Coiled adsorption heat exchanger
10539349 ยท 2020-01-21
Assignee
Inventors
Cpc classification
F28F2240/00
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
F28D9/04
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
F28F1/30
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
F25B35/04
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
B32B1/00
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
B32B2597/00
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
B32B2250/44
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
F28F2245/00
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
B32B15/04
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
F28F13/003
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
B32B15/20
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
Y02A30/27
GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
Y02B30/00
GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
B32B7/05
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
F28D20/003
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
B32B3/30
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
International classification
F25B35/04
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
F28F1/30
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
Abstract
A unit for exchanging heat between a working fluid and a heat transfer fluid by means of adsorption. The heat exchange unit comprises a tube hosting the heat transfer fluid and being surrounded by mass channel coils comprising a metallic spacer strip in physical contact with the tube for permitting heat conduction and a metal foil strip supported by the spacer strip, a width of the foil strip exceeding a width of the spacer strip in an axial direction of the tube. Additionally, a heat exchange system comprising a plurality of the heat exchange units is provided, and a method for manufacturing a heat exchange unit is provided.
Claims
1. A heat exchange unit for exchanging heat between a working fluid and a heat transfer fluid by adsorption and desorption of the working fluid, the heat exchange unit comprising: a tube to carry the heat transfer fluid along its inner surface, and a plurality of spaced apart mass channel coils wound around the tube in an orthogonal direction with respect to a central axis of the tube, each of the mass channel coils comprising: a coiled metallic spacer strip being in physical contact with the tube for permitting heat conduction, and a coiled metal foil strip being supported by and centrally aligned with the spacer strip, a width of the foil strip exceeding a width of the spacer strip in an axial direction of the tube.
2. The heat exchange unit of claim 1, the spacer strip being supported by the respective underlying winding of the metal foil strip.
3. The heat exchange unit of claim 1, a thickness of the spacer strip in a radial direction of the tube being selected such that first mass channels are formed between opposing layers of the foil.
4. The heat exchange unit of claim 3, a thickness of the first mass channels in a radial direction of the tube being between 50 and 300 micrometers.
5. The heat exchange unit of claim 3, a length of the first mass channels in an axial direction of the tube being between 0.5 and 10 millimeters.
6. The heat exchange unit of claim 1, the width of the foil strip being between 2 and 10 times the width of the spacer strip.
7. The heat exchange unit of claim 1, the foil strip comprising an adsorbent coating for performing the adsorption and desorption of the working fluid.
8. The heat exchange unit of claim 7, the coating comprising a coating material selected from one of a zeolite, a metal-organic framework, or silica.
9. The heat exchange unit of claim 7, the coating having a maximum thickness of 200 micrometers on each side of the foil strip.
10. The heat exchange unit of claim 1, a thickness of the foil strip in a radial direction of the tube being between 4 and 500 micrometers.
11. The heat exchange unit of claim 1, each of the foil strip and the spacer strip being formed from aluminum or copper.
12. The heat exchange unit of claim 1, the at least one mass channel coil extending between 1 and 10 centimeters in a radial direction of the tube.
13. The heat exchange unit of claim 1, comprising at least two of the mass channel coils, each of the coils being separated by second mass channels having a width between 1 and 10 millimeters in an axial direction of the tube.
14. A heat exchange system comprising a hermetically sealed chamber to contain a low pressure working fluid below atmospheric pressure or a high pressure working fluid above atmospheric pressure, and a plurality of the heat exchange units disposed within the vacuum chamber, each heat exchange unit for exchanging heat between the working fluid and a heat transfer fluid by adsorption and desorption of the working fluid, each heat exchange unit comprising: a tube to carry the heat transfer fluid along its inner surface, and a plurality of spaced apart mass channel coils wound around the tube in an orthogonal direction with respect to a central axis of the tube, each of the mass channel coils comprising: a coiled metallic spacer strip being in physical contact with the tube for permitting heat conduction, and a coiled metal foil strip being supported by and centrally aligned with the spacer strip, a width of the foil strip exceeding a width of the spacer strip in an axial direction of the tube, the tubes of the heat exchange units being aligned in parallel and being in hydraulic communication with each other.
15. The heat exchange system of claim 14, the tubes having a length of 10 to 100 centimeters.
16. The heat exchange system of claim 14, the heat exchange units being arranged as a hexagonal lattice.
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS
(1) In the following, embodiments of the invention are explained in greater detail, by way of example only, making reference to the drawings in which:
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DETAILED DESCRIPTION
(14) The descriptions of the various embodiments of the present invention are being presented for purposes of illustration, but are not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the embodiments disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the described embodiments. The terminology used herein was chosen to best explain the principles of the embodiments, the practical application or technical improvement over technologies found in the marketplace, or to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodiments disclosed herein.
