GB2442978A

GB2442978A - Modular heat exchanger

Info

Publication number: GB2442978A
Application number: GB0620550A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Andrew Thomas Stordy
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2006-10-17
Filing date: 2006-10-17
Publication date: 2008-04-23
Also published as: GB0620550D0

Abstract

A modular heat exchanger for the purpose of space heating or cooling comprises an array of hollow modules (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25) assembled in two or more axis by two types of connectors (figs 3 - 6) and having a plug (figs 7 and 8) to block unused apertures in the modules. The connectors are characterised by a first connector (figs 3 and 4) permitting a flow fluid there-through and a second connector (figs 5 and 6) that prevents the flow of fluid there-through. The modules may be manufactured from plastics sub components by injection moulding and welded together by hot gas, hot plate, high frequency, ultrasonic, vibration, friction, spin or laser welding. The connectors and plugs may also be manufactured by injection moulding, may have a latch feature (17) for retaining them in the modules, and may be sealed with the modules by an elastomer seal (10, 13, 16). The modules may have legs (5, fig 1) for mounting on a surface or for receiving a facia (18). The modules may be square or pentagon and arranged in a two dimensional array or may be spherical and arranged in a three dimensional array.

Description

Modular Reat Exchanger

Background

This invention relates to modules and joining components for assembly into a heat exchanger for the purposes of space heating or cooling.

An example of an applicable heat exchanger is a space heating radiator. In this example water is heated by a remotely positioned boiler with the heated water then being fed to the radiator via piping and control valves. The heated water flows through the interior of the radiator assembly transferring heat to the structure of the radiator and ultimately the surrounding air. In a similar example a liquid could be heated internally to the radiator assembly and either pumped or allowed to circulate around the assembly by means of natural convection. In a further example, which relates to space cooling, a relatively cool fluid could circulate though the interior of a heat exchanger whilst absorbing heat from the heat exchanger structure and ultimately the surrounding air.

In general, the larger the surface area of a heat exchanger the greater its capacity to transfer heat. In instances where space heating or cooling is required it is often desirable to match the size of the heat exchanger to the requirement for heat transfer. A cost effective way to achieve this aim is to manufacture a generic modular heat exchanger component that can be assembled at either the point of manufacture or the site of installation to form a complete heat exchanger assembly of the desired size. The tooling and manufacturing costs associated with a modular component are less than the costs that would be associated with manufacturing multiple heat exchangers of different sizes.

As the space available to install a heat exchanger may also be of an irregular size, a design of modular component that can be assembled to form a large number of heat exchanger shapes is advantageous.

Metals are the most common choice of material for the manufacture of heat exchangers. Metal has a high thermal conductivity in comparison to most other materials and can be readily shaped and joined using well established manufacturing techniques. However, there are some disadvantages with metal as a choice of material for the manufacture of a modular heat exchanger. The modular components are usually joined with a fluid tight seal. This is commonly achieved with either a mechanical joint and an elastomer seal or by a joining technique such as welding, brazing or soldering. If an elastomer seal is to be used, relatively smooth flawless sealing surfaces are required to make a seal with the elastomer. It is on the whole difficult to produce a sufficiently smooth and flawless finish using metal casting or forming processes. Additional manufacturing operations in the form of machining, grinding or polishing are therefore likely to be required to produce a sufficiently smooth and flawless sealing surface. This additional processing adds cost to the modular component. Joining metal modules by welding, brazing or soldering is problematic as these process require high temperatures which can be difficult or dangerous to generate at the site of installation. If the modular components are assembled at an off-site location it can then be difficult and expensive to transport the complete heat exchanger assembly to the point of installation. Metals can also be susceptible to corrosion and are relatively heavy.

Statement of Invention

The present invention relates a heat exchanger made from an assembly of modules. The heat exchanger is of a type where heat is exchanged between a fluid (normally a liquid) flowing though the interior of the assembly and a fluid (normally a gas) which flows over the exterior of the heat exchanger assembly. The modules themselves are hollow components with two or more apertures for the purpose of connecting adjacent modules. The heat exchanger is assembled using a generic set of assembly components.

The intended material for the manufacture of the modules and the assembly components is thermoplastic. For example polyethylene terephthalate (PETE), polypropylene (PP), polyamide (PA), polycarbonate (PC), polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), polystyrene (PS), butadiene styrene (ASS> and polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA). The thermoplastic material may contain a fibre content.

