Exemplary embodiments pertain to the art of heat exchangers and, more specifically, to aluminum alloy heat exchangers.
Heat exchangers are widely used in various applications, including but not limited to heating and cooling systems including fan coil units, heating and cooling in various industrial and chemical processes, heat recovery systems, and the like, to name a few. Many heat exchangers for transferring heat from one fluid to another fluid utilize one or more tubes through which one fluid flows while a second fluid flows around the tubes. Heat from one of the fluids is transferred to the other fluid by conduction through the tube walls. Many configurations also utilize fins in thermally conductive contact with the outside of the tube(s) to provide increased surface area across which heat can be transferred between the fluids, improve heat transfer characteristics of the second fluid flowing through the heat exchanger and enhance structural rigidity of the heat exchanger. Such heat exchangers include microchannel heat exchangers and round tube plate fin (RTPF) heat exchangers.
Heat exchanger tubes may be made from a variety of materials, including metals such as aluminum or copper and alloys thereof. Aluminum alloys are lightweight, have a high specific strength and high thermal conductivity. Due to these excellent mechanical properties, aluminum alloys are used to manufacture heat exchangers for heating or cooling systems in commercial, industrial, residential, transport, refrigeration, and marine applications. However, aluminum alloy heat exchangers can be susceptible to corrosion. Corrosion eventually leads to a loss of refrigerant from the tubes and failure of the heating or cooling system. Sudden tube failure results in a rapid loss of cooling and loss of functionality of the heating or cooling system, in addition to the environmentally damaging loss of refrigerant to the environment. Many different approaches have been tried with regard to mitigating corrosion and its effects; however, corrosion continues to be a seemingly never-ending problem that needs to be addressed.
A heat exchanger is disclosed. The heat exchanger includes a hollow tube extending from a tube inlet to a tube outlet. The hollow tube includes a wall inner surface comprising a copper alloy or a first aluminum alloy. A first fluid flow path is disposed along the wall inner surface from the tube inlet to the tube outlet. A turbulator is disposed within the hollow tube along the first fluid flow path, and the turbulator comprises a second aluminum alloy that is less noble than the copper or first aluminum alloy. A second fluid flow path is disposed across an outer surface of the wall.
In some embodiments, the heat exchanger can further include a shell around the second flow path and the hollow tube, the shell including an inlet and an outlet in operative fluid communication with the second fluid flow path.
In any one or combination of the foregoing embodiments, the wall inner surface can comprise the copper alloy.
In any one or combination of the foregoing embodiments, the wall inner surface can comprise the first aluminum alloy.
In any one or combination of the foregoing embodiments, the second aluminum alloy can include zinc or magnesium.
In any one or combination of the foregoing embodiments, the second aluminum alloy can include an alloying element selected from tin, indium, gallium, or combinations thereof.
In any one or combination of the foregoing embodiments, the hollow tube wall can be arranged as a hollow cylinder around the first fluid flow path.
In any one or combination of the foregoing embodiments, the heat exchanger can further include a plurality of fins comprising a third aluminum alloy extending outwardly from an outer surface of the wall.
Also disclosed is a heat transfer system comprising a heat transfer fluid circulation loop in operative thermal communication with a heat source and a heat sink, wherein the heat exchanger of any one or combination of the foregoing embodiments is disposed as a thermal transfer link between the heat transfer fluid and the heat sink or heat source.
In some embodiments, the heat transfer fluid circulation loop can be in operative fluid communication with the first fluid flow path.
In any one or combination of the foregoing embodiments, the heat transfer fluid of the heat transfer system can comprise water.
In any one or combination of the foregoing embodiments, the heat transfer fluid of the heat transfer system can comprise alcohols, glycols, chlorides, formats/acetates, or ammonia.
In any one or combination of the foregoing embodiments, the heat transfer fluid of the heat transfer system can comprise ethylene glycol or propylene glycol.
Also disclosed is a heat transfer system that includes a first heat transfer fluid circulation loop in thermal communication with a heat sink, comprising a refrigerant in operative fluid communication with a heat absorption side of a cross-over heat exchanger. A second heat transfer fluid circulation loop is in thermal communication with a heat source, and comprises an aqueous heat transfer liquid in operative fluid communication through a hollow tube including a wall inner surface that comprises a copper alloy or a first aluminum alloy on a heat rejection side of the cross-over heat exchanger. The hollow tube further includes a turbulator disposed within the hollow tube comprising a second aluminum alloy that is less noble than the copper or first aluminum alloy.
