Screw press

The invention relates to a screw press for separating liquids from solid-liquid mixtures, especially pulp suspensions, which has a casing provided with liquid passages, especially divided into segments, a screw rotating inside the casing, a shaft, preferably hollow, and a suspension feed area. It is primarily characterised by a filtrate shell 3 being provided directly at one or several screen baskets 2, 2&#8242; and by discharge openings 6, 10 being provided in the lower part of the shell 3.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a screw press for separating liquids from solid-liquid mixtures, especially pulp suspensions, which has a casing provided with liquid passages, especially divided into segments, as well as having a screw rotating inside the casing, a shaft, preferably hollow, and a suspension feed area.

It is known that screw presses with a large diameter are not easy to fill evenly because the pressure in the screw press increases further down in the feed area in accordance with the diameter (height). This means that the pressure on the screen is, for example, approximately 0.14 bar higher at the bottom than at the top. With some pulps to be dewatered, which have a low inlet consistency, the differential pressures applied should not exceed 0.05 bar. At higher pressures, the screens become clogged with pulp and this screen surface is lost for dewatering purposes. Particularly with large screw press diameters, additional pressure is needed in the feed area in order to distribute the pulp to be dewatered in the screw press forwards. With pulps that are difficult to dewater, it is often only possible to use a small percentage (e.g. less than 50%) of the screen surface of screw presses with a large diameter compared with that used in screw presses with a small diameter. A possible solution is known, for example, from DE 19715173. This solution, however, has the disadvantage of heavy fine particles contained in the filtrate (e.g. ash) settling in the tray and thus covering the base of the tray, which means that the submerged screen surface again is not utilised.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The aim of the invention is to eliminate this disadvantage and to provide a screw press that can also be utilised in full, even with a large diameter. This is achieved by a filtrate shell being provided directly at one or several screen baskets and by discharge openings being provided in the lower part of the shell. The filtrate can drain off through these openings into the existing filtrate tray or into a collecting pipe. Thus, clogging of the lower screen surface is largely avoided.

An advantageous configuration of the invention is characterised by the filtrate shell being divided into several zones. With this arrangement it is not only possible to maintain the differential pressure at a constant level, but also to set any desired pressure difference in longitudinal direction inside the screw press.

An advantageous further development of the invention is characterised by the individual zones having filtrate overflows at different heights. In this way, a compression curve setting for the screw press can be corrected easily and the screw press adapted to pulps with different dewatering behaviour.

An advantageous further development of the invention is characterised by the discharge openings being formed as discharge holes and by slide valves being provided at these discharge holes to set the drainage cross-section. With this slide valve the cross-section of the discharge holes for the maximum throughput of the screw press can be set such that the desired liquid level is always obtained in the filtrate tray.

A favourable further development of the invention is characterised by the filtrate tray having filtrate overflows. As a result, the maximum retaining height and thus, the maximum counter-pressure can be set in addition.

A favourable configuration of the invention is characterised by the entire screen basket being surrounded by a filtrate tray in the feed area up to the medium-pressure area, where at least one discharge connection is provided as discharge opening and a throttle valve can be provided for setting the pressure. With this arrangement, the differential pressure can be maintained absolutely constant over the full height in the entire low and medium pressure areas of the screw press.

A favourable configuration of the invention is characterised by the throttle valve being connected to a differential pressure control unit (screen inside/outside). Thus, the inlet pressure can be used to build up a pressure difference in longitudinal direction within the screw press to optimise the compression curve.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

FIG. 1 shows a cross-section of a screw press 1 according to the invention. This illustration shows the screen basket 2 and the lower part of the basket 2 . A filtrate tray 3 is mounted round the lower part of the screen basket 2 . The individual segments of the filtrate tray 3 are bolted together with flanges. In the lower section of the filtrate tray 3 there is a slide 4 with holes (not shown here). This can be used to set various overlaps with the holes in the filtrate tray 3 . Beneath the screen basket 2 , 2 and the filtrate tray 3 there is a further open filtrate or collecting tray 5 .

