Patent Application
20250216157
This application claims the benefit of priority to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2023-0195748, filed in the Korean Intellectual Property Office on Dec. 28, 2023, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The present disclosure relates to a heat exchanger.
In water heating devices, such as boilers and water heaters, a heat exchanger is used to generate hot water. Among them, in the case of a typical plate type surface heating element heat exchanger, a surface heating element is adhered to an outside of a metal body to generate heat, and a passage is formed inside the body.
However, to increase a heat exchange efficiency of the heat exchanger, a flow in an interior of the heat exchanger has to form turbulences, but in the case of a general plate-type heat exchanger, there is a problem of a low heat exchange efficiency due to a laminar internal flow.
In particular, because the surface heating element heat exchanger used in electric water heaters has a high amount of required heat, a method of increasing a heat transfer efficiency by disposing ribs in an inner passage to generate vortexes in water that flowing in an interior thereof is used.
However, heat transfer deviations occur due to ribs located in the internal passage, and a locally weak portion of heat transfer is formed, which prevents heat from escaping.
The portion, at which heat cannot escape, is maintained at a high temperature, and as the high temperature is maintained, generation of scale is accelerated nearby to block the passage, which adversely affects the durability of the heat exchanger and the internal hygiene of the heat exchanger.
In particular, because the formed scale functions as an insulation material, a local high-temperature area continues to occur, and a vicious cycle, in which formation of scale is further accelerated, is created in the area.
Accordingly, it is necessary to develop a heat exchanger that may generation of scale by solving a local temperature imbalance.
The present disclosure has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems occurring in the prior art while advantages achieved by the prior art are maintained intact.
An aspect of the present disclosure provides a heat exchanger, by which a local temperature imbalance may be solved and generation of scale may be suppressed.
The technical problems to be solved by the present disclosure are not limited to the aforementioned problems, and any other technical problems not mentioned herein will be clearly understood from the following description by those skilled in the art to which the present disclosure pertains.
According to an aspect of the present disclosure, a heat exchanger includes a first plate extending in a first direction, and having an inlet and an outlet located in the first direction of the inlet, a second plate disposed in a second direction crossing the first direction of the first plate, and defining an interior space, in which a fluid introduced through the inlet flows toward the outlet, together with the first plate, a heat emitting part coupled to any one of the first plate and the second plate, and that provides heat to the interior space, and a rib part protruding from at least any one of the first plate or the second plate toward the interior space, each of the first plate and the second plate includes a heat emitting area configured such that the heat emitting part is coupled thereto, each of the heat emitting areas includes a reference area located adjacent to the outlet and satisfying a specific reference condition, and a remaining area excluding the reference area, and the heat emitting part includes a remaining heat emitting member coupled to the remaining area.
In another example, the reference condition may be a case, in which a temperature of a corresponding portion corresponds to a reference temperature or more when the heat emitting part is operated for a specific time period in a state, in which the heat emitting part is coupled to an entire area of the reference area and the remaining area.
In another example, the reference area may have a trapezoidal shape, in which a length of a first side being adjacent to the outlet is greater than a length of a second side being parallel to the first side.
In another example, when a direction crossing the first direction and the second direction is defined as a third direction, the heat emitting part may further include an additional heat emitting member coupled to an additional area of the reference area, which is located in the third direction.
The heat exchanger may further include a temperature sensor that acquires a surface temperature of the additional area, and a descaling part that descales the interior space.
In another example, the interior space may be descaled by operating the descaling part when the surface temperature of the additional area, which is sensed by the temperature sensor, is the reference temperature or more.
In another example, the temperature sensor may include a sensing member that acquires a temperature of an attached object, and the additional area may have a larger area than an extent of the sensing member viewed along the second direction.
In another example, when a direction crossing the first direction and the second direction is defined as a third direction, the rib part may include a plurality of first rib members protruding from the first plate toward the interior space, extending in a direction inclined in the third direction with respect to the first direction, and arranged along the first direction, and a plurality of second rib members protruding from the second plate toward the interior space, extending in an opposite direction to the third direction with respect to the first direction, and arranged along the first direction.
In another example, the first rib member and the second rib member may be spaced apart from each other along the second direction.
