Heat exchanger

Claim 2

A heat exchanger comprising: a fluid, inlet means and outlet means for said fluid, a heat exchange element for receiving the flow of said fluid, said heat exchange element comprising a member having a plurality of coextensive narrow fluid channels formed on a single surface thereof, said channels being defined by walls extending from said surface, multiple distributor means spaced at intervals along said channels for distributing the fluid from said inlet means to all of said fluid channels in parallel, multiple collector means spaced from said distributor means at intervals along said channels for collecting the fluid in all of said channels in common channels at intermediate positions along said fluid channels located at distances from the distributor means which are substantially less in extent than the full length of said coextensive channels and means for feeding the fluid from said last mentioned common channel to said outlet means, and means for transferring thermal energy between said heat exchange element and a heat conductive medium, the ends of said channel walls away from said surface abutting against said last mentioned means in fluid tight relationship, whereby thermal energy is transferred between said channel wall ends and said last mentioned means.

Claim 3

A heat exchanger for transferring thermal energy between a pair of heat conductive media comprising: a fluid, inlet means and outlet means for said fluid, one of said media comprising a heat exchanger element for receiving the flow of said fluid, said heat exchanger element comprising a member having a plurality of coextensive narrow fluid channels formed on a single surface thereof, said channels being defined by walls extending from said surface, multiple distributor means spaced at intervals along said channels for distributing the fluid from said inlet means to all of said fluid channels in parallel, multiple collector means spaced From said distributor means at intervals along said channels for collecting the fluid in all of said channels in common channels at position along said fluid channels located at distance from the distributor means which are substantially less in extent than the full length of said coextensive channels and means for feeding the fluid from said last mentioned common channel to said outlet means, and means interposed between all of the channels of said heat exchanger element and the other of said heat conductive media for transferring thermal energy between said two media, the ends of said channel walls away from said surface abutting against said last mentioned means whereby thermal energy is transferred between said channel wall ends and said last mentioned means.

Claim 4

A heat exchanger for transferring thermal energy between a pair of heat conductive media comprising: a fluid, inlet means and outlet means for said fluid, one of said media comprising a heat exchanger element for receiving the flow of said fluid, said heat exchanger element comprising a member having a plurality of coextensive narrow fluid channels formed on a single surface thereof, said channels being defined by walls extending from said surface, multiple distributor means spaced at intervals along said channels for distributing the fluid from said inlet means to all of said fluid channels in parallel, multiple collector means spaced From said distributor means at intervals along said channels for collecting the fluid in all of said channels in common channels at position along said fluid channels located at distance from the distributor means which are substantially less in extent than the full length of said coextensive channels and means for feeding the fluid from said last mentioned common channel to said outlet means, and means interposed between all of the channels of said heat exchanger element and the other of said heat conductive media for transferring thermal energy between said two media, the ends of said channel walls away from said surface abutting against said last mentioned means whereby thermal energy is transferred between said channel wall ends and said last mentioned means.

Claim 5

The device of claim 2 wherein the other of said heat conductive media comprises a member of solid material, said means interposed between said heat exchanger element and said member comprising a wall of said member of solid material.

Claim 6

The device of claim 2 wherein the other of said heat conductive media comprises a second heat exchanger element similar to said first heat exchanger element and a fluid flowing in said second element, said means interposed between said units comprising a diaphragm forming an edge seal for each of said channels.

Claim 7

The device of claim 4 and further including means for applying mechanical pressure against both of said heat exchanger elements urging them towards each other to provide good thermal contact between said elements and said diaphragm, the thermal energy being transferred from one fluid to the other fluid through the intermediary of the walls of the heat exchanger elements and said diaphragm.

Claim 8

The device of claim 4 wherein the channels of each of said heat exchanger elements are formed from a single conductive strip wound in a spiral configuration, one of the edges of the strip of one of said elements abutting against one side of said diaphragm, one of the edges of the strip of the other of said elements abutting against the opposite side of said diaphragm.

Claim 9

The device of claim 5 wherein said means for applying mechanical pressure against said elements comprises a housing for said heat exchanger elements and screw means threadably attached to said housing for tightening said elements against each other within said housing.

Claim 10

The device of claim 2 and further including a housing for containing said heat exchanger element, said distributor means comprising an inlet for receiving the fluid extending from said housing, a plurality of distributor channels formed in said housing for receiving fluid from said inlet and communicating said fluid to separate portions of said fluid channels, and said collector means comprising collector channels formed in said housing between said distributor channels for commonly receiving the fluid flowing in said fluid channels from said distributor channels, and outlet means for receiving the fluid from said collector channels.

Claim 11

The device of claim 6 wherein said distributor means for distributing fluid to said channels and said collector means for collecting fluid from said channels comprises apertures extending through said channels and spaced from each other at intervals around the spiral, said apertures extending through separate sections of said spiral.

