Patent Document

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   (1) Field of the Invention 
   The invention relates to a hi-temperature exhausted-gas purifying apparatus, and more particularly to an apparatus that utilizes a thermal regenerative granular-moving bed apparatus to perform in-situ and continuously gas-cracking, gas-filtering, exhaust gas-recycling, and granular material-heating. 
   (2) Description of the Prior Art 
   In some industrial processes, to generate toxic exhaust gases might be inevitable. Generally, those toxic exhaust gases should be cracked under a substantial high temperature and thus detoxicated to meet various environmental regulations before they can be exhausted to the atmosphere. Also, during the detoxicating process, particles or pollutants as the side products are usually generated and should be removed as well before exhausting the gas to the atmosphere. 
   Toxic gases usually seen in the manufacturing process includes B 2 H 6 , C5F8, CHF 3 , CH 2 F 2 , CO, C 4 F 6 , C 2 F 6 , H 2 , NF 3 , SF 6 , SiH 4 , TEOS, WF 6 , BCl 3 , Cl 2 , HCl, NH 3 , N 2 O, and so on. In particular, to detoxicate the BCl 3 , Cl 2 , HCl, NH 3 , and N 2 O, water-bathing or adding adsorbents/catalyst during the process is required. 
   In the art, conventional facilities to detoxicate the aforesaid toxic gases include a thermal type scrubber, a wet type scrubber, and so on. 
   Referring to  FIG. 1 , a conventional gas detoxicating and de-polluting system  1 , one of the wet type scrubbers, is schematically shown. The system  1  includes a furnace  10 , a liquid-cooling device  12 , and a filter  14 . In a typical process of the system  1 , the toxic gas is firstly sent to the furnace  10  for cracking under a substantial high temperature. In the furnace  10 , the toxic gas is cracked into a nontoxic gas with plenty of suspending pollutant particles. The nontoxic gas with the suspending pollutants is then led to the liquid-cooling device  12  for directly or indirectly water-cooling to a lower temperature. The lower-temperature nontoxic gas with pollutants is finally sent through the filter  14  to leave the pollutants at the filter  14  before the nontoxic can be exhausted to a specific area. 
   Nevertheless, the application and development of the conventional facilities, typically the foregoing gas detoxicating and de-polluting system  1  as shown in  FIG. 1 , still have following bottlenecks. 
   1. In consideration of installation space, the hi-temperature gas detoxicating and de-polluting system  1  can only be built to a limited volume and thus a limited capacity in handling the toxic exhaust gases. In the case that a peak volume of the exhaust gases is met, the liquid-cooling device  12  of the system  1  is usually unaffordable to handle efficiently such a huge amount of gases. As a consequence, the outlet gases of the liquid-cooling device  12  cannot be lowered to a satisfied temperature, and thereby the unexpected higher-temperature outlet gases will tend to damage the filter  14 . 
   2. In the art, the purpose of introducing the toxic exhaust gases into the furnace  10  is to utilize the high temperature interior of the furnace  10  to crack the toxicity of the gases. Definitely, to thoroughly crack the toxic exhaust gases, sufficient reaction time for the gases to stay in the furnace  10  is required. Yet, it is generally seen that a conventional furnace  10  limited in a small installation space is usually hard to completely crack the gases due to insufficient reaction time in the furnace  10 . 
   3. In the conventional liquid-cooling device  12 , heat  16  of the hi-temperature exhaust gases (generally heated to 800° C. or higher in the furnace  10 ) cannot be economically recycled. Therefore, high operational cost of the system  1  would be inevitable. Also, reservation in energy and cooling water would be a serious problem. 
   4. Further, a great amount of exhaust water  18  generated from operating the liquid-cooling device  12  is also a problem of the conventional system  1 . 
   5. The replacement cost of the filter  14  is high. In addition, for the filter  14  can only function in a lower-temperature environment (compared to the furnace  10 ), the successful operation of the system  1  does highly depend on the liquid-cooling device  12  which induces the formation and recycle problems of the exhaust heat  16 . 
   Therefore, to provide a better recipe for resolving the aforesaid problems in handling the toxic exhaust gases is definitely welcome to those skilled in the art. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a thermal regenerative granular-moving bed apparatus for a hi-temperature gas de-pollutant/detoxication process, in which hi-temperature granular materials are used to heat and filter the toxic gases, and in which heat of the non-toxic exhaust gases is then recycled in the apparatus to heat up the looping-back granular materials. By providing the apparatus of the present invention, hi-temperature detoxicating upon the toxic gases and recycling of the exhaust heat can be performed in a continuous process in the same apparatus. 
