaining effective flow characteristics in which the contact interface between the gas and liquid fluids is constantly renewed.

[0020] Furthermore, since the material is formed from a strip with gaps between the threads, the fluid resistance of the gas can be reduced due to the presence of these gaps. Also, since the threads constituting the present invention are composed of one or more wires and single fibers, the liquid diffuses evenly across the surface of the single fibers due to capillary action of the threads, forming a uniform flow. Therefore, the effective velocity of the liquid becomes uniform throughout the entire apparatus, resulting in effective gas-liquid contact. Moreover, because the liquid diffuses uniformly throughout the entire apparatus in this way, it is possible to achieve a sufficient gas-liquid contact effect due to good wetting properties.

[0021] Furthermore, since the present invention is constructed by combining a single fiber and a wire, even when a woven or knitted fabric is formed using these, the presence of the wire makes it possible to maintain a good three-dimensional shape. Also, capillary action is less likely to occur in the liquid that moves from the single fiber to the wire, so the liquid tends to form droplets on the surface of the wire. Therefore, these droplets then move back to the single fiber and diffuse on the single fiber, forming a thin liquid film.

[0022] Thus, by combining different materials such as monofilaments and wire, the overall process involves the successive appearance and dispersion of droplets, followed by their recombination and dispersion. It is generally known that flow at the gas-liquid interface and frequent changes in the interface play an important role in effective mass transfer, heat transfer, or chemical reactions between gases and liquids, and the gas-liquid contact action resulting from the combination of dissimilar materials such as monofilaments and wire can be said to fulfill this role.

[0023] A plan view of the strip material showing Embodiment 1 of the present invention. A partially enlarged perspective view of the strip material of Embodiment 1. A cross-sectional view along line AA in Figure 1. A perspective view showing multiple strip materials stacked in Embodiment 1. A partially enlarged end view of Figure 4. A partially enlarged perspective view showing the packing material of Embodiment 1 mounted in a packing tower. A perspective view showing Embodiment 2 of the present invention. A partially enlarged plan view of the strip material showing Embodiments 3 and 4. An end view showing the bellows-shaped strip material in Embodiments 3 and 4.

[0024] Embodiment 1 of the present invention will be explained with reference to the figures. (1) is a strip material, which is formed into a strip of a certain width by weaving yarn (2), and as shown in Figure 1, the width l of the strip material (1) is 100 mm. The yarn (2) is made up of nine single fibers (not shown) and one wire (not shown). The single fibers are polyester fibers with a diameter of 0.23 mm, and the wire is made of stainless steel with a diameter of 0.25 mm.

[0025] As described above, by using a thread (2) containing wire, a strip material (1) is formed with the thread (2), and even when the strip material (1) is folded into a three-dimensional shape, the presence of the wire allows it to maintain its shape well during use. In this embodiment, a wire with a diameter of 0.25 mm is used as described above, but from the viewpoint of shape retention, it is preferable to use a wire with a diameter of 0.2 to 0.4 mm. Furthermore, when a knitted fabric is formed using a thread (2) containing wire, the wires bend alternately up and down and intertwine tightly, so when the strip material (1) is processed into a bellows shape, a strong filler (13) can be obtained.

[0026] Furthermore, although the yarn (2) in this embodiment is formed from nine single fibers and one wire as described above, it is not limited to this in other different embodiments, and it is possible to use yarn (2) in various combinations by changing the number of single fibers and the number of wires according to the appropriate application. Also, in this embodiment and the following embodiment 2, the band material (1) is formed by knitting the yarn (2), but it is not limited to this in other different embodiments, and the band material (1) may be formed by weaving the yarn (2), as shown in embodiments 3 and 4 below.

[0027] Furthermore, since the yarn (2) constituting the present invention is composed of multiple single fibers in addition to wire, the liquid diffuses across the entire surface of the single fibers due to capillary action, forming a uniform flow. As a result, the rate of liquid descent becomes uniform throughout the packed column (12), and effective gas-liquid contact is achieved. Moreover, because the liquid diffuses uniformly throughout the packed column (12) in this way, a sufficient gas-liquid contact effect can be achieved due to good wetting properties. In addition, since the strip material (1) of this embodiment is formed by weaving yarn (2) composed of multiple single fibers and wire, it is easy to manufacture, inexpensive, and a lightweight product with a large overall surface area can be obtained.

