Container for loose material, in particular hot coal

A container for loose material, in particular for hot coal, during the operation of a coke oven battery including a novel deflecting means for directing particulate matter located in the gas emanating from the loose material back into the container to reduce the flow of particulate matter out of the container to minimize air pollution. The deflecting means is in the shape of an umbrella-shaped guide plate which is adjustable relative to the container to control an annular outlet opening for the gas. In the annular opening are located settling plates to further minimize the flow of particulate matter out of the container.

The invention relates to a container for loose material, in particular for 
hot coal during the operation of a coke oven battery, which container is 
provided with an upper inlet opening and a lower-funnel-shaped outlet 
opening for the loose material. 
When such containers for loose material, which can, for example, form part 
of a hopper car which can travel above a coke oven battery or also of coal 
bunkers for filling the containers located on hopper cars, are filled, the 
air present in the container is displaced by the coal flowing in. This can 
lead to extensive emissions of dust into the atmosphere, in particular 
when the coal is dry or pre-heated. In order to prevent this, it has 
already been proposed to connect the stationary coal tower to the charging 
hopper by tight telescopes and to extract and purify the displaced 
dust-laden gases via stationary pipelines and dust collectors. Since, 
however, the dust loading of the displaced gases usually is extremely 
high, high-performance dust-collecting units are necessary which entail 
high investment costs and operating costs. Furthermore, the high loading 
of the displaced gases causes dust deposits in the stationary pipelines. 
It is the object of the invention to design the initially mentioned known 
container for loose material in such a way that an intensive pre-settling 
of the dust-laden gases is possible within the container for loose 
material, with the aim of recycling the dust of loose material, which has 
settled out, to the loose material present in the container. 
The invention achieves this object by additionally providing the upper side 
of the container for loose material with a gas extraction opening which is 
separate from the inlet opening and communicates with the interior of the 
container via a gas discharge channel which is separate from the filling 
stream of loose material. 
In this way a separation of the loose material flowing in from the gas 
flowing out is achieved, the stream of gas flowing out being strongly 
deflected and zones of low dynamic pressure which facilitates settling of 
the dust thus being formed. 
To this end it is is advisable to widen the cross section of the gas 
discharge channel in the direction of flow of the gases and, furthermore, 
to design the free cross section of the gas discharge channel to be 
adjustable. 
An intensification of the deflection of the gases laden with dust of loose 
material can be achieved by means of settling plates which protrude 
transversely into the free cross section of the discharge channel. 
Advantageously, a settling plate can form a valve seat for a movable 
element in order to adjust the free flow cross section of the gas 
discharge channel and, according to an appropriate embodiment, this 
movable adjusting element can form a wall bounding the gas discharge 
channel, which wall advantageously is designed as an umbrella-shaped guide 
plate. 
According to the present invention, the umbrella-shaped guide plate extends 
up to the inside of the container wall while leaving an annular gap. The 
umbrella-shaped guide plate slidably surrounds a feed pipe located in the 
upper side of the container and can be shifted axially by means of an 
adjustment device. The feed pipe can here be surrounded, at a radial 
spacing, by a cylindrical gas extraction branch, the lower end of which is 
joined to a container cover in the shape of a flat cone, the settling 
plates being fixed to the inside thereof. The settling plates are 
advantageously annular and in a concentric arrangement relative to the 
main axis of the container. Advantageously the annular settling plate 
provided, as viewed in the direction of flow of the gases, behind the 
annular gap formed by the inner wall of the container and the 
umbrella-shaped guide plate, forms the seat for the umbrella-shaped guide 
plate when the latter is in the position in which it blocks the gas 
discharge channel. In this embodiment, the umbrella-shaped guide plate 
would be suitably designed to perform this function. 
The feed pipe can also be connected to the gas extraction branch of the 
container by radial web plates aligned parallel to the main axis of the 
container. A piece of pipe joined to the umbrella-shaped guide plate is 
mounted, so that it can be shifted vertically, on the outside of the 
filling pipe. This is accomplished by providing, on its diametrically 
opposite outsides, pivot bolts, to each of which a strap is hinged, the 
free end of which is connected by a hinge to the ends of a fork pivotable 
about a horizontal pivot axis fixed to the container. The lever end 
opposite the ends of the fork projects outwards through a sealed slot of 
the container and is hinged to the free end of the piston of a hydraulic 
control cylinder. 
If complete blocking of the gas discharge channel by the umbrella-shaped 
guide plate abutting on the annular settling plate is not desired or 
necessary, it is possible, in order to limit the length of stroke of the 
umbrella-shaped guide plate and hence to limit the free cross section of 
the gas discharge channel, to provide a radial inner shoulder, which 
reaches under the lower end of the feed pipe, at the lower end of the 
piece of pipe which is concentrically joined to the umbrella-shaped guide 
plate. 
Finally, if it is intended to obtain a more extensive separation of the 
stream of loose material from the gas stream which is to be discharged and 
is laden with dust of loose material, the radial inner shoulder of the 
piece of pipe carrying the umbrella-shaped guide plate can be flanged at 
the upper end of an extension of the feed pipe, which extension projects 
from the inner shoulder, coaxially to the filling pipe, into the interior 
of the container. Both of the aforementioned radial inner shoulders would 
be eliminated in the illustrated embodiment if the umbrella-shaped guide 
plate were to be moved to block the gas discharge channel.

