ELECTRIC HEATING REACTOR

[0001] This application claims priority to and the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2023-0190927 filed with the Korean Intellectual Property Office on Dec. 26, 2023, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

[0002] The present disclosure relates to an electric heating reactor, and more particularly, to an electric heating reactor that may be operated for a long time by disposing a reaction tube to offset an electromagnetic force continuously applied to the reaction tube during the operation.

[0003] In a chemical industry, various facilities (e.g., crackers, reformers, reactors, and boilers) are maintained at a high temperature by using a natural gas as a fuel. However, heating by natural gas combustion is not only inefficient in terms of energy consumption but also a major cause of carbon emissions. Therefore, efforts are being made to replace the heating method by the natural gas combustion with an electric heating method.

[0004] As a part of this effort, a technology has been proposed to dispose a plurality of reaction tubes in a row and apply a current in the same direction to the reaction tubes. According to this technology, an attractive force may be generated between reaction tubes adjacent to each other. When the same magnitude of current is applied to the reaction tubes of the same specification, a resultant force applied to the reaction tube disposed in the middle of the plurality of reaction tubes may be zero, and the reaction tubes disposed at both ends of the plurality of reaction tubes may continuously receive the force. For example, according to a conventional naphtha cracking device in which two reaction tubes are disposed to be parallel to each other, a length of the reaction tubes may be about 10 m, a distance between the reaction tubes may be about 0.1 m, a current of 3500 A may be applied thereto, thereby continuously applying a force of about 245 newton (N) to the reaction tubes, which may cause a stress of about 4836 pounds per square inch (psi).

[0005] The above information disclosed in this Background section is provided only to assist in a better understanding of the background of the present disclosure, and may therefore include information that is not a part of the prior art already known to those skilled in the art to which the present disclosure pertains.

[0006] The present disclosure attempts to provide an electric heating reactor that may be operated for a long time by optimizing an arrangement of reaction tubes.

[0007] According to an embodiment, provided is an electric heating reactor including: a plurality of reaction tubes, each including a passage formed therein in a length direction, through which a reactant passes; and a power source configured to supply a current to the plurality of reaction tubes to heat the reactant passing through the passage, wherein the plurality of reaction tubes is disposed to offset a resultant force of an electromagnetic force by the current supplied to the plurality of reaction tubes to a set value or less.

[0008] The set value may be 10% or less of the electromagnetic force applied by a first reaction tube to a second reaction tube adjacent to the first reaction tube.

[0009] The plurality of reaction tubes may be disposed to offset the resultant force of the electromagnetic force by the current applied to the plurality of reaction tubes.

[0010] The plurality of reaction tubes may be disposed as at least one module in which the resultant force of the electromagnetic force applied to each of the reaction tubes is offset to the set value or less.

[0011] The set value may be 10% or less of the electromagnetic force applied by a first reaction tube disposed inside each module to a second reaction tube adjacent to the first reaction tube.

[0012] The plurality of reaction tubes may be disposed as at least one module to offset the resultant force of the electromagnetic force applied to each of the reaction tubes.

[0013] The reactor may further include a shielding housing surrounding the reaction tubes included in each module and be configured to block an external electromagnetic force.

[0014] Four reaction tubes having the same resistance, the same diameter, and the same length may be included in one module, three of the reaction tubes may be disposed in an equilateral triangular shape, the remaining one reaction tube may be disposed at a center of the equilateral triangle, the three reaction tubes disposed in the equilateral triangular shape may have the same magnitude of current flowing in a first direction, and the one reaction tube disposed at the center may have the same magnitude of the current flowing in a second direction opposite to the first direction.

[0015] The reactor may further include a shielding housing surrounding the four reaction tubes included in one module and configured to block an external electromagnetic force.

[0016] The shielding housing may be formed in an equilateral triangular shape surrounding the four reaction tubes.

[0017] The reactor may include a plurality of modules each including the shielding housing.

[0018] The reactor may further include a cooler configured to cool at least one of a pair of conductive sockets.

