Heat exchanger

Claim 2

A heat exchanger module for transferring heat from a hot solid particle-containing gas to a secondary liquid, the heat exchanger module comprising: a plurality of vertically oriented substantially parallel flat rectangular plates, each plate having first and second substantially flat surfaces, a passage for the flow of said secondary liquid between said surfaces and a substantially smooth exterior to permit the unobstructed passage of said solid particle-containing gas thereby, said passage comprising an array of at least one liquid-conducting tubular conduit having a diameter confined within the boundaries of said first and second surfaces and a length substantially in excess of the perimeter of its flat rectangular plate, lying in a pattern extending substantially through the entire area of its flat rectangular plate and having an inlet opening and an outlet opening; shell means surrounding said plurality of flat plates and forming a gas flow path having a gas inlet end and a gas outlet for the passage of said solid particle-containing gas, said gas flow path enabling said gas to intimately flow by said plurality of flat plates in a direction parallel thereto, and to transfer heat to said secondary liquid flowing through said tubular conduits; supply means to supply said secondary liquid to the inlet opening of each flat plate; withdrawal means to convey heated secondary liquid away from the exit opening of each flat plate; and gas supply means for supplying said hot solid particle-containing gas to the gas inlet end of said gas flow path.

Claim 3

The heat exchanger according to claim 1, comprising at least three substantially parallel flat plates, the distance between each of said adjacent flat plates being substantially uniform.

Claim 4

The heat exchanger of claim 1, wherein said supply means is an inlet header adapted to distribute secondary liquid to each flat plate for parallel flow through said plurality of flat plates; and further wherein said withdrawal means is an outlet header for collecting the secondary liquid from the secondary liquid outlet of each flat plate.

Claim 5

The heat exchanger according to claim 3, wherein said secondary liquid inlet header is located on one side of said plurality of flat plates and wherein the outlet header is located on an opposite side of said plurality of flat plates.

Claim 6

The heat exchanger according to claim 1, and further comprising: means to secure the shell of said heat exchanger at the inlet end of said gas passageway to the shell of a substantially identical heat exchanger at the outlet end of the gas passageway in said substantially identical heat exchanger.

Claim 7

The heat exchanger module according to claim 1, wherein said shell is rectangular in configuration.

Claim 8

The heat exchanger according to claim 1, wherein the secondary liquid passage in each flat plate is so positioned that liquid flows transversely back and forth across the plate.

Claim 9

The heat exchanger of claim 1, wherein said solid particle-containing gas flows vertically through said gas flow path.

Claim 10

A heat exchanger assembly for processing a gas containing solid particles, developed from at least two heat exchange modules, and wherein each heat exchange module comprises: a plurality of vertically oriented substantially parallel flat rectangular plates, each plate having first and second substantially flat surfaces, a passage for the flow of secondary liquid between said surface and a substantially smooth exterior to permit thE unobstructed passage of said gas and its contained solid particles thereby, said passage comprising an array of at least one liquid-conucting tubular conduit having a diameter confined within the boundaries of said first and second surfaces and a length substantially in excess of the perimeter of its flat rectangular plate, lying in a pattern extending substantially through the entire area of its flat rectangular plate and having an inlet opening and an outlet opening; shell means surrounding said plurality of flat plates and forming a gas flow path having a gas inlet end and a gas outlet end for the passage of said solid particle-containing gas, said gas flow path enabling said gas to intimately flow by said plurality of flat plates in a direction parallel thereto and to transfer heat to said secondary liquid flowing through said tubular conduits; supply means to supply said secondary liquid to the inlet opening of each flat plate; withdrawal means to convey secondary liquid away from the exit opening of each flat plate; means for connecting said supply means to a source of secondary liquid or the withdrawal means of a substantially identical module; means for connecting said withdrawal means to an exhaust of secondary liquid or to the supply means of a substantially identical module; means for connecting said gas inlet end to a gas source or to the gas outlet end of a substantially identical module; and means for connecting said gas outlet end to the gas exhaust or to the inlet end of a substantially identical module; said heat exchanger assembly further including gas supply means fluidly connected to the gas inlet of said gas flow path for supplying a solid particle-containing gas to said heat exchange module.

Claim 11

A heat exchanger assembly for processing a gas containing solid particles, developed from at least two heat exchange modules, and wherein each heat exchange module comprises: a plurality of vertically oriented substantially parallel flat rectangular plates, each plate having first and second substantially flat surfaces, a passage for the flow of secondary liquid between said surface and a substantially smooth exterior to permit thE unobstructed passage of said gas and its contained solid particles thereby, said passage comprising an array of at least one liquid-conucting tubular conduit having a diameter confined within the boundaries of said first and second surfaces and a length substantially in excess of the perimeter of its flat rectangular plate, lying in a pattern extending substantially through the entire area of its flat rectangular plate and having an inlet opening and an outlet opening; shell means surrounding said plurality of flat plates and forming a gas flow path having a gas inlet end and a gas outlet end for the passage of said solid particle-containing gas, said gas flow path enabling said gas to intimately flow by said plurality of flat plates in a direction parallel thereto and to transfer heat to said secondary liquid flowing through said tubular conduits; supply means to supply said secondary liquid to the inlet opening of each flat plate; withdrawal means to convey secondary liquid away from the exit opening of each flat plate; means for connecting said supply means to a source of secondary liquid or the withdrawal means of a substantially identical module; means for connecting said withdrawal means to an exhaust of secondary liquid or to the supply means of a substantially identical module; means for connecting said gas inlet end to a gas source or to the gas outlet end of a substantially identical module; and means for connecting said gas outlet end to the gas exhaust or to the inlet end of a substantially identical module; said heat exchanger assembly further including gas supply means fluidly connected to the gas inlet of said gas flow path for supplying a solid particle-containing gas to said heat exchange module.

Claim 12

The assembly of claim 9, and further comprising: support means for supporting said heat exchange modules so that at least two modules are in a side by side relationship on said support means; gas conduit means for fluidly connecting the gas outlet end of one of said heat exchange modules to the gas inlet end of the adjacent heat exchange module so that said gas flows through said modules in series.

Claim 13

The assembly of claim 10, wherein said gas conduit means changes the gas flow direction by substantially 180*.

Claim 14

The assembly of claim 10, wherein said gas conduit means is located below said heat exchanger modules.

Claim 15

The assembly according to claim 9, composed of at least four heat exchange modules.

Claim 16

The assembly of claim 12 wherein said primary gas conduit means is a trapezoidal shaped bin for collecting particles which become disentrained from said particle-containing gas.

Claim 17

The assembly of claim 12 further including means for removing particles which have accumulated in said primary gas conduit means.