Condenser for air cooled chillers

Abstract

A heat exchanger comprising a first coil assembly including an inlet manifold; an outlet manifold parallel to and spaced from the inlet manifold; and a plurality of tubes each operably connected to and linking the inlet and the outlet manifolds, each tube having a multiplicity of flow paths and a hydraulic diameter in the range of 0.05≦ to HD≦0.30.

1 . A heat exchanger comprising: 
 a first coil assembly including an inlet manifold;    an outlet manifold parallel to and spaced from the inlet manifold; and    a plurality of tubes each operably connected to and linking the inlet and the outlet manifolds, each tube having a multiplicity of flow paths and a hydraulic diameter HD in the range of 0.07<HD<0.30.    
     
     
         2 . The heat exchanger of  claim 1  wherein the multiplicity of flow paths are in a parallel arrangement.  
     
     
         3 . The heat exchanger of  claim 2  further including fins arranged in heat transfer relation between adjacent tubes of the plurality of tubes.  
     
     
         4 . The heat exchanger of  claim 3  wherein the fins have a sinusoidal shape.  
     
     
         5 . The heat exchanger of  claim 3  wherein the fins have a corrugated shape.  
     
     
         6 . The heat exchanger of  claim 3  wherein the multiplicity of flow paths have a similar cross sectional shape.  
     
     
         7 . The heat exchanger of  claim 3  wherein the multiplicity of flow paths has at least first and second cross sectional shapes.  
     
     
         8 . The heat exchanger of  claim 3  further including a device moving air across the first coil assembly and the heat exchanger is primarily formed of aluminum.  
     
     
         9 . The heat exchanger of  claim 3  further including a second coil assembly parallel to and spaced from the first coil assembly, each oil assembly lying in first and second respective planes which are substantially parallel to each other.  
     
     
         10 . The heat exchanger of  claim 9  including a third coil assembly located between the first and second coil assemblies and lying in a third plane not parallel to the first and second planes.  
     
     
         11 . The heat exchanger of  claim 10  further including a fourth coil assembly between the first and second coil assemblies and lying in a fourth plane not parallel to the first and second planes wherein the angle of the fourth plane is complementary to the angle of the third plane.  
     
     
         12 . An air conditioning system comprising: 
 a compressor,    a first heat exchanger,    a fan motivating air across the first heat exchanger,    an expansion device and    a second heat exchanger serially linked into an air conditioning cycle by tubing;    the first heat exchanger including an inlet manifold, an outlet manifold, and a multiplicity of adjacent flow paths surrounded by a common tube wall and interconnecting the inlet manifold with the outlet manifold.    
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 12  wherein the multiplicity of adjacent flow paths are of similar cross sectional area and are formed of aluminum.  
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 13  wherein the flow paths are sized and shaped to form a preferred hydraulic diameter HD within the range of 0.7<HD<to 0.30 inches where hydraulic diameter HD is defined as four times the cross sectional area of the flow paths divided by the total wetted perimeter of the flow paths.  
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 14  wherein the first heat exchanger includes first, second, third and fourth coil assemblies, each coil assembly including the multiplicity of flow paths, and said first, second, third and fourth coil assemblies each having a planar dimension such that the coil assemblies form a W shape when viewed in a direction perpendicular to a common plane to first, second, third and fourth coil assemblies.  
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 14  wherein the multiplicity of flow paths are of identical size and shape.  
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 14  wherein the multiplicity of flow paths are in first and second differing shapes.  
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 17  wherein the first shape is rectangular and the second shape includes an arced surface.  
     
     
         19 . A method of manufacturing an air cooled chiller comprising the steps of: 
 forming a first heat exchanger to include a multiplicity of adjacent flow paths wherein the flow paths are sized and shaped to a preferred hydraulic diameter HD within the range of 0.7<HD<0.30 inches;    providing a fan to move air across the multiplicity of adjacent flow paths;    providing a compressor, a second heat exchanger, and an expansion device; and    linking the compressor, the first heat exchanger, the expansion device, and the second heat exchanger serially into an air conditioning cycle by tubing.    
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19  including the further step of: 
 adaptively configuring the second heat exchanger to chill the temperature of a liquid.  
 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 19  including the further step of: 
 forming the first heat exchanger from aluminum.  
 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 21  including the further step of interconnecting adjacent ones of the multiplicity of flow paths with a corrugated or sinusoidal fin.  
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 22  including the step of arranging the multiplicity of flow paths in a common plane.  
     
     
         24 . A method of transferring heat in a heat exchanger comprising the steps of: 
 forming a first heat exchanger to include a multiplicity of adjacent flow paths wherein the flow paths are sized and shaped to a preferred hydraulic diameter HD within the range of 0.7<HD<0.30 inches; and    transferring heat thru a wall enclosing said flow paths and to a fluid contained therein.    
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 24  including forming the wall from aluminum.  
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 25  including forming the flow paths into first and second distinct cross-sectional shapes.