Liquid-Vapor Separating Method and a Liquid-Vapor Separating Type Evaporator
A liquid-vapor separating method and a liquid-vapor separating type evaporator, the method includes the following steps: (i) provide a partition device (3) in the upper portion of the evaporated liquid pipe, the partition device (3) divides the evaporated liquid pipe into a superheating section (12) and an evaporating section (13); (ii) a liquid-vapor separating pipe (4) is connected to the superheating section (12) near the partition device (3), an evaporated liquid feeding pipe (6) is connected to the evaporating section (13) near the partition device (3), several vapor guiding pipes (5) are respectively provided in the pipe of the evaporating section (13), the vapor guiding pipes (5) are respectively connected with the liquid-vapor separating pipe (4); vapor inside the pipe can flow out, and is separated into vapor and liquid in the liquid-vapor separating pipe (4), then the vapor enters the superheating section (12) and is superheated; the superheated vapor is discharged from a vapor outlet (11); (iii) the residual liquid separated from the liquid-vapor separating pipe (4) and the residual liquid in evaporating section (13) are together sent to the evaporated liquid feeding pipe (6) through a return pipe (14), and back to the evaporating and heat-exchanging process of evaporated liquid.
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The present invention relates to a series of new evaporators with liquid-vapor separation, and specially, to liquid-vapor separation technologies/devices associated with these new evaporators.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONAs a type of thermal engineering equipment, evaporators are widely employed in power, chemical, air-conditioning and refrigeration engineering in two types, one of which is liquid-heating, such as commonly used tube-in-tube or shell-tube evaporators, and the other type is air-heating, generally in-tube-evaporation, such as those employed in domestic air-conditioning, large scale refrigerators, chemical engineering and power plants.
As shown in
As shown in
In the tube evaporator described above according to the prior art, pure liquid flows through the inlets 93, 105 and evaporates while flowing through the entire tube, and pure vapor discharges from the outlet 94, 106 for evaporated liquid. In order to improve the efficiency of heat transfer, the heat exchange tube will be subjected to surface enhancement processing, such as adding inner threads, inner groove pipe, micro-fin tubes of the inside surface, etc., which provides an extended heat exchange area while enhancing the surface. During the evaporation of the liquid in the heat exchange tube, the efficiency of heat exchange will be improved by the increase of the vapor quality to a limited extent. But the evaporation in the tube of the prior art can result in a more complex two-phase flow which disadvantages the formation of modality with efficient heat exchange. At the same time, a tube-in-tube evaporator employs a horizontal spiral structure, in which the flow will be inevitably layered, although there is a disturbance effect of secondary flow in the tube. The layered flow will result in local dryout and congregating of liquid at the bottom of the tube, thus the surface of the inner wall of the tube can not be well wetted by the liquid. Therefore uneven boiling or surface evaporation will be formed, or non-perfect boiling or surface evaporation will be formed, and as a result, the effect of surface enhancement will be weakened and the heat exchange efficiency will be reduced. Annular flow and thin liquid film have advantages in heat exchange, but they account for a limited percentage in the whole flow process, and thus have a limited effect on heat transfer. On the other hand, evaporation and boiling in a single tube flow process will result in a complex two-phase flow of vapor and liquid. When a two-phase flow occurs, bubbling, vapor blocking, annular flow, or stratified flow may occur in the flow depending on local vapor quality, thus substantially increasing the flow resistance and instability. As a result, the system stability, flow resistance and system adjustment are adversely affected.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONBased on the description above, the present invention is directed to an evaporator which can realize the auto separation of vapor and liquid, and improve the heat exchange performance.
In order to realize the object above, the present invention employs a liquid-vapor-separation method and associated technologies in evaporators. The vapor-liquid separation is reached by the following steps: (1) setting a separation device for partitioning the tube into a superheat segment and an evaporation segment on the top of the tube through which the evaporated liquid flows; (2) connecting a separation tube for separating vapor and liquid to the superheat segment nearby the separation device, and connecting an incoming tube for circulating evaporated liquid to the evaporation segment nearby the separation device, setting a plurality of steam drainage tubes to the tube of the evaporation segment, each of the steam drainage tube connects to the liquid-vapor-separation tube respectively, thus the evaporated vapor can be vented at each segment and enter the superheat segment for superheating after separating vapor and liquid, and then the superheated steam vents via the steam outlet; (3) conveying the residual liquid from the liquid-vapor-separation tube and the residual liquid (not completely evaporated) from the evaporation segment to the incoming tube for the evaporated liquid through tubes and returning to the process for heat exchange of the liquid to be evaporated.
