This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 201911346709.6, filed Dec. 24, 2019, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
The present disclosure relates to the technical field of heat exchange, and in particular to a heat exchanger and a heat exchange system including the heat exchanger.
In the existing technologies, various types of heat exchange devices, apparatuses or systems have been provided, which have been widely used in many industrial fields, places, etc., and can bring great convenience. However, these existing heat exchange devices, apparatuses or systems still have some disadvantages and deficiencies in terms of structural configuration, heat exchange effect, working performance, manufacturing, installation and maintenance, etc., so there is a room for them to be further improved and optimized. For example,
In view of the above, the present disclosure provides a heat exchanger and a heat exchange system including the heat exchanger, which can solve or at least alleviate one or more of the above problems and other problems existing in the related art.
Firstly, according to an aspect of the present disclosure, a heat exchanger is provided, which includes a shell having an inlet and an outlet, and heat exchange tube bundles arranged in the shell, wherein the shell is provided therein with:
In the heat exchanger according to the present disclosure, optionally, the first region and the second region are arranged side by side in a length direction of the shell, and the inlet and the outlet are disposed under the first region and above the second region respectively.
In the heat exchanger according to the present disclosure, optionally, a ratio of a height of the heat exchange tube bundles to an internal height of the shell is not smaller than 0.5, and/or a liquid height of the refrigerant in the first region is not smaller than a height of the heat exchange tube bundles.
In the heat exchanger according to the present disclosure, optionally, the heating device is an electric heater or at least one row of heat exchange tubes, and the heat exchange tubes communicate with a fluid input end of the heat exchange tube bundles in the first region through a pipeline.
In the heat exchanger according to the present disclosure, optionally, the heating device is disposed at the bottom of the second region, and a ratio of the height of the heating device to a height of the second region is not larger than 0.5.
In the heat exchanger according to the present disclosure, optionally, the heat exchanger further includes:
In the heat exchanger according to the present disclosure, optionally, the flow guiding member is configured as a baffle having an arc shape, and/or the liquid blocking member is configured as a wire mesh having a structure of at least two layers.
In the heat exchanger according to the present disclosure, optionally, the heat exchanger further includes a control device connected to the heating device and configured to control an operation of the heating device.
In the heat exchanger according to the present disclosure, optionally, the heat exchanger further includes a detection device connected to the control device and configured to detect parameter information of the refrigerant in the first region and provide the parameter information to the control device for the control device to control the operation of the heating device.
Secondly, according to another aspect of the present disclosure, a heat exchange system is further provided, which includes the heat exchanger according to any one of the above technical solutions.
From the following detailed description in combination with the accompanying drawings, the principles, features, characteristics, advantages and the like of the various technical solutions according to the present disclosure will be clearly understood. For example, as compared with related art, the technical solutions of the present disclosure are easier to manufacture, install and maintain. By structurally optimizing and designing the shell space of the heat exchanger, the restrictions to spatial layout of the heat exchanger tube bundles in the conventional solutions are eliminated, so that the heat exchange tube bundles can be fully immersed into the refrigerant for heat exchange, which not only can effectively improve the utilization of shell space of the heat exchanger, but also can improve the heat transfer efficiency of the heat exchanger at the same material cost. In addition, by providing components such as the flow guiding member and the liquid blocking member, the overall performance, safety and reliability of the system can be further enhanced, and adverse effects on other components, devices, or apparatuses (such as a compressor) associated with the heat exchanger can be avoided.
The technical solutions of the present disclosure will be further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments. However, these drawings are designed merely for the purpose of explanation, are only intended to conceptually illustrate the structural configuration herein, and are not required to be drawn to scale.
