U.S. patent application number 13/392178 was filed with the patent office on 2012-12-20 for heat exchanger.
This patent application is currently assigned to WIWA WILHELM WAGNER GMBH & CO.KG. Invention is credited to Dirk Scherer.
Application Number | 20120321285 13/392178 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 43524999 |
Filed Date | 2012-12-20 |
United States Patent
Application |
20120321285 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Scherer; Dirk |
December 20, 2012 |
HEAT EXCHANGER
Abstract
The invention relates to a heat exchanger (10) for heating
flowable media, in particular highly viscous materials, coating
materials, or the like, comprising a profile body (11, 12) having
at least one flow channel segment (13, 14, 15, 16) of a flow
channel of the heat exchanger, and a heating unit disposed in the
profile body, wherein the heating unit comprises at least two
electric heating elements (22, 24). A first heating element (22) is
disposed in a heating element receptacle (23) formed in the profile
body, and a second heating element (24) is disposed in a sleeve
element (17) of the heating unit, wherein the sleeve element is
disposed in the flow channel segment formed in the profile body,
such that the heating elements are sealed against the flow
channel.
Inventors: |
Scherer; Dirk; (Lahnau,
DE) |
Assignee: |
WIWA WILHELM WAGNER GMBH &
CO.KG
Lahnau
DE
|
Family ID: |
43524999 |
Appl. No.: |
13/392178 |
Filed: |
August 20, 2010 |
PCT Filed: |
August 20, 2010 |
PCT NO: |
PCT/EP2010/062167 |
371 Date: |
May 9, 2012 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
392/307 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H05B 3/82 20130101; F24H
1/121 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
392/307 |
International
Class: |
F24H 9/00 20060101
F24H009/00 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Aug 27, 2009 |
DE |
10 2009 038 762.5 |
Claims
1. A heat exchanger for heating flowable media, in particular
high-viscosity materials, coating materials, or the like, said heat
exchanger comprising: a profile body having at least one flow
channel section of a flow channel of the heat exchanger; a heating
device arranged in the profile body, the heating device having at
least two electrical heating elements; a first heating element of
the heating device is arranged in a heating element receptacle
implemented in the profile body; and a second heating element of
the heating device is arranged in a sleeve element of the heating
device, the sleeve element being arranged in the flow channel
section implemented in the profile body in such a manner that the
heating elements are sealed in relation to the flow channel.
2. The heat exchanger according to claim 1, in which the heat
exchanger includes a plurality of profile bodies arranged in
parallel.
3. The heat exchanger according to claim 1, in which the heat
exchanger includes a cover element and a base element, which are
each arranged on profile ends of the profile body.
4. The heat exchanger according to claim 3, in which attachment
channels of the flow channel are implemented in at least one of the
cover element and/or in the base element.
5. The heat exchanger according to claim 3, in which at least one
connection channel for the connection of flow channel sections is
implemented in at least one of the cover element and in the base
element.
6. The heat exchanger according to claim 3, in which the sleeve
element is fixedly connected to the cover element.
7. The heat exchanger according to claim 1, in which the flow
channel sections and the heating element receptacle are implemented
as passage boreholes in the profile body in the longitudinal
direction of the profile body.
8. The heat exchanger according to claim 7, in which the sleeve
element has a polygonal cross-section.
9. The heat exchanger according to claim 8, in which the sleeve
element has a peripheral surface, and a plurality of longitudinal
grooves are distributed on a periphery of the peripheral surface in
such a manner that the sleeve element has a star-shaped cross
section.
10. The heat exchanger according to claim 8, in which an external
diameter of the sleeve element essentially corresponds to an
internal diameter of the flow channel sections.
11. The heat exchanger according to claim 10, in which a plurality
of partial channels of the flow channel sections are implemented
between the sleeve element and the profile body.
12. The heat exchanger according to claim 1, in which the heat
exchanger has heating elements in a ratio of two second heating
elements to one first heating element.
13. The heat exchanger according to claim 1, in which the heat
exchanger has an attachment device for attaching the heating
elements on the cover element.
14. The heat exchanger according to claim 1, in which at least one
temperature sensor is arranged in the flow channel.
15. The heat exchanger according to claim 1, in which the flow
channel is implemented as meandering.
16. The heat exchanger according to claim 1, in which the heat
exchanger has an insulation device.