   In accordance with the present invention, the thermal regenerative granular-moving bed apparatus comprises a plurality of granular materials, a heat-and-clean unit, a heat-recycling unit, and a granular material-cleaning unit. 
   The granular materials as the major heat-transfer media of the present invention can be far-infrared ceramic granules, conductive silicon granules, or the like porous granules with heat-transfer capability. 
   The heat-and-clean unit for heating up the incoming toxic gases and simultaneously filtering the gases by the granular materials can include a granular path and a heating device. The granular path flowing the granular materials by gravity can further include at least two consecutive hopper-shaped structures, an upper portion and a lower portion. The granular materials are introduced from the upper portion, flow through the hopper-shaped structures, and leave the heat-and-clean unit from the lower portion. The toxic gases are introduced into the heat-and-clean unit via the perimeter openings between every two consecutive hopper-shaped structures. The heating device is used to heat up the granular materials to a predetermined temperature in order to react with the toxic gases inside the unit. 
   The heat-recycling unit constructed on top of the upper portion of the heat-and-clean unit is used to provide a piping with a predetermined length for flowing gravitationally the granular materials but for ascending the hi-temperature exhaust gases. The heat-recycling unit can further include an upper end for introducing the granular materials and an exhaust-gas outlet located at the upper end for releasing the exhaust gases. 
   The granular material-cleaning unit is used to transport the granular materials out of the lower portion of the heat-and-clean unit, then to clean the granular materials off the pollutants generated in the heat-and-clean unit, and further to feed the clean granular materials into the heat-recycling unit from the upper end thereof. 
   In the present invention, the granular materials are fed into the heat-recycling unit from its upper portion, then flow gravitationally through the heat-recycling unit, enter the heat-and-clean unit via the upper portion thereof, further flow gravitationally through the heat-and-clean unit, leave the heat-and-clean unit via the lower end thereof, and finally are processed by the granular material-cleaning unit so as to be fed back to the heat-recycling unit. 
   In the present invention, the regions in the heat-recycling unit and the heat-and-clean unit that the granular materials pass by are defined as the granular paths. 
   In the present invention, the toxic gases are led into the heat-and-clean unit through the intake openings, flow upwards in the granular path at a direction counter to the flow of the granular materials, are heated to crack while passing the pathway in the heat-and-clean unit, and leave the pollutants generated in the cracking to flow downwards with the granular materials. The cracked and so detoxicated gases now in a high-temperature state then ascend along the pathway into the heat-recycling unit, and dissipate the heat to the granular materials flowing counter-directionally. Finally, the detoxicated gases leave the heat-recycling unit via the exhaust-gas outlet at the upper end of the heat-recycling unit. On the other hand, the granular materials heated by the detoxicated gases flow downwards into the heat-and-clean unit for further reacting with the incoming toxic gases. 
   In the present invention, the pollutants or particles generated during the cracking of the toxic gases are moved with the granular materials and can be separated from the granular materials at the granular material-cleaning unit. 
   In one embodiment of the present invention, catalyst or other additives can be added into the granular materials for accelerating the detoxicating or say cleaning of the toxic gases. By adding proper additives or catalyst, the detoxicating reaction between the granular materials and the toxic gases may be speeded up, or the reaction temperature of the detoxicating reaction may be substantially lowered. 
   In one embodiment of the present invention, a plurality of flow-corrective structures can be constructed along the granular path, in the heat-and-clean unit or in the heat-recycling unit, for preventing from formation of stagnant zones in the granular path and also for slowing down the flow rate of the granular materials so as to increase the reaction time of the granular materials and the toxic gases. In the present invention, a typical flow-corrective structure can be a roof shape, a separated inverted-V shape, an upright plate shape, or a pipe shape. 
   In one embodiment of the present invention, the flow-corrective structure can be located inside the heat-and-clean unit, and the heating device can be constructed at the flow-corrective structure for heating the pass-by granular materials. 
   In one embodiment of the present invention, the heating device of the heat-and-clean unit can be located at the intake opening between every two consecutive hopper-shaped structures for heating the incoming toxic gases directly. 