First, it is noted that the structural components, characteristics, and advantages of the heat exchanger and the heat exchange system including the heat exchanger of the present disclosure will be specifically described below by way of example. However, all the description is only for illustration, and does not limit the present disclosure in any way. Herein, the technical terms “first” and “second” are only used for the purpose of distinguishing the expressions, and are not intended to indicate their order and relative importance. The technical term “substantially” is intended to include non-substantive errors associated with the measurement of a specific amount (for example, it may include a range of ±8%, ±5%, or ±2% of a given value), and the technical terms “upper”, “lower”, “top”, “bottom”, “inner”, “outer”, “left”, “right” and derivatives thereof should be related to the orientations in the drawings; unless explicitly indicated otherwise, the present disclosure can take a variety of alternative orientations.
In addition, for any single technical feature described or implied in the embodiments mentioned herein, the present disclosure still allows for any combination or deletion of these technical features (or equivalents thereof) to obtain more other embodiments of the present disclosure that may not be directly mentioned herein. In addition, in order to simplify the drawings, identical or similar parts and features may be marked in only one or more places in the same drawing.
A general structure of an embodiment of a heat exchanger according to the present disclosure is schematically shown in
As shown in
More specifically, a baffle 8 may be provided and installed inside the shell 10 by means of connection such as welding, so that the above mentioned two regions 11 and 12 are formed. Such a baffle 8 may also support the heat exchange tube bundles 3 arranged in the first region 11. In practical applications, the number, the spacing of arrangement, the size, the shape and structure, the materials used and the like of the above baffle 8 and the heat exchange tube bundles 3 may also each be selected and set as required.
In
In the shell 10, the second region 12 is arranged between the above-mentioned first region 11 and the outlet 2, and it is in fluid communication with both the first region 11 and the outlet 2. In this way, after leaving the first region 11, the above-mentioned gaseous refrigerant 7 will flow through the second region 12 and then flow out of the heat exchanger 100 from the outlet 2.
As shown in
By way of example, while the refrigerant 7 input from the inlet 1 can be accommodated in the first region 11 formed by, for example, installing a baffle 8, during the heat exchange process between the refrigerant 7 and the fluid in the heat exchange tube bundles 3, there may be some refrigerant liquid splashing from the first region 11 into the second region 12 or entrained in the refrigerant vapor flowing out of the first region 11, that is, the refrigerant 7 entering the second region 12 from the first region 11 is mostly gaseous, but a part of the refrigerant 7 may be in a liquid state or a gas-liquid mixed state. The heating device 4 arranged in the second region 12 enables the refrigerant 7 in a liquid state or gas-liquid mixed state to be heated to enter a gaseous state as well after the temperature rise, thereby effectively preventing associated components, devices or apparatuses such as the compressor from being easily damaged by the liquid flowing out of the outlet 2.
Those skilled in the art can easily understand that the above-mentioned heating device 4 may be implemented in many forms, such as an electric heating device, a hot-fluid (such as heat transfer oil, vapor, etc.) heating device, increased and enhanced heat exchange tube bundles, and the like. As an optional situation, the heating device 4 may in some applications be arranged such that a ratio of a height of the heating device 4 to a height of the second region 12 is not larger than 0.5, so as to ensure that a more sufficient empty space is provided to accommodate the refrigerant 7 (which may be in a gaseous state, a liquid state, or a gas-liquid mixed state) flowing out of the first region 11 and that the refrigerant 7 can be sufficiently heated and evaporated during the stay. For example, it may be considered that the above height ratio is in a value range of 0.3-0.5. Of course, the use of other ratios such as 0.1, 0.13, 0.2, 0.25 and the like is also possible and allowed in some application situations.
Since the above-mentioned second region 12 is disposed in the shell 10 and the heating device 4 is disposed in the second region 12, the heat exchanger according to the present disclosure can overcome the restrictions to spatial layout of the heat exchanger tube bundles in the conventional solutions such as shown in
For example, reference is made to
Reference is made to
For example, in the embodiment of the heat exchanger shown in
Continued reference is made to
As for the flow guiding member 5, it may be arranged between the first region 11 and the second region 12 so as to guide the refrigerant 7 flowing out of the first region 11 to flow toward the second region 12 and/or the outlet 2. In
However, it should be understood that in some applications, it is also within the scope of the present disclosure to set the flow guiding member 5 to have any other structural form such as an inclined straight plate, a F-shaped baffle, a folding plate and the like that can achieve the purpose of guiding the flow, so as to meet a variety of different practical needs. In addition, it should be noted that in some application scenarios, the flow guiding member 5 may also be arranged at any other suitable position, such as above the first region 11 and near the outlet 2 so that the flow of the refrigerant 7 inside the shell 10 can be guided as desired.
