This invention relates generally to the field of heat exchangers and, more particularly, to shell and tube-type heat exchangers that are specially configured to provide improved coolant flow velocity therein to thereby reduce/eliminate the potential for unwanted coolant boiling within the heat exchanger and thus improve heat exchanger cooling efficiency and extend useful service life.
The present invention relates to heat exchangers that are generally configured comprising a number of internal fluid or gas passages disposed within a surrounding body. In an example embodiment, the internal passages are designed to accommodate passage of a particular fluid or gas in need of cooling, and the body is configured to accommodate passage of a particular cooling fluid or gas used to reduce the temperature of the fluid or gas in the internal passages by heat transfer through the structure of the internal passages. A specific example of such a heat exchanger is one referred to as a shell and tube-type exchanger, which can be used in such applications as exhaust gas cooling for internal combustion engines.
Conventional shell and tube-type heat exchangers generally comprise a tube bundle made up of a plurality of individual tubes that are positioned within a surrounding shell. The shell is configured to both accommodate the tube bundle therein and to accommodate the passage of a cooling medium therein and along the tube bundle. Typically, the shell includes a coolant inlet and a coolant outlet to facilitate the passage of coolant therein, wherein the coolant inlet is positioned at one end of the shell, e.g., adjacent a hot-side inlet, and the coolant outlet is positioned at an opposite end of the shell, e.g., adjacent a hot side outlet.
A problem that is known to exist with such shell and tube-type heat exchangers is the unwanted boiling of the coolant within the exchanger during heat exchanger operation. For example, when such conventional heat exchangers are used to reduce the temperature of an incoming exhaust gas emitted from an internal combustion engine, e.g., when used in conjunction with an exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) system, a high heat flux can create an unwanted boiling of the coolant within the heat exchanger. Boiling of the coolant is undesired because it both reduces the cooling efficiency of heat exchanger, and because it produces a high-pressure condition within the heat exchanger that can damage and thereby reduce the heat exchanger service life.
Attempts that have been earlier made to reduce such unwanted boiling of the coolant has been to place baffles crosswise along an outside surface of the tubes to cause the coolant to pass within the heat exchanger along the tubes in a direction that was generally perpendicular to the otherwise flow path of the coolant, e.g., the use of the crosswise positioned baffles caused the coolant to flow in a serpentine flow path, thereby increasing the velocity of the coolant locally where the baffles induced a change of direction. This approach, however, both produced an unwanted pressure drop of the coolant moving through the heat exchanger, i.e., created an increased coolant pressure within the heat exchanger, and also created recirculation zones downstream of the baffles that resulted in unwanted coolant boiling just at a different location within the heat exchanger.
It is, therefore, desired that a heat exchanger be constructed in a manner that reduces and/or eliminates the potential for unwanted coolant boiling. It is further desired that such heat exchanger be constructed in a manner that does not otherwise impair the performance of the heat exchanger, e.g., that does not increase the pressure drop of the coolant moving through the heat exchanger.
Heat exchangers constructed in accordance with principles of the invention comprise a shell having an inner chamber defined by an inside wall surface. The shell can be formed from conventional materials used to form heat exchangers, e.g., metallic materials such as stainless steel or the like. A tube stack is disposed within the inner chamber and comprising a number of tubes that are arranged in a stack configuration. The tubes within the tube stack include first and second ends.
A coolant chamber is connected with an end of the shell and is configured to accommodate a portion of the tube stack therein. The coolant chamber comprises a sidewall that extends outwardly a distance from the tube stack. The coolant changer also includes a divider or baffle that extends inwardly within the coolant chamber from the sidewall to the tube stack, and that extending axially within the chamber to the end of the shell. The divider or baffle partitions the coolant chamber to form an inlet coolant passage and an outlet coolant passage therein.
In an example embodiment, the coolant chamber comprises a pair of opposed sidewalls that each extend outwardly a distance from the tube stack, and further comprises a pair of dividers or baffles that each extend between a respective sidewall and the tube stack. In an example embodiment, the divider or baffle is attached to the sidewall surface and extends inwardly towards a radial edge of a tube within the tube stack. The coolant chamber further includes a coolant inlet that is in fluid flow communication with the inlet coolant passage, and a coolant outlet that is in fluid flow communication with the outlet coolant passage. A cooling medium is disposed within the heat exchanger, and the cooling medium within the inlet coolant passage has a longitudinal flow path direction along the tube stack that is opposite from the coolant flow path direction within the outlet coolant passage.