FIG. 2 shows a side view of a segment of the screw press with screen basket 2 and liquid passage 23 therein (lower section 2 of screen basket is covered over), filtrate tray 3 and slide valves 4 movable in the axial direction of the press.

FIG. 3 contains a developed view of the sheet metal forming the filtrate tray 3 . In this view it is easy to see the slide valve 4 that opens the holes 6 in the filtrate tray 3 in the position illustrated. The slide valve 4 can be pushed back and forth on strips 7 in the axial direction, thereby setting the required drainage cross-section (open area) of the holes 6 .

FIG. 4 shows a side view of the press having a screw 21 carried on a hollow, rotatable shaft 20 , illustrating a further variant of the invention. The screw press 1 has a screen basket 2 , 2 . The screen basket 2 is divided into segments which, together with the respective shells 3 form zones 22 . Preferably, the axial length of a basket and its respective shell are substantially equal. The shell is divided into these zones so that the mounting and maintenance will be easy. In the front segments of the low-pressure area this screen basket 2 , 2 is entirely surrounded by a filtrate tray 3 . The suspension of pulp to be dewatered, for example fibre pulp or chemical pulp, is fed into the inlet section 9 at 8 . The filtrate from the first segments in the low-pressure area then drains off separately at 10 , where the flow rate through each discharge pipe 10 can be set separately using a valve 13 . The individual valves 13 can be set such as to adapt the compression curve of the screw press to the pulp to be dewatered. The filtrate from the medium-pressure and high-pressure zones flows into a collecting tray 5 and drains off through a discharge point 14 . The dewatered pulp is discharged from the screw press 1 at discharge end 12 .

FIG. 5 shows a section along the line marked V V in FIG. 4 . This shows the inlet 9 for the suspension 8 . In addition, this figure shows the screen 2 , 2 , the fully enclosed filtrate tray 3 , and the discharge points 10 with valve 13 . At the inlet, the pressure prevailing is p e and the valve generates a counter-pressure of p s .

FIG. 6 illustrates the pressure progression over the height and the diameter of the screw press. At the inlet, the prevailing pressure is p e , and the counter-pressure p s is set at the other end. This is achieved such that the differential pressure p entw for dewatering is constant over the entire height/diameter.

FIG. 7 shows a variant of the invention as an alternative to FIG. 4 . Here, the filtrate draining off individually through the discharge pipes 10 at the first segments is also brought to the collecting tray 5 , which thus extends virtually over the entire length of the screw press 1 .

FIG. 8 shows a diagrammatic view, where all segments are completely surrounded by a filtrate tray 3 . The filtrate is drained off through a joint collecting pipe 11 . Brackets 30 are shown for the low pressure region, 31 for the medium pressure region and 32 for the high pressure region, always combining the segments and shells 3 of two zones. The regions however may also only comprise one zone or more than two zones depending on the properties of the product to be dewatered. The different pressure is gained by different slope of the screw. In addition FIG. 8 also shows a pressure sensor 33 in the inlet 9 of the screw press 1 and sensors 34 and 34 incorporated in or close to the drainage valves. The pressure control unit 35 assures that the necessary differential pressures p 1 and p 2 are maintained. This figure also shows how a valve 13 is used jointly for the first two segments, and a further valve 13 for the next segment. The remaining segments, preferably in the high-pressure sector, dewater directly into the collecting pipe 11 . Of course, other segments can also be combined and controlled with one joint valve. It is also possible, however, to provide a separate valve for each segment.

FIG. 9 shows the variant with shells 3 with different heights 19 , 19 , 19 and the respective overflows 18 , 18 , 18 into the tray 5 . Due to the different heights of the opposite ends of the shell, as spaced apart transversely to the press axis, different heights permit adjusted different differential pressures in the different zones. The individual shell segments can be considered arcs of a circle that vary in angular span from about 90 degrees to about 270 degrees (as measured from the press axis).