   In one embodiment of the present invention, the heating device of the heat-and-clean unit can be located at the hopper-shaped structure for heating the granular materials thereinside. 
   In one embodiment of the present invention, the heat-and-clean unit can be enveloped by an inlet chamber, and the heating device can be constructed to the inner wall of the intake chamber for heating the incoming toxic gases thereinside. 
   In one embodiment of the present invention, the heating device can be constructed along a centerline of the granular path in the heat-and-clean unit. 
   In one embodiment of the present invention, the granular material-cleaning unit can further include a separator, a polluted granular-material recycle path, and a purified granular-material recycle path. The separator is used to separate the pollutants or particles generated during the hi-temperature detoxicating reaction in the heat-and-clean unit from the granular materials. The polluted granular-material recycle path bridging the lower portion of the heat-and-clean unit and the separator is used to convey the granular materials mixed with the pollutants to the separator. The purified granular-material path bridging the separator and the upper end of the heat-recycling unit is used to transport the purified or clean granular materials back to the heat-recycling unit. 
   All these objects are achieved by the thermal regenerative granular-moving bed apparatus described below. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The present invention will now be specified with reference to its preferred embodiment illustrated in the drawings, in which: 
       FIG. 1  is a schematic block view of a conventional gas detoxicating and de-polluting system; 
       FIG. 2  is a block view of the thermal regenerative granular-moving bed apparatus in accordance with the present invention; 
       FIG. 3  is a schematic view of a preferred embodiment of the thermal regenerative granular-moving bed apparatus in accordance with the present invention; 
       FIG. 4  is a schematic view of another embodiment of the thermal regenerative granular-moving bed apparatus in accordance with the present invention; 
       FIG. 5  is a schematic view of an embodiment of the heat-and-clean unit of the thermal regenerative granular-moving bed apparatus in accordance with the present invention; 
       FIG. 6  is a schematic view of another embodiment of the heat-and-clean unit of the thermal regenerative granular-moving bed apparatus in accordance with the present invention; 
       FIG. 7  is a schematic view of a further embodiment of the heat-and-clean unit of the thermal regenerative granular-moving bed apparatus in accordance with the present invention; 
       FIG. 8  is a schematic view of one more embodiment of the heat-and-clean unit of the thermal regenerative granular-moving bed apparatus in accordance with the present invention; 
       FIG. 9  is a schematic cross-sectional view of an embodiment of two consecutive hopper-shaped structures of the heat-and-clean unit of the thermal regenerative granular-moving bed apparatus in accordance with the present invention; 
       FIG. 10  is a schematic cross-sectional view of another embodiment of two consecutive hopper-shaped structures of the heat-and-clean unit of the thermal regenerative granular-moving bed apparatus in accordance with the present invention; 
       FIG. 11  is a schematic cross-sectional view of a further embodiment of two consecutive hopper-shaped structures of the heat-and-clean unit of the thermal regenerative granular-moving bed apparatus in accordance with the present invention; 
       FIG. 12  is a schematic cross-sectional view of one more embodiment of two consecutive hopper-shaped structures of the heat-and-clean unit of the thermal regenerative granular-moving bed apparatus in accordance with the present invention; 
       FIG. 13  is a schematic cross-sectional view of further one more embodiment of two consecutive hopper-shaped structures of the heat-and-clean unit of the thermal regenerative granular-moving bed apparatus in accordance with the present invention; 
       FIG. 14  is a schematic cross-sectional view of another further one more embodiment of two consecutive hopper-shaped structures of the heat-and-clean unit of the thermal regenerative granular-moving bed apparatus in accordance with the present invention; 
       FIG. 15  shows, in a block view, another aspect of the thermal regenerative granular-moving bed apparatus in accordance with the present invention; 
       FIG. 16  shows, in a block view, a further aspect of the thermal regenerative granular-moving bed apparatus in accordance with the present invention; and 
       FIG. 17  is a perspective view of a half of the preferred inlet chamber for the heat-and-clean unit of the thermal regenerative granular-moving bed apparatus in accordance with the present invention. 
   

   DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
   The invention disclosed herein is directed to a thermal regenerated granular-moving bed apparatus. In the following description, numerous details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that variations of these specific details are possible while still achieving the results of the present invention. In other instance, well-known components are not described in detail in order not to unnecessarily obscure the present invention. 
