The invention relates to a heat exchanger intended for transferring heat between mediums in the same or in different state, according to the preamble of claim 1.

Heat exchangers are utilised in many applications for heating or cooling a medium. The medium is conveyed through the heat exchanger, where the medium is either cooled or heated. Heat transfer can also utilise several different mediums, whereby some mediums are cooled and other mediums are heated.

Previously is known a plate heat exchanger intended for the heat transfer of fluids and gases, which consists of stacked plates in which one heat-transfer medium circulates between every other plate and another heat-transfer medium circulates between every other plate.

Previously is also known a heat exchanger of plate and modular structure within a shell intended for the heat transfer of fluids and gases, in which stacked modules within the shell forming a plate pack consist of two plates which are connected with a jacket and one heat-transfer medium is conveyed within the modules and another heat- transfer medium is conveyed within the shell and outside the modules.

Previously is further known a heat exchanger of plate and modular structure within a shell intended for the heat transfer of solid matter and fluid or gas, in which stacked modules within the shell consist of two plates which are connected with a jacket and fluid or gas is conveyed within the modules and solid matter is conveyed within the shell and outside the modules.

Previously known heat exchangers cannot process all mediums in different states but they are specialised case-specifically to heat transfer occurring e.g. from fluid to fluid or from fluid to solid matter. Also for this reason, known heat exchangers are complex of their construction and separately customised for each application.

The object of the invention is to introduce a modular plate heat exchanger device which is applicable for the effective and cost-effective heat transfer between mediums being in the same or in different state, being solid, fluid and/or gaseous.

The device according to the invention is characterised by what is presented in the characterising part of claim 1.

According to the invention, the module includes as planes a cover plane, an intermediate plane and a bottom plane, of which the cover plane and the bottom plane are connected with each other with a jacket and the intermediate plane is arranged to guide the conveyance of the medium inside the module along the cover plane, the jacket and the bottom plane. Furthermore, the cover plane includes at least one inlet nozzle via which the heat-transfer medium is arranged transferrable within the module, the bottom plane includes at least one outlet nozzle via which the heat-transfer medium is arranged transferrable out of the module and the modules are connected with each other from the outlet nozzle of the upper module and the inlet nozzle of the lower module such that there is a gap between the bottom plane of the upper module and the cover plane of the lower module. By means of such a simplified module construction, it is possible to process solid, fluid and/or gaseous mediums within the module and, in this way by combining the modules, the heat exchanger receives a lot of effective heat-transfer area which increases the operation efficiency of the heat exchanger.

In an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the module, the cover plane, the intermediate plane, the bottom plane and the jacket are circular of their shape. When the inlet and outlet nozzles are in the middle of the cover and the bottom planes, the medium conveyed in the module travels due to the circular shape evenly first from the centre point towards the jacket and then back from the jacket towards the centre point. Because of the even conveyance, the flow velocity of the medium follows the waveform when drawn as a function, which is due to the fact that the flow velocity of the medium is always fast in the vicinity of the module centre point and slow in the vicinity of the jacket.

In an advantageous additional embodiment of the invention, the heat exchanger includes a conveyor between the planes, rotatable around its own axle to transfer the medium within the module such that the conveyor between the cover plane and the intermediate plane is arranged to push the medium towards the jacket and the conveyor between the intermediate plane and the bottom plane is arranged to pull the medium outwards from the jacket. By means of the rotating conveyor, it is also possible to convey inside the module such solid or sticky matters which would not be conveyed without a separate conveyor.

In an advantageous further embodiment of the invention, the heat exchanger includes at least one shell outside the module intended for the management of the heat-transfer medium within which shell there is at least one module. When one or more modules are within one or more shells within each other or on top of each other, it is possible to controllably use selected mediums as heat-transfer mediums outside the modules, e.g. in one shell a medium at different temperature than the one in the other shell. All modules can be within one shell, connected in series or connected in parallel or, alternatively, there can be its own shell for each module or some version between these alternatives.

In an advantageous additional embodiment of the invention, the shell includes intermediate plates which are in a gap remaining between two modules on top of each other such that they control the heat-transfer medium being conveyed outside the modules along the bottom plane of the upper module and the cover plane of the lower module. Because of the intermediate plates, the external medium is conveyed along the outer surface of the module likewise as the internal medium of the module is conveyed along the inner surface of the module, due to which, the mediums are overlapping plate-like in relation to each other to provide a heat-transfer area as large as possible.

