Plate-fin tubular hybrid heat exchanger design for an air and fuel cooled air cooler

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9682782-B2
Application number	US-201414560801-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 4, 2014
Priority date	Dec 4, 2014
Publication date	Jun 20, 2017
Grant date	Jun 20, 2017

Abstract

The present invention relates to apparatus and methods for exchanging heat between various fluids. More particularly, the present invention relates to apparatus and methods for exchanging heat between fuel, fan-air, and bleed-air in an integrated heat exchanger. Thereby, a weight and size of the integral heat exchanger are reduced compared to known non-integral heat exchangers. Advantageously, the heat exchanger may heat fuel to improve engine specific fuel consumption (SFC).

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A heat exchanger, comprising:
a first bleed air passage;
a second bleed air passage;
a fan-air passage between the first and second bleed air passages; and
a fuel tube in the fan-air passage wherein the fuel tube is a continuous tube in a serpentine shape with substantially straight portions lying in a common plane, and with turning elbows connecting said substantially straight portions disposed proximate a first end and a second end of the fan-air passage, said turning elbows being angled relative to said common plane such that they do not lie in said common plane, whereby the fan-air passage is not occluded by the turning elbows.

2. The heat exchanger of claim 1 , further comprising a respective tube sheet between each of the bleed air passage and the fan-air passage.

3. The heat exchanger of claim 1 , wherein the fuel tube includes one of: ring dimples or side dimples.

4. A heat exchanger, comprising:
a first bleed air passage;
a second bleed air passage;
a fan-air passage between the first and second bleed air passages;
a fuel tube in the fan-air passage, wherein the fuel tube is a continuous tube in a serpentine shape with substantially straight portions lying in a common plane, and with turning elbows connecting said substantially straight portions disposed proximate a first end and a second end of the fan-air passage, said turning elbows being angled relative to said common plane such that they do not lie in said common plane, whereby the fan-air passage is not occluded by the turning elbows; and
a tube sheet between each of the first and second bleed air passages and the fan-air passage.

5. The heat exchanger of claim 4 , wherein the fuel tube is affixed to a fuel inlet manifold and a fuel outlet manifold.

6. The heat exchanger of claim 4 , wherein the fuel tube includes at least one of: steel or nickel alloy.

7. A method of cooling bleed-air in a heat exchanger, comprising:
flowing bleed air through a first bleed air passage and a second bleed air passage;
flowing fan air through a fan-air passage to enable heat exchange between the fan air and the bleed air; and
flowing fuel through a tube within the fan-air passage to enable heat exchange between the fuel and the bleed air, wherein the tube is a continuous tube in a serpentine shape with substantially straight portions lying in a common plane, and with turning elbows connecting said substantially straight portions disposed proximate a first end and a second end of the fan-air passage, said turning elbows being angled relative to said common plane such that they do not lie in said common plane, whereby the fan-air passage is not occluded by the turning elbows.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein heat is transferred from the bleed-air to either the fuel or the fan-air.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein heat is transferred from the bleed-air to the fan-air.

10. The method of claim 7 , wherein heat is transferred from the bleed-air to both the fuel and the fan-air.

11. The method of claim 7 , wherein heat is transferred from the bleed-air to the fuel.

12. The method of claim 7 , wherein heat is transferred from the bleed-air to the fan-air.

Assignees

• Honeywell Int Inc

Inventors

• Borghese Joseph B
• Blumer Eric

Classifications

• F28D7/087

  assembled in arrays, each array being arranged in the same plane · CPC title

• F28D1/0461

  Combination of different types of heat exchanger, e.g. radiator combined with tube-and-shell heat exchanger; Arrangement of conduits for heat exchange between at least two media and for heat exchange between at least one medium and the large body of fluid · CPC title

• F28D9/0093

  Multi-circuit heat-exchangers, e.g. integrating different heat exchange sections in the same unit or heat-exchangers for more than two fluids · CPC title

• F28D2021/0021

  for aircrafts or cosmonautics · CPC title

• B64D37/34

  Conditioning fuel, e.g. heating (during filling B64D37/18) · CPC title