A system for cleaning heat exchange tubes includes one or more cleaning robots that are assembled with the tubes. Each cleaning robot includes a housing having an opening extending therethrough for receiving one of the heat exchange tubes, a scraper blade extending into the opening of the housing, the scraper blade having an inner scraping edge that opposes the outer surface of one of the tubes, a wheel coupled with the housing for rolling over the outer surface of the tube, and a motor for driving rotation of the wheel to move the cleaning robot over the outer surface of the tube. The system includes a system controller with one or more microprocessors and one or more software programs for monitoring and controlling operation of the cleaning robots.

The invention relates to improvements of a heat exchanger, particularly a scraping heat exchanger having an outer cylinder comprising a first wall having a smooth circle-cylindrical inner side, and an inner cylinder positioned concentrically within it. The improvements regard a simple detachable inner cylinder, a heat exchanger with lid including a fluid barrier, a heat exchanger with a tangential output, and a method and heat exchanger adapted for improved evacuation of a product chamber of a heat exchanger.

An automated semi-frozen beverage machine, method of use, and method of manufacturing an evaporator cylinder. The machine includes a bowl system including one or more bowls, each having a mixing chamber, a dispensing assembly, and a lid assembly. The beverage machine includes a refrigeration system having a compressor and a condenser, which are mounted in a base cabinet, and an evaporator cylinder mounted within the bowl mixing chamber. The evaporator cylinder is made up of a steel cylinder with copper tubing coiled within. The copper coil within the evaporator cylinder includes flattened outer edges such that the outer edges of the copper tubing make contact with substantially the entire inner surface area of the steel cylinder, increasing heat transfer efficiency. A mixing system includes an auger rotatably mounted in the bowl mixing chamber around the evaporator cylinder for mixing beverages in the bowl.

A latent heat storage device includes: a heat transfer cylindrical body allowing a flow of a heat medium inside thereof and being rotatable about a longitudinal axis as a center of rotation; a fixed blade being adjacent to or in a slidable contact with an outer peripheral surface of the heat transfer cylindrical body; and a latent heat storage material disposed around the heat transfer cylindrical body, wherein by rotation of the heat transfer cylindrical body, the fixed blade scrapes a solidified body of the latent heat storage material adhering to the outer peripheral surface of the heat transfer cylindrical body off the outer peripheral surface of the heat transfer cylindrical body, and creates circulation of the latent heat storage material.

A device for grinding and reducing food waste to be disposed of in sewage systems. The device eliminates disagreeable odours by flooding the grinding chamber with water using a swivel plug that retains a gap of fresh water from the last use of the tap. The fresh water serves as a barrier to odors by creating a partition, isolating the dirty water in the grinding chamber. The matter to be grinded is segmented and torn up several times by a grinding apparatus made of cutting blades while it swirls in the water until it is reduced to particles small enough to pass through openings in a spherical grid. The device can be adapted to different uses: residential, commercial or industrial.

A system for the hydrothermal carbonization of a flowable biomass comprises a pump, a heat exchanger and a tubular reactor. The pump is connected to the heat exchanger via a delivery conduit for the flowable biomass, and the heat exchanger is connected to the tubular reactor via a connecting conduit. The heat exchanger contains an insert element and the tubular reactor contains no insert element.

A process for extracting a condensable vapor from a supplied gas, comprising the steps of: i) condensing the condensable vapor by cooling the supplied gas at a condensing surface, such that the supplied gas is divided into at least one condensed fraction and a product gas; while ii) removing the at least one condensed fraction from the condensing surface by mechanical scraping means.

The heat exchanger is adapted for cooling a coolant (e.g., water), used to cool a device or an area (e.g., building interior), such as during periods of peak energy cost and usage, to save energy and energy costs. The heat exchanger includes a coolant storage tank with one or more refrigerant circulators in contact with the floor of the tank. The circulators use a refrigerant having a freezing temperature colder than the coolant, with coolant on the floor of the tank forming a layer of ice thereon. A rotary scraper extends up through the tank floor from each circulator, with the scrapers operating to remove the thin layer of ice from the floor as the ice forms. The resulting ice chips are relatively small and thin, thus having a relatively large surface area for their volume in order to maximize melting and rapid cooling of the coolant.

A method for preventing fouling of an operating heat exchanger is disclosed. A carrier liquid is provided to the heat exchanger. The carrier liquid contains a potential fouling agent. The potential fouling agent is entrained in the carrier liquid, dissolved in the carrier liquid, or a combination thereof. The potential fouling agent fouls the heat exchanger by condensation, crystallization, solidification, desublimation, reaction, deposition, or combinations thereof. A gas-injection device is provided on the inlet of the heat exchanger. A non-reactive gas is injected into the carrier liquid through the gas-injection device. The non-reactive gas will not foul the heat exchanger surface and will not condense into the carrier liquid. The non-reactive gas creates a disturbance by increasing flow velocity and creating a shear discontinuity, thereby breaking up crystallization and nucleation sites on the surface of the heat exchanger. In this manner, fouling of the operating heat exchanger is prevented.

An apparatus for the treatment and transformation of municipal wastewater sludge or any other organic putrescible matter into biogas and liquid fertilizer by methanation. Several consecutive floating cylindrical bioreactors almost totally immersed in water, are bathing longitudinally in a thermally insulated basin to maintain set temperatures, mixing their contents by revolving on themselves by the action of air ejected from a conduit underneath them, engaging all elements in a collective momentum, from a multiplied force, because of the constant free power of each air bubble lodged in exterior buckets and grouped as a lifting force. The gas produced by methanation of the organic waste furnishes a source of heat and its pressure is used for the functioning of the whole apparatus, including several types of pumps, valves, and a new model of steam engine. A network of hoses is provided to bring the fertilizer to the farmlands.