[0019] An amount of heat generated by the reaction tube and an amount of heat generated by the heating element may be controlled by adjusting resistances of the reaction tube and the heating element.

[0020] According to the present disclosure, the reaction tubes may be disposed to offset the resultant force applied to each reaction tube by using the current flowing through the reaction tubes, thereby enabling the long-term operation of the reactor without malfunction.

[0021] In addition, the electromagnetic force applied to the reaction tubes may be reduced, thereby extending the reaction tube replacement cycle and lowering the maintenance costs.

[0022] In addition, any advantage which may be acquired or inferred from an embodiment of the present disclosure is directly or implicitly disclosed in the detailed description of an embodiment of the present disclosure. That is, various advantages inferred from an embodiment of the present disclosure are disclosed in the detailed description described below.

[0028] It should be understood that the drawings referenced above are not necessarily drawn to scale, and present a rather simplified representation of various preferred features illustrating the basic principles of the present device. For example, specific design features of the present device, including a specific dimension, orientation, position and shape, are determined in part by the particular intended application and environment of use.

[0029] A term used herein is only to describe a specific embodiment, and is not intended to limit the present device. A term of a single number used herein is intended to include its plural number unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It should also be understood that the terms “include” and/or “including”, when used in the specification, specify the presence of the recited features, integers, steps, operations, elements and/or components, and do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more of other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, elements, components and/or groups thereof. The term “and/or” used herein includes any one or all combinations of the associated listed items.

[0030] Further, it should be understood that one or more of methods described below or aspects thereof may be executed by at least one controller. A term “controller” may refer to a hardware device including a memory and a processor. The memory may store program instructions, and the processor may be specifically programmed to execute the program instructions to perform one or more processes described below in more detail. The controller may control operations of units, modules, components, devices, or the like, as described herein. It should also be understood that the methods described below may be executed by an apparatus including the controller in conjunction with one or more other components, as appreciated by those skilled in the art.

[0031] In addition, the controller of the present disclosure may be implemented as a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium including executable program instructions executed by the processor. An example of the computer-readable recording medium may include a read only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a compact disk read only memory (CD-ROM), a magnetic tape, a floppy disk, a flash drive, a smart card, or an optical data storage device, and is not limited thereto. The computer-readable recording medium may also be distributed throughout a computer network, and the program instructions may thus be stored and executed in a distributed manner, for example, on a telematics server or a controller area network (CAN).

[0032] According to the present disclosure, an electric heating reactor includes: a plurality of reaction tubes, each having a passage formed therein in a length direction, through which a reactant passes; and a power source for supplying a current to the plurality of reaction tubes to heat the reactant passing through the passage. The plurality of reaction tubes may be disposed to offset a resultant force of an electromagnetic force to a value less than or equal to a set value by the current applied thereto. The set value may be 10% or less of the electromagnetic force applied by a first reaction tube to a second reaction tube adjacent to the first reaction tube, and is not limited thereto. The plurality of reaction tubes may be disposed to offset the resultant force of the electromagnetic force by using the current applied thereto. The resultant force applied to each reaction tube may be offset and a stress applied to the reaction tubes during an operation of the reactor may thus be offset to zero, thereby enabling a long-term operation without malfunction. In addition, the stress applied to the reaction tube may be reduced, thereby extending a reaction tube replacement cycle and lowering maintenance costs.

[0033] In an example, four reaction tubes may be disposed inside one module, three of the reaction tubes may be disposed in an equilateral triangular shape, one of the reaction tubes may be disposed at the center of the equilateral triangle, the three reaction tubes disposed at vertices of the equilateral triangle may have a current flowing in a first direction, and one of the reaction tubes that is disposed at the center may have a current flowing in a second direction opposite to the first direction. Accordingly, the resultant force applied to each of the four reaction tubes may be offset to zero.

[0034] In addition, the electric heating reactor may further include a shielding housing surrounding the reaction tubes inside one module and shielding the reaction tubes from an external electromagnetic force. Accordingly, there is no need to consider the electromagnetic force between the modules when arranging the reaction tubes inside the plurality of modules.