In another example, the reference area may include a removal area located in the first direction from a center of an overlapping area, in which the first rib member and the second rib member overlap each other, when viewed along the second direction, and having a rectangular shape, in which a length thereof in the third direction corresponds to twice of a length of the first rib member in the second direction, and an attachment area except for the removal area, in the reference area, and the heat emitting part may further include an attached heat emitting member coupled to the attachment area.
In another example, the rib part may include a plurality of rib members contacting the first plate and the second plate, and disposed to be spaced apart from each other, and the rib member may have a rhombus shape when viewed along the second direction.
In another example, when a direction crossing the first direction and the second direction is defined as a third direction, and when a rhombus being similar to the rib member, and in which a length thereof in the first direction is a length obtained by adding a length of 0.3 to 0.6 times a length of the rib member in the second direction to a length of the rib member in the first direction is defined as a reference rhombus, the reference area may include a removal area having a rectangular shape, in which the rib member is disposed in an interior thereof when viewed along the second direction, a length thereof in the first direction corresponds to a length of the reference rhombus in the first direction, and a length thereof in the third direction corresponds to a length of the reference rhombus in the third direction, and an attachment area except for the removal area, in the reference area, and the heat emitting part may include an attached heat emitting member coupled to the attachment area.
The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present disclosure will be more apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings:
Hereinafter, some embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In adding reference numerals to components of each drawing, it should be noted that the same components have the same reference numerals, although they are indicated on another drawing. In describing embodiments of the present disclosure, detailed descriptions associated with well-known functions or configurations will be omitted if they may make subject matters of the present disclosure unnecessarily obscure.
In the specification, in the drawings, some shapes or sizes may be exaggerated to effectively describe the technical contents, and the sizes of components do not entirely reflect the actual sizes. For the same reason, some parts in the drawings are exaggerated, omitted, or schematically illustrated.
The heat exchanger according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure relates to a heat exchanger that may solve a local temperature imbalance. The heat exchanger according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure may be a plate-type surface heating element heat exchanger. The heat exchanger according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure may be used for an instantaneous electric water heater. The instantaneous electric water heater heats tens to hundreds of liters of water a day, and in particular, has a fast scale formation rate due to a large required calorific value, and thus has a characteristic that it is difficult to ensure the reliability of the product by detecting the scale after the fact. The scale may be suppressed by lowering a power density, but in this case, the size of the heat exchanger becomes too large. Accordingly, a heat exchanger having a sufficient heating capacity is required while it is easy to detect the scale or the scale is small.
A heat exchanger 100 according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure may include a first plate 110, a second plate 120, a heat emitting part 130, and a rib part 140. The first plate 110 may extend in a first direction D1.
The first plate 110 may have an inlet 111 and an outlet 112. The inlet 111 may be a portion, through which a fluid is introduced. The fluid may be water, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto and may be changed within a range that may be easily changed by a person skilled in the art as long as the fluid requires heating.
The outlet 112 may be a portion, through which the heated fluid is discharged. The outlet 112 may be located in the first direction D1 of the inlet 111.
For convenience of description, a first direction D1, a second direction D2, and a third direction D3 are defined. The first direction D1 may be a direction, in which the first plate 110 extends, and a direction, in which a fluid introduced into the inlet 111 flows toward the outlet 112. The second direction D2 may be a direction that crosses the first direction D1. As an example, the second direction D2 may be a downward direction. The third direction D3 may be a direction that crosses the first direction D1 and the second direction D2.
The second plate 120 may be disposed in the second direction D2 of the first plate 110. The second plate 120 may define an interior space 101 together with the first plate 110. The interior space 101 may be a space, in which the fluid introduced through the inlet 111 flows toward the outlet 112.
The heat emitting part 130 may be coupled to at least any one of the first plate 110 and the second plate 120, and may be configured to provide heat to the interior space 101. As an example, the heat emitting part 130 may be connected to an external power source to heat the first plate 110 and the second plate 120 as electrical energy is converted into thermal energy, and the first plate 110 and the second plate 120 that are heated may heat the interior space 101. As an example, the heat emitting part 130 may include a plurality of heat emitting members that are arranged along the first direction D1. The heat emitting member may be a surface heat emitting element.
