Upper tower pressure
Thread Content
We have liquid accumulation in the main cooler. In order to speed up this accumulation process, could I set the pressure at the upper tower to 60 kPa, instead of the usual 50 kPa during normal operation? Are there any other ways to accelerate fluid accumulation besides increasing the pressure in the upper tower? What should be considered when making adjustments in cases of fluid accumulation?
The setting of the pressure at the top tower is related to the load of your device! You can’t just set it to any value you want! As for the other operations, it depends on the conditions under which you are driving – cold conditions are different from hot conditions!
To speed up the liquid accumulation time, in addition to increasing the pressure in the upper tower, it is also possible to increase the degree of expansion by fully opening the throttle valve leading to the upper tower. If it is feasible to transfer liquid oxygen from the liquid oxygen storage tank into the main tower, this can further accelerate the liquid accumulation process
Reduce the pressure after the expander as much as possible to increase the cooling capacity per unit of the expander. Purification can also be started earlier; when 60% of the main tower is filled with liquid, it indicates that the distillation process involving gas-liquid heat and mass exchange is already in progress, so it is possible to enter the purification stage sooner
Adjusting the air separation valves is also crucial; it is best not to operate the valves lightly until the liquid volume meets the required level, especially by opening and closing them repeatedly.
These days, there is usually a pipeline for liquid oxygen backfilling into the main cooler, which is used to accelerate the accumulation of liquid. For our set of old Linde equipment from 1996, we added such a liquid oxygen backfilling pipe during modifications, but the effect was not significant; the key still lies in increasing the degree of expansion.
Increasing the pressure in the tower appropriately can accelerate the rate of liquid accumulation in the system.
7# lzsunmg: Increase the pressure difference between the inlet and outlet of the expansion machine to boost the cooling capacity; if possible, use liquid to be injected into the high-pressure tower