(15) According to an embodiment, the spacer strip is supported by the respective underlying winding of the metal foil strip. This may allow for manufacturing the at least one mass channel coil with more than one winding to increase the available adsorption surface per unit length of the tube.
(16) According to an embodiment, a thickness of the first mass channels in a radial direction of the tube being between 50 and 300 micrometers. According to another embodiment, a length of the first mass channels in an axial direction of the tube being between 0.5 and 10 millimeters. According to yet another embodiment, the width of the foil strip is between 2 and 10 times the width of the spacer strip.
(17) Said embodiments may allow for a flexible selection of the mass channel dimensions in an efficient range for balancing the need for a large adsorption surface and a low mass flow resistance. The foil strip, and the first mass channels accordingly, should not be too wide in order to avoid sticking of opposing layers and to maintain a low mass transport resistance. The thickness of the first mass channels may be scaled in a similar manner to provide a large adsorption area without hampering the mass flow of the adsorbate too strongly. Especially the relative scale of the width of the foil strip and the width of the spacer strip may yield a reasonable balancing of the opposing requirements. The absolute dimensions of the first mass channels may be used to customize the heat exchange unit to system parameters like working temperature or mass flow which are envisaged for a particular usage scenario.
(18) According to an embodiment, the foil strip is centrally aligned with the spacer strip. A central alignment may yield an improved mechanical stability of the foil strip and support faster adsorption/desorption cycles than would be possible with an asymmetric alignment because all first mass channels may be filled or, respectively, emptied on the same timescale.
(19) According to an embodiment, the coating comprises a coating material selected from one of a zeolite, a metal-organic framework, or silica. These materials and material classes may be beneficial due to their large surfaces on microscopic scales and their known effectiveness in adsorption applications. Such coating materials may offer a high adsorption performance without affecting the volumetric efficiency of the heat exchange unit.
(20) According to an embodiment, the coating has a maximum thickness of 200 micrometers on each side of the foil strip. A maximum thickness of the coating may have the advantage that the coating materials, which are usually comparably expensive materials, are applied more efficiently. Furthermore, materials with a good adsorption performance are often also good thermal insulators. Therefore the coating should not be applied too thickly in order to keep a low thermal resistance.
(21) According to an embodiment, a thickness of the foil strip in a radial direction of the tube is between 4 and 500 micrometers. Said dimensioning of the foil strip thickness may provide an optimal range for defining the heat transport properties of the coil structure. Selecting the foil strip thickness too thin may increase the thermal resistance of the structure as a consequence of low heat capacity of the foil strip. A thin foil strip may also suffer from poor mechanical stability, increasing the risk of obstruction due to touching opposing windings of the coil. On the other hand, too thick a foil strip may not yield any further gain in heat conductivity and decrease the efficiency of the heat exchange unit by wasting material and space.
(22) According to an embodiment, each of the foil strip and the spacer strip is formed from aluminum or copper. These materials may provide a high heat conductivity and mechanical stability at the same time. While copper belongs to the materials with the highest known specific heat conductivity, using aluminum may be more cost-effective as it is less expensive, however providing only about half the specific heat conductivity of copper.
(23) According to an embodiment, the at least one mass channel coil extends between 1 and 10 centimeters in a radial direction of the tube. This may provide an optimum range for selecting the height of the mass channel coil: if the mass channel coils comprise a too small number of windings, they might offer too little adsorption surface per unit length of the tube, necessitating the use of a larger amount of heat exchange units in order to reach a comparable volumetric efficiency, while the mass channel coil may become ineffective due to too long heat transport paths and poor mechanical stability if the number of windings around the tube is too high. As the radial extension or height of the coil relates to the widths of the first mass channels and the spacer strip, a coil formed from appropriately dimensioned metal strips may provide sufficient stability and performance if its total height is within said range.
(24) According to an embodiment, the tubes have a length of 10 to 100 centimeters. A reasonable dimensioning of the tubes may provide the advantage that the capacity of the heat exchange system can be customized to the working parameters of the system where it is to be employed. Too long tubes may render the heat exchange system inefficient as more adsorption surface is offered than actually needed for a typical adsorption/desorption cycle, while the system may become ineffective if the tubes are too short, with the consequence that part of the adsorbate may pass the heat exchange system without undergoing adsorption and exchanging heat with the working fluid.
