Vertical Plate Heat Exchanger for Uniform Liquid Distribution
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Solution Overview
Problem
In air distillation installations, the current heat exchanger design with partially offset waves leads to non-uniform liquid distribution, causing dry vaporization and deposit formation due to free spaces and clearance issues, resulting in inefficient heat exchange and safety risks.
Innovation Solution
A heat exchanger design with lateral bars featuring a rounded profile and cutouts to accommodate waves with horizontal generatrices, ensuring perfect contact and eliminating free spaces, and using overlapping waves with matching cutouts and clips for secure fitting, to achieve uniform liquid distribution across channels.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If waves with horizontal generatrices are used for secondary distribution, then liquid distribution between channels is improved, but free spaces and clearance issues cause non-uniform distribution and preferential passageways
Solution Approach 1:
The lateral bars are designed with a rounded profile instead of sharp edges, and the waves are positioned to contact these curved surfaces. This curvature eliminates the formation of free spaces and clearance gaps that cause preferential passageways, ensuring uniform liquid distribution across all channels without dead zones where deposits could form.
2Ease of manufacture
If clearance exists at junction between wave mats, then assembly is easier, but liquid distribution becomes non-uniform causing dry vaporization
Solution Approach 1:
The rounded profile of the lateral bars is pre-designed to accommodate the waves, creating a self-aligning mechanism that eliminates clearance gaps before assembly is complete. The curvature ensures that waves are held firmly against the bars, preventing any clearance that would lead to non-uniform liquid distribution and subsequent deposit formation during operation.
3Device complexity
If preferential passageways exist in wave band, then liquid flow path is simplified, but oversupply to some channels and undersupply to others occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The rounded profile of the lateral bars creates different local conditions along the wave band, with the curved surfaces providing continuous contact points that eliminate preferential passageways. This local geometric modification ensures that liquid is distributed uniformly to all channels rather than following preferential paths, achieving equal wetting across the entire exchanger surface.
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 solution ensures uniform liquid flow and reduced risk of deposit formation, improving the efficiency and safety of the air distillation process by eliminating preferential passageways and undersupply issues, leading to better wetting of all channels and enhanced heat exchange performance.
Implementation Method 1
the liquid oxygen that is in the vessel of the low-pressure column is vaporized by exchanging heat with the gaseous nitrogen tapped from the head of the medium-pressure column
Implementation Method 2
aluminum exchangers with brazed plates and fins which make it possible to obtain very compact members providing a large exchange surface area
Implementation Method 3
the vaporization passageways are supplied through the top of the condensation passageways. The oxygen then passes through an array of holes which ensure its primary distribution into the vaporization passageways
Implementation Method 4
a packing element for distributing the liquid at the top end of the passageways of said first set, over the whole horizontal length of said passageways, by a fine distribution over the whole length of these passageways
Implementation Method 5
at least one of the lateral bars has, toward the inside of the exchanger, a rounded profile over most of its length and a flat profile over a portion of its length and in that one edge of the packing element contacts the portion of its length in which the profile is flat
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention relates to the vaporization of a liquid by exchanging heat with a second fluid by means of a heat exchanger of the vertical plate type. It applies in particular to air distillation installations.