Heat Exchangers and Headers Therefor

• Main Authors: SCHARDT DAVID L, GRIFFIN RONALD H, MERCER MICHAEL DAMION, DAVIDSON CARL BENNETT, LI GANG, MARTIN DAVID, WILLIS VANCE ELLIOT, SHINKAREV VITALY
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 18.09.2008
• Subjects: BLASTING; HEAT EXCHANGE IN GENERAL; HEAT-EXCHANGE APPARATUS, NOT PROVIDED FOR IN ANOTHER SUBCLASS,IN WHICH THE HEAT-EXCHANGE MEDIA DO NOT COME INTO DIRECT CONTACT; HEATING; LIGHTING; MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; WEAPONS

In a first aspect of the present invention, a header for a heat exchanger is disclosed that has an inflow side, an outflow side, a bypass port therebetween, and a pressure-sensitive flapper valve proximal the bypass port. As pressure increases at the inflow side of the header, the flapper valve opens proportionally, and, as pressure decreases at the inflow side, the flapper valve closes proportionally. In a second aspect of the present invention, a tube-in-tube heat exchanger is disclosed that includes a helical tube-in-tube assembly adapted for flow therethrough of a plurality of fluids for heat transfer therebetween. In a third aspect of the present invention, a heat system is provided to include an embodiment of the header and an embodiment of the tube-in-tube heat exchanger, so as to provide a bypass of the tube-in-tube heat exchanger under a pressure condition.