Classifications

• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F01—MACHINES OR ENGINES IN GENERAL; ENGINE PLANTS IN GENERAL; STEAM ENGINES
  • F01P—COOLING OF MACHINES OR ENGINES IN GENERAL; COOLING OF INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINES
  • F01P3/00—Liquid cooling
  • F01P3/20—Cooling circuits not specific to a single part of engine or machine
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B63—SHIPS OR OTHER WATERBORNE VESSELS; RELATED EQUIPMENT
  • B63H—MARINE PROPULSION OR STEERING
  • B63H21/00—Use of propulsion power plant or units on vessels
  • B63H21/02—Use of propulsion power plant or units on vessels the vessels being steam-driven
  • B63H21/10—Use of propulsion power plant or units on vessels the vessels being steam-driven relating to condensers or engine-cooling fluid heat-exchangers
• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F28—HEAT EXCHANGE IN GENERAL
  • F28D—HEAT-EXCHANGE APPARATUS, NOT PROVIDED FOR IN ANOTHER SUBCLASS, IN WHICH THE HEAT-EXCHANGE MEDIA DO NOT COME INTO DIRECT CONTACT
  • F28D1/00—Heat-exchange apparatus having stationary conduit assemblies for one heat-exchange medium only, the media being in contact with different sides of the conduit wall, in which the other heat-exchange medium is a large body of fluid, e.g. domestic or motor car radiators
  • F28D1/02—Heat-exchange apparatus having stationary conduit assemblies for one heat-exchange medium only, the media being in contact with different sides of the conduit wall, in which the other heat-exchange medium is a large body of fluid, e.g. domestic or motor car radiators with heat-exchange conduits immersed in the body of fluid
  • F28D1/0206—Heat exchangers immersed in a large body of liquid
  • F28D1/022—Heat exchangers immersed in a large body of liquid for immersion in a natural body of water, e.g. marine radiators
• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F01—MACHINES OR ENGINES IN GENERAL; ENGINE PLANTS IN GENERAL; STEAM ENGINES
  • F01P—COOLING OF MACHINES OR ENGINES IN GENERAL; COOLING OF INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINES
  • F01P2050/00—Applications
  • F01P2050/02—Marine engines
  • F01P2050/06—Marine engines using liquid-to-liquid heat exchangers

