METHOD FOR EXPLOSION SAFE CLEANSING OF PIPELINES WITH HYDROCARBON TRACES AND DEVICE FOR ITS IMPLEMENTATION Russian patent published in 2014 - IPC B08B9/53 

FIELD: machine building.

SUBSTANCE: oxygen concentration in the medium supplied to the pipeline cavity is lower than the explosive one. Method for explosion safe cleansing of pipelines containing hydrocarbon traces implies that a cleansing unit is moved inside the pipeline cavity by the compressed atmosphere air from a compressor, the air supplied to the pipeline is preliminary passed through a gas separation plant under pressure and the oxygen is filtered, the vitiated air with the oxygen concentration in it being reduced to the level providing for explosion safety at mixing with light hydrocarbon vapours, is supplied to the pipeline or the oxygen-enriched air is returned to the air intake of an internal combustion engine. An internal combustion engine is used as an engine in the device, the first air filter is installed at its air intake, and the compressor with its air intake being fitted by the second air filter is sequentially coupled with the gas separation plant, including the air preparation unit which consists of oil separators, moisture separators, fine filters, dryers and a gas separation unit. The plant output consists of two branches: the first one is connected to the compressor input via a gas analyzer and the first shutoff control valves, and the second one is connected to the pipeline via the second shutoff control valves and inlet branch pipe of the cleansing unit receive-launch chamber. The gas separation plant can be fitted with another output of oxygen-enriched air which is connected to the input of the internal combustion engine via the third shutoff control valves. The gas separation unit of the gas separation plant can comprise membranes. The internal combustion engine output can be connected to the second air filter at the compressor air intake via a coarse filter, and the internal combustion engine can be fitted by a detachable heat insulation casing, the compressor can be a screw one.

EFFECT: increased specific power and specific fuel efficiency, increased power of the device drive due to the usage of oxygen-enriched air, improved explosion safety of pipeline cleansing.

9 cl, 1 dwg