HEAT TRANSFER DEVICE AND USE THEREOF

Abstract

The invention relates to a heat transfer device with channels for heat-absorbing media and channels for heat-emitting media, at least one of the channels having a textile structure with compressed and non-compressed regions. Whilst the compressed regions are disposed in the transition regions between the channels in order to improve the heat transfer to or across the channel wall, the non-compressed regions are disposed in the flow regions of the channels. This construction enables a large heat transfer to the heat transfer surface with simultaneously good heat conduction from the heat transfer surface to the separating surface. The invention likewise relates to heat exchangers with heat transfer devices of this type.

Claims

1. Heat transfer device comprising at least one channel for a heat-absorbing medium and at least one channel for a heat-emitting medium, at least one of the channels having a textile structure, at least in regions, and the textile structure having regions compressed at regular spacings, the compressed regions of the textile structure being disposed in the transition region between at least one channel for a heat-absorbing medium and at least one channel for a heat-emitting medium for the production of a thermal contact and the non-compressed regions of the textile structure being disposed in the flow region of at least one channel.

2. Heat transfer device according to claim 1, characterised in that the channels for the heat-absorbing media are separated from the channels for the heat-emitting media by a separating wall, in particular a metal sheet, a foil, a membrane or an outer surface of a tube or hose.

3. Heat transfer device according to claim 2, characterised in that the compressed regions in the transition region of the channels are connected integrally to the separating wall, at least in regions, in particular by gluing, soldering, welding, sintering or casting.

4. Heat transfer device according to claim 1, characterised in that the textile structure at the compressed regions has a coating which is impermeable or partially permeable for the media.

5. Heat transfer device according to claim 1, characterised in that, for separation of adjacent channels, in at least one channel, an expandable hose or tube which is impermeable for the media is integrated and/or, around at least one channel, a shrinkable hose or tube which is impermeable for the media is disposed, which enable contacting to the textile structure by widening and/or shrinking.

6. Heat transfer device according to claim 1, characterised in that the textile structure is permeated, at least in regions, by a fluid for heat exchange.

7. Heat transfer device according to claim 1, characterised in that the textile structure is embedded, at least in regions, in a latently heat-storing, sorptive or catalytic stationary medium or is coated therewith on the surface.

8. Heat transfer device according to claim 1, characterised in that the textile structures of flow channels adjacent to each other have different wire lengths and/or spacings of the wires in the flow direction.

9. Heat transfer device according to claim 1, characterised in that the spacings of the compressed regions are varied such that the flow resistance in the flow channel is adjustable via the wire lengths, wire diameters and/or spacings of the wires.

10. Heat transfer device according to claim 1, characterised in that the textile structure is configured to be planar and has a fold and preferably comprises channels for at least one medium in the plane of the surface, the surface of the textile structure to be permeated by at least one medium being increased relative to the inflow surface, as a result of which the flow rate through the textile structure of the at least one medium is reduced.

11. Heat transfer device according to claim 1, characterised in that the wires, technical fibres or yarns hereof have a diameter of 10 m to 2 mm, preferably of 80 m to 300 m.

12. Heat transfer device according to claim 1, characterised in that the wires, technical fibres or yarns hereof have, in flow direction, a spacing of 20 m to 20 mm, preferably of 40 m to 10 mm, and particularly preferably of 100 m to 4 mm.

13. Heat transfer device according to claim 1, characterised in that the wires, technical fibres or yarns hereof are selected from the group consisting of metallic materials and the alloys thereof, in particular copper, aluminium or stainless steel, carbon-containing materials, in particular carbon fibres, activated carbon fibres, glass- or ceramic fibres, polymer materials, in particular polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE), polyamide (PA), polyether ketones (PEK), polyester (PET) and composite materials hereof.

14. Heat transfer device according to claim 1, characterised in that the textile structure has an intrinsic rigidity which enables a self-supporting construction of the heat exchanger.

15. Heat transfer device according to claim 1, characterised in that the textile structure is a woven, knitted or warp-knitted structure or a combination hereof.

16. Heat transfer device according to claim 1, characterised in that the fabric structure used was coated galvanically and, by melting the solder, the intrinsic stability of the structure and the integral connection at the node points of the wires is implemented to each other and to the separating foil.

17. Heat transfer device according to claim 1, characterised in that, in the heat transfer device, lighting elements, in particular optical fibres or elements having LEDs are integrated, preferably in the form of incorporated wires, fibres or yarns.

18. Heat transfer device according to claim 1, characterised in that, in the heat transfer device, at least one heating wire, in particular made of copper, copper-nickel alloys, nickel-chromium alloys, constantan, manganin, nickel-iron alloys, kanthal, is integrated.

19. Heat exchanger comprising a heat transfer device according to claim 1.

20. Heat exchanger according to claim 19, characterised in that the heat exchanger is a plate heat exchanger, a tubular heat exchanger, a tubular lamellar heat exchanger, a flat tube lamellar heat exchanger or a coaxial heat exchanger.

21. Use of the heat transfer device according to claim 1 in heat transfer to air or other gaseous media, in particular in recirculation coolers, exhaust gas heat exchangers, convectors, ventilation devices or oil coolers, in heat transfer to water or other liquid media, in applications with phase change (evaporation, condensation, solid/liquid) and chemical reactions and also in combination with sorption materials or catalytic coatings.

Description

[0052] The subject according to the invention is intended to be explained in more detail with reference to the subsequent Figures without wishing to restrict said subject to the specific embodiments shown here.

[0053] FIGS. 1a to 1c show the textile structure according to the invention with reference to two embodiments in the flat and in the folded state.

