JPH11294366A - Cryogenic pump with freeze prevention mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] To provide a cryogenic pump capable of preventing freezing of a foot valve mechanism and reliably performing opening / closing operation even when water is sprayed in sealing work on a wall surface of a storage room. SOLUTION: A pump main body 6 disposed in a liquid lifting column 5 in a state capable of being pulled up, a foot valve mechanism 4 which opens and closes by raising and lowering the pump main body, and a freezing prevention mechanism 9 for preventing freezing of the foot valve mechanism. The freezing prevention mechanism includes a valve body supporting mechanism 23 that supports the foot valve body 7 in an openable and closable state.
And an antifreeze fluid having a freezing temperature lower than the storage temperature of the handling liquid and injected into the support structure storage chamber.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a liquid stored at an extremely low temperature, such as LPG and LNG (hereinafter referred to as "handling liquid").
Cryogenic pump for pumping water.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When storing a large amount of liquefied gas such as LPG and LNG, a large tank is conventionally provided on the ground,
Or, most of them were pit-type storages, but in recent years, underground rock storage methods have been developed in which safety is extremely high against natural disasters and man-made disasters, and a large-capacity storage is expected to provide economies of scale. In this underground rock storage method, a large storage room (storage tank) is formed by cutting through hard rock several dozen meters below the ground, and water is attached to the inner wall of this storage room by spraying water and freezing this water. , The wall is sealed with an ice film, and the liquefied gas is stored in a state where the liquefied gas is prevented from seeping into the rock.

In order to pump out the liquefied gas stored in the underground storage chamber, a submerged pump for liquefied gas installed in a column or a pump called a cryogenic pump is used. This pump is fixed by suspending a pipe as a liquid pumping column from the ceiling of the storage room, and the pump body is disposed at a lower end portion in the liquid pumping column so that the pump body can be pulled up. When the pump body is lowered to a predetermined position, the foot valve body opens, and when the pump body is pulled up from the predetermined position, a foot valve mechanism that closes the foot valve body by the urging force of the spring is provided. It is configured so that work can be performed on the ground.

In such a foot valve mechanism of a pump, a short cylindrical adapter having a flange is fixed to an opening at the lower end of a liquid pumping column, and a support rod is inserted into a plurality of holes formed in the flange. The lower end of the support rod is attached to the outer peripheral edge of the foot valve body, and the foot valve body is urged upward by the urging force of the coil spring fitted to the support rod, and the lower end opening of the cylindrical member is footed by the urging force. The valve body closes,
When the pump body is lowered to a predetermined position, the foot valve body is lowered and opened by the weight of the pump body.

[0005]

When the wall surface of the storage room is sealed with an ice film, water is attached to the wall surface by spraying the water, so that the sprayed water is supported by the supporting rod or coil of the foot valve mechanism. Also adheres directly to valve body support mechanisms such as springs. Further, the water attached to the liquid pumping column flows down and accumulates around the valve body support mechanism. For this reason, when the water on the wall surface is frozen, the water attached to the valve body support mechanism and its surroundings is also frozen, and this ice hinders the opening / closing operation of the foot valve body. Since the above-mentioned sealing work of the wall surface is performed before the pump body is pulled down into the liquid pumping column, the work is performed with the foot valve body closed. If the water adhering to the valve body support mechanism freezes in this state, the foot valve body cannot be opened and closed sufficiently even if the pump body is pulled down, so that a trouble occurs in which the foot valve cannot be sufficiently opened. Even if the handling liquid is injected into the storage chamber, the handling liquid is extremely low in temperature, so that the ice adhered to the foot valve mechanism does not melt, and the foot valve body that does not open sufficiently remains.

Even if the foot valve is luckily opened, if the pump body is pulled up for maintenance, if the ice adheres to the valve body support mechanism, the closing operation of the foot valve body is not performed normally. Therefore, there occurs a trouble that the liquid handled in the pumping column flows back into the storage chamber and the foot valve mechanism does not function as a valve.

