FIELD OF INVENTION:
This invention relates to the field of mechanical engineering. More specifically it relates to a composite header, having applications in process industry.
BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION:
In processing industries e.g. sugar industry, the process heating medium is supplied to the various processing equipments like evaporators, pans (evaporating crystallizers), etc by means of a manifold, commonly called as 'heating medium header' e.g. if heating medium is steam, it is called 'steam header'. The vapours generated from the liquid being processed are withdrawn by means of pipes opening into a common manifold, commonly called as 'vapour header'. The design, arrangement & layout of headers and pipes of processing equipments as also the other apparatuses in a processing industry require much effort and expense.
With ever increasing prices of land and raw material, usually iron & steel, for making and supporting process equipments, headers and pipes, and other apparatuses, the processing industry has been shifting to vertical tower-like continuous or semi-continuous processing equipments e.g. evaporators and pans in sugar industry which have superimposed chambers or stages. Some of such like processing equipments are described in Patent Nos. JP52001045, US4120745, EP0065775, EP0201629, DE3839182, FR2695837, IN209013, and PCT Application Number PCT/IN06/00389.
In all such tower type processing equipments having stacked chambers or stages, the process heating medium, usually steam, is supplied to each chamber or stage of a tower type processing equipment through supply lines emerging from a common heating medium supply manifold called the 'heating medium header' e.g. 'steam header', which too has a vertical orientation.

Simultaneously, the vapours generated from the liquid being processed in the chambers are withdrawn therefrom by means of pipes connecting to a common vapour manifold, called the 'vapour header'. These vapours are condensed in a condenser.
In processing of heat sensitive materials such as sugar solutions, processing of such liquids takes place in vacuum or below atmospheric pressure. To achieve the desired vacuum and also condense the generated vapours, multijet multispray condensers are commonly used.
The multijet multispray condensers are a category of direct contact condensers, because the vapours and cooling medium, mostly water, are in direct contact with each other. In these types of condensers, a combination of jets and spray nozzles is used to not only condense the vapours, but also create vacuum, so that the vapours and also air/non-condensable gases get sucked into the condenser and thereafter condensed/ejected. These condensers are installed at the barometric height in the plant.
Problems and limitations of existing headers in process equipments
Existing headers in process equipments, when used for different purposes e.g. steam feeding or vapour removal, are separate entities. For example, a processing plant of large capacity has a number of tower type processing equipments with superimposed chambers or stages with their individual heating medium headers and vapour headers. A number of such processing equipments may have a common vertical heating medium header and also a common vertical vapour header. The latter may connect to a condenser. However, installation of such vertical common heating medium header as well as vertical common vapour header and condenser not only requires separate space, but also structures to support them. Moreover, it has been found that when a number of processing equipments are placed around these common headers, there also arises great difficulty in routing the connecting
pipes to each chamber of the processing equipments resulting in much increased
complexity and cost in header and piping layout.
Thus, the main disadvantages of existing headers can be summarized as below:
1. Enhance equipment footprint, considerably: Owing to additional requirements of space, to accommodate the accompanying pipes and fittings, space required to house the equipments gets enhanced.
2. Enhance costs: Supporting structures required to support the headers, lead to additional costs.
3. Enhance installation time: Owing to separate headers, at different positions, there also arises great difficulty in routing the connecting pipes to each chamber of the processing equipments resulting in much increased complexity which considerably enhances installation time.
In the present invention, existing concept was challenged by developing a composite header, in which more than one header is housed in a single unit. The invention aimed to reduce both the complexity and cost associated therewith.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION:
The primary object of the invention is to disclose a composite header which considerably reduces the complexity of installation.
Another object of the invention is to disclose a means of reducing the costs of headers, by use of a novel header.
A further object of the invention is to disclose a header with a remarkably compact footprint owing to novel and innovative approach.
Additional objects & advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the