The rib part 140 may protrude from at least any one of the first plate 110 and the second plate 120 toward the interior space 101. The rib part 140 may be a configuration for turbulence of a fluid that passes through the interior space 101. As an example, the rib part 140 generates a secondary flow by exfoliating flows generated from the surfaces of the first plate 110 and the second plate 120 defining the interior space, so that a turbulence strength may be increased.
The rib part 140 may have various shapes. As an example, the rib part 140 may protrude from the first plate 110 or the second plate 120 along the first direction D1, and may protrude alternately. Another example will be described in detail in third and fourth embodiments that will be described later.
Each of the first plate 110 and the second plate 120 may include a heat emitting area that is configured such that the heat emitting part 130 is coupled thereto. The heat emitting areas may include a reference area A1 and a remaining area A2, respectively. Here, the respective inclusion may mean that the heat emitting area of the first plate 110 has a reference area A1 and a remaining area A2, and the heat emitting area of the second plate 120 has a reference area A1 and a remaining area A2.
The reference area A1 may be an area that is located adjacent to the outlet 112 and satisfies a specific reference condition. The remaining area A2 may be an area excluding the reference area A1 from the entire heat emitting area. Like a conventional surface heat emitting element heat exchanger, the reference area A1 may be an area, in which a local high temperature may occur when a heat emitting member for heating is attached.
The heat emitting part 130 may include a remaining heat emitting member 131. The remaining heat emitting member 131 may be a heat emitting member that is coupled to the remaining area A2. This may mean that a heat emitting member for emission of heat is attached outside a portion corresponding to the reference area A1, similar to a conventional surface heating emitting element heat exchanger.
Hereinafter, the reference area A1 will be described in detail.
The reference condition may be a case, in which the temperature of the corresponding portion is the reference temperature or more when the heat emitting part 130 is operated for a specific time period while the heat emitting part 130 is coupled to the entire area of the reference area A1 and the remaining area A2.
When the fluid is water, the reference temperature may be 99 degrees. A temperature of the fluid introduced into the inlet 111 increases along the first direction D1, and accordingly, the temperatures of the first plate 110 and the second plate 120 also increase along the first direction D1.
In this case, when the temperatures of the first plate 110 and the second plate 120 are more than 99 degrees, adjacent water soon reaches a boiling point, and the dissolved lime component is deposited. The precipitated lime component may be attached to the adjacent rib part 140 and forms a scale SC, and thus, the durability and hygiene of the heat exchanger 100 may be adversely affected.
For a description,
As illustrated in
For example, the reference area A1 may have a trapezoidal shape, in which a length of the first side that is adjacent to the outlet 112 is larger than a length of the second side that is parallel to the first side. The first side may be located in the first direction D1 of the second side.
However, the shape of the reference area A1 is not necessarily limited to the inside of the trapezoidal shape, and the shape of the reference area A1 has such a tendency, and may have a shape that is partially adjusted in consideration of the shape of the heat emitting member and the length in the first direction D1. When only a portion of the heat emitting member is included in the reference area A1 with respect to the first direction D1, the heat emitting member may be configured to have a shape corresponding to the deletion of the entire portion of the corresponding heat emitting member located in the first direction D1 of the corresponding portion and the opposite direction thereto. This is because, when only a portion of the heat emitting member is removed with respect to the first direction D1, the heat emitting member may not be operated.
Even thereafter, an aspect that an area has a shape of a figure means that the shape is not limited to the shape of the figure but has such a tendency, and is considered that another component does not intrude a portion of a periphery or, to the contrary, or partial intrusion of another component is not excluded.
In addition, the reference area may be variously defined in addition to these criteria. For example, the reference area may have a trapezoidal shape including a specific number of heat emitting members that are located in the first direction D1. In addition, it is not necessarily limited to the equilateral trapezoidal shape, and various modifications, such as a triangle and a circle, may be possible depending on the user's needs and the shape of the rib part.
In the heat exchanger 100 according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure, because the heat emitting member is not disposed in the reference area A1 without lowering the power density of the entire heat emitting part, the occurrence of a local high temperature state that may occur in the reference area A1 may be reduced, and thus, the generation of scale SC may be reduced, so that the durability of the heat exchanger 100 may be improved and internal hygiene may be improved. Furthermore, there is no need to increase the size of the heat exchanger 100.
Meanwhile, unlike the case, in which the heat emitting member is not completely disposed in the reference area A1 as in the first embodiment, the heat emitting member may be arranged in some sections of the reference area A1 according to a specific rule to promote an efficient operation. This will be described in the second to fourth embodiments.
