Note : Les descriptions sont présentées dans la langue officielle dans laquelle elles ont été soumises.
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INCINERATOR FOR WASTE MANAGEMENT
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
(1) Field of the Invention
S
The present invention relates in general to an incinerator for use in waste
management, more particularly to an incinerator that provides more efficient
combustion.
(2) Description of the Related Art
Occurrence of toxic substances including dioxin has become a major problem
when
industrial wastes and other wastes are incinerated. One of the known
incinerator has a main
body in which is installed an air-heating pipe on the top of a combustion
chamber and air
supply pipes at the bottom of the combustion chamber. Each air supply pipe is
double
structured, consisting of an outer water pipe and an inner pipe. In this
incinerator, compressed
air heated in the air-heating pipe will be blown out from the air supply pipes
and circulate in
the combustion chamber when it is blasted our from the air supply branch pipes
and the water
pipes.
The lower half of the incinerator main body is covered with an air chamber
cell
casing, and an air chamber which is connected to the combustion chamber by
auxiliary air
supply branch pipes that protrude from a water jacket. The auxiliary air
supply branch pipes
are installed parallel to the height of the incinerator main body. Air which
is blown our from
the auxiliary air supply pipes further supplies oxygen to the combustion
chamber and blows
off the ashes of the combusted waste. Air can easily be supplied to the
furnace bottom,
furnace wall and furnace center from the air supply branch pipes installed on
the furnace
bottom and the walls if the furnace is small in size. However, air does not
reach the furnace
center of the incinerator becomes large in size, which results in imperfect
combustion due to
lack of oxygen, especially if the air blown out from the walls is blocked by
ascending
currents of the flames generated in the furnace, which results in poor
combustion efficiency.
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Imperfect combustion causes the generation of ashes of toxic substances
including
dioxin that has become a critical issue that needs to be addressed.
Furthermore, wastes of
different forms, such as liquid, sludge, high moisture wastes, and solid
liquefaction burning,
require different incinerators.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The incinerator provides combustion efficiency and seeks to minimize
generation of
dioxin and imperfect combustion. This will enable the incinerator to operate
continuously,
even if the incinerator is large.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide an
incinerator
for providing more efficient combustion.
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided an
incinerator for
use in waste management comprising: a combustion chamber located in the
incinerator and
having at least one air and/or steam supply pipes within the combustion
chamber supplying
air and/or steam into the combustion chamber wherein each air and/or steam
supply pipe is
structured having a water pipe and at least one inner pipe mounted inside the
water pipe and a
plurality of air or steam supply pipes installed on the air and/or steam
supply pipes for
maintaining air and/or steam to be blown into the chamber in various
directions to provide
the air and/or steam within the chamber to whirl in the combustion chamber so
as to
minimize imperfect combustion.
It is preferred that the said air supply pipes are advantageously shaped to
blow air the
center of the combustion chamber.
It is even more preferred that the supply pipe is configured in any protruding
such as
U, M, E, 1 or C.
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Preferably, the air supply branch pipes are located on the upper and lower end
portions of the air supply pipes.
Also, preferably pairs of diametrically opposed air supply branch pipes may be
installed spaced equidistantly along central vertical portions of the air
supply pipes.
Alternating pairs may be staggered at right angles to each other. For example,
one pair may
be oriented radially and the adjacent pair (s) oriented circumferentially in
an exemplary round
chamber.
Alternatively, groups of four air supply branch pipes may be installed spaced
equidistantly along the central vertical portion of the sir supply pipe. The
groups may be
staggered with, adjacent groups oriented rotated approximately 45 °
about the air supply pipe.
Preferably, an air-heating pipe is installed on the top of the incinerator for
enabling
high temperature and compressed air to be supplied into the combustion chamber
and the air-
heating pipe and the combustion chamber are linked with the air supply pipes.
Also, preferably, a steam generator is installed on top of the incinerator for
enabling
steam to be supplied into the combustion chamber and the steam generator and
the
combustion chamber are linked with the air supply pipes.
