The present invention concerns a device for filling the tubes of a vertical tube reactor with material to be poured.

Such tube reactors, which consist of a vessel in which is erected a vertical bundle of tubes, are used among others for the production of ethylene oxide.

The reaction gases are carried through the tubes which are filled with catalyst material and possibly with a top and/or bottom layer and/or intermediate layer of another material such as ceramic material.

From time to time, this material needs to be replaced.

The tubes are typically filled manually by means of a funnel, which is of course very time-consuming and as a consequence expensive.

The invention aims a device which does not show these and other disadvantages and with which the tubes can thus be filled very fast, precisely and according to the required weight specification.

This aim is reached according to the invention by means of a device containing a number of filling pipes which are suspended to a base plate, a drum erected on top of said base plate which is divided into segments by means of radial partitions which are provided with a discharge

opening at the bottom, a conveyor chute which can be vibrated by means of a vibrator between the discharge opening of each segment and one of the respective filling pipes suspended on the base plate, and at least one filling device which is erected in a moving manner above the drum to fill the segments.

This filling device preferably contains a weighing device and contains for example a funnel rotating around a vertical shaft and a weighing pan with an opening bottom situated above the filling opening and which is coupled to a weighing cell.

The second filling device may at least consist of a tray with a flap in the bottom which can be moved over a rail on the edge of the drum.

In order to better explain the characteristics of the invention, the following preferred embodiment of a device for filling the tubes of a tube reactor according to the invention is described as an example only with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

figure 1 schematically represents a section of a device according to the invention mounted on a tube reactor; figure 2 represents a section of the device of figure 1 to a larger scale; figure 3 shows a section according to line III-III in figure 2.

The filling device represented in the figures contains a horizontal, round base plate 1 onto which are suspended a number of filling pipes 2, i.e. twenty in the example

shown .

These filling pipes 2 contain flexible parts 3 and telescopic parts 4, such that their length can be set for example between 1.35 and 2.85 metre.

Their top ends are fixed by means of rapid couplings 5 such as bayonet couplings to exit pieces 6 mounted on the base plate 1 which extend through said base plate 1 and which are evenly distributed over a circle having a smaller diameter than the base plate 1.

Above each exit piece 6 is situated the discharge opening 7 of a conveyor chute 8 which extends radially outward and which is provided on top of the base plate 1 by means of a continuously variable electromagnetic vibrator 9 with a frequency of oscillation between 6,000 and 7,200 Hertz.

On top of the twenty conveyor chutes 8 is erected a stationary drum 10 which is divided in twenty segments 11 by means of radial partitions. The segments 11 have a volume of 15 litre. They are open at the top and closed at the bottom with a bottom slanting downward towards a discharge opening 12 which opens into the most outwardly situated end of a conveyor chute 8.

Above each conveyor chute 8 is thus situated a segment 11 and a discharge opening 12 thereof.

Above the drum 10 are mounted two filling devices 13 and 14 which can move over the segments 11.

The one filling device 13 contains a rotating funnel 15

fixed to a vertical shaft 16 which is driven by a stepping motor 17 which is erected in a housing 18 in the middle of the drum 10, such that the narrowing exit end of the funnel 15 can be successively placed above each of the segments 11. The topmost, wider, open filling end is always situated centrally in relation to the drum 10.

The filling device 13 further contains a weighing device 19-20 with a weighing cell 19 erected on a platform 21 above the funnel 15 and onto which a weighing pan 20 is freely suspended. This weighing pan 20 is erected centrally and thus above the filling end of the funnel 15, and it contains an opening, for example a tilting bottom 22.

On the above-mentioned platform 21 is provided a conveyor chute 24 on an adjustable electromagnetic vibrator 23 whose exit end is situated above the weighing pan 20, and whose inlet end is situated under a large storage funnel 25 with an adjustable exit opening.

In this storage funnel 25 opens the top end of a dust- permeable and continuously variable loading/conveyor belt 26.

