KR20110122240A - Heat-exchange apparatus with micro-channels - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A micro channel type heat exchanger is provided to reduce the weight and space which is necessary to store and circulate the refrigerant by reducing the necessary refrigerant amount. CONSTITUTION: A micro channel type heat exchanger comprises a main body(11), a cool refrigerant micro flow plate, a hot refrigerant micro flow plate and a diaphragm. The main body comprises a cool refrigerant entrance(12), a hot fluid entrance(14), a cool refrigerant outlet(13) and a hot refrigerant outlet(15). The cool refrigerant micro flow plate has a plurality of micro flow plates for flowing the low temperature liquid coolant. The hot refrigerant micro flow plate is stacked with the cool refrigerant micro flow plate and has a plurality of micro flow plate for flowing the hot fluid. The diaphragm is installed between the cool refrigerant micro flow plate and hot refrigerant micro flow plate.

Description

Heat Exchanger Apparatus with Micro-channels

The present invention relates to a microchannel heat exchanger, and more particularly, to a microfluidic type that can effectively cool a high temperature part fluid by using the latent heat of evaporation of a low temperature part refrigerant as a heat exchange fluid to be suitable for a mobile system having a limited space and weight. It relates to a heat exchange device.

In general, in order to cool the hot air, a method of causing heat exchange by supplying cooling air or a separate refrigerant (for example, water) to the low temperature part is used. In the existing cooling system, a concept of mainly absorbing heat of a high temperature part using specific heat of a refrigerant supplied to a low temperature part is mainly used. At this time, if there is no heat leakage to the outside of the heat exchanger, the amount of heat lost by the high temperature air is exactly the same as the heat obtained by the low temperature coolant. Therefore, assuming that the specific heat of each fluid is a constant, the following relationship is satisfied.

here,

: 고온부 유체의 유량

: Flow rate of fluid at high temperature

: 고온부 유체의 비열

: Specific heat of high temperature fluid

: 고온부 유체의 입구 온도

: Inlet temperature of high temperature fluid

: 고온부 유체의 출구 온도

: Outlet temperature of high temperature fluid

: 저온부 유체의 유량

: Flow rate of low temperature fluid

: 저온부 유체의 비열

: Specific heat of low temperature fluid

: 저온부 유체의 입구 온도

: Inlet temperature of low temperature fluid

: 저온부 유체의 출구 온도

: Outlet temperature of low temperature fluid

From this relationship, factors affecting the cooling performance of the hot part are the flow rate of the cold part refrigerant, the specific heat, and the outlet temperature of the cold part refrigerant. At this time, the outlet temperature of the low temperature refrigerant is largely dependent on the layout and design of the heat exchanger, but in any case, it is limited to the inlet temperature of the high temperature fluid, and the specific heat is the physical property of the material itself. After the conditions have been determined, the only variable that can be actively controlled is the flow rate of the refrigerant. Therefore, in order to sufficiently cool the high temperature fluid, an effective flow path design and a proper flow rate of the low temperature coolant are essential.

In general, in the case of a heat exchanger operating on the ground, there is no problem in cooling the high temperature part using the specific heat of the low temperature part refrigerant because the limitation of space and weight is not severe in the facility for storing and supplying the low temperature part refrigerant. In case of a mobile system such as a vehicle having an excessively high weight and limited space and space allocated to the system, it is necessary to keep the flow rate of the refrigerant supplied to the heat exchanger and the size of the heat exchanger itself as small as possible to obtain a cooling effect of the desired high temperature portion. Becomes difficult.

At this time, an alternative method is to use the latent heat of the refrigerant. In general, the latent heat (heat of fusion or evaporative heat) involved in phase change is very large compared to the specific heat associated with only a temperature change without phase change, and thus a large amount of heat may be absorbed from the hot portion. In addition, since the temperature is kept constant during the phase change, the outlet temperature of the high-temperature fluid can be designed to be close to the phase change temperature of the refrigerant. When the low temperature fluid causes a phase change (evaporation), the thermal equilibrium relation of the low temperature part and the high temperature part is modified as follows.

here,

: 저온부 유체의 액체상태 비열

: Liquid specific heat of low temperature fluid

: 저온부 유체의 끓는점

: Boiling point of low temperature fluid

: 저온부 유체의 증발잠열

: Latent heat of evaporation of low temperature fluid

: 저온부 유체의 기체상태 비열

: Gas specific heat of low temperature fluid

In particular, water has a characteristic specific heat of about 4.2 kJ / kg · K and latent heat of evaporation of 2257 kJ / kg under standard atmospheric conditions. If you have to absorb a lot of heat while still having a small amount of water, you can effectively cool it down.

