| Title of Invention | "A DEVICE, FOR GUIDING OF LOQUID LIQUID, IN A COLUMN" |
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| Abstract | A device in a process engineering column (100), for the guiding of liquid, which includes at least two first and second sheet metal parts (1,2) made of sheet metal and releasably connected to one another, whereby a click connection for connection of the first sheet metal part (1) to the second sheet metal part (2) is foreseen, whereby the first sheet metal part (1) comprises a tab (11), which comes to lie in the assembled state upon the second sheet metal part (2), whereby the tab (11) comprise a recess (12), whereby an elevation (21) is provided on the second sheet metal part (2) whereby the elevation (21) engages into the recess (12), when the first sheet metal part (1) is connected to the second sheet metal part (2), whereby the tab (11) is pivotably relatively to the first sheet metal part (1), such that it can be pushed over the elevation (21) when assembled characterized in that a hoop (22) is foreseen on the second sheet metal part (2), through which the tab (11) is guidable during assembly, such that a contact between the tab (11) and the second sheet metal part (2) by means of the hoop (22) can be made in the assembled state. |
| Full Text | The present invention relates to a device in a process engineering column for the guiding of liquid. The invention relates to a device in a process engineering column in accordance with the preamble of claim 1 as well as to a column having such a device. A "process engineering column" is understood, for example, as a fractionation colum.n with an ordered packing or a tray colum.n. In a fractionation column which contains an ordered packing for the carrying out of a substance fractionation, for example distillation, and which represents a special form of a process engineering column, a substance and heat exchange takes place between a liquid flowing as a washing film and a steam phase flowing in the counterflow. In order for an optimum substance fractionation to result, the liquid must be delivered onto the packing distributed homogeneously over the column cross-section by means of distributors. In the manufacture of large columns, the manufacturer sets up the liquid distributor in a trial plant in order to test the distribution quality and to make any necessary corrections. It is expedient to strip the distributor into practical components for the transport of the liquid distributor and its installation into the column. A liquid distributor which consists of a main passage and secondary passages connected to it is therefore made such that the secondary passages can be fitted to the main passage by means of releasable connecting means - namely by screws. The distributor can be dismantled by releasing the screws. It is also advantageous for the above reasons, or also for other reasons, to provide components which can be releasably connected by screw connections in other devices in process engineering trays which are very large. Such a device can, for example, be a fitted element in which a liquid collector is combined with a liquid distributor. The liquid collector can be made up of lamellae which are fitted on a carrier structure. Screw connections are also used for the assembly here. Such a further device can be a downcomer in a tray column. It is the object of the invention to provide a device for the installation into a process engineering column which can be assembled from components and which allows both an installation and a de-installation - a dismantling into individual components - in a time saving manner. The de-installation as well as a later re-installation must be able to be carried out without a time consuming releasing of screws or connecting of screws. This object is satisfied by the device defined in claim 1. The device is arranged in a process engineering column and serves in particular for the guiding of liquid. This device includes at least two parts which are made of sheet metal and which can be releasably connected to one another. A recess is arranged in the one part, the sheet metal part of a first kind, and an elevation fitting into the recess is arranged in the other part, the sheet metal part of a second kind. The two sheet metal parts are held in a secured position by a hook connection between the recess and the elevation. The recess and the elevation form a single pair or one pair among a plurality of such pairs and the sheet metal parts have planar regions which lie on top of one another in the neighbourhood of the pair or of each pair respectively. In the following, such a pair consisting of a recess and an elevation is termed a "click connection" in brief. A justification for this designation will