OF POS ITIVE POWER E FFI C I E NT VENTI LATI ON OF ROOMS

Field of the Invention

This invention relates to the structure of regenerative heat exchangers for equipments of positive power efficient ventilation of rooms of habitable, public and industrial buildings.

Background Art

Many modern equipments of positive power efficient ventilation have been equipped with regenerative heat exchangers.

They are using for a long time in industry with the view of preheating of air or air-gas mixtures by heat of spent combustion products by alternate transmission of theirs through ducts within a flow-trough heat-capacious filling (see, for example, Eo/ibuioii 3HU,w<noneAiiHecKMi¾ cnOBapb nOJlMTEXHMMECKMI l. - M: HayHHoe ii3 aTenbCTBo «Eonbiuafi PoccnficKafl 3Hu.iiKJioneAMfl», cjioeapHaa CTaTba «PereHepaTOp B τβπποτβΧΗΜΚβ», c.447; In English: Great encyclopaedic dictionary POLYTECHNIC. - Moscow: Scientific Publishing House "Great Russian Encyclopaedia", the entry "Regenerator in heat technology", p.447).

Well-known industrial regenerative heat exchangers operate usually at temperature differences up to several hundreds Celsius degrees and at flow discharge up to one or more thousand cubic meters per hour. Respectively, they have overall dimensions about a few meters. This allows easy and simply assemblage of a heat-capacious fillings by use of single pieces such as refractory bricks or temperature-resistant metal plates.

Known at present large-size equipments for centralized positive power efficient ventilation have multibranch duct system. Therefore they are usually equipped with rotor- type regenerative heat exchangers (http://eco-vent.com.ua/pics/aw-theme.pdf), which are resource-demanding, difficult-to-make and effortful-to-maintenance and need electric energy for rotation of massive rotor at a rate of 2000-3500 rpm.

However, regenerative equipments for local positive power efficient ventilation must be, as a rule, small-size. Especially, they must have appreciably less than 1 m long and less than 0.5 m in breadth and in height. It allows to exclude encumbering of interior and to provide free arrangement of furniture or technical equipment and movement of people within any habitable ventilated room.

Regenerative heat exchangers for such equipments have fixed heat-capacious fillings in the form of a ceramic monoblocks having a plurality of parallel flow-trough holes. E.g., an exchanger for «ΤΒΙΊΗ Φρ3ΐιι» equipments (see <http://vents.ua/cat/618/>) has:

A hollow (as a rule, round in cross-section) housing,

A heat-capacious filling of said housing (specifically in the form of said monoblocks having a plurality of round or quadratic in cross-section parallel trough holes measuring from 1.5 to 3.5 mm, which have divided by walls measuring from 0.5 to 1.5 mm), and

Manifolds, which are located on ends of said filling and serve by-turn in operative position for inlet and outlet of heated or cooled air flows.

Unfortunately, fabrication of ceramic monoblocks is labour-consuming. Moreover, their operating surfaces have appreciable roughnesses arisen as a result of burning and sintering of rough workpieces. Such roughnesses are capable to increase air resistance and to retain impurities within said trough holes that promote further degradation of operating characteristics. This forces to use of cleanable or disposable air filters, which increase air resistance additionally. Therefore, known equipments for local positive power efficient ventilation having said heat exchangers are inconvenient and unreliable and provide small- scale productivity (as a rule no more than 30 cubic meters per hour).

Majority of these disadvantages are overcome by use of regenerative heat exchangers equipped with smooth fillings produced from thermoplastic materials because specific heat capacity of theirs is almost twice greater in comparison with extensively used cordierite ceramic (see <http://blauberqventilatoren.de> and <http://heliosventilatoren.de>). This allows increasing air exchange approximately twice with the same outer dimensions and efficiency coefficient of regenerative heat exchangers.

A regenerative heat exchanger closest to the proposed below device is known from UA 95195 U (WO 2016/007111 A1 ). It has a hollow housing and a fixed within this housing thermoplastic flow-trough heat-capacious filling that has a plurality of through holes. Said filling has the appearance of at least two (plate or round) lamellar details which are divided by regularly located partitions that serve as walls of said holes.

Such heat exchanger can be equipped on ends by manifolds that serve by-turn in operative position for inlet and outlet of heated or cooled air flows.

Use of thermoplastic polymeric materials for fabrication of the heat-capacious filling (preferably by extrusion of long-length semimanufactured articles and subsequent resawing of theirs) allows forming perfectly smooth walls of said through holes even if operating surfaces of extrusion heads have a certain roughness. In fact, surface tension of polymer melt provides smoothing all surfaces of any heat-capacious fillings immediately at outlet of theirs from extrusion zone.

However, the filling according to the UA 95195 U can be especially manufacturable for rectangular housings but is very labour-intensive in respect to nonrectangular (e.g. cylindrical) housings, because forming of curvilinear thin-walled workpieces having great number of partitions requires complicate extruder dies and resawing of such workpieces can be effective only by use of special accessories. This complicates and raises the price of production of regenerative heat exchangers.