Claim 12

The device of claim 9 wherein said apertures are tapered.

Claim 13

A heat exchanger for transferring heat energy from one fluid to another comprising: a housing, first and second heat exchanger elements mounted in said housing, each of said elements including a plurality of coextensive fluid channels formed from a strip of material wound in a spiral, a fluid inlet and outlet in said housing, multiple fluid distributor channel means extending essentially radially across said spiral and spaced at intervals about a full turn of said spiral, said fluid distributor channel means receiving fluid from said inlet and feeding said fluid in parallel to saId channels, and multiple fluid collector channel means extending essentially radially across said spiral, said collector channel means being spaced from said distributor channel means so as to receive in parallel the fluid flow from said distributor channel means after it has passed through a portion of a single turn of said spiral channels, said collector channel means feeding fluid to said outlet, and a diaphragm interposed between the spiral windings of said first and second heat exchanger elements, one of the edges of each of said spiral windings of said first and second heat exchanger abutting against an opposite surface of said diaphragm, thermal energy being transferred between said heat exchanger elements through said diaphragm, whereby the fluid is fed to each distributor channel means and flows in parallel around adjacent channels of each of said heat exchanger elements to a collector channel means after traversing only a portion of a full turn of said spiral.

Claim 14

A heat exchanger for transferring heat energy from one fluid to another comprising: a housing, first and second heat exchanger elements mounted in said housing, each of said elements including a plurality of coextensive fluid channels formed from a strip of material wound in a spiral, a fluid inlet and outlet in said housing, multiple fluid distributor channel means extending essentially radially across said spiral and spaced at intervals about a full turn of said spiral, said fluid distributor channel means receiving fluid from said inlet and feeding said fluid in parallel to saId channels, and multiple fluid collector channel means extending essentially radially across said spiral, said collector channel means being spaced from said distributor channel means so as to receive in parallel the fluid flow from said distributor channel means after it has passed through a portion of a single turn of said spiral channels, said collector channel means feeding fluid to said outlet, and a diaphragm interposed between the spiral windings of said first and second heat exchanger elements, one of the edges of each of said spiral windings of said first and second heat exchanger abutting against an opposite surface of said diaphragm, thermal energy being transferred between said heat exchanger elements through said diaphragm, whereby the fluid is fed to each distributor channel means and flows in parallel around adjacent channels of each of said heat exchanger elements to a collector channel means after traversing only a portion of a full turn of said spiral.

Claim 15

The device of claim 11 and further including means for mechanically clamping said heat exchanger elements together in said housing with mechanical pressure being applied by said spiral windings against the opposite surfaces of said diaphragm to provide good thermal contact between said windings and said diaphragm.

Claim 16

The device of claim 11 wherein said distributor and collector channels are formed in said housing.

Claim 17

The device of claim 11 wherein said distributor and collector channels comprise apertures formed in said spiral windings.

Claim 18

The device of claim 13 wherein said distributor and collector channels are tapered.

Claim 19

The device of claim 12 wherein said housing means comprises a hollow cylinder having an open end and a closed end, said heat exchanger elements, said diaphragm and said distributor and collector channel means being contained within said cylinder, said means for mechanically clamping said heat exchanger elements together comprising a pan member fitted into the open end of said cylinder to cover said open end and bolt means threadably attached to the edge portion of the open end of said cylinder, said bolt means driving against said pan member thereby applying force thereagainst to drive said heat exchanger elements together.

Claim 20

The device of claim 11 and further including a pair of circular plate members, said heat exchanger elements being sandwiched between said plate members, said fluid distributor and collector channel means comprising grooves formed at spaced intervals in said plate members adjacent to said spiral windings.

Claim 21

The device of claim 12 wherein said means for clamping said heat exchanger elements together comprises a pair of end plate members, said heat exchanger elements being sandwiched between said end plate members, and bolt means for drawing said end plate members towards each other.

Claim 22

The device of claim 11 and further comprising a wire placed between the windings of said spiral to provide spacing therebetween.

Claim 23

A plurality of heat exchangers as set forth in claim 11, said heat exchangers being stacked vertically one on the other, said housing means comprising a cylindrical housing for housing said units, the distributor and collector channel means for each of the heat exchanger elements comprising radial apertures formed in the windings of the heat exchanger elements.

Claim 24

The device of claim 11 wherein said distributor channel means comprises a first set of radial channels for providing fluid to the flow channels near the periphery of said winding, a second set of radial channels extending radially across the entire spiral spaced between the first set of radial channels, and said collector channel means comprises a set of radial channels spaced between said second set of channels for receiving the fluid flow in the spiral therefrom whereby fluid flows in a first direction in said spiral from said first set of distributor channels to said second set of channels and in a direction opposite to said first diRection from said second set of channels to said collector channels.