The upper side of the cylindrical container wall 2 carries a cover 4 which 
has the shape of a flat cone and which is adjoined upwards by a 
cylindrical gas extraction branch 5. The inside of this gas extraction 
branch is provided, distributed at intervals over its circumference, with 
web plates 6, to the inner ends of which a feed pipe 7 for the loose 
material to be filled into the container for loose material, is fixed 
coaxially to the central longitudinal axis of the container. On the 
outside of this feed pipe 7, a piece of pipe 8 is guided, so that it can 
be shifted, an umbrella-shaped guide plate 9 extending radially outwards 
from the lower end of the piece of pipe to the vicinity of the inside of 
the cylindrical container wall 2, an annular gap 10 being left. On the 
outside of the piece of pipe 8 there are, diametrically opposite, two 
pivot bolts, to each of which a strap 11 is hinged, the ends of the two 
straps being hinged at 12 to the ends of a fork 13 which is rigidly joined 
to a pivot axis 14 which can turn in bearings in the web plates 6. The 
pivot axis 14 extends outwards through the gas extraction branch and is 
there rigidly joined to a lever 15, the free end 17 of which is connected 
by a hinge to the piston rod 18 of a control element, for example, a 
control cylinder. 
Settling plates 19 extend in the direction of the umbrella-shaped guide 
plate 9 from the inside of the cover 4 in the shape of a flat cone, at 
right angles to the lateral surface thereof. Appropriately, these settling 
plates 19 are of an annular design in the present case. Since the cone 
angle of the umbrella-shaped guide plate 9 is more obtuse than that of the 
cover 4, the cover 4 and the guide plate 9 enclose a gas discharge channel 
20 which, starting from the annular gap 10, increasingly widens in the 
direction of flow of the arrow 21 so that the velocity of the gases to be 
discharged is reduced so that, taking into account the deflection of the 
gas stream, effected by the settling plates 19, the settling of the dusty 
constituents present therein is promoted. Since the settling plates 19 and 
the guide plate 9 extend downwards, these dusty constituents will fall 
onto the upper side of the umbrella-shaped guide plate 9 and, due to 
gravity, they are conveyed from there through the annular gap 10 to the 
loose material present in the container. 
As an alternative to this embodiment shown, however, it is also conceivable 
that the guide plate 9, conjointly with the settling plate 19 which is 
first in the direction of flow of the arrow 21, forms a valve in such a 
way that the container can be sealed against the outside by pressing the 
umbrella-shaped guide plate 9 onto this settling plate 19. As 
aforementioned, this would be permitted if the flanges at the upper and 
lower ends of plate 8 were eliminated. 
An even shaprer separation of the stream of loose material from the gas 
stream which is to be discharged and is laden with dust can obviously be 
achieved by means of the extension pipe which is coaxial to the feed pipe. 
It can thus be seen that the settled dust of loose material can be recycled 
again to the loose material present inside the container. The inserts of 
the container, which are formed by the settling plates and the guide 
plate, enable the gas stream flowing out to be strongly deflected, zones 
of low dynamic pressure being formed which facilitate the settling of the 
dust. 
Instead of the concentric arrangement, in the drawing, of the inlet opening 
for the loose material and of the gas discharge channel, an eccentric 
arrangement of the channels for the loose material flowing in and the gas 
flowing out is obviously also conceivable. 
It is, of course, intended to cover by the appended claims all such 
modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.