Plate heat exchanger with flow directing baffles

Abstract

A plate heat exchanger includes a stack of plate pairs arranged within a housing. Comb-like baffles extend into flow gaps between the plate pairs to direct a fluid flow in a sinusoidal pattern within the flow gaps. The flow gaps are divided into two sub-sets of flow gaps, preferably alternatingly arranged along the height of the stack. Legs of some baffles extend into a first sub-set but not into the second sub-set, while legs of some baffles extend into the second sub-set but not into the first sub-set. The baffles are arranged so that the sinusoidal pattern in the second sub-set is phase-shifted form the sinusoidal pattern in the first sub-set.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A plate heat exchanger comprising:
 a housing defining a volume for a fluid to flow through;   a stack of plate pairs arranged within the housing, each plate pair having a longitudinal direction and a transverse direction, the dimension of the plate pairs in the longitudinal direction being greater than the dimension of the plate pairs in the transverse direction;   a plurality of flow gaps arranged between adjacent ones of the plate pairs in a stacking direction of the stack and between outermost ones of the plate pairs and walls of the housing, the plurality of flow gaps consisting of a first subset of the plurality of flow gaps and a second subset of the plurality of flow gaps, the flow gaps of the first subset and the flow gaps of the second subset being alternately ordered in the stacking direction; and   a plurality of comb-like baffles extending into the plurality of flow gaps in order to define a sinusoidal flow path for the fluid extending in the longitudinal direction within each one of the flow gaps, wherein the sinusoidal flow paths in the flow gaps of the second subset are phase-shifted from the sinusoidal flow paths in the flow gaps of the first subset.   
     
     
         2 . The plate heat exchanger of  claim 1 , wherein the sinusoidal flow paths in flow gaps of the second subset are phase-shifted from the sinusoidal flow paths in the flow gaps of the first subset by no more than 90°. 
     
     
         3 . The plate heat exchanger of  claim 1 , wherein the sinusoidal flow paths in flow gaps of the second subset are phase-shifted from the sinusoidal flow paths in the flow gaps of the first subset by 60°. 
     
     
         4 . The plate heat exchanger of  claim 1 , wherein the plate pairs are provided with an array of outwardly directed dimples, adjacent ones of the plate pairs being joined together through the dimples, the dimples being arranged in rows that extend in the transverse direction, and wherein the comb-like baffles are arranged between the rows of dimples. 
     
     
         5 . The plate heat exchanger of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of comb-like baffles are arranged in a repeating pattern along the longitudinal direction. 
     
     
         6 . The plate heat exchanger of  claim 5 , wherein an instance of the repeating pattern consists of four of the comb-like baffles. 
     
     
         7 . The plate heat exchanger of  claim 5 , wherein the repeating pattern includes a first comb-like baffle extending from a first longitudinal edge of each plate pair, followed by a second comb-like baffle extending from a second longitudinal edge of each plate pair, followed by a third comb-like baffle extending from the second longitudinal edge of each plate pair, followed by a fourth comb-like baffle extending from the first longitudinal edge of each plate pair. 
     
     
         8 . The plate heat exchanger of  claim 7 , wherein a spacing in the longitudinal direction between said first comb-like baffle and said second comb-like baffle is greater than a spacing in the longitudinal direction between said second comb-like baffle and said third comb-like baffle. 
     
