Method of and device for heat exchange with a fluid in the course of partial freezing
AssigneeThermique Generale et Vinicole
InventorAdrien Laude-Bousquet
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention relates to a device for heat exchange between a refrigerant in the course of vaporization and a fluid to be cooled in the course of freezing. According to the invention, the device comprises a conduit for the fluid to be cooled, a shell making, around the conduit, a chamber for the passage of the refrigerant, and a mechanical means for separating, from the wall of the conduit, any solid phase of the fluid to be cooled, consisting of a rotor provided with radial and flexible filaments. The invention applies in particular to the production of homogeneous mixtures of water and ice.
Claims19
A method of conducting heat exchange between a refrigerant and a fluid to be cooled, comprising the steps of:
- a) circulating at least one stream of the fluid to be cooled under pressure and causing the at least one stream of fluid to contact a first face of a heat exchange wall;
- b) directing the refrigerant along a second face of the heat exchange wall;
- and
- c) mechanically resisting deposition on the first face of the heat exchange wall of any solid layer of the fluid to be cooled by creating a turbulent boundary layer in the at least one stream of fluid to be cooled.
A device for conducting heat exchange between a refrigerant and a fluid to be cooled, comprising:
- a) at least one conduit for circulating the fluid to be cooled under pressure, the at least one conduit having:
- i) an inlet and an outlet for said fluid;
- and
- ii) a heat exchange wall including a first face and a second face, the first face being in contact with the fluid to be cooled and the second face being in contact with the refrigerant;
- b) a passage device that passes the refrigerant along the second face;
- and
- c) a mechanical resist device including:
- i) a rotor mounted within the conduit,
- ii) resisting elements, each of the elements being in the vicinity of the first face of the heat exchange wall and being distributed along the axis of and around the rotor, and
- iii) a rotor drive,
- wherein said resisting elements comprise a multiplicity of flexible filaments, each having a first end fastened to the rotor and a free second end adjacent to the first face of the heat exchange wall, whereby the elements agitate, in liquid phase, a boundary layer of the fluid to be cooled in contact with the first face of the heat exchange wall to resist deposition on the first face of the heat exchange wall of any solid layer of the fluid to be cooled.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.