   In the following description, parts of the invention who serve the same purpose but have slight difference in configuration will be identically named and labeled. 
   Referring now to  FIG. 2  and  FIG. 3 , a preferred embodiment of the thermal regenerative granular-moving bed apparatus in accordance with the present invention is shown in a block view and a schematic view, respectively. The thermal regenerative granular-moving bed apparatus  2  comprises a plurality of granular materials  20 , a heat-and-clean unit  21 , a heat-recycling unit  23 , and a granular material-cleaning unit  25 . 
   Definition: A granular path is a region in the heat-and-clean unit  21  or in the heat-recycling unit  23  where the granular materials  20  pass by. 
   The granular materials  20  of the present invention having substantial heat-transfer and heat-reservation capacity can be far-infrared ceramic granules, conductive silicon granules, or the like porous granules. In the present invention, the granular materials  20  after heated up to a substantial high temperature (say, above 800° C.) can be applied to crack the surrounding toxic gases, and the pollutants or particles  24  (SiO 2 ) generated during the cracking would be stayed and flow downward with the granular materials  20 . That is to say that the granular materials  20  can perform as both a heat provider and a screen for filtering the pollutants  24  off the gases. In the present invention, by controlling the pressure drop inside the heat-and-clean unit  21 , a satisfied rate of removing the pollutants  24  from the gases can be achieved. Yet, such a control in the pressure drop is well known to those skilled in the art, and so details thereabout will be omitted herein. 
   The heat-and-clean unit  21  for heating up the intake toxic gases and filtering the gases off the pollutants  24  (solid reaction products) in the granular path  30  formed by the flowing granular materials  20  can further include the granular path  30  occupying almost the same region indicated by label  21 , and a heating device  215 . 
   The granular path  30  flowing the granular materials  30  by gravity can further include at least two consecutive hopper-shaped structures  211  (6 hopper-shaped structures  211  shown in  FIG. 3 ), an upper portion  217  and a lower portion  219  opposing to the upper portion  217 . The granular materials  20  are introduced into the granular path  30  at the heat-and-clean unit  21  from the upper portion  217 , flow gravitationally through each of the hopper-shaped structures  211 , and leave the heat-and-clean unit  21  from the lower portion  219 . As shown, the perimeter openings  212  formed between every two consecutive hopper-shaped structures  211  are used to inhale the toxic gases into the heat-and-clean unit  21 . 
   The heating device  215  of the present invention is used to heat up the granular materials  20  inside the heat-and-clean unit  21  to a predetermined high temperature, say over 800° C. The heat energy stored in the granular materials  20  is then used to heat up the toxic gases surrounding each the granular material  20  and thus further to have the toxic gases detoxicated. In the present embodiment, heating device  215  is constructed along a centerline of the granular path  30  mainly in the heat-and-clean unit  21 , but partly over the upper portion  217  into the heat-recycling unit  23 . 
   As shown in  FIG. 3 , the granular materials  20  flow gravitationally, or say downward naturally and continuously, in the granular path  30 . Yet, due to the spaced hopper-shaped structures  211 , a granular-hill line  200  defining the piling boundary of the granular materials  20  would be formed at each intake opening  212 . Actually, the granular-hill line  200  is the very frontier of the granular materials  20  to contact with the toxic gases. 
   Referring now to  FIG. 3  and  FIG. 17 , the heat-and-clean unit  21  can be further enveloped by an inlet chamber  210 , and at least an intake piping  2104  is used to feed the toxic gases into the inlet chamber  210 . Preferably, the intake piping  2104  is constructed tangentially to the inner wall  2100  of the inlet chamber  210  so that a vortex flow field can be formed inside the inlet chamber  210  and also the toxic gases inside the inlet chamber  210  can be evenly fed into the heat-and-clean unit  21  through the perimeter intake openings  212 . Preferably, the inlet chamber  210  can be constructed with thermal-isolation structures  2102  so as to avoid possible heat dissipation through walls of the inlet chamber  210 . 
   In the present invention, the granular-moving bed structuring adopted to form the heat-and-clean unit  21  is well known to those skilled in the art, for example an ROC (Taiwan) patent “Granular-moving bed apparatus” Pat. No. 545282 and filed on Nov. 19, 2002, and thus details thereabout will be omitted herein. 
