WO2006022507A1

WO2006022507A1 - Apparatus with multi-tube rotary evaporator having movable balls

Info

Publication number: WO2006022507A1
Application number: PCT/KR2005/002771
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jong-Hwa Lee
Original assignee: Jong-Hwa Lee
Priority date: 2004-08-23
Filing date: 2005-08-23
Publication date: 2006-03-02
Also published as: KR200367389Y1; CN101052447A; JP2008510613A

Abstract

An evaporating apparatus having a multi-tube evaporator is disclosed, A disclosed evaporating apparatus comprises an outer body; a steam recompression device for recompressing steam emerged from the outer body; a rotary evaporator comprising a plurality of evaporating tubes, a mesh net structure enclosing a virtual outer surface of the rotary evaporator, and a plurality of cleaning balls within the mesh net structure, wherein the rotary evaporator is disposed in the outer body; a rotary heat exchanger for heating materials using heat of condensate water discharged from the rotary evaporator; a material circulation pump for recycling concentrated residue collected in the bottom of the outer body; an ejecting pipe for ejecting the materials heated by the rotary heat exchanger and the concentrated residue recycled by the material circulation pump onto a surface of the rotary evaporator; and a heater for supplementing heat energy of the steam.

Description

APPARATUS WITH MULTI-TUBE ROTARY EVAPORATOR

HAVING MOVABLE BALLS

Technical Field

[1] The present invention relates to an evaporating apparatus and, more particularly, an evaporating apparatus having a multi-tube rotary evaporator, which can achieve improved evaporation performance and improved heat transfer efficiency by removing solids and scales formed on an outer surface of an evaporator due to circulation and/or concentration of liquid materials and by widening a heat transfer area of an evaporator.

[2]

Background Art

[3] An evaporating apparatus forcibly evaporates and separates water contained in liquid materials using steam. The evaporating apparatus is widely applied to envi¬ ronmental waste water treatment, for example, treatment of waste water containing toxic substances or waste water with high levels of pollution, which cannot be disposed by biological treatment. Particularly, the evaporating apparatus is the best method for treating and reusing waste water.

[4] A conventional evaporating apparatus includes a tube horizontally mounted in a body through which high temperature steam passes. When waste water is jetted out on an outer surface of the tube, the steam in the tube is condensed into liquid and discharged, and water in the waste water is vaporized by the latent heat from the steam in the tube. The water vapor evaporated from the waste water is forcibly sucked and compressed by a steam ejector to be re-supplied into the tube for reuse or to be discharged into the exterior after being evaporated outside the horizontal tube in a de¬ compression state.

[5] Here, as the water contained in the waste water vaporizes, concentration of pollutants dissolved or suspended in the waste water increases to approach saturation. If the water in the waste water continues to vaporize, the waste water is finally over- saturated with the dissolved pollutants and the dissolved pollutants crystallize to be discharged into the exterior along with insoluble or suspended matters. Then, some of the oversaturated waste water is circulated to be retreated along with waste water newly supplied into the apparatus through the same processes.

[6] Consequently, since the circulated waste water is always oversaturated with pollutants in the evaporating apparatus, crystallized pollutants or insoluble matters in the waste water may be attached to an outer surface of the tube on which heat transfer is carried out to form scales. The scales interrupt heat transfer between steam and waste water, thereby deteriorating performance of the apparatus. As the waste water concentrates, such formation of scales deepens and may make operation of apparatus impossible. Therefore, the scales on the outer surface of the tube have to be removed at predetermined intervals.

[7] Because of the above-mentioned problem, a conventional evaporating apparatus needs periodic cleaning. A typical cleaning method includes cleaning using chemicals. However, such a chemical cleaning method may not achieve complete cleaning, thereby lowering cleaning efficiency as well as generating secondary pollutants due to cleaning solution. Other methods include replacing or washing a horizontal tube pe¬ riodically, but they may require high maintenance fees. In addition, to obviate such problems of a conventional apparatus, an autonomous cleaning heater exchanger has been used in some cases, but it has not been properly employed because of some problems such as difficulty in manufacturing and limitation in treatable waste water.

