Gas Flow System

Abstract

The present invention relates to a modular gas flow system comprising at least a first hollow rectangular parallelepiped gas flow element and a second hollow rectangular parallelepiped gas flow element. Four edges of at least one open face of the first gas flow element are hermetically connected to four edges of the open face of the second hollow rectangular parallelepiped gas flow element. Valves or partitions are present at the connecting open faces. The gas flow system may be a header of a plate heat exchanger.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to gas flow systems. [Background technology]

[0002] A modular manifold as a gas flow system is described in US 2011 / 0220224. This publication describes a manifold composed of modules connected to each other in a linear fashion using couplers and elongated cladding. Connectors are present on the sides of the manifold to connect to valves and gas inlet or gas outlet conduits. The modular manifold is advantageous because it can be easily modified to change the capacity and / or flow path and allow repair or removal of a single valve, as described in this publication. A drawback of the modular manifold described in US 2011 / 0220224 is that the modules require multiple parts, such as couplers and cladding, to hold the modules together. Secondly, the manifold can only be expanded in one direction, whereas in multiple applications, more design freedom is required.

[0003] WO2016206714 describes a building provided with a central air drying system and a number of locally positioned evaporative cooling units. The evaporative cooling units are gas flow systems using plate heat exchangers. The evaporative cooling units are placed in the building spaces, so it can be envisaged that different sizes of cooling units are required for different sizes of spaces in the building. By using more or fewer plates in the plate heat exchanger, plate heat exchangers of different capacities may be easily obtained. However, this leads to different dimensions of the stack and therefore also to different dimensions of the headers for supplying and discharging air to the stack of plates. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] US Patent Application Publication No. 2011 / 0220224 [Patent Document 2] International Publication No. 2016 / 206714 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] The present invention aims to provide an exemplary gas flow system for use as a header for a plate heat exchanger that can be easily manufactured in a variety of sizes. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] This objective is achieved by the following gas flow system.

[0007] 1. A gas flow system comprising at least first and second hollow rectangular shaped gas flow elements, each gas flow element having an interior space, six open faces, eight vertices, and twelve edges interconnecting the eight vertices; four edges of at least one open surface of the first gas flow element are hermetically connected to four edges of an open surface of the second hollow rectangular parallelepiped-shaped gas flow element at respective connecting open surfaces, a valve is present at the connecting opening surface, the valve having one or more open positions thereby fluidly connecting the interior space of the first hollow rectangular shaped gas flow element with the interior space of the second hollow rectangular shaped gas flow element to allow the first gas flow to flow from the hollow rectangular shaped gas flow element to other hollow rectangular shaped gas flow elements of the system, and the valve having a closed position thereby fluidly isolating the interior space of the first hollow rectangular shaped gas flow element from the interior space of the second hollow rectangular shaped gas flow element to prevent the first gas flow from flowing from the first hollow rectangular shaped gas flow element to other hollow rectangular shaped gas flow elements; or a partition is present at the connecting opening surface, thereby fluidly separating an interior space of the first hollow rectangular shaped gas flow element from an interior space of the second hollow rectangular shaped gas flow element and allowing a second gas flow through the first hollow rectangular shaped gas flow element and a fluidly separated third gas flow through the second hollow rectangular shaped gas flow element; A gas flow system.

[0008] Applicants have found that in a modular system according to the present invention, headers of plate heat exchangers of different sizes can be manufactured using the same hollow rectangular shaped gas flow elements. This is advantageous because only one type of hollow rectangular shaped gas flow element of a single size may need to be manufactured. Furthermore, the hollow rectangular shaped gas flow elements form gas flow passages that make 90 degree turns, allowing a single gas flow passage to be split into two or more gas flow passages, which is not possible with the modular manifold of the aforementioned U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2011 / 0220224.

[0009] The rectangular parallelepiped may be a rectangular parallelepiped, and is preferably a square parallelepiped, also known as a cube. A cube is preferred because another second cube can be connected to all the open faces of the cube using all the open faces of the second cube. This allows more design freedom than a rectangular parallelepiped.

[0010] The hollow cuboid has an internal space for passing gas. The open space fluidly connects the six open faces of the cuboid. The shape and dimensions of the edges are suitably the same. The cross section of the edges is relatively small resulting in a relatively large open space. The open space suitably constitutes more than 70%, preferably more than 80%, of the total area of ​​the sides of the cuboid.

