TUBE-IN-TUBE IONIC LIQUID HEAT EXCHANGER EMPLOYING A SELECTIVELY PERMEABLE TUBE

Abstract

A tube-in-tube heat exchanger utilizes a selectively permeable tube having a selective permeable layer to allow the refrigerant to transfer into an ionic liquid to generate heating or cooling. The ionic liquid then provides heating or cooling to a heat transfer fluid through a non-permeable layer or tube. The system may be configured as a shell and tube design, with the third fluid free to flow on the outside of the shell, or as a shell and tube-in-tube, with a central tube containing a first liquid, a second tube containing a second liquid, and an outer shell containing the third liquid. The selectively permeable tube may include an anion or cation selectively permeable layer and this layer may be supported by a support layer or tube.

Claims

1. A tube-in-tube heat exchanger comprising: a) a selectively permeable tube comprising a selectively permeable layer and having an inside surface and an outside surface; b) a non-permeable tube having an inside surface and an outside surface; c) a flow of refrigerant; d) a flow of an ionic liquid; e) a flow of heat transfer fluid that exchanges heat with the flow of ionic liquid; wherein the flow of refrigerant is along one of the inside or outside surfaces of the selectively permeable tube and wherein the flow of ionic liquid is along the other of the inside surface and outside surface of the selectively permeable tube; wherein the refrigerant is transferred through the selectively permeable tube into the flow of ionic liquid; wherein heat is transferred between ionic liquid and the heat transfer fluid through the non-permeable tube.

2. The tube-in-tube heat exchanger of claim 1, wherein the ionic liquid is an endothermic ionic liquid having an endothermic heat of absorption and wherein the refrigerant is transferred from the flow of refrigerant to the flow of ionic liquid to cool the ionic liquid.

3. The tube-in-tube heat exchanger of claim 1, wherein the ionic liquid is an exothermic ionic liquid having an exothermic heat of absorption and wherein refrigerant is transferred from the flow of ionic liquid to the flow of refrigerant to the heat the ionic liquid.

4. The tube-in-tube heat exchanger of claim 1, wherein the tube-in-tube heat exchanger comprises an inner tube and an outer tube configured around said inner tube.

5. The tube-in-tube heat exchanger of claim 4, wherein the non-permeable tube is the inner tube of the tube-in-tube heat exchanger and wherein the selectively permeable tube is the outer tube of the tube-in-tube heat exchanger.

6. The tube-in-tube heat exchanger of claim 5, wherein the flow of heat transfer fluid is through the inner tube which is the non-permeable tube and wherein the flow of ionic liquid is between the inner and outer tube and wherein the flow of refrigerant is over the outside surface of the outer tube.

7. The tube-in-tube heat exchanger of claim 6, further comprising an outer shell and wherein the flow of refrigerant is between the outer shell and the outer tube.

8. The tube-in-tube heat exchanger of claim 4, wherein the non-permeable tube is the outer tube of the tube-in-tube heat exchanger and wherein the selectively permeable tube is the inner tube of the tube-in-tube heat exchanger.

9. The tube-in-tube heat exchanger of claim 8, wherein the flow of refrigerant is through the inner tube which is the selectively permeable tube and wherein the flow of ionic liquid is between the inner tube and outer tube and wherein the flow of refrigerant is through the inner tube.

10. The tube-in-tube heat exchanger of claim 9, further comprising an outer shell and wherein the flow of heat transfer fluid is between the outer shell and the outer tube.

11. The tube-in-tube heat exchanger of claim 1, wherein the selectively permeable layer comprises a proton conducting polymer.

12. The tube-in-tube heat exchanger of claim 11, wherein the proton conducting polymer comprises a perfluorosulfonic acid polymer.

13. The tube-in-tube heat exchanger of claim 1, wherein the selectively permeable layer comprises an anion conducting polymer.

14. The tube-in-tube heat exchanger of claim 13, wherein the anion conducting polymer comprises a quaternary ammonium functional group.

15. The tube-in-tube heat exchanger of claim 14, wherein the conducting polymer comprises a backbone selected from the group consisting of: poly(styrene), poly(phenylene), polybenzimidazole and poly(arylene).

16. The tube-in-tube heat exchanger of claim 1, wherein the selectively permeable layer comprises a non-ionic transfer medium.

17. The tube-in-tube heat exchanger of claim 16, wherein the non-ionic transfer medium is selected from the group consisting of: Ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymer, polyethylene, polyester, polyether, polyamide, polyacrylonitrile, polyurethane, polyglycolide, polyvinylpyrrolidone, polyoxazoline or cellulose-based.

18. The tube-in-tube heat exchanger of claim 17, wherein the non-ionic transfer medium is a copolymer.

19. The tube-in-tube heat exchanger of claim 1, wherein the ionic liquid includes a cation selected from the group consisting of: pyridinium, pyridazinium, pyrimidinium, pyrazinium, imidazolium, pyrazolium, thiazolium, oxazolium, triazolium, phosphonium, and ammonium.

20. The tube-in-tube heat exchanger of claim 19, wherein the ionic liquid includes an anion selected from the group consisting of: [CH.sub.3CO.sub.2].sup.−, [HSO.sub.4].sup.−, [CH.sub.3OSO.sub.3].sup.−, [C.sub.2H.sub.50SO.sub.3].sup.−, [AlCl.sub.4].sup.−, [CO.sub.3].sup.2−, [HCO.sub.3].sup.−, [NO.sub.2].sup.−, [NO.sub.3].sup.−, [SO.sub.4].sup.2−, [PO.sub.4].sup.3−, [HPO.sub.4].sup.2−, [H.sub.2PO.sub.4].sup.−, [HSO.sub.3].sup.−, [CuCl.sub.2].sup.−, Cl.sup.−, Br.sup.−, I.sup.−, SCN.sup.−, [BF.sub.4].sup.−, [PF.sub.6].sup.−, [SbF.sub.6].sup.−, [CF.sub.3SO.sub.3].sup.−, [HCF.sub.2CF.sub.2SO.sub.3].sup.−, [CF.sub.3HFCCF.sub.2SO.sub.3].sup.−, [HCClFCF.sub.2SO.sub.3].sup.−, [(CF.sub.3SO.sub.2).sub.2N].sup.−, [(CF.sub.3CF.sub.2SO.sub.2).sub.2N].sup.−, [(CF.sub.3SO.sub.2).sub.3C].sup.−, [CF.sub.3CO.sub.2].sup.−, [CF.sub.3OCFHCF.sub.2SO.sub.3].sup.−, [CF.sub.3CF.sub.2OCFHCF.sub.2SO.sub.3].sup.−, [CF.sub.3CFHOCF.sub.2CF.sub.2SO.sub.3].sup.−, [CF.sub.2HCF.sub.2OCF.sub.2CF.sub.2SO.sub.3].sup.−, [CF.sub.2ICF.sub.2OCF.sub.2CF.sub.2SO.sub.3].sup.−, [CF.sub.3CF.sub.2OCF.sub.2CF.sub.2SO.sub.3].sup.−, [(CF.sub.2HCF.sub.2SO.sub.2).sub.2N].sup.−, [(CF.sub.3CFHCF.sub.2SO.sub.2).sub.2N].sup.−, and F.sup.−.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

[0030] The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention, and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the invention.

[0031] FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of an exemplary tube-in-tube heat exchanger having an inner tube that is a non-permeable tube with a heat transfer fluid flowing therethrough surrounded by a selectively permeable tube having an ionic liquid flowing therethrough and an outer shell having a refrigerant fluid flowing therethrough.

[0032] FIG. 2 shows a perspective view of an exemplary tube-in-tube heat exchanger having an inner tube that is a non-permeable tube with a heat transfer fluid flowing therethrough surrounded by a selectively permeable tube having an ionic liquid flowing therethrough and a refrigerant fluid flowing over the outer tube.

