Cartridge sealing and alignment in a pressure exchanger

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2023304512-A1
Application number	US-202318125332-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 23, 2023
Priority date	Mar 24, 2022
Publication date	Sep 28, 2023
Grant date	—

Abstract

A pressure exchanger includes a rotor configured to exchange pressure between a first fluid and a second fluid. The pressure exchanger further includes a sleeve disposed around the rotor and a first end cover disposed at a first distal end of the rotor. The pressure exchanger further includes one or more first sealing components configured to prevent leakage between the sleeve and the first end cover.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A pressure exchanger comprising:
a rotor configured to exchange pressure between a first fluid and a second fluid; a sleeve disposed around the rotor; a first end cover disposed at a first distal end of the rotor; and one or more first sealing components configured to prevent leakage between the sleeve and the first end cover.

2 . The pressure exchanger of claim 1 further comprising one or more alignment components configured to align the first end cover with at least one of the sleeve or a second end cover, wherein the second end cover is disposed at a second distal end of the rotor.

3 . The pressure exchanger of claim 1 , wherein the one or more first sealing components comprise:
a seal ring disposed around the pressure exchanger; a first gasket disposed between the seal ring and the first end cover; and a second gasket disposed between the seal ring and the sleeve.

4 . The pressure exchanger of claim 3 further comprising:
a first pin disposed in an end cover recess formed by an end cover outer surface of the first end cover, wherein the first pin engages with a seal ring upper recess formed by an upper surface of the seal ring; and
a second pin disposed in a sleeve recess formed by a sleeve outer surface of the sleeve, wherein the second pin engages with a seal ring lower recess formed by a lower surface of the seal ring.

5 . The pressure exchanger of claim 1 further comprising:
a second end cover disposed at a second distal end of the rotor; and
one or more second sealing components configured to prevent leakage between the sleeve and the second end cover.

6 . The pressure exchanger of claim 1 , wherein the one or more first sealing components comprise:
a first flange ring coupled to an end cover outer surface of the first end cover; a second flange ring coupled to a sleeve outer surface of the sleeve; a first gasket disposed between the first flange ring and the first end cover; a second gasket disposed between the second flange ring and the sleeve; and a third gasket disposed between the first flange ring and the second flange ring.

7 . The pressure exchanger of claim 1 , wherein the one or more first sealing components comprise a flexible component adhered to a portion of the pressure exchanger comprising an interface between the first end cover and the sleeve.

8 . The pressure exchanger of claim 1 , wherein the one or more first sealing components comprise a gasket disposed between a lower surface of the first end cover and an upper surface of the sleeve.

9 . The pressure exchanger of claim 1 , wherein an overlapping portion of the first end cover overlaps a sleeve outer surface of the sleeve, and wherein the one or more first sealing components comprises a gasket disposed between an inner surface of the overlapping portion of the first end cover and the sleeve outer surface.

10 . The pressure exchanger of claim 1 , wherein the sleeve overlaps an end cover outer surface of the end cover, and wherein the one or more first sealing components comprises a gasket disposed between an inner surface of the sleeve and the end cover outer surface of the end cover.

11 . A pressure exchanger comprising:
a rotor configured to exchange pressure between a first fluid and a second fluid; a sleeve disposed around the rotor; a first end cover disposed at a first distal end of the rotor; a second end cover disposed at a second distal end of the rotor; and a plurality of alignment components configured to align the first end cover with the second end cover, wherein the plurality of alignment components comprise first alignment components inserted radially into the first end cover and second alignment components inserted radially into the second end cover.

12 . The pressure exchanger of claim 11 further comprising:
one or more first sealing components configured to prevent leakage between the sleeve and the first end cover; and
one or more second sealing components configured to prevent leakage between the sleeve and the second end cover.

13 . The pressure exchanger of claim 12 , wherein the one or more first sealing components comprise:
a seal ring disposed around the pressure exchanger; a first gasket disposed between the seal ring and the first end cover; and a second gasket disposed between the seal ring and the sleeve.

14 . The pressure exchanger of claim 13 , wherein the first alignment components comprise:
a first pin disposed in an end cover recess formed by an end cover outer surface of the end cover, wherein the first pin engages with a seal ring upper recess formed by an upper surface of the seal ring; and a second pin disposed in a sleeve recess formed by a sleeve outer surface of the sleeve, wherein the second pin engages with a seal ring lower recess formed by a lower surface of the seal ring.

15 . The pressure exchanger of claim 11 , wherein:
the first alignment components engage with a first sealing ring, the first sealing ring being disposed around a first interface between the first end cover and the sleeve; and the second alignment components engage with a second sealing ring, the second sealing ring being disposed around a second interface between the second end cover and the sleeve.

16 . A pressure exchanger seal ring assembly comprising:
a seal ring comprising an inner surface forming a first groove and a second groove; a first gasket configured to be disposed in the first groove; and a second gasket configured to be disposed in the second groove, wherein the pressure exchanger seal ring assembly is to be disposed around an interface between an end cover of a pressure exchanger and a sleeve of the pressure exchanger to prevent leakage between the sleeve and the end cover, wherein the first gasket is to interface with an end cover outer surface of the end cover, and wherein the second gasket is to interface with a sleeve outer surface of the sleeve.

17 . The pressure exchanger seal ring assembly of claim 16 further comprising a first pin comprising:
a first distal end configured to be disposed in an upper seal ring recess formed by an upper surface of the seal ring; and
a second distal end configured to be inserted radially into an end cover recess formed by the end cover outer surface of the end cover.

18 . The pressure exchanger seal ring assembly of claim 16 further comprising a second pin comprising:
a first distal end configured to be disposed in a lower seal ring recess formed by a lower surface of the seal ring; and
a second distal end configured to be inserted radially into a sleeve recess formed by the sleeve outer surface of the sleeve.

19 . The pressure exchanger seal ring assembly of claim 16 , wherein the first gasket is a first O-ring, and wherein the second gasket is a second O-ring.

20 . The pressure exchanger seal ring assembly of claim 16 , wherein the sleeve is configured to be disposed around a rotor of the pressure exchanger, wherein the rotor is configured to exchange pressure between a first fluid and a second fluid, and wherein the end cover is configured to be disposed at a first distal end of the rotor.

Assignees

• Energy Recovery Inc

Inventors

• Gudigopuram Sujan Reddy
• Samudrala Omprakash
• Besic Edvin
• Pattom Matthew Joseph
• Theodossiou Alexander Patrick

Classifications

• F04F13/00 Primary

  Pressure exchangers · CPC title

• F05D2240/55

  Seals · CPC title