follow in connection with the description of the drawings. In the device in accordance with the invention, the click connections appear instead of screw connections which are usual in accordance with the prior art. These click connections can advantageously also be used to establish connections between wall pieces which are usually put together by welding. In such connections, a de-installation possibility does not have to be provided. The protective scope of claim 1 also includes such devices. In an extreme case, such a device consists of two sheet metal strips which are connected to one another by a click connection, with the feature recited in claim 2 additionally having to be provided in this case. The dependent claims 2 to 6 relate to advantageous embodiments of the device in accordance with the invention. Columns with devices in accordance with claims 2 to 6 form the subject of claims 7 to 10. The invention will be explained in the following with reference to the drawings, in which are shown: Fig. 1 an upper section of a process engineering column which contains a packing; Fig. 2 a liquid distributor relating to the column of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 a section of a carrier beam of the liquid distributor of Fig. 2 made in accordance with the invention which has click connections; Fig. 4 a detail relating to the carrier beam of Fig. 3; Fig. 5 a section through a closed click connection which consists of two sheet metal parts; Fig. 6 a sheet metal part - a sheet metal part of a first kind - relat- ing to a variant of the click connection shown in Fig. 5; Fig. 7 a part of a special liquid distributor which is formed in accor- dance with the invention; Fig. 8 a perspective view of a closed click connection; Fig. 9 a part of a trough or of a passage which has a wall piece secured by click connections at its end face; Fig. 10 a similar design to that of Fig. 9 for a distribution passage of a liquid distributor, with the click connections being open; Fig. 11 end regions of two sheet metal strips or sheet metal pieces which can be connected using two click connections; Fig. 12 a further click connection; Fig. 13 the click connection of Fig. 12 seen from the rear side; and Fig. 14 a downcomer of a tray column. The column 100 shown sectionally with an upper section in Fig. 1 contains a packing 120 of which an upper end 120a and a lower end 120b are shown schematically. The packing 120 is, for example, an ordered packing which - put together from corrugated metal foils - forms a "cross-passage structure". It is made up as a rule of a plurality of segments (not shown) and largely fills up the whole cross-section of the column 100. A liquid distributor 110 is arranged above the packing 120. A liquid (indicated by arrows) can be fed into secondary passages 114 through a supply line 112 and a main passage 113 and can be distributed from said secondary passages over the upper end 120a of the packing 120. The main passage 113 and the secondary passages 114 are formed in a known manner such that the liquid is distributed evenly over the whole cross-section of the column 100 and thus over the packing 120. In Fig. 2, the liquid distributor 110 of the column 100 of Fig. 1 is shown as a perspective view. The main passage 113 and the secondary passages 114 are upwardly open. A pre-distribution passage 115 is arranged in the main passage 13 and is terminated at end faces of a trough-shaped pas sage part 116' by walls 117a and 117b. The secondary passages 114 are fastened to carrier beams 115 (only one shown). The fastening made in accordance with the invention to the carrier beam 115 - namely the click connection - is shown in detail with reference to the following Figures 3 to 6. The walls 117a, 117b can be separable sheet metal parts which are likewise fastened to the passage part 116' by means of click connections (cf. Fig. 9 in the following). Fig. 3 shows - in a section and to an enlarged scale - the carrier beam 115 of the liquid distributor 110 which is a first example for a device in accordance with the invention, namely for a device which can be used in a process engineering column 110 and which is in particular provided for the guiding of liquid. This device 110 includes at least two parts produced from sheet metal and releasably connected to one another. A recess 12 is arranged in the one part 1, the metal sheet part of a first kind; an elevation 21 fitting into the recess 12 is arranged on the other part 2, the sheet metal part of a second kind. The sheet metal part 2 of the second kind is formed by the carrier beam 115. The two sheet metal parts 1 and 2 are held in a secured position by a hook connection of the recess 12 and of the elevation 21. The pair formed by the recess 12 and by the elevation 