Claims
- 1. A steam heating process in combination: a steam generator or boiler member having integral heating processes; a steam-operated heater adapted to receive heating steam supplied by said steam generator member, to condense said heating steam within its internal passageways as heat energy is transferred through its heating surfaces, and to discharge steam condensate therefrom; means for transferring pressurized heating steam from the outlet of said steam generator to the inlet of said steam-operated heater; a fluid-to-fluid contact heat exchanger adapted to effect the contact pre-heating of high-velocity feed liquid by contact interchange in parallel flow with low-velocity heating steam by means of accelerating nozzle and ejector passageways internally disposed within said contact heat exchanger member; a supply of feed liquid suitable for evaporation within said steam generator member; a liquid feed pump; means for transferring the said supply of feed liquid to the suction of said feed pump; means for transferring pressurized feed liquid from said feed pump to a nozzle passageway of said contact heat exchanger; means for transferring pressurized heating steam from the outlet of said steam generator to the ejector passage of said contact heat exchanger; valve regulating means disposed to control flow of said heating steam into the ejector passageway of said contact heat exchanger to regulate heat absorption by feed liquids passing therethrough; and means for transferring the heated feed liquid discharge of said contact heat exchanger to heating processes of said steam generator; the said contact heat exchanger being adapted to receive and exchange energy between high-velocity feed liquid and heating steam in parallel flow within internal fluid passageways thereof, to combine the thermal energy of the several entering fluid streams, and to discharge pressurized and pre-heated feed liquid from a diffuser passageway thereof; whereby the external effect of the contact feed heating process is to substantially separate the sensible heating of boiler feed liquid from the latent heating for evaporation of said boiler feed liquid within said steam generator, thereby increasing heat transfer capacity and steaming capacity of said steam generator member.
- 2. The high-capacity steam heating plant of claim 1 wherein a plurality of fluid-to-fluid contact heat exchangers are disposed in parallel with respect to each other between common pressurized feed liquid and heating steam supply headers, and discharges pre-heated feed liquid from said contact heat exchangers to evaporative heating processes of said steam generator member.
- 3. The high-capacity steam heating plant of claim 1 wherein the contact heat exchanger is comprised by an ejector having a centrally-disposed nozzle passage surrounded by an outer ejector passage in the receiving section thereof, and discharges the combined fluid streams through a diverging frusto-conical diffuser passage.
- 4. A high-capacity cyclic steam heating plant comprising in combination: a steam generator having integral heating processes for evaporation of cycle feed liquid; a steam-operated space heater adapted to transfer heat energy through its heating surface while condensing heating steam within internal passageways thereof; an ejector-type fluid-to-fluid contact heat exchanger adapted to effect the pre-heating of high-velocity feed liquid by contact interchange in parallel flow with heating steam supplied from said steam generator; a liquid feed pump; communicating means between the outlet of said steam generator and the inlet of said steam-operated space heater for the transfer of heating steam; communicating means between an outlet of said steam-operated space heater and the suction of said liquid feed pump for the transfer of steam condensate; communicating means from the discharge of said liquid feed pump and accelerating nozzle passageways of said contact heat exchanger for the transfer of pressurized feed liquid; communicating means between an outlet of said steam generator and ejector passageways of said contact heat exchanger for the transfer of heating steam; valve regulating means disposed to control flow of heating steam from said steam generator into ejector passageways of said contact heat exchanger and thereby regulate heat absorption by feed liquids passing therethrough; and communicating means between the fluid discharge of said contact heat exchanger and evaporative heating processes of said steam generator; the said contact heat exchanger being adapted to receive and exchange energy between high-velocity feed liquid and heating steam in parallel flow within internal fluid passageways thereof, to combine the thermal energy of the several entering fluid streams, and to discharge pressurized and pre-heated feed liquid from a diffuser passageway thereof; whereby the external effect of the contact feed heating process is to substantially separate the sensible heating of feed liquid from the latent heating for evaporation of feed liquid within said steam generator, thereby increasing heat transfer capacity and steaming capacity of said steam generator member.
- 5. The high-capacity cyclic steam heating plant of claim 4 wherein a plurality of fluid-to-fluid contact heat exchangers are disposed in parallel with respect to each other between common pressurized feed liquid and heating steam supply headers, and discharges pre-heated feed liquid from said contact heat exchangers to evaporative heating processes of said steam generator member.
- 6. The high-capacity cyclic steam heating plant of claim 4 wherein the contact heat exchanger is comprised by an ejector having a centrally-disposed nozzle passage surrounded by an outer ejector passage in the receiving section thereof, and discharges the combined fluid streams through a diverging frusto-conical diffuser passage.
