Horizontal Thermal Treatment Device for Mineral Substances
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing heat treatment devices for mineral substances face challenges due to their large overall height, which poses implementation issues in areas with earthquake risks, strong winds, or local regulations, and the short residence time in the calciner, which limits the adaptation of product properties.
Innovation Solution
A device with a preheater, calciner, and cooler arranged side by side, utilizing co-current and countercurrent entrained flow heat exchangers, reducing overall height while allowing for extended residence time through additional components like residence containers and material returns, and optimizing gas flow to maintain efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If preheater, calciner, and cooler are arranged one above the other in vertical sequence, then the thermal treatment process can be implemented with countercurrent flow, but the overall height becomes excessively large making implementation impossible in many locations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from a vertical arrangement (one dimension) to a horizontal arrangement (another dimension) of the preheater, calciner, and cooler. This dimensional change allows the system to maintain its functional integrity while dramatically reducing the overall height from potentially 100+ meters to a much more manageable level, enabling implementation in locations with height restrictions, earthquake risks, or strong winds.
2Duration of action of moving object
If residence time in the calciner is extended by adding retention tanks or recirculation systems, then product properties can be better adapted to requirements, but the height increases further
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of extending residence time by adding vertical height through retention tanks or recirculation loops, the patent achieves extended residence time through horizontal elongation of the calciner. The calciner is designed as a long horizontal chamber where material travels through the heating zone, maintaining residence time extension without increasing overall structure height.
3Productivity
If vertical arrangement with multiple stages is used, then thermal efficiency is optimized through countercurrent flow, but the supporting steel structure becomes very complex and costly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent maintains countercurrent flow thermal efficiency by arranging the preheater, calciner, and cooler in horizontal sequence rather than vertical stacking. This allows hot gas to flow through the system in reverse direction of material flow while keeping all components at similar elevation levels, dramatically simplifying the supporting steel structure and reducing construction complexity.
4Ease of manufacture
If vertical arrangement is used to accommodate multiple process stages, then complete thermal treatment can be achieved, but construction becomes unthinkable in some locations due to height restrictions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent resolves the constructability issue by arranging all process stages (preheating, calcination, cooling) in horizontal sequence at ground level or near-ground level, eliminating the need for towering vertical structures. This makes construction feasible in locations with strict height restrictions, aesthetic constraints, or environmental sensitivity.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This configuration reduces the structural complexity and cost of the load-bearing steel construction, allows for a more compact design, and extends the residence time of mineral substances, enhancing the adaptation of product properties without increasing the overall height.
Implementation Method 1
In the entrained-flow heat exchanger or the cascade of entrained-flow heat exchangers, material and gas flow in countercurrent. Here, the material flows from top to bottom and the gas from bottom to top.
Implementation Method 2
The or each individual entrained-flow preheater comprises a cocurrent heat exchanger in which the mineral material and the gas are conducted in cocurrent flow
Implementation Method 3
At the end of this cocurrent heat exchanger, a separation cyclone is located.
Implementation Method 4
the feed material passes through the system by gravity from top to bottom
Data Source
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AI summary
The present invention relates to a device for the thermal treatment of mineral substances, the device comprising a preheater (10), a calciner (20) and a cooler (30), characterized in that at least two of the structural units (preheater (10), calciner (20) and cooler (30)) are arranged next to each other.