KR102351028B1 - a system to dry some compressed air - Google Patents

Abstract

first and second tanks to which the first and second branch lines are connected to the lower side to selectively receive compressed air to remove moisture in the air or to regenerate an adsorbent;
first and second upper branch lines respectively connected to the upper sides of the first and second tanks and supplying dry air to a place of use through an outlet line;
third and fourth valves connected to the first and second branch lines to allow or block the flow of air toward the first and second tanks while communicating;
a lower pilot line in which the third and fourth valves are installed and communicating with the first and second branch lines;
fifth and sixth valves communicating with the upper side of the first and second tanks to supply or block compressed dry air from the tanks to a place of use;
seventh and eighth valves connected to the first and second upper branch lines to allow or block the flow of air coming out of the upper portions of the first and second tanks while communicating;
an upper pilot line on which the seventh and eighth valves are installed and capable of discharging the regeneration and cooling air from the first and second tanks toward the exhauster;
and a heating and cooling part for supplying cooling air and warm air to the lower side of the first or second tank while communicating with the lower pilot line.

Description

Compressed air drying system {a system to dry some compressed air}

The present invention relates to a compressed air drying system for producing and supplying dry air to an industrial production line in which a semiconductor manufacturing process, a medical facility, a chemical process, etc. are executed, and more particularly, the air used for the regeneration of an adsorbent in the regeneration process It has the effect of increasing the amount of dry air used by lining up the supply line separately from the dry air supply line, and it is a compression system that minimizes facility costs by simplifying the overall structure of the system and uses minimal energy for regeneration. It relates to an air drying system.

The air used in the semiconductor manufacturing process and the secondary battery battery manufacturing process is dry air from which moisture has been removed. Since such dry air can improve electrical conductivity while preventing corrosion of products, its use is increasing in the ultra-precision field. There are devices that use dry air not only in industrial fields but also in medical facilities.

Accordingly, a compressed air drying system called an air dryer is installed in industrial sites that require dry air as described above.

This compressed air drying system includes two dehumidification tanks in which the adsorbent is accommodated, and air conduits for supplying or discharging air are arranged on one side of these two dehumidification tanks, and another of these two dehumidification tanks Another air conduit capable of supplying or discharging air is arranged on the side.

Valves for alternately supplying compressed air to the two dehumidification tanks are provided in the air conduits. In this adsorption type air dryer, when one of the two dehumidifying tanks produces dry air, the other dehumidifying tank undergoes an adsorbent regeneration process of drying the adsorbent.

In this conventional adsorption type air dryer, when compressed air is alternately supplied to the two dehumidification tanks, in particular, the air used to dry the adsorbent is dried in another dehumidification tank and supplied from a line supplied to the production line.

That is, in one dehumidification tank, the moisture in the compressed air is adsorbed to the adsorbent to generate dried compressed air, and in the other dehumidification tank, the adsorbent that has absorbed the moisture in the dried compressed air is dried and used again. At this time, the dried compressed air used to regenerate the adsorbent consists of a system that is discharged to the atmosphere.

Therefore, energy consumption occurs as much as the dried compressed air used for the regeneration of the adsorbent is discarded.

It can be seen that Republic of Korea Patent No. 10-0650187 "Air dryer control device and control method using the same" and all other air dryers are equipped with a regeneration air release valve to discharge dried compressed air that has regenerated adsorbents into the atmosphere. have.

In addition, Korean Patent Registration No. 10-0609840, "Regenerated air circulation compressed air drying apparatus using blower" discloses a technical matter of supplying air supplied to the regeneration tank to a separate atmosphere, but the drying apparatus of this patent is equipped with two coolers. The disadvantage is that a large amount of moist air is used to generate dry air because the air flowing in from the atmosphere is used to regenerate the adsorbent through heating and cooling actions while using There is this.

In addition, in the drying device of the above patent, when the drying action and the regeneration action are switched, the pressure inside the tank performing the drying action is very high compared to the pressure inside the tank performing the regeneration action, so the pressure from the drying tank side to the regeneration tank side is sharp. flow will occur.

Such fluctuations in pressure inside the tank will adversely affect the equipment when dry air is supplied to the point of use.

And since the drying device of the above patent constitutes a closed circuit as air flows through the two coolers during regeneration, the moisture content in the regeneration air is increased, which is a factor of lowering the regeneration efficiency.