In an advantageous further embodiment of the invention, the intermediate plane of the module is a separately operating heat-transfer element which is arranged to operate by means of a heat-transfer medium or electricity. When the intermediate plane operates as a separate heat-transfer element, the heat exchanger operates with three powers, whereby the medium within the module exchanges heat with the medium outside the module and with another medium being within an intermediate plate in the middle of the medium within the module or an electric resistor. In an advantageous additional embodiment of the invention, a connecting piece between the modules includes a separate nozzle via which the medium being conveyed within the module is removed or some medium is inserted within the module. The separate nozzle conveying outside the module operates e.g. as a pressure reducer when pressure within the module increases too high or as a suction channel when wishing to develop underpressure within the module. Via the nozzle, it is also possible to add some medium to the medium within the module e.g. in order to increase pressure or to accelerate or decelerate some reaction, such as e.g. inert gas to prevent burning. Via the nozzle, it is also possible to introduce several modules such that the medium is conveyed from one upper module to several following modules or, alternatively, from several upper modules to one lower module.

The invention can be used in all positions, e.g. in the vertical position, horizontal position or, alternatively, in some position between them. Next, an example of a heat exchanger according to the invention will be described by referring to the attached drawing. This invention is not, however, limited to this embodiment. In the drawing,

Fig. 1 shows a schematic and cutaway view of a module of a heat exchanger according to the invention and

Fig. 2 shows a schematic and cutaway view of a heat exchanger according to the invention.

A module 2 according to Fig. 1 includes a plate-like cover plane 3, intermediate plane 4 and bottom plane 5 and a jacket 6 surrounding the plate planes which connects the cover plane 3 with the bottom plane 5. The cover plane 3 includes an inlet nozzle 7 intended for a heat-transfer medium and the bottom plane 5 includes an outlet nozzle 8 intended for a heat-transfer medium.

The module 2 according to Fig. 1 operates as a heat exchanger such that, within the module 2, there is one heat-transfer medium and, outside the module 2, there is another heat-transfer medium, which exchange heat energy via the material of the module 2.

The heat-transfer medium within the module 2 is first conveyed from the inlet nozzle 7 within the module 2 and then along the cover plane 3 and the intermediate plane 4 towards the jacket 6, from where next along the bottom plane 5 and the intermediate plane 4 outwards from the jacket 6 towards the centre, from where then from the outlet nozzle 8 out of the module 2.

The modules 2 according to Fig. 1 are connectable with each other on top of each other from the outlet nozzle 8 of the upper module 2 and the inlet nozzle 7 of the lower module 2 such that a gap remains between the bottom plane 5 of the upper module 2 and the cover plane 3 of the lower module 2.

By connecting modules 2 accordmg to the example, the heat exchanger 1 obtains a lot of heat-transfer area without the total volume of the heat exchanger increasing in the same ratio. The gap remaining when connecting the modules 2 enables the spreading of the heat-transfer medium conveyed outside the module 2 into a large surface area.

The module 2 according to Fig. 1, the cover plane 3, the intermediate plane 4 and the jacket 6 are circular and the inlet nozzle 7 and the outlet nozzle 8 are in the middle of the module 2, whereby the heat-transfer medium conveying within the module 2 moves evenly first from the centre point towards the jacket 6 and then back towards the centre point. Due to the even conveyance, the flow velocity of medium is always evenly fast in the vicinity of the centre point and evenly slow in the vicinity of the jacket 6.

Solid matter within the module 2 is conveyed between the cover plane 3 and the intermediate plane 4 as well as the bottom plane 5 and the intermediate plane 4 by a conveyor rotating around its own axle such that the conveyor between the cover plane 3 and the intermediate plane 4 pushes the medium towards the jacket 6 and that the conveyor between the intermediate plane 4 and the bottom plane 5 pulls the medium outwards from the jacket 6. The rotating conveyor conveys within the module 2 the solid and sticky matter which would not be conveyed without a separate conveyor.

The heat exchanger 1 according to Fig. 2 includes two modules 2 on top of each other and a shell 9 surrounding the modules 2 within which shell there is a heat- transfer medium being outside the module 2.

In the example shown in Fig. 2, the shell 9 includes intermediate plates 10 which are in a gap remaining between the two modules 2 on top of each other such that they control the heat-transfer medium being conveyed outside the modules 2 along the bottom plane 5 of the upper module 2 and the cover plane 3 of the lower module 2.

In this example, the intermediate plane 4 of the module 2 is a separately operating heat-transfer element which operates by means of electricity. Because of this, also the intermediate plane 4 exchanges heat with the heat-transfer medium within the module 2.

In the heat exchanger 1 according to Fig. 2, a connecting piece 1 1 between the modules 2 includes a separate nozzle 12 via which overpressure forming within the module 2 is released for balancing the pressure.

The invention is not limited to the advantageous embodiment described. The device according to the invention can utilise previously known devices and methods for ensuring effective heat transfer, such as e.g. wavy plate material in the structures.