Loading patent…
AssigneeColumbia Gas System Service Corporation
InventorsF. Bert Cook, Stephen E. Petty, Howard C. Meacham, Jr., Richard N. Christensen, Kevin R. McGahey
Estimating the term…
A refrigeration and heating system has been made in which improved efficiencies are obtained by placing helical concentric coils of at least two generators (80 and 81) and recuperators (86 and 95) on a common axis (232) with a heating unit (84) at the center and allowing the hot combustion gases (245) to circulate in serpentine fashion through separate concentric chambers containing the coils. Further efficiencies are obtained by placing an absorber (97), condenser (100) and recuperator (107) in a single module (270) and by using tube-in-tube or tube-in-cylinder construction with fluted inner tubes. A general purpose, divided-flow, tube-in-cylinder, heat-transfer device (400) is used to reduce the pressure drop in the circulating fluid.
A divided-flow tube-in-cylinder heat transfer device comprising:
A tube-in-cylinder heat exchanger comprising a first tube wherein said tube is divided into at least two first divided twisted fluted tubes having raised longitudinal helical crests on the exterior surface of said tubes with corresponding interior helical troughs on the interior surface of said tubes and longitudinal helical troughs adjacent to said exterior crests on said exterior surface of said tubes with corresponding interior raised helical crests on said interior surface of said tubes with each of said divided tubes formed as a set of a plurality of coils about a coil center-line in a generally annular cylindrical composite form with the coils contacting and juxtaposed one to the next and contained within an annular cylinder with the axes of said coils being coextensive with said annular cylinder center-line and through which said annular cylinder flows a fluid through voids formed by said exterior surface of said tubes and the interior annular cylinder walls, said voids existing 1) between contacting juxtaposed coils as a result of said troughs adjacent to said raises crests, said raised crests on one coil contacting the raised crests on an adjacent juxtaposed coil, 2) between said coils and said interior cylinder walls as a result of said troughs adjacent to said raised crests, said crests on said coils contacting said interior annular cylinder walls, and 3) between said coils and said interior cylinder walls as a result of the circular shape of said coil tubes, said coils in contact with each other and said interior cylinder walls, said voids allowing said fluid to flow in cross-flow 1) around and between said juxtaposed coils in said troughs and voids adjacent to said crests;
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.