Republic of Korea Patent Registration No. 10-0609840

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The present invention was invented to solve the problems of the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a compressed air drying system capable of improving energy efficiency while preventing unnecessary waste of the produced dry air.

The compressed air drying system is

an inlet line receiving compressed air from the compressor;

first and second branch lines that communicate with the inlet line and are divided in different directions;

first and second valves installed in the first and second branch lines to allow or block the flow of compressed air;

first and second tanks to which the first and second branch lines are connected to the lower side to selectively receive compressed air to remove moisture in the air or to regenerate an adsorbent;

first and second upper branch lines respectively connected to the upper sides of the first and second tanks and supplying dry air to a place of use through an outlet line;

third and fourth valves connected to the first and second branch lines to allow or block the flow of air toward the first and second tanks while communicating;

a lower pilot line on which the third and fourth valves are installed and communicating with the first and second branch lines;

fifth and sixth valves communicating with the upper side of the first and second tanks to supply or block compressed dry air from the tanks to a place of use;

seventh and eighth valves connected to the first and second upper branch lines to allow or block the flow of air from the upper portions of the first and second tanks while communicating;

an upper pilot line on which the seventh and eighth valves are installed and capable of discharging the regeneration and cooling air from the first and second tanks toward the exhauster;

and a heating and cooling part for supplying cooling air and warm air to the lower side of the first or second tank while communicating with the lower pilot line.

The heating and cooling part, a blower for sucking the atmosphere;

heating means for heating the air supplied from the blower;

an atmospheric hydraulic line connecting the blower and the heating means and having an 11th valve for allowing or blocking the flow of the atmosphere;

and a regeneration air supply line connecting the atmosphere heated from the heating means to the lower pilot line.

The air inlet line is provided with a cooling means for selectively introducing the air by the twelfth valve and cooling the supplied air.

The compressed air drying system according to an embodiment of the present invention removes moisture from compressed air, changes it to dry compressed air, and at the same time removes moisture present in the tank to regenerate the adsorbent in the process of alternately regenerating, particularly the regeneration action It is a system that introduces atmospheric air without using compressed dry air, and discharges it into the used air after use.

In addition, when changing the action of two tanks, the pressure inside one of the tanks is very low compared to the pressure inside the other tank. It is possible to equalize the internal pressure of two tanks. This action can prevent loss of parts due to sudden pressure fluctuations.

1 is a view for explaining a heating operation state as a compressed air drying system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a view for explaining a cooling operation state as a compressed air drying system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a view for explaining a pressurized operation state as a compressed air drying system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In describing the embodiment below, a component referred to as "... part" or "... means" means a collection of a plurality of components combined for a specific operation or function, and "... The meaning of "including." means that other components may be further included.

In addition, reference numerals are omitted for components that do not require explanation of operation or generally well-known technical components or means.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Although not shown in the adsorption-type compressed air drying system according to an embodiment of the present invention, the inlet line 2 that is connected to a compressed air generating means such as a compressor and receives compressed air supplies compressed air to the system.

The inlet line (2) is branched into two and divided into a first branch line (4) and a second branch line (6), and a first tank ( 8) and the second tank 10 are connected to be configured to receive compressed air from the lower side of the tank. In general, the first and second tanks 8 and 10 according to the present embodiment may be tanks containing an adsorbent for adsorbing moisture therein.

In the first and second tanks 8 and 10, when dry air is generated in one tank, regeneration is performed in the other tank.

The first and second branch lines 4 and 6 are further extended to upper portions of the first tank 8 and the second tank 10 to form first and second upper branch lines 5 and 7, respectively.

With this lineup, the first and second branch lines 4 and 6 are connected to the first and second upper branch lines 5 and 7 while passing through the first and second tanks 8 and 10, respectively. These branch lines are connected through an outlet line (12) to a place where dry compressed air is used.

A lower pilot line 14 is connected between the first branch line 4 and the second branch line 6 , and an upper pilot line 14 is connected between the first and second upper branch lines 5 and 7 . 16) is connected.

A first valve 18 is provided between the inlet line 2 and the first branch line 4 to block the flow of air, and the inlet line 2 and the second branch line 6 ) is provided between the second valve 20 is configured to block the flow of air.

In addition, the lower pilot line 14 is connected to the heating and cooling part 22 and the regeneration air supply line 24 .

