Heat exchange – Expansion and contraction relieving or absorbing means – Relieving or absorbing means supports temperature modifier...
Patent
1993-05-24
1995-01-24
Hepperle, Stephen M.
Heat exchange
Expansion and contraction relieving or absorbing means
Relieving or absorbing means supports temperature modifier...
165166, F28D 900
Patent
active
053835166
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to a heat exchanger apparatus, such as plate type heat exchangers of the type using a cross flow system.
Heat exchangers of the type including a plurality of spaced, parallel metal plates, which provide therebetween alternative gas flow passages, are well known and commonly used, for example, in transferring heat from hot combustion exhaust gases to combustion air being fed into a combustion area. The heat exchanger may include a plurality of plate modules positioned in a duct work system for conducting the exhaust gases and intake air through the modules on separate flow paths which are at right angles to each other. The system includes a frame work for supporting the plate modules or core units formed by the plurality of plates. When the heat exchanger is subject to hot gases during operation, the core unit expands relative to the frame work, and depending on design and quality of the core unit, they are subjected to distortion to some degree. The core units may be prefabricated as an integral unit such as that shown in Canadian Patent No. 752,733, granted Feb. 14, 1967 to Koch, or they may be installed in the form of a pack of space parallel plates which are not fastened together, but wherein the pack is compressed by end walls such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,596,285, granted Jun. 24, 1986 to Dinulescu.
It is important that there be a minimum of leakage from one path of gas flow to the other, and various forms of gas seals have been developed for use between the edges of the core units and the frame, many of which have not been fully effective particularly over a period of time, and/or are of elaborate design and thus expensive to manufacture and install. Because of the relationship between the core and supporting frame and of the manner in which the seals are designed to cooperate with the core unit in some known heat exchangers, there is required a rather complicated procedure of assembly of the frame about the core.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an economic heat exchanger of the cross flow type wherein a rigid unitary parallelpipe shaped core is provided which has a sealing system allowing installation of the core into an integral frame structure which results in an effective seal between the two paths of gas flow through the heat exchanger.
According the heat exchanger of the present invention, there is provided a rigid, unitary parellelpipe shaped core, and an integral frame containing the core with seal means between the core and the frame. The core is formed by attached, space, parallel plates providing there-between a plurality of alternating cross flow paths for two different gases, the flow of a first gas of one temperature being horizontally through the core between fore and aft ends of the core and the flow path of a second gas of a different temperature being through the core between a first pair of opposite sides of the core disposed at right angles to the fore and aft ends of the core. The plurality of plates include a pair of outer plates and a plurality of inner plates between the pair of outer plates which have outer side surfaces defining a second pair of opposite sides of the core disposed at right angles to the ends of the core and to the first pair of sides of the core. Each inner plate is affixed to an adjacent plate on one side at horizontal edges thereof by a first pair of elongated edge bars thereby defining with the adjacent plate on that one side a flow passage for the first gas moving through the core between the fore and aft ends of the core. Each inner plate is further affixed to an adjacent plate on the other side thereof by a second pair of elongated edge bars disposed at right angles to the first pair of bars thereby .defining with the adjacent plate on the other side a flow passage for the second gas moving through the core at right angles to the flow passage of the first gas and between the second pair of opposite sides of the core. The core has four vertical corners, a pair of lower of transverse corner edges and a pair o
REFERENCES:
patent: 1409967 (1922-03-01), Prat
patent: 3241607 (1966-03-01), Rutledge
patent: 3494419 (1970-02-01), Warner
patent: 4263964 (1981-04-01), Masai et al.
patent: 4331352 (1982-05-01), Graves
patent: 4377025 (1983-03-01), Masai et al.
patent: 4596285 (1986-06-01), Dinulescu
patent: 4805695 (1989-02-01), Ishikawa et al.
patent: 4848450 (1989-07-01), Lapkowsky
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