Definitions

• the invention relates to cooling systems for use on floating vessels, such as boats or ships. More specifically, the invention relates to an apparatus and a method for cooling marine machinery.
• Today there are basically two different principles for cooling marine machinery: (i) a central cooling system, and (ii) a box-cooler system.
• the central cooler system is constructed on the basis of a seawater cooling system and a fresh water cooling system, connected by plate heat exchangers.
• This system involves a set of seawater pumps and seawater cooling pipes with associated devices on board the ship. Such a system gives good control of the cooling process, thus making optimisation possible.
• One of the drawbacks of the system is that it can be quite sizeable if there is a need for many cooling systems that are to be cooled independent of each other.
• the central cooler system requires an unduly large amount of space.
• the box-cooler system is a pure freshwater cooling system where the heat exchanger is installed in a sea chest in the side of the ship. The sea chest is configured such that a natural circulation of seawater past the heat exchanger is produced.
• WO 01/25086 shows a cooler located in a sea chest on a ship.
• the sea chest is configured with openings 7, 8 in the ship's hull 6 to allow seawater to flow in and out.
• the sea chest is delimited towards the ship by watertight partition plates 4, 5.
• the cooler is located in a through-duct 12 and thus has one end in the sea chest (for heat exchange with the seawater) and the other end inside the ship's hull.
• Such a heat exchanger is called a box-cooler.
• box-coolers are built up of assembled pipe bundles, in many ways as in a tubular cooler.
• the pipe material often comprises a copper alloy.
• the box-cooler system frees up substantial space in, for example, the engine room as the seawater system is eliminated and the cooler is placed in a sea chest.
• One of the disadvantages of the system is that the user has little control over the efficiency of the box- cooler, which may vary depending on its location in the ship and on the speed of the ship in the water. It is difficult to obtain good circulation through the sea chest and is also difficult to regulate the through-flow. When the ship is at rest in the water, it is very difficult to control the heat exchange between box-cooler and seawater.
• box-coolers are given extra large dimensions, often with a fouling factor of up to 30% both to allow for fouling of the cooler over time, and to take into account the unduly low water circulation in the sea chest when the ship is at rest. Accordingly, the sea chests must be made disproportionately large in order to provide room for the box-coolers. This means the ship hull loses a substantial buoyancy volume.
• Another limitation is that when the outputs that are to be heat- exchanged with the seawater are extra large, the box-coolers will be so substantial and so large in number that they will be impractical to install.
• the known solutions have been found to be unsuitable for the cooling of units that generate high outputs and thus large quantities of heat that are to be cooled.
• Another drawback of the known box-cooler system is that the ship must be docked when repair or maintenance of the cooler is to be carried out as the sea chest is located below water.
• the present invention meets this need, as it provides an apparatus for cooling a marine unit in a vessel floating in a body of water, comprising at least one heat exchanger fluid-connected to the marine unit in a closed circuit, characterised in that the at least one heat exchanger is installed in connection with a fluid reservoir in the vessel for heat exchange of a first fluid in the closed circuit with a second fluid in the fluid reservoir, and in that the fluid reservoir is in fluid communication with the body of water.
• the fluid communication of the fluid reservoir with the body of water preferably comprises an intake line for transport of the second fluid from the body of water into the fluid reservoir, and an outlet line for transport of the second fluid from the fluid reservoir back to the body of water.
• the fluid reservoir preferably comprises faces that form a substantially closed chamber.
• the heat exchanger is mounted in a through-duct in one of the faces, in such manner that the heat exchange elements of the heat exchangers are located within the chamber and the connecting part of the heat exchangers is located outside the chamber.
• the connecting part of the heat exchangers advantageously comprises connecting means for respectively a supply line and a return line for the first fluid in the closed circuit between the marine unit and the heat exchanger.
• the intake line and the outlet line are, in one embodiment, fluid-connected to the body of water via suitable openings in the hull side of the vessel, such as respective sea chests. In one embodiment, the intake line and the outlet line are fluid- connected to the body of water via the vessel's ballast water tanks and systems.
• a plurality of heat exchangers in the fluid reservoir are interconnected in series or in parallel and in fluid communication with the marine unit in the closed circuit, via respective connecting lines.
• a plurality of fluid reservoirs are in fluid communication with the body of water, each fluid reservoir comprising at least one heat exchanger fluid-connected to a marine unit in a closed circuit.
• the first fluid advantageously comprises fresh water and the second fluid advantageously comprises water from the body of water, preferably seawater.
• the marine unit comprises the ship's propulsion machinery. The marine unit may also comprise any one of the ship's machines.
• a method for cooling a marine unit in a vessel floating in a body of water comprising at least one heat exchanger fluid- connected to the marine unit in a closed circuit, characterised by passing water from the body of water into a container in the vessel; heat exchanging the water in the container with a cooling fluid in the heat exchanger and the closed circuit; and passing the water from the container back to the body of water.
• the water in the container is supplied with heat by a cooling of the cooling fluid in the heat exchanger and the closed circuit; and the heated water is passed from the container back to the body of water.
