Rotational vessel heating

Abstract

Aqueous fluids are heated or boiled in a tank or vessel by causing cavitation in the fluid within the tank or vessel. A rotor having cavities on its cylindrical surface is rotated within a closely dimensioned housing submerged in the fluid, deliberately causing cavitation which heats the aqueous fluid without the use of flame or heat exchange surface. An electric motor which powers the rotor may itself be submerged in the tank or boiler vessel. The rotor includes radial channels for imparting centrifugal impetus to the fluid as it flows toward the cavitation zone.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD[0001]The invention is a liquid heater which heats a reservoir of aqueous liquid by inducing flux stress within the liquid. A flux stress inducing device, which may be a cavitration device, including its electric motor in one version, is immersed in the liquid in the vessel. Hot water, steam, vapor and blowdown are readily removed from the reservoir in a conventional manner.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]It is known that turbulence, shear, and cavitation within a liquid will elevate its temperature. For many purposes, the generation of shear, turbulence and cavitation is considered to be a waste of energy, and much attention in pump design, for example, has been devoted to avoiding or suppressing these effects. Some workers, however, have sought to take advantage of the fact that the temperature of the liquid may be elevated without the use of flame or even a heat transfer surface of any kind, and have designed machines deliberately to subject the fluid in them to s...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0004]We have invented a water heater using a flux stress device to supply heat. The flux stress device is immersed within the water heater reservoir. Placing the flux stress device within the reservoir enables excellent circulation of hot liquid within the vessel (reservoir) and excellent control of the heating process. The flux stress device can heat a wide variety of solutions and slurries.

[0006]The substantially parallel surfaces frequently used to create shearing and / or turbulence need not be planar or cylindrical surfaces—for example, a conical surface may be nested within and close to another conical surface, and the fluid caused to flow between the two surfaces, one or both of which may be turning; if both are turning, they will advantageously turn in opposite directions. Turbulence and shearing between two closely aligned surfaces or within a conduit or passage induces thermal energy within the fluid from the mechanical energy of the fluid flux, without dependence on a heat transfer surface, and the generation of thermal energy may be enhanced by rotating or otherwise moving one surface with respect to the other while the fluid is caused to pass between them.

[0009]Benefits of the HDI cavitation devices include that they can handle slurries as well as many different types of solutions, they can be used to concentrate such slurries and solutions by facilitating the removal of steam and vapor from the fluid being treated, and the heating of the fluid occurs within the fluid itself rather than on a heat exchange surface which might be vulnerable to scale formation and ultimately to a significant reduction in heat transfer.

[0011]As a means for heating or boiling water or other aqueous fluids, the existing designs of cavitation devices exhibit many benefits, but there remains a need for improvement. It is difficult to control the separation of steam and vapor from the remaining concentrated liquid at the exit of the device. As one approach to this problem, at least a portion of the heated throughput of the cavitation device may be sent to a flash tank, for the separation of liquid and gaseous or vapor phases, thus necessitating a whole set of additional equipment, valves and controls. Also, the typical cavitation device would benefit from a practical method of maintaining pressure on the cavitation zone, to enhance the cavitating effect.

[0012]Our invention includes a boiler using a cavitation device to supply heat. The cavitation device is within the boiler vessel and may be totally immersed. Placing the cavitation device within the vessel enables excellent circulation of hot fluid within the vessel and recycling of the fluid through the (desirably) immersed cavitation device to provide excellent control of the heating process entirely within the vessel. The cavitation device can heat a wide variety of solutions and slurries.

Problems solved by technology

For many purposes, the generation of shear, turbulence and cavitation is considered to be a waste of energy, and much attention in pump design, for example, has been devoted to avoiding or suppressing these effects.

While the art has used such machines for heating flowing liquids, to our knowledge it has not successfully designed an apparatus to elevate the temperature of a body of water within a vessel, tank, boiler, or other reservoir by turbulence, shear, and / or cavitation

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