Tubular heat exchanger supporting and spacer structure

Claim 1

In a heat exchanger, at least one group of spirally wound tubes for accommodating in their interior an inner heat-exchanging fluid while an outer heat-exchanging fluid engages the exterior of said tubes, said tubes surrounding a predetermined axis and being arranged adjacent each other with the convolutions of each tube substantially in axial alignment with the convolutions of the next tube, and said tubes having an inner region directed toward said axis and an outer region directed away from said axis, support means situated adjacent one of the latter regions of said tubes, and spacer means engaging said tubes and connected to said support means for interconnecting said tubes and forming therefrom a unitary assembly where said tubes remain in a predetermined relation with respect to each other determined by said spacer means and for transmitting to said support means forces resulting from the weight of said tubes and spacer means as well as any other forces which result from mechanical or thermal stresses or reaction forces resulting from the flow of the heat-exchanging fluids, said spacer means coacting with said tubes for providing narrow gaps therebetween with the axial gap between any pair of adjoining axially aligned convolutions of a pair of tubes being substantially less than the radius of any tube while the gap between any tube convolution and the next inner and outer convolution also is substantially less than the radius of any tube, said spirally wound tubes having convolutions axially displaced and extending along a spiral fOrming part of a cone whose apex is at said axis, a pair of tapered baffles also forming parts of cones and coaxially surrounding said axis with said tubes being situated between and engaging said baffles so that the latter directs the outer fluid across the exterior of said tubes, additional groups of spirally wound tubes being arranged next to and engaging said baffles at sides thereof which are respectively directed away from said one group, and said baffles being made of sheet material and having a total thickness equal to the thickness of said sheet material so that successive groups of tubes are separated from each other only by a distance equal to the thickness of said sheet material, said support means including elongated supporting bodies spaced from and extending parallel to said axis at the inner and outer regions of said tubes with said bodies being spaced from each other and distributed about said axis at each of said regions and the bodies of said support means at said outer region being radially aligned with the bodies of said support means at said inner region so that said support means includes a plurality of pairs of radially aligned bodies, and said spacer means including elongated thin spacer components which are at least partially of wave-shaped configuration such components being fixed to the pairs of radially aligned bodies of said support means and extending therebetween over and under the convolutions of said tubes, and said baffles having outer edges fixed to said bodies of said support means which are at said outer region and inner edges which are fixed to said bodies of said support means which are at said inner region, and said groups of tubes being carried exclusively by said spacer means and baffles between said bodies of said support means which are respectively situated at said outer and inner regions.