JP4627051B2 - Filter cleaning method in fluidized bed apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a fluidized bed apparatus used for granulation, coating and the like of a granular material, and more particularly to a fluidized bed apparatus that facilitates cleaning of a filter used in the apparatus.

  In the fields of pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, foods, etc., fluidized bed apparatuses are widely used that fluidize powders and granules such as granules by a gas flow and perform processes such as granulation, coating, mixing, stirring, and drying. In a fluidized bed apparatus, a binder liquid, a coating liquid, or the like is supplied to a fluidized granular material with a spray nozzle, and processing such as granulation or coating is performed. FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing the configuration of such a fluidized bed apparatus. As shown in FIG. 5, the fluidized bed apparatus 101 includes a cylindrical processing container 102, and an object to be processed such as powder is put into the container, and processing such as granulation and coating is performed.

  At the bottom of the processing container 102, a breathable countersink plate 103 formed of a wire mesh or the like is provided. A processing gas is supplied from the bottom of the plate 103, and the processing object in the processing container 102 is fluidized by this processing gas. A spray nozzle 104 for spraying a binder liquid, a coating liquid, or the like is disposed at a substantially central portion of the processing container 102. A top plate 105 is installed on the top of the processing container 102, and a filter 106 is attached to the top plate 105. The filter 106 separates the granular material from the gas flow and prevents the fine powder and powder from escaping out of the system. As the filter 106, for example, a cartridge type filter using a non-woven fabric such as polyester or polyamide as a filter element is used. Above the filter 106, a jet nozzle 107 for backwashing the filter is disposed.

The powder adhering to the filter 106 is appropriately removed during operation by a pulse jet from the jet nozzle 107. However, even with this backwashing treatment, the adhered powder cannot be completely removed, and the powder gradually accumulates to increase the air flow resistance. For this reason, when granulation or the like is performed, it is necessary to remove the filter 106 from the fluidized bed apparatus 101 and clean it after the processing has been performed for a predetermined time or more. Further, when different types of powders are processed in the same apparatus or when different binder liquids or coating liquids are sprayed, it is necessary to clean the filter 106 when performing different processes. At this time, the filter 106 is generally manually removed after removing the filter 106 from the fluidized bed apparatus 101. However, since it requires a lot of manpower and time, various automatic cleaning apparatuses have been proposed. For example, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 60-176240 discloses an apparatus for lowering a filter in a fluidized bed apparatus and washing the filter with a lower stationary washing nozzle waiting and an upper washing nozzle descending. ing.
Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 60-176240 JP 2005-313089 A JP-A-5-49902 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-228353 JP-A-8-309130 JP-A-9-187640

  On the other hand, when changing the type of powder or the like, the cleaning liquid 108 is stored in the processing container 102, and the inside of the fluidized bed apparatus 101 is also cleaned. Therefore, at that time, if the filter 106 is lowered and immersed in the cleaning liquid in the processing container 102 and can be cleaned by an ultrasonic method or a bubbling method, the filter can be automatically cleaned without removing the filter 106 from the apparatus, and the cleaning man-hours are greatly increased. Reduced to However, in the fluidized bed apparatus 101, as shown in FIG. 6, since the eye plate 103 is disposed in the processing container 102, if an ultrasonic cleaning device (or bubbling cleaning device) 109 is installed at the lower part of the device, The dish plate 103 becomes an obstacle, and there arises a problem that the filter 106 cannot be sufficiently cleaned.

  On the other hand, if the ultrasonic cleaning device 109 is mounted above the eye plate 103, such a problem does not occur, but the part above the eye plate 103 of the processing container 102 is a processing part of the granular material. It is not preferable to attach the ultrasonic cleaning device 109. Further, a configuration in which the ultrasonic cleaning device 109 can be externally attached and attached to the device at the time of cleaning is conceivable. However, the configuration of the device becomes complicated, and the work at the time of cleaning becomes complicated.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a fluidized bed apparatus that can be easily cleaned in the apparatus without removing the filter from the apparatus.

  The filter cleaning method in the fluidized bed apparatus of the present invention includes a processing container formed in a cylindrical shape, a filter member installed in the processing container so as to be movable in the vertical direction, and a gas flow installed in the processing container. A filter cleaning method in a fluidized bed apparatus, comprising: a flowable plate, and an air supply unit that is installed below the plate and supplies gas into the processing container. A cleaning device is installed, and the eye plate is inclined at a predetermined angle with respect to the first position arranged in a substantially horizontal direction and between the inner wall of the processing vessel and the outer periphery of the eye plate. It is installed so as to be displaceable between the second position where the opening is formed, the cleaning liquid is injected into the processing container in a state where the eye plate is displaced to the second position, and the filter member is placed in the cleaning liquid. Soaked in Characterized by cleaning the filter element of the said cleaning liquid.