[0054] FIGS. 2a and 2b show a first flat embodiment and a second tubular embodiment of the heat transfer device according to the invention.

[0055] FIGS. 3a and 3b show a variant of a heat transfer device according to the invention, with a combination of various textile structures and in combination with a collector.

[0056] FIGS. 4a and 4b show a variant of the textile structure with different wire spacings and wire lengths in the permeated region.

[0057] FIG. 5 shows a variant according to the invention of a coaxial heat exchanger using the previously (FIG. 4b) shown elements.

[0058] FIG. 6 shows a further embodiment of a textile structure according to the invention.

[0059] FIG. 7 shows a further embodiment of the textile structure according to the invention.

[0060] FIGS. 8a to 8d show examples of structured surfaces according to the invention.

[0061] In FIG. 1a, a flat fabric made of wires is illustrated on the left-hand side, which fabric has non-compressed regions (1) and more narrowly manufactured wire regions (2). By folding this structure, a spacing structure which configures a flow channel and two top surfaces is produced. Two examples of such a spacing structure are illustrated in FIG. 1a in the central part and the lower part. Whilst in the central part of the Figure, the wires of the non-compressed region are disposed diagonally, in the lower part of FIG. 1a, the wires are disposed parallel to each other and perpendicular to the formed wall surface. In FIG. 1b, a comparable embodiment is illustrated, in which however the more narrowly manufactured regions (2) turn out to be larger relative to the regions with long wire spacings (1). In the case of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1c, the folding leads to tapering secondary channels. The non-compressed regions situated between the secondary channels of the textile structure are permeated at a lower normal speed compared with the inflow speed such that a lower pressure loss is achieved. The formed wall surfaces can be connected to a separating wall by one of the joining methods mentioned above or can be coated directly impermeably.

[0062] In the flat embodiment shown in FIG. 2a, the above-illustrated folded structure on the wall surfaces is contacted to a separating surface (3) which was configured as a metal sheet or foil via soldered joints (4). On the other side of the separating wall, the same textile structure is situated, rotated by 90, so that this element can be used for example in a counter-current plate heat exchanger.

[0063] In the tubular embodiment shown in FIG. 2b, the compressed regions of the textile structure (2) form a hose-like form which is applied on a separating wall configured by tubes from outside. The non-compressed regions (1) thus form the surface-increasing structure in the region between the tubes. This structure can be permeated for example perpendicular to the tubes and wires for heat exchange.

[0064] As indicated in FIG. 3a, the dimensioning of the flow structures can be adapted flexibly to the corresponding media or flow conditions separated via separating surfaces (7). Thus, it is conceivable, for example, that the dimensions of the wire spacings and heights are different for different sides of the heat exchanger.

[0065] One possibility for use hereof is shown in the embodiment in FIG. 3b. Here, the one side of the separating surface (8) is completely surrounded so that permeable flat pipes are configured, to which the one medium is distributed via a collector (9). The other medium flows perpendicularly through the other folded structures situated between the flat tubes. As an advantage relative to conventional flat tubes, the stabilising spacing structures permit use of very thin separating walls. Because of the folding technique however and also with the textile manufacturing technique, defined structured regions of different densities can also be produced in one medium (FIG. 4a), e.g. in order to compensate for unequal speed distributions in the inflowing medium, to control specifically temperature gradients of the second medium or to meet complex geometric requirements. As shown in FIG. 4b, the top surfaces need not thereby necessarily be parallel.

[0066] In FIG. 5, a coaxial heat exchanger with a circumferential outer shell 6 is illustrated, the individual segments of the tubular cross-section being filled with the textile structure according to the invention. Here, the non-compressed regions 1 and the separating wall 2, on which the compressed regions are situated, can be detected. The segments are thereby permeated with one or the other medium alternately so that one medium flows in and the other medium out of the image plane.

[0067] It is also possible, from a technical manufacturing point of view, to produce flow structures which are produced in one manufacturing step (see FIG. 6), the non-compressed wires (1) can thereby be disposed diagonally relative to each other. The connection to the top surface (5) can be achieved for example by knitting processes. As a result of the diagonal position of the wires, increased intrinsic stability of the structure is achieved. The reduction in manufacturing steps is an attractive feature here also, however, the thermal masses must be considered.

[0068] In FIG. 7, an arrangement of the textile structures as heat exchangers is represented. The region of the textile structure is given for example by the structure illustrated in FIG. 2b. One of the heat-exchanging media flows firstly through the inflow region of the heat exchanger (10), then through the structure-free secondary channel region (11) towards the textile structure (12). This is permeated by the medium at lower speeds than in the inflow region since the surface to be permeated is greatly increased by folding the structures. The medium subsequently flows through the outflowing structure-free channels (13) into the outflow region (14).

[0069] In FIGS. 8a to 8c, various embodiments of the structured surfaces are represented. An equally distributed, low speed through the structure can be made possible for example by these different configurations (tapering (FIG. 8a), hyperbolically tapering (FIG. 8b), sinusoidally tapering) (FIG. 8c). An equally distributed speed through the structure is advantageous in order to use all regions of the structure optimally for the heat exchange. According to the arrangement, less compressed and more compressed regions in the structure can vary along the fabric structure (FIG. 7, (12)) and further promote uniform distribution.

[0070] In FIG. 8d, an embodiment with a plurality of folded structures connected in succession is illustrated. As a result, a further increase in the heat exchanger surface can be produced on a small constructional space and hence an increase in power density in the case of a small increase in pressure loss.