• Figure 1 is a schematic side view of the apparatus according to the invention.
• Figure 2 is a schematic view of the apparatus according to the invention, where a part of the apparatus is shown from above.
• Figure 3 is a perspective drawing of a partial sectional view of an embodiment of the apparatus according to the invention.
• the apparatus according to the invention comprises one or more tanks 20 which are configured for installation on board a ship and which contain one or more heat exchangers 10.
• Figure 1 shows such a tank 20 in side view
• Figure 2 shows four tanks 20 mounted next to each other.
• the four tanks are shown as separate chambers, but one of skill in the art will understand that the tanks may also be in fluid communication.
• Each tank 20 may be rectangular in shape and can be installed at one of a number of locations within the ship.
• the tank or tanks may advantageously be incorporated in the ship's hull, for example, in the double hull of the ship and/or be constituted by all or some of the ship's ordinary ballast tanks.
• FIG. 3 shows a basic embodiment of the tank 20, with parts of the tank walls removed for illustration purposes, comprising a closed structure with end walls 2, 5; side walls 3, 6; a bottom 8 and a top plate 4.
• a cooler 10 is mounted in the top plate 4 of the tank 20 in such a way that the heat exchange elements 9 of the cooler are located in the tank, below the top plate 4, whilst the connecting part 41 of the cooler is located above the top plate 4.
• the cooler 20 is equipped with connecting pieces 11, 14 that are connected to respective pipelines 16, 18 which are attached to the machine (not shown in Fig. 3) that is to be cooled in a closed circuit, in a way known to the skilled person.
• the cooling fluid in the closed circuit may be fresh water, preferably with added corrosion-inhibiting agents.
• FIG 3 also shows a supply pipe 21 for passing seawater into the tank, and a discharge pipe 23 for passing the seawater out of the tank.
• seawater here should be understood to mean the water W in which the ship floats when in use.
• seawater is thus passed into and through the tank 20 in a controlled manner and the cooling fluid is circulated in the closed circuit, for example, by means of a circulation pump 24 (see Figure 2), whereby the cooling fluid is heat-exchanged against (the usually colder) seawater.
• the discharge pipe 23 for seawater is connected to an outlet opening 32c in the ship's hull, so that seawater is passed out into the body of water W surrounding the ship.
• Each tank 20 may advantageously house a plurality of coolers 10, interconnected in series as shown in Figures 1 and 2, or in parallel.
• Figure 1 shows an embodiment where three coolers 10 are interconnected in series via connecting lines 12 and in a closed circuit with a unit 50 that is to be cooled via cooling fluid lines 16, 18.
• the unit 50 that is to be cooled may, for example, comprise the ship's propulsion machinery and/or other machines.
• the cooling fluid may advantageously be driven in the closed circuit by means of a circulation pump 24 and otherwise be controlled by means of a control valve 22.
• Figure 1 also shows how the tank 20 is connected to a seawater supply via the supply line 21 and how the seawater, after it has been in the tank, is discharged into the body of water W outside the ship via the outlet line 23.
• the seawater through-flow is advantageously controlled via one or more pumps 25 (see Figure 2) and control valves 22.
• Figure 2 shows an apparatus similar to that in Figure 1 , but the system is shown from a perspective where the tank shown in Figure 1 is seen “from above” and located next to three other similar tanks 20.
• Figure 2 further shows how the seawater supply line 21 is connected to seawater pumps 25 and control valves 22.
• Figure 2 shows also how the seawater supply can come from the body of water W by means of a so-called “high sea chest” 32a in the ship's hull side and/or from a so-called “low sea chest” 32b in the ship's hull side.
• the cooler 10 may be a type of tubular heat exchanger or tubular cooler, built up of assembled pipe bundles, but may also comprise other types of heat exchanger.
• the seawater system can pump water into a relatively compact tank 20, which, for example, may be incorporated in one of the ship's ballast tanks, where, as described above, a type of box-cooler 10 is mounted and where fresh water is circulated in a closed circuit from a component 50 that requires cooling.
• the invention makes it possible to make use of volumes of the ship in a manner in which they are not used in the known solutions other than for ballast water.
• the invention means that the number of sea chests (and their volume) can be reduced, the ship's buoyancy volume will not be reduced, as is the case in the known solutions.
• the invention permits maintenance of one cooling system without the other systems being affected.
• the box-cooler 10 of the invention can be dismantled without the ship having to be docked.
• the invention allows the box-cooler tank 20 to be installed anywhere in the ship and — compared with a central cooling system - it can free up substantial space.
• the invention makes it possible to cool units that generate much greater outputs - and thus large quantities of heat that are to be cooled - than is the case with the known solutions.
• the need for an overdimensioning of the cooler also no longer exists.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Combustion & Propulsion (AREA)
• Ocean & Marine Engineering (AREA)
• General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Thermal Sciences (AREA)
• Heat-Exchange Devices With Radiators And Conduit Assemblies (AREA)
• Farming Of Fish And Shellfish (AREA)
• Heat Treatment Of Water, Waste Water Or Sewage (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

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Citations (3)

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• 2008
  • 2008-07-02 NO NO20082991A patent/NO331432B1/no unknown
• 2009
  • 2009-06-30 WO PCT/NO2009/000239 patent/WO2010002267A1/en active Application Filing

Patent Citations (3)

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