GAS PHASE THERMAL UNIT

DISPOSITIF THERMIQUE A PHASE GAZEUSE

English Abstract

A gas phase thermal unit, which includes an elongated vertically extending
tubular
housing having an interior cavity, a lower portion and an upper portion. A
plurality of radial
burner head conduits are positioned within the interior cavity in a lower
portion of the housing,
each of the conduits having a plurality of orifices, the orifices being
oriented to create a vortex of
gas movement. An Ignition System is used to ignite gas emitted from the
orifices to form high
intensity flames. There is also a primary source of forced air having a radial
air supply conduit
associated with each burner head conduit, where each radial air supply conduit
is adapted to
create a vortex of air movement while delivering combustion air to a root of
the flames of one of
the burner head conduits, and a secondary source of forced air having
associated air supply
outlets adapted to create a vortex of air movement while delivering air to a
tip of the flames to
minimize oxide formation.

Claims

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What is Claimed is:
1. A gas phase thermal unit, comprising:
an elongated vertically extending tubular housing having an interior cavity, a
lower
portion and an upper portion;
a plurality of radial burner head conduits positioned within the interior
cavity in the lower
portion of the housing, each of the conduits having a plurality of orifices,
the orifices being
oriented to create a vortex of gas movement;
an Ignition System is used to ignite gas emitted from the orifices to form
high intensity
flames;
a primary source of forced air having a radial air supply conduit associated
with each
burner head conduit, each radial air supply conduit being adapted to create a
vortex of air
movement while delivering combustion air to a root of the flames of one of the
burner head
conduits; and
a secondary source of forced air having associated air supply outlets adapted
to create a
vortex of air movement while delivering air to a tip of the flames to minimize
oxide formation.
2. The gas phase thermal unit as defined in Claim 1, further comprising a sub-
floor, insulated or
non-insulated, to shield direct radiant heat energy from the burner to the
controls/instruments and
operators which can potentially cause damage to the equipment and injuries to
the operators.
3. The gas phase thermal unit as defined in Claim 1, wherein the housing is
insulated with
thermal insulation.
4. The gas phase thermal unit as defined in Claim 2, wherein the insulation is
ceramic fibre
insulation.
5. The gas phase thermal unit as defined in Claim 1, wherein the housing has a
top and a bottom,

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the bottom being mounted on a skid, the skid being of sufficient weight to
support the housing in
a free standing vertical orientation.
6. The gas phase thermal unit as defined in Claim 1, wherein the upper portion
of the housing
being of a length adapted to conceal any visible flame.
7. The gas phase thermal unit as defined in Claim 1, wherein a laydown skid is
provided for
purpose of transport, the laydown skid extending along the housing.
8. The gas phase thermal unit as defined in Claim 1, wherein a gas inlet
extends from below up to
a manifold which supplies gas to the radial burner head conduits.
9. The gas phase thermal unit as defined in Claim 7, wherein a liquid
separation chamber
underlies the manifold, the liquid separation chamber being adapted to contain
liquids carried in
the gas, the liquids separated by means of centripetal force into the base of
the liquid separation
chamber.
10. The gas phrase thermal unit as defined in Claim 1, wherein a low pressure
vent line extends
from the exterior of the thermal unit to the lower portion of the housing -
for venting low pressure
gas collected from portable tanks regularly associated with drilling and well
testing procedures..

Description

CA 02497378 2005-02-16
1
TITLE OF THE INVENTION:
Gas Phase Thermal Unit
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a thermal unit, which consumes gas phase
fuel.
BACKGROUND 4F THE INVENTION
In the ail and gas industry, there are applications in which gas vented from a
gas well
must be disposed of properly
before releasing to the atmosphere. A number of thermal units have been
developed for this
purpose and are variously described in the prior art as ''gas flares" or "gas
incinerators".
However, as the oil and gas drilling industry becomes more environmentally
responsible
in regards to air pollution, a system with higher combustion efficiency is
required to meet current
and future stringent air quality guidelines.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the present invention there is provided a gas phase thermal unit,
which
includes an elongated vertically extending tubular housing having an interior
cavity, a lower
portion and an upper portion. A plurality of radial burner head conduits are
positioned within the
2 0 interior cavity in a lower portion of the housing, each of the conduits
having a plurality of
orifices, the orifices being oriented to create a vortex of gas movement. An
Ignition System is
used to ignite gas emitted from the orifices to form high intensity flames.
There is also a primary
source of forced air having a radial air supply conduit associated with each
burner head conduit,
where each radial air supply conduit is adapted to create a vortex of air
movement while
2 5 delivering combustion air to the root of the flames of one of the burner
head conduits, and a
secondary source of forced air having associated air supply outlets adapted to
create a vortex of
air movement wfiile delivering air to a tip of the flames to minimize oxide
formation. With the
high vortex movement created around the burner inside the vertically elongated
extending tubular
housing, clean combustion with high efficiency and flame suppression can both
be achieved by

