A sectional cooler is a type of liquid cooled rotary drum cooler used for continuous processes in

chemical engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials in ...

. Sectional coolers consist of a rotating cylinder ("drum" or "shell"), a drive unit and a support structure. At each end of the drum there are stationary chutes for material feed and outlet. Depending on the size of the cooler the drum is pivoted on a shaft running through its axis, or is supported on running treads or external ring gears. The interior of the drum consists of several wedge-shaped chambers arranged around a central hollow shaft. This arrangement is completely surrounded by a jacket of water. In the wedge-shaped chambers are angled fins or shovels which move material through the cooler as the drum is rotated.

Function

Sectional coolers work by indirectly cooling the material passing through them with

water Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as ...

. The water enters the cooler and reaches the space between the wedge-shaped chambers through the central hollow shaft, circulates between and around the chambers then leaves the cooler. The material to be cooled usually falls into the feed chute directly from another machine. As the drum rotates, the fins on the inside faces of the wedge-shaped sections convey the material to other end of the cooler. The rotation causes a constant mixing of the product in the chambers, providing good heat transfer and increasing efficiency. Sectional coolers can be rotated by

chains A chain is a wikt:series#Noun, serial assembly of connected pieces, called links, typically made of metal, with an overall character similar to that of a rope in that it is flexible and curved in compression (physics), compression but line (g ...

gears A gear is a rotating circular machine part having cut teeth or, in the case of a cogwheel or gearwheel, inserted teeth (called ''cogs''), which mesh with another (compatible) toothed part to transmit (convert) torque and speed. The basic ...

or by

friction drive A friction drive or friction engine is a type of transmission that utilises two wheels in the transmission to transfer power from the engine to the driving wheels. The system is naturally a continuously variable transmission; by moving the two ...

onto the drum itself.

Applications

Any free flowing

bulk material Bulk cargo is commodity cargo that is transported unpackaged in large quantities. Description Bulk cargo refers to material in either liquid or granular, particulate form, as a mass of relatively small solids, such as petroleum/ crude oil ...

can be cooled in a sectional cooler. They are often found after rotary kilns in

calcination Calcination refers to thermal treatment of a solid chemical compound (e.g. mixed carbonate ores) whereby the compound is raised to high temperature without melting under restricted supply of ambient oxygen (i.e. gaseous O2 fraction of air), gene ...

or other similar processes.{{cite web , title=Rotary Coolers , url=https://www.cementkilns.co.uk/cooler_rotary.html , website=cementkilns.co.uk , access-date=17 February 2021 The purpose of sectional coolers is usually to reduce the material temperature enough that it can be handled with other machines such as

conveyor belts A conveyor belt is the carrying medium of a belt conveyor system (often shortened to belt conveyor). A belt conveyor system is one of many types of conveyor systems. A belt conveyor system consists of two or more pulleys (sometimes referred t ...

and

mills Mills is the plural form of mill, but may also refer to: As a name * Mills (surname), a common family name of English or Gaelic origin * Mills (given name) *Mills, a fictional British secret agent in a trilogy by writer Manning O'Brine Places Un ...

. Often the cooling itself is also an important part in the production process. Typical products processed with sectional coolers include calcined

petroleum coke Petroleum coke, abbreviated coke or petcoke, is a final carbon-rich solid material that derives from oil refining, and is one type of the group of fuels referred to as cokes. Petcoke is the coke that, in particular, derives from a final cracki ...

, zinc calcine,

soda ash Sodium carbonate, , (also known as washing soda, soda ash and soda crystals) is the inorganic compound with the formula Na2CO3 and its various hydrates. All forms are white, odourless, water-soluble salts that yield moderately alkaline solutions ...

and pigments. The entry temperature of the products can reach up to 1400 °C.

References

Heat exchangers Cooling technology

Function

Applications

See also

References