BR102012026490A2 - DIRECT LIQUID THERMAL TRANSFER SYSTEM, AND RESERVOIR PROVIDED FROM DIRECT LIQUID THERMAL TRANSFER SYSTEM - Google Patents

Abstract

SYSTEM OF THERMAL TRANSFER FOR LIQUIDS BY DIRECT MEDIA, AND RESERVOIR PROVIDED WITH SYSTEM OF DIRECT THERMAL TRANSFER FOR LIQUID. The present invention relates to a thermal transfer system for liquids by direct thermal transfer, said system comprising a reservoir (1) comprising at least one pipeline (5) for passing through the thermal transfer medium to the liquid transfer system. (4) incorporated and extending, embedded, along at least one wall (11) of the reservoir (1), and means to provide the direct thermal transfer of the liquid stored inside the reservoir (1) without requiring reduction of its internal liquid storage area.

Description

Report of the Invention Patent for "DIRECT LIQUID THERMAL TRANSFER SYSTEM, AND DIRECT LIQUID THERMAL TRANSFER SYSTEM RESERVOIR".

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a thermal transfer system.

(preferably cooling) for liquids, preferably water, by direct heat transfer in which the tank itself acts as an evaporator. To this end, the pipes through which the thermal transfer medium (eg the refrigerant element) passes are incorporated into the liquid storage reservoir wall itself, thereby providing cooling or direct heating of the water stored therein. Therefore the presented construction has technical and functional characteristics capable of providing a differentiated container structure that has high performance in thermal water transfer, since the evaporator remains in direct contact with water without reducing the internal storage area. available water 15 thus providing greater efficiency, practicality and economy compared to similar existing systems.

Background of the Invention

As is well known in the art, manufacturers of water purification equipment currently use plastic or metal tanks around which water evaporators are positioned externally to cool water. However, such a water cooling solution presents a poor performance, since between the evaporator and the fluid to be cooled is located the reservoir wall and, in addition, the contact between the bodies is made linearly. , which ultimately impairs the thermal exchange between refrigerated gas and water, and involves a complicated and therefore costly manufacturing process - an example of such an embodiment is illustrated in US8057665.

Another solution was presented in US 7,069,738, which describes a storage and cooling tank in which the refrigerant, which has a freezing point of less than 0 degrees Celsius, passes along a fluid passage that is defined over The wall of the tank body is surrounded by an insulating material in a system known as a skin evaporator. However, this solution still presents the problem of constructive complexity and limited efficiency due to the existence of the tank wall between the fluid and the refrigerant gas passageway.

Other manufacturers use the evaporator inside the tank to improve heat exchange.

heat between the refrigerant and the liquid, as shown for example in document KR937954. However, this positioning of the evaporator occupies a volume that would normally be filled by the liquid to be stored and cooled, and thus this technique considerably reduces the useful volume of the tank. Another example of this application is found in KR 20040093535, which discloses a water purifier cooling apparatus comprising a plate containing a plurality of micro channels corresponding to refrigerant passageways therein, which system also has a high cost. Manufacturing

Additionally, there are manufacturers that use peltier effect tanks to cool the water which, however, also have low yields. It should be remembered that in similar known systems it is necessary to apply considerable energy to promote the initial cooling of water in order to minimize the chance that the water considered as chilled will not be supplied at an early stage of operation. practically room temperature; In addition, the number of glasses of cold water that can be obtained in a single operation with apparatus of the present state of the art has some limitation.

Therefore, it is noted that the current state of the art lacks an effective, practical, versatile and economical solution to promote rapid cooling of water, or similarly its heating, especially with regard to the application in water purifiers / coolers. which the cooling process should be fast and optimized, which minimizes the occurrence of heat exchange loss between the refrigerant gas and the fluid, and provides significantly higher productivity than that obtained by using similar ones.

Objectives of the Invention

In view of the above with respect to the limitations of the state of the art, a new concept of thermal water transfer system is proposed, which functions as a reservoir with direct thermal transfer system, similar to that used in refrigerators, but intended for storage. of water - which can be chilled or heated.

Therefore it is an object of the present invention to provide a thermal water transfer system that provides a temperature change rate of a larger volume of water in a shorter time than that achieved by the use of known systems.

Thus, it is an object of the present invention to provide a high performance liquid storage tank, i.e. a high ratio between the thermal energy withdrawn from the stored liquid and the electrical energy spent to cool / heat the thermal transfer element, without this the useful internal volume of the tank is occupied by the coolant / heater passages.