On the other hand, when it is necessary to secure a large heat transfer area within a limited space, a micro flow path heat exchanger is used, which is mainly formed by etching (etching) different plates such as printed circuit heat exchangers (PCHEs) to form flow paths. A heat exchanger made by alternately joining the diaphragm with a diaphragm interposed therebetween. The heat exchanger is composed of a small millimeter-class flow path, and has a large heat transfer area compared to an external volume by allowing a large heat transfer area to flow freely as well as gas. In addition, the microfluidic heat exchanger has an advantage in the high temperature and high pressure use environment, and can be manufactured in various shapes by utilizing various micromachining techniques due to the development of the micro electro mechanical system (MEMS).

However, the conventional microfluidic heat exchanger requires a considerable amount of fluid required for heat exchange because it causes heat exchange using sensible enthalpy, ie, heat absorption or release phenomena caused by temperature change of the material. Accordingly, in the case of a heat exchanger mounted on a cold source or a mobile system in which the amount of the refrigerant is limited, there is a problem that it is difficult to sufficiently mount the low temperature fluid (refrigerant) for continuously cooling the high temperature fluid.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above-described conventional problems, and it is possible to sufficiently mount a low temperature part refrigerant as a heat exchange fluid for continuously cooling the high temperature part fluid in mounting a heat exchanger in a mobile system having a limited space and weight. It is an object of the present invention to provide a microfluidic heat exchanger capable of effectively cooling a high temperature part fluid by using latent heat by evaporating the low temperature part refrigerant.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a low temperature refrigerant inlet for introducing the low temperature liquid refrigerant through the low temperature liquid refrigerant supply pipe connected to the low temperature liquid refrigerant storage tank, and formed on the opposite side of the low temperature refrigerant refrigerant inlet to supply the high temperature fluid. A cold part refrigerant outlet formed on the opposite side of the hot part fluid inlet and the cold part refrigerant inlet to vaporize the low temperature liquid refrigerant by heat exchange with the hot fluid and discharge the same in saturated steam or superheated steam, and discharge the heat exchanged hot fluid A heat exchanger body having a high temperature outlet;

A low temperature coolant microfluidic plate installed in the body of the heat exchanger and having a plurality of fine flow paths for flowing the low temperature liquid coolant;

A high temperature part fluid microfluidic plate installed in the heat exchanger body in a state of being alternately stacked with the low temperature part refrigerant microfluidic plate and having a plurality of fine flow paths for flowing the high temperature fluid;

A diaphragm disposed between the low temperature refrigerant microfluidic plate and the high temperature fluid microfluidic plate;

Characterized in that it comprises a.

Preferably, the hot fluid supplied through the hot part fluid inlet is hot air or gas above the vaporization temperature of the cold liquid refrigerant.

Preferably, the plurality of micro-channels of the low-temperature refrigerant micro-channel plate is formed with a predetermined interval from each other, the shape of the maze or meandering structure in which the flow path direction is bent at least two times from the flow path inlet to the flow path outlet Consists of

Preferably, the plurality of micro-channels of the high-temperature fluid micro-channel plate is formed at a predetermined interval from each other, the flow path inlet and the flow path exit side is a straight line and the flow path between the flow path inlet and the flow path exit is continuous It is formed to have a waveform shape.

Preferably, the heat exchanger is an evaporative cooler.

Preferably, the heat exchanger is a steam generator.

According to the present invention, by utilizing the latent heat of evaporation of the low temperature section refrigerant, it is possible to effectively cool the high temperature section air above the vaporization temperature of the low temperature section refrigerant while satisfying a small space and weight limitation condition when the heat exchanger is installed in the mobile system. In particular, when water (or a mixture of water) is used as a low-temperature refrigerant, a large specific heat and latent heat of evaporation allow a large amount of heat to be absorbed even though a small amount is mounted, thereby greatly reducing the amount of refrigerant required to store or circulate the refrigerant. It can save weight and space.

