COLD BOX STRUCTURE WITH COLD BOX PANELS PARTLY BUILT-IN AND INSTALLATION METHOD THEREFOR

Abstract

Disclosed are a cold box structure with cold box panels partly built-in and an installation method therefor. The cold box structure is mainly applied to plate-fin heat exchangers, and in particular to high-pressure aluminum plate-fin heat exchangers. The cold box structure comprises a base, a cold box support frame, four cold box panels, and a cold box top plate, and a plate-fin heat exchanger is placed inside the cold box. Some of or all the four cold box panels can be placed inside the cold box support frame as needed. The cold box structure can protect the cold box support frame from being damaged by cryogenic steam ejected from the plate fin-heat exchanger due to leakage, and further enables the discovering of leakage situations of the plate-fin heat exchanger from outer surfaces of the cold box panels in a timely manner.

Claims

1-6. (canceled)

7. A cold box structure comprising a cold box support frame, four cold box panels, a base and a cold box top plate, a plate-fin heat exchanger being placed inside the cold box support frame, and perlite sand being filled between the cold box and the plate-fin heat exchanger, characterized in that the cold box panels facing seals of the plate-fin heat exchanger are located inside the cold box support frame.

8. The cold box structure as claimed in to claim 7, wherein the cold box support frame and the cold box panels are made of carbon steel or stainless steel.

9. The cold box structure as claimed in to claim 7, wherein the cold box panels facing lateral plates of the plate-fin heat exchanger are located outside the cold box support frame on sides.

10. The cold box structure as claimed in to claim 7, wherein the cold box panels facing lateral plates of the plate-fin heat exchanger are located inside the cold box support frame on sides.

11. An installation method applicable to the cold box structure of claim 7, the method comprising the steps of: a. affixing a cold box base, installing a cold box support frame, and installing a plate-fin heat exchanger inside the cold box support frame; b. installing four cold box panels, wherein the cold box panels facing seals of the plate-fin heat exchanger are installed inside the cold box support frame on sides, and the cold box panels facing lateral plates of the plate-fin heat exchanger are installed inside or outside the cold box support frame on sides; c. installing a cold box top plate at the top of the cold box support frame; and d. welding the parts of the cold box in a sealed manner, filling the cold box with perlite sand.

12. The installation method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the cold box panels facing the seals of the plate-fin heat exchanger are installed in advance inside the cold box support frame on the sides.

13. The installation method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the cold box panels facing the seals of the plate-fin heat exchanger are installed on-site inside the cold box support frame on the sides.

14. The installation method as claimed in claim 11, wherein step d further comprises charging the cold box with nitrogen after filling the cold box with perlite sand.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0020] Further features, advantages and possible applications of the invention are apparent from the following description of working and numerical examples and from the drawings. All described and/or depicted features on their own or in any desired combination form the subject matter of the invention, irrespective of the way in which they are combined in the claims the way in which said claims refer back to one another.

[0021] FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a plate-fin heat exchanger;

[0022] FIG. 2 is a schematic structural view of a cold box support frame;

[0023] FIG. 3 is a schematic view of the appearance of a first embodiment of the present invention; and

[0024] FIG. 4 is a schematic view of the appearance of a second embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0025] The specific embodiments of the present invention will be further described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0026] FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a plate-fin heat exchanger, wherein the sides on which seals of the heat exchanger are located are faces b, b, and the sides on which lateral plates are located are faces a, a. A plate heat exchanger (in particular a brazed aluminum plate heat exchanger) has a heat exchange portion inside which a plurality of heat exchange passages are disposed. The heat exchange passages are formed by alternately stacking partition plates and profiled plates (for example, ribbed plates or corrugated plates, finned plates) or distribution devices, and the heat exchange portion is formed by heating and brazing the stack in a suitable brazing furnace. Under high pressure, leakage easily occurs at the brazed joint, that is, leakage easily occurs at the faces b, b on which the seals of the plate-fin heat exchanger are located.

[0027] FIG. 2 shows a schematic view of a cold box support frame 2, the four sides of which are A, A, B, B, respectively. The oblique line areas in the figure represent the interior of the cold box support frame on the side A and the interior of the cold box support frame on the side B, respectively, and 1 represents a base. The sides B, B of the cold box frame are opposite the sides of the plate-fin heat exchanger where seals are located, and sides A, A are opposite the sides of the plate-fin heat exchanger where cover plates are located (the plate-fin heat exchanger is not shown in the figure). In the process of installing the cold box panels, the cold box panels 3b, 3b are installed inside the cold box support frames on the sides B and B, and the cold box panels 3a, 3a are installed outside or inside the cold box support frames on the sides A and A.

[0028] FIG. 3 is a first embodiment of the present invention, comprising a base 1, a cold box support frame 2, a cold box top plate 4, and four cold box panels 3a, 3a, 3b, 3b, wherein the oblique line areas in the figure respectively represent the cold box panel 3a and the cold box panel 3b (3a, 3b are not visible in the figure). The cold box panels 3b, 3b are placed inside the cold box support frame 2, and the cold box panels 3a, 3a are placed outside the cold box support frame 2.

[0029] Faces a and a of the plate-fin heat exchanger are symmetrical faces of the plate-fin heat exchanger, and faces b and b are further symmetrical faces of the plate-fin heat exchanger. The sides A and A of the cold box frame are symmetrical to each other, and the sides B and B are symmetrical to each other. The cold box panels 3a and 3a are symmetrical to each other, and 3b and 3b are symmetrical to each other.

[0030] In the present invention, the interior of the cold box support frame refers to the side of the cold box support frame facing the heat exchanger; and the exterior of the cold box support frame refers to the side of the cold box support frame facing the outside air.