[0028] Furthermore, at the intersection of the yarns (2) in the knitted fabric, the gas flowing along the yarns (2) and moving upward or sideways repeatedly merges and disperses with the descending liquid, constantly renewing the contact interface between the gas and liquid fluids, thus enabling the acquisition of effective flow characteristics. In addition, by forming a strip (1) with the knitted fabric having the above configuration, gaps are formed between the yarns (2), and the presence of these gaps reduces the fluid resistance of the gas. Therefore, the fluid processing speed can be increased and efficiency can be improved.

[0029] Furthermore, as shown in Figures 1 and 2, the strip material (1) is processed into an accordion shape by repeatedly folding mountain folds and valley folds alternately in a sloping direction that is not perpendicular to the length direction which is the same direction as line AA in Figure 1. The strip material (1) may be formed into an accordion shape from a single piece, or from multiple pieces stacked together.

[0030] In this embodiment and the following embodiment 2, the filler (13) is formed by processing the strip material (1) into a bellows shape as described above. However, in other different embodiments, this is not the only option, and it is also possible to use multiple strip materials (1) stacked together as the filler without processing them into a bellows shape.

[0031] Furthermore, as shown in Figure 3, in the cross-sectional shape of the strip material (1), the angle of inclination θ between the mountain fold and the valley fold with respect to the horizontal line shown by the dashed line when the surface or back surface of the strip material (1) is placed on a horizontal plane is set to 30°. In addition, as shown in Figure 3, the vertical distance m between the peak of the mountain fold (3) and the peak of the valley fold (4) is set to 10 mm, and the horizontal distance n between adjacent peaks (3) is set to 20 mm.

[0032] Next, the bellows-shaped strip material (1) is cut to a predetermined length to form multiple strip materials (1). Then, as shown in Figures 4 and 5, these multiple strip materials (1) are stacked alternately with their front and back sides facing each other, so that the bellows of adjacent strip materials (1) are facing in opposite directions, that is, the front surfaces (5) of adjacent strip materials (1) are adjacent to each other, and the back surfaces (6) are adjacent to each other. Then, as shown in Figure 4, the adjacent strip materials (1) are bundled together so that the whole thing forms a cylindrical shape, and a thin strip of metal (7) is wrapped around the outer circumference to secure it, forming one unit (8).

[0033] As described above, by overlapping and bundling the strip material (1), the folded side of one strip material (1) and the folded side of the other strip material (1) come into close contact, as shown in Figure 5. This makes it easier for gas and liquid to combine and disperse repeatedly through both strip materials (1) at the contact point. Furthermore, since the strip material (1) is made of knitted material, fluid can also pass between the threads (2). That is, the gas not only flows along the liquid film surface formed by diffusion on the surface of the strip material (1) and comes into contact with it, but also passes through the gaps between the threads (2) to which the liquid is attached, resulting in countless minute gas-liquid contacts occurring simultaneously. Therefore, the contact interface between the gas and liquid fluids is constantly renewed, making it possible to perform gas-liquid contact efficiently.

[0034] Furthermore, as shown in Figure 6, the diameter of this unit (8) is made approximately the same as the inner diameter of the packed column (12) into which the unit (8) is filled, and is pre-adjusted so that the strip material (1) is laid without gaps in the cross-sectional direction of the packed column (12). In other different embodiments, if the cross-sectional area of ​​the packed column (12) is even larger than in this embodiment, and it is not possible to fill the cross-section of the packed column with a single unit, it is possible to lay multiple units side by side in the cross-sectional direction of the packed column to lay the strip material (1) without gaps in the packed column.

[0035] In this embodiment, the device is used in a gas-liquid counterflow contact device, and the unit (8) composed of the strip material (1) is installed inside the packed tower (12) such that the width direction of the strip material (1) is arranged in the vertical direction in Figure 6. This makes it possible to smoothly raise the gas along the ridges (10) and valleys (11) of the strip material (1) that constitute the packing shown in Figure 2.