The present invention has been proposed in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to prevent the foot valve mechanism from freezing even if water is sprayed during sealing work on the wall surface of the storage room, thereby ensuring the opening and closing operation. It is intended to provide a cryogenic pump to be performed.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been proposed in order to achieve the above-mentioned object. According to the first aspect of the present invention, it is possible to raise a lower end portion of a pumping column to a predetermined position. A foot valve mechanism, a foot valve body that opens when the pump body is lowered to a predetermined position, and a foot valve body that is closed by the urging force of the urging means when the pump body is pulled up from the predetermined position; and a foot valve. An anti-freezing mechanism for preventing freezing of the mechanism; the anti-freezing mechanism includes an anti-freezing chamber for accommodating a valve element supporting mechanism for supporting the foot valve body in an openable and closable manner; An antifreeze pump with an antifreeze mechanism, characterized by comprising an antifreeze fluid that is lower in temperature and injected into the support structure storage chamber.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the configuration of the first aspect, a fluid supply flow path is connected to an inlet of the antifreezing chamber,
A cryogenic pump with an antifreeze mechanism, characterized in that an antifreeze fluid is supplied from the fluid supply channel into the antifreeze chamber and excess antifreeze fluid is discharged from an outlet of the antifreeze chamber. .

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in addition to the configuration of the first aspect, a fluid supply flow path is connected to an inlet of the antifreezing chamber,
A cryogenic pump with an antifreeze mechanism, characterized in that an antifreeze fluid is supplied into the antifreeze chamber from this fluid supply flow path, sealed and held.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which a cryogenic pump 1 according to the present invention is installed in an underground storage room 3 formed by hollowing out a bedrock 2, FIG. 2 is a partially cutaway sectional view of the cryogenic pump 1, FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the foot valve mechanism 4.
A range indicated by a dotted line in FIG. 1 indicates a freezing zone.

The cryogenic pump 1 is provided at a lower end portion of a pumping column 5 made of a pipe material at a predetermined position at a lower end thereof, and is provided at a lower end of the pumping column 5 so as to be liftable. When the pump body 6 is lowered to a predetermined position, the foot valve body 7 opens, and when the pump body 6 is pulled up from the predetermined position by the lifting device 8, the foot valve body 7 is closed by the urging force of the urging means. Foot valve mechanism 4
And a freezing prevention mechanism 9 for preventing freezing of the water.

As shown in FIG. 2, the pump body 6 has an impeller 12 fixed to a shaft 11 provided at an upper portion in a casing 10 and also serving as an output shaft of a motor. The liquid is sucked from the manifold 13 and discharged from the discharge port 14 opened on the outer peripheral surface of the casing 10 to raise the liquid level of the liquid in the pumping column 5. The liquid is attached to the upper end of the pump body 6. Is suspended by the wires 16 of the lifting device 8 connected to the eyebolts 15 and moved up and down. When the pump body 6 is pulled down to a predetermined position in the lower end portion of the pumping column 5 by operating the lifting device 8 on the ground, the tapered surface of the large diameter portion at the lower end of the casing 10 becomes an adapter at the lower end of the pumping column 5. The seat 20 is seated on the inner peripheral taper surface, and the lower end of the suction manifold 13 is in contact with the foot valve body 7 of the foot valve mechanism 4, and the foot valve body 7 is pushed down by its own weight and opened.

The foot valve mechanism 4 is provided at the lower end opening of the adapter 20 which is flange-connected to the lower end opening of the pumping column 5, and has a substantially disc-shaped foot larger than the lower end opening of the cylindrical portion 21 of the adapter 20. A valve body support mechanism 2 provided on a valve body 7 and a flange portion 22 formed on an opening edge of a lower end of a cylindrical portion 21 to support the foot valve body 7 in a vertically movable state.
3

The valve body support mechanism 23 includes a support rod 25 inserted through a plurality of through holes 24 formed in the flange portion 22, and a coil spring 2 fitted as a biasing means in each support rod 25.
6, a substantially disk-shaped spring retainer 2 fixed to the upper end of the support rod 25 and abutting against the upper end of the coil spring 26
The lower end of the support rod 25 is fixed to the outer peripheral portion of the foot valve body 7, and the foot valve body 7 is urged upward through the support rod 25 by the urging force of the coil spring 26. Therefore, when the pump body 6 is lifted, the state in which the lower end opening of the cylindrical portion 21 is closed by the foot valve body 7 is maintained (FIG. 3). Then, as shown in FIG. 2, when the pump body 6 is pulled down to a predetermined position, the lower end of the casing 10 abuts against the head of the upright plate 30 of the foot valve body 7 and is pushed down by its own weight. It descends to open the lower end opening of the cylindrical portion 21, that is, opens. When the pump body 6 is pulled up in this state, as shown in FIG.
Since the foot valve body 7 is raised by the urging force of the coil spring 26 as the pump body 6 is raised, when the lower end of the casing 10 is pulled up to a height away from the head, the foot valve body 7 opens the lower end of the cylindrical portion 21. Close.