- 7. The high-capacity cyclic steam heating plant of claim 4 wherein a plurality of steam-operated space heaters are disposed in parallel with respect to each other and commonly receive heating steam from said steam generator while they commonly discharge steam condensate to the inlet receiver of said liquid feed pump.
- 8. A high-capacity cyclic steam heating plant comprising in combination: a forced circulation steam generator having integral heating processes for the evaporation of cycle feed water and an auxiliary boiler water circulating system with integral contact heat exchanger; an ejector-type fluid-to-fluid contact heat exchanger member of said boiler water circulating system; a boiler circulating pump; communicating means between the suction of said circulating pump and the liquid storage section of said steam generator member; communicating means between the discharge of said circulating pump and the nozzle passageway of said contact heat exchanger for the supply of pressurized boiler feed water thereinto; communicating means between an outlet of said steam generator and ejector passageways of said contact heat exchanger for the transfer of heating steam thereto; communicating means between the discharge of said ejector-type contact heat exchanger and said steam generator for the transfer of heated feed water thereinto; a steam-operated space heater adapted to transfer heat energy through its heating surface while condensing heating steam within internal passageways thereof; communicating means between the outlet of said steam generator and the inlet of said space heater for the transfer of heating steam; a cycle feed pump; communicating means between an outlet of said steam-operated space heater and the suction of said cycle feed pump for the transfer of steam condensate thereto; and communicating means between the discharge of said cycle feed pump and said steam generator for the transfer of pressurized feed water thereinto.
- 9. The high-capacity cyclic steam heating plant of claim 8 wherein valve regulating means are disposed in the steam supply branch of said circulating contact heat exchanger to control the flow of circulating steam thereinto.
- 10. The high-capacity cyclic steam heating plant of claim 8 wherein the circulating contact heat exchanger is comprised by an ejector having a centrally-disposed nozzle passage surrounded by an outer ejector passage in the receiving section thereof, and discharges the combined fluid streams through a diverging frusto-conical diffuser passage.
- 11. The high-capacity cyclic steam heating plant of claim 8 wherein a plurality of steam-operated space heaters are disposed in parallel with respect to each other and receive heating steam from said steam generator while discharging steam condensate to the receiver of said cycle feed pump.
Parent Case Info
The present invention is a continuation-in-part of my presently pending application Ser. No. 284,166 now abandoned, entitled "High-Capacity Steam Heating System" filed Aug. 28, 1972 and a continuation-in-part of 121,795 filed Mar. 8, 1971, now U.S. Pat. 3,687,867; a division of 889,262, filed Dec. 3, 1969, now abandoned; a division of 752,120, filed July 22, 1968, now abandoned; a division of 690,040, filed Nov. 14, 1967, now abandoned; a division of 621,381, filed Jan. 23, 1967, now abandoned and a division of 403,244 filed Oct. 12, 1964, now abandoned.
As used hereinafter,
While the apparatus of the invention is described in connection with contact pre-heating of feed water before it is supplied to evaporative heating processes of a companion boiler or steam generator, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that variations in the steam heating processes described hereinafter using related velocity accelerated contact heat exchange methods may be employed advantageously in other configurations and arrangements without departing from the scope of the invention.
The primary object of the invention is to provide a simplified steam heating plant process which uses velocity-accelerated contact interchange methods for the pre-heating of boiler feed water.
Another important object is to provide practicable contact feed heating means for pre-heating feed water to at or near the limiting saturation enthalpy for the pressure of the steam generator or boiler.
A further object is to provide means for separating the sensible feed water heating process from the latent feed water evaporation process, so that the steam generator or boiler may serve an evaporative function.
Still another object is to provide means to accelerate energy transfer across the heating surface of the steam generator or boiler by supplying its feed water at or near the saturation enthalpy, thereby making substantially increased nucleate boiling energy transfer relationships attainable.
With the foregoing objects in view, together with others which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention resides in the novel assemblage and arrangement of system components in steam heating plant processes which will be described more fully in the discussion, illustrated in the drawings, and particularly pointed out in the claims.
US Referenced Citations (3)
Related Publications (4)
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Date |
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752120 |
Jul 1968 |
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690040 |
Nov 1967 |
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621381 |
Jan 1967 |
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403244 |
Oct 1964 |
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Divisions (1)
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Number |
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889262 |
Dec 1969 |
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Patent Grant
3934799
