Heat exchange – With vehicle feature
Patent
1997-03-18
2000-05-02
Atkinson, Christopher
Heat exchange
With vehicle feature
165 10, 62 59, F28F 2700
Patent
active
060560436
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to insulated heat accumulators for use in the engine coolant loops of vehicles and that can be charged and discharged repeatedly by means of a heat transfer fluid flowing through at least one inflow line and one outflow line that penetrate the insulation of the heat accumulator. The invention also concerns a method for charging and discharging this type of heat accumulator.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
One example of a heat accumulator of the general type of concern is shown in DE 40 41 626. To avoid mixing of warm fluid with cold fluid in the accumulator, this heat accumulator uses an intermediate accumulator into which cool fluid is introduced during discharge of the accumulator. The introduction of fluid into the intermediate accumulator forces warm fluid from the accumulator. The intermediate accumulator, for example, can be of a flexible bellows or piston-cylinder design. Such an accumulator is a representative of the type often referred to as a membrane accumulator, and has recently been considered to an increasing extent for use in vehicles because it has the capability of supplying large amounts of heat by avoiding mixing of cold fluid and warm fluid.
Another type of heat accumulator, which is also intended for use in vehicles, is a latent heat accumulator, which includes an inner vessel, an accumulator core in which an accumulator medium, e.g., an accumulator salt, is situated, and an outer vessel with insulation provided between the core and the outer vessel.
Advantageously, a latent heat accumulator has a large storage capacity. Offsetting this advantage, is a more limited discharge rate. Further, latent heat accumulators are quite costly to manufacture. They pose problems in terms of disposal because of the polluting nature of the storage medium. Membrane accumulators in this respect are preferred, but are still too expensive because of the membrane and the additional required plumbing. Moreover, membrane accumulators do not have an acceptable useful life. Another significant drawback of both accumulator types is that their geometry is not easily modified to accommodate irregularly-shaped installation spaces within the engine compartment of a vehicle. This is becoming increasingly important because the available space in vehicle engine compartments is diminishing as the number of components incorporated within engine compartments increases.
Another type of heat accumulator is a layered accumulator which typically is used in households and which exploits the higher density of a fluid at cooler temperatures by introducing cool fluid into a lower storage space and withdrawing warm fluid from an upper storage space, with the least possible mixing of the cool and warm fluids. Layered accumulators typically have a storage volume of many cubic meters, which is much larger than the previously discussed heat accumulators that are intended for use in vehicles. Further, layered accumulators are rarely, if ever, fully discharged. Accordingly, layered accumulators are typically subject to different constraints than heat accumulators intended for use in vehicles.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is the principal object of the invention to provide a new and improved heat accumulator for use in the coolant loop of a vehicle, and more specifically, to provide a heat accumulator for a vehicle that is optimized in terms of heat storage capacity, with minimized mixing of warm coolant with cold coolant and minimized heat losses.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a heat accumulator that can be readily adapted to irregular installation spaces within the engine compartment of a vehicle.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a heat accumulator at a manufacturing cost that is reduced relative to conventional heat accumulators that are intended for use in vehicles.
These objects are achieved according to the invention in a heat accumulator surrounded by insulation and adapted for use in a cooling loop of a vehicle. The heat accumulator includes
REFERENCES:
patent: 4037579 (1977-07-01), Chubb
patent: 4064931 (1977-12-01), Laing
patent: 4082143 (1978-04-01), Thomason
patent: 4371028 (1983-02-01), Helshoj
patent: 4408654 (1983-10-01), Doomernik
patent: 5090474 (1992-02-01), Schatz
patent: 5435380 (1995-07-01), Yamada et al.
patent: 5465585 (1995-11-01), Mornhed et al.
Stephan Bernhard
Strahle Roland
Streicher Bernd
Atkinson Christopher
Langerer & Reich GmbH
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