  In the present invention, the eye plate is displaced from the first position to the second position, and in that state, the cleaning liquid is injected into the processing container, and the filter member is immersed in the cleaning liquid, and the filter is filtered by the cleaning device. Since the member is cleaned, the filter member can be cleaned in the apparatus without removing the filter member from the apparatus, and the number of cleaning steps is greatly reduced.

  According to the filter cleaning method in the fluidized bed apparatus of the present invention, the filter member is movably installed in the cylindrically formed processing container, and the first position and the first position arranged in the substantially horizontal direction are arranged. In a fluidized bed apparatus in which a dish plate and a cleaning device provided so as to be displaceable between a second position inclined at a predetermined angle with respect to the position are disposed in the processing vessel, the dish plate is displaced to the second position. In this state, the cleaning liquid is poured into the processing container, and the cleaning device is operated while the filter member is immersed in the cleaning liquid, so that the filter member is cleaned in the processing container. The filter member can be cleaned by a cleaning device installed at the bottom of the processing container. Therefore, the filter member can be cleaned in the apparatus without removing the filter member from the apparatus, and the number of cleaning steps can be reduced.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing a configuration of a fluidized bed apparatus to which a filter cleaning method according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied . The fluidized bed apparatus of FIG. 1 includes a cylindrical processing container 1 and is used, for example, to perform a coating process on the surface of a granular material. The processing container 1 has a configuration in which a filter casing 2, a spray casing 3, a raw material container 4 and an air supply unit 5 are stacked in order from the top. The filter casing 2 and the spray casing 3, and the spray casing 3 and the raw material container 4 are fastened by clamps 10a and 10b, respectively, or the casing is pushed up from below and fastened by a seal. A top plate 6 is disposed in the filter casing 2, and a cartridge filter (filter member) 7 is attached to the top plate 6. In the spray casing 3, a spray nozzle 8 for spraying a binder liquid or a coating liquid onto the granular material is disposed. In the raw material container 4, a granular material to be processed is put, and a countersink plate 9 is installed at the bottom.

  The upper end of the filter casing 2 is closed by a canopy 11, and a filter chamber 12 is formed inside. An exhaust duct 13 is connected to the filter chamber 12, and a cleaning water supply pipe 14 is provided on the side wall. In the filter chamber 12, a top plate 6 formed in a disc shape is accommodated. The peripheral edge of the top plate 6 is in contact with the inner surface of the filter casing 2, and one end of a wire 15 is attached to the upper surface thereof. The wire 15 is drawn out of the apparatus via pulleys 16a and 16b, and the other end is connected to a pulley (not shown) driven by a motor. The top plate 6 can be moved in the vertical direction in the filter casing 2 and the spray casing 3 by the wire 15. When the motor is operated and the wire 15 is pulled upward, the top plate 6 is moved to the casings 2, 3. Move up inside. On the other hand, when the motor is operated, the tension of the wire 15 is loosened, and the top plate 6 moves downward in the casings 2 and 3 by its own weight.

  A filter material 17 using a polyester non-woven fabric is used for the cartridge filter 7. The filter material 17 is obtained by pleating a non-woven filter cloth and molding it into a cylindrical shape. The longitudinal dimension is about 130 to 550 mm for a small device and about 220 to 1200 mm for a large device. . The outer diameter of the filter material 17 is about 75 to 120 mm for a small device and about 200 to 325 mm for a large device. Stainless steel end caps 18 a and 18 b are attached to the upper and lower sides of the filter material 17, and a stainless steel retainer 19 is inserted in the center thereof. An upper end of the retainer 19 is fixed to the top plate 6, and a filter fixing knob 20 is attached to the lower end. The filter material 17 is fixed to the top plate 6 by tightening the filter fixing knob 20 with the retainer 19 as a guide. A rubber packing 21 is interposed between the end cap 18 a and the top plate 6.

  The filter casing 2 is further provided with a pulse jet nozzle 22 that ejects pulse air for backwashing. An opening 23 is formed in the top plate 6 so as to face the center of the filter material 17, and the pulse jet nozzle 22 is disposed above the opening 23. The pulse jet nozzle 22 is connected to a pulse air supply source (not shown) and injects pulse air inside the cartridge filter 7. Thereby, what is called a backwash process is implemented and the granular material adhering to the filter material 17 is wiped off.

