Vaporizer Trough Slit Design for Uniform Heat Medium Distribution

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing vaporizers face issues where the heat medium fails to overflow and supply to the heat exchange panels at end portions when the vaporizer tilts significantly in the longitudinal direction, leading to uneven heating.

Innovation Solution

The vaporizer incorporates a slit at the intermediate position of the trough's side wall, allowing heat medium to flow to the heat exchange panels, and utilizes a baffle plate and guide plates to distribute the medium evenly across the panels, ensuring consistent supply even when tilted.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If the vaporizer uses an open rack configuration with heat exchange panels and troughs, then the vaporizer can effectively vaporize liquefied gas, but when the vaporizer greatly tilts to the longitudinal direction, the heat medium fails to overflow at end portions of the trough, leading to insufficient heat supply

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveheat medium supply reliabilityVSAvoidtilt angle adaptability
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSAdaptability or versatility

Solution Approach 1:

The trough is divided into multiple sections with partition plates creating separate compartments. Each compartment has its own overflow mechanism through slits, ensuring that heat medium can overflow from multiple locations simultaneously, maintaining reliable heat supply even when the vaporizer tilts significantly in the longitudinal direction

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

Instead of relying solely on vertical overflow at the top edge, the invention introduces horizontal overflow paths through slits formed in the partition plates. This creates an additional dimension for heat medium flow, allowing overflow to occur from intermediate positions rather than only from the top edge, thus maintaining functionality under longitudinal tilt

Inventive Principle:
Principle #17Another dimension (Dimensionality change)

2Ease of manufacture

If the trough supplies heat medium through overflow at the top edge, then the structure is simple, but when the vaporizer tilts to the longitudinal direction, the heat medium cannot reach the end portions of the heat exchange panel

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvetrough structure simplicityVSAvoidheat medium distribution uniformity
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of manufactureVSManufacturing precision

Solution Approach 1:

The trough is divided into multiple sections with partition plates creating separate compartments. Each compartment has its own overflow mechanism through slits, ensuring that heat medium can overflow from multiple locations simultaneously, maintaining reliable heat supply even when the vaporizer tilts significantly in the longitudinal direction

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

Different parts of the trough have different overflow characteristics. The partition plates are positioned at specific locations with slits of appropriate sizes to create localized overflow points that ensure uniform heat medium distribution across the entire heat exchange panel surface, addressing the non-uniform distribution issue

Inventive Principle:
Principle #3Local quality

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

This configuration ensures that the heat medium is supplied equally or substantially equally across the entirety of the heat exchange panels in both horizontal and tilted positions, preventing uneven heating and maintaining efficient vaporization.

Implementation Method 1

the heat medium accumulated in the trough flows to the outer surface of the heat exchange panel through the slit

Methodology Applied
Scientific EffectHeat transfer: Conduction (thermal)

Implementation Method 2

The heat exchange panel vaporizes liquefied gas in each heat transfer pipe

Methodology Applied
Scientific EffectVaporization: Evaporation

Data Source

PatentEP3964783B1vaporizer
Publication Date: 2023.08.02 SUMITOMO PRECISION PRODUCTS CO LTD
  • EP3964783B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP3964783B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP3964783B1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

A vaporizer (an ORV 1) includes heat exchange panels (2) and troughs (3) arranged adjacent to the heat exchange panels and configured to supply a heat medium to outer surfaces of the heat exchange panels. The trough extends in a first direction, and a slit (52) extending in the first direction is formed at an intermediate position of a side wall, which faces the heat exchange panel, of the trough in a height direction. The heat medium accumulated in the trough flows to the outer surface of the heat exchange panel through the slit.