A third valve 26 and a fourth valve 28 are provided on the lower pilot line 14 connected to the regeneration air supply line 24 to receive the regeneration air supplied through the regeneration air supply line 24 . It is configured to be selectively supplied to the first tank 8 or the second tank 10 . The third valve 26 is installed toward the first branch line 4 , and the fourth valve 28 is installed toward the second branch line 6 .

A fifth valve 30 and a sixth valve 32 are respectively installed in the first and second upper branch lines 5 and 7 to control the air flowing into the outlet line 12 .

In addition, an ejector 34 is installed in the upper pilot line 16 , and a seventh valve 36 and an eighth valve 38 are installed before and after the ejector 34 , respectively.

In addition, ninth and tenth valves 40 and 41 for sending or blocking air coming from the first tank 8 to the second tank 10 are installed in the upper pilot line 16 .

On the other hand, the heating and cooling part 22 is configured so that the air introduced through the blower can be heated by connecting the blower 42 and a heating means 44 such as an electric heater to the air inlet line 46 .

An 11th valve 48 is installed in the atmospheric inlet line 46 so that the atmosphere is not directly supplied to the heating means 44 , and a cooling line 50 bypassing the front and rear of the 11th valve 48 is installed are doing

A cooling means 52 is installed in the cooling line 50 to lower the temperature of the air introduced through the blower 42 , and the air flow to the cooling means 52 is provided in the cooling line 5 . A twelfth valve 54 that can block the

Reference numeral 56 in the drawings denotes a filter for filtering particles, etc. included in the incoming air, and reference numeral 58 denotes a separator having a normal structure for separating moisture contained in the air coming out from the cooling means 52 .

Since all the valves described above are controlled on/off by a controller or a microcomputer (not shown), they will be simply expressed as a closed state or an open state in the following description.

In the compressed air drying system made in this way, compressed air from a compressor (not shown) may be introduced into the system along the inlet line (2).

For convenience of description, it will be described that the dry air generating action is performed in the first tank 8 and the adsorbent regeneration action is performed in the second tank 10 . Of course, the above two actions of these tanks will take place alternately.

Compressed air introduced along this inlet line 2, when the first valve 18 and the fifth valve 30 are opened, and the second valve 20 and the sixth valve 32 are closed, the second 1 As it flows into the inside of the tank 8, moisture is adsorbed to the adsorbent provided in the tank and changes to dry air. Ride the outlet line 12 along the first upper branch line 5 connected to the upper part of the tank. Dry air will flow to the point of use.

And in a state in which the first valve 18 and the fifth valve 30 are closed and the second valve 20 and the sixth valve 32 are opened, the compressed air flowing into the inlet line 2 is supplied to the second tank It is dried while passing through (10) and flows along the outlet line (12) through the second upper branch line (7) and will be supplied to a place where the dry air is used.

As such, the first tank 8 and the second tank 10 alternately remove moisture contained in the compressed air.

For example, while the adsorption action in the first tank 8 is in progress, in the second tank 10, a regeneration action of removing moisture from the adsorbent that can no longer adsorb moisture by adsorbing it will proceed.

The conventional regeneration action of the adsorbent takes the method of drying the adsorbent by introducing the dry air produced through the drying action into the tank, but the regeneration action according to the present invention will proceed as follows.

The air is introduced into the air inlet line 46 while the blower 42 of the heating and cooling part 22 is operated.

That is, as shown in FIG. 1 by a microcomputer (not shown), the eleventh valve 48 is opened and the twelfth valve 54 is closed, and at the same time, the heating means 44 is turned on while the atmospheric inlet line 46 is turned on. The air flowing into the furnace reaches a temperature of about 180 degrees Celsius, which is the temperature required for the regeneration of the adsorbent.

The warmed air flowing along the regeneration air supply line 24 flows into the lower portion of the second tank 10 through the fourth valve 28, and a second upper branch line 7 connected to the upper side of the tank. is discharged through the ejector 34 through the eighth valve 38 in this process.

As a result of this process, the moisture contained in the adsorbent provided in the second tank 10 is discharged to the atmosphere like the heated air, and the adsorbent regeneration will proceed.

And when the regeneration action of the adsorbent is completed, a cooling action for cooling the temperature in the second tank 10 and the temperature of the adsorbent will proceed as shown in FIG. 2 .