Such heat exchangers can comprising a further coolant chamber, disposed at an end of the shell opposite from the initial coolant chamber, that is configured to accommodate a portion of the tube stack therein. Such other coolant chamber includes at least one sidewall that extends outwardly a distance from the tube stack and that defines a coolant flow path from the inlet coolant passage to the outlet coolant passage.
Such heat exchangers are made by assembling a number of tubes into a stacked arrangement to form the tube stack, and inserting the tube stack into the shell. The coolant chamber is disposed along one of the shell ends and accommodates a portion of the tube stack therein. The divider or baffle is positioned within the coolant chamber so that it extends inwardly a distance from the outwardly extending sidewall towards the tube stack, and extends longitudinally along the coolant chamber to a position adjacent the shell end. In an example embodiment, a pair of dividers or baffles are installed between opposed outwardly extending sidewalls of the cooling chamber a radial edge of a common tube within the tube stack to partition the cooling chamber to form the inlet and outlet coolant passages.
Heat exchanger be constructed in this manner, comprising the coolant path dividers or baffles, reduces and/or eliminates the potential for unwanted coolant boiling, and does so in a manner that greatly minimizes unwanted cooling medium pressure drop and the presence of dead zones within the heat exchanger that are otherwise associated with cross baffling. Additionally, by not extending the coolant flow path dividers or baffles axially beyond the coolant chamber, and making use of the close tolerances between the shell and tubes, heat exchangers of this invention are relatively easy to make while still providing adequate coolant velocity with minimal bypass.
The invention will be more clearly understood with reference to the following drawings wherein:
The present invention relates to heat exchangers used for reducing the temperature of an entering gas or fluid stream. A particular application for the heat exchangers of this invention is with vehicles and, more particularly, is to cool an exhaust gas stream from an internal combustion engine, e.g., as used with an EGR system. However, it will be readily understood by those skilled in the relevant technical field that the heat exchanger configurations of the present invention described herein can be used in a variety of different applications.
Generally, the invention constructed in accordance with the principles of this invention, comprises a heat exchanger including a stack of elongated, flattened tubes that are enclosed in a surrounding shell. The heat exchanger includes a coolant chamber at each end of the shell, wherein one of the coolant chambers is configured comprising a coolant inlet and coolant outlet, and further comprising one or more dividers or baffles disposed therein that operates to separate an inlet coolant passage from an outlet coolant outlet passage. Configured in this manner, the heat exchanger provides a two-pass coolant flow longitudinally therethrough having increased coolant velocity when compared to conventional one-pass heat exchangers and/or heat exchangers configured with crosswise baffles, thereby reducing and/or eliminating the occurrence of unwanted coolant boiling.
The heat exchanger 10 comprises a coolant inlet 32 that is disposed adjacent the hot-side inlet manifold 18 and is positioned to introduce a desired coolant or cooling medium, e.g., a liquid cooling medium such as water, into the coolant passage 26 formed behind the inlet header plate 18 and that exists both between an inside surface of the shell and the tubes, and between the tubes themselves. A coolant outlet 34 is disposed at the opposite end of the shell adjacent the hot-side outlet manifold 28 and is positioned to facilitate the passage of the coolant from the heat exchanger.
Accordingly, in such conventional heat exchanger 10, a hot-side gas or fluid, enters the hot-side inlet manifold 18 and passes into and through the plurality of tubes 14, and exits via the hot-side outlet manifold 28. As the hot-side gas of fluid is passed through the heat exchanger, a coolant entering via the coolant inlet 32 is passed through the coolant passage and exits via the coolant outlet 34. The coolant passage 26 in such a conventional heat exchanger is of a one-pass configuration, i.e., the coolant passes only once over the tubes within the shell before exiting the heat exchanger. As briefly noted above, such heat exchangers are known to suffer from unwanted coolant boiling that reduces heat exchanger performance and can ultimately cause heat exchanger damage and/or failure.
