A heat exchanger has at least one inlet and outlet to permit circulation of refrigerant therethrough. Each heat exchanger includes a plurality of thin sections of material arranged between a pair of thin flat outer plates. Each of the thin sections of material is comprised of parallel flow paths, allowing for the refrigerant to flow through the inlet, then from one section to the next, and finally out the outlet. The arrangement of the sections of parallel flow paths allows for the refrigerant to come into contact with the majority of the inside wall of the outer plates, allowing for maximum heat exchange. In use for cooling liquids, the heat exchangers are arranged within a frame and brought into contact with the liquid to be cooled. When the heat exchangers are used to cool liquid sufficiently to produce ice crystals, a rotating scraping device sweeps across the surface of the heat exchanger, removing any ice crystals that have formed.

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.

A rotating heat pipe is used for temperature control of electric motors and generators and other rotating heat generating assemblies to ensure their proper operation. The heat pipe is integral with the shaft, and unlike conventional devices, incorporates a solid-liquid phase change material as the heat transfer/transport material. In addition, it comprises a scraped surface heat exchange mechanism at the heat dissipation region to allow for high cooling rates as required. This scraped surface mechanism is preferentially driven by a magnetic coupling to eliminate issues related to leaks of the heat transfer material.

A scraped surface heat exchanger comprising a heat exchange surface, a rotatable shaft, said shaft having at least one mounting means, and a sweeping element wherein said sweeping element comprises, a blade having at least one aperture for engaging with the mounting means such that the sweeping element is connected to the mounting means and characterised in that when the rotatable shaft is rotating relative to the heat exchange surface the sweeping element has substantially no movement relative to the rotating shaft and said sweeping element has substantially no contact with the inner surface of the heat exchanger.

A scraped heat exchanger apparatus, including a vessel and a plurality of internally cooled plates disposed parallel to each other within the vessel. A rotating shaft is disposed at a central axis of the vessel. A rotating scraper arm, connected to the rotating shaft, moves between adjacent plates. The rotating scraper arm includes a scraper positioned to scrape solids from the outer surfaces of adjacent plates. A cooling fluid flows through an interior of each plate. The cooling fluid cools a gaseous process fluid flowing between adjacent plates. An opening in each of the plates permits the process fluid, and solids removed from the process fluid and scraped by the rotating scraper arm, to pass through the plates.

The present invention relates to a batch reactor system designed to conduct heat-induced food-processing transformations. Particularly, the invention describes a Recirculation Flow-Loop Batch (RFLB) Reactor for conducting high-temperature transformations, preferably at short conversion times, which involve non-Newtonian high-viscosity formulations, where the reactants are preferably natural food ingredients. The invention further relates to a method for reducing burn-on effects of ingredients of the formulation when heated and cooled in a RFLB reactor.

This invention relates to temperature control of rotating shafts or assemblies to ensure proper operation and high reliability. Though it is particularly well suited for cooling high power, compact motors used in automotive applications, it can also be used to dissipate heat efficiently from other rotating assemblies to ensure that their temperatures remain within acceptable limits. The invention achieves this by utilizing a rotating heat pipe that incorporates a solid-liquid phase change material as the heat transfer/transport material. In addition, it comprises a scraped surface heat exchange mechanism at the heat dissipation region to allow for high cooling rates as required.

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 scraped heat exchanger apparatus, including a vessel and a plurality of internally cooled plates disposed parallel to each other within the vessel. A rotating shaft is disposed at a central axis of the vessel. A rotating scraper arm, connected to the rotating shaft, moves between adjacent plates. The rotating scraper arm includes a scraper positioned to scrape solids from the outer surfaces of adjacent plates. A cooling fluid flows through an interior of each plate. The cooling fluid cools a gaseous process fluid flowing between adjacent plates. An opening in each of the plates permits the process fluid, and solids removed from the process fluid and scraped by the rotating scraper arm, to pass through the plates.

A heat pump system is disclosed comprising a heat-exchanger extracting latent heat from liquid stored in a reservoir, thereby forming an ice slurry. The heat pump also includes a device for delivering the heat to a heat consumer. The heat pump system includes a random input of extrinsic liquid into the reservoir and a device for removing ice slurry stored in the reservoir outward the system.