Adva n t aces The modular components can be used to construct heat exchangers of multiple sizes and thermal capacities. -The heat exchanger can be used for heating or cooling spaces.

The modular components can be assembled in more than one axis and are of a design that facilitates the creation of a large number of heat exchanger designs.

The modules and joining components can be manufactured efficiently and cost effectively due to the fact that they are all of a generic design.

The modules can be manufactured efficiently and cost effectively due to the fact that the manufacture of their plastic design requires few manufacturing processes.

Due to their light weight, the modules can be easily transported to and then assembled and installed.

The final assembly of the heat exchanger requires no special tooling.

If made of plastic modules are not susceptible to corrosion.

If made of plastic the modules would be of light weight and would therefore reduce the load on structures.

Introduction to drawings

Figure 1 shows an example of a heat exchanger module. In this instance the module is of a square shape.

Figure 2 shows a sectioned view of the heat exchanger module shown in Figure 1. The section is taken along the line A-A shown in Figure 1. The view in Figure 2 is on a larger scale than the view in Figure 1.

Figure 3 shows an example of one of the three components which make up the generic set of assembly components. This component will be referred to as a connecting spigot Figure 4 shows a sectioned view though the connecting spigot shown in figure 3. The section is taken along the line B-B shown in Figure 3.

Figure 5 shows an example of one of the three components which make up the generic set of assembly components. This component will be referred to as a blocked connecting spigot.

Figure 6 shows a sectioned view through the blocked connecting spigot shown in figure 4. The section is taken along the line C-C shown in Figure 5.

Figure 7 shows an example of one of the three components which make up the generic set. This component will be referred to as a plug.

Figure 8 shows a sectioned view through the plug shown in figure 7. The section is taken along line D-D shown in Figure 1.

Figure 9 shows an example of a complete heat exchanger assembly. In this instance the assembly in made up of a two dimensional array of modules of a square shape. Facia panels have been fitted on three of the heat exchanger modules.

Figure 10 shows a sectioned view of the heat exchanger assembly shown in Figure 9. The section has been taken along the line E-E shown in Figure 9.

Figure 11 shows an example of a complete heat exchanger assembly. In this instance the assembly is made up of a two dimensional array of modules of a pentagon shape.

Figure 12 shows an example of a heat exchanger assembly in which the modules are assembled in a three dimensional array. In this instance the modules are of a spherical shape.

Detailed Description

The invention includes hollow plastic heat exchanger modules with two or more apertures for the purpose of connecting the modules and/or transfer of fluid.

The heat exchanger modules can be connected together in a two or three dimensional array to form a heat exchanger assembly. The individual heat exchanger modules are connected by means of two types of component which are referred to in this document as a connecting spigot and a blocked connecting spigot. Apertures in modules that are not used to connect two modules can be blocked using a component that is referred to in this document as a plug.

The connecting spigot, blocked connecting spigot and plug form the generic set of assembly components which are used to assemble the modules.

In Figure 1, an example of a heat exchanger module with four connecting apertures (1) is shown. The module may include vent plugs (2) for the purpose of releasing trapped air from the heat exchanger assembly once installed, a corrugated surface profile (3) for the purpose of increasing surface area and improving structural rigidity, a central fixing position (4) for the purpose of attaching the module to a mounting surface and legs (5) for holding the module of f the mounting surface. The module is symmetrical in that either side could be positioned against the mounting surface.

In figure 2 it can be seen that the connecting apertures could include an internal bore (6) for the purpose of forming a radial compression seal with an elastomer seal and lead in chamfer and/or radius (7) for the purpose of aiding assembly of the connecting or plug components.

In figures 1 and 2 it can be seen that the module could be made from an assembly of plastic components. These components are joined at their interfaces using a common thermoplastic welding technology such as hot gas, hot plate, high frequency, ultrasonic, vibration, friction, spin or laser welding.

In Figure 3, a connecting spigot may include a shaft (8) of diameter less than the bore in the heat exchanger module, a central section (9) of diameter greater than the bore in the heat exchanger module and two or more elastomer seals (10).

In Figure 4, it can been seen that a channel exists through the connecting spigot which would allow a fluid to flow between two modules that are connected with a connecting spigot.

In Figure 5, a blocked connecting spigot includes a shaft (11) of diameter less than the bore in the heat exchanger module, a central section (12) of diameter greater than the bore in the heat exchanger module and two or more elastomer seals (13).