As for the liquid blocking member 6, it may be arranged at the outlet 2 of the shell 10 so as to prevent the liquid-state refrigerant 7 from flowing out of the shell 10, thereby preventing it from entering components, devices or apparatuses associated with the heat exchanger 100 such as the compressor and having an adverse effects on them. As an example, the above-mentioned liquid blocking member 6 may be implemented by using multiple layers of wire mesh. For example, the liquid blocking member 6 is formed by using two or more layers of metal wire mesh to block the refrigerant liquid from flowing out of the heat exchanger 100. The blocked refrigerant liquid will then drip into the second region 12 and be further heated and evaporated.
In addition, in some applications, the heat exchanger 100 may be further configured with a control device (not shown). This type of control device may be implemented in many ways, for example by hardware components such as chips and processors, software, or a combination of software and hardware. The control device may be connected to the heating device 4 to control an operation of the heating device 4 according to the application requirements. For example, the heating device 4 may be turned on or off as needed, or the current operating power of the heating device 4 may be adjusted, or the heating device 4 may be regulated according to a preset cycle (such as distinguishing between working days and non-working days within a week) or a time period (such as working hours and non-working hours in a day).
As a further example, a detection device (not shown) such as a liquid level sensor, a temperature sensor and the like may also be disposed in the heat exchanger 100 to detect and acquire parameter information (such as liquid level, temperature, etc.) of the refrigerant 7 in the first region 11 and then provide the parameter information to the control device discussed above so that the control device can control the operation of the heating device 4 based on such parameter information. For example, if the refrigerant 7 in the first region 11 is found to be lower than a preset liquid level according to the liquid level information detected by the detection device, then the control device may be used to reduce the current operating power of the heating device 4, or temporarily turn off the heating device 4 for a period of time until it is determined that the heating device 4 needs to be turned on again according to the subsequently detected liquid level information.
In specific applications, one or more detection devices may be arranged at appropriate positions in the shell 10 as required. These detection devices may collect the same type of parameters or different types of parameters, that is, the present disclosure allows a combined use of various types of detection devices at the same time, such as liquid level sensors, temperature sensors and the like.
It should also be noted that although the first region 11 and the second region 12 are arranged side by side in a length direction of the shell 10 in the embodiment shown in
In addition, for the inlet 1, the outlet 2, the heating device 4, the flow guiding member 5, the liquid blocking member 6, etc., the present disclosure allows the number of each of them provided at the same time to be two or more, which may be flexibly designed and adjusted according to the specific application requirements. In addition,
As another example, another embodiment of the heat exchanger according to the present disclosure is presented in
As shown in
In the embodiment shown in
According to another technical solution of the present disclosure, a heat exchange system is further provided, which may for example be provided with the above exemplified heat exchanger designed and provided by the present disclosure. For example, the heat exchanger may be used as a heat exchange device such as a flooded evaporator in the heat exchange system, so that the problems existing in the related art such as those mentioned above can be better solved, prominent technical advantages of the present disclosure discussed above which are significantly superior to the related art are obtained, and considerable economic benefits are achieved. It should be understood that the heat exchange system according to the present disclosure may for example include, but is not limited to, a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system, a transportation refrigeration system, a freezing/refrigeration system, and the like.
The heat exchanger and the heat exchange system including the heat exchanger according to the present disclosure are explained in detail above by way of example only. These examples are only used to explain the principle of the present disclosure and embodiments thereof, and are not intended to limit the present disclosure. Those skilled in the art may also make various modifications and improvements without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. Therefore, all equivalent technical solutions shall fall within the scope of the present disclosure and be defined by the claims of the present disclosure.
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