Heat exchanger, in particular block-in-shell heat exchanger comprising a separating unit for separating a gaseous phase from a liquid phase and for distributing the liquid phase

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10113806-B2
Application number	US-201515534542-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 7, 2015
Priority date	Dec 23, 2014
Publication date	Oct 30, 2018
Grant date	Oct 30, 2018

Abstract

An apparatus for the treatment of infections associated with respiratory disorders in a mammal with a mixture for use as an inhalable medicament. The apparatus includes a patient interface, at least one source of helium for providing gaseous helium, at least one source of oxygen for providing gaseous oxygen, an application device for providing a mixture to the patient interface, at least one source of nitric oxide for providing gaseous nitric oxide, a gas injector for injecting the nitric oxide into the mixture, an injector for injecting a means for inhibiting growth of pulmonary pathogens, a controller programmed for controlling the gas injector, the application device and the injector.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A heat exchanger for indirectly exchanging heat between a first medium and a second medium comprising:
a tank, which has an inner space for receiving the two-phase first medium
a plate heat exchanger arranged in the inner space, for indirectly exchanging heat between the first medium and the second medium, the inner space being designed to receive the first medium with a filling height such that a liquid phase of the first medium forms a bath surrounding the plate heat exchanger, and
an inlet for introducing the first medium into the inner space, characterized in that

a separating unit forming a receiving space is provided in the inner space for separating the gaseous phase from the liquid phase of the first medium, the separating unit having at least one upwardly directed receiving opening for introducing into the receiving space first medium falling down in the inner space, the upwardly directed receiving opening being arranged above the filling height or at the filling height, so that the gaseous phase of the first medium that is received in the receiving space can escape via the receiving opening into the inner space, and a distributor that is in flow connection with the inlet and is arranged vertically above the receiving opening and also above the filling height being provided in the inner space, the distributor being designed to distribute the first medium over the receiving opening.

2. The heat exchanger as claimed in claim 1 , characterized in that the separating unit has a first side wall, which is in particular facing the inner space.

3. The heat exchanger as claimed in claim 2 , characterized in that the first side wall has at least one distributing opening, the at least one distributing opening being arranged at least partially under the filling height, so that the liquid phase of the first medium can be introduced by way of the at least one distributing opening into the bath surrounding the plate heat exchanger.

4. The heat exchanger as claimed in claim 2 , characterized in that the first side wall is formed as an overflow wall.

5. The heat exchanger as claimed in claim 1 , characterized in that the distributor for distributing the first medium over the receiving opening has at least one downwardly directed outlet opening and also in particular a conducting device.

6. The heat exchanger as claimed in claim 2 , characterized in that the separating unit has a second side wall, which lies opposite the first side wall and is particular formed by a wall or a shell of the tank.

7. The heat exchanger as claimed claim 1 , characterized in that the separating unit has a third side wall and a fourth side wall opposite the third side wall, the third and fourth side walls respectively connecting the first and second side walls to one another and in particular being arranged perpendicularly in installation, and in particular the third and/or fourth side walls respectively being formed as an overflow wall.

8. The heat exchanger as claimed in claim 7 , characterized in that the third and fourth side walls respectively have at least one side opening for letting out a liquid phase of the first medium, the respective at least one side opening being formed in particular as a circular hole.

9. The heat exchanger as claimed in claim 1 , characterized in that the separating unit is open at both its end faces.

10. The heat exchanger as claimed in claim 2 , characterized in that the first side wall is inclined toward the plate heat exchanger and forms an angle with the vertical in the range of 15° to 75°, in particular 45°.

11. The heat exchanger as claimed in claim 1 , characterized in that the plate heat exchanger has first heat exchanging passages for the first medium and second heat exchanging passages for the second medium, the heat exchanging passages being separated from one another by separating plates, heat conducting structures being arranged in particular in the first and second heat exchanging passages, and in particular the plate heat exchanger having outlet openings on an upper side of the plate heat exchanger and also inlet openings on an underside of the plate heat exchanger, so that a liquid phase of the first medium surrounding the plate heat exchanger can pass by way of those inlet openings into the first heat exchanging passages and can rise up in the latter and also leave again from the outlet openings.

12. The heat exchanger as claimed in claim 5 , characterized in that the heat exchanger 7 has a conducting device which is arranged under the distributor and is designed for conducting the liquid phase of the first medium that is leaving the at least one outlet opening.

13. The heat exchanger as claimed in claim 12 , characterized in that the conducting device is designed to conduct at least part of the liquid phase that has left the at least one outlet opening in a first spatial direction into a second spatial direction, the second spatial direction in particular being different from the first spatial direction, and the second spatial direction in particular having a greater horizontal component than the first spatial direction, and the first spatial direction running in particular along the vertical from the top downward.

14. The heat exchanger as claimed in claim 1 , characterized in that a device for conducting and/or controlling the liquid phase in the receiving space is provided in the receiving space of the separating unit, the device in particular having at least one of the following elements: a conducting element, in particular in the form of a baffle, for deflecting and/or decelerating a flow of the liquid phase, a mesh, in particular a wire mesh, for decelerating a flow of the liquid phase and/or for assisting the agglomeration of gas bubbles of an entrained gaseous phase.

15. The heat exchanger as claimed in claim 1 , characterized in that the separating unit extends over more than half of the length of a shell of the tank in the inner space of the heat exchanger, preferably over more than 80% of this length, more preferably over more than 90% of this length.

Assignees

• Linde Ag

Inventors

• Brenner Steffen
• Kayser Stefan
• Davies Paul Raymond

Classifications

• F28F9/026 Primary

  with static flow control means, e.g. with means for uniformly distributing heat exchange media into conduits · CPC title

• F28D9/0006 Primary

  the plate-like or laminated conduits being enclosed within a pressure vessel · CPC title

• F28D21/0017 Primary

  Flooded core heat exchangers (in large body of fluid F28D1/0206) · CPC title

• F25B2339/047

  Water-cooled condensers · CPC title

• F28D2021/0064

  Vaporizers, e.g. evaporators · CPC title