   The heat-recycling unit  23  constructed on top of the upper portion  217  of the heat-and-clean unit  21  is used to provide a piping structure with a predetermined length for flowing gravitationally the granular materials  20  down to the heat-and-clean unit  21 , but for ascending the hi-temperature exhaust gases generated from cracking the toxic gases in the heat-and-clean unit  21 . It is noted that the flow of the granular materials  20  and the flow of the exhaust gases  22  form counter-flows inside the heat-recycling unit  23 . By providing the counter-flows inside the heat-recycling unit  23 , the heat carried by the exhaust gases  22  can be used to preheat the granular materials  20  prior to entering the heat-and-clean unit  21 . Thereby, a substantial amount of the heat energy provided by the heating device  215  can be recycled to preheat the granular materials  20  inside the heat-recycling unit  23 . 
   In the present invention, a typical heat flow starts at the heating device  215 , then goes through the granular materials  20  inside the heat-and-clean unit  21 , dissipate to the toxic gases inside the heat-and-clean unit  21 , is carried upwards to the heat-recycling unit  23  by the detoxicated exhaust gases, and finally is transferred to the granular materials  20  inside the heat-recycling unit  23  which are on their way downward to the heat-and-clean unit  21 . 
   As shown, the heat-recycling unit  23  can further include an upper end  235  for introducing the granular materials  20 , a lower end  237  opposing to the upper and  235  and in communication flowingly with the upper portion  27  of the heat-and-clean unit  21 , and an exhaust-gas outlet  232  located at the upper end  237  for releasing the exhaust gases  22 . 
   The granular material-cleaning unit  25  is used to transport the granular materials  20  mixed with the pollutants  24  generated from cracking the toxic gases out of the lower portion  219  of the heat-and-clean unit  21 , then to separate or clean the granular materials  20  off the pollutants  24 , and further to feed the clean granular materials  20  into the heat-recycling unit  23  from the upper end  235  thereof. 
   As shown in  FIG. 3 , the granular material-cleaning unit  25  can further include a separator  252 , a polluted granular-material recycle path  251 , and a purified granular-material recycle path  253 . The separator  252  is used to separate the pollutants  24  or particles generated during the hi-temperature detoxicating reaction in the heat-and-clean unit  21  from the granular materials  20 . The polluted granular-material recycle path  251  bridging the lower portion  219  of the heat-and-clean unit  21  and the separator  252  is used to convey the granular materials  20  with the pollutants  24  to the separator  252 . The purified granular-material path  253  bridging the separator  252  and the upper end  235  of the heat-recycling unit  23  is used to transport or feed the purified or clean granular materials  20  back to the heat-recycling unit  23 . As shown, a hopper-shaped granular-material inlet  233  is constructed at the upper end  235  of the heat-recycling unit  23  for receiving the clean granular materials  20  from the purified granular-material recycle path  253 . 
   In the present invention, the flow of the granular materials  20  starts at the top end  235  of the heat-recycling unit  23 , goes downward through the heat-recycling unit  23  where the granular materials  20  are pre-heated by the hi-temperature exhaust gases  22 , then enters the heat-and-clean unit  21  from the upper portion  217  thereof in which the temperature of granular material  20  can be further assured to the predetermined temperature by the heating device  215  and in which the granular materials react with the toxic gases, then leaves the heat-and-clean unit  21  from the lower portion  219 , and finally goes back to the heat-recycling unit  23  via the granular material-cleaning unit  25 . 
   In the present invention, the flow of the gases starts as the toxic gases introduced to the heat-and-clean unit  21  from the intake openings  212 , goes upward as a counter flow to the flow of the granular materials  20  in the granular path  30  in which the toxic gases are hi-temperature cracked and thus detoxicated by the granular materials  20  and in which the pollutants  24  are generated during the cracking, leaves the pollutants to flow with the granular materials  20  as nontoxic or detoxicated hi-temperature exhaust gases  22 , ascends to the heat-recycling unit  23  to further heat-exchange with the granular materials  20  thereinside, and is released as lower-temperature gases from the exhaust-gas outlet  232  at the upper end  235  of the heat-recycling unit  23 . 
   In the present invention, the pollutants or particles  24  generated during the cracking of the toxic gases inside the heat-and-clean unit  21  are held by and thereafter moved with the granular materials  20 , and, in a later step, can be separated from the granular materials  20  at the granular material-cleaning unit  25 . 
