Heat pipe with gas-liquid separation effect and modular heat pipe assembly thereof

Abstract

The application provides a heat pipe with gas-liquid separation effect and a modular heat pipe assembly. The heat pipe comprises a condensing main pipe and / or condensing branch pipes, a main evaporation pipe and / or evaporation branch pipes, an upper header communicated with the top end of the condensing main pipe, a middle header communicated between the condensing main pipe and the main evaporation pipe, and a lower header communicated with the bottom end of the main evaporation pipe. The condensing branch pipes are distributed around the condensing main pipe and communicated between the upper header and the middle header. The evaporation branch pipes are distributed around the main evaporation pipe and communicated between the middle header and the lower header. The heat pipe with gas-liquid separation effect is in a vacuum state, and liquid working medium is arranged in the heat pipe. The liquid working medium is located in the lower header. A sealing plate is horizontally arranged around the middle header and separates the condensing branch pipes and the evaporation branch pipes. The modular heat pipe assembly is formed by connecting multiple heat pipes in series. The application can improve heat exchange efficiency, save processing cost, and solve the problem of difficult installation due to too small heat pipe spacing.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of heat pipe technology, and in particular to a heat pipe with gas-liquid separation effect and its modular heat pipe assembly. Background Technology

[0002] Heat pipe technology is commonly used in the chemical and metallurgical industries. While the technology itself is quite mature, conventional heat pipes have revealed the following problems in long-term industrial production applications:

[0003] 1. Finned heat pipes are easily clogged by dust; 2. If the spacing between bare heat pipes is large, the flow rate is often low. Reducing the spacing can lead to difficulties in installation and welding, or air leakage at the sealing points; 3. Ordinary heat pipes have many weld joints during on-site installation. The welding space is narrow, and if the weld is not handled properly, air leakage is easy to occur, making it difficult to guarantee quality. Careless operation can even damage the heat pipe, and on-site maintenance is also inconvenient; moreover, existing heat pipes are mainly single heat pipes, which are very inconvenient to weld and install. Some heat pipes are integrated in a sheet, but there is still a certain degree of installation difficulty. There are very few heat pipe assemblies that can be directly integrated in modular form. Summary of the Invention

[0004] To address the problems existing in the prior art, the present invention aims to provide a heat pipe with gas-liquid separation effect and its modular heat pipe assembly, so as to improve heat exchange efficiency, save processing costs, and solve the problem of difficult installation due to small heat pipe spacing.

[0005] To achieve the above objectives, the present invention proposes a heat pipe with gas-liquid separation effect, characterized in that: it includes a condenser main pipe and / or condenser branch pipes, a main evaporator pipe and / or evaporator branch pipes, an upper manifold connected to the top of the condenser main pipe, a middle manifold connected between the condenser main pipe and the main evaporator pipe, and a lower manifold connected to the bottom of the main evaporator pipe. The condenser branch pipes are distributed around the condenser main pipe and are connected between the upper manifold and the middle manifold. The evaporator branch pipes are distributed around the main evaporator pipe and are connected between the middle manifold and the lower manifold. The heat pipe with gas-liquid separation effect is in a vacuum state inside, and a liquid working fluid is provided inside it. The liquid working fluid is located in the lower manifold. A sealing plate is horizontally arranged around the middle manifold, and the sealing plate separates the condenser branch pipes and the evaporator branch pipes.

[0006] In the above scheme: two rings of evaporation branch pipes are distributed around the outer periphery of the main evaporation pipe, and two rings of condensation branch pipes are distributed around the outer periphery of the condensation header pipe.

[0007] In the above scheme: the inner walls of the main evaporator pipe and the evaporator branch pipe are covered with liquid suction nets, while the walls of the condenser main pipe and the condenser branch pipe are not covered with liquid suction nets. The walls of the main evaporator pipe and the evaporator branch pipe are covered with liquid suction nets. This design is to better separate the steam channel and the condensate channel.

[0008] In the above scheme: the inner wall of the central manifold is provided with a perforated support plate, and a liquid suction net is provided in the central manifold above the perforated support plate. The condenser branch pipe is connected above the liquid suction net to reduce the amount of steam directly entering the condenser branch pipe.

