MULTI-PROCESS DETACHABLE HEAT EXCHANGER AND DEDICATED HEAT EXCHANGE PLATE THEREOF

Abstract

The disclosure relates to a multi-pass removable plate heat exchanger without a need of arranging interfaces or connections on a mobile pressure plate, and a specific heat transfer plate therefor. The heat transfer plate has a plurality of lateral regions, where a plurality of mutually communicative lateral-pass partitions or mutually isolated pass partitions are formed with specially shaped gaskets. With such kind of heat transfer plates, a multi-pass removable plate heat exchanger without a need of arranging interfaces or nozzles on the mobile pressure plate may be constructed. The disclosure further relates to a specially shaped gasket to allow construction of a multi-pass removable plate heat exchanger without a need of arranging interfaces or nozzles on the mobile pressure plate. The multi-pass removable plate heat exchanger comprises a fixed pressure plate, a mobile pressure plate, and a plate pack where a plurality of the heat transfer plates configured with corresponding gaskets are assembled to form alternating cold and hot fluid flow channels.

Claims

1-20. (canceled)

21. A multi-pass removable plate heat exchanger, comprising: a fixed pressure plate; a mobile pressure plate; and a plate pack sandwiched between the fixed pressure plate and the mobile pressure plate via clamp bolts, wherein the plate pack comprises a plurality of lateral-pass plates configured with specially shaped sealing gaskets to form two or more successively communicating lateral partitions on each lateral-pass plate, and wherein the lateral-pass plates are assembled to form the plate pack with mutually alternating cold and heat fluid flow channels, the number of passes on the multi-pass removable plate heat exchanger being equal to the number of lateral partitions on each lateral-pass plate.

22. The multi-pass removable plate heat exchanger according to claim 21, wherein connections are only arranged on the fixed pressure plate, without a need of arranging connections on the mobile pressure plate.

23. The multi-pass removable plate heat exchanger according to claim 22, wherein the lateral-pass plate has typically two, three or four lateral partitions.

24. The multi-pass removable plate heat exchanger according to claim 23, wherein a structure of the sealing gasket is configured such that fluid in the lateral partitions of two adjacent heat transfer plates has opposite flow directions, therefore achieving counter-current flow configuration.

25. The multi-pass removable plate heat exchanger according to claim 24, wherein: on each lateral-pass plate, the middle portion of sealing gasket has one or more openings configured as flow baffles for changing the flow directions of the fluid in two adjacent lateral partitions, the number of the openings and the number of the lateral partitions satisfying the following relationship: S2=S11, where S1 denotes the number of the lateral partitions and S2 denotes the number of the openings.

26. The multi-pass removable plate heat exchanger according to claim 25, wherein: when the number of lateral partitions is even, inlet corner ports arranged on the lateral-pass plate for the fluid to pass through are disposed at a same end of the plate as outlet corner ports thereof; and when the number of the lateral partitions is an odd number other than 1, the inlet corner ports for the fluid and the outlet corner ports are disposed at opposite ends of the lateral-pass plate.

27. A multi-pass removable plate heat exchanger, comprising: a fixed pressure plate, a mobile pressure plate, and a plate pack sandwiched between the fixed pressure plate and the mobile pressure plate via clamp bolts, wherein the plate pack comprises one group of lateral-pass plates configured with specially shaped first sealing gaskets to form on each plate two successively communicating lateral partitions, and (N1) groups of lateral-partition plates configured with specially shaped second sealing gaskets to form on each plate two mutually isolated lateral partitions, the lateral-pass plates and the lateral-partition plates being assembled to form the plate pack with mutually alternating cold and heat fluid flow channels, the total number of passes of the multi-pass removable plate heat exchanger being 2N, where N is a natural number greater than or equal to 2.

28. The multi-pass removable plate heat exchanger according to claim 27, wherein connections are only arranged on the fixed pressure plate, without a need of arranging connections on the mobile pressure plate.

29. The multi-pass removable plate heat exchanger according to claim 27, wherein the lateral-pass plates are applied to the two passes immediately adjacent to the mobile pressure plate, and the lateral-partition plates are applied to all other passes.

30. The multi-pass removable plate heat exchanger according to claim 29, wherein a structure of the first sealing gasket is configured such that fluid in the lateral partitions of two adjacent heat transfer plates has counter-current flow when flowing; a structure of the second sealing gasket is configured such that fluid in the two isolated lateral partitions of two adjacent heat transfer plates has counter-current flow when flowing.

31. The multi-pass removable plate heat exchanger according to claim 30, wherein the first sealing gasket has one opening in interior area configured for changing the flow directions of the fluid in the two adjacent lateral partitions.

32. The multi-pass removable plate heat exchanger according to claim 31, wherein the lateral-pass plate is 2-pass plate, and specifically on the 2-pass lateral-pass plate, an inlet corner port for the fluid is disposed at a same end of the plate as an outlet corner port for the fluid.

33. A heat transfer plate dedicated for the multi-pass removable plate heat exchanger according to claim 21, wherein the heat transfer plate is a lateral-pass plate, flat groove patterns being provided at the periphery and in the interior of the lateral-pass plate for configuring sealing gaskets to thereby form two or more successively communicative lateral partitions.

34. A heat transfer plate dedicated for the multi-pass removable plate heat exchanger according to claim 27, wherein the heat transfer plate is a lateral-pass plate or a lateral-partition plate, first flat groove patterns being provided at the periphery and in the interior of the lateral-pass plate for configuring sealing gaskets to thereby form two successively communicative lateral partitions; and wherein second flat groove patterns being provided at the periphery and in the interior of the lateral-partition plate for configuring second sealing gaskets to thereby form two mutually isolated lateral partitions.

35. The heat transfer plate dedicated for the multi-pass removable plate heat exchanger according to claim 33, wherein the heat transfer plate may obtain different thermal-hydraulic performance through variations in plate geometrical profiles, and wherein the heat transfer plates with different geometrical profiles may further be arranged within a same plate pack in a hybrid fashion.

36. The heat transfer plate dedicated for the multi-pass removable plate heat exchanger according to claim 34, wherein the heat transfer plate may obtain different thermal-hydraulic performance through variations in plate geometrical profiles, and wherein the heat transfer plates with different geometrical profiles may further be arranged within a same plate pack in a hybrid fashion.

37. The heat transfer plates specific for the multi-pass removable plate heat exchanger according to claim 35, wherein variations in geometrical profiles may include, but are not limited to, varying chevron corrugation angles, circular or irregular dimples, studs, or other structures for enhancing heat transfer efficiency.

38. The heat transfer plate specific for the multi-pass removable plate heat exchanger according to claim 33, wherein sealing and/or partitioning functionalities of the sealing gaskets may be partially or completely replaced by other sealing structures or mechanisms.

39. The heat transfer plate specific for the multi-pass removable plate heat exchanger according to claim 34, wherein sealing and/or partitioning functionalities of the sealing gaskets may be partially or completely replaced by other sealing structures or mechanisms.

40. The heat transfer plate specific for the multi-pass removable plate heat exchanger according to claim 38, wherein the other sealing structures and mechanisms may include, but are not limited to, brazing, welding, diffusion bounding or mechanical contact sealing.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0035] Hereinafter, the present disclosure will be described through examples with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

[0036] FIG. 1A is a structural exploded view of a single-pass removable plate heat exchanger according to the prior art;

[0037] FIG. 1B is a structural schematic diagram of various kinds of heat transfer plates formed by metal sheets and sealing gasket s in FIG. 1A;

[0038] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the working principle of a conventional three-pass removable plate heat exchanger that requires connections on the mobile pressure plate;

[0039] FIG. 3A is a schematic diagram of the working principle of a lateral-pass plate having two lateral partitions using a hot side flow channel as an example according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0040] FIG. 3B is a schematic diagram of the working principle of a lateral-pass plate having two lateral partitions using a cold side flow channel as an example according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0041] FIG. 4 is a simplified structural exploded view of a two-pass removable plate heat exchanger without a need of arranging connections on mobile pressure plate according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0042] FIG. 5A is a schematic diagram of the working principle of a lateral-pass plate having three lateral partitions using a hot side flow channel as an example according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0043] FIG. 5B is a schematic diagram of the working principle of a lateral-pass plate having three lateral partitions using a cold side flow channel as an example according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0044] FIG. 6A is a schematic diagram of the working principle of a lateral-partition plate having two lateral partitions using a hot side flow channel as an example according to an alternative embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0045] FIG. 6B is a schematic diagram of the working principle of a lateral-partition plate having two lateral partitions using a cold side flow channel as an example according to an alternative embodiment of the present disclosure; and

[0046] FIG. 7 is an exploded view of a simplified structure of a six-pass removable plate heat exchanger without a need of arranging connections at a mobile pressure plate side according to an alternative embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0047] Hereinafter, the technical contents, structural features, and achieved technical objects and effects of the preferred embodiments of the present disclosure will be illustrated in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0048] The present disclosure overcomes the following technical bias regarding a multi-pass plate heat exchanger: the multi-pass plate heat exchanger needs to arrange inlet and outlet interfaces for cold and hot fluids, as well as the connections therefor, at two opposite sides of the fixed pressure plate and mobile pressure plate of a heat exchanger. This technical bias is extensively seen in prior technical literatures describing multi-pass heat exchangers, but the Inventor of the present disclosure fundamentally overthrows this technical bias through innovative technical solutions. A heat transfer plate for a multi-pass removable plate heat exchanger according to the present disclosure has a plurality of lateral partitions, which, in combination with specially shaped gaskets, may form a plurality of communicative flow channels or mutually isolated flow channels. In contrast with the dedicated heat transfer plate of the present disclosure, the heat transfer plate in the prior art does not have a plurality of mutually communicative or isolated lateral partitions, which is an integral zone for circulating cold and hot fluids.

[0049] According to a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure, a key component for solving the technical problem of a conventional multi-pass plate heat exchanger is a heat transfer plate having a plurality of lateral partitions. These lateral partitions are further fitted with specially shaped sealing gaskets, such that a plurality of mutually communicative lateral-pass flow channels may be implemented between two adjacent plates, and such a special heat transfer plate may be referred to as a lateral-pass plate. Further, with the lateral-pass plate of the present disclosure, a multi-pass plate heat exchanger without a need of arranging connections on the mobile pressure plate may be built, the number of its passes corresponding to the number of lateral partitions on each lateral-pass plate. The working principle of the lateral-pass plate of the present disclosure is described below.

[0050] FIG. 3A shows a lateral-pass plate having two lateral partitions using a hot side flow channel as an example; FIG. 3B shows a lateral-pass plate with two lateral partitions using a cold side flow channel as an example. Different from FIG. 1B where four corner ports of a conventional heat transfer plate are fixedly disposed at the upper and lower two ends of the plate, the positions of the four corner ports of the lateral-pass plate 12 of the present disclosure varying with different numbers of passes. As shown in FIG. 3A, a hot fluid 15 flows into a right-side partition of the heat transfer plate 12 from a hot side inlet corner port 14 at the upper right corner. Elastic sealing gaskets 16 are mounted in a gasket groove at a periphery of a metal sheet of the lateral-pass plate 12 to seal the periphery between metal sheets for preventing leakage of the fluid to the external, and to seal relevant corner ports according to flow configurations such that the cold and hot fluids flow along respective flow channels, thereby preventing the hot fluid 15 from contacting with the cold side fluid flowing through an adjacent cold side corner port 13. The sealing gaskets 16 and inner partition gaskets 17 guide the hot fluid 15 to flow towards a bottom portion of the sheet. Inner partition gaskets 17 and an opening 18 between peripheral gaskets let the hot fluid 15 to laterally flow towards the left partition of the heat transfer plate. Next, the hot fluid 15 further flows upwards from here and finally flows out of the hot side outlet corner port 19; likewise, the elastic sealing gasket 16 may prevent the hot fluid 15 from contacting with the cold side fluid flowing through a neighboring cold side corner port. It needs to be noted that compared with the stopper plate 6 shown in FIG. 2 as the prior art, the opening 18 that changes the pass direction has a relatively gentle turn of flow direction; and the fluid velocity is substantially constant during direction turn, wherein there is no apparent compression and expansion of fluids through the distribution area; therefore, the increase in pressure drop due to direction turn of multiple passes is relatively small.

[0051] The pass for the cold side fluid as shown in FIG. 3B is just opposite to the pass for the hot side fluid as shown in FIG. 3A. As shown in FIG. 3B, the cold fluid 20 flows into the left side partition of the heat transfer plate from the cold side inlet corner port 21 at the upper left corner. Likewise, the elastic sealing gaskets 16 are configured for preventing the cold fluid 20 from contacting with the hot side fluid flowing through a neighboring hot side corner port. The sealing gaskets 16 and inner partition gaskets 17 guide the cold fluid 20 to flow towards a bottom portion of the sheet. The inner partition gaskets 17 and the opening 18 between peripheral gaskets let the cold fluid 15 to laterally flow towards a right-side partition of the sheet. Next, the cold fluid 20 flows upwards from here and finally flows out of the cold side outlet corner port 22. According to the present disclosure, because the circulating areas of the cold and hot fluids are identical but have completely opposite flow directions, a complete counter-current flow configuration is achieved, which in turn leads to a maximal heat transfer potential.

[0052] FIG. 4 shows an exploded view of a simplified structure of a two-pass heat exchanger using the lateral-pass plate having two lateral partitions as shown in FIG. 3. As shown in FIG. 4, the heat exchanger comprises a fixed pressure plate 1, a mobile pressure plate 2, and a plate pack sandwiched between the fixed pressure plate 1 and the mobile pressure plate 2 via clamp bolts, the plate pack being further assembled by a series of lateral-pass plates 12 having two lateral partitions. Additionally, those skilled in the art may understand that the heat transfer plates as the rear end plate and the leading plate may be regarded as specially shaped lateral-pass plates 12, and their sealing gaskets and corner port structures may be configured correspondingly as shown in FIG. 1 according to needs. As shown in FIG. 4, each lateral-pass plate 12 itself is used for implementing a lateral U-turn of the flow direction, thereby allowing the hot side and cold side fluid inlet and outlet connections 4, 5, 7, and 9 to be solely arranged at the fixed pressure plate 1 side, such that it is unnecessary to arrange any connections at the mobile pressure plate 2 side; in this way, the multi-pass removable plate heat exchanger according to the present disclosure is as convenient as the conventional single-pass heat exchanger in terms of mounting, piping, assembling, disassembling and maintenance.

[0053] The lateral-pass plate having two lateral partitions according to the present disclosure may be easily extended to other multi-pass arrangements, e.g., theoretically, the number of lateral partitions of each lateral-pass plate may be increased to 3 or 4 or higher dependent on operating duties. In actual industrial applications, a lateral-pass plate having two to four lateral partitions is possibly the most practical and most economical. FIG. 5A shows a structure and the working principle of a lateral-pass plate having three lateral partitions using a hot flow channel as an example according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; FIG. 5B shows a structure and the working principle of a lateral-pass plate having three lateral partitions using a cold flow channel as an example according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. To those skilled in the art, the structure and the working principle of the lateral-pass plate with three lateral partitions may be easily understood based on the above detailed depiction of the lateral-pass plate with two lateral partitions with reference to FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B, which are thus not detailed herein. Further, those skilled in the art can easily understand that a three-pass heat exchanger using a lateral-pass plate with 3 lateral partitions as shown in FIG. 5 likewise allows the hot side and cold side fluid inlet and outlet connections to be all arranged at the fixed pressure plate side, such that it is unnecessary to arrange any connections to the mobile pressure plate side.

[0054] As mentioned above, because the number of passes of the multi-pass heat exchanger that only uses lateral-pass plates corresponds to exactly the number of lateral partitions on each lateral-pass plate, it may be understood that the number of passes of the plate heat exchanger manufactured according to the above embodiments of the present disclosure increases in a lateral direction. Although the number of passes may arbitrarily increase to any number in the lateral direction theoretically, the lateral-pass plate with 2, 3, or 4 lateral-pass partitions is likely most practical and economical due to unfavorable dimension increase in horizontal direction at higher pass numbers; in other words, the number of passes of the plate heat exchanger employing lateral-pass plates is preferably 2 to 4. In view of the above, the Inventor of the present disclosure further provides an alternative embodiment based on a combined implementation of lateral-pass plates and lateral-partition plates, such that the number of passes of the multi-pass plate heat exchanger manufactured by the present disclosure may increase without limitation. Hereinafter, this alternative embodiment of the present disclosure will be specifically described.

[0055] FIG. 6A and FIG. 6B show a construction structure and a working principle of the heat transfer plate in this alternative embodiment, wherein FIG. 6A shows a heat transfer plate having two lateral partitions using a hot flow channel as an example according to an alternative embodiment of the present disclosure; FIG. 6B shows a heat transfer plate having two lateral partitions using a cold flow channel as an example according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in the figures, this alternative embodiment uses a same heat transfer plate, but arrangements of corner ports and the shapes of sealing gaskets are slightly different; particularly, the internal partition gasket 17 extends through the entire length of the pass, such that the lateral flow of the fluid is completely blocked. This alternation is referred to in the present disclosure as a lateral-partition plate, which has two mutually isolated longitudinal pass partitions. From this point of view, it is prominently different from the lateral-pass plate, which has two or more mutually communicative lateral partitions. Additionally, the cold and hot flow channels in each longitudinal pass partition of the lateral-partition plate as shown in FIG. 6A and FIG. 6B are identical to the two conventional heat transfer plates 3 shown in FIG. 1B, which are thus not detailed here.

[0056] By using the two-zone lateral-pass plate shown in FIG. 3 and the lateral-partition plate shown in FIG. 6 in combination, a higher number of passes meeting demanding thermal duty requirements can be implemented, e.g., 4, 6, 8, 10 or any even number of passes. It needs to be noted that because each heat transfer plate has two partition passes, the number of passes achievable for the entire heat exchanger can be viewed as any number, without being limited to even number only, if each heat transfer plate is used as the reference. In a heat exchanger with such a high number of passes, the lateral-pass plates shown in FIG. 3 are to be situated adjacent to the mobile pressure plate side, while the remaining passes using the lateral-partition plates shown in FIG. 6 are to be situated adjacent to the fixed pressure plate. Actually, the lateral-pass plate in this multi-pass construction allows the cold and hot fluids to make a 180 U-turn upon reaching the mobile pressure plate so as to avoid the need of having any connections on the mobile pressure plate.

[0057] FIG. 7 shows a structure and the working principle of a six-pass removable plate heat exchanger according to an alternative embodiment of the present disclosure. As illustrated in FIG. 7, the heat exchanger comprises a fixed pressure plate 1, a mobile pressure plate 2, and a plate pack 3 sandwiched between the fixed pressure plate 1 and the mobile pressure plate 2 via clamp bolts, wherein the plate pack 3 further comprises one section of two-zone lateral-pass plates for the two passes (third and fourth passes) directly adjacent to the mobile pressure plate, and two sections of lateral-partition plates for the remaining other passes (first and sixth passes, and second and fifth passes). Hot side and cold side fluid inlet and outlet connections 4, 5, 7, and 9 are all arranged on the fixed pressure plate 1, such that it is unnecessary to arrange any connections on the mobile pressure plate 2. Hereinafter, the working principle of the six-pass removable plate heat exchanger is illustrated using a hot side flow channel as an example, where the hot fluid enters the heat exchanger from the hot fluid inlet connection 9 on the fixed pressure plate 1, and the first pass and the second pass are implemented via lateral-partition plates, where the first pass flows upwardly and the second pass flows downwardly; next, the third pass and the fourth pass are implemented via the two-zone lateral-pass plate, where the third pass flows upwardly, and the fourth pass flows downwardly; finally, the fifth pass and the sixth pass are implemented via the lateral-partition plates shared with the second pass and the first pass, respectively, wherein the fifth pass flows upwardly and the sixth pass flows downwardly; and finally, the hot fluid flows out of the heat exchanger from a hot fluid outlet connection 5 on the fixed pressure plate 1. The cold side fluid flow channel is reverse to the hot side fluid flow channel.

[0058] As shown in FIG. 7, the lateral-pass plates are only used in the third and fourth passes immediately adjacent to mobile pressure plate side, while the lateral-partition plates are used in other passes; in this alternative multi-pass design, the lateral-pass plate is for facilitating a longitude U-turn of the flow direction, to allow the hot side and cold side fluid inlet and outlet connections 4, 5, 7, and 9 to be all arranged on the fixed pressure plate 1, such that it is unnecessary to arrange any connections on the mobile pressure plate 2; in this way, the multi-pass removable plate heat exchanger according to this alternative multi-pass construction is as convenient as the conventional single-pass heat exchanger in terms of mounting, piping, assembling, disassembling and maintenance.

[0059] Based on operating parameters and the required number of passes, the heat transfer plate described by the present disclosure has the following two typical application examples. The heat transfer plate required by the two application examples may be provided by a same plate pressing die, except for the number of corner ports needed to be cut, and the shapes and configurations of sealing gaskets.

First Application Example

[0060] In the first application example, there are only lateral passes without longitudinal passes. In other words, only lateral-pass heat transfer plates are used, while partition heat transfer plate is not used. Although the number of lateral passes is not limited theoretically according to the principle of the present disclosure, the present application example is more suitable for implementing a multi-pass removable plate heat exchanger with 2, 3, or 4 passes in actual applications due to consideration of unfavorable dimension increase in horizontal direction. [0061] a heat transfer plate with 2, 3 or 4 lateral partitions is molded using a same pressing die; [0062] appropriately shaped sealing gaskets are mounted to each heat transfer plate to form the desired number of lateral partitions; [0063] a plurality of lateral-pass plates configured with corresponding sealing gaskets are assembled together to form a plate pack with alternating cold and hot fluid flow channels; [0064] an integral multi-pass removable plate heat exchanger is implemented by sandwiching the plate pack between the front fixed and rear mobile pressure plates via clamp bolts; [0065] only four connections need to be attached to the fixed pressure plate irrespective of the number of passes of the heat exchanger.

