HEAT EXCHANGER
Heat exchanger which is composed of a base plate (2), several cooling fins (3) and accumulator blocks (6), whereby the cooling fins (3) are fixed to the base plate (2) and the accumulator blocks (6) are pressed in the base plate or provided therein, characterised in that the base plate (2) and cooling fins (3) are made of a first metal alloy and in that the accumulator blocks (6) are made of a second metal alloy whereby the second metal alloy provides for a better heat conduction than the first metal alloy.
The present invention concerns a heat exchanger.
In particular, it concerns a heat exchanger that is compact and portable, onto which a tube and a head are connected to quickly cool or heat a mass or element.
It is already known that heat exchangers exist which make use of a compressor and a fluid for heating or cooling an element.
A disadvantage thereof is that such heat exchangers are usually large and heavy, as a result of which they are difficult to move.
The present invention aims to remedy one or several of the above-mentioned and other disadvantages.
To this end, the present invention concerns a heat exchanger which is composed of a base plate, several cooling fins and accumulator blocks, whereby the cooling fins are fixed to the base plate and the accumulator blocks are pressed in the base plate or provided therein, whereby the base plate and cooling fins are made of a first metal alloy, and the accumulator blocks are made of a second metal alloy whereby the second metal alloy provides for a better heat conduction than the first metal alloy.
An advantage of a heat exchanger according to the invention is that the heat exchanger is cheaper and lighter than an embodiment that would be entirely made of the second metal alloy.
As a result, the heat exchanger can easily form a part of a compact device with which heat can be quickly transferred.
This is for example important to quickly warm up the muscles of sportsmen/women and athletes. It restricts the time that is required to treat the sportsmen/women while their muscles are nevertheless sufficiently warmed up.
A second example is that a device according to the invention can also be used for certain patient treatments, offering the advantage that the treatment is speeded up and will be more efficient.
In a preferred embodiment of a heat exchanger according to the invention, the heat exchanger is screwed down to a strut through which a fluid is guided via a tubular element.
Such a strut is known for example from patent BE 2006/0232.
A treatment head with a tube is preferably coupled to the heat exchanger according to the invention, whereby the head comprises two feed-through elements, such that a good heat transfer is obtained and a closed liquid circuit is realised with the heat exchanger.
An advantage of a heat exchanger according to the preferred embodiment of the invention is that a relatively small amount of liquid must be led through the heat exchanger for a certain volume of heat transfer.
In order to better explain the characteristics of the invention, the following preferred embodiments of a heat exchanger according to the invention are described by way of example only, without being limitative in any way, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
The base plate 2 and cooling fins 3 are preferably made of aluminium, and the cooling fins 3 are glued to the base plate 3.
The accumulator blocks 6 are preferably made of copper or a copper alloy, and the base plate 2 and cooling fins 3 of aluminium or an aluminium alloy.
It should be noted that the accumulator blocks 6 must not necessarily be pressed in the base plate 2, but it is probably more appropriate in order to obtain a more durable heat exchanger 1 according to the invention, since a copper alloy is more difficult to process than an aluminium alloy, which can be easily glued.
On either side, at the bottom of the cover plate 2, are fixed side plates 11 under which is provided a frame 12. This frame is provided with crosswise holes 13 and 14.
Such a strut 15 is disclosed in patent BE 2006/0232. For the sake of completeness, it should be mentioned that such a strut 15 has a predominantly U-shaped cross section with a back wall on which is each time provided a protruding leg on two opposite edges, which legs are provided with a cross collar on their free edges extending to the outside of the U-shaped strut, whereby the outside' of the back wall is entirely or almost entirely flat, and whereby the strut 15 is provided with a tubular element 16 on its open side, made in one piece with the strut 15 and extending parallel to the legs.
An advantage of such a strut 15 is that it can be extruded and, consequently, it can be made in many different sizes and in an economical manner.
The assembly is completed with a U-shaped pipe 18 which connects the two elements 16 of the strut 15 to one another. Apart from that, bushes 19 and rings 20 are used to guide the screws 9 of different lengths through.
The use of a heat exchanger 1 according to the invention is simple and as follows.
As mentioned above, the accumulator blocks 6 are preferably made of copper or a copper alloy, and the base plate 2 and cooling fins 3 of aluminium or an aluminium alloy.
Thus is obtained a heat exchanger 1 which combines the good heat conductivity of the copper alloy with the lighter weight and the lower cost price of an aluminium alloy in order to obtain a light and compact device which can quickly remove a required amount of heat.