[0009] In the above scheme, an antioxidant is added inside the heat pipe with gas-liquid separation effect, which is beneficial to improving the aging resistance of the heat pipe.

[0010] In the above solution: the upper header is connected to a maintenance pipe, which is equivalent to reserving a vacuum port. After leak repair welding, vacuuming can be performed again to quickly restore the function.

[0011] The present invention also proposes a modular heat pipe assembly, which is composed of multiple heat pipes connected in series to achieve the gas-liquid separation effect described above.

[0012] In the above scheme: the heat pipes with gas-liquid separation effect are connected in a matrix by T-shaped plates. Side sealing plates are provided on both sides of the matrix. The T-shaped plates are connected between the sealing plates of two adjacent heat pipes with gas-liquid separation effect. All sealing plates are connected into one piece and sealed to the side sealing plates, which facilitates the separation of the evaporation section and the condensation section.

[0013] In the above scheme: the heat pipes with gas-liquid separation effect on both sides of the matrix are sealed and welded to the side sealing plate by angle steel at the sealing plate, which has better welding sealing performance and can avoid air leakage.

[0014] In the above scheme: each heat pipe with gas-liquid separation effect is provided with support members at both the upper and lower ends. Two adjacent support members are spliced ​​together to facilitate support and placement. The support members at the top and bottom ends cooperate with the sealing plates on both sides to form the working chamber of the heat pipe assembly. All sealing plates are connected to form a piece to divide the working chamber into upper and lower cavities. The lower cavity is circulated with a hot medium and the lower cavity is circulated with a cold medium.

[0015] The beneficial effects of this invention are:

[0016] The heat pipe of this invention is mainly divided into three sections: an evaporation section, a condensation section, and an intermediate section. The intermediate section is a separate header. Both the evaporation and condensation sections are equipped with a large number of branch pipes to expand the branch pipe combination and replace the original evaporation and condensation sections of the heat pipe. This not only expands the heat exchange area of ​​the heat pipe, but also solves the problem of the heat pipe spacing being too small and difficult to install. At the same time, the heat pipe itself has a built-in sealing plate. During welding, only the sealing plate needs to be welded together, avoiding the disadvantages of the original heat pipe combination connection, which required drilling holes in a separate steel plate and then adding sealing components.

[0017] The heat transfer capacity of a single heat pipe of this invention can replace the heat transfer capacity of dozens of ordinary heat pipes. Because the overall manufacturing cost is lower than that of ordinary heat pipes, it can play a certain role in energy saving and carbon reduction.

[0018] The working fluid flow direction inside the heat pipe is as follows: the liquid in the lower header evaporates after being heated, and flows through the main evaporation pipe and branch pipes of the evaporation section to the middle header. Then, it enters the upper header through the condenser header of the condensation section. From the upper header, it is then distributed to various condenser branch pipes. The vapor in the condenser branch pipes and condenser header pipes condenses into liquid under the action of the external cold medium in the condensation section and falls back by gravity. The condensate in the condenser header pipe returns directly to the middle header and then to the lower header. The condensate in the condenser branch pipes returns to the middle header and then returns to the lower header through the main evaporation pipe and some evaporation branch pipes. Compared with ordinary sheet-like integrated heat pipes or other integrated heat pipes, this design adds a two-phase flow field optimization design, clearly distinguishes the vapor channel and the condensate channel, and improves the upper limit of the heat pipe's carrying capacity.

[0019] In summary, this invention adopts a modular design, with all relevant components prefabricated in the factory. On-site installation and welding are only required, making installation, replacement, construction, and maintenance more convenient.

[0020] Because most of the condensate in this invention is discharged centrally through the evaporation main pipe, the inner and outer evaporation branch pipes of the evaporation section, which are the main evaporation function, are less affected by the dripping condensate. Therefore, the carrying capacity of this heat pipe assembly is much higher than that of ordinary heat pipes of the same cross-section.