In addition, by using the boiling phenomenon of high heat transfer efficiency, the heat of the hot portion can be absorbed with a relatively small heat transfer area, thereby reducing the size of the heat exchanger itself.

Therefore, the heat exchanger according to the present invention can be effectively used in the case where a large amount of heat must be absorbed without additional supply of refrigerant from the outside for a limited time in a moving system having a limited space and weight, and in particular, Since it is designed not to be affected by the maneuver, it can be very useful as a heat exchanger for mounting a vehicle, and, conversely, can be useful as a steam generator when a large amount of steam is required in a reactor or a chemical process.

1 is a schematic view showing a state equipped with a micro-flow type heat exchanger according to the present invention.
2 is a block diagram of a heat exchanger according to the present invention.
3 is a block diagram of a low-temperature refrigerant micro flow path plate installed in the heat exchange apparatus according to the present invention.
Figure 4 is a block diagram of a high temperature portion refrigerant micro channel plate installed in the heat exchange apparatus according to the present invention.
Figure 5 is another configuration of the low temperature refrigerant microfluidic plate installed inside the heat exchanger according to the present invention.
6 is an internal configuration diagram of a heat exchanger showing a low temperature refrigerant microfluidic plate, a high temperature refrigerant microfluidic plate, and a diaphragm installed therebetween.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a schematic view showing a state in which a micro flow path heat exchanger is mounted according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a heat exchanger according to the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a coolant refrigerant installed inside a heat exchanger according to the present invention. 4 is a configuration diagram of a micro flow path plate, and FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of a high temperature part refrigerant micro flow path plate installed in a heat exchanger according to the present invention, and FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an internal configuration of a heat exchanger having a low temperature refrigerant microfluidic plate, a high temperature refrigerant microfluidic plate, and a plate provided therebetween.

The present invention is a heat exchanger mounted on a moving system such as a vehicle having a limited weight and space, and is mainly configured to sufficiently cool high temperature air (or gas) of about 150 ° C or higher to about 100 ° C.

Referring to the drawings, the heat exchanger 10 has a heat exchanger body 11 for exchanging a low temperature liquid refrigerant with a high temperature fluid, and a micro flow path plate 20 or 40 installed inside the heat exchanger body. consist of.

The heat exchanger main body 11 has a low temperature refrigerant inlet 12 for introducing low temperature liquid refrigerant through a low temperature liquid refrigerant supply pipe 101 connected to the low temperature liquid refrigerant storage tank 100, and an opposite side to the low temperature refrigerant inlet 12. Formed on the opposite side of the high temperature section fluid inlet 14 and the low temperature section refrigerant inlet 12 for supplying the high temperature fluid to vaporize the low temperature liquid refrigerant to the boiling point by heat exchange with the high temperature fluid while passing through the low temperature refrigerant microfluidic plate. Low temperature refrigerant outlet 13 for discharging in a saturated steam or superheated steam state, and high temperature outlet outlet 15 for discharging the hot fluid through a high temperature fluid microfluidic plate while being cooled by heat exchange with a low temperature liquid refrigerant. Consists of a structure that includes.

Here, as the low temperature liquid refrigerant, natural water or cooling water may be used, and the high temperature fluid supplied through the high temperature part fluid inlet is hot air or a gas higher than the vaporization temperature of the low temperature liquid refrigerant.

Meanwhile, the micro flow path plates 20 and 30 installed inside the evaporation main body 11 are the low temperature coolant micro flow plate 20 for flowing the low temperature liquid refrigerant and the high temperature fluid micro flow plate 30 for flowing the high temperature fluid. The low temperature refrigerant microfluidic plate 20 and the high temperature fluid microfluidic plate 30 are alternately stacked by a diaphragm 40 interposed therebetween.

The final stacked water of the microfluidic plates 20 and 30 is determined within the allowable pressure loss range in the system according to the flow rates of the hot fluid and the low temperature liquid refrigerant supplied.