[0036] Furthermore, in Example 1, as described above, multiple strips (1) are bundled together to form a unit (8), and this unit (8) is installed inside the packed tower (12). However, in this embodiment, the packing material (31) is used when filling a packed tower with a diameter of 0.3 m or less. A pair of strips (32) are overlapped with their surfaces (5) facing each other or their back surfaces (6) facing each other. In this state, the strips (32) are wound in the same direction and multiple times from one end to the other in the longitudinal direction, forming the packing material (31) as shown in Figure 7. This makes manufacturing easy and reduces costs because no other special parts are required. The strips (32) in this embodiment are formed by folding them in a bellows shape, similar to Example 1.

[0037] In Examples 1 and 2 above, the strip material (1) and (32) are formed by knitting the yarn (2), but in Example 3 and Example 4 below, the strip material (41) and (51) are formed by weaving the yarn (46) and (55). Furthermore, in Examples 1 and 2 above, the yarn (2) uses only one type of composite yarn made by combining nine single fibers (not shown) and one wire (not shown), but in Example 3, as shown in Figure 8(a), the yarn (46) is formed by alternately arranging three types of yarn with gaps (45) in between: a single-fiber yarn (42) made of multiple single fibers, a wire yarn (43) made of multiple wires, and a composite yarn (44) made of multiple single fibers and multiple wires. The other configurations of the filling in this example are the same as in Example 1 above.

[0038] By selecting single-fiber yarn (42), wire yarn (43), and composite yarn (44) to construct the strip material (41) in this way, the proportion of wire in the strip material (41) becomes relatively high. Therefore, it is possible to increase the overall rigidity of the strip material (41), and as shown in Figure 9(a), the spacing between the mountain folds and valley folds of the bellows-shaped strip material (41) can be widened, thereby increasing the fluid handling capacity of the filler as a whole.

[0039] Furthermore, as shown in Figure 8(b), the strip material of this embodiment 4 uses single-fiber yarn (52) made up of multiple single fibers and wire yarn (53) made up of multiple wires, and the strip material (51) is formed by repeating the configuration of arranging two single-fiber yarns (52) between two wire yarns (53) with a gap (54) in between. The other configurations of the filler in this embodiment are the same as those of embodiment 1.

[0040] In this way, by forming the strip material (51) with a higher proportion of single fiber yarn (52) than wire yarn (53), the proportion of wire in the strip material (51) is reduced compared to Example 3. Therefore, the strip material (51) of this example has lower rigidity than the strip material (41) of Example 3. As shown in Figure 9(b), the spacing between the mountain folds and valley folds of the bellows-shaped strip material (51) is narrowed. This allows for a wider surface area of ​​the filler, and because the proportion of single fibers is higher, the overall weight of the device can be made relatively lighter.

[0041] 1, 32, 41, 51 Strip material 4, 46, 55 Thread 42, 52 Single fiber thread 43, 53 Wire thread 45, 54 Gap 46, 55 Thread

Claims

1. A gas-liquid contact filler characterized by being formed by layering strips of material having gaps between the threads, comprising a composite yarn composed of a single fiber and a wire, a combination of a single-fiber yarn composed only of a single fiber and a wire yarn composed only of a wire, or a combination of all or any of the single-fiber yarn, the wire yarn, and the composite yarn.

2. The gas-liquid contact filler according to claim 1, characterized in that the strip material is made into a bellows shape by alternately folding mountain folds and valley folds in a direction intersecting the length direction of the strip material, and a plurality of such bellows-shaped strip materials are stacked on top of each other.

3. The gas-liquid contact filler according to claim 1, characterized in that the strip material is composed of threads consisting of one or more single fibers and one or more wires.

4. The gas-liquid contact filler according to claim 1, characterized in that the strip material is composed of a single-fiber yarn made of one or more single fibers, a wire yarn made of one or more wires, and a composite yarn made of one or more single fibers and one or more wires.

5. The gas-liquid contact filler according to claim 1, characterized in that the strip material is made into an accordion shape by alternately folding mountain folds and valley folds in a direction intersecting the length direction of the strip material, and the strip material is overlapped alternately with its front and back sides.

6. The gas-liquid contact filler according to claim 1, characterized in that the strip material is wound from one end to the other in the longitudinal direction.

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