Summary of the Invention

The invention is based on the problem to create - by change of heat-capacious filling structure - a substantially more manufacturable regenerative heat exchanger.

This problem has solved in that in a regenerative heat exchanger for equipment of positive power efficient ventilation of rooms having a hollow housing and a fixed within this housing thermoplastic flow-trough heat-capacious filling that has a plurality of through holes according to the invention said filling is composed of thermoplastic tubular details selected from the group consisting of single tubes and blocks of tubes, walls of which are rigidly joined.

Such tubular details can be easy and economically produced either in the form of single tubes (by extrusion of long-length semimanufactured workpieces and resawing of theirs using simple extruder dies and usual mechanical cutters), or in the form of blocks of tubes (by die-casting or moulding). Sharp rise of demand for equipments of positive power efficient ventilation, which occurs in recent years, promotes organisation of mass production of said tubular details from available polypropylene, polyvinylchloride, polycarbonate and other thermoplastic polymers having high specific heat capacity.

First additional feature consists in that said tubular details have cross-section selected from the group consisting of circle, quadrate and regular hexagon. This allows producing regenerative heat exchangers characterised with aesthetically acceptable round, quadratic and hexahedral housings.

Second additional feature consists in that said tubular details have longitudinal internal partitions. It increases mass and, respectively, effective heat capacity of theirs without conspicuous complication of production processes and accessories. Moreover, such partitions stimulate tubulisation of air flows and increase thereby efficiency of heat regeneration.

It is clear for each person skilled in the art that said additional features can be used in various combinations with basic conception of the invention, and that this conception can be actualized in many embodiments within scope of rights, which are restricted only by claims.

Brief Description of Drawings

The invention will now be explained by detailed description of proposed regenerative heat exchanger with references to the accompanying drawings, in which -

Fig. 1 shows one sample of a regenerative heat exchanger that has a round housing and a filling composed of single round tubular details (axonometric view);

Fig. 2 shows other sample of a regenerative heat exchanger that has a quadratic housing and a filling composed of quadratic block-type tubular details (axonometric view);

Figs 3, 4 and 5 show samples of preferable (notably round, quadratic and hexagonal) forms tubular details produced from thermoplastics;

Figs 6 and 7 show samples of single round tubular details having internal partitions.

Best Embodiments of the Invention

Any regenerative heat exchanger embodiment has (see Figs 1 and 2) a hollow

(metallic or plastic) housing 1 having arbitrary form in cross section, and a fixed within of this housing filling composed of thermoplastic tubular details 2

End faces of the heat exchanger can have ornamental onlays 3 produced preferably from a gas-permeable material. Particularly, such onlays 3 can simulate a trade mark appurtenant to a manufacturer of regenerative heat exchangers and/or factory-assembled equipments of positive power efficient ventilation.

It is preferably (but not obligatory), if the tubular details 2 have cross-section selected from the group consisting of circle, quadrate and regular hexagon as showed on the Figs 3, 4 and 5.

Moreover, it is desirable, if the tubular details 2 have longitudinal internal (especially, single or cross-shaped) partitions 4 as showed on the Figs 6 and 7.

The tubular details 2 can be shaped as single (preferably but not obligatory round) tubes as showed on the Fig. 1 , or blocks of tubes, walls of which are rigidly joined (and, particularly, unit-cast) as showed on the Fig. 2.

The described regenerative heat exchangers fabricate as follows. The single tubular details 2 can be fixed within the housings 1 by putting with negative allowance, or by glueing (that is preferably), or by welding. Interstices between osculating single tubular details 2 can be free-permeable, weakly-permeable and non-permeable depending on a method and materials used for their assemblage. The tubular details 2 shaped as blocks of tubes produce usually in the form of relatively thick (no less than 1 cm) 'tablets', which insert sequentially into housings 1.

Equipments of positive power efficient ventilation must have multiple of two quantity of the regenerative heat exchangers. Batteries composed of two (four, six etc.) the described heat exchangers can provide in each their couple synchronous cooling of warm air and heat accumulation in a heat-capacious filling of one heat exchanger and heating of cold air by egress of heat from a heat-capacious filling of other heat exchanger. Controlling means for this purpose are well-known.

The described regenerative heat exchanger operates in well-known way. Working procedure is based on alternate transmission of warm and cold air through holes of tubular details 2 (and through interstices between osculating single tubes, if they are presented) during certain run time (for example, from 50 to 90 s in each direction).

Industrial Applicability

Production of heat-capacious fillings from thermoplastic tubular details allows substantial simplifying (and reducing cost price) of production of regenerative heat exchangers for any equipments of positive power efficient ventilation that are capable to operate locally (within one or two rooms) and centrally (within great number of rooms).