The low temperature refrigerant microfluidic plate 20 is formed by etching a plurality of micro flow paths 21 at regular intervals from each other, and the liquid refrigerant supplied to the low temperature coolant inlet 12 passes through the flow path inlet 21a. It is discharged to the low temperature refrigerant outlet 13 through the flow path outlet 21b via the 21. In this process, the low temperature liquid refrigerant absorbs heat transferred from the high temperature fluid while moving along the flow direction 22 indicated by the arrow. At this time, the liquid supplied to the room temperature absorbs the heat supplied from the hot fluid inlet 14 and the temperature rises rapidly and evaporates on the microfluidic passage 21. Particularly, since the latent heat of liquid evaporation is generally very large compared to the specific heat, Even a large amount of liquid refrigerant can absorb a lot of heat.

In addition, the high temperature fluid microfluidic plate 30 is formed by etching a plurality of micro flow paths 31 at a predetermined interval from each other, and the air supplied to the high temperature fluid inlet 13 passes through the flow path inlet 31a. It is discharged to the hot part outlet 15 via 31c. In this process, the high temperature fluid flows along the flow direction 32 indicated by the arrow, and is cooled by causing heat exchange with the low temperature liquid refrigerant.

Here, the microchannel 21 of the low temperature refrigerant microfluidic plate 20 and the microchannel 31 of the high temperature fluid microfluidic plate 30 have a large heat transfer area while allowing not only gas but also liquid to flow freely, thereby transferring heat to an external volume. It is composed of small millimeter-class flow paths so that the area is large.

In addition, the microchannel 21 of the low temperature refrigerant microfluidic plate 20 has a labyrinth or meandering structure in which each channel direction is bent at least two times from the channel inlet 21a to the channel outlet 21b. It is preferable. For example, it can be seen that the microfluidic channel 21 of the low temperature refrigerant microfluidic plate 20 shown in FIG. 3 is bent 14 times in the channel direction. It can be seen that the microfluidic channel 21 of the other low temperature refrigerant microfluidic plate 20 ′ shown in FIG. 5 is bent six times in the channel direction.

Such a flow path also has a function to prevent the liquid refrigerant not evaporated by inertia from being discharged directly to the low temperature refrigerant outlet 14 when the evaporative cooler mounted in a mobile system such as a vehicle receives an acceleration due to an unexpected start. Do it together. In other words, when the present invention is mounted on a mobile system such as a flying vehicle, the flying vehicle may be accompanied by a sudden maneuver depending on the type of mission. If the direction of acceleration generated at the start and the start coincide, liquid inertia may be discharged directly to the outlet even before being vaporized by inertia. Thus, the present invention changes the direction of the microchannel at least two times in order to ensure that the liquid refrigerant plays its role regardless of such a sudden start.

In addition, the microchannel 31 of the high temperature fluid microfluidic plate 30 has a straight line on the side of the channel inlet 31a and the channel outlet 31b, and the channel between the channel inlet 31a and the channel outlet 31b is acid and valley. It is preferable that it is formed to have a repeating continuous waveform form.

As described above, according to the present invention, the refrigerant stored in the low temperature liquid refrigerant storage tank 100 is constantly supplied to the heat exchange device 10 through the open / close valve 102 by an external pressurized air or a constant flow pump 103. In addition, the low temperature liquid refrigerant passing through the low temperature refrigerant inlet 12 of the heat exchanger 10 passes through the low temperature refrigerant microfluidic plate 20 inside the heat exchange main body 11 and receives heat transferred from the high temperature fluid inlet 14. After absorbing, the temperature rises and vaporizes at the boiling point and is discharged out through the low temperature refrigerant outlet 14. On the other hand, the high temperature fluid is introduced into the heat exchange device main body 11 through the high temperature part fluid inlet 14 and passed through the high temperature part fluid microfluidic plate 30 and cooled by heat exchange with the low temperature liquid refrigerant, and then the high temperature part outlet 15. To go to the next course.

According to the present invention having the structure described above, it can be seen that in order to cool the fluid on the high temperature side with a small amount of refrigerant, it is very effective to use latent heat during phase change rather than sensible heat of the refrigerant. For most materials, the latent heat per unit mass is much greater than the sensible heat, and the temperature remains constant in the event of a phase change. Taking water as an example, the latent heat of water at atmospheric pressure is 2260kJ / kg, and the sensible heat of water is 420kJ / kg at 100 ° C temperature change, so the water evaporates and absorbs more than five times as much as the heat absorbed. . Therefore, when using the latent heat of evaporation of water, the amount of water required is only one fifth of that of using sensible heat of water. The latent heat microfluidic heat exchanger is much more effective.