[8] In an evaporating apparatus, to efficiently evaporate water in waste water, it is preferable to increase a contact area between waste water and a tube so that heat of steam in the tube can be efficiently transferred to waste water. A conventional evaporating apparatus has a small contact area between a tube and waste water because the evaporating apparatus includes a cylindrical single tube. Therefore, the con¬ ventional evaporating apparatus has some shortcomings such as high energy consumption and low evaporation rate of water in the waste water.

[9]

Disclosure of Invention Technical Problem

[10] Accordingly, the present invention is directed to an evaporating apparatus that sub¬ stantially obviates one or more problems due to limitations and disadvantages of the related art.

[11] An object of the present invention is to enhance efficiency of heat transfer by minimizing scales formation on a surface of an evaporator.

[12] Another object of the present invention is to improve efficiency of heat transfer by maximally increasing a heat transfer area of an evaporator and to minimize energy consumption of an apparatus by preheating supplied materials using steam generated during processes.

[13]

Technical Solution

[14] The objects of the present invention are achieved by an evaporating apparatus comprising an outer body; a steam recompression device for recompressing steam emerged from the outer body; a rotary evaporator comprising a plurality of evaporating tubes, a mesh net structure enclosing a virtual outer surface of the rotary evaporator, and a plurality of cleaning balls which move within the mesh net structure, wherein the rotary evaporator is disposed in the outer body and receives steam from the steam re¬ compression device; a rotary heat exchanger for heating materials using heat of condensate water discharged from the rotary evaporator; a material circulation pump for recycling concentrated residue collected in the bottom of the outer body; an ejecting pipe for ejecting the materials heated by the rotary heat exchanger and con¬ centrated residue recycled by the material circulation pump onto a surface of the rotary evaporator; and a heater for supplementing heat energy of the steam.

[15]

Brief Description of the Drawings

[16] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an evaporating apparatus in accordance with the present invention.

[17] Figure 2 is a view of an evaporating tube constituting a rotary evaporator in accordance with the present invention.

[18] Figure 3 is a view of a rotary evaporator in accordance with the present invention.

[19] Figure 4 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of a rotary evaporator in accordance with the present invention.

[20] Figure 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along a line A-A' of Figure 4.

[21]

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

[22] Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

[23] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an evaporating apparatus in accordance with the present invention.

[24] As shown in Figure 1, steam initially generated from a heater (80) is compressed by a steam recompression device (20) and is transferred into a rotary evaporator (30) disposed in an outer body (10) by a motor (100). The rotary evaporator (30) comprises a plurality of straight evaporating tubes and rotates slowly on its axis. The compressed steam transferred into the rotary evaporator (30) moves along the plurality of evaporating tubes to heat the evaporating tubes. The steam emerged from the evaporating tubes is condensed and transferred to a rotary heat exchanger (60) by a condensate water discharge pump (40). The condensate water transferred to the rotary heat exchanger (60) is used to pre-heat materials (e.g., waste water), which are transferred to the rotary heat exchanger (60) from a material storage (50) via a filter (70), up to a temperature of 100 °C and, then, is discharged into the exterior.

[25] The materials heated by the condensate water in the rotary heat exchanger (60) are transferred to an ejecting pipe (90) in the outer body (10) by a material transfer pump (42). The ejecting pipe (90) sprays the materials onto a surface of the rotary evaporator (30) to vaporize water contained in the materials. After water is evaporated from the materials, remaining concentrated residue is collected in the bottom of the outer body (10). The residue is filtrated by a filter (71) and then recycled into the ejecting pipe (90) by a material circulation pump (41). On the other hand, water vapor evaporated from the materials ejected by the ejecting pipe (90) in the outer body (10) is transferred into the rotary evaporator (30) via the heater (80) and a steam recompression device (20) to reuse.

[26] Figure 2 is a view of an evaporating tube constituting a rotary evaporator in accordance with the present invention. A rotary evaporator according to the present invention comprises a plurality of evaporating tubes (31) as shown in Figure 2. High temperature compressed steam flows through each evaporating tube (31) to heat a surface of the evaporating tube. When the ejecting pipe sprays materials on the surface of the evaporating tube heated by the high temperature compressed steam, water contained in the materials is vaporized. A conventional evaporating tube has relatively small heat transfer area due to a simple shape of tube and, therefore, water contained in materials cannot vaporize effectively.