(25) According to an embodiment, the heat exchange units are arranged as a hexagonal lattice. Such arrangement may beneficially offer a higher volumetric efficiency than would be possible, e.g. with a square lattice arrangement.
(26) According to an embodiment, the method further comprises forming parallel, equidistant, straight grooves on the coating, the grooves extending in an axial direction of the tube. The grooves formed on the coating may be used as mass channels in the mass channel coil design where the windings are packed so closely that subsequent layers of the coated foil strip come into physical contact with each other. This may yield a heat exchange unit with increased volumetric sorption power due to a high volumetric efficiency and an advantageous ratio of mass channel volume and adsorption surface.
(27) The design of an adsorption heat exchanger must balance the requirements of maximizing the thermal coupling between the two interacting fluids while providing a low thermal resistance for the heat transport between the adsorbate and the heat transfer fluid, a low mass transport resistance for the adsorbate in order to use the available adsorption surfaces efficiently, and mechanical stability of the structure during manufacturing, installation and use of the heat exchange unit. Usually the mechanical stability, i.e. the requirement of providing a robust thermal and mechanical connection between the adsorption surfaces and the tubes containing the heat transfer fluid as well as stiffness of the adsorption surface material to prevent deformations and clogging of the adsorbent structure, is the limiting factor which prevents a more efficient occupation of the volume available in a heat exchanger with adsorption surfaces available for the adsorbate, or in other words, a heater exchanger design with a higher volumetric efficiency, and accordingly, a higher volumetric sorption power. As a result, large heat exchanger areas are required to achieve a certain output performance, resulting in bulky devices and high investment cost. Therefore, new adsorption heat exchanger structures with improved performance per unit heat exchanger area are needed to reduce active area requirements and capital cost.
(28) An exemplary heat exchange unit 100 according to the invention is shown in
(29) The composition of the mass channel coils 104 as well as the first mass channels 208 formed between the windings of the mass channel coils 104 can be seen in greater detail in
(30) The thickness of the foil strip 204 is preferably selected as thin as possible in order to maximize the number of windings per unit length of the coil radius, but just thick enough to provide sufficient heat conductivity between the spacer strip 202 and the adsorbate. The spacer strip 202 has a rectangular cross-section and is in physical contact with the adjacent layers of the foil strip 204. It is adapted for transporting heat between the heat transfer fluid 302 inside the tube 102 and the adsorption surfaces provided by the foil strip 204.
(31) The thickness of the spacer strip 202 determines the thickness of the gaps formed by subsequent windings of the foil strip 204, and accordingly, the height of the first mass channels 208 thus formed. A smaller spacer strip thickness will yield a higher winding number, but will increase mass transport resistance for the adsorbate due to increased interaction between mass channel walls and adsorbate and possibly also a turbulent gas flow in the first mass channels 208 if it is selected too small. On the other hand, selecting too large a thickness for the spacer strip 202 is also not advisable because space is wasted which could be used for providing a larger total adsorption surface by increasing the number of windings.
(32) The width of the spacer strip 202 is preferably chosen as small as possible to maximize the length of the first mass channels 208, but selecting it too small will result in poor shear stability of the coil 104. Optionally, the spacer strip 202 may feature a slight axial tapering, to enable increased coil stability and heat capacity near the tube 102.
(33) The foil strip surfaces forming the walls of the first mass channels 208 are covered with a layer of an adsorbent coating material 206. Materials which have good adsorption performance are usually porous materials with a large microscopic surface, allowing for an effective docking of adsorbate particles. Adsorbent materials may comprise ionic crystals carrying local electric charges, or neutral materials such as neutral zeolites. Good adsorbent materials are often ceramics or comparable artificial materials. Preferably, the adsorbent material is one of the following: a metal aluminophosphate such as SAPO, AlPO or FAPO; a metal-organic framework (MOF) such as aluminum fumarate or copper-1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylate; a zeolite such as 3 A, 4 A or 13 X.
(34) The adsorbent coating 206 can be deposited on the foil strip surfaces with any coating process which is suitable for metallic tapes, for example dip coating or slurry coating, but also more sophisticated methods such as epitaxial growth may be applied. The adhesion, which is normally poor between metals and ceramic coatings, can be increased by depositing a suitable compatibility layer on the metal surfaces before applying the adsorbent coating 206. Alternatively, a binder suitable for the specific combination of metal and adsorbent material may be added to the coating material 206.