The details of one or more embodiments of the invention are set forth in the
accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features, objects, and
advantages
of the invention will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from
the claims.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
An illustrative embodiment of the invention is represented in the drawings and
described in greater detail in the following description, in which drawings:
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FIG . 1 shows a vertical cross section of an incinerator according to
principles of the
invention.
FIG. 2 shows a horizontal cross section of the combustion chamber of FIG. 1,
taken along
line 2-2.
FIG. 3 shows an enlarged horizontal cross section of the air supply pipes in
the incinerator
of FIG. 1.
FIG. 4 shows an enlarged vertical cross section of the air supply pipes in the
incinerator of
FIG.1.
FIG. 5 show various alternative shapes of the air supply pipes.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Referring to the drawings, the incinerator 10 (FIG. 1) includes a combustion
11
surrounded by an inner or interior wall 12 (FIG. 4) and an outer or exterior
wall 13 and a
water jacket 14, which is located in between the inner and outer walls. An air-
heating pipe 16
(FIG 1 ) is installed on the top center of the combustion chamber 11 in the
incinerator main
body 15, which enables air from a blower 17 to be heated. The upper end of the
air-heating
pipe 16 is connected to the blower or an external air supply pipe 18 extending
from another
separate blower (not shown). The lower end of the air-heating pipe 16 is
connected to the end
of hot air supply pipe 19 extending upward along the exterior wall of the
incinerator main
body 15, and the other end of the hot air supply pipe 19 penetrates through an
air chamber 27
and is connected to air supply pipes 20 in the combustion chamber 11.
According to the
present embodiment the air supply pipes are U-shaped. However, other
protruding shapes
such as shown in FIG. 5 may also be used provided that air is blown out from
the pipes
toward the center of the combustion chamber.
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Each air supply pipes 20 is double structured. Each air supply pipe 20
includes an
outer water pipe 22 in which water flows, and both ends of the water pipe are
connected to
the water jacket 14. The water pipe 22 functions as an outer jacket, covering
an inner pipe 21
concentrically installed inside the water pipe. Both ends of the inner pipe 21
are connected to
5 the air chamber 27 and are also installed with air supply branch pipes 23
and 24 shown in
(FIGS. 2 to 4) extending through the water pipe to permit air flow out of the
inner pipe.
The air supply pipes 20 comprise one upper and one lower horizontal portion 25
and
one vertical portion 26 therebetween. Three air supply branch pipes 23 are
installed on one
side (e.g., the counterclockwise-facing side when viewed from above) of the
inner pipe 21 in
each horizontal portion 25 of the air supply pipes. This allows air to be
continuously blown
out in a certain direction about the central axis 500 (e.g., counterclockwise
as viewed from
above). Therefore, the air blown out from the air supply branch pipes 23 forms
a circulation
of air in the combustion chamber 11 as shown by arrow 28 in FIG. 2. The
circulated air
enhances combustion of industrial and other wastes.
The air supply branch pipes are horizontally and vertical staggered on the
inner pipes
21 of the vertical portions 26 of the air supply pipes 20. By way of example,
FIG. 4 shows
alternating staggered pairs of air supply branch pipes 24. Each pair is
diametrically opposed
in alternating radial and circumferential direction about the center of the
incinerator. Thus air
is blown our in four directions, with a net effect being substantially not net
directional flow.
In another exemplary embodiment (not shown), group of four air supply branch
pipe
24 are horizontally installed spaced equidistantly along the inner pipe 21 of
the vertical
portion 26 of each air supply pipe 20. The adjacent groups (s) of four air
supply branch pipes
24 are staggered at approximately 45 ° angles about the inner pipe,
which enables air to be
blown out in eight directions.
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In another exemplary embodiment (not shown), groups of eight air supply branch
pipes 24 are horizontally installed spaced equidistantly along the inner pipe
21 of the vertical
portion 26 of each air supply pipe 20. More air supply branch pipes 24 are
vertically
staggered but commonly aligned so that air is blown out in eight directions.
