Configureable heat exchanger
AssigneeCool Energy, Inc.
InventorsNathaniel Farber, Lee S. Smith
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A heat exchanger is provided by assembling a plurality of individual plates having opposed faces, wherein flow channels are machined through those opposed faces, and the plates are interconnected with intervening shim plates. End plates are connected to an assembly of such plates and intermediate plates, to form a preform, which is then machined to a desired cross section. The resulting structure has a plurality of passages therethrough in one direction, and a second plurality of passages therethrough in a second direction, the passages fluidly isolated from one another. The resulting structure is configurable to a specific geometry of a flow passage, and enables heat exchange between fluids passing through the different flow channels.
Claims19
A heat exchanger having a first side and an opposed second side, comprising:
- a plurality of individual heat exchange elements, each of said elements including:
- a first flow passage configured to be communicable with a first fluid flow passing through the heat exchanger only in a direction from the first side to the second side thereof;
- and
- a second flow passage, fluidly isolated from said first flow passage, configured to be communicable with a second fluid flow passing through the heat exchanger only in a direction transverse to the flow direction of the first fluid flow passage;
- and
- an intermediate member, different than an individual heat exchange element, interposed between said first flow passage of one of said heat exchange elements and the second flow passage of another of said heat exchange elements.
A heat exchanger, comprising:
- a plurality of plates stacked one upon the other, each of said plates having a first axis of symmetry and a second axis of symmetry;
- a plurality of openings disposed in rows parallel to said first axis of symmetry, the position of said rows being symmetric to either side of said first axis of symmetry, and the position of said openings being symmetric to either side of said second axis of symmetry, and the openings of each plate aligned to form a continuous flow channel extending through each of the aligned openings of each of the plurality of plates stacked one upon the other;
- and
- a plurality of rows of slots separated by lands, said rows of slots and lands being disposed intermediate of said rows of openings and generally parallel thereto, said rows being disposed to either side of said first axis of symmetry and symmetrically distanced therefrom, and said lands and slots being disposed asymmetrically with respect to said second axis of symmetry, the lands disposed such that the lands of a plate in the plurality of plates do not overlie the lands of an adjacent plate in the plurality of plates;
- wherein said lands and slots of adjacent plates form a tortuous pathway through the heat exchanger, the tortuous pathway extending transverse to the flow path of said aligned openings.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.