[0011] The four edges of at least one of the opening faces of the first gas flow element are hermetically connected to the four edges of the opening face of the second hollow cuboid-shaped gas flow element at the respective connecting opening faces. Such connection may be achieved by welding, adhesive or by separate connecting means engaging the edges at the connecting opening faces. Suitably, the four edges of the connecting opening faces are provided with connecting means for connecting to the four edges of the connecting opening face of the second hollow cuboid-shaped gas flow element. Such means may be a stud-and-tube connection system using an interference fit. An example of such a connection is the well-known Lego building block. Such connecting means may also be an extension from an edge of the first hollow cuboid-shaped gas flow element, which extension may form a snap-fit ​​connection with an edge of the second hollow cuboid-shaped gas flow element.

[0012] The connection may also be achieved by using a connecting frame, which is preferably provided with means for connecting to the four edges of the open face of the first gas flow element and with connecting means for connecting to the four edges of the open face of the second hollow cuboid-shaped gas flow element, in such a way that the four edges of the open face of the first gas flow element are gas-tightly connected to the four edges of the open face of the second hollow cuboid-shaped gas flow element.

[0013] The connecting frame may be used only to fluidly connect two hollow cuboid-shaped gas flow elements. When used for this purpose, the connecting frame may be relatively thin. Preferably, the connecting frame itself, which defines the distance between the two connected hollow cuboid-shaped gas flow elements, is between 0.1 cm and 0.6 cm. The frame is then provided with openings for gas flow between the connected gas flow elements.

[0014] The connecting frame may also comprise a valve or a partition according to the invention. A suitable valve is a rotary valve. The rotary valve may be connected to a means for manipulating the rotation of the valve. Such a means may be positioned on the connecting frame or externally of the hollow rectangular shaped gas flow element. The partition may be a closed connecting frame, having no openings for gas flow between the connected gas flow elements.

[0015] The connecting frame may also be combined with other functional devices, for example air filters such as dust collectors, water injectors, clamps to hold the wires, wire feed-through elements, heating elements, cooling elements, sensors such as temperature sensors, pressure sensors, humidity sensors, sound suppressors or flow meters. When such additional functions are present in the connecting frame, the frame itself may be thicker than if the frame is used alone for the connection or if a bulkhead is provided.

[0016] The above mentioned features do not necessarily have to be part of the connecting frame. Also, if no connecting frame is used, the hollow cuboid shaped gas flow element may be configured with such means having these features. The means may be connected to the edges of the hollow cuboid shaped gas flow element using connecting means similar to the connecting means described above, for example using a frame.

[0017] In case the gas flow elements are directly coupled, in the absence of a connecting frame, the valve may be a rotary valve as present in a rectangular frame, which is connected to the edge of the connecting surface of the first hollow rectangular shaped gas flow element or the second hollow rectangular shaped gas flow element, for which connection means as described above may be present.

[0018] In case the gas flow elements are directly coupled, in case there is no connecting frame, the partition may be a rectangular closed frame, which is connected to the edges of the connecting faces of the first hollow rectangular shaped gas flow element and / or the second hollow rectangular shaped gas flow element, for which connection means as described above may be present.

[0019] The hollow cuboid shaped gas flow element is suitably made from a polymer. Preferably, the hollow cuboid shaped gas flow element is a single injection molded piece. The connecting frame is also preferably made from a polymer, preferably a single injection molded piece.

[0020] The dimensions of the hollow rectangular shaped gas flow elements may vary. When used in combination with plate heat exchangers, it is preferred to use elements with a minimum edge dimension of 0.1 m and a maximum edge dimension of 0.3 m, this being the distance along the edge between the two vertices.

[0021] The hollow cuboid shaped gas flow elements, the connecting frame, the rectangular frame and / or the rectangular shaped closed frame may be made of a polymer. Preferably, it is a polymer that may be used for injection molding. Suitable polymers are polypropylene (PP) and / or polyoxymethylene (POM).

[0022] The connecting frame preferably has approximately the same dimensions as the sides of the hollow rectangular shaped gas flow elements. The connecting frame is either closed to provide a partition or has an opening in its center to allow fluid communication between the first hollow rectangular shaped gas flow element and the second hollow rectangular shaped gas flow element. This open space is preferably approximately the same shape as the open face of the hollow rectangular shaped gas flow element. The remaining edges of the frame are provided with means for connecting to the four edges of the open face of the first gas flow element and with connecting means for connecting to the four edges of the open face of the second hollow rectangular shaped gas flow element.

