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EP-4031297-B1 - AUTO-INDEXING LANCE POSITIONER APPARATUS AND SYSTEM

EP4031297B1EP 4031297 B1EP4031297 B1EP 4031297B1EP-4031297-B1

Inventors

  • SCHNEIDER, JOSEPH A.
  • MARKHAM, ADAM CHRISTOPHER
  • HOWELL, SCOTT
  • SZABO, Daniel
  • MONTOYA, Cody
  • BARNES, Jeffery R.
  • HANLEY, COOPER

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20201020

Claims (15)

  1. A flexible high pressure fluid cleaning lance tractor drive apparatus (102, 1200, 2100) comprising: a housing (1202); at least one drive motor (1222) having a drive axle (1226) in the housing (1202) carrying a cylindrical drive roller (1246); a plurality of cylindrical guide rollers (1248) on fixed axles aligned parallel to the drive roller (1246); an endless belt (1242) wrapped around the drive roller (1246) and the guide rollers (1248); a bias member (1244) supporting a plurality of follower rollers (1280) each aligned above one of the drive roller (1246) and guide rollers (1248), wherein the bias member (1244) is operable to press each follower roller (1280) toward one of the drive rollers (1246) and guide rollers (1248) to frictionally grip at least one flexible lance hose (167) when the at least one flexible lance hose (167) is sandwiched between the follower rollers (1280) and the endless belt (1242); the apparatus being characterized by a lance position assembly (2102) fastened in the housing (1202), the lance position assembly (2102) comprising: a sensor roller (2104) having a roller portion (2110) adapted to engage the at least one flexible lance hose (167) passing through the housing (1202) and a magnetic ring portion (2112) adjacent the roller portion (2110); an idler roller (2118) adapted to press against the flexible lance hose (167) to maintain the lance hose engaged with the sensor roller (2118); and a magnetic sensor module (2114) adjacent to the sensor roller (2104) operable to sense magnetic field fluctuations in the magnetic ring portion (2112) of the sensor roller (2104) as the sensor roller (2104) rolls along the flexible lance hose (167).
  2. The apparatus (102, 1200, 2100) according to claim 1 wherein the magnetic ring portion (2112) is a multipole magnetic ring.
  3. The apparatus (102, 1200, 2100) according to claim 1 further comprising the lance position assembly (2102) including a second sensor roller (2104) for engaging a second flexible lance (167) and a second idler roller (2118) adapted to press against the second flexible lance hose (167) to maintain the second flexible lance hose engaged with the second sensor roller (2104).
  4. The apparatus (102, 1200, 2100) according to claim 3 further comprising the lance position assembly (2102) including a third sensor roller (2104) for engaging a third flexible lance (167) and a third idler roller (2118) adapted to press against the third flexible lance hose (167) to maintain the third flexible lance hose engaged with the third sensor roller (2104).
  5. The apparatus (102, 1200, 2100) according to claim 4 wherein the magnetic sensor module (2114) is operable to separately sense magnetic field fluctuations in the first, second and third magnetic ring portions (2112) as the first, second, and third sensor rollers (2110) roll along each respective flexible lance hose (167).
  6. The apparatus (102, 1200, 2100) according to claim 3 wherein the magnetic sensor module (2114) sends sensed separate magnetic field fluctuation signals to a hand held controller (1000, 1400, 1400) for processing.
  7. The apparatus (102, 1200, 2100) according to claim 1 further comprising a crimp and lance stop assembly (126, 140, 2144) removably fastened to the lance drive (102, 1200, 2100), the crimp and lance stop assembly (124, 140, 2144) including an induction stop sensor (140, 2144) having at least one bore therethrough fastened to a lance guide tube support (120) receiving the at least one flexible lance hose (167) therethrough, wherein the induction stop sensor (140, 2144) is adapted to sense presence of a flexible lance hose end crimp when the flexible lance hose end crimp enters the at least one bore.
  8. The apparatus (102, 1200, 2100) according to claim 7 further comprising the induction stop sensor (140, 2144) having three bores therethrough each configured to separately sense presence of a flexible lance hose end crimp entering the respective through bore.
  9. The apparatus (102, 1200, 2100) according to claim 1 further comprising a flexible lance hose stop element (2152) configured to be installed on a flexible lance hose (167) being fed into and through a flexible lance drive apparatus (102, 1200, 2100), the hose stop element (2152) comprising: an elongated body configured to wrap around and grip a flexible lance hose (167), the elongated body having a first half (2152) and a second half (2152) removably fastenable together via threaded fasteners, each half (2152) having a cylindrical stop portion (2154) having a first outer diameter and a shoulder extension portion (2156) having a different outer diameter less than the first outer diameter to enable the shoulder extension portion (2156) to slidably extend within a stop block (2150) on a lance drive apparatus (2100) and prevent passage of the cylindrical stop portion (2154) into the stop block (2150).
  10. The apparatus according to claim 9 further comprising a shoulder portion between the cylindrical stop portion and the shoulder extension (2156), the shoulder portion engaging the stop block (2150) to prevent entry of the cylindrical stop portion (2154) into the stop block (2150).
  11. The apparatus according to claim 1 further comprising a crimp and lance stop assembly removably fastened to the housing (1202), the crimp and lance stop assembly (126, 2144) including an induction stop sensor (140, 2144) having at least one bore therethrough fastened to a lance guide tube support (120, 2140) receiving the at least one flexible lance hose (167) therethrough, wherein the induction stop sensor (140, 2144) is adapted to sense presence of a flexible lance hose end crimp when the flexible lance hose end crimp enters the at least one bore.
  12. The apparatus (102, 1200, 2100) according to claim 11 further comprising the induction stop sensor (140, 2144) having three bores therethrough each configured to separately sense presence of a flexible lance hose end crimp entering the respective through bore.
  13. The apparatus (102, 1200, 2100) according to claim 13 further comprising a lance stop block (2150) fastened to an inlet wall (1210) of the housing (1202) configured to detect presence of a flexible lance hose stop element (2152) fastened to the at least one flexible lance hose (167).
  14. The apparatus (102, 1200, 2100) according to claim 1, wherein the lance position assembly (2102) is fastened to a rear wall of the housing (1202).
  15. The apparatus (102, 1200, 2100) according to claim 1, wherein a side surface of each guide roller (1248) and the drive roller is a spline drive roller (1246) that is tangent to a common plane between the rollers, and the belt (1242) has a transverse splined inner surface having splines shaped complimentary to splines on the spline drive roller (1246).