21 is designated as a click connection. For, on the closing of the click connection, the sheet metal part 1 -which is formed in the manner of a tab in the neighbourhood of the recess 12 - makes a small deflection movement with this tab-like neighbourhood which takes place either without a deformation, or, however, elastically, and in which, after the closing operation, the elevation 21 latches in the recess 12. If the deflection movement is associated with an elastic deformation, there is, as a rule, a click sound when the latched connection engages. The sheet metal parts 1, 2 have planar regions 120 and 210 respectively in the neighbourhood of the said pairs of recesses 12 and elevations 21 and these planar regions each lie on top of one another in the closed click connection. A further elevation 22 is arranged in the sheet metal part 2 of the second kind - in addition to the elevation 21 of the pair. It has the shape of a shallow hoop and lies within a planar neighbouring region 220. A tab 11 of the sheet metal part 1 of the first kind is pushed between the hoop 22 and its planar neighbouring region on the closing of the click connection. The elevation 21 is arranged in the region of the pushed in tab 11. The sheet metal part 2 of the second kind has hook-like recesses 23 which lie in planes 230. A sheet metal part 3 of a third kind - see Fig. 4 - has slot-like apertures 32 in planar sections 320. The sheet metal part 3 of the third kind is provided, for example, by the side walls of the secondary passage 114 (see Fig. 2). The planes 230 of the hook-like recesses 23 are arranged transversely to the planar sections 320 of the slot-like apertures 32. The sheet metal part 3 of the third kind is suspended with the slot-like apertures 32 engaging the hook-like recesses 23 of the second sheet metal part 2. The line 3' drawn as a chain-dotted line indicates that the two wall pieces of the sheet metal part 3 continuously form a passage. The sheet metal part 1 of the first kind - see Fig. 3 again - has slots 13 into which the said planar section 320 of the sheet metal part 3 of the third kind are pushed (not shown). The pairs consisting in each case of a recess 12 and an associated elevation 21 are in the hooked together state shown in Fig. 3. The hanging connection between the sheet metal part 2 of the second kind to the sheet metal part 3 of the third kind is thus secured by the sheet metal part 1 of the first kind. The sheet metal part 1 of the first kind shown in Fig. 3 - see also Fig. 5 -includes a large planar area 14 which merges into two tabs 11 with the recesses 12. This large area 14 also merges into a strip-shaped area 15 via a bending edge 15. The sheet metal part 2 of the second kind accordingly has two hoops 22 and two elevations 21 associated with the recesses 2. The sheet metal part 1 of the first kind can be arranged in two orientations: in the one orientation, the strip-shaped area 16 is directed away from the sheet metal part 2 of the second kind (Fig. 5); in the other orientation, the strip-shaped area 16 is directed towards the sheet metal part 2 of the second kind (Fig. 3). If, in the orientation shown in Fig. 5, the strip 16 is pulled upwardly (arrow 17a), a tilting movement (arrow 17b) is created by which the recess 12 is tilted away out of the effective region of the elevation 22. The sheet metal part 1 of the first kind is thus released from the hook connection by the pulling in the direction of the arrow 17a without any special effort and it can be removed easily. In the other orientation, Fig. 4, no corresponding tilt movement results: the sheet metal part 1 of the first kind is hooked securely. This second orientation is therefore suitable for a definitive assembly, whereas the first orientation is advantageous for a provisional assembly for test purposes (cf. introduction). The click connections are naturally also still releasable after a definitive assembly (by means of a tool, or as a result of the manipulative skill of the assembler). In Fig. 1, a collector 130 is also shown in addition to the liquid distributor 110 and is arranged under the lower end 120b of the packing. Lamellae 131 are attached to a carrying construction 132. The connection between the lamellae 131 and the carrying construction 132 can also be estab- lished with click connections; the liquid collector 130 is thus a further example of a device in accordance with the invention. The carrying construction 132 is advantageously formed as a collection passage which guides the liquid collected with the lamellae 131 to a central discharge 133 through which the liquid can be fed into a further distributor (not shown). Fig. 5 shows a sheet metal part 1 of the first kind with respect to a variant shape of the click connection shown