Fluid blending device to impart spiral axial flow with no moving parts

Abstract

Abstract A blending device with no moving parts, useful to blend at least two liquids co-currently fed to the device in predetermined proportions and spirally flowed axially along the length of the device to exit as a single homogeneously blended stream. Blending is effected by plural flow-director-dividers, diverters, flowdividers or flow-guides which effect a multiplicity of minor diversions and divisions, without a noticeable blocking effect, to provide a spiral flow of plural parallel streams which are converged into blending zones between successive, longitudinally disposed flow-guides with the same circumferential orientation, and thereafter sub-divided into plural separate streams upon leaving each blending zone. The device is also useful as a blender-reactor for relatively viscous fluids which are desirably kept flowing in the same direction, that is, in which an abrupt change of direction is undesirable. Another embodiment of this invention is a heat exchanger in which plural, parallel, spiral, axially-flowing divisions of a relatively hot first stream are to be heat-exchanged with plural, parallel, spiral, axially-flowing divisions of a relatively cold second stream without any intermixing of first and second streams. One stream flows through an inner housing longitudinally, coaxially disposed within an outer housing through which the other stream flows. The inner housing is equipped with a multiplicity of inclinedly disposed interior flow-guides which provide spiral, axial flow as in the blending device hereinabove. A multiplicity of exterior flow-guides are inclinedly fixedly disposed on the surface of the inner housing peripherally abutting the inner wall of the outer housing in fluid-tight engagement so as to provide spiral axial flow for the second fluid.

Inventors

• 👤 W Fitzhugh
• 👤 E Fitzhugh

Bibliographic Details