Process for uniformizing the temperature of a liquid

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10527360-B2
Application number	US-201615579129-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 1, 2016
Priority date	Jun 3, 2015
Publication date	Jan 7, 2020
Grant date	Jan 7, 2020

Abstract

Process for uniformizing the temperature of a liquid coming from a conduit with a constant total flow rate (Qtot), said temperature having a periodic trend in time defined by a first waveform, in which a tank (100) is provided, defining a longitudinal axis, having a lower zone (11) and an upper zone (12), and provided with at least two inlets arranged in a succession between the lower zone (11) and the upper zone (12), with a first inlet (1) proximal to the upper zone (12) and an n-th inlet (n) proximal to the lower zone (11), and provided with at least one outlet (9) arranged between the first inlet (1) and the upper zone (12), and wherein each inlet is arranged at a predetermined distance from the next one along said longitudinal axis.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A process for uniformizing the temperature of a liquid coming from a conduit with a constant total flow rate Q tot , said temperature having a periodic trend over time defined by a first waveform,
wherein there is provided a tank defining a longitudinal axis, having a lower zone and an upper zone, provided with at least two inlets arranged in a succession between the lower zone and the upper zone, with a first inlet proximal to the upper zone and an n-th inlet proximal to the lower zone, and provided with at least one outlet ( 9 ) arranged between the first inlet and the upper zone, wherein said at least two inlets are connected to said conduit with a constant total flow rate Qtot and wherein each inlet is arranged at a predetermined distance from the next one along said longitudinal axis,
said process comprising the steps of:
a) decomposing the first waveform in at least two sinusoidal waves, each having a respective semi-period Δt 1 , Δt 2 , Δt 3 . . . Δt k , with Δt 1 >Δt 2 >Δt 3 > . . . Δt k );
b) carrying out a first sum of the first waveform with a second waveform equal to said first waveform and out of phase with respect to the latter by a first semi-period Δt 1 of a first sinusoidal wave of said at least two sinusoidal waves;
c) if a temperature profile obtained in step b) is constant or variable in time within a predetermined temperature range, providing a tank provided with only two inlets and distributing the total flow rate Q tot between said two inlets so that the respective partial flow rates Q 1 , Q 2 are equal to Q 2 =Q 1 =Q tot /2; otherwise
d) carrying out a second sum of a third waveform, obtained from the first sum, with a fourth waveform that is equal to said first waveform and out of phase with respect to the latter by a time Δt 1 +Δt 2 , defined by the sum of said first semi-period Δt 1 and of a second semi-period Δt 2 of a second sinusoidal wave of said at least two sinusoidal waves;
e) if the temperature profile obtained in step d) is constant or variable in time within said predetermined temperature range, providing a tank provided with only three inlets and distributing the total flow rate Q tot among said three inlets so that the respective partial flow rates Q 1 , Q 2 , Q 3 are equal to Q 1 =Q tot /2 and Q 3 =Q 2 =Q tot /2 2 ; otherwise
f) carrying out a third sum of a fifth waveform, obtained from the second sum, with a sixth waveform that is equal to said first waveform and out of phase with respect to the latter by a time Δt 1 +Δt 2 +Δt 3 , defined by the sum of said first semi-period Δt 1 , said second semi-period Δt 2 and a third semi-period Δt 3 of a third sinusoidal wave of said at least two sinusoidal waves;
g) if the temperature profile obtained in step f) is constant or variable in time within said predetermined temperature range, providing a tank provided with only four inlets and distributing the total flow rate Q tot among said four inlets so that the respective partial flow rates Q 1 , Q 2 , Q 3 , Q 4 are equal to Q 1 =Q tot /2, Q 2 =Q tot /2 2 and Q 4 =Q 3 =Q tot /2 3 ; otherwise
h) continuing up to carrying out an (n−1)-th sum of a p-th waveform with a (p+1)-th waveform that is equal to said first waveform and out of phase with respect to the latter by a time Δt 1 +Δt 2 +Δt 3 + . . . Δt k , where Δt k is a k-th semi-period of a k-th sinusoidal wave of said at least two sinusoidal waves, with k=(p+1)/2; and providing a tank provided with “n” inlets distributing the total flow rate Q tot among said “n” inlets so that the respective partial flow rates are equal to Q i =Q tot /2 i , with i=1, . . . n−1 and with Q n =Q n-1 =Q tot /2 (n-1) .

2. A process according to claim 1 , wherein if the first waveform is decomposed into a sum of two sinusoidal waves, each having a respective semi-period Δt t , Δt 2 , with Δt 1 >Δt 2 , the process stops at step c) or at step e).

3. A process according to claim 1 , wherein if the first waveform is decomposed into a sum of three sinusoidal waves, each having a respective semi-period Δt 1 , Δt 2 , Δt 3 with Δt 1 >Δt 2 >Δt 3 , the process stops at step c) or at step e) or at step g).

4. A process according to claim 1 , wherein a maximum number of inlets is equal to (k+1), where k is the number of sinusoidal waves in which the first waveform is decomposed.

5. A process according to claim 1 , wherein the tank is substantially cylindrical and has a transverse section, along a plane orthogonal to the longitudinal axis thereof, having a predetermined area A, and the rising speed v 1 , . . . , v i , . . . v n of the liquid inside the tank, towards the upper zone, is defined by the relations:

v
i

=

∑

k
=
i

n

⁢

Q
k

A

where v i =rising speed starting from the i-th inlet.

6. A process according to claim 4 , wherein each inlet i=1, . . . m is arranged at a predetermined distance from the next one, the distance between each inlet being defined by the relations:
h n-1 =v n ·Δt 1 ;h n-2 =v n-1 ·Δt 2 and so on,
where:
h n-1 =distance between the n-th inlet (n) and the next inlet (n−1),
h n-2 =distance between said next inlet (n−1) and a further next inlet (n−2).

7. A storage tank for uniformizing, by means of a process according to claim 1 , a temperature of a liquid coming from a conduit with a constant total flow rate Qtot, said temperature having a periodic trend over time defined by a first waveform, the tank defining a longitudinal axis, having a lower zone and an upper zone, and provided with at least two inlets arranged in a succession between the lower zone and the upper zone, with a first inlet proximal to the upper zone and an n-th inlet proximal to the lower zone, and provided with, at least one outlet arranged between the first inlet and the upper zone, and wherein each inlet is arranged at a predetermined distance from the next one along said longitudinal axis,
wherein the maximum number of inlets is equal to (k+1), where k is the number of sinusoidal waves in which said first waveform is decomposed.

Assignees

• Danieli Off Mecc

Inventors

• Bertolissio Arrigo
• Magris Francesco

Classifications

• F28D21/0001

  Recuperative heat exchangers · CPC title

• F15D1/00

  Influencing flow of fluids · CPC title

• F02B37/013

  with exhaust-driven pumps arranged in series · CPC title

• F01N2340/06

  Arrangement of the exhaust apparatus relative to the turbine of a turbocharger · CPC title

• F02B37/18

  by bypassing exhaust {from the inlet to the outlet of turbine or to the atmosphere} · CPC title