TXES Matrix Heat Exchanger with Embedded Flue Passageways
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing heat exchanger systems face challenges in efficiently capturing and storing waste heat across varying temperature ranges and pressure regimes, leading to inefficiencies and increased costs due to the need for extensive engineering tradeoffs and material costs, particularly when using fluids other than air in mechanical energy storage systems.
Innovation Solution
A thermal exchange and storage system (TXES) comprising a matrix material substrate with embedded flue passageways for heated source fluids and working fluid tubes, allowing for counter-flow or parallel-flow heat transfer, enabling flexible configuration and efficient heat capture, storage, and transfer across a broad temperature range, with modular design for easy assembly and cost-effective operation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of energy
If traditional heat exchanger systems are used to capture and store waste heat, then heat transfer efficiency can be optimized through engineering tradeoffs, but the system complexity and material costs increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The heat exchanger is divided into multiple modular heat exchange units that can be independently configured and assembled. Each unit contains a matrix substrate with embedded fluid passages, allowing the system to be scaled and adapted to different waste heat capture requirements without increasing overall system complexity proportionally.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the matrix substrate are designed with varying thermal properties and fluid passage configurations to optimize heat transfer at specific locations. This allows targeted optimization of heat capture efficiency in high-temperature zones while using simpler structures in lower-temperature regions.
2Loss of energy
If fluids other than air are used in mechanical energy storage systems, then energy storage efficiency improves, but material costs and leakage risks increase
Solution Approach 1:
A containment layer is introduced between the storage fluid and the external environment to prevent leakage. This intermediary barrier allows the system to use high-efficiency non-air fluids (such as organic Rankine cycle fluids) while mitigating their potential harmful effects through the containment mechanism.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses cost-effective containment materials and designs that can be easily replaced if needed, reducing the economic impact of potential fluid leakage events while maintaining energy storage efficiency.
3Quantity of substance
If low pressure fluid storage is implemented in compressed fluid energy storage systems, then energy storage capacity increases, but storage volume becomes excessively large
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts fluid pressure parameters during storage and retrieval operations. By operating at optimized pressure levels rather than always low pressure, the system maintains high storage capacity while significantly reducing the volume required for fluid storage.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from traditional horizontal or vertical storage configurations to a three-dimensional matrix-based storage structure. This dimensional change allows much higher fluid storage density within a compact volume by utilizing the internal porous structure of the matrix substrate.
4Productivity
If heat exchanger efficiency is optimized through material selection and design, then heat transfer performance improves, but manufacturing costs and system complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The heat exchanger utilizes composite matrix materials that combine structural support, thermal conduction, and fluid distribution functions in a single integrated component. This reduces the need for multiple separate parts and complex assembly processes, lowering manufacturing costs while maintaining high heat transfer efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
Multiple heat exchange units are designed to be modular and stackable, allowing standardized manufacturing of individual units that can be assembled into larger systems. This merging of design principles enables economies of scale in manufacturing while maintaining optimization at the unit level.
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 TXES system achieves high performance across diverse operating conditions, efficiently capturing and storing heat from various sources, allowing for flexible heat exchange with multiple fluid streams, reducing material costs, and enhancing energy storage efficiency by managing thermal gradients and entropy loss.
Implementation Method 1
A transfer of thermal energy between the heated source fluid and the working fluid occurs via the matrix material substrate
Implementation Method 2
one or more flue passageways formed in the matrix material substrate to provide for a flow of a heated source fluid through the TXES element, and one or more working fluid tubes embedded in the matrix material substrate to provide for a flow of a working fluid through the TXES element
Data Source
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AI summary
A thermal exchange and storage, in short TXES, element comprises exchange and storage, in short TXES, element comprises a matrix material substrate, one or more flue passageways formed in the matrix material substrate to provide for a flow of a heated source fluid through the TXES element, the heated source fluid provided from a heat source, and one or more working fluid tubes positioned in the matrix material substrate separate from the one or more flue passageways to provide for a flow of a working fluid through the TXES element. A transfer of thermal energy between the heated source fluid and the working fluid occurs via the matrix material substrate, and the one or more flue passageways are cast into the matrix material substrate and an inner surface of each of the one or more flue passageways comprises a corrosion resistance material. The corrosion resistance material is in direct contact with the matrix material substrate and the heated source fluid, and multiple of the TXES elements) can be stacked in parallel and/or placed in series.