Description
[0001] The invention relates to a heat exchanger for heating
flowable media, in particular high-viscosity materials, coating
materials, or the like, comprising a profile body having at least
one flow channel section of a flow channel of the heat exchanger
and a heating device, which is arranged in the profile body, the
heating device having at least two electrical heating elements.
[0002] Heat exchangers of this type are sufficiently known and are
regularly used as a continuous flow heater for heating coating
materials in the field of spraying technology. The coating material
is conveyed by means of a pump through the flow channel of the heat
exchanger, heating of the coating material being performed through
the contact thereof with heat exchanger surfaces inside the flow
channel. Electrical heating elements are typically used for
generating the heat energy, which are arranged in a body of the
heat exchanger that forms at least a section of the flow channel.
The heating element or elements must be arranged in the body in
such a manner that uniform heating of the flow channel occurs. It
is disadvantageous here in particular that the heat transfer from
the heating elements to the coating material only occurs indirectly
and the body, which is formed from metal, must first be heated.
[0003] Furthermore, embodiments of heat exchangers are known in
which a heating element is arranged directly in the flow channel.
Rapid and effective heating of the coating material is possible
here, however, in the case of the comparatively small heat
exchanger surface of the heating element, the danger exists of
overheating of the coating material. The coating material can also
easily bake or accumulate on a heating element surface, which can
in turn result in clogging of the flow channel. In contrast, a
comparatively smaller temperature gradient between a flow channel
inner surface and the coating material is achievable with the
arrangement of the heating elements in the body, but in this case a
comparatively long flow channel must be implemented to implement a
required larger heat exchanger surface. A more complicated channel
guide or a more complex structure of the body results therefrom in
a disadvantageous way, in particular since the heat exchanger is
frequently used in combination with a mobile spraying device and
must therefore be relatively compact in its dimensions.
[0004] Cleaning of the flow channel is also frequently necessary,
for example, in the event of a change of the coating materials, in
the event of clogging, or after ending a coating procedure, the
heat exchanger and in particular the flow channel typically being
cumbersome to disassemble or difficult to clean. This is
predominantly the case in the heat exchangers known from the prior
art, since the flow channel forms bends or curves in the body,
which can only be reached using a cleaning tool with difficulty or
which require time-consuming disassembly of the heat exchanger.
[0005] The present invention is therefore based on the object of
proposing a heat exchanger which has a simple and compact,
easy-to-clean structure and nonetheless allows improved heat
transfer.
[0006] This object is achieved by a heat exchanger having the
features of claim 1.
[0007] The heat exchanger according to the invention for heating
flowable media, in particular high-viscosity materials, coating
materials, or the like, comprises a profile body having at least
one flow channel section of a flow channel of the heat exchanger
and a heating device arranged in the profile body, the heating
device having at least two electrical heating elements, a first
heating element being arranged in a heating element receptacle
implemented in the profile body, and a second heating element being
arranged in a sleeve element of the heating device, the sleeve
element being arranged in the flow channel section implemented in
the profile body in such a manner that the heating elements are
sealed in relation to the flow channel.
[0008] In particular the heating of the profile body using a
heating element and the use of the sleeve element, which is also
heated, in the flow channel section allow particularly effective
heat transfer to the flowable medium, since the effectively heated
heat exchanger surfaces are relatively large. The flowable medium
thus comes into contact with a flow channel inner surface and a
sleeve element surface, which are heated by the first or the second
heating element, respectively. It is advantageous that the flow
channel section is implemented by a profile body, which is
geometrically uniform and therefore easy to clean. A profile body
does not have bends or openings, in which possible accumulations
could only be removed with difficulty, and is additionally simple
to produce and available in arbitrary lengths. Because of the
effective heating, the flow channel of the heat exchanger can be
dimensioned as relatively short, without a heating element coming
into direct contact with the medium. Local overheating of the
medium also can hardly occur in the flow channel section because of
the uniform heat distribution via the heat exchanger surfaces
implemented in this manner. The negative effects connected thereto
are thus avoided in particular because the heating elements cannot
come into contact with the medium.
[0009] The heat exchanger can advantageously comprise a plurality
of profile bodies arranged in parallel. A flow rate can thus be
increased or alternatively a flow channel section can be
lengthened. The heat exchanger can in particular be implemented so
that a modular structure of the heat exchanger having a number of
profile bodies suitable for the respective application is possible.