(35) Preferably, the thickness of the adsorbent coating 206 is chosen as thin as possible to just offer a sufficiently large adsorption capacity, but not hamper the thermal transport between adsorbate and foil strip 204 due to the fact that materials with a good adsorption performance are usually also strong thermal insulators. Thin coatings 206 may also be more resistant against wear after repeated use.
(36) According to calculations performed by the inventors, a heat exchange unit 100 which is equipped with coating layers 206 of 200 m thickness might reach a volumetric sorption power of 120 watts per liter due to the increased volumetric efficiency achieved by the mass channel coil design of the heat exchange unit 100. This is about twice the volumetric sorption power typically reached by adsorption heat exchangers based on metal lamellae known from the state of the art. It is expected that the volumetric sorption power of a heat exchange unit 100 scales inversely with the coating thickness, i.e. a 20 m coating 206 might yield a volumetric sorption power which exceeds that of conventional lamellae-based adsorption heat exchangers by a factor of 10. This may be possible because the invention supports maintaining a high volumetric efficiency even when very thin coatings 206 are used. The space gained by reducing the thickness of the adsorbent coating 206 may be used to increase the number of windings per unit radius by reducing the thickness of the spacer strips 202 accordingly. In other words, the mechanical stability of the coil structure 104 is independent from the dimensioning of the first mass channels 208, and hence there is no lacking volumetric efficiency to be compensated by providing thicker layers of adsorbent coating material 206. Instead, the coating thickness may be scaled down with or without the grain size of the adsorbent material 206 until a surface coverage limit is reached.
(37) Preferably, the spacer strip 202 has a rectangular or square cross-section and is between 0.2-1.5 mm wide and 0.2-1.5 mm thick, while the foil strip 204 is between 5-30 mm wide and 0.02-0.15 mm thick. Within these ranges, smaller dimensions are most preferred (e.g. spacer strip 0.3 mm wide and 0.3 mm thick, foil strip 10 mm wide and 0.02 mm thick), but larger dimensions may be mechanically more robust and may be preferable in terms of manufacturability.
(38) The two metal strips or sheets used to fabricate the coiled heat exchanger geometry should preferably have a high thermal conductivity and sufficient softness and elasticity to be wound in the coiled structure; particularly preferred are aluminum or its alloys, or copper, preferably oxygen-free. Any combination of aluminum or copper may be used in the invention.
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(40) Now turning to
(41) As can be seen in
(42) The gap is also used to provide a welding surface to fix the coiled strip structure to a mechanically robust mass channel coil 104. Preferable welding technologies pose no damage or significant deformation on the strip layers to be bonded together. Non-exhaustive examples include DT welding, ultrasonic welding and cold welding. The welding process is represented by a welding electrode 404 in
(43) The inventors have found that the compressive force realized during the coiling process may also be sufficient to obtain mechanically robust mass channel coils without further need for welding. In this case, a sufficiently high resistance must be applied against rotation of the precursor coils comprising the spacer strip 202 and the foil strip 204, respectively, in order to realize a high tension in the spacer strip 202 and the foil strip 204 during the coiling process. The resistance may easily be adjusted, e.g. by means of a regulating screw pressing against the respective axes of the precursor coils.
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(45) A detail of an axial cut through a mass channel coil 104 produced with the manufacturing setup shown in
(46) A plurality of heat exchange units 100 according to the invention may be used to form a higher hierarchical step or regime of heat exchange functionality in a heat exchange system 700. The plurality of heat exchange units 100 is arranged in a hexagonal pattern where the tubes 102 are arranged in parallel and put into hydraulic communication with each other. On this level, the mass flow of the adsorbate is directed parallel to the tubes 102, whereas the heat flow is performed by the heat transfer fluid 302 inside the tubes 102. The plurality of heat exchange units 100 is contained in a vacuum chamber 702 closely surrounding the outermost heat exchange units of the arrangement such that the amount of dead volume not participating in the mass transport to and from the adsorption surfaces is minimized. The hierarchy level shown in
(47) Advantageous effects that may be achieved with heat exchange units 100 are illustrated by the diagram shown in
LIST OF REFERENCE NUMERALS
(48) 100 heat exchange unit
(49) 102 tube
(50) 104 mass channel coil
(51) 106 second mass channel
(52) 202 spacer strip
(53) 204 foil strip
(54) 206 adsorbent coating
(55) 208 first mass channel
(56) 302 heat transfer fluid
(57) 400 slurry container
(58) 402 doctor blade
(59) 404 welding electrode
(60) 502 structuring tool
(61) 700 heat exchange system
(62) 702 vacuum chamber