High pressure, high temperature, on demand water heater
AssigneeGas Technology Institute
InventorsJames H. Irvin, William E. Farthing, Larry G. Felix, Todd R. Snyder
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A compact, on-demand system to produce high pressure (≤5,000 psig) and high temperature (≤450° C.) water or other liquids which maintains single-phase flow throughout the system utilizing low-cost, thick-wall tubing and thereby negate the requirement to design the unit as a boiler or adhere to coded pressure vessel design requirements. This design can also replace a conventional boiler for the generation of hot water as well as low and high pressure steam.
Claims24
A high pressure, high temperature water heater system comprising:
- a pump providing pressurization of water;
- an accumulator in fluid connection with the pump, wherein the accumulator dampens pulsations and pressure spikes produced by the pump to provide a constant, even flow of water;
- a first-stage water heater in fluid connection with the pump, wherein the first-stage water heater comprises a heater liner enclosing a tubing and a plurality of high watt density heaters wherein the tubing is a coiled arrangement and surrounding the plurality of the high watt density heaters, the heater liner further includes a thermally conductive powder in contact with the tubing and high watt density heaters to facilitate efficient heat transfer from the high watt density heater to water in the tubing and the tubing is sized to create a turbulent flow of the water at a Reynolds number of at least 2000 at the operational flowrates of the pump;
- a second-stage inline water heater in fluid connection with the first-stage water heater and including an annular flow path sized to create a turbulent flow of the water at a Reynolds number of at least 2000 at the operational flowrates of the pump;
- a backpressure regulator in fluid connection with the second-stage inline water heater, wherein the backpressure regulator handles single and multiphase flow;
- and
- a fluid output.
A high pressure, high temperature water heater system comprising:
- a positive-displacement, variable speed, variable stroke piston pump providing water;
- an accumulator in fluid connection with the positive-displacement variable speed, variable stroke piston pump, wherein the accumulator dampens pulsations and pressure spikes produced by the positive-displacement variable stroke piston pump to provide a constant, non-pulsating flow of water;
- a first-stage high watt density water heater connected downstream of the pump, the first-stage high watt density water heater including a heater liner enclosing a coiled arrangement of tubing surrounding a plurality of high watt density heaters and a conductive powder in contact with the tubing and the high watt density heaters to facilitate heat transfer from the high watt density heaters to water flowing within the tubing and wherein the tubing is sized to create turbulent flow of the water at a Reynolds number of at least 2000 at the operational flowrates of the pump to enable efficient heat removal from walls of tubing to the water flowing in the tubing;
- a second-stage inline water heater connected downstream of the first-stage water heater and including an annular flow path sized to create a turbulent flow of the water at a Reynolds number of at least 2000 at the operational flowrates of the pump;
- and
- a backpressure regulator connected downstream of the second-stage inline water heater, wherein the backpressure regulator handles single and multiphase flow.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.