     
         9 . A plate heat exchanger comprising:
 a housing defining a volume for a fluid to flow through;   a stack of plate pairs arranged within the housing, each plate pair having a longitudinal direction and a transverse direction, the dimension of the plate pairs in the longitudinal direction being greater than the dimension of the plate pairs in the transverse direction, adjacent ones of the plate pairs being spaced apart to define a plurality of flow gaps between the plate pairs for the fluid to pass through, each one of the plate pairs having a first edge and a second edge both extending in the longitudinal direction;   one or more first flow baffles arranged within the housing, each of the one or more first flow baffles having a plurality of legs extending in the transverse direction from the first edges of the plate pairs into a first subset of the plurality of flow gaps but not into a second subset of the plurality of flow gaps, said plurality of legs extending more than half of the dimension of the plate pairs in the transverse direction, terminal ends of said plurality of legs being spaced away from the second edges of the plate pairs to allow the fluid to flow between said terminal ends and a wall of the housing adjacent to the second edges;   one or more second flow baffles arranged within the housing, each of the one or more second flow baffles having a plurality of legs extending in the transverse direction from the second edges of the plate pairs into the second subset of flow gaps but not into the first subset of flow gaps, said plurality of legs extending more than half of the dimension of the plate pairs in the transverse, terminal ends of said plurality of legs being spaced away from the first edges of the plate pairs to allow the fluid to flow between said terminal ends and a wall of the housing adjacent to the first edges;   one or more third flow baffles arranged within the housing, each of the one or more third flow baffles having a plurality of legs extending in the transverse direction from the second edges of the plate pairs into the first subset of flow gaps but not into the second subset of flow gaps, said plurality of legs extending more than half of the dimension of the plate pairs in the transverse direction, terminal ends of said plurality of legs being spaced away from the first edges of the plate pairs to allow the fluid to flow between said terminal ends and a wall of the housing adjacent to the first edges; and   one or more fourth flow baffles arranged within the housing, each of the one or more fourth flow baffles having a plurality of legs extending in the transverse direction from the first edges of the plate pairs into the second subset of flow gaps but not into the first subset of flow gaps, said plurality of legs extending more than half of the dimension of the plate pairs in the transverse, terminal ends of said plurality of legs being spaced away from the second edges of the plate pairs to allow the fluid to flow between said terminal ends and a wall of the housing adjacent to the second edges.   
     
     
         10 . The plate heat exchanger of  claim 6 , wherein the flow gaps of the first subset and the flow gaps of the second subset are alternatingly arranged in a stacking direction of the stack. 
     
     
         11 . The plate heat exchanger of  claim 7 , wherein the housing includes a wall that is spaced apart from a terminal one of the plate pairs at a first end of the stack in the stacking direction to define a flow gap for the fluid to pass through, and wherein each of the one or more first flow baffles and each of the one or more third flow baffles have an additional long leg that extends in the transverse direction into that flow gap. 
     
     
         12 . The plate heat exchanger of  claim 8 , wherein the housing includes a wall that is spaced apart from a terminal one of the plate pairs at a second end of the stack in the stacking direction opposite the first end to define a flow gap for the fluid to pass through, and wherein each of the one or more second flow baffles and each of the one or more fourth flow baffles have an additional long leg that extends in the transverse direction into that flow gap. 
     
     
         13 . The plate heat exchanger of  claim 6 , wherein each of the one or more first flow baffles is aligned with one of the one or more second baffles in the longitudinal direction and wherein each of the one or more third flow baffles is aligned with one of the one or more fourth baffles in the longitudinal direction. 
     
     
         14 . The plate heat exchanger of  claim 6 , wherein the first, second, third, and fourth flow baffles are all staggered along the longitudinal direction. 
     
     
         15 . The plate heat exchanger of  claim 11 , wherein the first, second, third, and fourth flow baffles are arranged in a repeating pattern along the longitudinal direction 
     
     
         16 . The plate heat exchanger of  claim 12 , wherein the repeating pattern consists of one of the first flow baffles followed by one of the second flow baffles followed by one of the third flow baffles followed by one of the fourth flow baffles. 
     
     
         17 . The plate heat exchanger of  claim 13 , wherein a spacing in the longitudinal direction between the first and the second flow baffles of the repeating pattern is greater than a spacing in the longitudinal direction between the second and the third flow baffles of the repeating pattern. 
     
     
         18 . The plate heat exchanger of  claim 14 , wherein the spacing in the longitudinal direction between the first and the second flow baffles of the repeating pattern is exactly twice the spacing in the longitudinal direction between the second and the third flow baffles of the repeating pattern. 
     
     
         19 . The plate heat exchanger of  claim 14 , wherein a spacing in the longitudinal direction between the third and the fourth flow baffles of the repeating pattern is equal to the spacing in the longitudinal direction between the first and the second flow baffles of the repeating pattern. 
     
     
         20 . The plate heat exchanger of  claim 14 , wherein a spacing in the longitudinal direction between the fourth flow baffle of one instance of the repeating pattern and the first flow baffle of an immediately following instance of the repeating pattern is equal to the spacing in the longitudinal direction between the second and the third flow baffles of the repeating pattern.