In order to obtain a heat transfer over the accumulator blocks 6 that is as large as possible, the latter are made as smooth as possible, since roughness has a negative effect on the heat transfer. The blocks 6 might for example be polished to an average maximal roughness height of 4 m.
The working of a preferred embodiment of the heat exchanger 1 to be used in such a device which is not shown in the figures can be best explained by means of
If one wishes to cool an element quickly, a circuit with a cooling liquid can be led through the heat exchanger 1 via the feed hole 13. The tubular elements 16 of the strut 15 will then give off the heat to the accumulator blocks 6 which in turn will transfer the heat to the base plate 2 and the cooling fins 3. The produced heat is sucked in by the fan module 10 and blown into the atmosphere. The U-shaped pipe 18 makes sure that the cooling liquid is led via a loop formed of two tubular elements 16 in the case of the present figure, and that the heat is transferred to two accumulator blocks 6.
The cooling liquid then leaves the heat exchanger 1 via the outlet 14. To this outlet 14 can be coupled a tube or a pipe having a treatment head at its far end. This is appropriate for the physiotherapy treatment of sportsmen/women and patients.
The heat exchanger 1 may also work with a closed liquid circuit for the physiotherapy treatment of sportsmen/women, as is schematically shown in
The treatment head 21 is then connected to the heat exchanger 1 by means of a tube 22.
By connecting this Peltier element 28 to a power source, the heat transfer or the cooling power can be accurately adjusted and the thermal expansions of the feed-through elements 26 and 27 can be absorbed.
The cross sections as shown in
The cavity 38 of the large feed-through element 27 is preferably provided with a stop 40 which can be used for the wider part 29 of the small feed-through element 26. In the part of the cavity 38 which is screened by the stop 40 towards the tip side is preferably provided a second internal thread 41.
Preferably, the height of the ribs of the above-mentioned second screw thread 41 is such that the inner diameter of this part of the cavity 38 is practically as large or somewhat larger than the external diameter of the narrow part 30 of the small feed-through element 26.
As the cavity 38 at the stop 40 has an inner diameter which is almost equal to the outer diameter of the narrow part 30 of the small feed-through element 26, an immediate flow-back is avoided and an efficient flow of the cooling liquid to the tip side according to arrow C is obtained.
Via the return opening 33, the cooling liquid is driven according to arrow B″ from the large feed-through element 27 to the return duct 22B of the tube 22 and thus to the inlet 13 of the frame 12 of the heat exchanger 1.
An advantage of the above-described embodiment of the treatment head 21 is that, thanks to the large contact surface over and between the ribs of the inner thread 41, a more efficient heat transfer is obtained.
The feed-through elements 26 and 27 and the tip 23 are preferably made of aluminium or brass or another material which provides a good compromise between a good transfer of heat and a light weight.
Compared to a traditional treatment head, the above-described embodiment of a heat exchanger 1 with a treatment head 21 aims to cool down from 40° to 2° C. in one minute and a half; with a traditional treatment head, this would take three minutes. When treating tennis players, for example, for whom only 90 seconds of treatment is allowed between two games of a match, the physiotherapy treatment of spasms will be far more efficient.
It is clear that the heat exchanger 1 with a treatment head 27 can be realised according to many different embodiments without departing from the principle of the invention.
Thus, it is clear that a strut 15 may have several pairs of tubular elements 16 which connect at the top with several pairs of accumulator blocks 6 and have U-shaped pipes 18 on alternating sides, such that the cooling liquid is led several times over the heat exchanger 1. There will be several inlets 13 and outlets 14 then, of which at least one inlet 13 can be connected to a return duct 22B and at least one outlet 14 can be connected to a supply duct 22A of a tube 22.
It is also clear that the heat exchanger can be used to quickly heat a liquid whereby the heat transfer then takes place in the opposite sense from the one described above.
As a practical example of a heat exchanger 1 according to the invention to be used for the treatment of sportsmen/women and patients, we think of a device weighing less than 10 kg, preferably less than 5 kg and even better still less than 3 kg, whereby it uses litre of cooling liquid in the latter case in order to be able to treat sportsmen/women for some ten minutes and patients for some 20 to 30 minutes. The cover plate 8 hereby has a length of some 25 cm and the lower frame measures some 20 by 20 cm. This device replaces a compressor weighing 30 kg and which consequently is difficult to move. A device according to the invention, however, is compact and can be easily carried, such that a sportsman/woman can for example be treated on the sports field itself instead of in a practice.
Optionally, sensors are provided in the frame 12 to measure the temperatures for different positions within the heat exchanger 1 or to measure how much cooling liquid is flowing through the heat exchanger 1. It is clear that additional options may be provided.
