Abstract: A system for supplying steam to equipment which uses the heat of the steam and not the pressure for performing work such as commercial laundry equipment. The system is a closed loop having a steam boiler which supplies steam directly to the equipment. A control valve regulates the amount of steam flowing through the equipment which determines the heat imparted to the equipment. The equipment is free of heat traps or other components which retard the flow of steam therethrough. The used steam flows into an improved condenser having a plurality of compartments which slows down the velocity of the steam to help facilitate the condensing process and to enable harmful air trapped in the condenser to be removed. Pumps remove the air from the condenser and maintain a vacuum within the condenser and steam return line from the equipment to maintain the steam flowing through the equipment at a desired rate.

Abstract: Feedwater preheater for heating feedwater in the form of steam turbine condensate by means of condensing extraction steam from a turbine, includes a casing, a fixed tube plate and a movable tube plate disposed opposite one another in the casing, feedwater inlet and outlet chambers located adjacent the fixed tube plate, a feedwater reversing chamber disposed in the casing and partly defined by the movable tube plate, a first group of feedwater conducting tubes connected at one end thereof through the fixed tube plate to the feedwater inlet chamber and at the other end through the movable tube plate to the reversing chamber, a second group of tubes connected at one end thereof through the movable tube plate to the reversing chamber and at the other end thereof through the fixed tube plate to the feedwater outlet chamber, a steam vessel disposed in the casing and surrounding the second group of tubes, the first group of tubes, on the one hand, and the second group of tubes, on the other hand, being mutually spac

Abstract: Feedwater preheater installable horizontally within a turbine exhaust steam housing for heating feedwater by means of condensing bleeder steam from the turbine, includes inlet and outlet chambers for the feedwater both located at one side of the preheater, an outer steam chamber adjacent the inlet and outlet chambers, an inner steam chamber disposed within the outer steam chamber, means for supplying the bleeder steam at different pressures to the respective steam chambers, a water chamber closed in itself partially defining the inner steam chamber, a plurality of feedwater conducting tubes communicating with the feedwater inlet chamber and disposed in the outer steam chamber, the tubes having a substantially 180.degree.

Abstract: The helical expansion condenser is essentially a special heat exchange unit specifically designed for closed cycle vapor turbine systems.The helical expansion condenser, or (HEC), consists of multiple continuous turns or coils of elliptical tubing or built-up metal sheets of elliptical cross-section, which are arranged in a uniform helix.The generally flat elliptical cross-section provides for efficient airflow and heat transfer over the entire surface area of the coils. The airflow over the HEC is provided by vehicular air intake with a large central fan forcing air over forward and aft coils uniformly. Multiple heat pipes are the primary cooling device added to the HEC coils, for a total heat transfer coefficient of 40, approximately.Microfinning of the sheet metal ducts accounts for some of the improved cooling effectiveness.

Abstract: The heat exchanger utilizes variable conductance heat pipes to control the temperature of a cooled liquid or condensate, such as in dry cooling towers, chemical processes, air conditioning, and pollution control. Heat pipes, connected to common or separate gas reservoirs, extend between two separate ducts, one of which is for flow of air and the other is for cooling or condensation of a fluid. The fluid gives up heat to the heat pipes and cooled fluid is collected thereafter. In the air duct, heat is removed from the heat pipes, with the gas reservoir controlling the temperature of the heat pipes, as well as maintaining a constant temperature in the cooling side of the heat exchanger to control the cooling process, to maintain the gas front of the working fluid in the heat pipe solely within the air flow chamber, and to prevent solidification of fluids in the cooling side of the heat exchanger.

Abstract: A thermal transfer system comprising a closed, generally horizontally disposed tubular envelope having heat transfer fins mounted at axially spaced points along its outer surface is disclosed. The interior surface of the tubular envelope has a large number of small circumferentially extending capillary grooves characterized by a restricted opening relative to the base of the grooves. A liquid phase/vapor phase working fluid is contained within the envelope with the liquid phase normally comprising about 50 to about 75 percent of the volume of the envelope at normal operating temperatures. A liquid phase return tube rests on the bottom of the envelope and is open at both ends. The liquid phase return tube has an inside diameter of about 30 to about 40 percent of the inside diameter of the tubular envelope and has a length of between about 65 percent and about 85 percent of the length of the envelope.

Abstract: An air cooled dry-type cooling tower having two sets of dry type heat exchange assemblies with the first set mounted in a vertically extending array on a circle concentric to the wall of the tower housing and the second set mounted generally horizontal and extending from the first set to the wall of the tower housing.

Abstract: An internal combustion engine cooling system is disclosed which utilizes a coolant having a greater viscosity and film strength then water. Heat is transferred from the coolant as it flows through a radiator assembly. The coolant is directed through multiple heat transfer passes defined by core tubes and headers of the radiator with the coolant moving through the core tubes of each pass at a flow velocity which insures a Reynolds number of no less than 5000. The flow velocity is substantially reduced in a header communicating the core tubes of successive heat transfer passes so that a region of substantially quiescent coolant is produced in the header. Air or gas in the coolant is collected and expelled from the header adjacent the quiescent coolant region.

Abstract: The invention concerns an aerocondenser for a thermal power station, comprising, more particularly, a first heat exchanger for reheating the air by exchange of heat with a fluid having a freezing point lower than 0.degree. C, for example, a Freon substance, the respective rates and surfaces of exchange between the fluid having a low freezing point and the water vapor being such that the air is heated to a temperature appreciably above 0.degree. C, before beginning to effect a heat exchange with the water vapor to be condensed.

Abstract: An air cooled surface consenser has a plurality of heat-exchange tubes extending transversely of the direction of air flow and each provided with heat-exchange fins. The interior of each tube is completely unobstructed and the tubes are of oval or elliptical cross section having a major interior dimension normal to their elongation which has a ratio of at least 6:1 with reference to a minor interior dimension which extends normal to the major dimension and the direction of elongation.

Abstract: In a heat pipe the portion of the wicking material which receives the liquid condensed at the condenser surface at the heat output end of the heat pipe is provided with a plurality of large openings extending from the surface adjacent the condenser surface to the opposing surface thereof to avoid condensate accumulation adjacent the condensation surface. Such accumulation blocks access of the condensation surface to vapor and hence increases the thermal impedance of the heat output end of the heat pipe.

Abstract: Steam turbine power plants employ condensers for condensing the dead steam of the turbine. The required cooling in the condenser is obtained by cooling water which is, in case of dry cooling towers, injected into a mixing condenser. Recooling of the cooling water is obtained in surface heat exchangers of the dry cooling tower which carry off the heat by means of air.Where the employment of such system is jeopardised by the hazards of climatic conditions, it is suggested to associate water cooled heat exchangers with the surface heat exchangers and the dry cooling tower of the system. Such water cooled heat exchangers serve as auxiliary means where the cooling effect of the surface heat exchangers of the dry cooling tower fails to ensure a desired low condensation temperature in the mixing condenser.