in Fig. 5. Here, the click connection is only formed by a pair consisting of an elevation 21 and a recess 12. The first variant (Fig. 3) with two such pairs can be handled better and can be made with less precision. Fig. 7 shows a part of a liquid distributor 110 formed in accordance with the invention which has a special discharge system at the side walls of the main passage 113. This discharge system includes guide members 118 with which the liquid to be distributed is guided from the main passage 113 into the secondary passages 114. The guide members 118 are each fixed by means of two click connections to the side walls of the secondary passages 114. Only the recess 12 of a click connection is shown. The corresponding elevation 21 and a hoop 22 (see Fig. 3) - which does not necessarily have to be present - are located on a wall piece of the secondary passage 114 which is broken away in the representation. Expressed with the designations which have been used for the definition of the device in accordance with the invention, the guide member 118 is the sheet metal part 1 of the first kind and the secondary passage 114 is the sheet metal part 2 of the second kind. Fig. 8 shows in a perspective view of a closed click connection by which a sheet metal piece 1 (with a tab 11 and a recess 12) is connected to a sheet metal piece 2 (with a hoop 22 and an elevation 21). Fig. 9 shows a part of a trough or of a passage 116 which has a wall piece 117 fastened to an end face with click connections. This passage 116 can, for example, be a pre-distribution passage which is arranged within the main passage 113 shown in Fig. 2 and which is terminated at the end faces of the trough-like passage part 116' by the wall piece 117. Only the recesses 12 and the elevations 21 of the click connections are indicated, with the elevations 21 appearing as recesses 21' on the outside of the passage part 116'. Advantageously, hoops 22 (not shown) are also provided as components of the click connections. Fig. 10 shows a similar design to that of Fig. 9 for a distribution passage 114 of a liquid distributor. A side wall 118, which is shown in a separated state, can be fitted to the wall of the distribution passage 114 by click connections. Fig. 11 shows end regions of two sheet metal strips or of sheet metal pieces 1 and 2 which can be connected by two click connections 11, 12, 21, 22. A further click connection is shown in Fig. 12. In this embodiment, a rectangular, or approximately rectangular, area 50 is reshaped into a tab 29. This tab 29 can be deflected in a spring elastic manner. It is a further elevation in the sheet metal part 2 of the second kind in addition to the elevation 21 which lies within a planar neighbouring region 220 of the tab 29. A flat piece of the sheet metal part 1 of the first kind can be pushed in between the tab 29 and its planar neighbouring region 220 in the direction of the two arrows drawn in Fig. 12. After a hook connection between the recess 12 and the elevation 21, the position of the sheet metal part 1 of the first kind is fixed largely without clearance - preferably under the effect of a spring force of the tab 29. Two recesses 12 and elevations 21 are present which form two pairs. The sheet metal part 1 of the first kind has - in a strip-shaped region between the two recesses 12 - a further recess 19 which is open towards a rim of the sheet metal part 1 and into which the tab 29 is pushed. In Fig. 13, the click connection of Fig. 12 is shown seen from the rear side. It is formed as a rectangular recess whose rim is formed by the rectangle 50. The elevations 21 appear as recesses 21'. In the embodiment of Figures 12 and 13, the click connection is tighter than the click connection with the hoops 22. It is therefore better suited for a different application, for example for the manufacture of a down-comer for a tray column. Such a downcomer 5 is shown in Fig. 14, It is made up from diverse sheet metal parts which are connected to one another by means of click connections 510 to 504. These click connections 510 to 504 are represented by small rectangles. Each of these rectangles corresponds to a recess 50 such as can be seen in Fig. 13. WE CLAIM: 1. A device in a process engineering column (100), for the guiding of liquid, which includes at least two first and second sheet metal parts (1,2) made of sheet metal and releasably connected to one another, whereby a click connection for connection of the first sheet metal part (1) to the second sheet metal part (2) is foreseen, whereby the first sheet metal part (1) comprises a tab (11), which comes to lie in the assembled state upon the second sheet metal part (2), whereby the tab (11) comprise a recess (12), whereby an elevation (21) is provided on the second sheet metal part (2) whereby the elevation (21) engages into the recess (12), when the first sheet metal part (1) is connected to the second sheet metal part (2), whereby the tab (11) is pivotably relatively to the first sheet metal part (1), such that it can be pushed over the elevation (21) when assembled characterized in that a hoop (22) is foreseen on the second sheet metal part (2), through which the tab (11) is guidable during assembly, such that a contact between the tab (11) and the second sheet metal part (2) by means of the hoop (22) can be made in the assembled state. 