In some embodiments, the first heat transfer fluid circulation loop of the heat transfer system can include a compressor, a heat rejection heat exchanger in thermal communication with the heat sink, an expansion device, and the heat absorption side of the cross-over heat exchanger, connected together in order by conduit.
In any one or combination of the foregoing embodiments, the heat transfer system can be configured to reduce the aqueous heat transfer liquid below 0° C.
In any one or combination of the foregoing heat transfer system embodiments, the aqueous heat transfer liquid can comprise alcohols, glycols, chlorides, formats/acetates, or ammonia.
In any one or combination of the foregoing heat transfer system embodiments, the wall inner surface can comprise the copper alloy.
In any one or combination of the foregoing heat transfer system embodiments, the second aluminum alloy can include zinc or magnesium.
In any one or combination of the foregoing heat transfer system embodiments, the second aluminum alloy can include an alloying element selected from tin, indium, gallium, or combinations thereof.
The following descriptions should not be considered limiting in any way. With reference to the accompanying drawings, like elements are numbered alike:
A detailed description of one or more embodiments of the disclosed apparatus and method are presented herein by way of exemplification and not limitation with reference to the Figures.
Referring now to
Heat transfer fluid from a first refrigerant box 80 enters pass Y1. Inlet heat transfer fluid enters the refrigerant circuit A through the plurality of tubes 38 and exchanges heat with refrigerant circuit A. Refrigerant of refrigerant circuit A enters the shell 40 through inlet 46 and exits the shell 40 through outlet 48. Although the inlet 46 is illustrated at the bottom surface, the inlet 46 can be positioned at other locations in other type evaporators. Heat transfer fluid then enters and exchanges heat with the second refrigerant circuit B. Refrigerant of refrigerant circuit B enters the shell 40 through inlet 50 and exits the shell 40 through outlet 52. The heat transfer fluid from Y1 then enters a heat transfer fluid box 54. The heat transfer fluid then enters pass Y2 through tubes 48 and passes again through refrigerant circuits A and B. In the prior art design, the tubes 38 are of substantially the same diameter. Additionally, in some embodiments both refrigerant circuits A and B include an equal number of tubes.
As mentioned above, in some embodiments the tubes 38 are made of copper or a copper alloy, or of a first aluminum alloy. Alternatively, the tubes 38 can be clad with or have surface portions thereof covered with the copper or first aluminum alloy. Copper alloys, if present, for the tubes 38 can be selected from any of a number of known alloys, including but not limited to C120 or C122 (copper alloy numbers according to the Unified Numbering System for Copper+Copper Alloys, administered by the American National Standards Institute and the American Society for Testing and Materials. The first aluminum alloy, if present, can be an aluminum alloy based material and, in some embodiments, may be made from aluminum alloys selected from 1000 series, 3000 series, 5000 series, or 6000 series aluminum alloys (as used herein, all alloy numbers and alloy series numbers and individual alloy numbers are as specified and published by The Aluminum Association). Examples of aluminum alloys that can be used as core materials include but are not limited to AA1100, AA1145, AA3003, AA3102, AA5052, AA7072, AA8005, or AA8011.