[0021] Depending on the arrangement of its branches, a single heat pipe of the present invention is equivalent to a dozen to dozens or even hundreds of heat pipes. The heat pipe effect can be formed with just one vacuuming, which greatly improves production efficiency.

[0022] Heat pipe assemblies facilitate testing, transportation, pressure testing, and other operational procedures.

[0023] If any heat pipe assembly leaks, the corresponding leaking heat pipe can be replaced, and the leaking heat pipe can also be returned to the factory for repair. Attached Figure Description

[0024] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of a heat pipe that has a gas-liquid separation effect.

[0025] Figure 2 yes Figure 1 Sectional view at point AA.

[0026] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of a heat pipe with gas-liquid separation function equipped with a support.

[0027] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the modular heat pipe assembly.

[0028] Figure 5 yes Figure 4 Top view. Detailed Implementation

[0029] like Figure 1As shown in Figure 5, a heat pipe with gas-liquid separation effect mainly consists of a condenser header 1 and / or condenser branch pipes 6, a main evaporator pipe 2 and / or evaporator branch pipes 7, an upper header 3 connected to the top of the condenser header 1, a middle header 4 connected between the condenser header 1 and the main evaporator pipe 2, and a lower header 5 connected to the bottom of the main evaporator pipe 2. Specifically, the upper end of the condenser header 1 is connected to the lower end of the upper header 3, the lower end of the condenser header 1 is connected to the upper end of the middle header 4, the upper end of the main evaporator pipe 2 is connected to the lower end of the middle header 4, and the lower end is connected to the upper end of the lower header 5. The lower part of the upper header 3 is conical, the middle part of the middle header 4 is cylindrical, and the upper and lower ends are conical, while the upper part of the lower header 5 is conical.

[0030] The condensing section consists of the condensing main pipe 1 and / or the condensing branch pipe 6 and the upper header 3. The lower part is the evaporation section. The condensing section or the evaporation section may only retain the branch pipes and not the main pipe, or only retain the main pipe and not the branch pipes. In addition to ordinary bare pipes, the branch pipes and main pipes may also use enhanced heat exchange tube types such as vortex tubes and finned tubes. The diameters of the branch pipes and main pipes of the evaporation section and the condensation section may be the same or different.

[0031] When condenser branch pipes 6 and evaporator branch pipes 7 are installed, several condenser branch pipes 6 (two concentric rings in the diagram) are arranged around the condenser main pipe 1 from the inside out. These condenser branch pipes 6 connect between the upper header 3 and the middle header 4. That is, the upper end of all condenser branch pipes 6 is connected to the upper header 3, and the lower end is connected to the middle header 4. Several evaporator branch pipes 7 (two concentric rings in the diagram; the inner and outer layers can be aligned or staggered) are arranged around the main evaporator pipe 2 from the inside out. These evaporator branch pipes 7 connect between the middle header 4 and the lower header 5. That is, the upper end of all evaporator branch pipes 7 is connected to the middle header 4, and the lower end is connected to the lower header 5. Of course, the number of condenser branch pipes 6 and evaporator branch pipes 7 can be adjusted as needed. The pipe type and specifications of the condenser branch pipes 6 and evaporator branch pipes 7 can also be adjusted as needed.

[0032] Both the main evaporator pipe 2 and the evaporator branch pipe 7 are equipped with liquid suction nets 9 on their inner walls. Of course, the liquid suction nets 9 are optional and can be omitted in some operating conditions. The condenser header pipe 1 and the condenser branch pipe 6 are not equipped with liquid suction nets, while the main evaporator pipe 2 and the evaporator branch pipe 7 are equipped with liquid suction nets. This design is to better separate the steam channel and the condensate channel.

[0033] The heat pipe with gas-liquid separation function is in a vacuum state inside, containing a liquid working fluid and an antioxidant. The liquid working fluid is located in the lower header 5, and the antioxidant helps improve the heat pipe's aging resistance. The liquid working fluid can be water or other fluids.

