Equipment design absorbers

The spill of process materials in an SCB is an anticipated operational event Spills may range from minor seepage or leaks of small quantities of materials to a complete spill of the process contents due to operator error or due to failure of process containers. Process container failures may occur either due to spontaneous mechanical failures and/or may be induced by operator actions. Provisions for accommodating such spills have been incorporated in process equipment design in the fomn of spill trays, absorbent material, and SCB washdown systems. Clean up of the spilled material and returning the SCB to a clean operational state will be an operational Inconvenience, but will be a routine task. 

To protect terminal equipment or other (weaker) portions of the system, restraints (such as anchors and guides) shall be provided where necessary to control movement or to direct expansion into those portions of the system that are adequate to absorb them. The design, arrangement, and location of restraints shall ensure that expansion-joint movements occur in the directions for which the joint is designed. In addition to the other thermal forces and moments, the effects of friction in other supports of the system shall be considered in the design of such anchors and guides. 

Elame arresters for chemical process equipment and flammable liquid containers have been available for over 120 years. A US patent was issued as early as 1878 for a spark-arrester (Allonas 1878), while another spark-arrester was patented in 1880 (Stewart 1880). Numerous US patents have been issued for various designs of flame arresters, with one as recent as 1995 (Ronssakis and Brooker 1995). In Germany, patents were issued in 1929 and 1939 for flame arresters that contained shock absorber internals upstream of the flame arrester elements. This innovation made them suitable as detonation arresters (Wanben 1999). 

Torque converters used in most drawworks are designed to absorb shocks from the prime movers or the driven equipment and to multiply the input torque. Torque converters are used in conjunction with internal combustion prime movers when these engines are used directly to drive the drawworks. More modern drawworks are driven by electric drives since such prime movers usually simplify the drawworks. 

These materials are designed to reduce water from condensation dripping on equipment, etc. They often incorporate particles of cork so that water is absorbed. They are generally thick films to provide some insulation and have a rough textured surface finish to increase the surface area and encourage water evaporation. In general, physical methods of prevention such as adequate ventilation, etc. are more effective. 

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