[0023] The means for connecting the connection frame to the edges of the open faces of the first hollow rectangular parallelepiped shaped gas flow element and the second hollow rectangular parallelepiped shaped gas flow element may be any connection that provides an airtight connection between the open faces of the rectangular parallelepipeds and the connection frame. The means for connecting may be a stud-and-tube connection system using an interference fit. An example of such a connection is the well-known Lego building blocks. The preferred means for connecting is a snap-fit ​​connection. Preferably, the connection frame is provided with an extension having a cantilever snap-fit ​​connection. Preferably, the frame comprises a number of protrusions perpendicular to the plane of the frame. The protrusions are suitably provided with sharp edges at their ends. When the frame is placed over the open space of the hollow rectangular parallelepiped, the protrusions penetrate into the open space and bend when moving along the edge of the open space. When the frame reaches its airtight position, the sharp edges or tongues snap around the edges of the hollow rectangular parallelepiped shaped gas flow element and the frame is tightly fitted.

[0024] In order to be able to connect the boundary faces of a hollow rectangular shaped gas flow element to a second hollow rectangular shaped gas flow element, the cantilever snap-fit ​​connections are preferably not located at the same position along the edges of the connection frame. It is therefore possible to connect the connection frame to adjacent opening faces of the rectangular shaped gas flow element by providing a frame whose edges are different relative to the position of the cantilever snap-fit ​​connections. Preferably, the snap-fit ​​connections on a first parallel edge may be positioned equally and the snap-fit ​​connections on the remaining two second parallel edges are positioned differently from the first parallel edges. In this way, the same connection frame may be used for adjacent opening faces, with one of the first parallel edges of one connection frame and one of the second parallel edges of the other connection frame connecting to the same edge of the hollow rectangular shaped gas flow element.

[0025] The remaining open faces of the first and second hollow rectangular parallelepiped gas flow elements may be connected to other hollow rectangular parallelepiped gas flow elements of the same design and shape. In this way, a gas flow system with different conduits for different first, second and third gas flows can be provided. The open faces of the hollow rectangular parallelepiped shaped gas flow elements that are not connected to another gas flow element in such a system are surrounded or fluidly connected to the upstream or downstream part of the gas flow flowing through the gas flow system. Preferably, the remaining open faces of the first or second hollow rectangular parallelepiped shaped gas flow elements are gas-tightly surrounded by an enclosure element connected to four edges of the open faces. The multiple open faces of the multiple gas flow elements may be connected to a gas inlet or may be connected to a gas outlet.

[0026] The connection to the gas inlet and gas outlet may be by means of a transition frame. Such a transition frame may be connected to the open face of the hollow rectangular shaped gas flow element, like the connection frame. The transition frame may be provided with means for connection to conduits or other parts of the device. When used as part of a plate heat exchanger, it can be envisaged that certain standard parts are provided for connection to the transition frame, which may be used for plate heat exchangers of different dimensions.

[0027] The enclosure elements may also be connected to the opening sides in the same way as connecting frames or rectangular closed frames.

[0028] The gas flow system is preferably used as a header for a heat exchanger, preferably a plate heat exchanger. The system comprises two parallel rows of fluidly connected hollow rectangular parallelepiped shaped gas flow elements. The two rows are interconnected via a number of connecting opening faces provided with partitions. The resulting fluidly separated second and third gas flows are the gas flows exchanging heat in the heat exchanger.

[0029] The plate heat exchanger described above is preferably used as part of an evaporative cooling unit. More preferably, the evaporative cooling unit is part of a system for cooling a building, the building being provided with a central air drying system and with a number of locally positioned evaporative cooling units. An example of such a system is described in WO2016206714.

[0030] The invention is illustrated by the following non-limiting figures. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0031] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 shows a gas flow element in the form of a hollow cube. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 shows a connecting frame with an opening and four edges. [Diagram 3] FIG. 3 shows a gas flow element and connecting frame in hollow cube shape. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 shows a detail of the gas flow element at one of its apexes. [Diagram 5] FIG. 5 shows a system of two connected gas flow elements as first and second hollow rectangular shaped gas flow elements. [Figure 6] FIG. 6 shows a system of two connected gas flow elements as first and second hollow rectangular shaped gas flow elements. [Figure 7] FIG. 7 shows a schematic cross-section of a plate heat exchanger with a hexagonal heat exchange surface. [Figure 8] FIG. 8 shows the plate heat exchanger of FIG. 7 in a three-dimensional view. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0032] Figure 1 shows a gas flow element (3) in the shape of a hollow cube having an interior space (4), six open faces (5), eight vertices (6) and twelve edges (7) interconnecting the eight vertices (6).