2. A device as claimed in claim 1, whereby the second sheet metal part (2) has a hook-like recess (23) lying in a plane (230); in that a third sheet metal part (3) is foreseen which has a slotlike aperture (32) in a planar section (320); such that the plane (230) of the hook-like recess is arranged transversely to the planar section (320) of the slok-like aperture (32); and the third sheet metal part (3) is hung into the hook-like recess (23) of the second sheet metal part (2) by the slotlike aperture (32); and in that the sheet metal part (1) of the first kind has a slot (13) into which the said planar section of the third sheet metal part is pushed when the pair consisting of the recess (12) and of the associated elevation (21) being in the hooked together state. 3. A device as claimed in one of claims 1 or 2, whereby the first sheet metal part (1) includes a large planar are (14) which merges into the at least one tab (11), with the recess (12); whereby this large area merges via a bending edge (15) into a strip-shaped area (16); whereby the second sheet metal part (2) accordingly has two hoops (22) and two elevations (21) associated with the recesses; and the first sheet metal part (1) can be arranged in two orientations, with the strip-shaped area being directed away from the second sheet metal part (2) in the one orientation and being directed towards the second sheet metal part (2) in the other orientation. 4. A fractionating column comprising a packing (120) and a device (110, 114, 116) in accordance with any one of claims 1 to 3, whereby the packing has an upper end (120a) and a lower end (120b) whereby a device as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3 is arranged above the upper end (120a) or below the lower end (120b) and liquid can be distributed and/or collected by means of the device. 5. A fractionating column as claimed in claim 4, wherein a collector (130) is arranged below the lower end (120b) of the packing (120). 6. A fractionating column as claimed in claim 5, whereby the collector (130) consists of a carrying construction (132) and lamellae (131), whereby the connection between the lamellae (131) and the carrying construction (132) is realized by click connections as claimed in claim 1. 7. A column comprising a device as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3, whereby the device is a liquid distributor (110) which includes at least one main passage (113) and a plurality of secondary passages (114), wherein each secondary passage (114) is a third sheet metal part (3), whereby a plurality of second sheet metal parts (2) form carrier sections (115) for the secondary passages (114) and a plurality of first sheet metal parts (1) are used for the securing of the cormections between the secondary passages (114) and the carrier sections (115). 8. A column as claimed in claim 7, wherein each secondary passage is formed from one of the second sheet metal parts (2) and guide members (118) for liquid to be distributed from the main passage (113) into the secondary passages (114) are foreseen, which are formed from one of the first sheet metal parts (1); and/or a pre-distribution passage (116) is arranged within the main passage which is put together from at least one of the first sheet metal parts (1) and one of the second sheet metal parts (2). |
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| Patent Number | 268378 | |||||||||||||||
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| Indian Patent Application Number | 983/DEL/2003 | |||||||||||||||
| PG Journal Number | 35/2015 | |||||||||||||||
| Publication Date | 28-Aug-2015 | |||||||||||||||
| Grant Date | 27-Aug-2015 | |||||||||||||||
| Date of Filing | 11-Aug-2003 | |||||||||||||||
| Name of Patentee | SULZER CHEMTECH AG | |||||||||||||||
| Applicant Address | HEGIFELDSTRASSE 10, CH-8404 WINTERTHUR, SWITZERLAND | |||||||||||||||
Inventors:
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| PCT International Classification Number | G05D 7/00 | |||||||||||||||
| PCT International Application Number | N/A | |||||||||||||||
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PCT Conventions:
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