[0034] The inner wall of the central manifold 4 is provided with a perforated support plate 10. A liquid suction net 9 is installed inside the central manifold 4 above the perforated support plate 10. The condensate branch pipe 6 is connected above this liquid suction net 9 to reduce the amount of steam directly entering the condensate branch pipe 6. A water collection basin can be added to the pipe wall of the central manifold 4 to enhance the condensate collection effect. The length of the central manifold 4 can also be extended to flexibly meet the distance requirements of hot and cold media on site.

[0035] A sealing plate 8 is horizontally arranged around the central manifold 4, and the sealing plate 8 separates the condenser branch pipe 6 and the evaporator branch pipe 7.

[0036] The upper header 3 is connected to a maintenance pipe 15, which is equivalent to having a vacuum port. After leak repair welding, vacuuming can be performed again to quickly restore the function.

[0037] A modular heat pipe assembly is formed by connecting multiple heat pipes with the above-mentioned gas-liquid separation effect in series.

[0038] Each heat pipe with gas-liquid separation effect is connected in a matrix by a T-shaped plate 11. Side sealing plates 12 are provided on both sides of the matrix. The T-shaped plate 11 is connected between the sealing plates 8 of two adjacent heat pipes with gas-liquid separation effect. All sealing plates 8 are connected into one piece and sealed to the side sealing plates 12, which facilitates the separation of the evaporation section and the condensation section.

[0039] The heat pipes on both sides of the matrix have a gas-liquid separation effect. They are sealed and welded to the side sealing plate 12 at the sealing plate 8 by angle steel 13. The welding seal is better and can prevent air leakage.

[0040] Each heat pipe with gas-liquid separation effect is provided with support members 14 at both ends. Two adjacent support members 14 are spliced ​​together for easy support and placement. The support members 14 at the top and bottom ends cooperate with the sealing plates 12 on both sides to form the working chamber of the heat pipe assembly. All sealing plates 8 are connected into one piece to divide the working chamber into upper and lower cavities. The lower cavity is filled with hot medium and the lower cavity is filled with cold medium.

[0041] The heat pipes can be aligned in a straight line or designed as a polygonal base plate and top plate, arranged in a staggered manner. The straight line arrangement is more conducive to installation and maintenance, while the staggered arrangement saves more space and makes the heat exchange process more uniform and reasonable.

[0042] When assembling multiple heat pipes, in addition to welding, other sealing methods can be used when the pressure of the hot and cold fluids is not high and the sealing requirements are not demanding.

Claims

1. A heat pipe with gas-liquid separation effect, characterized in that: The system includes a condenser header (1) and condenser branch pipes (6), a main evaporator pipe (2) and evaporator branch pipes (7), an upper header (3) connected to the top of the condenser header (1), a middle header (4) connected between the condenser header (1) and the main evaporator pipe (2), and a lower header (5) connected to the bottom of the main evaporator pipe (2). The condenser branch pipes (6) are distributed around the condenser header (1), and the condenser branch pipes (6) are connected between the upper header (3) and the middle header (4). The evaporation branch pipe (7) is distributed around the main evaporation pipe (2), and the evaporation branch pipe (7) is connected between the middle manifold (4) and the lower manifold (5). The heat pipe with gas-liquid separation effect is in a vacuum state inside, and a liquid working medium is provided inside it. The liquid working medium is located in the lower manifold (5). A sealing plate (8) is horizontally arranged around the middle manifold (4). The sealing plate (8) is separated between the condensation branch pipe (6) and the evaporation branch pipe (7). Two rings of evaporation branch pipes (7) are distributed around the outer periphery of the main evaporation pipe (2), and two rings of condensation branch pipes (6) are distributed around the outer periphery of the condensation main pipe (1); liquid absorption nets (9) are laid on the inner walls of the main evaporation pipe (2) and the evaporation branch pipes (7); a ring of perforated support plates (10) is provided around the inner wall of the central manifold (4), and liquid absorption nets (9) are provided in the central manifold (4) above the perforated support plates (10), and the condensation branch pipes (6) are connected to the liquid absorption nets (9) above the central manifold (4); an antioxidant is added inside the heat pipe with gas-liquid separation effect.

2. The heat pipe with gas-liquid separation effect according to claim 1, characterized in that: The upper header (3) is connected to a maintenance pipe (15).

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