[0031] In the present invention, the cold box panels 3a, 3a, 3b, 3b refer to the panels on four sides of the cold box, the cold box top plate 4 refers to the panel located at the top of the cold box, the base 1 refers to a structure located at the bottom of the cold box for supporting the cold box, the cold box support frame 2 refers to a structure that supports the cold box panels to fix the cold box panels.

[0032] In the first embodiment, the cold box panels 3b, 3b facing the faces b, b of the plate-fin heat exchanger are located inside the cold box support frames on the sides B, B. Since leakage easily occurs at the faces b, b of the plate-fin heat exchanger, the cold box panels 3b, 3b facing the faces b, b are built inside the cold box support frame, which can prevent leaked steam from being directly ejected to the cold box support frame, thereby having a protection function. In addition, the leakage can be discovered timely. If the cold box panels 3b, 3b are placed outside the support frame, and if the cryogenic steam ejected due to leakage is directly ejected to the support frame, the leakage is not easily discovered due to the shielding of the cold box panels.

[0033] In the first embodiment, the cold box panels 3a, 3a facing the faces a, a of the plate-fin heat exchanger are located outside the cold box support frame on the sides A, A. Since leakage doesn't easily occur at the faces a, a of the plate-fin heat exchanger, in order to reduce installation difficulty, the cold box panels 3a, 3a are installed outside the cold box support frame.

[0034] FIG. 4 is a second embodiment of the present invention, comprising a base 1, a cold box support frame 2, a cold box top plate 4, and four cold box panels 3a, 3a, 3b, 3b, wherein the oblique line areas in the figure respectively represent the cold box panel 3a and the cold box panel 3b (3a, 3b are not visible in the figure). The four cold box panels 3a, 3a, 3b, 3b are all placed inside the cold box support frame 2.

[0035] In the second embodiment, the cold box structure comprises the cold box panels 3a, 3a, 3b, 3b placed inside the cold box support frame, wherein the cold box panels 3a, 3a are placed inside the cold box support frame on sides A, A, and the cold box panels 3b, 3b are placed inside the cold box support frame on sides B, B.

[0036] In the first and second embodiments, the cold box support frame and the cold box panels are made of carbon steel or stainless steel.

[0037] An installation method of the cold box structure of the first and second embodiments is as follows:

[0038] 1) fixing a cold box base 1, installing a cold box support frame 2, and installing a plate-fin heat exchanger inside the cold box support frame 2;

[0039] 2) installing four cold box panels 3a, 3a, 3b, 3b, wherein the cold box panels 3b, 3b facing seals of the plate-fin heat exchanger are installed inside the cold box support frame on sides B, B. In the first embodiment, the cold box panels 3a, 3a facing lateral plates of the plate-fin heat exchanger are installed outside the cold box support frame on sides A, A; and in the second embodiment, the cold box panels 3a, 3a facing the lateral plates of the plate-fin heat exchanger are installed inside the cold box support frame on the sides A, A;

[0040] 3) installing a cold box top plate 4 at the top of the cold box support frame 2; and

[0041] 4) welding joints in a sealed manner, filling the cold box with perlite sand, and, if necessary, charging nitrogen.

[0042] In step 2) of the foregoing installation method, when the installation size is limited, the cold box panels 3b, 3b facing the seals of the plate-fin heat exchanger may be installed in advance inside the cold box support frame on the sides B, B; and if the installation size is not limited on-site, the cold box panels 3b, 3b may be installed on-site inside the cold box support frame on the sides B, B.

[0043] Of course, some equipment components or attachments, such as pipes, cable shafts, valves or observation facilities and supports, may be installed during factory prefabrication.

[0044] The present invention is applicable not only to rectangular parallelepiped cold boxes but also to cylindrical cold boxes. The present invention is also not limited to be applicable to plate-fin heat exchangers, but to all cases where leakage can be judged by means of the surface of the cold box, or where the cold box support frame needs to be protected.

[0045] The above embodiments are only preferred embodiments of the present invention, and the scope of protection of the present invention is not limited to the embodiments. All the technical solutions under the inventive concept are within the scope of protection of the present invention. It should be noted that, to those of ordinary skill in the art, several modifications and variations without departing from the principles of the present invention should be considered to be within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0046] While the invention has been described in conjunction with specific embodiments thereof, it is evident that many alternatives, modifications, and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art in light of the foregoing description. Accordingly, it is intended to embrace all such alternatives, modifications, and variations as fall within the spirit and broad scope of the appended claims. The present invention may suitably comprise, consist or consist essentially of the elements disclosed and may be practiced in the absence of an element not disclosed. Furthermore, if there is language referring to order, such as first and second, it should be understood in an exemplary sense and not in a limiting sense. For example, it can be recognized by those skilled in the art that certain steps can be combined into a single step.

[0047] The singular forms a, an and the include plural referents, unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

[0048] Comprising in a claim is an open transitional term which means the subsequently identified claim elements are a nonexclusive listing (i.e., anything else may be additionally included and remain within the scope of comprising). Comprising as used herein may be replaced by the more limited transitional terms consisting essentially of and consisting of unless otherwise indicated herein.

[0049] Providing in a claim is defined to mean furnishing, supplying, making available, or preparing something. The step may be performed by any actor in the absence of express language in the claim to the contrary.

[0050] Optional or optionally means that the subsequently described event or circumstances may or may not occur. The description includes instances where the event or circumstance occurs and instances where it does not occur.

[0051] Ranges may be expressed herein as from about one particular value, and/or to about another particular value. When such a range is expressed, it is to be understood that another embodiment is from the one particular value and/or to the other particular value, along with all combinations within said range.

[0052] All references identified herein are each hereby incorporated by reference into this application in their entireties, as well as for the specific information for which each is cited.