[0033] FIG. 3 shows a perspective view of an exemplary tube-in-tube heat exchanger having an inner tube that is a selectively permeable tube with a refrigerant flowing therethrough surrounded by a non-permeable tube having an ionic liquid flowing therethrough and an outer shell having a heat transfer fluid flowing therethrough.

[0034] FIG. 4 shows a perspective view of an exemplary tube-in-tube heat exchanger having an inner tube that is a selectively permeable tube with a refrigerant flowing therethrough surrounded by a non-permeable tube having an ionic liquid flowing therethrough and a flow of heat transfer fluid over the outer tube.

[0035] FIG. 5 shows a cross sectional view of a selectively permeable tube.

[0036] FIG. 6 show a perspective view of a selectively permeable tube.

[0037] Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views of the figures. The figures represent an illustration of some of the embodiments of the present invention and are not to be construed as limiting the scope of the invention in any manner. Further, the figures are not necessarily to scale, some features may be exaggerated to show details of particular components. Therefore, specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variously employ the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATED EMBODIMENTS

[0038] As used herein, the terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “includes,” “including,” “has,” “having” or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion. For example, a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements is not necessarily limited to only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. Also, use of “a” or “an” are employed to describe elements and components described herein. This is done merely for convenience and to give a general sense of the scope of the invention. This description should be read to include one or at least one and the singular also includes the plural unless it is obvious that it is meant otherwise.

[0039] Certain exemplary embodiments of the present invention are described herein and are illustrated in the accompanying figures. The embodiments described are only for purposes of illustrating the present invention and should not be interpreted as limiting the scope of the invention. Other embodiments of the invention, and certain modifications, combinations and improvements of the described embodiments, will occur to those skilled in the art and all such alternate embodiments, combinations, modifications, improvements are within the scope of the present invention.

[0040] FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a heat exchanger 10 comprising an exemplary tube-in-tube heat exchanger 12 having a inner tube 20 that is a non-permeable tube 30 with a heat transfer fluid 60 flowing therethrough surrounded by an outer tube 22 that is a selectively permeable tube 50 having an ionic liquid 70 flowing therethrough. An outer shell 26 that is a non-permeable tube 32 has a refrigerant fluid 80 flowing therethrough.

[0041] FIG. 2 shows a perspective view of a heat exchanger 10 comprising an exemplary tube-in-tube heat exchanger 12 having an inner tube 20 that is a non-permeable tube 30 with a heat transfer fluid 60 flowing therethrough surrounded by an outer tube 22 that is a selectively permeable tube 50 having an ionic liquid 70 flowing therethrough.

[0042] FIG. 3 shows a perspective view of a heat exchanger 10 comprising an exemplary tube-in-tube heat exchanger 12 having an inner tube 20 that is a selectively permeable tube 50 with a refrigerant fluid 80 flowing therethrough surrounded by an outer tube 22 that is a non-permeable tube 30 having an ionic liquid 70 flowing therethrough. An outer shell 26 that is a non-permeable tube 32 has a heat transfer fluid 60 flowing therethrough.

[0043] FIG. 4 shows a perspective view of a heat exchanger 10 comprising an exemplary tube-in-tube heat exchanger 12 having an inner tube 20 that is a selectively permeable tube 50 with a refrigerant fluid 80 flowing therethrough surrounded by an outer tube 22 that is a non-permeable tube 30 having an ionic liquid 70 flowing therethrough.

[0044] Referring to FIGS. 5 and 6, a selectively permeable tube 50, which may an inner or outer tube in the tube-in-tube heat exchanger may have a selectively permeable layer 52 that is supported by a porous tube support 54. The selectively permeable layer may be coated onto the tube support or spirally wrapped as shown in FIG. 6.

[0045] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications, combinations and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the scope of the invention. Specific embodiments, features and elements described herein may be modified, and/or combined in any suitable manner. Thus, it is intended that the present invention cover the modifications, combinations and variations of this invention provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.