[27] To overcome such a problem, the present invention forms a plurality of protrusions

(32) on an outer surface of the evaporating tube, as shown in Figure 2, to increase a surface area of the evaporating tube with which the materials ejected from the ejecting pipe is in contact. In addition, a plurality of pins (33) are formed on an inner surface of the evaporating tube (31). The plurality of pins (33) maximize the heat transfer efficiency from the high temperature compressed steam in the evaporating tube (31) to the ejected materials, by prolonging the retention time of the hot steam in the evaporating tube (31).

[28] Figure 3 is a view of a rotary evaporator in accordance with the present invention.

Figure 4 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of a rotary evaporator in accordance with the present invention. Figure 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along a line A-A' of Figure 4.

[29] Referring to Figure 3 through Figure 5, a rotary evaporator (30) comprises a plurality of evaporating tubes (31) and rotates on its axis. Each evaporating tube has a plurality of protrusions and a plurality of pins, and is disposed on a virtual cir¬ cumference. Therefore, the rotary evaporator according to the present invention has a larger heat transfer area than that of a conventional evaporator including a single tube.

[30] On the other hand, if the ejecting pipe continuously sprays materials on the evaporating tubes and water contained in the materials continuously vaporizes, matters suspended or pollutants dissolved in the materials form scales on an outer surface of the evaporating tubes. The scales formed on the outer surface of the evaporating tubes obstruct heat exchange between the evaporating tubes and the materials. To prevent formation of scales and to remove scales already formed, the present invention forms a mesh net structure (34) on the rotary evaporator (30) and put a plurality of movable cleaning balls (35) therein. The mesh net structure (34) may rotate along with the rotary evaporator (30) or separately from the rotary evaporator (30).

[31] As the rotary evaporator (30) rotates together with or separately from the mesh net structure (34), the movable cleaning balls (35) kept inside the mesh net structure (34) freely move within the mesh net structure (34), constantly hitting the outer surface of evaporating tubes (31). Such free moving balls (35) prevent formation of scales on a surface of each evaporating tube and/or remove scales formed on the surface of the evaporating tube. By effectively removing scales formed on the surface of the evaporating tube, heat transfer performance of the evaporating tube can be con¬ tinuously maintained.

[32] The foregoing embodiments are merely exemplary and are not to be construed as limiting the present invention. The present teachings can be readily applied to other types of apparatuses. The description of the present invention is intended to be il¬ lustrative, and not to limit the scope of the claims. Many alternatives, modifications, and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

[33]

Industrial Applicability

[34] Accordingly, by maximizing evaporation efficiency through diversified ways, an evaporating apparatus having a multi-tube rotary evaporator according to the present invention minimizes energy consumption necessary for material treatment to achieve economic effects. In addition, the evaporating apparatus according to the present invention does not need the use of chemicals or the replacement of evaporating tubes for removing scales. Therefore, the present invention obviates secondary pollution due to the chemicals and ensures stable operation of apparatus.

Claims

[1] An evaporating apparatus comprising: an outer body; a steam recompression device for recompressing steam emerged from the outer body; a rotary evaporator comprising a plurality of evaporating tubes, a mesh net structure enclosing a virtual outer surface of the rotary evaporator, and a plurality of cleaning balls within the mesh net structure, wherein the rotary evaporator is disposed in the outer body and receives steam from the steam recompression device; a rotary heat exchanger for heating materials using heat of condensate water discharged from the rotary evaporator; a material circulation pump for recycling concentrated residue collected in a bottom of the outer body; an ejecting pipe for ejecting the materials heated by the rotary heat exchanger and the concentrated residue recycled by the material circulation pump onto a surface of the rotary evaporator, wherein the ejecting pipe is disposed in the outer body; and a heater for supplementing heat energy of the steam. [2] The evaporating apparatus as defined by claim 1, wherein the plurality of evaporating tubes comprise a plurality of protrusions formed on an outer surface of each evaporating tube. [3] The evaporating apparatus as defined by claim 1, wherein the plurality of evaporating tubes comprise a plurality of pins formed on an inner surface of each evaporating tube. [4] The evaporating apparatus as defined by claim 1, wherein the cleaning balls freely move within the mesh net structure to remove scales formed on a surface of each evaporating tube as the rotary evaporator rotates. [5] The apparatus as defined by claim 1, wherein the mesh net structure rotates separately from the rotary evaporator.