Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
GAS-REACTOR GENERATOR APPARATUS
Background and Summary of t e Invention
The invention particularly comprehends a high tempera-
ture reactor-generator apparatus including a pressure vessel
defined by walls including side walls with the vessel including
a lower section and an upper section. A conduit member within
the vessel has sides spaced from the pressure vessel walls and
has open upper and lower ends, Partition means intermediate the
upper and lower ends of the concluit member span the space between `
the vessel and the conduit member for dividing the vess~l into
an upper reactor cham~er and a lower reactor chamber, the upper ,~ `~
~; and lower ends of the conduit extending upwardly and downwardly
respectively into the respective upper and lower sections, Means '~
.;' ~ ~ : -:
are provided for introducing a fluid reactant medium into the
: . ' ' ' -~ '
'i lc~wer reactor chamber for flow therethrough and upwardly through -
the conduit member ïnto the upper reactor chamber and then ~ ,
downwardly around the upper end of the conduit member and further
means supply heat primarily to the lower reactor chamber, Outlet
means remove reaction products from the upper reactor chamber ~ ~ ,
-~ 20 and the outlet means is between the plane of the partition
,
means and the plane of the conduit upper end,
Brief Description of the Drawin~
~,
-" The single figure of the accompanying drawing is a
-, vertical axial sectional view through an apparatus embodying ,;~
, the invention,
,, Description of the Preferred Embodiment
~ ~ ?~
The apparatus illustrated in the accompanying
,, drawing comprises a generally vertical reactor-generator 10 having
its lower end enclosed by a furnace 18 of any conventional con- ~-
' 30 struction designed to heat the vessel 10 and its contents to the
, :
.;
:~ requi.red reaction temperature ~hi.ch oE course ~ill vary depend- ~ :
; ing upon the reacti.on ~eing conducted within the vessel. In ~ ~ :
-:
general, however, these temperatures will vary from about lQ00F.
.~ to as much as 2500~. or even hïgher where such hïgher tempera-
tures are required. -~
: Typical us-es of such a hïgh temperature gas reactor-
. generator apparatus- are reformïng hydrocarbons wïth gaseous :
: products, dissocïatïon of ammonïa, partial oxïdation of distill-
.- able and gaseous hydrocarbon feeds, hïgh temperature catalytic
; 10 reforming and the lï~e. There are, of course, many other
:- examples ïn manufacturing ~ut in general the apparatus of this ;
:: :
~: invention can be used for any reactor-generator type of appara- -
- tus wherein a gaseous product ïs produced under high temperature
,, conditl~ons. ,. ~ .
. In the illustrated embodiment the reactor 10 comprises
.` a generally upright pressure vessel 11 adapted to be in generally
upright position of which the vertical positi0n of the drawing
. .: . ,
~ is preferred. This vessel includes a lower integral section 12
~ in that the vertical cyclinder 13 and bottom 14 are joined in
:~ 20 a one-piece structure. ~ ~:
~ The reactor also ïncludes an upwardly extending inverted
:.~ ., .
cap section 15 with the two sections 12 and 15 having adjacent :~
. edges to which are attached parallel mounting flanges 16 and 17 . ~
~ for attaching the two sections together as with the illustrated :
z bolts 19. ~-
~` The adjacent edges of the sections 12 and 15 are joined
~:: by resilient seal means such as the pair of O-ring type gaskets
. Z0 which are.of customary high temperature resistant construction
~ and with these gaskets in the ïllustrated embodiment
.,~
~ 30 being positioned .
.. ..
. '' '~
:. -2- ~ :~
. .
,, ~
, ::
` ~646~1~
.
on opposite sides of a tube mountin~ flan~e 21 used for mounting
an internal open ended baffle tube 22. I\s Call l)e seell from tlle
single figure of the drawing this tube mounting flange 21 is -~
annular and is mounted on the tube 22 intermediate the -top 23
and bottom 24 of a generally vertis:al open cylinder which
comprises the baffle tube 22. I`hus the tube mounting flange 21 ~-`
extends to the exterior of the.pressure vessel 11 and is locked
in position in parallel arrangement with the mounting flanges 16 ~ :
and 17 so that it like the flanges are resiliently retained by ~ :~
the pair of gaskets 20.
The reactor is provided with an inlet -tube 25 for the ~ -
entering feed stock located in the upper portion of the baffle
and closely beneath the tube mounting flange 21 which also
serves as a dividing flange for dividing the upper end
exemplified by the cap section 15 from the lower end exemplified
by the lower section 12. There is also provided an outlet tube ~ .
26 above this baffle or flange 21 for the gaseous products of
reaction with this outlet tube being attached to the cap section
15. The outlet 26, as will be apparent from the drawing is .
:; .::
20 located between the plane of the flange 21 and the top edge of
the baffle 22.
:: :
Thus the entering feed s-tock illustrated l~y the arrow
`; 27 i.s directed by the presence of the flange 21 downwardly in :; ~ ?
the vessel as indicated by the arrows 28 to the bottom 14 of the
vessel to which the bottom end 24 of the baffle tube 22 is
adjacent but spaced therefrom so that the entering feed at the
bottom 14 reverses as indicated by the arrows 29 to flow
upwardly within the centrally located tube 22 and then into the .~ ~ :
head space 29 of the cap section 15 and downwardly around the
.. : .;
: 30 upper end of the tube 22, as shown by the arrows, and from there
the gaseous products of reaction are directed outwardly through
the outlet fitting 26.
During this passage which is of considerable extent ::
, - 3 - ~; .
' ~ .
. .
,
~L06~
which can ~e seen by an examination of the fiyure the main
source of heat is located in the bottom approximately one-half
of the reactor 10 where the gas flow is simultaneously
downwardly in the annular space 31 between the tube 22 and
vessel 11 and upwardly within the interior of the tube 22.
With this cons-truc-tion not only are the opposite ends
of the vessel 11 and the tube 22 free to expand and contract ~-
~ ," ,...
~` under the changing temperature conditions but the sealing of the
-i parts together and the resilient mounting of these parts are
achieved by a single pair of resilient means embodied in the
parallel and concentric gaskets 20. With this construction no -~
matter what the extremes of temperature encountered by the parts
;` of the reactor the danger of damage by temperature caused
expansion and contraction is greatly reduced.
The illustrated embodiment in the drawing shows only a ;;
n~ single stage reactor. It is evident, however, to those skilled
in this art that the invention may be readily applied to
reactors in which a plurality of reactors are used either in ;~;
;~ parallel, series or parallel and series combined gas generating
operations.
Furthermore, although the vessel is shown in generally
upright position the reactor could also be used inverted from
the position of the drawing or in horizontal or annular
, ~ ~
~, position.
The structure shown, described and claimed herein
~' permits substantially free and unrestrained expansion of all -`
f~l parts of the reactor even when the temperature changes are as
great as those previously described.
~. ~
~; Having described our inventlon as related to the ~
:::
embodiment shown in the accompanying drawing, it is our
intention tha-t the invention be not limitcd by way of thc
details of description, unless otherwise specified, but rather
be construed broadly within its spirit and scope as set out in
the appended claims.
~ 4 ~
.
.