[0033] Figure 2 shows a connection frame (8) provided with an opening (9) and four edges (10). Along the edges (10) can be seen extrusions oriented in both directions perpendicular to the plane of the frame. These extrusions are cantilever snap-fit ​​connections (11) that can be connected to the edges (7) of the gas flow element (3) as seen in Figure 3.

[0034] FIG. 4 shows a detail of a gas flow element (1) at one of its vertices (6), with one open side provided with a connecting frame (8) and an adjacent open side provided with an enclosure element (15). Both the connecting frame (8) as the enclosure element (15) are provided with a number of projections (16) perpendicular to the plane of the connecting frame (8) or the plane of the enclosure element (15). The projections (16) are provided at their ends with sharp edges (17) dimensioned to form a cantilever snap-fit ​​connection with the edge (7). As shown, the positions of the projections (16) of the connecting frame (8) and the enclosure element (15) are not in the same position along the edge of these elements. This allows adjacent open sides of the gas flow element (1) to be provided with a connecting frame (8), an enclosure element (15) or other elements by means of a snap-fit ​​connection on their common edge (7).

[0035] In Fig. 5 a system (12) of two connected gas flow elements (3) is shown as a first hollow cuboid-shaped gas flow element (1) and a second hollow cuboid-shaped gas flow element (2). Four edges (7) of at least one open face (5) of the first gas flow element (1) are hermetically connected to four edges (7a) of the open face (5a) of the second hollow cuboid-shaped gas flow element (2) by a connecting frame (8). In this way the interior space (4) of the first hollow cuboid-shaped gas flow element (1) is fluidly connected with the interior space (4a) of the second hollow cuboid-shaped gas flow element (2).

[0036] In Fig. 5 only the connecting frame (8) is shown. In a practical application of the gas flow system, the remaining open faces (5) of the gas flow elements (2) and (3) may be airtight enclosed by an enclosure element, which is connected to the four edges of the open faces or to further rectangular shaped gas flow elements by connecting frames or to a gas inlet or to a gas outlet. The next gas flow element can be connected to the gas flow element (2) or gas flow element (3) at their outer ends forming a straight flow path for the gas or can be connected to a lateral open face resulting in a 90 degree bend flow path.

[0037] In Figure 5, a rotary valve (13) is provided on the connecting frame (8). When in a closed position, the valve (13) can fluidly isolate the interior space (4) from the interior space (4a) and when in an open position, the valve (13) can fluidly connect the interior space (4) to the interior space (4a). The valve (13) rotates on an axis and can be operated from outside the gas flow elements (1) and (2) via a stem (14) as a means of operating the rotation of the valve.

[0038] In Fig. 6 a system of two connected gas flow elements (3) is shown as a first hollow cuboid-shaped gas flow element (1) and a second hollow cuboid-shaped gas flow element (2). Four edges (7) of at least one open face (5) of the first gas flow element (1) are directly connected in an airtight manner to four edges (7a) of the open face (5a) of the second hollow cuboid-shaped gas flow element (2). The rotary valve (20) is present in a rectangular frame (21). The frame (21) is connected to the edges (7) of the second hollow cuboid-shaped gas flow element (2). The same edges (7) are connected to the edges of the first hollow cuboid-shaped gas flow element (1) as shown.

[0039] FIG. 7 shows a schematic cross-section of a plate heat exchanger (20) with hexagonal heat exchange surfaces (21), where heat may be exchanged between a first gas stream (22) and a second gas stream (23). The first and second gas streams flow from header to header through alternating spaces between the stacked heat exchange surfaces (21). The first gas stream (22) flows from header (24) to header (25). The second gas stream flows from header (26) to header (27). The header (24) is fluidly connected to a gas inlet (28). The header (27) is fluidly connected to a gas outlet (29). The header (25) is fluidly connected to a gas outlet (30) via a valve (31), and the header (26) is fluidly connected to a gas inlet (32) via a valve (33). The header (25) is connected to the header (26) via a valve (34).

