GB947459A - Improvements in heat exchangers - Google Patents

Abstract

947,459. Heat exchangers. UNION CARBIDE CORPORATION. Aug. 10, 1962 [Aug. 11, 1961], No. 30699/62. Heading F4S. A heat exchanger for two fluids comprises two headers 10 and 12 made from monolithic blocks of impervious graphite, each header having rows of drilled passages 18 whose axes are all parallel one with another, the two fluids passing through separate rows of passages. As shown, Fig. 1, the headers 10 and 12, a block 14 also of impervious graphite, and intermediate gaskets 50 and 52 have correspondingly drilled passages 18 and are clamped together by means of pressure plates 20 and 22 and tie-rods 24. The headers are protected by pressure pads 46 and 48. Horizontal machined grooves 19 across the adjacent faces of the headers and the block 14 between each row of passages 18 allow any fluid leaking from the passages, due to faulty gaskets, to pass to the external surface of the heat exchanger to provide visible leak indication and to prevent mixing of the two fluids. The headers 10 and 12 are identical in a heat exchanger having an odd number of passes for each fluid. Fluid " A " enters header 10 through an inlet 34 and passes through a tapered conduit 58 to feeder conduits 62 at the level of alternate rows of passages 18, and enters half the passages 18 by branch conduits 64. It leaves the header 12 through a similar conduit system leading to an outlet 44. Fluid " B " enters header 12 at an inlet 32 and is lead by conduits, not shown, to one-third of the remaining half of the total number of passages 18, and makes three passes through the heat exchanger in the rows intermediate of those carrying fluid " A." Fluid B leaves the header 10 through an outlet 42. All internal conduits in the headers are blind drillings plugged at the external surfaces of the blocks, the vertical drillings 58 and 72 being tapered. The heat exchange surface can be varied by having no block 14, or by adding further blocks 14, while the internal flow paths of the fluids may be subject to many possible variations by suitably arranging the drilled conduits in the headers. The heat exchanger is particularly suited for use with corrosive fluids.