The tube through which the evaporated liquid flows through a tube between an outer tube and an inner tube, and the separation device is an annular separation plate installed between the outer tube and the inner tube, and the heating liquid (fluid) flows through the inner tube.
The evaporated liquid flows through a single row inner tube arranged with fins outside of the tube and the heating air flows outside of the inner tube.
The evaporated liquid flows through an inner tube, outside of which is arranged an outer tube, and the heating liquid (fluid) flows through between the outer and the inner tube.
A liquid-vapor-separation evaporator comprises a tube through which the evaporated liquid flows, a tube through which the heating liquid (fluid) flows or a space through which the heating vapor flows, the evaporator is characterized by: setting a separation device for partitioning the tube into a superheat segment and an evaporation segment on the top of the tube through which the evaporated liquid flows; connecting a separation tube for separating vapor and liquid to the superheat segment nearby the separation device, and connecting an incoming tube for circulating evaporated liquid to the evaporation segment nearby the separation device, setting a plurality of steam drainage tubes to the tube of the evaporation segment, each of the steam drainage tube connects to the liquid-vapor-separation tube respectively; connecting the bottom port of the liquid-vapor-separation tube to the inlet of the incoming tube for circulating evaporated liquid via tubes.
The tube through which the evaporated liquid flows is a tube composed of an outer tube and an inner tube, the separation device is an annular separation plate positioned between the outer tube and the inner tube, and the heating liquid (fluid) inlet is positioned at the bottom port of the inner tube, and the heating liquid (fluid) outlet is positioned at the top port of the inner tube.
The shapes of the outer tube and inner tube are spiral or vertical serpentine.
The tube through which the evaporated liquid flows is a single row tube with fins arranged outside the tube.
The tube through which the evaporated liquid flows is an inner tube outside which an outer tube is arranged, the separation device is a circular separation plate positioned inside the inner tube, the bottom port of the outer tube is the heating liquid (fluid) inlet, and the top port of the outer tube is the heating liquid outlet.
The shapes of the corresponding outer tube and the inner tube are spiral or vertical serpentine.
The inner flow passage can be an inner tube bundle composed of a plurality of spiral inner tubes.
The inner tube can also be a single tube.
The inner wall of the inner tube is designed having inner threads or micro-grooves, and the surface of a smooth inner wall or the inner threads or micro-grooves is covered by a porous layer formed by sintering a plurality of layers of screen and metal or non-metal particles.
The inner wall of the outer tube is covered by a porous layer formed by sintering a plurality of layers of screen and metal or non-metal particles.
The present invention is characterized by the following advantages due to the above technical measures: 1) the present invention employs a separation device to partition the heat exchange tube into a liquid evaporation segment and a steam superheat segment in a non-seal manner, thus preventing the incoming liquid from entering the superheat segment directly-which will influence the operation of the evaporator, while enabling the control of the superheat degree of the leaving steam-which is difficult to be implemented by traditional evaporators. The present evaporator can control the temperature of superheat steam according to the requirements to specified superheat degrees. Compared to adding the length of tube in the prior art, the separation device of the present invention has advantages in reducing the consumption of materials, improving the efficiency of energy conversion and utilization, and decreasing the power of the compressor of a refrigeration system. 2) By employing a reflux tube filled with porous core for the drainage and recirculation of residual evaporated liquid, which has dual functions in drawing and blocking liquid by capillarity, thus making the residual liquid gathering at the main body of the flow of the evaporation liquid, the present invention can realize recycling of the residual liquid, thus having advantages for auto-recycling residual liquid and re-evaporating the residual liquid, and eliminating the problem of accumulation and discharge of residual liquid. At the same time, the present invention can prevent the main body of the liquid flow from entering into the main heat exchange and evaporation section, which may result in degraded operation of the evaporator. Thus the efficiency and adaptability of the evaporator can be improved. 3) The present invention provides a novel liquid-vapor-separation device which can fast discharge the vapor from evaporation via a discharge tube thus reducing the pressure drop in the system helping to reach a higher efficiency of the evaporation process. 4) The present invention utilizes an inner tube bundle structure to circulate evaporated liquid (refrigerant) between an outer tube and an inner tube, with the complex inner features of the structure, and the present invention not only enhances the disturbance to the liquid flow, but also reduces the liquid by transferring it into vapor. Reducing the liquid is helpful to the wetting of liquid film, and the evaporation of a thin liquid film with better heat exchange effect is formed, thus the heat exchange is enhanced. 5) The evaporation surface is designed with micro-threads, grooves, and a porous layer, where the micro-threads or grooves covered with a porous layer are formed by sintering a plurality of screen and metal or non-metal particles. By the capillarity of the porous structure, the inner wall of the tube can be wetted by the liquid and the evaporation of a thin liquid film with a better heat exchange effect can be reached and the effect of surface enhancement can be further improved. Moreover, the porous layer can improve venting of the vapor of the surface area inside the tube and supplying of liquid to the surface area; a similar effect can be made to the outer surface of the heat exchange tube by similar measures. 6) The present invention has advantages for better efficiency of evaporation, high exchange transfer coefficient, small heat exchanger size, and low consumption of metal. Compared with prior art, the present invention can save more than 20% in materials, and provide lower manufacturing and operation costs, and a more simple manufacturing process.