The heat emitting part 130′ of the heat exchanger 100′ according to the second embodiment may further include an additional heat emitting member 132. The additional heat emitting member 132 may be coupled to an additional area A3. The additional area A3 may be an area that is located on the third direction D3 side of the reference area A1. However, a portion of the additional area A3 may protrude to a portion of a periphery of the reference area A1 for the disposition of the additional heat emitting member 132.
It may be understood that the additional area A3 is a portion that deliberately induces the formation of a scale SC at a portion of the reference area A1. This induction may be for descaling that will be described later.
The heat exchanger 100′ according to a second embodiment may further include a temperature sensor 150 and a descaling part 160. The temperature sensor 150 may acquire a surface temperature of the additional area A3. The descaling part 160 may be configured to descale the interior space 101 (see
The heat exchanger 100′ according to the second embodiment may further include a controller 170. The controller 170 may be electrically connected to the temperature sensor 150 and the descaling part 160. The controller 170 may be configured to operate the descaling part 160 based on a temperature measured by the temperature sensor 150.
The controller 170 may include a processor and a memory. The processor may include a microprocessor, such as a field programmable gate array (FPGA), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a central processing unit (CPU), and the like. The memory may store control instructions that are bases in generating instructions for determining whether the descaling part 160 is operated, in the processor. The memory may be a data store such as a hard disk drive (HDD), a solid state drive (SSD), a volatile medium, a nonvolatile medium, and the like.
When the surface temperature of the additional area A3, which is sensed by the temperature sensor 150, is the reference temperature or more, the controller 170 may operate the descaling part 160 to descale the interior space 101. As an example, the controller 170 may operate the descaling part 160 when the surface temperature of the additional area A3, which is sensed by the temperature sensor 150, is maintained at the reference temperature or more for a reference time or more. As another example, the controller 170 may immediately operate the descaling part 160 when the surface temperature of the additional area A3, which is sensed by the temperature sensor 150, is a temperature that is a specific temperature or more.
As the controller 170 operates the descaling part 160 when the surface temperature of the additional area A3, which is sensed by the temperature sensor 150, is the reference temperature or more, an operation of the descaling part 160 based on the possibility of forming the scale SC may be possible.
In addition, in this case, an operation cycle of the descaling part 160 may be different depending on the water quality. For example, when the water contains a lot of lime, the scale SC is formed faster than when water does not contain a lot of lime, and the surface temperature of the additional area A3 exceeds the reference temperature more often, so that the descaling part 160 may be operated more often. Accordingly, the scale SC may be removed efficiently compared to the case, in which the descaling part 160 is simply operated every specific period.
Meanwhile, the temperature sensor 150 may include a sensing member that is configured to acquire a temperature of an object that is attached. In this case, the additional area A3 may have a larger area than an area of the sensing member, when viewed along the second direction D2. This is because, when the area of the additional area A3 is smaller than the area of the sensing member, there is a concern that the sensing member also senses a temperature in an area other than the additional area A3, and thus an accurate result may not be obtained.
In the case of the heat exchanger 100′ according to the second embodiment, there is an effect of efficient descaling based on the possibility of forming the scale SC.
Hereinafter, a heat exchanger 100″ according to a third embodiment of the present disclosure will be described with reference to
The rib part 140′ of the heat exchanger 100″ according to the third embodiment may include a first rib member 141 and a second rib member 142. The first rib member 141 may protrude from the first plate 110 toward the interior space 101, and may extend in a direction that is inclined in the third direction D3 with respect to the first direction D1. A plurality of first rib members 141 may be provided, and may be arranged along the first direction D1.
The second rib member 142 may protrude from the second plate 120 toward the interior space 101, and may extend to be inclined in an opposite direction to the third direction D3 with respect to the first direction D1. A plurality of second rib members 142 may be provided, and may be arranged along the first direction D1. An extension direction of the second rib member 142 and an extension direction of the first rib member 141 may be perpendicular to each other. The first rib member 141 and the second rib member 142 may be spaced apart from each other along the second direction D2.