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE The present disclosure is directed to high pressure waterblasting lance positioning systems. Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to an apparatus and a system for aligning one or more flexible tube cleaning lances in registry with tube openings through a heat exchanger tube sheet. Specifically, the present invention relates to a flexible high pressure fluid cleaning lance tractor drive apparatus as defined in the preamble of claim 1, and as illustrated in US 9,896,299. One auto-indexing system is described in US Patent Publication No. 20170307312 by Wall et. al. This system includes optical scanning, cleaning and inspecting tubes of a tube bundle in a heat exchanger. It involves use of a laser or LED optical scanner for scanning the surface of the tube sheet to locate the holes or locate holes from a predetermined map. Once the hole location is determined, the cleaner is positioned over the hole and the tube cleaned. Another apparatus for a tube sheet indexer is disclosed in US Patent Publication 20170356702. This indexer utilizes a pre-learned hole pattern to identify location of subsequent holes once a particular hole location is sensed. This is because tube sheet hole penetrations are typically spaced apart at known locations from each other in either or both an x direction or y location. However, in some circumstances a hole location may be plugged or capped. Hence not always are the hole locations accurate or precise for accurate positioning of a flexible lance drive. Furthermore, an interference sensor must be used in addition to displacement sensors in order to ascertain accurate hole locations. In some cases a camera may be utilized to optically learn and map the tube sheet faceplate arrangement in advance. However, such optical sensors require an unobstructed view of the tube sheet face and therefore cannot be utilized while the apparatus is in use. Further, optical sensors are very sensitive to light and shadows which can significantly affect the reliability of such scanning in adverse lighting conditions. The tube sheet face may also be caked with built up carbon, bitumen or other materials and therefore must be cleansed of such substances prior to use of optical sensors. Hence the tube sheet must first be cleaned of debris and the mapping must be done prior to tube cleaning operations. What is needed, therefore, is a system that can accurately sense and position a flexible lance drive apparatus in registry with each of a plurality of unplugged tube sheet holes without need of camera or an optical sensor for hole location and without resort to referencing to a predetermined map. Conventional high pressure waterblasting equipment and systems also require an operator to activate high pressure fluid dump valves to divert high pressure fluid safely in the event of an equipment malfunction. Such systems often include a "deadman" switch or foot operated lever that must be actuated to stop the high pressure pump and/or dump/divert high pressure fluid to atmosphere or to a suitable container. These switches typically must be continuously depressed or held in order to permit high pressure fluid to be directed through the lance hose to the object being cleaned. When an event occurs requiring diversion or dump of high pressure fluid, it may take a second or two for the operator to react and release such a switch. Furthermore, it takes a finite amount of time for high pressure fluid pressure to decrease to atmospheric pressure. During such reaction and decay time, the high pressure fluid may still cause damage in the event of an unexpected malfunction. Therefore, there is a need for a smart system that can sense such events and dump or divert high pressure fluid pressure quickly in order to reduce these delays as much as possible. SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE The present disclosure directly addresses such needs. The embodiments described herein may be utilized with rigid (fixed) lances or flexible lances and lance hoses. One embodiment of a lance indexing drive positioning system in accordance with the present disclosure utilizes an AC (alternating current) pulse inductive coupling sensor array mounted at a distal end of a flexible lance guide tube fastened to the lance tractor drive apparatus. This type of inductive sensor is insensitive to fouling, dirt, or other debris or detritus that may be present on a heat exchanger tube sheet face, thus eliminating the need for preliminary cleaning of the heat exchanger tube sheet prior to installation of the system. When the lance tractor drive is mounted on a lance positioner frame fastened to a heat exchanger tube sheet face, for example, the lance guide tube or tubes are aligned perpendicular to the plane of the tube sheet face. The distal end(s) of the guide tube(s) are spaced from the tube sheet face by a gap, which is preferably less than an inch, to minimize the range of unconfined water spray during cleaning operations