When the heat exchanger according to the present invention having such an effect is used as an evaporative cooler, it is effectively used when a large amount of heat must be absorbed without additional supply of refrigerant from the outside for a finite time in a mobile system having a limited space and weight. In particular, since it is designed not to be affected by the rapid starting of the mobile system, it can be very useful as a heat exchanger for mounting a vehicle.

In addition, the heat exchanger according to the present invention can be usefully used as a steam generator that requires a large amount of steam in the reactor or chemical process. In this case, when hot gas is supplied to the high temperature fluid inlet and water is supplied to the low temperature refrigerant inlet, water vapor is generated at the low temperature refrigerant outlet. When the flow rate of the supplied water and the high temperature gas flow rate are adjusted, 100% water vapor is supplied to the low temperature refrigerant outlet. Is generated at a predetermined flow rate, so that it is possible to properly supply the required process.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments, but, on the contrary, Accordingly, the true scope of protection of the present invention should be construed according to the following claims, and all technical ideas within the scope of the same should be construed as being included in the scope of the present invention.

100: low temperature liquid refrigerant storage tank
101: low temperature liquid refrigerant supply pipe
102: on-off valve
103: constant flow pump
10: heat exchanger
11: heat exchanger main body
12: low temperature refrigerant inlet
13: low temperature refrigerant outlet
14: high temperature fluid inlet
15: hot side fluid outlet
20: microfluidic plate of low temperature refrigerant
21: Micro Euro
30: high temperature fluid microchannel
31: Micro Euro
40: plate

Claims (6)

The low temperature refrigerant inlet 12 for introducing the low temperature liquid refrigerant through the low temperature liquid refrigerant supply pipe 101 connected to the low temperature liquid refrigerant storage tank 100 and the low temperature refrigerant inlet 12 are formed on the opposite side to supply the high temperature fluid. A low temperature refrigerant outlet for forming a high temperature portion fluid inlet 14 and an opposite side of the low temperature portion refrigerant inlet 12 to vaporize the low temperature liquid refrigerant by heat exchange with the high temperature fluid and to discharge the saturated liquid refrigerant in a saturated steam or superheated steam state. A heat exchanger main body 11 having a hot portion outlet 15 for discharging the heat exchanged hot fluid;
A low temperature coolant microfluidic plate 20 installed in the heat exchanger main body 11 and having a plurality of fine flow paths 21 for flowing the low temperature liquid coolant;
The high temperature part fluid microfluidic plate 30 is installed in the heat exchanger main body 11 so as to be alternately stacked with the low temperature part refrigerant micro flow path plate 20 and has a plurality of micro flow paths 31 for flowing the high temperature fluid. );
A diaphragm (40) installed between the low temperature refrigerant microfluidic plate (20) and the high temperature fluid microfluidic plate (30);
Microfluidic heat exchanger comprising a. The method of claim 1,
Microfluidic heat exchanger, characterized in that the hot fluid supplied through the hot portion fluid inlet (13) is hot air or gas above the vaporization temperature of the low temperature liquid refrigerant. The method of claim 1,
The plurality of micro-channels 21 of the low-temperature refrigerant micro-channel plate 20 are formed at a predetermined interval from each other, the labyrinth in which the flow path direction is bent at least two times from the flow path inlet 21a to the flow path outlet 21b Micro flow-type heat exchanger, characterized in that the shape or meandering structure. The method of claim 1,
The plurality of micro-channels 31 of the high temperature fluid micro-channel plate 30 are formed at a predetermined interval from each other, the side of the flow path inlet 31a and the flow path outlet 31b is in a straight line shape, the flow path inlet 31a and the flow path outlet The flow path between (31b) is a microfluidic heat exchanger, characterized in that it is formed to have a continuous wave form that the mountain and valley repeat. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
The heat exchanger device is a micro-channel heat exchanger, characterized in that the evaporative cooler. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
The heat exchange device is a fine flow path type heat exchanger, characterized in that the steam generator.

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