Additionally, it is an object of the present invention to provide a liquid storage tank which does not use complex manufacturing processes, that is, which comprises a structure that is easy to manufacture and which is simple and practical to implement.

It is yet another object of the invention to disclose a thermal transfer system for liquids that results in a considerable increase in the amount of cold / heated water cups that can be obtained as compared to current systems.

Summary of the Invention

The above objectives are achieved by a direct liquid heat transfer system, said system comprising a liquid storage reservoir containing at least one liquid inlet, at least one liquid outlet and a thermal transfer system for liquid cooperating with the reservoir, said liquid heat transfer system comprising heat transfer medium passage pipes.

In one of the preferred embodiments of the present invention, said system comprises at least one heat transfer medium through-flow pipe of the incorporated heat-transfer system and built-in extending along at least one reservoir wall. .

In short, the invention comprises means for providing direct thermal transfer of the liquid stored within the reservoir without requiring reduction of its internal liquid storage area.

Preferably the at least one heat transfer medium passageway of the heat transfer liquid extends helically along the interior of at least one vertical reservoir wall and optionally to at least one medium passageway. The thermal transfer system of the thermal transfer system to liquid extends along the bottom surface of the reservoir.

Also in a preferred embodiment the direct liquid heat transfer system comprises a resistive type NTC (Negative Temperature Coefficient) resistor type temperature control device.

Therefore, the objectives envisaged are also achieved by means of a reservoir provided with a direct liquid-to-thermal transfer system comprising at least one liquid inlet, at least one liquid-outlet and a thermal-to-liquid transfer system comprising passageways. A thermal transfer medium, characterized in that said reservoir comprises at least one heat transfer medium through-flow pipe of the heat transfer liquid incorporated in an embedded manner along at least one wall of the reservoir.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The present invention will be described in more detail based on the following figures, in which:

Figure 1 illustrates a sectional view of a prior art tank in which the refrigerant passages are located on the outer region of the tank;

Figure 2 illustrates a sectional view of another prior art tank in which the refrigerant passages are located within the tank, thereby reducing the useful internal volume of water storage;

Figure 3 illustrates a sectional view of one of the possible embodiments for the liquid heat transfer tank of the present invention.

Detailed Description of the Invention

The object of the present invention will be described in more detail hereinafter, but by way of example only and not by way of limitation, since the thermal transfer system for liquids with direct thermal transfer reservoir object of the present invention may comprise different details and aspects. structural and dimensional dimensions without thereby escaping the desired scope of protection.

It should be understood that the description below emphasizes the embodiment for cooling liquids, but it is clear that the object of the present invention may be used for both cooling and heating of any liquids.

Thus, in a preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to an apparatus comprising a preferably cylindrical water storage reservoir 1, said reservoir 1 comprising an inlet 2 and an outlet 3 of liquid, both conventionally located. at the top of the reservoir 1.

The water stored in the reservoir 1 is intended to be cooled upon request by the user, which is effected by the action of a refrigerant (usually refrigerated gas) that runs through pipes 5 that cooperate with the water stored inside the reservoir 1.

According to Figure 1, it will be noted that the known prior art system basically comprises a reservoir 1, a liquid inlet 2, a liquid outlet 3 and a plurality of refrigerant passage pipes 5 around the reservoir. 1, and thus, cool the liquid contained within. Said refrigerant passage pipes 5 are located near the outer surface of the reservoir wall 11, so that the contact between the plurality of pipes 5 and the reservoir 1 is made in line and designed to cause heat exchange between them, thus cooling the water stored in the reservoir 1.

As can be seen from Figure 1, the contact area between the coolant passageway pipes 5 and the outer wall 11 of reservoir 1 is very small, and even if the shape of the coolant passageways changes, the area of of contact between them would still be substantially small. Thus, the efficiency of heat exchange between the refrigerant and the liquid becomes low, since the greater the distance between the refrigerant and the medium to be cooled, the greater the heat exchange loss. between the cooling element and the medium to be cooled and, consequently, the greater the thermal loss with the external medium.

In Figure 2, another well-known water cooling system technique is also observed, also comprising a reservoir 1, a liquid inlet 2, a liquid outlet 3 and a plurality of refrigerant passageway 5.

The main difference between the technique illustrated in Figure 2 and the technique illustrated in Figure 1 is that, in the technique of Figure 2, the plurality of refrigerant passage pipes 5 are located adjacent the inner surface of the reservoir wall 11, while in the art of Figure 1 the plurality of refrigerant passageway pipes 5 are located near the outer surface of said wall 11.