As mentioned above, the tubes 38 include turbulators therein. In some embodiments, the turbulator can take the form of a helical structure (e.g., a double helix as shown in
The turbulators can be formed from (or be clad with or have surface portions thereof covered with) a second aluminum alloy. In embodiments where the second aluminum alloy is used as a cladding or surface covering, it can be deposited using various techniques including but not limited to thermal spray (e.g., cold spray), brazing, roll cladding, electroplating, etc. The second aluminum alloy can be an aluminum alloy based material and, in some embodiments, may be made from aluminum alloys selected from 1000 series, 3000 series, 5000 series, or 6000 series aluminum alloys, including AA1100, AA1145, AA3003, AA3102, AA5052, AA7072, AA8005, or AA8011. The second aluminum alloy is less noble than the copper alloy or is less noble first aluminum alloy, depending on which metal the tube 38 is made of. By “less noble”, it is meant that the second aluminum alloy is galvanically less noble, i.e., that the second alloy has a lower galvanic potential or a lower electrode potentials than the first aluminum alloy such that the second aluminum alloy would be anodic with respect to the first aluminum alloy in a galvanic cell. This allows the second aluminum alloy to provide sacrificial corrosion protection to the first aluminum alloy. In some embodiments, the difference in galvanic potential between the second aluminum alloy, and the nearest potential of the first and second aluminum alloys is in a range having a lower end of >0 V, 50 mV, or 150 mV, and an upper end of 400 mV, 650 mV, or 900 mV. These range endpoints can be independently combined to form a number of ranges, and each possible combination is hereby expressly disclosed. In some embodiments, the second aluminum alloy can be provided with reduced nobility by incorporating alloying elements such as zinc or magnesium. In some embodiments where zinc is present, the zinc can be present in the second aluminum alloy at a level in a range with a lower end of 0.5 wt. %, 2.0 wt. %, 2.5 wt. %, or 4.0 wt. %, and an upper end of 4.5 wt. %, 6.0 wt. %, 7.0 wt. %, or 10.0 wt. %. These range endpoints can be independently combined to form a number of ranges, and each possible combination is hereby expressly disclosed. In some embodiments where magnesium is present, the magnesium can be present in the second aluminum alloy at a level in a range with a lower end of 0.5 wt. %, 1.0 wt. %, or 2.2 wt. %, and an upper end of 1.5 wt. %, 2.8 wt. %, or 4.9 wt. %. These range endpoints can be independently combined to produce different ranges, each of which is hereby explicitly disclosed. The second aluminum alloy also includes one or more alloying elements selected from tin, indium, or gallium. In some embodiments, the selected alloying element(s) can be present in the second aluminum alloy at a level in a range with a lower end of 0.010 wt. %, 0.016 wt. %, or 0.020 wt. %, and an upper end of 0.020 wt. %, 0.035 wt. %, 0.050 wt. %, or 0.100 wt. %. These range endpoints can be independently combined to produce different possible ranges, each of which is hereby explicitly disclosed (i.e., 0.010-0.020 wt. %, 0.010-0.035 wt. %, 0.010-0.050 wt. %, 0.010-0.100 wt. %, 0.016-0.020 wt. %, 0.016-0.035 wt. %, 0.016-0.050 wt. %, 0.016-0.100 wt. %, 0.020-0.020 wt. %, 0.020-0.035 wt. %, 0.020-0.050 wt. %, 0.020-0.100 wt. %). The second aluminum alloy can also include one or more other alloying elements for aluminum alloys. The second alloy can also include one or more other alloying elements for aluminum alloys. In some embodiments, the amount of any individual other alloying element can range from 0-1.5 wt. %. In some embodiments, the total content of any such other alloying elements can range from 0-2.5 wt. %. Examples of such other alloying elements include Si, Fe, Mn, Cu, Ti, or Cr. In some embodiments, the second aluminum alloy can have a composition consisting of: 4.0-6.0 wt. % zinc or magnesium, 0.001-0.1 wt. % of one or more alloying elements selected from tin, indium, gallium, or combinations thereof, 0-2.5 wt. % other alloying elements, and the balance aluminum.
As mentioned above, other types of heat exchangers (e.g., round tube plate fin, or microchannel heat exchangers) can include turbulators according to the present disclosure. An example embodiment of a round tube plate fin heat exchanger is schematically shown in
The heat exchanger embodiments disclosed herein can be used in a heat transfer system. Referring now to the
The heat transfer system shown in
With continued reference to
To the extent used herein, the term “about” is intended to include the degree of error associated with measurement of the particular quantity based upon the equipment available at the time of filing the application. For example, “about” can include a range of ±8% or 5%, or 2% of a given value.
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the present disclosure. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, element components, and/or groups thereof.
While the present disclosure has been described with reference to an exemplary embodiment or embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the teachings of the present disclosure without departing from the essential scope thereof. Therefore, it is intended that the present disclosure not be limited to the particular embodiment disclosed as the best mode contemplated for carrying out this present disclosure, but that the present disclosure will include all embodiments falling within the scope of the claims.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Application No. 62/781,935, filed on Dec. 19, 2018, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/US2019/067462 | 12/19/2019 | WO | 00 |
Number | Date | Country | |
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62781935 | Dec 2018 | US |