Adaptation of the heat exchanger to special customer wishes or
requirements is therefore easily possible without greater
production expenditure.
[0010] The heat exchanger can also comprise a cover element and a
base element, which are each arranged on profile ends of the
profile body. For example, a plurality of profile bodies can be
mounted between the cover element and the base element by means of
the cover element and the base element. The cover element and the
base element can also be sealed in relation to the profile ends so
that the flowable medium cannot exit from the heat exchanger in an
undesired manner.
[0011] Attachment channels of the flow channel can also be
implemented in the cover element and/or in the base element. The
attachment channels then do not have to be arranged in one or more
profile bodies, but rather can simply be arranged on the
above-mentioned elements, depending on the use requirement of the
heat exchanger. A plurality of connection channels can also be
provided on different sides of the cover element and/or the base
element for optional use. The unused attachment channels can then
be closed using a screw connection, for example.
[0012] It is particularly advantageous if at least one connection
channel for connecting flow channel sections is implemented in the
cover element and/or in the base element. Multiple flow channel
sections can thus be connected one behind another in series. The
number of connection channels can vary depending on the number of
profile bodies used. Therefore, it is merely necessary to replace
cover element and/or base element having the corresponding number
of identical profile bodies to implement heat exchangers having
different heating powers.
[0013] An advantageous mounting of the sleeve element is possible
if the sleeve element is fixedly connected to the cover element. To
clean the flow channel, the cover element must then merely be
disassembled from the profile body, the cover element then being
removed together with the sleeve element from the profile body or
from the flow channel section. The sleeve element surface and also
the flow channel inner surface are thus easily accessible for
cleaning. The first heating element, which is arranged in the
heating element receptacle of the profile body, can preferably also
be connected to the cover element in a suitable manner.
[0014] The heat exchanger can be produced particularly simply if
the flow channel section and the heating element receptacle are
implemented as passage boreholes in the profile element in the
longitudinal direction of the profile element.
[0015] In order to implement a heat exchanger surface which is
greatly enlarged in relation to a conventional heating element, the
sleeve element can implement a polygonal cross-section.
[0016] If the sleeve element has a plurality of longitudinal
grooves distributed around the periphery on its peripheral surface,
in such a manner that the sleeve element forms a star-shaped cross
section, a heat exchanger surface or sleeve element surface can be
enlarged still further.
[0017] Particularly large heat exchanger surfaces are possible if
an external diameter of the sleeve element essentially corresponds
to an internal diameter of the flow channel section. A flow channel
cross-section is then solely implemented by the intermediate space,
which is annular in cross-section, between flow channel inner
surface and sleeve element surface.
[0018] A plurality of partial channels of the flow channel section
can thus also be implemented between the sleeve element and the
profile body. If the sleeve element surface at least sectionally
comes into contact with the flow channel inner surface, a
particularly good seat of the sleeve element in the flow channel
section is additionally ensured.
[0019] In an advantageous embodiment, the heat exchanger can have
heating elements in a ratio of two second heating elements to one
first heating element.
[0020] A simple, joint attachment of all heating elements to a
power supply or subdistributor is made possible if the heat
exchanger has an attachment device for attaching the heating
elements on the cover element. The attachment device can comprise a
housing, which is sealed in relation to the surroundings, having
devices for the subdistribution for the electrical heating elements
and control or regulating devices.
[0021] At least one temperature sensor can be arranged in the flow
channel to implement a temperature regulation. Multiple temperature
sensors can optionally be provided to ascertain a temperature
differential along the flow channel. A temperature regulation can
preferably be performed based on measured values of the temperature
sensor using a programmable logic controller (PLC).
[0022] The flow channel itself can be implemented as meandering,
for example, by flow channel sections arranged in series one after
another, which are connected via connection channels. A compact
embodiment of the heat exchanger can thus be implemented
particularly simply.
[0023] The heat exchanger can advantageously have an insulation
device, which minimizes possible heat losses to an environment.
Furthermore, the insulation device can protect operating personnel
from possible burns.
[0024] The invention is explained in greater detail hereafter with
reference to the appended drawings.
[0025] In the figures:
[0026] FIG. 1 shows a first perspective view of a heat
exchanger;
[0027] FIG. 2 shows a second perspective view of the heat
exchanger;
[0028] FIG. 3 shows a cross-sectional view of the heat exchanger in
a perspective view;
[0029] FIG. 4 shows a longitudinal sectional view of the heat
exchanger in a perspective view;
[0030] FIG. 5 shows a longitudinal sectional view of the heat
exchanger in a perspective view;
[0031] FIG. 6 shows a partial longitudinal sectional view of the
heat exchanger in a perspective view.
[0032] A consideration of FIGS. 1 to 6 together shows a heat
exchanger 10 in various perspective views and sections. The heat
exchanger comprises two profile bodies 11 and 12, which implement
flow channel sections 13 and 14 or 15 and 16 like a passage
borehole. Furthermore, sleeve elements 17 are arranged in each of
the flow channel sections, which have a star-shaped profile
cross-section 18, so that a plurality of partial channels 21 is
implemented between a flow channel inner surface 19 and a sleeve
element surface 20. Furthermore, the heat exchanger 10 comprises
first heating elements 22, which are arranged in a heating element
receptacle 23, which is implemented in the profile body 11 or 12
and is implemented like a passage borehole. Second heating elements
24 are arranged in the sleeve elements 17 in sleeve element
receptacles 25, which are also implemented as a passage borehole.
The first heating elements 22 and second heating elements 24 are
each arranged in the heating element receptacles 23 or 25,
respectively, so that a touch contact exists for particularly good
heat transfer between the first heating elements 22 and the profile
bodies 11 or 12 and between the second heating elements 24 and the
sleeve elements 17. In order to prevent penetration of a flowable
medium (not shown here) into the heating element receptacle 25, a
sealing screw 27 is screwed into the sleeve element 17 at a lower
end 26 of the sleeve element 17 in each case.
[0033] Furthermore, the heat exchanger 10 comprises a cover element
28 and a base element 29, which are arranged on profile ends 30 to
33 of the profile bodies 11 or 12 and are fixedly screwed thereon
by means of screws 34. Furthermore, two connection channels 35 and
36 are implemented like a transverse borehole in the base element
29 and are each closed using a screw 37. The connection channel 35
connects the flow channel sections 13 and 15 and the connection
channel 36 connects the flow channel sections 14 and 16,
respectively. A connection channel 38 having a screw 37, which
connects the flow channel sections 13 and 14, is also provided in
the cover element 28. Furthermore, attachment channels 39 and 40
are implemented like a borehole in the cover element 28, which are
connected to the flow channel sections 15 or 16. Attachment screw
connections 41 for attaching the heat exchanger 10 to a supply line
or drain line (not shown here) of a spraying device are screwed
into the attachment channels 39 and 40. Overall, through the
relative arrangement of the flow channel sections 13 to 16 and the
connection channels 35, 36, and 38, a meandering implementation of
a flow channel 42 results.
[0034] Seals 43 are arranged on the profile ends 30 to 33 to seal
the cover element 28 and the base element 29 with the profile
bodies 11 and 12. Furthermore, the sleeve elements 17 are provided
on their upper ends 44 with a peripheral groove 45 and a thread 46.
The sleeve elements 17 are thus fixedly screwed into the cover
element 28 by means of the thread 46. The peripheral groove 45 is
essentially used for improved distribution of the medium to be
heated.
[0035] Furthermore, an attachment device 47 having an attachment
housing 48 and an attachment terminal 49 is arranged on the cover
element 28. The attachment terminal 49 is essentially used for the
electrical connection of the first heating elements 22 and second
heating elements 24 to a central power supply. The attachment
housing 48 is formed from a housing ring 50 having a housing cover
51, which are connected to the cover element 28 so that a sealed
attachment chamber 52 is formed.
[0036] A temperature sensor 53 is arranged in the attachment
channel 39 or in the cover element 28 and a temperature sensor 54
is arranged in the profile body 12 or in the flow channel section
15. Both temperature sensors 53 and 54 are connected to a PLC (not
shown here) for regulating the temperature.
[0037] For disassembly to clean the heat exchanger 10 it is solely
necessary to remove the screws 34 from the cover element 28 and
thus to disconnect the cover element 28 from the profile bodies 11
and 12, the sleeve elements 17 then being able to be pulled out of
the flow channel sections 13 to 16. The flow channel inner surface
19 can now be mechanically cleaned easily, if necessary, the base
element 29 also being able to be removed from the profile bodies 11
and 12 easily by loosening the screws 34. The sleeve element
surface 20 which is then exposed can also be cleaned easily.
* * * * *