Thus, with the solution of Figure 2 the problem related to unwanted heat exchange with the external environment is solved, since the whole contact area of the refrigerant passage pipes 5 is in direct contact with the reservoir liquid 1. However, as can be seen from Figure 2, part of the internal volume of the reservoir 1 is occupied by the refrigerant passage pipes 5, thereby decreasing its useful internal volume.

Figure 3 illustrates a preferred embodiment of the object of the present invention. In this system, the plurality of refrigerant passageways 5 are located inwardly, i.e. embedded in the sidewalls 11 of reservoir 1 in a system known as a "roll bond evaporator". In this way, the problem of unwanted heat exchange between the refrigerant element and the external medium is solved, since the refrigerant element will act, on the one hand, directly on the fluid medium to be cooled and, on the other hand, on the side wall. 11 of the reservoir 1, so that temperature propagation on the wall surface 11 will also assist in cooling the water stored within the reservoir 1.

In addition, the problem of loss of useful volume inside the container is also solved, since with the refrigerant passage pipes 5 positioned within the side wall 11 of the reservoir 1, their internal volume is not changed.

It should be noted that in the preferred embodiment of the invention shown in Figure 3, pipes 5 are shown arranged substantially parallel to the vertical wall 11 of the reservoir 1, however a single pipe 5 can be designed helically traversing the wall 11 of the reservoir 1, or there are also pipes 5 also embedded in the bottom or bottom surface 12 of reservoir 1 without thereby escaping the desired protective scope.

Preferably temperature control of the refrigerant or heat transfer medium will be accomplished by at least one Negative 5 Temperature Coefficient (NTC) device, which basically comprises a resistor whose temperature dependent resistance. This resistor, as its name suggests, has a negative temperature coefficient, that is, as the NTC temperature increases, its resistance decreases.

Tank insulation will preferably be accomplished by the use of EPS (Expanded Potystyrene) around the tank, as EPS is a commonly used product for thermal insulation due to its lightness, robustness and aging resistance characteristics.

It should also be emphasized that the solution of the present invention provides a significant reduction in the energy consumed to cool the same volume of water, since the cooling process is faster due to the direct contact of the evaporator with the fluid - which It also allows the removal of a larger number of glasses of ice water that can be made in a certain period of time.

Another novelty of the present invention relates to the rate of temperature change, since the rate of temperature reduction of a larger volume of water is possible in a significantly slower time than that known with similar ones.

It is important to note that the above description is for the sole purpose of exemplarily describing preferred embodiments of the liquid heat transfer tank used, particularly in water filters. Thus, as those skilled in the art understand, numerous modifications, variations and constructive combinations of elements which perform the same function in substantially the same manner are possible to achieve the same results, which are within the scope of protection delimited by the appended claims.

Claims (5)

1. Direct heat transfer liquid system, said system comprising a reservoir (1) for liquid storage containing at least one liquid inlet (2), at least one liquid outlet (3) and a heat transfer to (4) cooperating with the reservoir (1), said heat transfer system for (4) comprising heat transfer medium passage pipes (5), characterized in that it comprises: - at least one pipe (5) heat transfer medium passageway of the heat transfer liquid system (4) incorporated and recessedly extending along at least one wall (11) of the reservoir (1), and - means for providing heat transfer liquid stored inside the reservoir (1) without requiring reduction of its internal liquid storage area. System according to claim 1, characterized in that the at least one heat transfer medium passage pipe (5) from the heat transfer to liquid (4) extends helically along the interior of at least one vertical wall (11) of the reservoir (1). System according to Claims 1 and 2, characterized in that the at least one heat transfer medium passage pipe (5) from the heat transfer to liquid (4) extends along the lower surface ( 12) of the reservoir (1). System according to Claim 1, characterized in that said liquid heat transfer system comprises a Negative Temperature Coefficient (NTC) resistor type temperature control device. 5. Reservoir provided with direct liquid-to-thermal transfer system, said reservoir (1) comprising at least one liquid inlet (2), at least one liquid outlet (3) and a thermal liquid-to-transfer system (4) comprising heat transfer medium passage pipes (5) characterized in that said reservoir comprises at least one heat transfer medium passage pipe (5) of the heat transfer liquid system (4) incorporated in a built-in manner; along at least one wall (11) of the reservoir (1).