Tube-in-tube ionic liquid heat exchanger employing a selectively permeable tube

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12031777-B2
Application number	US-202217953277-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 26, 2022
Priority date	Apr 12, 2019
Publication date	Jul 9, 2024
Grant date	Jul 9, 2024

Abstract

A tube-in-tube heat exchanger utilizes a selectively permeable tube having a selective permeable layer to allow the refrigerant to transfer into an ionic liquid to generate heating or cooling. The ionic liquid then provides heating or cooling to a heat transfer fluid through a non-permeable layer or tube. The system may be configured as a shell and tube design, with the third fluid free to flow on the outside of the shell, or as a shell and tube-in-tube, with a central tube containing a first liquid, a second tube containing a second liquid, and an outer shell containing the third liquid. The selectively permeable tube may include an anion or cation selectively permeable layer and this layer may be supported by a support layer or tube.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A tube-in-tube heat exchanger comprising:
a) a selectively permeable tube comprising a selectively permeable layer and having an inside surface and an outside surface;
b) a non-permeable tube having an inside surface and an outside surface;
c) a flow of refrigerant;
d) a flow of an ionic liquid;
e) a flow of heat transfer fluid that exchanges heat with the flow of ionic liquid;
wherein the flow of refrigerant is along one of the inside or outside surfaces of the selectively permeable tube and wherein the flow of ionic liquid is along the other of the inside surface and outside surface of the selectively permeable tube;
wherein the refrigerant is transferred through the selectively permeable tube into the flow of ionic liquid;
wherein heat is transferred between ionic liquid and the heat transfer fluid.

2. The tube-in-tube heat exchanger of claim 1 , wherein the ionic liquid is an endothermic ionic liquid having an endothermic heat of absorption and wherein the refrigerant is transferred from the flow of refrigerant to the flow of ionic liquid to cool the ionic liquid.

3. The tube-in-tube heat exchanger of claim 1 , wherein the ionic liquid is an exothermic ionic liquid having an exothermic heat of absorption and wherein refrigerant is transferred from the flow of ionic liquid to the flow of refrigerant to the heat the ionic liquid.

4. The tube-in-tube heat exchanger of claim 1 , wherein the tube-in-tube heat exchanger comprises an inner tube and an outer tube configured around said inner tube.

5. The tube-in-tube heat exchanger of claim 4 , wherein the non-permeable tube is the inner tube of the tube-in-tube heat exchanger and wherein the selectively permeable tube is the outer tube of the tube-in-tube heat exchanger.

6. The tube-in-tube heat exchanger of claim 5 , wherein the flow of heat transfer fluid is through the inner tube which is the non-permeable tube and wherein the flow of ionic liquid is between the inner and outer tube and wherein the flow of refrigerant is over the outside surface of the outer tube.

7. The tube-in-tube heat exchanger of claim 6 , further comprising an outer shell and wherein the flow of refrigerant is between the outer shell and the outer tube.

8. The tube-in-tube heat exchanger of claim 4 , wherein the non-permeable tube is the outer tube of the tube-in-tube heat exchanger and wherein the selectively permeable tube is the inner tube of the tube-in-tube heat exchanger.

9. The tube-in-tube heat exchanger of claim 8 , wherein the flow of refrigerant is through the inner tube which is the selectively permeable tube and wherein the flow of ionic liquid is between the inner tube and outer tube and wherein the flow of refrigerant is through the inner tube.

10. The tube-in-tube heat exchanger of claim 9 , further comprising an outer shell and wherein the flow of heat transfer fluid is between the outer shell and the outer tube.

11. The tube-in-tube heat exchanger of claim 1 , wherein the selectively permeable layer comprises a proton conducting polymer.

12. The tube-in-tube heat exchanger of claim 11 , wherein the proton conducting polymer comprises a perfluorosulfonic acid polymer.

13. The tube-in-tube heat exchanger of claim 1 , wherein the selectively permeable layer comprises an anion conducting polymer.

14. The tube-in-tube heat exchanger of claim 13 , wherein the anion conducting polymer comprises a quaternary ammonium functional group.

15. The tube-in-tube heat exchanger of claim 14 , wherein the conducting polymer comprises a backbone selected from the group consisting of: poly(styrene), poly(phenylene), polybenzimidazole and poly(arylene).

16. The tube-in-tube heat exchanger of claim 1 , wherein the selectively permeable layer comprises a non-ionic transfer medium.

17. The tube-in-tube heat exchanger of claim 16 , wherein the non-ionic transfer medium is selected from the group consisting of: Ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymer, polyethylene, polyester, polyether, polyamide, polyacrylonitrile, polyurethane, polyglycolide, polyvinylpyrrolidone, polyoxazoline or cellulose-based.

18. The tube-in-tube heat exchanger of claim 17 , wherein the non-ionic transfer medium is a copolymer.

19. The tube-in-tube heat exchanger of claim 1 , wherein the ionic liquid includes a cation selected from the group consisting of: pyridinium, pyridazinium, pyrimidinium, pyrazinium, imidazolium, pyrazolium, thiazolium, oxazolium, triazolium, phosphonium, and ammonium.

20. The tube-in-tube heat exchanger of claim 19 , wherein the ionic liquid includes an anion selected from the group consisting of: [CH 3 CO 2 ] − , [HSO 4 ] − , [CH 3 OSO 3 ] − , [C 2 H 5 OSO 3 ] − , [AlCl 4 ] − , [CO 3 ] 2− , [HCO 3 ] − , [NO 2 ] − , [NO 3 ] − , [PO 4 ] 3− , [HPO 4 ] 2− , [H 2 PO 4 ] − , [HSO 3 ] − , [CuCl 2 ] − , Cl − , Br − , I − , SCN − , [BF 4 ] − , [PF 6 ] − , [SbF 6 ] − , [CF 3 SO 3 ] − , [HCF 2 CF 2 SO 3 ] − , [CF 3 HFCCF 2 SO 3 ] − , [HCCIFCF 2 SO 3 ] − , [(CF 3 SO 2 ) 2 N] − , [(CF 3 CF 2 SO 2 ) 2 N] − , [(CF 3 SO 2 ) 3 C] − , [CF 3 CO 2 ] − , [CF 3 OCFHCF 2 SO 3 ] − , [CF 3 CF 2 OCFHCF 2 SO 3 ] − , [CF 3 CFHOCF 2 CF 2 SO 3 ] − , [CF 2 HCF 2 OCF 2 CF 2 SO 3 ] − , [CF 2 ICF 2 OCF 2 CF 2 SO 3 ] − , [CF 3 CF 2 OCF 2 CF 2 SO 3 ] − , [(CF 2 HCF 2 SO 2 ) 2 N] − , [(CF 3 CFHCF 2 SO 2 ) 2 N] − , and F − .

Assignees

• Xergy Inc
• Ffi Ionix Ip Inc

Inventors

• Bahar Bamdad
• Zerby Jacob
• Opadrishta Harish
• Woods Jason
• Liu Xiaobing

Classifications

• F25B37/00

  Absorbers; Adsorbers (boiler-absorbers F25B35/00) · CPC title

• F25B15/14

  using osmosis {(F25B15/004, F25B15/006, F25B15/008 take precedence)} · CPC title

• F28D20/003

  using thermochemical reactions · CPC title

• F28D7/103

  consisting of more than two coaxial conduits or modules of more than two coaxial conduits · CPC title

• F28F27/02

  for controlling the distribution of heat-exchange media between different channels ({static flow control means in header boxes F28F9/026}; arrangements of guide plates or guide vanes F28F9/22, F28F25/12) · CPC title