Stackable dry cooler assembly with heat exchanger panels
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional dry cooler arrangements for buildings, such as data centers, occupy significant space, are heavy, expensive, and inefficient due to hot air recycling, making them cumbersome and costly to maintain.
Innovation Solution
A heat exchanger assembly with a frame design that includes laterally spaced legs, upstanding members, and transversal members, featuring a V-configuration heat exchanger panels and fans, which allows for efficient air intake and heat rejection, minimizing space usage and reducing the weight and cost of the system by eliminating the need for extensive vertical support structures.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional dry coolers are installed on the roof, then heat exchange function is provided, but significant roof surface area is occupied
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from a horizontal arrangement of dry coolers occupying roof surface area to a vertical stacked configuration that utilizes vertical space. Multiple dry cooler assemblies are stacked one above another, converting the problem from a 2D surface area constraint to a 3D vertical space utilization solution.
2Productivity
If conventional dry coolers are arranged in a grid pattern, then heat exchange capacity is increased, but hot air recycling occurs reducing efficiency
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces asymmetry in the air flow paths of stacked dry cooler assemblies. By offsetting the intake and exhaust positions of adjacent stacked units, the design prevents hot exhaust air from one unit from being recirculated into the intake of another unit, thereby maintaining heat exchange efficiency while increasing overall capacity.
3Stability of the object's composition
If conventional dry coolers are designed with extensive vertical support structures, then structural stability is achieved, but system weight and production cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the dry cooler system into modular assemblies that can be stacked. Each modular unit has its own compact support structure, eliminating the need for extensive vertical support structures across the entire system. This segmentation reduces overall material usage and production costs while maintaining structural stability through the modular stacked configuration.
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 enhances space efficiency, reduces the weight and production costs of the cooling system, and improves heat exchange efficiency by preventing hot air recycling, leading to a more effective and cost-efficient cooling solution.
Implementation Method 1
first and second heat exchanger panels for exchanging heat with air pulled into the heat exchanger assembly
Implementation Method 2
air pulled into the heat exchanger assembly
Implementation Method 3
tubing arrangement for circulating fluid therein
Data Source
AI summary
A heat exchanger assembly has a frame including first and second legs laterally spaced apart, a lower transversal member extending laterally and interconnecting the legs, first and second upstanding members laterally spaced apart and extending upwardly from the lower transversal member, an upper transversal member extending laterally and disposed above the lower transversal member and connected to the first and second upstanding members, and first and second upper retaining members laterally spaced apart and being connected to the upper transversal member and extending transversally to the upper transversal member. First and second heat exchanger panels are connected to the first and second upper retaining members. The heat exchanger panels are disposed in a V-configuration such that a distance between upper ends thereof is greater than a distance between lower ends thereof. A fan has a fan rotation axis extending generally parallel to the first and second upstanding members.