Cooling or preheating device for coarse or bulky material with heat space recovery equipment

Claim 2

In an apparatus for treating material in bulk, upright bunker means through which the material to be treated is adapted to move in a downward direction, the material in bulk being in a heated condition when received in said bunker means at an upper portion thereof and in a cooled condition when discharging from said bunker means through a lower portion thereof, gas supply means communicating with said lower portion of said bunker means for supplying a gas at a relatively low temperature to flow upwardly through said bunker means to be heated by the material in bulk therein by extracting heat therefrom while the material in bulk is cooled by the upwardly flowing gas prior to discharge of the material in bulk from the lower portion of said bunker means, gas-discharge means communicating with said upper portion of said bunker means for discharging from the latter a hot gas heated by the material in bulk while the latter is cooled by the gas flowing upwardly through said bunker means, and upright boiler means operatively connected between and communicating with said gas-discharge means and said gas-supply means for receiving hot gas from said gas-discharge means and generating steam therefrom while cooling the hot gas and for delivering cooled gas to said gas-supply means to be recirculated by the latter upwardly through said bunker means for operating with heat from the material in said bunker means.

Claim 3

In an apparatus for treating material in bulk as recited in claim 1, said bunker means having an upper receiving end for receiving the material in bulk and a lower discharge end through which the material in said bunker means discharges out of the latter while progressing gravitationally downwardly along the interior of said bunker means, said bunker means having in the region of said discharge end thereof a tapered wall portion the larger end of which is higher than its opposed smaller end, said tapered wall portion of said bunker means being formed with a plurality of apertures distributed throughout said tapered wall portion for admitting gas into said bunker means to flow upwardly through the bulky material therein while those parts of the bulky material which are small enough to pass through said apertures will fall through the apertures out of the bunker means before reaching said discharge end thereof, plenum means surrounding said tapered wall portion of said bunker means and said gas-supply means communicating with the interior of said plenum means for supplying to the latter gas to flow through said apertures into said bunker means and upwardly through the bulk material therein to achieve a heat-exchange relationship between the bulk material and the gas flowing upwardly therethrough, the parts of the bulky material which fall through said apertures being collected in said plenum means said gas discharge means communicating with the interior of said bunker means at the region of said upper receiving end thereof for receiving the gas which flows upwardly through the bulk material and for discharging the gas out of said bunker means, and into said boiler means, and transporting means communicating with a lower region of said plenum means for transporting away from the latter those parts of the bulk material which fall through said apertures before reaching said discharge end of said bunker means.

Claim 4

The combination of claim 2 and wherein an outer wall means is located directly next to said tapered wall portion of said bunker means in engagement therewith and is formed with apertures which in one position of said outer wall means respectively register with said apertures of said tapered wall portion, and adjusting means operatively connected with said outer wall means for adjusting the position thereof with respect to said tapered wall portion for controlling the extent to whIch said apertures of said tapered wall portion are covered or uncovered by said outer wall means.

Claim 5

The combination of claim 1 and wherein said boiler means is spaced from said bunker means.

Claim 6

The combination of claim 4 and wherein said bunker means includes above said tapered wall portion thereof an outer steel casing and an inner brick lining covering the interior surface of said steel casing.

Claim 7

The combination of claim 2 and wherein said boiler means directly surrounds and is carried by said bunker means, part of said boiler means forming a wall of said bunker means which extends upwardly from said tapered wall portion thereof.

Claim 8

The combination of claim 1 and wherein said boiler means directly surrounds and is carried by said bunker means, part of said boiler means forming a wall of said bunker means and said wall of said bunker means which is formed by part of said boiler means being a watertube wall forming an inner wall of said boiler means, said boiler means including an outer watertube wall spaced from and surrounding said inner watertube wall thereof which forms part of said bunker means, and convection coils extending between and fixed at least to said outer watertube walls of said boiler means for forming a substantially rigid tubular assembly therewith, said inner and outer watertube walls defining between themselves a space in which said convection coils are accommodated and said space having an upper end region communicating with said gas-discharge means to receive the hot gas therefrom and a lower end region communicating with said gas-supply means for supplying cool gas thereto.

Claim 9

The combination of claim 7 and wherein a dust-collector means is situated between said gas-discharge means and said upper end region of said boiler means for preventing dust from entering said boiler means with the hot gas delivered to said boiler means by said gas-discharge means.

Claim 10

The combination of claim 7 and wherein a burner means is situated in said gas-discharge means for increasing the steam production of said boiler means and for controlling the gas condition in the closed cycle defined by said bunker means, boiler means, and gas-supply and discharge means.

Claim 11

The combination of claim 9 and wherein a transporting means transports the material collected from said bunker means away from the latter to said burner means to be burned thereby.

Claim 12

The combination of claim 7 and wherein said convection coils are divided into separate banks which are separately removable so that if necessary one of said banks can be removed while operations continue with the remaining banks.

Claim 13

The combination of claim 2 and wherein said transporting means is in the form of a pneumatic means communicating with the lower region of said plenum means for transporting material out of the latter in a stream of air.

Claim 14

The combination of claim 12 and wherein a valve means is situated between said plenum means and pneumatic means for controlling the flow of material from said plenum means to said pneumatic means.

Claim 15

The combination of claim 2 and wherein a vibrator means is operatively with said bunker means means for vibrating the latter to promote the falling of part of the bulk material through said apertures.

Claim 16

The combination of claim 2 and wherein a conveyer means is situated in part beneath said discharge end of said bunker means for receiving the bulk material therefrom and for conveying the bulk material away from said bunker means, whereby screening of the material carried by said conveyer means is rendered unnecessary because of the falling of part of the bulk material through said apertures.

Claim 17

The combination of claim 1 and wherein said boiler means directly surrounds said bunker means and boiler means having a common watertube wall.