Evaporative refrigerant condenser heat exchanger

Abstract

A coil assembly for an evaporative refrigerant condenser having a plurality of nested pairs of serpentine heat exchange tubes tightly packed adjacent to one-another; each nested pair of serpentine heat exchange tubes having an outer serpentine tube and an inner serpentine tube having an identical number of straight lengths and having parallel vertical and horizontal axes.

1 . An evaporative refrigerant condenser comprising:
 a housing defining a coil section situated above a plenum section;   a fan situated on top of said housing and configured to draw ambient air said plenum section through openings at a bottom of said housing, through said coil section and out through a top of said housing through said fan;   a water distribution assembly located in said housing and above said coil section for selectively distributing water over said coil section;   a water collection section located at a bottom of said housing for collecting water distributed by said water distribution assembly;   a water pump for pumping water from said water collection section to said water distribution assembly;   a coil assembly located in said coil section, said coil assembly comprising a plurality of nested pairs of serpentine heat exchange tubes tightly packed adjacent to one-another; each nested pair of serpentine heat exchange tubes comprising an outer serpentine tube and an inner serpentine tube having an identical number of straight lengths and having parallel vertical and horizontal axes;   each of said nested pairs of serpentine heat exchange tubes connected at a first end to at least one inlet header and connected at a second end to at least one outlet header.   
     
     
         2 . An evaporative refrigerant condenser according to  claim 1 , wherein said serpentine heat exchange tubes are finned. 
     
     
         3 . An evaporative refrigerant condenser according to  claim 1 , wherein a first end of said outer serpentine tubes are connected to a first inlet header and a first end of said inner serpentine tubes are connected to a second inlet header. 
     
     
         4 . An evaporative refrigerant condenser according to  claim 1 , wherein a second end of said outer serpentine tubes are connected to a first outlet header and a second end of said inner serpentine tubes are connected to a second outlet header. 
     
     
         5 . An evaporative refrigerant condenser comprising:
 a housing defining a coil section situated above a plenum section;   a fan situated on top of said housing and configured to draw ambient air said plenum section through openings at a bottom of said housing, through said coil section and out through a top of said housing through said fan;   a water distribution assembly located in said housing and above said coil section for selectively distributing water over said coil section;   a water collection section located at a bottom of said housing for collecting water distributed by said water distribution assembly;   a water pump for pumping water from said water collection section to said water distribution assembly;   a coil assembly located in said coil section, said coil assembly comprising a plurality of modular tube units, each modular tube unit comprising a plurality of straight tube lengths connected at a first end to an inlet header connector and at a second end to an outlet header connector, wherein said modular units are stacked on top of one-another to create vertical stacks, and a plurality of said vertical stacks are packed laterally adjacent to one-another to result in said coil assembly.   
     
     
         6 . An evaporative refrigerant condenser according to  claim 5 , wherein inlet header connectors of modular tube units in a vertical stack are fluidly connected to one-another. 
     
     
         7 . An evaporative refrigerant condenser according to  claim 5 , wherein inlet header connectors of modular tube units in adjacent vertical stacks are fluidly connected to one-another. 
     
     
         8 . An evaporative refrigerant condenser according to  claim 5  wherein outlet header connectors of modular tube units in a vertical stack are fluidly connected to one-another. 
     
     
         9 . An evaporative refrigerant condenser according to  claim 5 , wherein outlet header connectors of modular tube units in adjacent vertical stacks are fluidly connected to one-another. 
     
     
         10 . A coil assembly for an evaporative refrigerant condenser comprising: a plurality of nested pairs of serpentine heat exchange tubes tightly packed adjacent to one-another; each nested pair of serpentine heat exchange tubes comprising an outer serpentine tube and an inner serpentine tube having an identical number of straight lengths and having parallel vertical and horizontal axes. 
     
     
         11 . A method of improving the heat exchange efficiency for an evaporative refrigerant condenser having a housing defining a coil section situated above a plenum section;
 a fan situated on top of said housing and configured to draw ambient air said plenum section through openings at a bottom of said housing, through said coil section and out through a top of said housing through said fan;   a water distribution assembly located in said housing and above said coil section for selectively distributing water over said coil section;   a water collection section located at a bottom of said housing for collecting water distributed by said water distribution assembly;   a water pump for pumping water from said water collection section to said water distribution assembly;   a first coil assembly located in said coil section, said coil assembly comprising a plurality single serpentine heat exchange tubes tightly packed adjacent to one-another;   each serpentine heat exchange tubes connected at a first end to an one inlet header and connected at a second end to an outlet header,   said method comprising replacing said first coil assembly with a replacement coil assembly comprising a plurality of nested pairs of serpentine heat exchange tubes tightly packed adjacent to one-another; each nested pair of serpentine heat exchange tubes comprising an outer serpentine tube and an inner serpentine tube having an identical number of straight lengths and having parallel vertical and horizontal axes;   each of said nested pairs of serpentine heat exchange tubes connected at a first end to at least one inlet header and connected at a second end to at least one outlet header, said outer serpentine tube and said inner serpentine tube each having a length that is substantially one-half of a length of said serpentine tubes in said first coil assembly.