CA 02497378 2005-02-16
2
re-circulating heat and active chemical species to the base of the flame.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
These and other features of the invention will become more apparent from the
following
description in which reference is made to the appended drawings, the drawings
are for the
purpose of illustration only and are not intended to in any way limit the
scope of the invention to
the particular embodiment or embodiments shown, wherein:
FIG. 1 is a side elevation view, in section, of a gas phase thermal unit
constructed in
accordance with the teachings of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a top plan view, in section, of the gas phase thermal unit
illustrated in FIG. 1,
showing burner head conduit and primary air supply conduit detail.
FIG. 3 is a detailed top plan view of one of the burner head conduits and
primary air
supply conduits illustrated in FIG. 2.
FIG. 4 is a detailed transverse sectional view of the burner head conduit and
primary air
supply conduit illustrated in FIG. 3.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
The preferred embodiment, a gas phase thermal unit generally identified by
reference
2 0 numeral 10, will now be described with reference to FIG.1 through 4.
Structure and Relationship of Parts:
Referring now to FIG. 1, there is shown gas phase thermal unit 10, including
an
elongated vertically extending tubular housing 12 having an interior cavity
14, a lower portion
2 5 16, an upper portion 18, a top 15 and a bottom 17. Housing 12 rnay be
insulated with thermal
insulation 20, such as ceramic fibre insulation. Upper portion 18 of housing
12 is of a length
adapted to conceal any visible flame. Low pressure gas from portable tanks
regularly associated
with drilling and well testing procedures are vented through a low pressure
vent line 22, which
extends from the exterior of thermal unit 10 to lower portion 16 of housing
12. . Referring to

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FIG. 2, a plurality of radial burner head conduits 24 are positioned within
interior cavity 14 in
lower portion 16 of housing 12. Referring to FIG. 3, each conduit 24 has a
plurality of orifices
26 that are oriented to create a vortex of gas movement. Referring again to
FIG. 1, an Ignition
System 28, with a continuous pilot system, is used to ignite gas emitted from
orifices 26 to form
high intensity flames. There is a primary source of forced air 30, and a
secondary source of
forced air 36. Referring to FIG. 2, primary source 30 has a radial air supply
conduit 32
associated with each burner head conduit 24. Each radial air supply conduit 32
is adapted to
create a vortex of air movement while delivering combustion air to the mot of
the flames of one
of the burner head conduits 24. Secondary source of forced air 36 has
associated air supply
outlets 38 that are adapted to create a vortex of air movement while
delivering air to the tip of the
flames to minimize oxide formation. Referring to FIG.1 a gas inlet 40 extends
from below up to
a manifold 42 depicted in FIG. 4 and is used to supply gas to radial burner
head conduits 24. It is
likely that liquids will be carried in the gas to be burned. Therefore,
refernng again to FIG. 1, a
liquid separation chamber 44 is included that underlies manifold 42. Liquid
separation chamber
44 is adapted to contain liquids carried in the gas such that liquids are
separated by means of
centripetal force into the base of the liquid separation chamber 44 .
Referring to FIG.1, sub-floor 19, insulated or non-insulated, acts as a heat
shield against
high heat radiation from the burner to the controls/instruments and operators.
Without this
2 0 protective heat shield, direct radiant heat energy from the burner can
potentially cause damage to
the equipment and injuries to the operators.
Referring to FIG.1, to stabilize gas phase thermal unit 10 in the upright,
operational
position, bottom 17 of housing 12 is mounted on a skid 46 and laydown skid 48.
Skid 46 is of a
2 5 sufficient weight to support housing 46 in a free standing vertical
orientation. For example, skid
46 may be filled with concrete. In addition, a laydown skid 48 that extends
along housing 12 is
provided for transportation purposes.
With a burner design that creates high vortex movement, this system can
achieve combustion

CA 02497378 2005-02-16
efficiency as high as 99.9999% depending on the well gas composition and flow
rate. Also,
with the properly staged air burner configuration and a vertically elongated
extending tubular
housing, the flame can be fully concealed reducing ground level heat radiation
and emitting
light source which can cause discomfort to local residents.
Operation:
The use and operation of gas phase thermal unit 10 will now be described with
reference
to FIGS.1 through 4. First, tubular housing 12 having an interior cavity 14, a
lower portion 16,
an upper portion 18, a top 15 and a bottom 17 is erected on skid 46. Low
pressure gas from
portable tanks regularly associated with drilling and well testing procedures
are vented through a
low pressure vent line 22, which extends from the exterior of thermal unit 10
to lower portion 16
of housing 12. . Gas to be flared passes through gas inlet 40, through the
liquid separation
chamber 44, to manifold 42, and then to a plurality of radial burner head
conduits 24 that are
positioned within interior cavity 14 in lower portion 16 of housing 12.
Referring to FIG. 2, each
conduit 24 has a plurality of orifices 26 that are oriented to create a vortex
of gas movement. The
gas is ignited using an Ignition System 28, with a continuous pilot system.
The gas is mixed with
air at the bottom of the flame to improve combustion using air from primary
source of forced air
30 through radial air supply conduit 32, and at the top of the flame to
minimize oxidation
formation using air from secondary source of forced air 36 through supply
outlets 38. Referring
2 0 to FIG. 2, primary source 30 has a radial air supply conduit 32 associated
with each burner head
conduit 24. Referring to FIG.1, liquids that are carried in the gas to be
burned are separated by
means of centripetal force into the base of the liquid separation chamber 44
that underlies
manifold 42.
In this patent document, the word "comprising" is used in its non-limiting
sense to mean
that items following the word are included, but items not specifically
mentioned are not excluded.
A reference to an element by the indefinite article "a" does not exclude the
possibility that more
than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that
there be one and only

CA 02497378 2005-02-16
one of the elements.
It will be apparent to one skilled in the art that modifications may be made
to the
illustrated embodiment without departing from the spirit and scope of the
invention as hereinafter
5 defined in the Claims.

Representative Drawing