Next, a freezing prevention mechanism 9 for preventing the foot valve mechanism 4 from freezing will be described. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the anti-freezing mechanism 9 is configured such that a short tubular wall member 32 is attached to the outside of the tubular portion 21 of the adapter 20 so that the lower surface of the upper flange 33 of the adapter 20 and the tubular portion are formed. 2
1 and an upper surface of the lower flange portion 22 to form an antifreezing chamber 34, in which the valve body support mechanism 23 is housed. The outlet 36 is opened at the top, and the inlet 3
5 is connected to a fluid supply pipe 37 passing from the ground along the pumping column 5, and a configuration is adopted in which an antifreeze fluid is supplied into the antifreezing chamber 34 via the fluid supply pipe 37. The connection between the wall member 32 and the adapter 20 and the through hole 24 through which the support rod 25 passes are sealed by providing a sealing material.

The antifreeze fluid may be any liquid or gas as long as the freezing temperature is lower than the temperature during storage of the handling liquid stored in the storage chamber 3. For example, when the handling liquid is LPG, it is stored at -35 to 40 ° C. Therefore, even if an antifreezing liquid containing methyl alcohol as a main component is used as an antifreezing fluid, or nitrogen gas is used under pressure, Good.

As described above, when the valve body support mechanism 23 is accommodated in the antifreezing chamber 34 and an antifreeze fluid is introduced into the antifreezing chamber 34, the water spray nozzle is used when sealing the wall of the storage chamber 3 with ice. Even if water is sprayed from 40, the valve body support mechanism 2
3 can be prevented from adhering moisture, and freezing can be prevented by immersing the valve body support mechanism 23 such as the support rod 25 and the coil spring 26 in an antifreeze fluid. Therefore, the valve body support mechanism 23 can always operate smoothly, and the foot valve mechanism 4 smoothly lowers the foot valve body 7 when the pump body 6 is lowered to a predetermined position, so that the foot valve body 4 is reliably converted to the open state. I do. Further, when the pump body 6 is pulled up for maintenance or the like, the foot valve body 7 rises smoothly and is reliably converted to the closed state.
Therefore, it is possible to reliably prevent the liquid handled in the pumping column 5 from flowing back into the storage chamber 3 and lowering the liquid level in the pumping column 5.

In the present embodiment, the antifreeze fluid is supplied from the fluid supply pipe 37 into the antifreeze chamber 34, and the excess antifreeze fluid is discharged from the outlet 36 of the antifreeze chamber 34. The inside can always be filled with the antifreeze fluid, and the antifreeze fluid in the antifreeze chamber 34 can flow. Therefore, a situation in which the antifreeze fluid in the antifreeze chamber 34 runs short or solidifies can be reliably prevented, and a highly reliable antifreeze function can be expected. The antifreeze fluid discharged from the outlet 36 is supplied to the outlet 3
The liquid may be collected on the ground via a fluid recovery pipe (not shown) connected to 6, or may be discharged directly into the handled liquid.
This is because the storage room 3 is usually provided with a drainage device (not shown) for exuding groundwater, and this drainage device can assemble and dispose excess antifreeze fluid together with groundwater.

In the above-described embodiment, the antifreeze chamber 34 is connected to the fluid supply pipe 37 so that the antifreeze fluid can be supplied at any time. However, the present invention is not limited to this. The seal of the antifreeze chamber 34 may be secured, and the antifreeze fluid filled in the antifreeze chamber 34 may be sealed. With such a configuration, mechanisms such as the fluid supply pipe 37 and the fluid supply pump can be omitted, and the configuration can be simplified.

Further, a fluid supply pipe 37 may be connected to the inlet 35 of the anti-freezing chamber 34, and the fluid may be supplied from the fluid supply pipe 37 into the anti-freezing chamber 34 to be sealed and held. As described above, if the antifreeze fluid is supplied from the fluid supply pipe 37 into the antifreeze chamber 34 and held therein, the antifreeze fluid in the antifreeze chamber 34 becomes fluid when the valve body support mechanism 23 moves. Supply pipe 37
Since the valve body support mechanism 23 can escape to the side, the valve body support mechanism 23 can move more easily than in the case of sealing.

