SYSTEM FOR CLEANING AN OBJECT SUCH AS A HEAT EXCHANGER

Abstract

System for cleaning an object, such as a heat exchanger comprising a bundle of feed-through tubes extending between two end plates, wherein the system comprises a connection body for connecting the system to an object, a holder for holding a cleaning device and a moving system for moving the holder with respect to the connection body in a first direction and a second direction at least having a component perpendicular to the first direction, wherein the moving system comprises a rotation motor and a linear motor.

Claims

1. System for cleaning an object, such as a heat exchanger comprising a bundle of feed-through tubes extending between two end plates, wherein the system comprises a connection body for connecting the system to an object, a holder for holding a cleaning device and a moving system for moving the holder with respect to the connection body in a first direction and a second direction at least having a component perpendicular to the first direction, wherein the moving system comprises a rotation motor and a linear motor.

2. System according to claim 1, wherein the connection body is arranged to be coupled to flange of a heat exchanger and is provided with a coupling plate with at least two slots for receiving bolts for coupling to the heat exchanger flange.

3. System according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising a cleaning device coupled to the holder, wherein the cleaning device is arranged for driving a flexible lance for cleaning a heat exchanger duct or the like, provided with a frame in which a means driving a flexible lance is arranged for moving this flexible lance in the direction of an outlet opening.

4. System according to claim 1, 2 or 3, further comprising a supporting arm for supporting the holder, wherein the rotation motor is arranged to rotate the supporting arm with respect to the connection body.

5. System according to claim 4, wherein the linear motor is arranged to move the holder in a plane perpendicular to the rotation axis of the rotation motor.

6. System according to claim 5, wherein the linear motor is arranged to move the holder in a radial direction with respect to the rotation axis of the rotation motor.

7. System according to claim 4, 5 or 6, wherein the rotation motor is provided on the connection body.

8. System according to claim 7, wherein the rotation motor comprises a removable rotation axle for decoupling the supporting arm and the connection body upon removal of the rotation axle.

9. System according to any of the preceding claims 4-8, wherein the linear motor comprises a rack and pinion system.

10. System according to any of the preceding claims 4-9, wherein the holder is coupled to the supporting arm and wherein the linear motor is arranged to move the supporting arm with respect to the connection body.

11. System according to claim 10, wherein the holder is removably coupled to the supporting arm for moving the holder along the longitudinal axis of the supporting arm.

12. System according to claim 10 or 11, comprising a sleeve for receiving the supporting arm, wherein the linear motor is arranged to move the supporting arm within the sleeve.

13. System according to claims 8 and 12, wherein the rotation axle is coupled to the sleeve.

14. System according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the motors comprise pneumatic motors.

15. System according to any of the preceding claims, further comprising a controller for remotely controlling at least the motors and preferably also a cleaning device held in the holder.

Description

[0026] The present invention is further illustrated by the following Figures, which show a preferred embodiment of the system according to the invention, and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention in any way, wherein:

[0027] FIG. 1 shows the system in perspective view;

[0028] FIG. 2 shows the system in disassembled configuration;

[0029] FIG. 3 is a detail of FIG. 1;

[0030] FIGS. 4a-d show the system on a heat exchanger in different positions.

[0031] In FIG. 1, a system 1 for cleaning a heat exchanger according to the invention is shown. The system 1 is provided with a connection body 3, a supporting arm 4 and a holder 5 onto which a cleaning device 2 is held. The supporting arm 4 is rotatable with respect to the connecting body 3 using a rotation motor 6. The supporting arm 4 with the holder 5 coupled thereto is further movable with respect the connection body 3 using a linear motor 7. The linear motor 7 is hereby arranged to move the cleaning device 2 in the longitudinal direction A of the supporting arm 4 and the rotation motor 6 is arranged to move the cleaning device 2 is a direction substantially perpendicular to this direction A by rotation along rotation axis R, schematically indicated with the double arrow B in FIG. 1.

[0032] Further referring to FIG. 2, it is noted that the orientation of the cleaning device 2 is different in the FIGS. 1 and 2 to indicate that with the system according to the invention, a versatile system is provided. It is noted that also different devices than the cleaning device 2 for feeding a cleaning lance can be connected to the holder 5.

[0033] Also the connection body 3 is in greater detail shown in FIG. 2. The connection body or connection device 3 is provided with a connection plate 31 wherein two slot shaped openings 34 are provided. The openings 34 are used to connect the connection body 3 to a flange of a heat exchanger by inserting bolts through the openings 34 and the respective openings in the flange. Via a connecting structure 32, the connection plate 31 is connected to a support plate 33 onto which the rotation motor 6 is supported. The connection device 3 is hereby arranged such that the rotation axis R of the rotation motor 6 extends perpendicular to the plane of the connection plate 31, such that the rotation axis R will be substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the heat exchanger to be cleaned. The rotation motor 6 comprises a motor housing 61 which is coupled to the support plate 33. A pneumatic motor 63 is coupled via suitable transmission means to the motor housing 61.