   In the heat-recycling unit  23  of the present invention, the hi-temperature detoxicated exhaust gases  22  rising from the heat-and-clean unit  21  can heat-exchange with (or say preheat) the granular materials  20  fallen down from the granular-material inlet  233  at the upper end  235  of the heat-recycling unit  23 . Upon such an arrangement, the exhaust heat after cracking the toxic gases can be efficiently utilized to preheat the granular materials  20  and thus the operational cost in energy can be substantially reduced. 
   In the present invention, catalyst or other additives can be added or adhered to the granular materials  20  for accelerating the detoxicating reaction between the granular materials  20  and the toxic gases, or for reducing the throttle reaction temperature. 
   As shown in  FIG. 3 , a plurality of flow-corrective structures  213  can be constructed along the granular path  30  in the heat-and-clean unit  21  for preventing from possible formation of stagnant zones in the granular path  30  and also for slowing down the flow rate of the granular materials  20  so as to increase the contact time between the granular materials  20  and the toxic gases. Similarly, in other embodiment of the present invention (not shown in the figures), the low-corrective structures  213  can also be constructed in the granular path  30  of the heat-recycling unit  23 . 
   Referring now to  FIG. 4 , another embodiment of the regenerative granular-moving bed apparatus in accordance with the present invention is shown schematically. Compared to the previous embodiment shown in  FIG. 3 , this embodiment 2 has its heating device  215  constructed at the flow-corrective structures  213  of the heat-and-clean unit  21  for heating the granular materials  20  flowing around the flow-corrective structures  213 . 
   Referring now to  FIG. 5 , an embodiment of the heat-and-clean unit  21  of the regenerative granular-moving bed apparatus in accordance with the present invention is shown schematically. Compared to the previous embodiment shown in  FIG. 3 , this embodiment 2 has its heating device  215  constructed at the hopper-shaped structures  211  of the heat-and-clean unit  21  for heating the granular materials  20  flowing inside the hopper-shaped structures  211 . 
   Referring now to  FIG. 6 , another embodiment of the heat-and-clean unit  21  of the regenerative granular-moving bed apparatus in accordance with the present invention is shown schematically. Compared to the previous embodiment shown in  FIG. 3 , this embodiment 2 has its heating device  215  constructed at the intake openings  212  between every two consecutive hopper-shaped structures  211  for heating the incoming toxic gases directly. The heated toxic gases are then sent to the granular path  30  and confront with the granular materials  20  flowing thereinside to finish the cracking and pollutant-filtering reaction as described above. 
   Referring now to  FIG. 7 , a further embodiment of the heat-and-clean unit  21  of the regenerative granular-moving bed apparatus in accordance with the present invention is shown schematically. Compared to the previous embodiment shown in  FIG. 3 , this embodiment 2 has its heating device  215  constructed at the inner wall of the inlet chamber  210  for preheating the toxic gases thereinside. 
   Referring now to  FIG. 17 , a perspective view of a half of the preferred inlet chamber  210  for the heat-and-clean unit  21  of the thermal regenerative granular-moving bed apparatus in accordance with the present invention is shown. The inlet chamber  210  for enveloping the heat-and-clean unit  21 , particularly the intake openings  212 , can have the inner wall  2100  decorated or lined with the thermal-isolation structures  2102 . The intake piping  2104  (three separate pipes shown in the figure) is preferably arranged tangentially to the inner wall  2100  of the inlet chamber  210  so that the toxic gases after leaving the intake holes  2106  of the intake piping  2104  can enter the inlet chamber  210  at a tangential direction. Also shown in  FIG. 17 , the heating device  215  can be constructed to the inner wall  2100  (or say chamber wall) of the inlet chamber  210  for preheating the toxic gases inhaled through the intake piping  2104 . 
   Referring now to  FIG. 8 , one more embodiment of the heat-and-clean unit  21  of the regenerative granular-moving bed apparatus in accordance with the present invention is shown schematically. In this embodiment, the heat-and-clean unit  21  has its upper portion  217  shaped as a pipe structure with interior flow-corrective structures  213  which are offset-arranged in the granular path  30 . The heating device  215  is located at the upper portion  217  for heating the granular materials  20  flowing through the pipe-shaped upper portion  217 . 