In Figure 6, it can been seen that a channel does not exist through the blocked connecting spigot which would allow a fluid to flow between two modules that are connected with a blocked connecting spigot.

In Figure 7, a plug includes a shaft (14) of diameter less than the bore in the heat exchanger module, an end section (15) of diameter greater than the bore in the heat exchanger module and one or more elastomer seals (16).

In Figure 8 it can be seen that if a plug is assembled in aaperture in a heat exchanger module it would prevent fluid escaping through that aperture.

In Figures 3 to 8, it can be seen that the set of generic assembly components include a latch feature (17) for retaining the component once assembled with a heat exchanger module. When a connecting spigot, blocked connecting spigot or plug is pressed into an aperture in a heat exchanger module the latch feature would lock the component into the module.

In Figure 9, a heat exchanger assembly made from square heat exchanger modules is shown. In this instance six modules have been connected in an array to form a heat exchanger assembly. The outwards facing legs can be used to mount a facia component (18).

In Figure 10, a sectioned view of the heat exchanger assembly in Figure 9 is shown. In this instance fluid could enter the heat exchanger assembly through the aperture indicated (19) . The configuration in which connecting spigots and blocked connecting spigots have been used to join the modules in the assembly would force the fluid through modules (20), (21), (22), (23), (24), (25) and then out of the assembly through aperture (26).

In figure 11, a heat exchanger assembly made from modules of a pentagon shape is shown. In this instance ten modules are connected in a two dimensional array. The modules could be connected with a combination of connecting spigots and blocked connecting spigots to form a functional heat exchanger.

The purpose of including this illustration is to demonstrate that the invention includes modules of any shape connected together in the illustrated fashion to form a heat exchanger for the purpose of space heating or cooling.

Although not shown in this illustration some of all of the features which have already been illustrated using the above example of the square heat exchanger module could equally be applied to a heat exchanger modules of other shapes.

In figure 12, a heat exchanger assembly made from modules of a spherical shape is shown. In this instance eight modules are connected in a three dimensional array to form the heat exchanger assembly. As with two dimensional arrays, fluid can flow between two modules which are connected by connecting spigots. Fluid can not flow between modules that are connected with a blocked connecting spigot. External apertures would be blocked by plugs. The purpose of including this illustration is demonstrate that the invention is not limited to module designs which are connected to form two dimensional arrays. C1ais

Claims

1. A modular heat exchanger for the purpose of space heating or

cooling, the heat exchanger being made from an array of generic hollow modules, those modules being connected in two or more axis by two types of generic connecting component and one type of generic plug component, the connecting components being of two types, a component that facilitates the flow of fluid and a component that prevents the flow of fluid between two modules, the plug component being used to block unused apertures in the hollow modules.

2. A modular heat exchanger in accordance with claim 1, in which thermoplastic is used as the material for manufacture of the hollow modules.

3. A modular heat exchanger in accordance with claim 1, in which thermoplastic is used as the material for manufacture of the assembly components.

4. A modular heat exchanger in accordance with claims 1 and 2, in which the modules are manufactured using injection moulded sub components which are welded together using hot gas, hot plate, high frequency, ultrasonic, vibration, friction, spin or laser welding processes to form the complete module.

5. A modular heat exchanger in accordance with claims 1 and 2, in which the connecting components are manufactured by injection moulding.

6. A modular heat exchanger in accordance with claim 1, in which the modules are connected by means of a bore in the hollow module, a shaft on the connecting component and an elastomer seal which is compressed in a radial direction between the bore in the module and the shaft on the assembly component.

7. A modular heat exchanger in accordance with claim 1, in which each module is symmetrical in that it could be installed with either side against the mounting surface.

8. A modular heat exchanger in accordance with claims 1 and 7, in which each module in held off a mounting surface by legs that are integral to the module itself and if on the outer side of the heat exchanger could be used to mount a facia.

9. A modular heat exchanger in accordance with claim 1, in which each module can be attached to a surface via a single central fix.

10. A modular heat exchanger in accordance with claims 1 and 3, in which the connecting and plug components include a latch feature for the purpose of retaining these components to the heat exchanger modules, the latch feature being moulded as an integral part of the connecting and plug Components.

l1.A modular heat exchanger in accordance with claims 1, in which the surface is corrugated to increase the surface area and improve structural rigidity.

12. A modular heat exchanger in accordance with claims 1 and 6, in which a leadin chamfer and/or fillet exist for the purpose of aiding the assembly of an assembly component to a module.