Gasket and assembly

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9903668-B2
Application number	US-201314429646-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 27, 2013
Priority date	Oct 30, 2012
Publication date	Feb 27, 2018
Grant date	Feb 27, 2018

Abstract

A gasket comprises an annular gasket portion arranged to enclose a port hole of a heat exchanger plate. An inner edge of the gasket portion defines an area including a reference point coinciding with a center point of a biggest imaginary circle fittable within the area. The area has a form defined by a number of corner points of an imaginary plane geometric figure of which at least one is displaced from an arc of the circle, and the same number of thoroughly curved lines connecting the corner points, wherein a first corner point is a first distance from the reference point, a second one is closest to the first corner point in a clockwise direction and on a second distance from the reference point, and a third one is closest to the first corner point in a counter clockwise direction and on a third distance from the reference point.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A plate heat exchanger comprising:
a plurality of heat transfer plates arranged in a plate pack and separated from one another by gaskets, the heat transfer plates together with the gaskets defining fluid channels to alternatively receive two fluids to transfer heat from one of the fluids to the other fluid;
the plurality of heat transfer plates comprising first and second heat transfer plates positioned adjacent one another with at least one of the gaskets located between the first and second heat transfer plates;
the first and second heat transfer plates including a plurality of port holes, the plurality of port holes in the first and second heat transfer plates comprising an inlet port hole for one of the fluids, an outlet port hole for the one fluid, an inlet port hole for the other fluid and an outlet port hole for the other fluid,
the one gasket comprising:
an annular gasket portion enclosing a respective one of the port holes of the first and second heat exchanger plates, an inner edge of the annular gasket portion defining an area including a reference point coinciding with a center point of a biggest reference circle that can be fitted within the area, the area having a form defined by:
a number of corner points of a reference plane geometric figure, fit within the area, of which at least one of the corner points is displaced from an arc of the reference circle; and the number of corner points comprising a first corner point, a second corner point and a third corner point; and
a number of thoroughly curved lines, each respectively connecting two of the corner points, the number of thoroughly curved lines connecting the corner points being equal to the number of corner points;

the first corner point is arranged at a first distance from the reference point, the second corner point is arranged closest to the first corner point in a clockwise direction and at a second distance from the reference point and the third corner point is arranged closest to the first corner point in a counter clockwise direction and at a third distance from the reference point;
the area having one symmetry axis only, which extends through both the first corner point and the reference point; and
the form of the area generally corresponds to an overall shape of the respective one of the port holes that the annular gasket portion encloses.

2. The plate heat exchanger according to claim 1 , wherein the number of corner points and curved lines is equal to three.

3. The plate heat exchanger according to claim 1 , wherein the curved lines are concave seen from the reference point of the area.

4. The plate heat exchanger according to claim 1 , wherein the first distance between the first corner point and the reference point is smaller than the second distance between the second corner point and the reference point.

5. The plate heat exchanger according to claim 1 , wherein the first distance between the first corner point and the reference point is smaller than the third distance between the third corner point and the reference point.

6. A plate heat exchanger comprising:
a plurality of heat transfer plates arranged in a plate pack and separated from one another by gaskets, the heat transfer plates together with the gaskets defining fluid channels to alternatively receive two fluids to transfer heat from one of the fluids to the other fluid;
the plurality of heat transfer plates comprising first and second heat transfer plates positioned adjacent one another with at least one of the gaskets located between the first and second heat transfer plates;
the first and second heat transfer plates each possessing a pair of oppositely disposed relatively longer sides respectively extending between opposite ends of each of the first and second heat transfer plate and a pair of oppositely disposed relatively shorter sides respectively positioned at the opposite ends of each of the first and second heat transfer plates;
the first and second heat transfer plates each respectively including two port holes at one of the respective opposite ends of each of the first and second heat transfer plates and two port holes at the other one of the respective opposite ends of each of the first and second heat transfer plates, the two port holes at the one of the opposite ends of each of the first and second heat transfer plates and the two port holes at the opposite end of each plate comprising: an inlet port hole for one of the fluids, an outlet port hole for the one fluid, an inlet port hole for the other fluid and an outlet port hole for the other fluid;
the one gasket comprising:
an annular gasket portion enclosing a respective one of the port holes of the first and second heat exchanger plates, an inner edge of the annular gasket portion defining an area including a reference point coinciding with a center point of a biggest reference circle that can be fitted within the area, the area having a form defined by:
a total of three corner points of a reference plane geometric figure, fit within the area, the three corner points comprising a first corner point, a second corner point and a third corner point;
the first, second and third corner points being located radially outwardly from the reference circle, the second corner point being arranged closest to the first corner point in a clockwise direction, the third corner point being arranged closest to the first corner point in a counter clockwise direction;
a number of thoroughly curved lines each respectively connecting adjacent ones of the three corner points, the number of thoroughly curved lines connecting adjacent corner points being equal to the number of corner points;
the first corner point being arranged at a first distance from the reference point along a first imaginary straight line extending from the reference point to the first corner point, the second corner point being arranged at a second distance from the reference point along a second imaginary straight line extending from the reference point to the second corner point, and the third corner point being arranged at a third distance from the reference point along a third imaginary straight line extending from the reference point to the third corner point;
two of the first, second and third distances being equal to each other, and two of the first, second and third distances being unequal to each other;
a first angle formed between the first and second imaginary straight lines, a second angle formed between the second and third imaginary straight lines, and a third angle formed between the third and first imaginary straight lines;
two of the first, second and third angles being equal to each other, and two others of the first, second and third angles being unequal to each; and
the form of the area generally corresponds to an overall shape of the respective one of the port holes that the annular gasket portion encloses.

7. The plate heat exchanger according to claim 6 , wherein the second and third distances are equal to each other, and the first and third angles are equal to each other.

8. The plate heat exchanger according to claim 6 , wherein the second and first distances are unequal to each other, and the first and second angles are unequal to each other.

9. The plate heat exchanger according to claim 8 , wherein the second angle is greater than the first and third angles.

10. The plate heat exchanger according to claim 6 , wherein the curved lines are bulging outward as seen from the reference point of the area.

11. The plate heat exchanger according to claim 6 , wherein the first distance is smaller than the second distance.

12. The plate heat exchanger ac

Assignees

• Alfa Laval Corp Ab

Inventors

• Hedberg Magnus
• Nilsson Johan

Classifications

• F28F3/083

  capable of being taken apart · CPC title

• F28F19/01

  by using means for separating solid materials from heat-exchange fluids, e.g. filters · CPC title

• F16J15/06

  with solid packing compressed between sealing surfaces · CPC title

• F28F3/10 Primary

  Arrangements for sealing the margins · CPC title

• F28F2009/0285

  Other particular headers or end plates · CPC title