   In the aforesaid descriptions of the present invention, particularly from  FIG. 3  to  FIG. 8 , the heating device  215  is constructed only at a specific location. Yet, the apparatus of the present invention can also have a combination of the heating devices  215  constructed at various locations indicated by  FIG. 3  through  FIG. 8 . For example, the regenerative granular-moving bed apparatus in accordance with the present invention can have a first heating device of  FIG. 3  and a second heating device of  FIG. 6 . 
   In the present invention, the flow-corrective structures  213  can be various shaped. The flow-corrective structure  213  can be formed as a roof shape of  FIG. 3 , a separated inverted-V shape of  FIG. 9  (also note that the two lateral sides of the hopper-shaped structure  211  are offset by a height e), a shape having two parallel upright plates of  FIG. 10 , an upright plate shape of  FIG. 11 , or various pipe shapes of  FIG. 12  to  FIG. 14  (an elliptical shape, a triangle shape, and a diamond shape, respectively). 
   Referring now to  FIG. 15 , another aspect of the thermal regenerative granular-moving bed apparatus in accordance with the present invention is schematically block shown. Compared to the apparatus of  FIG. 2 , this aspect of the apparatus removes the whole section of the heat-recycling unit  23  and have the clean or purified granular materials  20  fed directly into the upper portion  217  of the heat-and-clean unit  21 . Also, the detoxicated exhaust gases are released from the upper portion  217 . 
   As shown in  FIG. 15 , the heat-and-clean unit  21  does not have any heating device (note that the triangle symbol in  FIG. 2  is not shown here). Therefore, if the gases to be processed need to be heated up to a predetermined temperature, they shall be preheated to the predetermined temperature prior to entering the heat-and-clean unit  21 . For various techniques in heating the gases can be applied and well-known to those skilled in the art, details thereabout will be omitted herein. 
   Referring now to  FIG. 16 , a further aspect of the thermal regenerative granular-moving bed apparatus in accordance with the present invention is schematically block shown. Compared to the apparatus of  FIG. 15 , this aspect of the apparatus adopts a heat-and-clean unit  21  who allow the toxic gases to enter from one side of the perimeter openings between every two consecutive hopper-shaped structures (left in the figure), and the detoxicated gases to leave from the opposing side thereof (right in the figure). Obviously, such an arrangement of the gases flow is the major difference to the previous designs as described above. Also, this aspect of the apparatus includes the heating device symbolized by the triangle centering the heat-and-clean unit  21 . The location of the heating device can be any one mentioned above in the foregoing embodiments of the present invention. 
   In the present invention, the thermal regenerative granular-moving bed apparatus can be used to crack and filter the toxic and, definitely, nontoxic gases. 
   By providing the thermal regenerative granular-moving bed apparatus in accordance with the present invention, various purposes in heating, cracking, filtering and so on can be achieved in a single apparatus such that the cost for processing the toxic or nontoxic gases can be substantially reduced and the hi-temperature breakdown of the filter in the convention design can be avoided. 
   In the present invention, the thermal regenerative granular-moving bed apparatus can be built in a limited space but can provide a broader contact area (thank to the granular materials) to crack and filter the gases. Thus, the detoxication upon the toxic gases by applying the present invention can be assured. 
   In the present invention, the arrangement of utilizing the hi-temperature nontoxic exhaust gases to preheat the purified granular materials inside the heat-recycling unit can be great helpful in energy reservation as well as in preventing the hi-temperature exhaust gases from damaging the environment. 
   In the present invention, in the case that the incoming toxic or nontoxic gases are already hi-temperature ones, the heating device of the apparatus can be treated as an auxiliary heating facility. Similarly, in the case that the granular materials fed into the apparatus are already hi-temperature ones, the heating device can also be seen as an auxiliary heating facility. 
   In the present invention, in the case that the heating device is an auxiliary heating facility or an optional device, the regenerative granular-moving bed apparatus described above can be simply treated as an air-filtering apparatus. 
   In previous descriptions of the present invention, though recyclable granular materials are used, yet non-recyclable granular materials can still be applied. In the case that the non-recyclable granular materials are applied, functions of the granular material-cleaning unit described above are limited to feed the clean granular materials into the heat-recycling unit or the heat-and-clean unit (in  FIG. 15  and  FIG. 16 ), and to convey the granular materials mixed with pollutants out of the heat-and-clean unit. No separator is needed in such an application. 
   While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to a preferred embodiment, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

Technology Category: 7