Refrigeration – Gas compression – heat regeneration and expansion – e.g.,...
Patent
1995-09-15
1997-10-14
Capossela, Ronald C.
Refrigeration
Gas compression, heat regeneration and expansion, e.g.,...
60520, F25B 900
Patent
active
056759746
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a heat exchanger, particularly for heating and cooling machines operating by a regenerative gas cycle process, with separated media which participate in the heat transfer.
Heating and cooling machines operating according to the Sterling or Vuilleumier cycle process have been known for a long time, for example, from GB-PS 136 195. However, despite the undeniable advantages of the regenerative gas cycle process, they have not found acceptance in practice, mainly because of constructive difficulties which have up to this point prevented the realization of the theoretical advantages of such machines in practice. Even recent publications, for example EP 0 238 707 A2, are more concerned with theoretical considerations than with practical embodiments of such heating and cooling machines provided with two pistons which are linearly displaceable within a pressure-resistant housing and which commonly delimit a warm working volume and with one of the pistons within the housing delimiting a hot working volume subjected to a heating source and the other piston delimiting a cold working volume, with the three working volumes being connected with one another via interposed regenerators and heat transfer elements and with a drive and/or control for the pistons being provided.
In order to realize industrial production of such heating and cooling machines past the stage of prototypes and suitable for daily use, it is necessary to optimize the individual components of these machines.
The object of the invention is to create a heat exchanger particularly suitable for heating and cooling machines operating by a regenerative gas cycle process, with a high efficiency and a small overall size, and also suitable for other applications.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The solution to this object according to the invention is characterized in that the heat exchanger has a base body that is provided at one of its surfaces with at least one groove that runs from the intake to the outlet and that is sealed by a cover to form a flow channel for the heat-absorbing, preferably liquid heat transfer medium, and the base body is provided at its other surface with a great number of channels and/or pores for the heat-emitting medium that preferably is a process gas.
The inventive embodiment provides a heat exchanger that can be produced to be provided with a small overall size, that makes an economic production possible and has a high efficiency despite the small overall size.
There are various possibilities for the embodiment of the channels and/or pores through which the heat-emitting medium flows. In one of the inventive embodiments the base body is provided with a number of grooves serving as channels for the heat emitting medium. At the same time such grooves enlarge the surface participating in the heat transfer. According to a further feature of the invention, the base body can alternatively be provided with a layer of a porous material. The heat emitting medium, a process gas in particular, flows through the pores of this layer of a preferably good heat conducting material. The layer can either be applied onto the base body or be produced as a separate member to be attached to the base body. In a further embodiment according to the invention, the channel for the heat emitting medium can be embodied by a member of flat, shaped and/or perforated metal sheets or by a metal mesh, woven wire, or metal tangle, with this member being arranged on the base body in a force fit or friction-tight manner. Such an inventive embodiment creates a particularly large surface participating in the heat transfer and, moreover, it generates a turbulent flow that increases heat transmission.
If the inventive heat exchanger is to be employed in a heating and cooling machine that operates by a regenerative gas cycle process of the aforementioned kind, it is proposed by the invention to embody the base body to be cylindrical and to arrange it within the cylindrical housing of the machine. According to the invent
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Heikrodt Klaus
Hofbauer Peter
Capossela Ronald C.
Robert & Bosch GmbH
Viessmann Werke GmbH & Co.
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