invention will be realized and attained by means of the elements and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.
STATEMENT OF INVENTION:
Accordingly, the invention provides a composite header comprising a heating medium header and a vapour header and wherein the heating medium header is disposed within the vapour header. The composite header comprising a heating medium header and a vapour header wherein the said heating medium header and the vapour header have a shared footprint.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS:
Fig. 1 shows an isometric view of an embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 2 is the plan view of the view in Fig. 1.
Fig. 3 refers to an embodiment of the present invention in its diagrammatic sectional elevation view showing the composite header in which common heating medium header is disposed within the common vapour header.
Fig. 4 refers to another embodiment of the present invention in its diagrammatic sectional elevation view showing the composite header in which common heating medium header and condenser are disposed within the the common vapour header.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION WITH REFERENCE TO THE DRAWINGS:
Conventionally, the heating medium headers and vapour headers of processing equipments as well as condenser are spatially separately located with their respective support structures and foot print.
The present invention provides a novel & inventive composite header for processing equipments in which the common heating medium header (usually steam header) and the common vapour header have a shared foot print and respective support structures required are totally eliminated. The composite header of the present invention has a common heating medium header disposed entirely within the common vapour header, resulting in the following major advantages:
1. Considerable space saving. Space requirement is drastically reduced.
2. No external supporting structure required for composite header.
3. More sturdy due to interconnecting pipe connections.
4. Simplified routing of connecting pipes.
5. Better plant layout.
5. Economy of construction.
6. Insulation on steam header disposed within the vapor header can be avoided depending upon the application.
7. The space beneath the composite header may be advantageously utilized for a condensate mond thereby further reducing the extra space required for its installation.
The invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the following description, and indicated in all the views of the drawings, by the same reference characters.
As shown in Fig. 1 & 2, the composite header 1 of the present invention is particularly useful where a number of processing equipments with plurality of chambers or stages stacked one above the other are installed. For example, in a sugar manufacturing plant, where a number of vertical evaporating crystallizers 2 (also called vacuum pans) are erected, each chamber or stage is heated with heating medium, usually steam, by means of a set of connecting pipes 3 from a common heating medium header. The air in each chamber and vapours generated in each chamber are withdrawn by means of another set of connecting pipes 4 into a common vapour header. The withdrawn air / vapours are normally directed into a condenser for ejecting / condensing the air and vapours. The sugar solution being a heat sensitive material is processed at pressures lower than the atmospheric pressure. So the said condenser is usually of multijet multispray type and installed at a barometric height.
Embodiments of the invention:
In an embodiment of the present invention shown in Fig. 3, a composite header 1 is provided in which the common heating medium header la and the common vapour header lb occupy only the space required by the common vapour header lb. No additional space or support means are required at all. In the inventive composite

header 1, the common heating medium header la, usually steam header, is disposed within the common vapour header lb.
In its preferred embodiment, the axis of both the headers la & lb (heating steam header and vapour header) coincide. Their axes, however, can also be parallel. The connecting pipes 3 & 4 to and from the said common headers la & lb are operatively connected with the various chambers or stages 5, stacked one above the other, of the processing equipments 2 and provide structural integrity thereby eliminating the need for any support structures required for each such common header la & lb. The condenser (not shown), which is usually of multijet multispray type, is installed at a barometric height and vapours and air/non-condensable gases are sucked into it from the common vapour header lb through a vapour line (not shown) and condensed / ejected therein.
In an another embodiment of the present invention shown in Fig. 4, the composite header 1 includes the multijet multispray condenser 6 and all the three i.e the common heating medium header la, the common vapour header lb and the multijet multispary condenser 6 have a shared footprint and take up only the space occupied by the common vapour header lb and no additional space is required at all. The common heating medium header la, usually steam header, is disposed within the common vapour header lb. In its preferred embodiment, the axis of both the headers la & lb (heating steam header and vapour header) coincide.
The multijet multispray condenser is installed at a barometric height. In this embodiment of the present invention, the shell portion 7 of the said condenser 6 is integrated with the common vapour header lb with its axis coinciding with the axis of the said common vapour header lb. The cone portion 8 of the said condenser 6 divides both the common vapour header lb and the common heating medium header la into two portions, one above the condenser and the other below. The said divided portions of the said headers la & lb are interconnected by means of respective by-pass interconnecting manifolds 9 & 10. The by-pass interconnecting manifold 9 of common heating medium header la may or may not be disposed