[0034] The rotation axle 62 of the rotation motor 6 can be decoupled from the motor housing 61 such that the axle can be moved in a direction of the rotation axis R, indicated with arrows II in FIG. 2. The axle 62 is interconnected with the supporting arm 4, in this example via sleeve 8 as will be explained in greater detail below, such that the supporting arm 4 and the connection device 3 can be decoupled by removing the rotation axle 62 from the rotation motor 6. Actuation of the rotation motor 6 rotates the supporting arm 4 with respect to connection body 3 along the rotation axis R.

[0035] Also with reference to FIG. 3, the linear motor 7 is in this embodiment in the form of a rack and pinion system, wherein a wall 41 of the supporting arm 4 is provided with a plurality of slots 42 along its length wherein a pinion 72 of the linear motor 7 engages for moving said arm 4. The linear motor 7 is connected and supported to a sleeve 8 which has a tube like body for receiving the supporting arm 4. The cross section of the arm 4 and the sleeve 8 thereby correspond such that any relative movement between the arm 4 and the sleeve 8 is limited along the longitudinal axis A of the arm 4. The sleeve 8 is provided with a slot 81 through which the pinion 72 extends such that the pinion 72 can engage the openings 42 in the wall 41 of the arm 4. The pinion 72 is connected to a pneumatic motor 73 via a suitable transmission 71. Actuation of the pneumatic motor 73 will thus rotate the pinion 72, thereby translating the arm 4 within sleeve 8 which is in this example rigidly coupled to the axle 62.

[0036] Provided near an outer end of the supporting arm 4 is a holder 5 which is arranged to couple to a cleaning device 2, see FIGS. 1 and 2. Cleaning device 2 is provided with a housing 21 wherein lance driving means are arranged which are arranged to move a high pressure lance in and out of an outlet opening 22 of the device 2. The driving means are operated by a pneumatic motor 23. In order to be able to replace the cleaning device 2 with another device, for instance another type of cleaning device, the holder is provided with locking means 51, 52 for removably interlocking the cleaning device 2 onto the holder 5. In this example, two space apart connection rings 51 are arranged to receive a ring 24 of the cleaning device 2 such that a pin can be received through rings 51 and 24. A connection plate 52 is further provided with an opening which is to coincide with an opening 25 of the cleaning device 2 to receive a connection pin there through.

[0037] The operation of the system 1 will now be explained while referring to FIGS. 4a-d. In these figures, the system 1 is seen to be coupled to a heat exchanger 100. The tube heat exchanger 100 as shown consists substantially of a bundle of tubes, only a few of which are indicated with 101, extending between two end plates of which one end plate 104 is visible. A flange 102 protrudes from the end of the heat exchanger 100 in which a plurality of openings 103 are provided. Two of the openings 103 are used to connect the connection plate 31 of the connection body 3 to the flange 102 by aligning the slots 34 with the two openings 103 of the flange 102 and by inserting bolts therein.

[0038] In the connected situation, the outlet 22 of the cleaning device 2 is arranged to be aligned such that a lance can be inserted substantially parallel into the tubes 101. The system 1 is hereby arranged to move the cleaning device 2 in a plane parallel to the end plate 104 such that the outlet 22 can be aligned with each of the tubes 101 for cleaning. Actuation of the linear motor 7 will hereby move the arm 4 with respect to the connection body 3, such that the cleaning device 2 is moved in a direction along the longitudinal direction A indicated with the arrows C. This movement can be seen when comparing FIGS. 4a and 4b. Actuation of the rotation motor 6 will move the cleaning device 2 in directions indicated with the arrows B in FIG. 4a. A clockwise movement of the cleaning device 2 can be seen when comparing FIGS. 4a and 4c. The combination of the linear motor 7 and the rotation motor 6 allows the cleaning device 2 to be moved over the whole surface 104 of the heat exchanger 100.

[0039] With reference to FIG. 4d, it can be seen that the holder 5 is manually movable along the arm 4, indicated with the arrow D. The holder 5 is in this example provided with slots which are to be aligned with openings 42 of the arm 4 such that by inserting a pins in the slots, the holder 5 is locked with respect to the arm 4. Movement of the holder 5 along the arm 4 is useful for situations where space is limited.

[0040] The present invention is not limited to the embodiment shown, but extends also to other embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims.