U.S. patent application number 14/285778 was filed with the patent office on 2014-09-11 for fill pack assembly and method with bonded sheet pairs.
The applicant listed for this patent is SPX Cooling Technologies, Inc.. Invention is credited to Glenn S. BRENNEKE, Ohler L. Kinney, JR., Eldon F. MOCKRY, Kenneth P. MORTENSEN.
Application Number | 20140252664 14/285778 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 42027653 |
Filed Date | 2014-09-11 |
United States Patent
Application |
20140252664 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
MOCKRY; Eldon F. ; et
al. |
September 11, 2014 |
FILL PACK ASSEMBLY AND METHOD WITH BONDED SHEET PAIRS
Abstract
A fill pack assembly and method for assembling a fill pack from
individual sheets utilizes integrally bonded sheet pairs. Each
sheet pair is a pair of two individual adjacent fill sheets which
have been bonded together via any suitable bonding method. A
plurality of the thus formed sheet pairs can then be attached
together to form an entire fill pack or portion of a fill pack.
Such fill packs are useful in heat exchange devices such as
industrial cooling towers.
Inventors: |
MOCKRY; Eldon F.; (Lenexa,
KS) ; Kinney, JR.; Ohler L.; (Overland Park, KS)
; MORTENSEN; Kenneth P.; (Bonner Springs, KS) ;
BRENNEKE; Glenn S.; (Lee's Summit, MO) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
SPX Cooling Technologies, Inc. |
Overland Park |
MD |
US |
|
|
Family ID: |
42027653 |
Appl. No.: |
14/285778 |
Filed: |
May 23, 2014 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
12340324 |
Dec 19, 2008 |
8771457 |
|
|
14285778 |
|
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Current U.S.
Class: |
261/100 ;
29/527.1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
F28F 25/02 20130101;
Y10T 29/4998 20150115; Y10T 428/24711 20150115; F28F 25/087
20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
261/100 ;
29/527.1 |
International
Class: |
F28F 25/02 20060101
F28F025/02 |
Claims
1. A method of assembling a fill pack from individual fill sheets,
comprising: integrally bonding two individual adjacent fill sheets,
wherein each sheet has a perimeter and an internal contact point,
wherein said internal contact point is one of a peak or a valley
disposed within said perimeter and wherein each respective internal
contact point engages the other contact point during assembly, to
each other to form a first bonded sheet pair; repeating the step of
integrally bonding two individual adjacent fill sheets to each
other to form a second bonded sheet pair; attaching said first and
said second bonded sheet pair pairs to each other, wherein the step
of attaching the first and second bonded sheet pairs together
comprises holding them together using a mounting tube having a
first end and a second end which passes through apertures in the
first and second bonded sheet pairs; and a first cap attached to
said first end and a second cap attached to said second end.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising repeating the steps of
integrally bonding two individual adjacent fill sheets, and
repeating the steps of attaching bonded sheet pairs to each
other.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of bonding two
individual sheets together to form a bonded sheet pair comprises
twin sheet vacuum forming.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of integrally bonding
two individual sheets comprises placing the two individual adjacent
fill sheets between a pair of electrodes and radio frequency (RF)
welding the individual sheets along the perimeter at the internal
contact points.
5. A method of assembling a fill pack from individual fill sheets,
comprising: integrally bonding two individual adjacent fill sheets,
wherein each sheet has a perimeter and an internal contact point,
wherein said internal contact point is one of a peak or a valley
disposed within said perimeter and wherein each respective internal
contact point engages the other contact point during assembly, to
each other to form a first bonded sheet pair; repeating the step of
integrally bonding two individual adjacent fill sheets to each
other to form a second bonded sheet pair; and attaching said first
and said second bonded sheet pair pairs to each other, wherein the
step of attaching two or more bonded sheet pairs together comprises
inserting at least one mounting pin through the bonded sheet
pairs.
6. The method of claim 5, further comprising repeating the steps of
integrally bonding two individual adjacent fill sheets, and
repeating the steps of attaching bonded sheet pairs to each
other.
7. The method of claim 5, wherein the step of bonding two
individual sheets together to form a bonded sheet pair comprises
twin sheet vacuum forming.
8. The method of claim 5, wherein said step of integrally bonding
two individual sheets comprises placing the two individual adjacent
fill sheets between a pair of electrodes and radio frequency (RF)
welding the individual sheets along the perimeter at the internal
contact points.
9. A method of assembling a fill pack from individual fill sheets,
comprising: integrally bonding two individual adjacent fill sheets,
wherein each sheet has a perimeter and an internal contact point,
wherein said internal contact point is one of a peak or a valley
disposed within said perimeter and wherein each respective internal
contact point engages the other contact point during assembly, to
each other to form a first bonded sheet pair; repeating the step of
integrally bonding two individual adjacent fill sheets to each
other to form a second bonded sheet pair; and attaching said first
and said second bonded sheet pair pairs to each other, wherein the
step of attaching two or more bonded sheet pairs together comprises
restraining the bonded sheet pairs within a restraining frame.
10. The method of claim 9, further comprising repeating the steps
of integrally bonding two individual adjacent fill sheets, and
repeating the steps of attaching bonded sheet pairs to each
other.
11. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of bonding two
individual sheets together to form a bonded sheet pair comprises
twin sheet vacuum forming.
12. The method of claim 9, wherein said step of integrally bonding
two individual sheets comprises placing the two individual adjacent
fill sheets between a pair of electrodes and radio frequency (RF)
welding the individual sheets along the perimeter at the internal
contact points.
13. A fill pack for use in an environmental heat exchange assembly,
comprising: a plurality of bonded sheet pairs each comprising a
first sheet and a second sheet bonded to each other, wherein the
first and second sheet pairs are bonded together via radio
frequency (RF) welding; a mounting tube having a first end and a
second which passes through apertures in the plurality of bonded
sheet pairs; and a first cap attached to said first end and a
second cap attached to said second end.
14. A fill pack for use in an environmental heat exchange assembly,
comprising: a plurality of bonded sheet pairs each comprising a
first sheet and a second sheet bonded to each other, wherein the
first and second sheet pairs are bonded together via radio
frequency (RF) welding; and at least one mounting pin inserted
through the sheet pairs.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims priority to and is a continuation of
U.S. patent application entitled FILL PACK ASSEMBLY AND METHOD WITH
BONDED SHEET PAIRS, filed Dec. 19, 2008, having a Ser. No.
12/340,324, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by
reference in its entirety.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The invention pertains generally to the construction of fill
packs which are used, for example, in heat exchange towers. Such
fill packs are made from pluralities of thin sheets which are
stacked into fill packs and are used in some instances in a cooling
tower to cool process water.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0003] Heat exchange towers are in wide use in industry. These heat
exchange towers include, for example, a variety of well known
cooling towers, which in some instances may be used to cool process
water from an industrial operation. Such cooling towers often
involve the spraying of a relatively warm water over a fill pack.
The fill pack often includes parallel adjacent corrugated sheets so
that the water will tend to have a significant surface area contact
with the ambient air, and thus be cooled by the ambient air. Fill
packs also may be utilized simply to have air passing through them
for heat exchange between one air path and another air path.
[0004] In some instances, the fill packs are made up of a plurality
of corrugated sheets, with the sheets running generally in parallel
to each other and being laid in parallel with each other. The
corrugated sheets generally have their corrugations either offset
from each other or at an angle to each other so that air spaces are
formed in between the sheets. The sheets may also have, in addition
to, or instead of corrugations, other registration features or
aligned dimples or other indentations which can be aligned with
each other in order to provide registration and/or a desired
spacing between the sheets.
[0005] A simple stack of corrugated sheets lying on top of each
other or adjacent each other can have the disadvantage that such an
assembled pack is not very rigid, and thus can be susceptible to
damage. Further, if the sheets are merely adjacent each other there
may be a tendency for some spacing to occur between the sheets. In
addition, sheets which are not somehow mechanically attached to
each other can suffer the disadvantage of a sheet falling out,
especially since in many instances the sheets are oriented
vertically in their final installation.
[0006] Further, a large cooling tower installation may require a
very large volume of fill pack material. It has been known to
create medium size modules each having a large number of sheets,
and to be able to transport and handle these modules individually
at the fabrication site of a tower. It is desirable in some
environments that these modules have all the sheets well attached
together in order to facilitate such handling and installation.
[0007] Many methods have been known for creating a fill pack
module. In this application, the concepts of a multi-sheet fill
pack, and a multi-sheet fill pack module, will be used
interchangeably after fill packs are assembled with the sheets
horizontally stacked, but one then installed with the sheets
vertically oriented. One method has involved the supply of a first
single sheet and a second single sheet, with first and second
sheets being bonded together using heat bonding or using an
adhesive or solvent material. Then, a third single sheet is laid
onto the first two sheets, again with an adhesive or bonded
material in between. A fourth single sheet is laid on to the three
sheets using an adhesive or bonded material, and so on. This method
has proved effective, but can be labor and time intensive. Another
method for creating a fill pack has been to assemble all the
sheets, without any bonding, and to hold them together using a
fixture, and then to apply some form of solvent, either before
stacking the sheets, or by running or deluging the solvent through
the spaces in between the sheets. Then, the entire fill pack is
cured or allowed to bond and the pack can be removed. This method
is also successful, but has the disadvantage of requiring a
relatively elaborate fixture and also the need to use solvents,
which may present environmental or safety issues such as VOC
emissions or combustion hazards. Large quantities of solvent used
to deluge the pack contact points exacerbate environment and safety
issues. The deluge method may have the further disadvantage of not
reliably bond contact points throughout large packs.
[0008] It would be desirable to have a structure and method for
fill pack construction, which could be cost effective, easy,
convenient, and/or reduce the use of chemicals compared to some
prior art methods.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0009] The present invention discloses a fill pack assembly and
method for assembling a fill pack from individual sheets utilize
integrally bonded sheet pairs. Each sheet pair is a pair of two
individual adjacent fill sheets which have been bonded together via
any suitable bonding method. A plurality of the thus formed sheet
pairs can then be attached together to form an entire fill pack or
portion of a fill pack. Such fill packs are useful in heat exchange
devices such as industrial cooling towers.
[0010] The fill pack assembly integrally bonds two individual
adjacent fill sheets to each other to form a bonded sheet pair or
more than one bonded sheet pair, and attaches two or more bonded
sheet pairs to each other. This method also provides two individual
sheets having three-dimensional features, which align the two
sheets so that they are in contact with each other at contact
locations, whereby the radio frequency (RF) welds the sheets
together from opposite sides of the bonded sheet pair, to form a
bonded sheet pair.
[0011] The invention further disclose a fill pack for use in an
environmental heat exchange assembly with a plurality of bonded
sheet pairs each comprising two sheets bonded to each other and
means for attaching a plurality of the bonded sheet pairs to each
other to form a fill pack.
[0012] There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, certain
embodiments of the invention in order that the detailed description
thereof herein may be better understood, and in order that the
present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There
are, of course, additional embodiments of the invention that will
be described below and which will form the subject matter of the
claims appended hereto.
[0013] In this respect, before explaining at least one embodiment
of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the
invention is not limited in its application to the details of
construction and to the arrangements of the components set forth in
the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The
invention is capable of embodiments in addition to those described
and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is
to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed
herein, as well as the abstract, are for the purpose of description
and should not be regarded as limiting.
[0014] As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the
conception upon which this disclosure is based may readily be
utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures, methods
and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present
invention. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded
as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not
depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0015] FIG. 1 is a perspective cutaway view of a fill pack
utilizing four bonded sheet pairs.
[0016] FIG. 2 is a detailed view of the detail area A in FIG.
1.
[0017] FIG. 3 is a top view of a single bonded sheet pair.
[0018] FIG. 4 is a side view of a single bonded sheet pair.
[0019] FIG. 5 is a perspective cutaway view of a fill pack having
two bonded sheet pairs.
[0020] FIG. 6 is a top view of an embodiment of the invention
utilizing transverse mounting tubes.
[0021] FIG. 7 is an end view of the embodiment of FIG. 6.
[0022] FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the embodiment of FIG.
6.
[0023] FIG. 9 is a top view of a mounting pin that can be used to
hold sheet pairs together.
[0024] FIG. 10 is a side view of the mounting pin of FIG. 9.
[0025] FIG. 11 is a perspective view of a confining frame for
holding sheet packs together to form a fill pack.
[0026] FIG. 12 is a flow chart of an exemplary method for
assembling a fill pack from sheets using bonded sheet pairs/
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0027] Some embodiments of the present invention provide
apparatuses and methods for fill pack assembly using bonded fill
sheet pairs. The fill pack assembly and method for assembling a
fill pack from individual sheets utilize integrally bonded sheet
pairs. Each sheet pair is a pair of two individual adjacent fill
sheets which have been bonded together via any suitable bonding
method. A plurality of the thus formed sheet pairs can then be
attached together to form an entire fill pack or portion of a fill
pack. Such fill packs are useful in heat exchange devices such as
industrial cooling towers. Some embodiments of the present
invention will now be described below with reference to the drawing
figures, in which like reference numerals refer to like parts
throughout.
[0028] In some embodiments, a fill pack is constructed using the
following method. First, two opposed sheets are attached to each
other to form an essentially unitary bonded sheet pair. In this
application, the term bonded is used broadly to cover any
attachment of the two sheets into a corrugated, essentially unitary
pair, and thus includes but is not limited to thermal, adhesive,
and chemical attachment, as well as interlocking attachment of a
pair of single sheets, to each other. Attachment methods for
attaching two sheets to each other to form a sheet pair may include
a variety of methods including RF welding, heat bonding, twin-sheet
vacuum forming, adhesives layered on the sheets or applied at the
touching connecting points of the two sheets, or other chemical or
thermal bonding methods between two sheets. Multiple integrally
bonded sheet pairs can then be assembled together to form a fill
pack. The multiple bonded sheet pairs can be held adjacent to each
other by themselves being bonded, glued, or welded to each other,
or can be held together mechanically via attachment tubes, pins, or
a confining frame. In some instances, sets of three or even more
sheets can be first attached to each other to form a sheet group,
and then multiple ones of these multiple sheet groups can be
attached to each other, thereby creating a modular assembly
process.
[0029] An advantage of the arrangement described herein is that the
sheet pairs themselves are quite rigid compared to an individual
sheet. This provides a great deal of rigidity to the overall
resulting fill pack structure, and also provides for ease of
handling during the assembly of the pairs to each other, because
the pairs themselves are much stiffer than individual sheets would
be. This effect is increased if the group is more than a pair,
e.g., a three sheet group.
[0030] Turning to FIGS. 1-5, an example of fill pack construction
using integrally bonded pairs is shown. FIG. 1 shows an exploded
view of a fill pack 10 with four sheet pairs 12. Each sheet pair 12
is made up of an upper sheet 14 and a lower sheet 16. In the
example illustrated, the sheets 14 and 16 are identical to each
other, but have been reversed in orientation relative to each
other, so that they are cross-corrugated. That is, the diagonal
corrugations on sheet 14 are arranged to be at an opposite angle to
the diagonal corrugations of sheet 16.
[0031] Turning to FIG. 2, it will be seen that upper sheet 14 has
peaks 20 and valleys 22. Similarly, the lower sheet 16 has peaks 24
and valleys 26. When the two sheets 14 and 16 are laid on top of
each other, the peaks and valleys meet at touching points 30. In
the example illustrated in FIG. 2, the peaks and valleys have a
flat horizontal profile. That is, the peaks and valleys are not
pointed at an angle, nor are they rounded. Rather, they have been
formed so that they have flat faces and these flat faces rest on
each other flushly at their diagonal crossing points 30. This
creates a parallelogram-shaped contact touching region 30. At this
touching regions 30, two sheets can be bonded or attached to each
other to form a sheet pair. One method of bonding or attaching
these diagonal peaks and valleys to each other is accomplished via
the use of a radio frequency (RF) welding machine. Such an RF
welding machine can have metallic bars roughly the width of a peak
and valley that will rest in the opposed peaks and valleys while
electricity is supplied therethrough. As electricity is supplied to
the bars, a thermal bond is formed at the touching regions 30. RF
welding of a sheet pair in this method will typically be
accomplished then by having an assembly of metal rods or bars that
close on to the sheet pair from both sides of the sheet pair.
Depending on the configuration of corrugations and other features
in the sheets, it may be possible to weld three or more sheets
together in this fashion to form a sheet group.
[0032] Although a diagonal cross-corrugated sheet pair is
illustrated, it will be appreciated that the sheets may have any
features disposed thereon and thus are applicable to cross-flow
fills, counter-flow fills, cross-corrugated fills, non
cross-corrugated fills, and other media. In addition, although the
illustrated embodiment shows most or all of the contact points
between the fill being bonded or welded together, other
registration features such as nesting may be used at various
contact points between the sheet pairs. In addition to the contact
points 30, there may be additional locations of joining of two
sheets in a sheet pair with each other, as illustrated in FIGS.
3-5.
[0033] FIG. 3 illustrates a sheet pair 12 having a longitudinal
mounting section 32. The longitudinal mounting section 32 includes
a relatively flat strip having attachment dimples 34. In this
example longitudinal mounting section 32 is created by redirecting
the cross-corrugations to be collinear which creates a honeycomb
pattern. When the sheets are arranged in a cross-corrugated
fashion, the alternating ones of opposing dimples 34 on each sheet
align with each other and touch with each other, providing an
additional touching point 30. The interspersed alternating dimples
35 project outwardly away from the sheet pair, and thus can provide
attachment locations for the mounting of one sheet pair to an
adjacent sheet pair. In addition, an outer boundary border strip 36
is provided which has alternating dimples 38 and 39. The dimples 38
touch each other in a sheet pair, and can be bonded when forming a
sheet pair, and the interspaced alternating dimples 39 face
outwardly away on both sides of the sheet pair to provide for
bonding between adjacent sheet pairs, if desired.
[0034] Looking at the embodiment of FIG. 3, it will be appreciated
that further integral bonding between the two sheets of a pair can
be accomplished in various manners. That is, in addition to bonding
at the attachments points 30 along the diagonal peaks and valleys,
the dimples 34 can be bonded to each other, either via an RF
welding device, or by another spot weld technique or the
application of a solvent or adhesive. In this way, sheets 14 and 16
can be attached together to form a sheet pair 12, as in FIG. 4.
[0035] FIG. 5 is a cutaway view showing two sheet pairs 12 being
attached to each other. The bond locations 30 and 34 of a first
sheet pair set are shown. It will be appreciated that if two sheet
pairs are stacked on each other, it is possible to easily bond the
outwardly protruding dimples 39 (not shown in FIG. 5) to each other
using a closed finger clamp type of RF welding arrangement, which
needs only a reach in a small degree in between the sheets, roughly
the size of the dimples 39 shown in FIG. 3. Performing this
operation causes two sheet pairs 12 to be mounted to each other, as
shown in FIG. 5. Each sheet pair 12 is significantly more rigid
than an individual sheet would be. In addition, although the sheet
pairs 12 in this example would be bonded to each other only around
their perimeter, either four sides or two sides of the opposed
dimple location 39, the resulting double sheet pair arrangement
results in a four sheet pack which is desirably stiff. Depending on
the overall corrugation configuration, it is also possible to
develop a tool that reaches in further inside each sheet pair 12
and welds the adjacent sheets of any two adjacent sheet pairs
together at other spots inside the plan view of the fill.
[0036] The method described above with respect to FIG. 5 can be
repeated, so that sheet pack pairs 12 are built up onto each other
and a sheet pack having any number of pairs, (and hence double that
number of individual sheets) can be constructed easily. In this
way, bonding of all the sheets to adjacent sheets, at least to some
degree, is accomplished and a rigid fill pack is created.
[0037] FIGS. 6-8 show an alternative embodiment of creating a fill
pack. In this embodiment, sheet pairs are constructed as described
above, but rather than bonding the sheet pairs together, the sheet
pairs are mechanically attached to each other. Each individual
sheet has a mounting aperture 40, through which passes a mounting
tube 42. Caps 46 are provided to retain a fill pack together. FIG.
7 depicts a pair 12A in exploded view relative to a multi-pair set
12B. In the final installation fill pack configuration, more pairs
would be added to fill the entire length of the mounting tube
42.
[0038] FIGS. 9 and 10 depict another arrangement for attaching
bonded sheet pairs to each other. In this example, a mounting pin
50 which has a head 52 and a tapered tip 54. Serrations 56 and 58
can be provided so that the mounting pin 50 will puncture through a
number of sheet pairs and hold them together adjacent each other.
The serrations may extend along the entire length between 56 and
58.
[0039] FIG. 11 shows another alternative embodiment of mounting
plural bonded sheet pairs to each other to form a fill pack. In
this example, a confining frame 60 is provided having end walls 62
and an overall frame assembly 64 which essentially forms a box with
an upper and lower framework to hold the fill pairs together.
[0040] In the above description, in keeping with various
embodiments, of the invention, the individual sheets can be formed
using any suitable method. For example, a hot melt press or a
vacuum forming may be utilized for each sheet, to produce each
sheet individually. However, since sheet pairs can be extensively
utilized in some embodiments, twin sheet vacuum forming may also be
utilized to form two sheets at the same time, and even to create a
two-sheet bonded pair in essentially one step in the twin sheet
vacuum former.
[0041] FIG. 12 depicts one example of a method according to the
present invention. In step 110, two sheets having some form of
opposed or lined features are arranged as a pair. At step 112, the
two sheets are bonded into an essentially integral bonded pair. At
step 114 the process of forming bonded sheet pairs is repeated
until at least two or more sheet pairs are present. At step 116,
the two sheet pairs are attached to each other. Two or more sheet
pairs are aligned with each other and either mechanically held,
fastened to each other, or thermally molded, or chemically or
otherwise attached to each other. Although this is referred to as
attaching sheet pairs to each other, it will be appreciated that
the sheet pairs may simply be mechanically held together or
restrained in a suitable arrangement together.
[0042] At step 118, the process of attaching sheet pairs to each
other is continued, using the necessary number of sheet pairs until
the fill pack is deemed complete. At this point, at step 120, the
fill pack can be transported, handled, installed, and/or mounted to
other fill packs, and eventually used in final installation. As
noted above, although this application illustrates as an embodiment
the concept of sheet pairs which are then each individually placed
together to form adjoining pairs to form a fill pack, individual
sheets may actually be bonded together into layer groups such as
sheet triplets, or even higher numbers, and these triplets where
other multi-sheet assemblies can be assembled together as described
above.
[0043] The many features and advantages of the invention are
apparent from the detailed specification, and thus, it is intended
by the appended claims to cover all such features and advantages of
the invention which fall within the true spirit and scope of the
invention. Further, since numerous modifications and variations
will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired
to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation
illustrated and described, and accordingly, all suitable
modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within
the scope of the invention.
* * * * *