It should be noted that in the above description, the longitudinal and cross direction, the front and rear side and the upper and lower side specifically refer to the drawings for simplicity's sake, but it is clear that they depend on the position of the observer and that they do not restrict the essence of the invention in any way.
The present invention is by no means restricted to the embodiments described above and represented in the accompanying drawings; on the contrary, a massive cardboard heat exchanger according to the invention can be made in all sorts of ways while still remaining within the scope of the invention.
Claims
1-14. (canceled)
15. Heat exchanger, comprising a base plate, a plurality of cooling fins and accumulator blocks, said cooling fins being fixed along one side to the base plate and the accumulator blocks being pressed in the base plate or provided therein, said base plate and cooling fins being made of a first metal alloy and said accumulator blocks being made of a second metal alloy, said second metal alloy having higher heat conductivity than said first metal alloy.
16. Heat exchanger according to claim 15, wherein the cooling fins and accumulator blocks are fixed to opposing sides of the base plate, and:
- the accumulator blocks and base plate are directed with their largest surfaces crosswise in relation to the largest surfaces of the cooling fins,
- the outer cooling fins each have recesses on one side at their corners on the top side opposite the side thereof connected to the base plate,
- the base plate having screw holes extending therethrough in the longitudinal and cross directions.
17. Heat exchanger according to claim 16, wherein chunks with screw holes are provided in the recesses, and the base plate, cooling fins and accumulator blocks are enclosed by a cover plate; a fan module with screw holes which are aligned with recesses; and wherein the cover plate, fan module, chunks and base plate with the cooling fins are fastened together by means of screws.
18. Heat exchanger according to claim 17, wherein the base plate is screwed down on a side where the accumulator blocks are located to an upper side of a strut by means of screws; and wherein two or an even number of tubular elements are provided on a lower side of the strut through which a liquid may be circulated.
19. Heat exchanger according to claim 18, wherein side plates and a frame with holes are fastened to the strut by rings, bushes and screws, enabling the holes in the frame to be connected to uneven and even tubular elements of the strut, and enabling U-shaped pipes to be connected to successive tubular elements on alternating sides.
20. Heat exchanger according to claim 15, including sensors fixed to or in the heat exchanger arranged to measure the temperature or the liquid flow or other data.
21. Heat exchanger according to claim 15, wherein the lower side of each accumulator block is finished in such a way that the maximal average roughness height Ra amounts to 4μ.
22. Heat exchanger according to claim 15, wherein the first metal alloy is aluminium or an aluminium alloy and the second metal alloy is copper or a copper alloy.
23. Heat exchanger according to claim 19, wherein a tube, a liquid circuit, a liquid pump and a head are coupled to the holes that define an inlet and an outlet of the tubular element and a fluid is supplied to the tubular element.
24. Heat exchanger according to claim 23, wherein a treatment head is coupled to the inlet and the outlet of the tubular element by a tube having a supply duct and a return duct, said supply duct being connected to the outlet of the tubular element and the return duct being connected to the inlet of the tubular element.
25. Heat exchanger according to claim 24, wherein the treatment head comprises a tip, a body and a connecting piece; a small feed-through element and a large feed-through element being provided in the body, said large feed-through element having a cavity and the dimensions of the small feed-through element being such that the small feed-through element may be received at least partly in the cavity of the large feed-through element; wherein the small feed-through element has a supply opening through which a cooling liquid can flow from the supply duct of the tube to the large feed-through element and has a return opening through which cooling liquid can flow from the large feed-through element to the return duct of the tube.
26. Heat exchanger according to claim 25, wherein the small feed-through element has a wider part on a side of the tube which is connected to a narrow part on the side of the tip of the treatment head and the large feed-through element has a wider part on a side of the tube which is connected to a narrow part on the side of the tip of the treatment head; the diameter of the wider part of the small feed-through element being substantially equal to the inner diameter of the narrow part of the large feed-through element.
27. Heat exchanger according to claim 26, wherein the wider part of the small feed-through element has an outer thread and the narrow part of the large feed-through element has an inner thread, such that the outer thread of the small feed-through element may mesh with the inner thread of the large feed-through element of the treatment head.
28. Heat exchanger according to claim 15, wherein the heat exchanger is configured as a device for the local treatment of human muscles, the device weighing less than 10 kg.
Type: Application
Filed: Dec 29, 2008
Publication Date: Nov 4, 2010
Inventor: Marc Alfons Eugeen Peeters (Baal/Tremelo)
Application Number: 12/811,148
International Classification: F28F 7/00 (20060101); F28F 13/00 (20060101);