  A spray chamber, that is, a fluid chamber 24 is formed in the spray casing 3 and a spray nozzle 8 is disposed. The spray nozzle 8 is attached to the spray arm 25, and a binder liquid and a coating liquid are supplied from a pump provided outside the apparatus by a tube (not shown). The spray arm 25 is slidably attached to a support (not shown), and the spray nozzle 8 can be appropriately moved in the vertical direction in the spray casing 3. It should be noted that the spray arm 25 and the spray nozzle 8 can be moved to a place where they do not obstruct the lowering when the top plate 6 is lowered, or can be appropriately removed from the apparatus through an opening window (not shown). It has become. Furthermore, the spray nozzle 8 can be installed on the side surface of the spray casing 3 so as not to obstruct the movement of the top plate.

  The raw material container 4 includes a container casing 31 and a screen unit 32 attached to the lower end of the container casing 31. The container casing 31 is an inverted frustoconical cylinder having a smaller diameter toward the lower side, and a raw material storage chamber 33 is formed therein. The screen unit 32 includes an annular frame 34 and a countersink plate 9 disposed in the frame 34. The eye plate 9 has air permeability, and the granular material put into the raw material storage chamber 33 is supported on the eye plate 9. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the configuration of the raw material container 4 viewed from the screen unit 32 side (lower side), and FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing the configuration of the screen unit 32. As shown in FIG. 2, the screen unit 32 is fixed to a flange portion 35 formed at the lower end portion of the container casing 31 by a toggle clamp 36.

  The plate 9 is usually made of tatami woven wire mesh such as 42 × 175 mesh, 32 × 132 mesh, or 24 × 110 mesh, and is formed by overlapping punching plates or plain woven wire mesh for reinforcing the plate. The perforated plate 37 and a support bracket 38 made of stainless steel that supports the perforated plate 37 are configured. The support bracket 38 includes a circular outer peripheral portion 38a and a plurality of rib portions 38b arranged in parallel inside the outer peripheral portion 38a. A porous plate 37 having air permeability is placed on the upper surface side of the support bracket 38. A screen seal 39 is attached to the entire outer periphery of the bracket outer peripheral portion 38a. When the screen seal 39 is in contact with the inner peripheral surface of the frame 34, the outer periphery of the countersink plate 9 is sealed to prevent the powdery material as a raw material from dropping and air leakage from the outer side of the countersink plate.

  As shown in FIG. 3, a rotation shaft 41 is attached to the center portion of the support bracket 38. The right end side (the front side in FIG. 2) of the rotating shaft 41 in FIG. 3 is rotatably supported by the frame 34 via the bush 42. A synthetic resin sleeve 43 is interposed between the bush 42 and the rotary shaft 41. A thrust bearing 44 is attached to the outer end portion of the sleeve 43, and an end cap 45 is attached to the outside of the thrust bearing 44.

  Similarly to the right end side, the left end side of the rotation shaft 41 is also rotatably supported by the frame 34 via the bush 46. A synthetic resin sleeve 47 is interposed between the bush 46 and the rotary shaft 41. A collar 48 is attached to the outer end of the sleeve 47, and a spacer tube 49 is attached to the outside of the collar 48. A motor unit 51 is attached to the left side of the spacer tube 49 in the drawing. The left end portion of the rotating shaft 41 is connected to a motor (drive device) 52 accommodated in the motor unit 51. The eye plate 9 is configured to be rotatable about the rotation shaft 41 by the motor 52, and is used in the state of the solid line in FIG. 1 during coating processing, and is displaced to the state of the dashed line in FIG. be able to.

  An air supply unit 5 having an air supply chamber 53 is installed below the raw material container 4. The air supply unit 5 is connected to an air supply duct 54 that communicates with the air supply chamber 53. The air supply duct 54 is connected to an air supply source (not shown) provided outside the apparatus. An ultrasonic cleaning device 55 is attached to the bottom of the air supply chamber 53. When the ultrasonic cleaning device 55 is operated in a state where the cleaning liquid is injected into the fluidized bed device, ultrasonic vibration is diffused in the cleaning liquid, and the powder adhering to the fluid chamber 24 and the raw material storage chamber 33 due to the vibration. Granules are removed. It is possible to install the ultrasonic cleaning device 55 on a portion other than the bottom of the air supply chamber 53, for example, on the side surface of the air supply unit 5. Further, as a cleaning device, a bubbling cleaning device that generates minute bubbles may be arranged instead of the ultrasonic cleaning device 55.

