Stoves and furnaces – Hot-air furnaces – Compressed air
Patent
1991-06-13
1992-05-19
Dority, Carroll B.
Stoves and furnaces
Hot-air furnaces
Compressed air
126116R, F24H 302
Patent
active
051138441
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND
This invention relates to a heat exchange assembly and concerns the configuration and nature of heat exchange elements within such an assembly to optimize efficiency.
Heat exchangers are used in a number of different applications. These include use in heaters having application in domestic and industrial situations. Heat exchangers have commonly been used in central heating apparatus in which air to be heated and diverted to one or more room outlets is blown through the heat exchange assembly and the present invention has been developed primarily for this application. However, the present invention is not limited to such use.
A heat exchanger is a device that transfers heat from one fluid to another without allowing the fluids to come into contact with each other. The fluid being heated in the case of a central heater is of course ambient air. The efficiency of a heat exchanger is generally enhanced if the fluid to which heat is to be transferred passes through the heat exchanger in the opposite direction to the direction of the fluid transferring heat. Such an arrangement is known as counter-current heat exchange. Counter-current heat exchange is generally more efficient than co-current heat exchange due to the maintenance of a greater temperature differential between the two respective fluids along the length of the heat exchanger.
This concept has been adopted in the past in the design of central heating apparatus but has required the use of large and cumbersome assemblies for the enclosure of the heat exchange elements. The size of such assemblies has made underfloor and roof installation difficult and in some cases not possible.
An object of the present invention is to provide an improved heat exchange assembly which is thermodynamically efficient. It is a further object of the invention to provide a heat exchange assembly which is compact.
SUMMARY
The invention consists of a heat exchange assembly comprising at least one primary and at least one secondary heat exchange element housed within an outer enclosure, a fan and heating means; said enclosure comprising inlet and outlet openings for respectively receiving air to be heated and delivering heated air drawn into and forced through the said enclosure by the fan; wherein each primary heat exchange element is a metallic substantially planar panel and includes an "S" shaped passage having an opening located proximate the rearward end of the enclosure and a exit orifice proximate the forward end of the enclosure and wherein each secondary heat exchange element is a metallic substantially planar panel and includes an inlet proximate the forward end of the enclosure connected by a passage or passages to an outlet proximate the rearward end of the enclosure, the said inlet of each secondary heat exchange element communicating with an exit orifice of at least one primary heat exchange element and said outlet of each secondary heat exchange element communicating with an exhaust outlet of the enclosure whereby said heating means is adapted to heat and cause a heat exchange fluid to move sequentially through the primary and secondary heat exchange elements and whereby air to be heated is forced from the rearward end of the enclosure to the forward end of the enclosure in a stream generally parallel to the plane of the said heat exchange elements.
The primary heat exchange element or elements may be a metallic plate with an "S" shaped conduit attached to an outer surface. Preferably, the primary heat exchangers are formed from a pair of metallic sheets having corresponding embossments formed therein to provide an internal passage through which the heating fluid may flow. The shape of the passage is substantially "S" shaped so that three portions of the passage are substantially parallel to the flow of the ambient air past the heat exchange element and substantially parallel to each other. As the heated fluid travels through the passage to the exit orifice, its temperature drops. Thus, if the heated fluid is a gas it is desirable to reduce the cr
REFERENCES:
patent: 2089969 (1937-08-01), Kuenhold
patent: 2715399 (1955-08-01), Witt et al.
patent: 3102530 (1963-09-01), Diehl
patent: 4275705 (1981-06-01), Schaus
Dority Carroll B.
Vulcan Australia Limited
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