Sectional cooler

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The sectional cooler is a rotary tube cooler for continuous processes in process engineering .

construction

Sectional coolers essentially consist of a rotating rotor that is usually driven by a chain. At the ends of the rotor there are rigid housings for the product feed and discharge. Depending on the size of the cooler, the rotor is either mounted on the ends of its own axis (axle cooler) or has a barrel bearing typical of a rotary tube. The inside of the rotor consists of several section-shaped chambers that are arranged in the shape of pieces of cake around a central hollow shaft. This arrangement is completely surrounded by the outer jacket. There are conveyor elements in the section-shaped chambers. Depending on the requirements, these can be shovels, chains or the like.

Depending on the requirements, sectional coolers are built with diameters between 0.8 and 4 m and lengths between 3 and 30 m.

functionality

Sectional coolers work with indirect water cooling . The cooling water passes between the individual sections through an inner central hollow shaft, flows around them and exits again through an outer central hollow shaft. The product to be cooled usually falls directly into the product inlet housing and is transported to the other end of the cooler by the rotary movement and the conveyor elements. The rotation ensures permanent mixing of the product in the sections and thus good heat transfer.

Applications

Sectional coolers can be used to cool almost all free-flowing bulk goods. They are often found behind rotary kilns during calcination processes or the like. Their main goal is usually to cool the products down to such an extent that they can be handled with other equipment (conveyor systems, mills, etc.). Often, however, the cooling itself is also an important part of the manufacturing process. B. petroleum coke , zinc blende roasted , soda , pigments and many more. The inlet temperatures of the products can be up to 1400 ° C.

Process engineering peculiarities

In contrast to directly air-cooled devices, there are no problems with the cooling of powders in the sectional cooler due to product discharge in the air flow. Thanks to the robust construction, even larger particles do not cause any problems. By using appropriate seals, it is possible to create an inert space in the sections , so that reactive products can also be treated.

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