The reference area A1 may include a removal area A4 and an attachment area. The removal area A4 may be located in the first direction D1 from a center of an overlapping area 143, in which the first rib member 141 and the second rib member 142 overlap each other, when viewed along the second direction D2. The removal area A4 may have a rectangular shape, in which a length thereof in the third direction D3 is twice the length of the first rib member 141 in the second direction D2. The attachment area may be an area excluding the removal area A4 from the reference area A1.
The heat emitting part 130″ may further include an attached heat emitting member 133 that is coupled to the attachment area.
In the case of a heat exchanger according to the third embodiment, the scale SC is mainly formed in a range of a formation area FA that is mainly formed in the first direction D1 of the overlapping area 143.
In this case, when the formation area FA is viewed along the second direction D2, a length thereof in the first direction D1 may correspond to a length of the first rib member 141 in the second direction D2, and a length thereof in the third direction D3 may have a shape of an imaginary right triangle corresponding to twice the length of the first rib member 141 in the second direction D2. Accordingly, the heating efficiency may be further increased not by disposing the heat emitting member in the rectangular removal area A4 including the formation area FA in an interior thereof, and by disposing the attached heat emitting member 133 in the attachment area.
However, a size of the formation area FA is not limited thereto, and a length of the formation area in the first direction D1 may be formed in a range of 0.3 to 0.6 times the length of the rib member 141 of the first rib member 141 in the second direction D2 as in a fourth embodiment that will be described later.
In the case of the third embodiment, as the removal area A4 and the attachment area are classified based on the shape of the rib part 140′, loss of the heating efficiency, which may occur as the heat emitting member is not disposed in the entire reference area A1 in the first embodiment, may be compensated for, and the heat emitting member is not disposed at a portion, at which the scale SC may be formed intensively, and thus, the concern of formation of the scale SC may be reduced.
Hereinafter, a heat exchanger 100′″ according to the fourth embodiment of the present disclosure will be described with reference to
The rib part 140″ may include a plurality of rib members 144. The plurality of rib members 144 may contact the first plate 110 and the second plate 120, and may be disposed to be spaced apart from each other. The rib member 144 may have a rhombus shape when viewed along the second direction D2.
Hereinafter, a reference rhombus RR is defined. The reference rhombus RR is similar to the rib member 144, and a length thereof in the first direction D1 may be a length that is obtained by adding a length of 0.3 to 0.6 times a length of the rib member 144 in the second direction D2 to a length of the rib member 144 in the first direction D1. In the reference rhombus RR, the area excluding the shape of the rib member 144 may be a formation area FA′. That is, the area excluding the shape of the rib member 144 from the reference rhombus RR may be an area, in which the scale SC is mainly formed. Furthermore, the shape that is obtained by adding the formation area FA′ to the rib member 144 may be the reference rhombus RR.
The reference area A1 may include a removal area A4 and an attachment area. The removal area A4 may be an area, in which the rib member 144 is disposed in an interior thereof when viewed along the second direction D2, a length thereof in the first direction D1 corresponds to the length of the reference rhombus RR in the first direction D1, and a length thereof in the third direction D3 corresponds to the length of the reference rhombus RR in the third direction D3. The attachment area may be an area excluding the removal area A4 from the reference area A1.
The heat emitting part 130′″ may include an attached heat emitting member 133′ that is coupled to the attachment area. In the case of the fourth embodiment, as the removal area A4 and the attachment area are classified based on the shape of the rib part 140′, loss of the heating efficiency, which may occur as the heat emitting member is not disposed in the entire reference area A1 in the first embodiment as in the third embodiment, may be compensated for, and the heat emitting member is not disposed at a portion, at which the scale SC may be formed intensively, and thus, the concern of formation of the scale SC may be reduced.
According to the present closure, formation of scale that may occur in a high temperature area is reduced by solving a local temperature imbalance, so that the durability may be improved and internal hygiene may be secured.
The above description is merely an example of the technical idea of the present disclosure, and various modifications and variations may be made by one skilled in the art without departing from the essential characteristic of the present disclosure. Accordingly, embodiments of the present disclosure are intended not to limit but to explain the technical idea of the present disclosure, and the scope and spirit of the present disclosure is not limited by the above embodiments. The scope of protection of the present disclosure should be construed by the attached claims, and all equivalents thereof should be construed as being included within the scope of the present disclosure.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10-2023-0195748 | Dec 2023 | KR | national |