A feature of the coolant chamber 48 is that is it configured to accommodate the placement one or more coolant path dividers or baffles 52 therein. As best illustrated in
In an example embodiment, the baffles 52 are configured to extend axially/longitudinally from a position adjacent the inlet header plate 43 (at one baffle end) to the end of the coolant chamber (at an opposite baffle end), e.g., wherein the coolant chamber 48 meets with the shell end. Configured in this manner, the baffles 52 extend longitudinally along the heat exchanger 10 in a direction that is parallel to the main direction of the cooling medium that is flowing therein. In an example embodiment, the baffles extend along and are attached to the sidewall of the shell and are not attached to an adjacent header.
The baffles 52 can be attached to the coolant chamber sidewall 50 by conventional means, e.g., by welded or brazed attachment. The baffles can additionally be attached to the tube edge by the same means, or can simply be positioned adjacent the tube edge without a permanent attachment. In a preferred embodiment, the baffles are not permanently attached to the edges of the tube but are positioned to be in close tolerance therewith. In an example embodiment, the tolerance or clearance between the adjacent edges of the baffles and the tube radial edges is in the range of from about 0.25 to 1 mm, more preferably approximately 0.75 mm. It is to be understood that the exact amount of tolerance or clearance between the tube and baffle edges can and will vary, and ideally is the least amount possible while also taking into account such issues as the straightness of the tubes and shell.
Heat exchangers constructed in accordance with principles of this invention are configured having a desired tolerance or clearance between the radial edges of the stacked tubes and the inside surface of the shell that is sufficiently small so as to minimize the amount of coolant passage therebetween, and thus minimizing the bypass of coolant between the two coolant passages 56 and 58 running axially along the length of the tube stack within the shell. In an example embodiment, the tolerance between the radial edges of the tubes and the inside surface of the shell is in the range of from about 0.25 to 1 mm, more preferably approximately 0.75 mm. As noted above, such features as the straightness of the tubes and shell sidewall will have an impact on the amount of clearance or tolerance therebetween within the heat exchanger.
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In a preferred embodiment, as illustrated in
Alternatively, heat exchangers of this invention can be constructed having the coolant passages and/or coolant inlets and/or outlets positioned differently than as disclosed and illustrated. For example, heat exchangers of this invention can be constructed having the coolant inlet and coolant outlet both positioned along the same sidewall surface of the cooling chamber, or can each be positioned at opposite coolant sidewall surfaces depending on the particular end-use application. Also, heat exchanges of this invention can be configured having the inlet coolant passage positioned above the outlet coolant passage again depending on the particular end-use application. Accordingly, heat exchangers comprising such cooling passage and/or cooling inlet/outlet placements are understood to be within the scope of this invention.
Additionally, while the heat exchanger embodiment described above and illustrated in
A feature of heat exchangers constructed in accordance with the principles of this invention is that they are specially configured to provide an improved degree of cooling performance when compared to other known heat exchanger designs such as those including cross baffles or the like, i.e., having baffles arranged therein perpendicular to the main direction of coolant flow. Heat exchangers of this invention comprise one or more coolant path dividers or baffles that are disposed within the coolant chamber and that extend axially or longitudinally and generally parallel to the main direction of coolant flow within the heat exchanger.
The use of such coolant path dividers greatly minimizes unwanted cooling medium pressure drop and the presence of dead zones within the heat exchanger that are otherwise associated with cross baffling. Additionally, by not extending the coolant flow path dividers or baffles axially beyond the coolant chamber, and making use of the close tolerances between the shell and tubes, heat exchangers of this invention are relatively easy to make while still providing adequate coolant velocity with minimal bypass.
While heat exchanges of this invention have been described as being useful in such applications as EGR systems and turbocharger systems used in conjunction with internal combustion engines. It is to be understood that heat exchangers of this invention can be used in a number of other use applications where unwanted boiling of the cooling medium is known to or may occur, that reduces heat exchanger cooling efficiency and/or that can lead to heat exchanger damage and reduced service life. Accordingly, heat exchangers of this invention provide improved heat exchanger cooling performance and improved heat exchanger service life when compared to those conventional heat exchangers described above.
It is to be understood that the heat exchanger embodiments described above and illustrated are but examples of heat exchangers as constructed according to principles of this invention, and that those skilled in the art will recognize modifications and substitutions to the specific embodiments disclosed herein. Such modifications are within the scope and intent of the present invention.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20090084532 A1 | Apr 2009 | US |