Piston Tube Device for Continuous Pressurized Solid Feeding
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional pumps are prone to damage, erosion, or clogging when handling pressurized fluid-solid mixtures, making it difficult to achieve continuous high-pressure processing, leading to inefficient and costly batch treatment processes.
Innovation Solution
A device featuring a tube with a train of pistons connected by a chain, allowing for continuous pressurization and depressurization of divided solids, using a sealed system with staggered fluid supply and vent taps to maintain pressure and separate solids from the fluid, enabling continuous treatment without the need for periodic restarts.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stress or pressure
If conventional pumps are used to pressurize fluid-solid mixtures, then pressure can be maintained, but the pumps are damaged by erosion, abrasion, or clogging
Solution Approach 1:
The continuous fluid-solid stream is segmented into discrete packets by the moving piston within the tube. Each piston divides the continuous flow into separate segments, allowing the solid particles to be contained within discrete fluid packets rather than continuously contacting pump components. This segmentation prevents the erosion and clogging that would occur in conventional pumps handling the same mixture.
2Reliability
If batch treatment processes are used to avoid pump damage, then solid particles can be handled, but process continuity is lost leading to energy waste and time loss
Solution Approach 1:
The system maintains continuous operation through a recirculating loop where fluid-solid mixtures continuously flow through the pressurization tube. The moving piston continuously segments and pressurizes the mixture as it circulates, eliminating the start-stop cycles of batch processing. This continuous circulation allows the process to operate without periodic interruptions, maintaining productivity while avoiding pump damage through the segmentation mechanism.
3Reliability
If robust pumps are used that can handle solids, then pump durability is improved, but pressure rise capability is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The moving piston acts as an intermediary mechanism between the solid-containing fluid and the pressurization system. Rather than using a conventional pump that directly contacts and pressurizes the solid-laden fluid, the piston indirectly segments the fluid into packets, allowing high-pressure generation without direct pump-solids interaction. This intermediary approach enables both high pressure rise and protection against solid particle damage.
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
Enables continuous processing of pressurized fluid-solid mixtures, reducing energy consumption and maintaining process continuity, while allowing for the recovery of mechanical energy to power the device, thus improving efficiency and reducing operational costs.
Implementation Method 1
a tube, a train of pistons, connected to each other by a chain and sliding in the tube in a sealed manner, the tube comprising fluid supplies distributed from an inlet of the tube to a central portion of the tube and staggered at increasing pressures towards the central portion
Implementation Method 2
a flow circuit for the pressurized fluid, the flow circuit passing through the tube at the central portion and opening therein by a flow supply and a flow discharge communicating with each other when the train of pistons is present in the tube
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3~4
AI summary
The invention relates to a device for continuously incorporating solids (31) into a pressurised fluid which is either liquid or gaseous, comprising a string of pistons (2) sliding inside a tube (1) in order to define therein hermetically separated chambers, which tube is brought to increasing and then decreasing pressures by feeding and venting fluid. The solids (31) are incorporated into the fluid at the inlet (13) of the tube (1). In the centre of the tube (1), there are connections to a circuit (21) in which the fluid flows and which feeds the solids towards a reactor where said solids are treated. This arrangement also makes it possible for divided solid materials to be extracted from the reactor, such that said solid materials are continuously depressurised.