Cylindrical air to air heat exchanger
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing heat exchangers for home ventilation and air conditioning require improvement in terms of heat supply rate, exchange surface area, volume efficiency, sound power level, and simplicity of fluid line connection, while maintaining a small size.
Innovation Solution
A heat exchanger design featuring cylindrical or cone frustum-shaped heat exchange elements with triangular, trapezoidal, circle-sector, or annulus-sector geometries, arranged around a central axis, optimizing heat exchange volume and surface area, and incorporating fluid-guiding paths with cross-flow and counter-flow zones for efficient fluid separation and heat transfer.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If heat exchanger volume is reduced, then device size is minimized, but heat supply rate decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The heat exchanger is divided into multiple heat exchange elements arranged around a central axis. Each element contains fluid-guiding paths that create cross-flow and counter-flow zones, segmenting the fluid flow into multiple channels to maximize heat exchange within a compact volume.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from conventional planar heat exchanger layouts to a three-dimensional cylindrical arrangement with heat exchange elements positioned radially around a central axis. This spatial reorganization allows fluid to flow through multiple zones (cross-flow and counter-flow) in three dimensions, dramatically increasing the effective heat exchange surface area within a minimized volume.
2Area of stationary object
If heat exchange surface area is increased, then heat supply rate is improved, but device size increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent achieves high heat exchange surface area in compact volume by utilizing three-dimensional fluid flow paths. The cylindrical arrangement with radially positioned heat exchange elements allows fluid to traverse cross-flow zones (moving perpendicular to heat exchange surfaces) and counter-flow zones (moving opposite directions), effectively packing more exchange surface area into a smaller footprint compared to conventional linear or planar designs.
Solution Approach 2:
The heat exchange elements are nested around a central axis, with each element containing internal fluid-guiding paths. This nested cylindrical configuration allows multiple heat exchange surfaces to be concentrically arranged, maximizing surface area density within the available volume.
3Ease of operation
If conventional heat exchanger design is used, then fluid line connection is simple, but heat exchange efficiency is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The heat exchanger incorporates distinct cross-flow zones and counter-flow zones within each heat exchange element, segmenting the fluid flow into functionally different regions. This segmentation enables the same basic cylindrical structure to achieve superior heat exchange efficiency by utilizing multiple flow patterns simultaneously, while fluid lines remain relatively simple to connect at the inlet and outlet ports.
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
The design achieves optimal heat exchange efficiency with a minimized size, reduced sound power, and simplified fluid handling, maximizing heat supply rate and maintaining geometric optimization for both cylindrical and cone frustum shapes.
Implementation Method 1
heat exchanger for heat exchange between at least two fluids
Implementation Method 2
fluid-guiding paths for conducting at least one of the fluids through, wherein the heat exchanger has a cylindrical shape
Data Source
AI summary
A heat exchanger for heat exchange between at least two fluids includes a plurality of heat exchange elements each having at least one fluid-guiding path for conducting at least one of the fluids through. The heat exchanger has a cylindrical shape or substantially cylindrical shape with a cylinder axis around which the heat exchange elements are adjacently arranged. At lease a region of each of the heat exchange elements forms an outline structure at least substantially like one of a triangular cylinder, a trapezoidal cylinder, a circle-sector cylinder, and an annulus-sector cylinder. As a result of adjacent arrangement of the heat exchange elements, the heat exchanger or at least a region of the heat exchanger has an outline structure at least substantially like one of a polygonal cylinder, a polygonal hollow cylinder, a circular cylinder, and annular cylinder. The cylindrical shape of the heat exchanger may alternatively be a cone frustum. The heat exchanger may be incorporated into an air device.