The area surrounded by the air supply pipes 20 forms the center of the
combustion
chamber 33 helps flames circulate sufficiently which enhances combustion
efficiency and
enables waste to be easily disposed in the combustion chamber 11. The space of
the central
area of the combustion chamber 33 is formed within an area where air blown out
form the air
supply pipes 20 and air supply branch pipes 24 installed on the vertical
portions 26 is able to
reach.
An air chamber cell casing 29 (FIG. 1) covers the outer lower half of the
incinerator
main body 1 S. The air chamber 27 inside the casing 29 in connected to the
combustion
chamber 11 by the inner pipes 21, which penetrate through the water jacket 14.
Compressed
air is supplied to the combustion chamber 11 by the air supply branch pipes 23
and 24.
A second air chamber cell casing 44 covers the outer lower side of the
incinerator
main body 15. The air chamber 45 inside the casing 44 is connected to the
combustion
chamber 11 by auxiliary air supply branch pipes 30, which penetrate through
the water jacket
14.
The auxiliary air supply branch pipes 30 extend along the main body until the
top of
the incinerator main body as shown in FIG. 2. The air blown our from the
auxiliary air supply
pipes 30 in the combustion chamber 11 supplies oxygen and blows ashes upward.
This
enables complete combustion of non-combusted gas resulting in high combustion
efficiency.
The ashes blown upward are collected by the dust remover device 31 which is
installed on
top of the incinerator main body 15. Thus it is not necessary to manually
remove ashes from
the combustion chamber 11.
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A port 32 for disposing of industrial and other wastes is mounted on top of
the
incinerator main body 1 S, which forms an upper portion of the air chamber
cell casing 29.
Industrial and other wastes are constantly fed through the port 32 by a belt
conveyor (not
S shown) to be supplied to the combustion chamber 11.
Air can be supplied to the air chamber 27 in the air chamber cell casing 29 by
using
the blower 17 or other compressed air supply source that supplies compressed
air to the air-
heating pipe 16. Pressure reduction valves may be required in piping in order
to keep air
pressure supplied to the air chamber cell casing 29 lower than air pressure
supplied to the air-
heating pipe 16 if blower 17 is shared.
A blower 34 that supplies compressed air to an air chamber 4S connected to an
auxiliary air supply branch pipes 30 is shown in FIG. 1. A blower 3S that
supplies air to an
1 S exhaust flue and helps ventilation of the incinerator 10 is also shown in
FIG. 1. Also in FIG.
1, a system tank is shown as 36, a second system tank is shown as 37, a third
system tank is
shown as 38, while a steam generator is shown as 39. High temperature
compressed steam is
mixed with compressed air and supplied to the combustion chamber 11, which
will enhance
combustion efficiency. In other words, steam mixed with compressed air blown
out from air
supply pipes 20 will enhance rotation of the flames and enhances combustion
efficiency in
the combustion chamber 11. A pump is shown as 40, a safety valve as 41, and a
plurality of
supply pipes that supply steam to the air chamber 27 are shown as 42 and 43.
The operational function of the incinerator shall be described as follows
2S
Industrial and other wastes are disposed at the bottom of a combustion chamber
11 of the
incinerator main body 1 S. Industrial and other wastes fed into the port 32
are received at the
bottom part of the combustion chamber 11. Compressed air that passes through a
double
structured air supply pipe 20 is supplied from a blower 17. Alternatively,
high-temperature
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compressed air supplied from an air-heating pipe 16 installed on top of the
combustion
chamber 11 is mixed with compressed air supplied from the blower 17 and the
mixed air
supplied into the combustion chamber 11. In addition to the above mentioned
supply system,
steam supplied from the steam generator 39 which is installed on the upper
side of the
incinerator I5 is mixed with compressed air and supplied to the combustion
chamber 11.
