Water cooling system and heat transfer system

Abstract

A heat exchanger comprising: a gas transport conduit providing a channel through which a fluid mixture can flow; an outer conduit disposed around the gas transport conduit, the outer conduit having a first cap covering a first end and a second cap covering a second end, the gas transport conduit passing through the outer conduit; and a conductive tube passing through the outer conduit, providing a channel through which a circulating fluid can flow through the outer conduit, wherein a static fluid chamber is formed between the conductive tube and the gas transport conduit, the static fluid chamber configured to house a static fluid, wherein the gas transport conduit is configured to conduct heat from the fluid mixture in the gas transport conduit to the static fluid and the conductive tube is configured to conduct heat from the static fluid to the circulating fluid.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]The present application claims priority to co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11 / 110,341, filed on Apr. 19, 2005, entitled, “HIGH THROUGHPUT DISCOVERY OF MATERIALS THROUGH VAPOR PHASE SYNTHESIS” and to co-pending U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60 / 928,946, filed May 11, 2007, entitled “MATERIAL PRODUCTION SYSTEM AND METHOD,” both of which are hereby incorporated by reference as if set forth herein.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]The present invention relates generally to methods of and systems for cooling gas transport conduits configured to conduct hot gasses or gaseous mixtures.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]In a gas phase particle production reactor, basic product species are formed within extremely short time spans following ejection of hot, reactive matter from an energy delivery zone. Although particle species are formed rapidly, cooling of the gas-particle product must be carefully controlled to achieve desired particl...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0010]According to the present invention, a cooling system for a conduit is presented. In an exemplary aspect, a cooling system according to the present invention is used to cool a conduit that transports gas mixtures. The cooling system is primarily intended to dissipate heat absorbed by the conduit from the gas particle product it transports. In an exemplary system, hot gas-particle product is emitted from gas phase particle production reactors, such as flame reactors, plasma reactors, hot wall reactors and laser reactors. The conduit conducts and conditions the gas-vapor mixtures ejected from the reactor, absorbing heat from the mixtures through multiple means. The cooling system functions to dissipate heat absorbed within the conduit and prevent overheating of the conduit.

[0022]The present invention presents a fluid control system comprising several parts. The outer conduit provides a confining structure, which forms the toroidal chamber in which static fluid is positioned. Thus, the conduit determines the total fluid volume within the toroidal chamber, exclusive of the fluid path within the highly heat conductive tube structure. Furthermore, each of the caps sealing the ends of the outer conduit are preferably equipped with a plurality of ports. These ports determine the pattern in which fluid flows into the highly heat conductive tube structure and thus help determine, in concert with the flow structures within the highly heat conductive tube structure, the flow patterns through the highly heat conductive tube structure. Additionally, the cap structures preferably include one or more pressure relief valves, configured to release fluid from the system should a sudden rise in pressure occur. Furthermore, the fluid control system can include a pump configured to deliver fluid through the plurality of ports on one of the sealing caps.

[0028]Preferably, since the heat production within a gas production system incorporating a cooling system of the present invention is not necessarily static, the cooling system of the present invention can vary its fluid flow rates to accommodate varying requirements for heat dissipation. In one aspect of the present invention, a control system controls the pump and fluid supply system according to the observed temperature difference between fluid flowing into the heat exchange region and fluid flowing from the heat exchange region. If the temperature difference is beyond desired limits, the rate of flow is increased, so long as the maximum flow rate has not been exceeded.

[0030]Within the several embodiments of the present invention, the preferred characteristics of the fluid and the static fluid can vary. Specifically preferred characteristics can differ both between the fluid and the static fluid within a given embodiment and within a given fluid between multiple embodiments. Important characteristics of the fluid include density, heat capacity, viscosity, and conductivity. In one aspect of the present invention, a static fluid and a circulating fluid both having a low thermal mass are chosen to allow rapid changes in the temperature of the heat exchanger. In other aspects of the present invention, circulating fluid and static fluid having high heat capacities are chosen to allow removal of large quantities of heat.

Problems solved by technology

The independent requirements of absorption and dissipation are at odds.

Gas transport systems are typically incapable of absorbing large quantities of heat without increasing their temperature.

Although such systems are simple and relatively inexpensive to operate, they are less efficient than liquid cooling systems because the heat capacity of gas is generally less than that of liquid, gas cools through mostly convective means and gas cannot be cooled as readily as can liquid.

Thus, forced-gas cooling systems are ill suited to cool high heat load gas-particle mixtures.

Systems having high volume heat exchange regions require higher volumes of cool liquid to operate efficiently, resulting in high operating costs.

While low volume heat exchange regions are known, fabrication methods are difficult, expensive and result in high set-up costs.

Further, many low volume systems are very sensitive to contamination, and thus require sometimes expensive precautions, such as filters, and regular maintenance to run smoothly.

Current methods for cooling gas transport systems rely either on forced-gas cooling, which lacks sufficient efficiency to handle high heat load systems, or liquid cooling systems, which are expensive to build and maintain.

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