Indirect evaporative cooler
AssigneeCoolex, Inc.
InventorSam F. Fogleman
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An indirect evaporative cooler having an improved heat exchanger. The heat exchanger includes a plurality of heat tubes arranged in a closely spaced vertically stagger matrix and with each tube having an internal fin mounted therein. The heat transfer tubes and internal fins are distortion fitted to one another to provide a heat conductive bond between the internal fins and the exterior of the heat transfer tubes. Additionally, the heat transfer tubes are arranged in a novel matrix with improved heat transfer characteristics.
Claims12
An indirect evaporative cooler comprising:
- a plurality of heat transfer tubes formed of thin-walled tubing having an internal fin mounted therein with each internal fin formed with accordion-like pleats bonded to an inside wall of the tubing by a distortion fit between a sharp folded edge of the internal fin and compression loads from distorting the thin-walled tubing;
- means for cascading water over an exterior surface of the heat transfer tubes;
- means for directing a scavenger air flow through the cascading water for evaporation;
- and
- means for directing dry air to be cooled through the heat transfer tubes.
In an indirect evaporative cooler, the improvement comprising:
- a heat exchanger formed of a plurality heat transfer tubes formed in a matrix of vertically staggered rows and including:
- a. a plurality of thin-walled plastic tubes having an inside diameter;
- b. a plurality of metallic fins formed with accordion-like pleats having sharp folded edges with the metallic fins having pleat lengths greater than the inside diameter of the plastic tubes and with a compressive load applied to the thin-walled plastic tube during assembly for inserting the metallic fins to produce a compression fit between the metallic fins and plastic tubes whereby a thermally conductive bond is formed between the sharp folded edges of the internal fins and the thin-walled plastic tube.
In an evaporative cooler in which dry air is directed through a plurality of heat transfer tubes and water is cascaded over the heat transfer tubes for cooling the dry air, a heat exchanger comprising:
- a plurality of heat transfer tubes arranged in vertically staggered rows with each tube including an internal fin formed with accordion-like pleats and sharp folded edges;
- a distortion fit between the heat transfer tubes and internal fins formed by forming the fins larger than an internal diameter of the heat transfer tubes and by deforming the heat transfer tubes by side loading during assembly;
- whereby a heat conductive bond is formed between the sharp folded edges of the internal fins and the heat transfer tubes.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.