When the mixed air is supplied, air supplied from the air supply branch pipes
23 installed on
the upper and lower horizontal sides pipes 23 of the air supply pipes 20 will
be blown out in
constant direction at all time, so that compressed air and/or heating
compressed aix will form
a vortex-like current, circulating in the combustion chamber 11, which will
accelerate
combustion.
The double structured air supply pipes are installed protruding toward the
center of
the combustion chamber. Hot and compressed air blows out from the air supply
pipes which
generates air flow in a certain direction and there is additional air blown
out in all 360 °
directions in the combustion chamber (i.e., in substantially no net
direction). As a result, air
circulation enhances combustion and air will be supplied to all parts of the
combustion
chamber including the furnace walls and center, which will minimize generation
of dioxin
and imperfect combustion. At the same time, ashes will not accumulate and
combustion
efficiency will dramatically improve, enabling the incinerator to be operated
continuously.
Compressed air is blown out nondirectionally, in addition to the air
circulation, as air
supply branch pipes are horizontally and vertically staggered on the vertical
portions of the
air supply pipes. This helps oxygen to be supplied to all parts of the
combustion chamber,
which will maintain optimal combustion.
The temperature in the furnace does not drop as the compressed air blown out
from
the air supply branch pipes 23 and 24 is heated in the air-heating pipe 16
installed on the top
of the combustion chamber 11. Additionally, the air blown out from the air
supply branch
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pipes 23 generates a large air circulation throughout the combustion chamber
11, which will
dramatically improve combustion efficiency.
Steam generated in the steam generator installed on top of the incinerator
main body
and mixed with compressed air supplied to the combustion chamber, which will
increase
combustion efficiency. In other words, the mixture of compressed air blown out
from the air
supply pipes and steam enables stronger turning force (i.e., increased
rotation) of the flame
and enhances combustion in the combustion chamber.
Oxygen is supplied fully in the combustion chamber 11 as heated and compressed
air
is blown out from the air supply branch pipes 24 vertically and horizontally
staggered on the
vertical portion 26 of the air supply pipes 20. Although oxygen is often
lacking in the center
of the combustion chamber in an existing large incinerator, a large volume of
oxygen can be
supplied to the center of the combustion chamber of the present incinerator as
air supply
pipes are installed protruding inward toward the center of the combustion
chamber. As a
result, the combustion temperature will rise and combustion efficiency will
improve, which
bring higher combustion volumes and less generation of dioxin and imperfect
combustion.
Residual ashes produced by combustion are blown upward from the bottom of the
incinerator when compressed air blown out from the air supply pipes 20
circulates. The ashes
that are blown upward are collected in a dust removal device 31. As a result,
ashes do not
need to be manually removed from the combustion chamber. Only incombustible
substances
need to be collected. Therefore, this incinerator is suited for use in long
continuous operation.
Moreover, by a built-in device that can store the liquid inside the combustion
chamber, the incinerator can handle a variety of forms of waste.
In the air supply pipes 20, the inner pipe 21 is protected by the water pipe
22. The
water running inside the water pipe also protects the water pipe from an
extreme temperature
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rise, which will help avoid heat deterioration. Therefore, the pipes will not
be damaged by the
shock of feeding industrial and other wastes.
In the operational functions of the inventions, the combustion treatment of
the
5 industrial and other wastes had been explained. However, this invention is
not limited only in
treating industrial and other wastes but can be applied to any combustible
wastes.
The liquid waste can be pump either into the steam generator in the upper part
of the
incinerator main body or onto the water jacket inside the incinerator main
body. Steam that is
10 generated will be ejected into combustion chamber to accelerate the
incineration process.
Figure S illustrates various alternative shapes of the air supply pipes and
also
alternative angle of the protrusion of the branch supply pipe.
A container (46) with a water jacket installed in the combustion chamber
enables
incineration of liquid, sludge, colloid, powdered wastes, and solid
liquification burning in
high temperature.
While the preferred embodiments of the present invention and their advantages
have
been disclosed in the above detailed description, the invention is not limited
thereto but only
by the spirit and scope of the appended claims.