Second Application Example

[0066] In the second application example, not only the lateral passes but also the longitudinal passes are employed; in other words, lateral-pass heat transfer plates and partition heat transfer plates are used in combination. A second application example of the present disclosure is suitable for circumstances requiring a higher number of passes, including 4, 6, 8, 10, . . . 2N (any even number) passes (the number of passes achievable for the entire heat exchanger can be viewed as any number, without being limited to even number only, if each heat transfer plate is used as the reference.). In this application example, there is no structural limitation on the maximum number of passes. [0067] a heat transfer plate with 2 lateral partitions is molded using a same pressing die; [0068] Appropriately shaped sealing gaskets are mounted to each heat transfer plate to form the lateral-partition plate described above. The heat transfer plate of this type is used in all passes other than the two passes immediately adjacent to mobile pressure plate. [0069] appropriately shaped sealing gaskets are mounted to each lateral-pass heat transfer plate to form the lateral-pass plate described above. This type of heat transfer plate is suitable for the two passes immediately adjacent to mobile pressure plate. [0070] a plurality of heat transfer plates configured with corresponding sealing gaskets are assembled to form a plate pack with alternating cold and hot fluid flow channels, wherein the lateral-pass plates are used in the two passes immediately adjacent to mobile pressure plate. [0071] an integral multi-pass removable plate heat exchanger is implemented by sandwiching the plate pack between the front fixed and rear mobile pressure plates via clamp bolts; [0072] only four connections are provided on the fixed pressure plate irrespective of the number of passes of the heat exchanger.

[0073] In the first application example and the second application example, the lateral-pass plate for a multi-pass removable plate heat exchanger is provided with flat grooves at the periphery and in the interior to allow sealing gaskets to form mutually communicative two or more lateral partitions; while the lateral-partition plate for the multi-pass removable plate heat exchanger is provided with flat grooves at the periphery and in the interior to allow the sealing gaskets to form two mutually isolated partitions.

[0074] Besides, in the actual applications, the heat transfer plate pattern or corrugation may be customized and optimized according to actual needs of the heat exchange circumstances; for a scenario of large flow rates with small allowable pressure drops, a plate profile with a small pressure resistance should be selected; otherwise, a plate model with a large pressure resistance is selected. Additionally, when selecting suitable plates, those with too small a single-plate area should not be selected; otherwise, too many plates will be needed, and consequently the inter-plate fluid velocity would be too small, and the heat transfer coefficient would be too low; this issue should be particularly addressed for large heat exchangers. Specifically, the heat transfer plate for the multi-pass removable plate heat exchanger may possess different thermal performances through variations in geometrical profiles, wherein the heat transfer plates with different geometrical profiles may be combined within the same plate pack in a hybrid fashion. Variations in plate geometrical profiles may include employing different chevron corrugation angles, circular or irregular dimple, studs, or other structures for enhancing heat transfer coefficient. Additionally, for the heat transfer plate in the multi-pass removable plate heat exchanger according to the present disclosure, sealing and partitioning functionalities of the sealing gaskets may be partially or completely replaced by other seal structures or mechanisms, which may include, but not limited to, brazing, welding, diffusion bounding or mechanical contact sealing.

[0075] In the application examples of the present disclosure, illustration will be made with a single-wall PHE as an example. In heat exchange scenarios, which require absolute prevention of mixing of two media (e.g., household water application), a double-wall PHE is mostly adopted so as to effectively prevent leakage and mixing of fluids. To those skilled in the art, the pass structures and designs of the lateral-pass plate and lateral-partition plate as disclosed in the present disclosure may also be directly applied to the double-wall PHE.

[0076] What have been disclosed above are only preferred embodiments of the present disclosure, which, of course, cannot serve as a basis for limiting the scope of the present disclosure. Therefore, similar, extended or equivalent embodiments using the same principles still fall within the scope covered by the present disclosure. It should be understood that the descriptions given above are intended for illustration only, not for limitation. For example, the embodiments (and/or aspects thereof) may be combined in use; an ideal number of passes of the lateral-pass plate might be greater than 4 in some industrial applications. In addition, various alterations may be made based on the teachings of the present disclosure so as to be adapted to specific circumstances or materials without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Through reading the descriptions above, many other embodiments and alternations within the scope and spirit of the claims are obvious to those skilled in the art.