Further, the valve body support mechanism 23 housed in the freeze prevention chamber 34 is not limited to the structure including the support rod 25 and the coil spring 26 shown in the above-described embodiment. Any configuration may be used as long as it is a mechanism that supports the device in a possible state. For example, the urging means may use a weight instead of the coil spring 26. In addition, the foot valve body 7 is not limited to be moved up and down straight, but may be configured to be opened and closed by rotating about a shaft.

[0023]

According to the present invention as described above, the following effects can be obtained. According to the first aspect of the present invention, the valve body support mechanism that supports the foot valve body in an openable and closable state is housed in the antifreeze chamber, and the antifreeze fluid is injected into the antifreeze chamber. Even if water is sprayed when sealing with ice, it is possible to prevent the water from adhering to the valve body support mechanism. Since the valve body support mechanism is immersed in the antifreeze fluid, it is possible to reliably prevent the valve body support mechanism from freezing. For this reason, when the pump body is lowered, it is possible to prevent troubles such as the foot valve not being opened due to freezing and the degree of opening being insufficient. Further, when the pump body is pulled up, the foot valve is securely closed, so that the handling liquid in the liquid pumping column can be reliably prevented from flowing back to the storage chamber, and the function of the foot valve can be reliably exhibited.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, a fluid supply flow path is connected to the inlet of the antifreeze chamber, and the antifreeze fluid is supplied from the fluid supply flow path into the antifreeze chamber, and from the outlet of the antifreeze chamber. Since the excess antifreeze fluid is discharged, shortage of antifreeze fluid in the antifreeze chamber can be reliably prevented. Therefore, the reliability of freezing prevention can be improved.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the fluid supply flow path is connected to the inlet of the antifreeze chamber, and the antifreeze fluid is supplied into the antifreeze chamber from this fluid supply flow path and is sealed and held. The valve body support mechanism is easier to move than when the frozen fluid is sealed in the freeze prevention chamber.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a storage room showing a state where a cryogenic pump is installed.

FIG. 2 is a partially cutaway sectional view of the pump body and the foot valve mechanism in an open state.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the freeze prevention mechanism and the foot valve mechanism in a closed state.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Cryogenic pump 2 Bedrock 3 Storage room 4 Foot valve mechanism 5 Pumping column 6 Pump body 7 Foot valve body 8 Lifting device 9 Freezing prevention mechanism 10 Casing 11 Shaft 12 Impeller 13 Suction manifold 14 Discharge port 15 Eyebolt 16 Wire 20 Adapter 21 Cylindrical part 22 Flange part 23 Valve support mechanism 24 Through hole 25 Support rod 26 Coil spring 27 Spring retainer 30 Upright plate 32 Wall member 33 Upper flange 34 Freezing prevention chamber 35 Inlet 36 Outlet 37 Fluid supply pipe 40 Sprinkling nozzle

Claims (3)

[Claims] At a predetermined position of a lower end portion in a liquid pumping column,
A pump body disposed in a state capable of being pulled up, and a foot valve mechanism that opens when the pump body is lowered to a predetermined position and closes the foot valve body by the urging force of the urging means when the pump body is pulled up from the predetermined position. And a freezing prevention mechanism for preventing the foot valve mechanism from freezing. The freezing prevention mechanism includes a freezing prevention chamber for storing a valve body supporting mechanism for supporting the foot valve body in an openable and closable state, and a freezing temperature. A cryogenic pump with an antifreeze mechanism, characterized by comprising an antifreeze fluid that is lower than the storage temperature of the handled liquid and injected into the support structure storage chamber. 2. An antifreeze fluid is connected to an inlet of the antifreeze chamber, an antifreeze fluid is supplied to the antifreeze chamber from the fluid supply flowpath, and an excess antifreeze fluid is discharged from an outlet of the antifreeze chamber. The cryogenic pump with a freezing prevention mechanism according to claim 1, wherein: 3. The antifreeze chamber according to claim 1, wherein a fluid supply channel is connected to an inlet of the antifreeze chamber, and an antifreeze fluid is supplied from the fluid supply channel into the antifreeze chamber, sealed and held. Cryogenic pump with anti-freezing mechanism.