Plate Heat Exchanger Bolt Receiver for Concealed Threads
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Solution Overview
Problem
In plate heat exchanger assemblies, the long tightening bolts required to compress plates pose safety hazards and complicate the coupling and uncoupling of pipes due to their protrusion beyond the movable plate.
Innovation Solution
A bolt assembly that includes a receiver with a pipe sleeve to conceal the protruding threads of the bolt, along with a lock bushing and a threaded insert made from a non-galling material like Nickle Aluminum Bronze, to prevent galling and ensure a secure seal.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If long tightening bolts are used to compress all plates in their uncompressed condition, then the plates can be properly sealed, but the bolt threads protrude past the movable plate creating safety hazards and complicating pipe handling
Solution Approach 1:
The bolt system is segmented into two functional parts: a long bolt body that provides sufficient engagement length for reliable sealing, and a separate receiver component that captures and contains the protruding threads. This segmentation allows the bolt to maintain its required length for seal integrity while the receiver eliminates the safety hazard of exposed threads by concealing them within its structure.
2Reliability
If long tightening bolts are used to support all plates, then adequate compression is achieved, but the protruding threads increase the difficulty of coupling and uncoupling pipes
Solution Approach 1:
The bolt system is segmented into two functional parts: a long bolt body that provides sufficient engagement length for reliable sealing, and a separate receiver component that captures and contains the protruding threads. This segmentation allows the bolt to maintain its required length for seal integrity while the receiver eliminates the safety hazard of exposed threads by concealing them within its structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The receiver acts as an intermediary component between the bolt and the external environment. It mediates the conflict between the bolt's functional requirement to be long (for reliable sealing) and the operational requirement for easy pipe handling. By introducing this intermediary receiver, the protruding threads are contained and do not interfere with pipe coupling and uncoupling operations.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If the threaded portion of the bolt is offset from the lock bushing, then protruding threads are prevented from extending beyond the distal end, but the receiver structure becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The receiver employs a nested structure where the threaded insert is housed within the receiver body, and the lock bushing is positioned at the distal end. The threading is offset within this nested arrangement, allowing the threads to be contained without extending beyond the distal end. This nesting approach manages the complexity by organizing components in hierarchical layers rather than requiring a single complex structure.
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus for tightening the plates in a plate heat exchanger. The apparatus is a threaded bolt and threaded receiver that does not extend beyond the movable plate in the heat exchanger. The receiver is sealed from contamination from fluids used in the heat exchanger. A method of tightening the plates of a heat exchanger by torquing a bolt while restraining a distal end of a receiver and allowing the bolt protruding threads to be encompassed within the receiver. This may be accomplished by offsetting a treaded portion of the receiver from a lock bushing at the distal end of the receiver to prevent protruding threads from extending beyond the distal end.