[0035] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present disclosure is described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0036] FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing an electric heating reactor according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing an arrangement of reaction tubes in the electric heating reactor according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; and FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing a resultant force applied to one reaction tube.

[0037] As shown in FIG. 1, the electric heating reactor 10 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may receive a current to generate heat and heat a reactant that is required for reaction by using the generated heat. The electric heating reactor 10 may include a plurality of reaction tubes 20 and a power source 30.

[0038] The reaction tube 20 may be made of an alloy material having high resistivity (e.g., nickel-chromium (Ni—Cr), iron-chromium (Fe—Cr), iron-nickel-chromium (Fe—Ni—Cr), or iron-chromium-aluminum (Fe—Cr—Al)), and include a passage formed therein in a length direction, through which the reactant passes. For example, the reaction tube 20 may be formed in an annular pipe shape, and a passage may be formed therein in the length direction. However, a shape of the reaction tube 20 is not limited to the annular pipe shape. The reaction tube 20 may have high resistivity. Accordingly, when power is applied to the reaction tube 20, heat may be generated in the reaction tube 20, and heat may be transferred to the reactant inside the passage.

[0039] An inlet may be disposed at one end of the reaction tube 20, and the reactant required for reaction may be introduced into the reaction tube 20 through the inlet. An outlet may be disposed at the other end of the reaction tube 20, and a product in which the reaction is completed and/or a reactant that does not undergo the reaction may be discharged from the reaction tube 20 through the outlet.

[0040] A plurality of reaction tubes 20a, 20b, 20c, and 20d may be disposed to offset a resultant force of an electromagnetic force applied to each of the reaction tubes 20a, 20b, 20c, and 20d. The plurality of reaction tubes 20a, 20b, 20c, and 20d may continuously receive a high current to heat the reactant therein, and the high current may cause the electromagnetic force to be applied between adjacent reaction tubes 20a, 20b, 20c, and 20d. If the electromagnetic force is not offset, the plurality of reaction tubes 20a, 20b, 20c, and 20d may continuously receive a strong electromagnetic force while the reaction of the reactant occurs, and the plurality of reaction tubes 20a, 20b, 20c, and 20d may be deformed by the electromagnetic force. In order to prevent the deformation of the plurality of reaction tubes 20a, 20b, 20c, and 20d, the plurality of reaction tubes 20a, 20b, 20c, and 20d may be disposed to offset the resultant force of the electromagnetic force applied to each of the reaction tubes 20a, 20b, 20c, and 20d to a value less than or equal to a set value. The set value may be 10% or less of the electromagnetic force applied by the first reaction tube 20a to the second reaction tube 20b adjacent to the first reaction tube 20a, and is not limited thereto. The plurality of reaction tubes 20a, 20b, 20c, and 20d may be disposed to offset the resultant force of the electromagnetic force by using the current applied thereto.

[0041] For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the four reaction tubes 20a, 20b, 20c, and 20d having the same resistance value, the same diameter, and the same length may be disposed inside one module. Among the four reaction tubes 20a, 20b, 20c, and 20d, the three reaction tubes (i.e., the first, second, and third reaction tubes 20a, 20b, and 20c) may be disposed in an equilateral triangular shape, and one reaction tube (i.e., the fourth reaction tube 20d) may be disposed at the center of the equilateral triangle. Assuming that d refers to a distance between the first, second, and third reaction tubes 20a, 20b, and 20c, which are disposed at vertices of the equilateral triangle, (1/√{square root over (3)})d refers to a distance between one of the first, second, and third reaction tubes 20a, 20b, and 20c and the fourth reaction tube 20d.