within the by-pass interconnecting manifold 10 of the common vapour header 1 b. If disposed within the said by-pass interconnecting manifold 10 of the common vapour header lb, it may or may not have the same axis as that of the said by-pass interconnecting manifold 10 of the common vapour header lb.
In a variant of this embodiment of the invention, the sets of connecting pipes 3 & 4 to and from the said respective common headers la & lb, connecting the chambers or stages 5 of processing equipments 2 located at a height lower than at which the condenser 6 is installed, instead of being connected to the lower divided portion of the said headers la & lb are routed directly to a position above the said condenser 6 to join their respective headers la & lb. Alternatively, the skirt 12 height of the processing equipments 2 may also be raised to minimize the number of chambers remaining below the height at which the condenser 6 is installed.
The shell portion 7 of the multijet multispray condenser 6 which is integrated with the common vapour header lb is open at its upper end to receive the vapours and air/non-condensable gases withdrawn into the common vapour header lb. The vapours are condensed and air/non-condensable gases ejected by the said multijet multispray condenser 6. The condensed vapours along with condensing medium, usually water, and air/non-condensable gases are forced through the tail pipe 11 of the said condenser 6 into a drain.
The upper portion of the common heating medium header la above the condenser 6 terminates at a point just above the inlet of vapours and air / non-condensable gases into the shell portion 7 of the condenser 6. The lower portion of the common heating medium header la terminates at a point of intersection with the cone portion 8 of the condenser 6. The tail pipe 11 of the condenser 6 thus passes through the lower portion of the common heating medium header la into the drain.
Although in the preceding description, the invention is described with reference to specific exemplary embodiments which according to the inventors is the best mode of carrying out the invention i.e. in headers having vertical orientation, yet the
invention can also be readily adapted in headers having non-vertical orientation by persons skilled in the art with same or similar advantages.
Thus, in the preceding detailed description, the invention is described with reference to specific exemplary embodiments thereof. Various modifications and changes may be made thereto without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the claims. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense. Thus, without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist of the present invention that others can, by applying current knowledge, readily adapt it for various applications without omitting features that, from the standpoint of prior art, fairly constitute essential characteristics of the generic or specific aspects of this invention.

CLAIMS:
We claim:
1. A composite header (1) comprising a heating medium header (la) and a vapour header (lb) and wherein the heating medium header (la) is disposed within the vapour header (lb).
2. A composite header (1) comprising a heating medium header (la) and a vapour header (lb) wherein the said headers (la & lb) have a shared footprint.
3. The composite header (1) as claimed in claim 1 or 2 wherein the axes of the heating medium header (la) and the vapour header (lb) are coinciding.
4. The composite header as claimed in claim 1 or 2 wherein the axes of heating medium header (la) and the vapour header (lb) are parallel.
5. The composite header (1) as claimed in any one of the preceding claims 1 to 4 wherein the said composite header (1) further includes a condenser (6).
6. The composite header (1) as claimed in claim 5 wherein the said heating medium header (la) and the said vapour header (lb) comprising the composite header (1) and the said condenser (6) have a shared footprint.
7. The composite header (1) as claimed in claim 5 or 6 wherein the axes of the vapour header (lb) and the condenser (6) coincide.
8. The composite header (1) as claimed in claim 5 or 6 wherein the axes of the heating medium header (la), the vapour header (lb) and the condenser (6) coincide.
9. The composite header (1) as claimed in claim 5 or 6 wherein the heating medium header (la) and the vapour header (lb) are divided into two portions interconnected by means of respective by-pass interconnecting manifolds (9 & 10).
10. The composite header (1) as claimed in claim 9 wherein the by-pass interconnecting manifold (9) of heating medium header (la) is disposed within the by-pass interconnecting manifold (10) of the vapour header (lb).
10. The composite header (1) as claimed in claim 10 wherein the axes of bypass interconnecting manifold (9) of heating medium header (la) and the by-pass interconnecting manifold (10) of the vapour header (lb) coincide.
11. The composite header (1) substantially as herein described in the specification with reference to the accompanying drawings.