Compact Flooded Heat Exchanger for Liquid Dragging Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional heat exchangers, such as flooded and falling-film evaporators, face issues with liquid particle dragging, leading to operational inefficiencies and increased costs due to large refrigerant consumption and bulky designs, which are difficult to mitigate without additional components or increased dimensions.
Innovation Solution
A heat exchanger with a reduced refrigerant side footprint and enhanced liquid dragging mechanism, featuring a small free surface area near the vapor-sucking orifice to increase gas flow speed, which pushes liquid refrigerant upwards to wet the primary tube bundle effectively, reducing refrigerant consumption and eliminating the need for additional components.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the extension of the free surface of the refrigerant inside the skirt is made very wide to avoid liquid particle dragging, then liquid particles can be effectively separated, but the exchanger becomes very bulky and consumes huge amounts of refrigerant fluid
Solution Approach 1:
The invention changes the separation approach from horizontal expansion to vertical utilization. By introducing a vertical separator body extending upward from the tube bundle, liquid-vapor separation occurs in the vertical dimension rather than requiring large horizontal free surface area. The separator body with its internal baffle creates a vertical path for liquid drainage while allowing vapor to rise, achieving effective separation without increasing the exchanger's horizontal footprint.
Solution Approach 2:
The separator body is nested within the skirt structure, with the baffle internal to the separator body. This nested arrangement allows multiple functional elements (skirt, separator body, baffle) to occupy overlapping spatial volumes, maximizing the use of available space and achieving liquid-vapor separation functionality without proportionally increasing the overall exchanger volume.
2Reliability
If the free surface is kept quite low to reduce liquid dragging, then the ascending speed of vapour is very low and liquid drops are limited, but the exchanger becomes very bulky
Solution Approach 1:
The separator body acts as an intermediary structure between the free surface and the vapor-sucking orifice. Instead of relying solely on low free surface positioning to prevent liquid dragging, the separator body with its baffle provides an intermediate liquid collection and drainage mechanism. Liquid droplets are captured and drained through the baffle opening before reaching the vapor outlet, while vapor passes through the upper portion, effectively decoupling liquid prevention from exchanger volume requirements.
3Reliability
If auxiliary units for overheating or filtering systems are added to avoid liquid dragging, then liquid particle removal is improved, but the overall dimensions and costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The invention merges the liquid-vapor separation function with the existing evaporator structure by integrating the separator body and baffle into the skirt assembly. Rather than adding separate auxiliary filtering or overheating units, the separator body combines liquid drainage and vapor passage functions within a single integrated component, reducing system complexity while achieving effective liquid particle removal.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This configuration achieves high thermal exchange efficiency with significantly reduced refrigerant usage, minimizing costs and environmental impact while maintaining compact dimensions, effectively addressing the liquid dragging issue without additional components.
Implementation Method 1
the gas flow speed, which pushes liquid refrigerant upwards
Implementation Method 2
a first operating fluid flows... Inside the skirt, then, over the free surface, a so-called 'cold' second operating fluid... with the purpose of the heat exchange with the first fluid
Implementation Method 3
it subtracts heat to the latter and evaporates by flowing towards a vapour-sucking orifice
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
A heat exchanger (100) of flooded type, comprising: a primary tube bundle (10), inside which a first "hot" operating fluid to be cooled down flows; a skirt (1 ), circumscribed to the primary tube bundle (10), which receives a second "cold" operating fluid which laps against the primary tube bundle (10) in order to subtract heat to the first operating fluid, which second operating fluid flows inside the skirt (1) along to a vertical longitudinal direction orthogonal to the development of the tubes of the primary tube bundle, and wherein the skirt (1) has a prevalent development dimension (L) along the flow longitudinal direction of the second operating fluid; and nozzles (113) for delivering the secondary operating fluid inside the skirt, wherein an alternative configuration is provided using only the second operating fluid flooding the skirt by entering from a side inlet (8), without the presence of the above-mentioned nozzles, and an additional configuration using only the nozzles but not such side inlet (8).