  In such a fluidized bed apparatus, when flowing air is supplied from the air supply duct 54 to the air supply chamber 53, the air flows into the raw material storage chamber 33 through the eye plate 9. Thereby, the granular material in the raw material storage chamber 33 is blown up, and it will be in a fluid state in the raw material storage chamber 33 or the flow chamber 24. In this state, by spraying a binder liquid or a coating liquid as appropriate from the spray nozzle 8 in the form of a spray, the coating process of the granular material is executed. In addition, after the powder coating process, spraying from the spray nozzle 8 can be stopped to dry the processed product.

  On the other hand, the gas in which the powder particles are in a fluid state is discharged through the exhaust duct 13 after the fine solid particles are removed and cleaned by the cartridge filter 7. The fine particles adhering to the cartridge filter 7 are appropriately backwashed by the pulse jet nozzle 22, but as described above, it is difficult to completely remove the adhering powder. For this reason, also in the fluidized bed apparatus, the cartridge filter 7 is cleaned after the coating process is performed for a predetermined time. At that time, in the conventional fluidized bed apparatus, it is necessary to remove the cartridge filter 7 from the fluidized bed apparatus and clean it. On the other hand, in the fluidized bed apparatus, cleaning water can be supplied from the supply pipe 14 into the casing, and the cartridge filter 7 can be cleaned in the apparatus.

  Therefore, the cleaning process of the cartridge filter 7 in the fluidized bed apparatus will be described. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a cleaning process of the fluidized bed apparatus. In the fluidized bed apparatus, the coating process is performed for a predetermined time, the product is taken out, and then the cleaning liquid 56 is injected into the apparatus from the supply pipe 14. At this time, prior to the injection of the cleaning liquid 56, first, the eye plate 9 is rotated from the state shown in FIGS. 4 (a) to 4 (b). That is, by operating the motor 52 and rotating the rotary shaft 41 by 90 °, the state of the countersink plate 9 is changed from the horizontal position (first position) in FIG. 4A to the vertical position (FIG. 4B). Change to the second position). Thereby, a gap is formed between the inner wall of the raw material container 4 and the outer peripheral portion of the countersink plate 9, and an opening 57 is formed in the bottom of the raw material container 4. Through the opening 57, the fluidizing chamber 24 in the fluidized bed apparatus, the raw material accommodating chamber 33, and the air supply chamber 53 are in communication with each other. In this state, the cleaning liquid 56 is injected into the apparatus from the supply pipe 14.

  As the cleaning liquid 56, warm water, clean water, water containing detergent, or the like is used, and is injected into the apparatus up to a predetermined liquid level L as shown in FIG. After the cleaning liquid 56 is injected, the cartridge filter 7 is immersed in the cleaning liquid 56 (FIG. 4D). The cartridge filter 7 is lowered together with the top plate 6 by the operation of the wire 15. The top plate 6 is lowered to a position where it is immersed in the cleaning liquid 56. After the cartridge filter 7 is immersed in the cleaning liquid 56, the ultrasonic cleaning device 55 is operated as shown in FIG. Thereby, foreign matters such as fine particles attached to the cartridge filter 7 are removed, and the cartridge filter 7 is washed. At this time, the inner walls of the fluid chamber 24, the raw material storage chamber 33, and the air supply chamber 53 are also cleaned.

  As described above, in the fluidized bed apparatus, the eye plate 9 is installed so as to be displaceable, and the opening 57 is formed with the eye plate 9 in the vertical position at the time of cleaning. The cartridge filter 7 can be washed inside. For this reason, the cartridge filter 7 can be automatically cleaned without removing the filter from the apparatus, and the number of cleaning steps can be greatly reduced. Further, since the filter is cleaned in the apparatus, the worker does not come into contact with the chemical during cleaning, and the working environment is improved. Furthermore, since the apparatus according to the present invention only needs to change the configuration of the raw material container 4 and install the ultrasonic cleaning apparatus 55 with respect to the conventional fluidized bed apparatus, the conventional apparatus does not involve a large design change or apparatus replacement. It can be easily applied to machines.

  After the ultrasonic cleaning device 55 is operated for a predetermined time to clean the cartridge filter 7, as shown in FIG. 4 (f), a cock (not shown) is opened and the cleaning liquid 56 is discharged. Thereby, one cleaning process is completed. However, if necessary, the steps of FIGS. 4C to 4F may be repeated a predetermined number of times, and the cleaning may be performed while always supplying and draining water. It is also possible to dry the cartridge filter 7 by cleaning the cartridge filter 7 and then flowing a drying gas from the air supply duct 54 into the apparatus.

It goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention.
For example, although the above-mentioned example showed the fluidized bed apparatus for performing a coating process to a granular material, the present invention can be applied to an apparatus for granulating a granular material or an apparatus for drying. Moreover, although the top plate 6 is moved up and down and the countersink plate 9 is rotated using a motor, various driving means such as an actuator using a pneumatic cylinder or the like can be used. The eye plate 9 may be manually rotated by an external handle or the like. Further, as the cartridge filter 7 used in the fluidized bed apparatus, various types such as a square plate shape and a square tube shape can be used in addition to the cylindrical shape as described above. As the material, polyester, polyamide non-woven fabric or stainless steel metal filter can also be used.

  In addition, as a means for moving the cartridge filter 7 in the vertical direction in the apparatus, in addition to the method of moving the cartridge filter 7 together with the top plate 6 as described above, a method of moving the cartridge filter 7 up and down alone can be adopted. In this case, various forms such as a structure in which the cartridge filter 7 is suspended by a wire so as to be movable up and down, a structure in which the cartridge filter 7 is attached to a support rod, and the support rod is moved up and down by an actuator such as an air cylinder are applied. Is possible.

  On the other hand, in the above fluidized bed apparatus, in order to enhance the cleaning effect, it is possible to perform the cleaning process by the ultrasonic cleaning apparatus 55 while moving the top plate 6 up and down. The inner wall of the fluid chamber 24 and the like may be cleaned by separately providing a cleaning nozzle and spraying a cleaning liquid therefrom.

It is explanatory drawing which shows the structure of the fluidized bed apparatus with which the filter washing | cleaning method which is one Example of this invention is applied . It is a perspective view which shows the structure which looked at the raw material container from the screen unit side (downward side). It is explanatory drawing which shows the structure of a screen unit. (A)-(f) is explanatory drawing which shows the washing | cleaning process of a fluidized bed apparatus. It is explanatory drawing which shows the structure of the conventional fluidized bed apparatus. It is explanatory drawing which shows the filter washing process in the fluidized bed apparatus of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Processing container 2 Filter casing 3 Spray casing 4 Raw material container 5 Air supply unit 6 Top plate 7 Cartridge filter 8 Spray nozzle 9 Top plate 10a, 10b Clamp 11 Canopy 12 Filter chamber 13 Exhaust duct 14 Supply pipe 15 Wires 16a, 16b Pulley 17 Filter material 18a, 18b End cap 19 Retainer 20 Filter fixing knob 21 Rubber packing 22 Pulse jet nozzle 23 Opening 24 Flow chamber 25 Spray arm 31 Container casing 32 Screen unit 33 Raw material storage chamber 34 Frame 35 Flange portion 36 Toggle clamp 37 Porous Plate 38 Support bracket 38a Bracket outer peripheral portion 38b Rib portion 39 Screen seal 41 Rotating shaft 42 Bushing 43 Sleeve 44 Thrust bearing 45 End cap 46 Bush 47 Sleeve 48 Collar 49 Spacer tube 51 Motor unit 52 Motor 53 Air supply chamber 54 Air supply duct 55 Ultrasonic cleaning device 56 Cleaning liquid 57 Opening
101 fluidized bed equipment
102 Processing container
103 Eye plate
104 spray nozzle
105 Top plate
106 Filter
107 Jet nozzle
108 Cleaning solution
109 Ultrasonic device

Claims (1)

A processing container formed in a cylindrical shape, a filter member installed in the processing container so as to be movable in the vertical direction, a scale plate installed in the processing container and capable of circulating a gas flow, and the scale plate A filter cleaning method in a fluidized bed apparatus comprising an air supply unit that is installed below and supplies gas into the processing container,
While installing a cleaning device in the air supply unit,
A first position where the eye plate is arranged in a substantially horizontal direction, and a second position where an opening is formed between the inner wall of the processing vessel and the outer periphery of the eye plate, with a predetermined angle with respect to the first position. To be displaceable between
Injecting the cleaning liquid into the processing container in a state where the eye plate is displaced to the second position,
The filter member is immersed in the cleaning liquid,
The filter cleaning method in a fluidized bed apparatus, wherein the filter member in the cleaning liquid is cleaned by the cleaning apparatus.

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