The present invention will be described in detail in the following in connection with the drawings and embodiments.
Embodiment 1 A Liquid-Vapor-Separation-Outside-Spiral-Tube EvaporatorAs shown in
In the above embodiment, the separation device 3 may also be positioned at the second or third layer of tube 1, that is to say, the length of the superheat segment 12 can be adjusted based on the demand to meet the requirement of vapor superheat. Further, the steam drainage tube 5 of liquid-vapor-separation tube 4 connected to the outer tube 1 is set every two or three layers, instead of set at each layer, which can provide flexibility in design.
When the device of the embodiment is used, as shown in
As shown in
In the embodiment 1 and 2, the outer wall of the inner tube 1 can be covered by a porous layer 15 (as shown in
As shown in
As shown in
In the embodiment, the heating fluid is air which exchanges heat with the inner tube 2 and the fin 7 outside the tube. The liquid flows into the evaporation segment 24 for evaporating or boiling via the incoming tube 6, and the vapor resulted from the evaporation continuously flows into the superheat segment 23 of the inner tube 2 for superheat via the steam drainage tube 5 and the liquid-vapor-separation tube 4, then flows out through the steam outlet 25 of the inner tube 2. The residual liquid separated by the liquid-vapor-separation tube 4 and the residual liquid from the evaporation segment 24 flow into inner tube 2 together, and then into the incoming tube 6 via the recycling tube 14 for residual liquid, and then into the evaporation segment 24 at the upper portion of the inner tube 2 by the drive of a pump at one end of the incoming tube 6 for a new heat exchange cycle.
Embodiment 4 A Liquid-Vapor-Separation-Inside-Vertical-Serpentine-Tube EvaporatorAs shown in
In the embodiment, the heating fluid media enters through inlet 17 of the outer tube 1, and flows out through the outlet 18 after cooled in each layer of inner tube 2, and the liquid entering from the incoming tube 6 flows to the evaporation segment 24 of the inner tube 2 near the separation device 3 at the upper part, then exchanges heat with the heating fluid in the outer tube 1 through each layer of inner tube 2, then the steam resulted from the process flows into the liquid-vapor-separation tube 4 via the steam drainage tube 5, and then flows out through the steam outlet 25 after being superheated by the superheat segment of the inner tube 2. The residual liquid and the unevaporated liquid from the evaporation segment 24 enter into the bottom of the inner tube 2 together, then into the evaporation segment 24 at the upper part of the inner tube 2 after flowing into the incoming tube 6 through the residual liquid recycling tube 14.
Embodiment 5 A Liquid-Vapor-Separation-Inside-Spiral-Tube EvaporatorAs shown in
The present embodiment is utilized in a similar way as that of embodiment 4, and the description of which is omitted here.
Based on the above description, the method for separating vapor and liquid of the liquid-vapor-separation evaporator of the present invention includes the followings:
setting a separation device at the upper part of tube through which the liquid in the vapor liquid separator flows in order to partition the tube into a superheat segment and evaporation segment;
connecting a liquid-vapor-separation tube to the superheat segment nearby the separation device, and connecting an incoming tube for circulating evaporated liquid to the evaporation segment nearby the separation device, setting a plurality of spaced steam drainage tubes at the tube of the evaporation segment, each of the steam drainage tubes is connected to the liquid-vapor-separation tube respectively, thus the evaporated vapor can be vented at each segment and enter into the superheat segment for superheating after separating vapor and liquid, and the superheated steam can be vented via the steam outlet;
conveying the residual liquid from the liquid-vapor-separation tube and the incompletely evaporated residual liquid from the evaporation segment to the incoming tube for the evaporated liquid through tubes and returning to the process for heat exchange of the liquid to be evaporated.
The embodiments disclosed above are directed to illustrate the particular structure of present invention, not limiting the scope of the present invention, and those skilled in the art will appreciate that various equivalents based on the principles and technical solutions of the present invention will fall into the scope and spirit of the invention as disclosed in the accompanying claims.