[0042] In addition, the first, second, and third reaction tubes 20a, 20b, and 20c may have the same current flowing in a first direction, and the fourth reaction tube 20d, which is disposed at the center, may have the same current flowing in a second direction opposite to the first direction. As shown in FIG. 3, if F refers to a force applied by the second reaction tube 20b to the first reaction tube 20a, F refers to a force applied by the third reaction tube 20c to the first reaction tube 20a, and √{square root over (3)}F refers to a force applied by the fourth reaction tube 20d to the first reaction tube 20a. In this case, √{square root over (3)}F also refers to a resultant force of the force applied by the second reaction tube 20b to the first reaction tube 20a and the force applied by the third reaction tube 20c to the first reaction tube 20a, and its direction is opposite to the direction of the force applied by the fourth reaction tube 20d to the first reaction tube 20a. Accordingly, the resultant force of the electromagnetic force applied by the second, third, and fourth reaction tubes 20b, 20c, and 20d to the first reaction tube 20a may be offset. Similarly, the resultant force of the electromagnetic force applied to each of the four reaction tubes 20a, 20b, 20c, and 20d may be offset.

[0043] The power source 30 may supply the current to the reaction tube 20. The power source 30 may be an alternating-current (AC) power source or a direct-current (DC) power source. For example, the power source 30 may supply the same current to the four reaction tubes 20a, 20b, 20c, and 20d, and supply the current in the first direction to the first, second, and third reaction tubes 20a, 20b, and 20c, and supply the current to the fourth reaction tube 20d in the second direction opposite to the first direction. Accordingly, the resultant force of the electromagnetic force applied to each of the four reaction tubes 20a, 20b, 20c, and 20d may be offset.

[0044] FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing an electric heating reactor according to another embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0045] As shown in FIG. 4, the electric heating reactor 10 according to another embodiment of the present disclosure may include a plurality of modules each including the reaction tube 20 therein and the power source 30 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Each module may include the four reaction tubes 20 and a shielding housing 40.

[0046] In an example, the four reaction tubes 20 inside each module may have the same resistance value, the same diameter, and the same length, and three of the four reaction tubes 20 may be disposed in the equilateral triangular shape, and one of the reaction tubes 20 may be disposed at the center of the equilateral triangle. The three reaction tubes 20 disposed at the vertices of the equilateral triangle may have the same current flowing in the first direction, and one reaction tube disposed at the center may have the same current flowing in the second direction opposite to the first direction. Accordingly, the resultant force of the electromagnetic force applied to each of the four reaction tubes 20 included in each module may be offset.

[0047] The shielding housing 40 may surround the reaction tubes 20 inside one module and shield the reaction tubes 20 from an external electromagnetic force. As shown in FIG. 4, the shielding housing 40 may be formed in an equilateral triangular shape surrounding the reaction tubes 20 inside one module, and is not limited thereto. The resultant force of the electromagnetic force applied to each of the reaction tubes 20 included in each module may be offset, and the reaction tubes 20 may be surrounded by the shielding housing 40, thereby preventing the external electromagnetic force from being applied to the reaction tubes 20 inside the shielding housing 40. In addition, when disposing the reaction tubes 20 inside the plurality of modules, there is no need to consider the electromagnetic force applied between the modules, which may facilitate the arrangement of the modules.

[0048] In another example, three of the four reaction tubes 20 inside each module may be disposed in a triangular shape, and one of the reaction tubes 20 may be disposed at the center of the triangle. The three reaction tubes 20 disposed at the vertices of the triangle may have the current flowing in the first direction, and one reaction tube disposed at the center may have the current flowing in the second direction opposite to the first direction. In this way, the resultant force of the electromagnetic force applied to each of the four reaction tubes 20 included in each module may be disposed to be offset to the value less than or equal to the set value. The set value may be less than or equal to 10% of the electromagnetic force applied between any one reaction tube 20 disposed at the vertex of the triangle and another one reaction tube 20 disposed at the center, or of the electromagnetic force applied between any two reaction tubes 20 disposed at the vertices of the triangle, and is not limited thereto.

[0049] Although the embodiments of the present disclosure have been described hereinabove, the scope of the present disclosure is not limited thereto, and all equivalent modifications that may be easily made by those skilled in the art to which the present disclosure pertains are intended to fall within the scope and spirit of the present disclosure.