Plate heat exchanger system

Abstract

The present invention relates to a plate heat exchanger system with a plate heat exchanger (10) comprising an inlet (11) and an outlet (12) of a primary circuit (13), an inlet (14) and an outlet (15) of a secondary circuit (16), at least one plate (17) separating the two circuits in a housing of the plate heat exchanger from each other, and preferably a pipe which connects the primary circuit to a heating device. For improving heat transfer between the primary circuit (13) and the secondary circuit (16), the plate heat exchanger (10) is according to the invention in the direction of gravity (G) arranged such that the plane (E), in which the plate (17) is located, is inclined relative to the gravity vector (G) and the horizontal (H).

Claims

1. A plate heat exchanger system with a plate heat exchanger (10) comprising an inlet (11) and an outlet (12) of a primary circuit (13), an inlet (14) and an outlet (15) of a secondary circuit (16), and at least one plate (17) separating said two circuits in a housing of said plate heat exchanger from each other, wherein said plate heat exchanger (10) in the direction of gravity (G) is arranged such that a plane (E), in which said plate (17) is located, is inclined relative to the gravity vector (G) and a horizontal (H), wherein the housing of the plate heat exchanger (10) comprises a vent valve (23) for said primary circuit (13) and a vent valve (24) for said secondary circuit (16), and wherein said vent valves (23, 24) are provided on an upper surface (22) of the housing.

2. The plate heat exchanger system (10) according to claim 1, characterized in that said secondary circuit (16) comprises a line that leads to a dispensing point for drinking or service water, respectively.

3. The plate heat exchanger system (10) according to claim 2, characterized in that the fluid of said primary heating circuit flows against gravity and the fluid of said secondary circuit (16) in the opposite direction.

4. The plate heat exchanger system (10) according to claim 1, wherein all ports for said primary circuit (13) and said secondary circuit (16) are provided underside (21) of said housing (18).

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) Further advantages and features of the present invention can be gathered from the following description of an embodiment in combination with the drawing, in which:

(2) FIG. 1 shows a perspective side view of an embodiment of a plate heat exchanger and

(3) FIG. 2 shows a schematic system illustration of an embodiment of a plate heat exchanger system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(4) FIG. 1 illustrates a perspective side view of an embodiment of a plate heat exchanger 10 with an inlet 11 and an outlet 12 of a primary circuit 13, an inlet 14 and an outlet 15 of a secondary circuit 16, and a plate 17 indicated above a dot-dashed line which separates the two circuits 13, 16 from each other.

(5) Plate 17 separates the interior of a housing—marked with reference numeral 18—of plate heat exchanger 10 into two compartments 19, 20. Compartment 19 is the flow region for the fluid flowing in the primary circuit. In compartment 20, the fluid of secondary circuit 16 flows through housing 18. As is evident, inlet 11 of the primary circuit and outlet 15 of the secondary circuit are located at the bottom edge of housing 18 near an edge which is defined by a front end of housing 18. Outlet 12 of the primary circuit and inlet 14 of the secondary circuit are located at the opposite end of an underside of housing 18. This underside is defined by a side wall 21 of housing 18. Compartment 19 for primary circuit 13 is at the upper side defined by an upper side wall 22 of the housing. This upper side wall 22 of the housing is at its upper end near the front side provided by two vent valves 23, 24 [sic]. It is understood that a plurality of compartments of the kind described above can be arranged in the plate heat exchanger above each other and alternately. Only one compartment was illustrated, namely enlarged, to express the essence of the invention more clearly. The respective compartments are at the end side in communication with inlets 11, 14 and outlets 12, 15, respectively.

(6) The horizontal is in FIG. 1 indicated by line H. The inclination of the housing, i.e. walls 21, 22 provided in parallel relative to this horizontal H, is marked by angle α. Presently, α=35°. Also plate 17 is inclined relative to horizontal H at a respective angle. Perpendicular thereto, G shows the gravitational field of the earth. Plate 17 separating the compartments has a surface normal N which runs at the same angle α relative to vector G of the gravitational field of the earth.

(7) FIG. 2 shows the installation situation of the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1 with the connection lines which are connected to respective lines for warm water (TWW), for cold water which is provided by the domestic connection (TWK HA), for heating water (Hzg.), where VL depicts the flow and RL the return. The heating pipes with the further index Whg. are connected to the house and are the flow and return for the house unit. The corresponding line sections are numbered with reference numerals 1 to 7. Line section 8 connects inlet 14 of the secondary circuit for drinking water of plate heat exchanger 10 with a branch to which lines 2 and 3 are connected. The outlet of secondary circuit 15 is connected to line 1. The inlet of primary circuit 11 is via a T-piece connected to line 4 for the heating flow. Outlet 12 of the primary circuit is via conduit 9 and a three-way valve in communication with line 5 for the heating return, which can also via the three-way valve be connected to heating return line 7 coming from the house. Lines 5 and 4 carry the heating water via a heating boiler, not shown, in which the heating water is heated.

(8) The conceivable installation situation of the plate heat exchanger in the plate heat exchanger system shown in FIG. 2 is thereby exemplified.

(9) The flow arrows drawn in in FIG. 1 indicate the circulation due to free convection after switching off any flow due to forced convection, which results in rapid temperature equalization within the heat exchanger, namely, due to the inclined orientation of the walls defining individual compartments 19, 20. The quite cold fluid of primary circuit 13 located relatively far at the top has a higher density than the slightly warmer fluid of the same circuit 13 located therebeneath. The same applies for the relatively cold fluid of the secondary circuit 16 located in the region of inlet 14 in relation to the fluid of the same circuit located close to outlet 15. The colder fluid has a stronger tendency to descend due to the higher density. When descending, it presses the relatively warm fluid of the same compartment 19 or 20 upwardly. This results in a micro-circulation due to the different densities which only reaches a standstill when the temperature within the compartments is substantially equalized. Faster temperature equalization and therefore less calcification arise with the solution according to the invention.

(10) In FIG. 2 at the height of plate 17, its length L and its width B are marked in the form of direction vectors. Direction vector L there denotes the direction of the greatest extension, i.e. the length extension of plate 17, and vector B denotes the direction of the extension of the plate in the second greatest direction, i.e. the width direction. Vectors L and B presently span a plane E to which the surface normal N is oriented orthogonally. The presently flat plate 17 is there located entirely within this plane E and itself defines this plane E.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMERALS

(11) 10 plate heat exchanger 11 inlet of the primary circuit 12 outlet of the primary circuit 13 primary circuit 14 inlet of the secondary circuit 15 outlet of the secondary circuit 16 secondary circuit 17 plate 18 housing 19 compartment for primary circuit 13 20 compartment for secondary circuit 16 21 lower side wall 22 upper side wall 23 vent valve 24 vent valve G direction of gravity H horizontal N surface normal α angle of inclination L direction of greatest extension B direction of second greatest extension E plane