[0040] In FIG. 8, the plate heat exchanger (20) of FIG. 7 is shown in a three-dimensional view. Some walls are not shown to allow a better visibility of the various components of the heat exchanger. A stack (35) of heat exchange surfaces (23) is shown. The header (25) consists of a row of four interconnected gas flow elements (1) as shown in FIGS. 1-6, connected by a connecting frame (8). The header (26) also consists of a row of four interconnected gas flow elements (1). The headers (25) and (26) are connected to each other by four interconnecting frames (8) provided with rotary valves (13). The four rotary valves (13) are interconnected and operated by an externally arranged motor (36). In the case of a header not shown but present on the opposite side of the plate heat exchanger, the connection of the two rows of gas flow elements may be by a partition wall present at the connecting opening face, thereby fluidically separating the gas flows through both headers.

[0041] At its distal end, the header (25) is connected via a connecting frame (8) provided with a valve (31) to a further gas flow element (37). This gas flow element connects the header (25) to a gas outlet (30). The gas outlet (30) is fluidly connected to the gas flow element (37) via an adapter wall element (38) connected to an open face of the gas flow element (37) by a snap-fit ​​connection as shown in FIG.

Claims

1. 1. A gas flow system comprising at least first and second hollow cube-shaped gas flow elements, each gas flow element having an interior space, six open faces, eight vertices, and twelve edges interconnecting the eight vertices; The hollow cube shaped gas flow element is a single injection molded piece; four edges of at least one open surface of the first hollow cubic gas flow element are hermetically connected to four edges of an open surface of the second hollow cubic gas flow element at respective connecting open surfaces, a valve is present in said connection, the valve having one or more open positions thereby fluidly connecting the interior space of the first hollow cube shaped gas flow element with the interior space of the second hollow cube shaped gas flow element to allow a first gas flow to flow from one of the first hollow cube shaped gas flow element or the second hollow cube shaped gas flow element to the other of the second hollow cube shaped gas flow element or the first hollow cube shaped gas flow element of the system, and the valve having a closed position thereby fluidly isolating the interior space of the first hollow cube shaped gas flow element from the interior space of the second hollow cube shaped gas flow element; or a partition is present at said connection, the partition thereby fluidly separating an interior space of the first hollow cubic shaped gas flow element from an interior space of the second hollow cubic shaped gas flow element to permit a second gas flow through the first hollow cubic shaped gas flow element and a fluidly separated third gas flow through the second hollow cubic shaped gas flow element; the remaining five open faces of the first hollow cube-shaped gas flow element are not connected to the second hollow cube-shaped gas flow element but are enclosed gas-tight by an enclosure element, which is connected to four edges of the open faces or to further cube-shaped gas flow elements or to a gas inlet or to a gas outlet, at each connecting opening surface, four edges of the opening surface of the first hollow cubic gas flow element are gas-tightly connected to four edges of the opening surface of the second hollow cubic gas flow element by a connecting frame, the connecting frame is provided with means for connecting to the four edges of the open face of the first hollow cube-shaped gas flow element and is provided with connecting means for connecting to the four edges of the open face of the second hollow cube-shaped gas flow element; Gas flow system.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the connecting frame comprises a valve or the connecting frame is closed to form a bulkhead.

3. The system according to any one of claims 1 to 2, wherein the hollow cubic shaped gas flow elements and the connecting frame are made of polypropylene (PP) and / or polyoxymethylene (POM).

4. 4. The system of claim 3, wherein the means for connecting the connecting frame to the edges of the open faces of the first and second hollow cube-shaped gas flow elements is a snap-fit ​​connection.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the connecting frame is provided with an extension having a cantilever snap-fit ​​connection.

6. The system described in claim 5, wherein the snap-fit ​​connections are not positioned in the same position along the edge of the connecting frame.

7. The system described in claim 6, wherein the connecting frame has two first parallel edges and two second parallel edges, and the snap-fit ​​connections are equally positioned on the two first parallel edges and differently positioned on the two second parallel edges.

8. 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the enclosure element is connected to four edges of the opening face by snap-fit ​​connections, and the means present on the enclosure form a snap-fit ​​connection with the edges of the opening face.

9. 2. The system of claim 1 used as a header for a heat exchanger comprising two parallel rows of fluidly connected hollow cubic shaped gas flow elements, the two rows being interconnected via a plurality of connecting aperture faces provided with partitions, the resulting second gas flow and third gas flow being gas flows exchanging heat within the heat exchanger.

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