Claims
1. A liquid-vapor separation method for a liquid-vapor separation evaporator, comprising:
- in a tube through which an evaporated liquid flows, setting a separation device for partitioning the tube into a superheat segment and an evaporation segment;
- connecting a liquid-vapor-separation tube to the superheat segment adjacent to the separation device, and connecting an incoming tube for circulating evaporated liquid to the evaporation segment nearby the separation device, setting a plurality of spaced steam drainage tubes at the tube of the evaporation segment, and each of the steam drainage tubes is connected to the liquid-vapor-separation tube respectively, thus an evaporated vapor can be vented at each segment and enter into the superheat segment for superheating after separating vapor and liquid, and then a superheated steam can be vented via a steam outlet; and
- conveying a residual liquid from the liquid-vapor-separation tube and an incompletely evaporated residual liquid from the evaporation segment to the incoming tube for the evaporated liquid and returning to an evaporation process for heat exchange.
2. The liquid-vapor separation method for the liquid-vapor separation evaporator of claim 1 wherein,
- an evaporated liquid flows through a tube between an outer tube and an inner tube, and the separation device is an annular separation plate arranged between the said outer tube and the inner tube, and a heating fluid flows through the inner tube.
3. The liquid-vapor separation method for the liquid-vapor separation evaporator of claim 1 wherein,
- an evaporated liquid flows through a tube composed by a single layer inner tube arranged with a plurality of fins outside the tube and a heating fluid flows outside the inner tube.
4. The liquid-vapor separation method for the liquid-vapor separation evaporator of claim 1 wherein,
- the evaporated liquid flows through an inner tube, outside of which an outer tube is arranged, and a heating fluid flows through between the outer and the inner tube.
5. A liquid-vapor separation evaporator, comprising:
- a tube, through which an evaporated liquid flows;
- a tube, through which a heating gas flows, or a space through which the heating fluid flows, characterized in that a separation device is arranged at an upper of the tube through which the evaporated liquid flows, and the tube through which the evaporated liquid flows is partitioned into a superheat segment and an evaporation segment; a liquid-vapor separation tube is connected to the separation device near the superheat segment, and an incoming tube for circulating evaporated liquid is connected to the separation device near the evaporation segment, a plurality of steam drainage tubes are set to the tube of separate portions of the evaporation segment, each of the steam drainage tubes is connected to the liquid-vapor separation tube respectively; a bottom of the liquid-vapor separation tube is connected to an inlet of the incoming tube of evaporated liquid.
6. The liquid-vapor separation evaporator of claim 5, wherein the tube for the evaporated liquid is a tube between an outer tube and an inner tube, and the separation device is an annular separation plate set between the said outer tube and the inner tube, a bottom port of the inner tube is an inlet of the heating fluid and a top port of the inner tube is an outlet of the heating fluid.
7. The liquid-vapor separation evaporator of claim 6, wherein a shape of the outer tube and a shape of the inner tube are spiral or vertical serpentine.
8. The liquid-vapor separation evaporator of claim 5, wherein the tube for the evaporated liquid is a single layer inner tube, and the fins are set outside the inner tube.
9. The liquid-vapor separation evaporator of claim 5, wherein the tube through which the evaporated liquid flows is an inner tube, outside of which is arranged an outer tube, and the separation device is a circular plate set inside the inner tube, a bottom port of the outer tube is an inlet of the heating fluid, and a top port of the outer tube is an outlet of the heating fluid.
10. The liquid-vapor separation evaporator of claim 9, wherein a shape of the outer tube and a shape of the corresponding inner tube are spiral or vertical serpentine.
11. The liquid-vapor separation device of claim 6, wherein the said inner tube is a tube bundle composed of a plurality of spiral inner tubes.
12. The liquid-vapor separation device of claim 6, wherein the inner tube is a single tube.
13. The liquid-vapor separation device of claim 8, wherein an inner wall of the said inner tube has inner threads or micro-grooves, a surface of the said inner threads or micro-grooves is covered with a porous layer formed by sintering a plurality of layers of screens and metal or non-metal particles.
14. The liquid-vapor separation device as set forth in claim 6, wherein an inner wall of said outer tube has a porous layer formed by sintering a plurality of layers of screens and metal or non-metal particles.
Type: Application
Filed: Mar 27, 2008
Publication Date: May 27, 2010
Applicant: TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY (Beijing)
Inventors: Xiaofeng Peng (Beijing), Di Wu (Beijing), Gui Lu (Beijing), Zhen Wang (Beijing), Yang Zhang (Beijing)
Application Number: 12/595,602
International Classification: F25B 43/00 (20060101); F25B 39/02 (20060101); F28D 1/047 (20060101); F28D 7/14 (20060101);