In the cooling action according to this embodiment, the heating means 44 is turned off by the microcomputer, the eleventh valve 48 is closed, and the twelfth valve 54 is opened.

As a result of this control action, the atmosphere flowing through the atmospheric inlet line 46 is cooled while flowing into the cooling means 52 and the moisture is removed through the separator 58 through the fourth valve 28 to the second tank. As it flows into the lower side of (10), it flows along the second upper branch line (7) connected to the upper part of the tank and is discharged to the atmosphere through the discharger (34).

In this process, the cooled air flows through the second tank 10 and the cooling action proceeds. In this process, the internal temperature of the second tank 10 will drop to about 40 degrees Celsius.

After the cooling action is completed, the action of the first tank 8 and the action of the second tank 10 are changed. The air flowing into the first tank 8 is compressed high-pressure compressed air, 2 Since the air flowing into the tank 10 is simply air under a pressure of about atmospheric pressure introduced by the blower 42, there is a significant pressure difference between the first tank 8 side and the second tank 10 side. state of existence

That is, it is necessary to equalize the pressure on the side of the first tank 8 and the pressure on the side of the second tank 10 .

Therefore, a pressurization operation to increase the pressure on the side of the second tank 10, which has a low pressure, is performed.

In the pressurization operation according to the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3 , the heating and cooling part 22 maintains the cooling operation state as shown in FIG. 2 under the control of a microcomputer (not shown).

And in this state, the open second valve 28 and the eighth valve 38 are in a closed state. When the opening/closing control of these valves is performed, the first upper branch connected to the upper part of the first tank 8 . The compressed dry air flowing through the line 5 flows along the upper pilot line 16 and flows into the upper side of the second tank 10 .

With this flow of compressed air, the pressure rises inside the second tank 10 and flows out to the lower pilot line 14 connected to the lower side of the tank, but the second valve 20, third and Since the fourth valves 26 and 28 are closed, the air pressure on the side of the second tank 10 will be substantially equal to the air pressure on the side of the first tank 8 .

As such, when the difference in air pressure inside the first tank 8 and the second tank 10 is made equal, the first valve 18 is closed by the action of the microcomputer and the second valve 20 is opened. As the compressed air flows into the second tank 10 as described above while controlling the state, the first tank 8 will have a regeneration action and the second tank 10 will be dried. That is, the action of the two tanks will be changed.

2; inlet line
4; 1st branch line
6; 2nd branch line
8; 1st tank
10; second tank
12; outflow line
14; lower pilot line
16; upper pilot line
22; heating and cooling parts
24; Regenerative air supply line
42; blower
44; heating means
46; waiting line
50; cooling line
52; cooling means

Claims (3)

an inlet line receiving compressed air from the compressor;
first and second branch lines that communicate with the inlet line and are divided in different directions;
first and second valves installed in the first and second branch lines to allow or block the flow of compressed air;
first and second tanks to which the first and second branch lines are connected to the lower side to selectively receive compressed air to remove moisture in the air or to regenerate an adsorbent;
first and second upper branch lines respectively connected to the upper sides of the first and second tanks and supplying dry air to a place of use through an outlet line;
third and fourth valves connected to the first and second branch lines to allow or block the flow of air toward the first and second tanks while communicating;
a lower pilot line in which the third and fourth valves are installed and communicating with the first and second branch lines;
fifth and sixth valves communicating with the upper side of the first and second tanks to supply or block compressed dry air from the tanks to a place of use;
seventh and eighth valves connected to the first and second upper branch lines to allow or block the flow of air coming out of the upper portions of the first and second tanks while communicating;
an upper pilot line on which the seventh and eighth valves are installed and capable of discharging the regeneration and cooling air from the first and second tanks toward the exhauster;
and a heating and cooling part for supplying cooling air and warm air to the lower side of the first or second tank while communicating with the lower pilot line:
The heating and cooling part, a blower for sucking the air;
heating means for heating the air supplied from the blower;
an atmospheric inlet line connecting the blower and the heating means and having an eleventh valve for allowing or blocking the flow of the atmosphere;
and a regeneration air supply line connecting the atmosphere heated from the heating means to the lower pilot line.
A compressed air drying system in which a cooling means for cooling the supplied air is selectively introduced into the atmosphere by a twelfth valve in the atmospheric inlet line.
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