The filling device 14 consists of a tray 27 of a series of several, for example ten, trays 27 coupled to one another whose bottom is an opening flap 28 and which can be moved over a rail 29 on the edge of the drum 10 by means of double-acting pneumatic cylinders.

A tray 27 can thus be provided over each of the segments 11. The content of a tray 27 weighs about 1.5 kg.

In order to fill a tube reactor 30, formed of a vertical tank 31 which is provided with a manhole 32 at the top and in which is erected a tube bundle 33 with vertical tubes 34, with material to be poured such as a catalyst by means of the above-described device, the method is as follows.

The above-described device is mounted above the tank 1 by means of a frame 35 onto which the different components such as the base plate l, the drum 10 and the platform 21 are mounted, such that the device is situated with its base plate 1 above the manhole 32.

The filling pipes 2 which have been coupled to the exit pieces 6 by means of the rapid couplings 5 are hereby provided through the manhole 32 and connected to the tubes 34 in two groups of ten to twenty tubes 34 to be filled or they are placed in these tubes 34.

As the tubes 34 are situated more on the outside of the tank 31, the telescopic parts 4 of the filling pipes 2 must be telescoped out further.

An amount of the filling material is continuously supplied to the storage funnel 25 by the loading/conveyor belt 26. This conveyor belt 26 can be controlled for example by a sensor which is situated in the storage funnel 25.

Dust falling through the loading/conveyor belt 26 is caught in a receptacle and extracted.

Material from the storage funnel 25 is put in the weighing pan 20 by means of a vibrating conveyor chute 24

at a speed which depends on the setting of the vibrator 23.

As soon as the required amount (between 2.5 and 14 kg) has been put in the weighing pan 20, the weighing cell 19 orders the bottom 22 of the weighing pan 20 to open, as a result of which the measured amount of material enters in a specific segment 11 of the drum 10 via the funnel 15.

As soon as the weighing pan 20 is empty, its bottom 22 is closed again. A second amount of material is then measured by the weighing cell 19 in the above-described manner. In the meantime, the funnel 15 will revolve a little, such that it ends up over a segment 11, whereby this subsequent segment 11 now receives the material .

Ten segments 11 of one half of the drum 10 are filled one by one in this manner.

While the ten segments 11 of the other half of the drum 10 are filled in the same manner, the first segments 11 are emptied, either one after the other or simultaneously, via the conveyor chutes 8 which are situated under said segments 11 and which are vibrated by their vibrator 9.

As a result, the material ends up in the ten filling pipes 2 of a group via the discharge openings 7, and ten tubes 34 are filled in this way.

Afterwards, the above-described cycle can be repeated.

The vibrators 9 and 23, the stepping motor 17 for

rotating the funnel 15, the bottom 22 of the weighing pan 20 and the weighing cell 19 can be operated or set manually, but they are preferably controlled by means of an electronic control with the required software, so that the device can operate fully automatically with the required safety devices in order to prevent a tube 34 from being filled twice.

The automatic control may be disconnectable and may be replaced by a manual control, preferably a remote control, for example to fill a tube 34 which has been filled insufficiently or in a wrong manner.

This can also be done by means of the filling device 14, which is particularly suitable, however, to provide a second material in the tubes 34, for example a top layer of ceramic material.

The filling of a tray 27 is carried out manually, either with a pre-measured amount by means of a funnel held over the tray 27, or by means of a measuring jug.

The automatic filling of a segment 11 of the drum 10 and the manual filling of a tray 27 can be carried out either simultaneously or consecutively.

However, the filling of a tube 34 with both filling devices 13 and 14 is carried out consecutively. After a tube 34 has been filled with material from a segment 11, a second layer of the same or another material is provided from the tray 27 in the tube 34.

The above-described device allows for a very rapid filling with a minimum of working forces and man-hours.

The present invention is by no means restricted to the above-described embodiment as represented in the figures; on the contrary, such a device for filling a tube reactor can be made in all sorts of variants while still remaining within the scope of the invention.