Site News  |   Monitor Keywords  |   Monitor Archive  |   Organizer  |   Account Info  |

Water cooling system and heat transfer system

Water cooling system and heat transfer system description/claims

The present application claims priority to co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/110,341, filed on Apr. 19, 2005, entitled, “HIGH THROUGHPUT DISCOVERY OF MATERIALS THROUGH VAPOR PHASE SYNTHESIS” and to co-pending U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/928,946, filed May 11, 2007, entitled “MATERIAL PRODUCTION SYSTEM AND METHOD,” both of which are hereby incorporated by reference as if set forth herein.

The present invention relates generally to methods of and systems for cooling gas transport conduits configured to conduct hot gasses or gaseous mixtures.

In a gas phase particle production reactor, basic product species are formed within extremely short time spans following ejection of hot, reactive matter from an energy delivery zone. Although particle species are formed rapidly, cooling of the gas-particle product must be carefully controlled to achieve desired particle characteristics without contamination. In many cases, this carefully controlled cooling occurs within a gas transport system configured to deliver the gas-particle product to collection points within the system.

Since hot gas-particle product contains and emits a large quantity of heat, gas transport systems adapted to conduct gas-particle product from gas phase particle production reactors must be designed to efficiently absorb and dissipate high heat loads. Because heat transfer between two systems occurs in proportion to the temperature differential between the two systems, efficient absorption of heat from the gas-particle product depends on maintaining the gas transport system at a significantly lower temperature than the gas-particle product, while efficient dissipation of heat from the gas transport system depends on maintaining an environment of still lower temperature in contact with the gas transport system. The independent requirements of absorption and dissipation are at odds. Gas transport systems are typically incapable of absorbing large quantities of heat without increasing their temperature. In most cases, the two requirements are balanced by actively cooling the gas transport system, which provides a controlled, low temperature environment into which the gas transport system can dissipate heat.

Within the prior art, the most common active cooling strategies for gas transport systems involve forced fluid cooling. A variety of forced fluid cooling systems, including forced-gas cooling systems and liquid cooling systems, are employed in prior art gas transport coolers.

Forced-gas cooling systems typically include one or more fans, configured to force gas through one or more heat exchange structures thermally coupled with the gas transport system. Heat moves from the gas-particle product into the gas transport system and then into the heat exchange structures. Typically, the heat exchange structures include heat rejecters or heat sinks configured to present a large surface area interface to the gas within a heat exchange region. As gas moves through the heat exchange region and across the large surface area of the heat rejecter or heat sink, it convectively cools the heat rejecter or heat sink. Although such systems are simple and relatively inexpensive to operate, they are less efficient than liquid cooling systems because the heat capacity of gas is generally less than that of liquid, gas cools through mostly convective means and gas cannot be cooled as readily as can liquid. Thus, forced-gas cooling systems are ill suited to cool high heat load gas-particle mixtures.

Liquid cooling systems typically include liquid circulation system configured to deliver fluid through one or more heat exchange structures thermally coupled with the gas transport system. As in forced-gas systems, the heat exchange structures are typically configured to present a large surface area for interaction with the liquid within a heat exchange region. Heat is absorbed into the gas-transport system and conducted into the heat exchange structures. As liquid moves across the heat exchange surface, heat dissipates from the heat exchange structures through conductive and convective means into the liquid and heated liquid flows away from the heat exchange region. Typically, heat is removed from the heated liquid via some further cooling or refrigeration mechanism.

For efficient cooling, the entire volume of the heat exchange region must be constantly supplied with fresh, cool liquid. Systems having high volume heat exchange regions require higher volumes of cool liquid to operate efficiently, resulting in high operating costs. While low volume heat exchange regions are known, fabrication methods are difficult, expensive and result in high set-up costs. Further, many low volume systems are very sensitive to contamination, and thus require sometimes expensive precautions, such as filters, and regular maintenance to run smoothly.

Current methods for cooling gas transport systems rely either on forced-gas cooling, which lacks sufficient efficiency to handle high heat load systems, or liquid cooling systems, which are expensive to build and maintain.

According to the present invention, a cooling system for a conduit is presented. In an exemplary aspect, a cooling system according to the present invention is used to cool a conduit that transports gas mixtures. The cooling system is primarily intended to dissipate heat absorbed by the conduit from the gas particle product it transports. In an exemplary system, hot gas-particle product is emitted from gas phase particle production reactors, such as flame reactors, plasma reactors, hot wall reactors and laser reactors. The conduit conducts and conditions the gas-vapor mixtures ejected from the reactor, absorbing heat from the mixtures through multiple means. The cooling system functions to dissipate heat absorbed within the conduit and prevent overheating of the conduit.

The present invention describes a cooling system for cooling selected portions of a gas transport conduit within a conduit system. Preferably, the cooling system comprises at least one cooling element configured to cool a portion of the gas transport conduit, comprising a section of outer conduit having a first end and a second end. The cooling element is preferably fitted around the portion of the gas transport conduit to form a toroidal channel between the inner surface of the outer conduit and the outer surface of the gas transport conduit. The toroidal channel formed between the outer conduit and the gas transport conduit has a first opening at the first end of the conduit and a second opening at the second end of the conduit. A highly heat conductive tube structure is placed within the outer conduit to form the toroidal channel. Furthermore, the highly heat conductive tube structure preferably does not seal the channel to fluid flow at any point therein, so that fluid may move freely within the toroidal channel with the highly heat conductive tube structure in place. However, in an alternative embodiment, the cooling system incorporates partitions within the toroidal channel, which seal the toroidal channel to fluid flow except through the highly heat conductive tube structure. In this aspect, the toroidal channel is divided into several chambers, each of which can have a different fluid therein, with the highly conductive tube structure passing through each of the several chambers.

With the highly heat conductive tube structure installed in the toroidal channel, a first cap coupled with the first opening and a second cap coupled with the second opening of the toroidal channel provide a seal between the gas transport conduit and the conduit. The toroidal channel is filled with a static fluid, preferably a liquid, surrounding and thermally contacting the highly heat conductive tube structure. At least one of the caps is configured with a port to allow fluid delivery therethrough into the highly heat conductive tube structure. A fluid reservoir system is coupled with the one or more ports and thereby with the highly heat conductive tube structure. Although in the preferred embodiment the caps and the outer conduit are modularly formed and sealed to one another, the caps and the outer conduit can be integrally formed in alternative embodiments.

Thus, each embodiment of the present invention includes two fluid systems, separated from one another: a circulating system (referred to as “fluid” or “circulating fluid”) and a static system (referred to as “static fluid). The fluids chosen for use within each system have preferred characteristics, which differ depending on the specifics of each embodiment.

As the conduit system conducts hot gas, it absorbs heat from the gas. Because the gas cools as it travels through the conduit system, some portions of the conduit system absorb more heat than others. An exemplary portion of a gas transport conduit within the conduit system is equipped with a cooling system as described in the preceding paragraph.

The cooling system of the present invention operates by removing heat from the gas transport conduit via fluid flow. As heat is absorbed into the gas transport conduit from the gas within the conduit, the cooling system works to remove heat from the conduit through the external surfaces of the conduit. Heat moves from the conduit system into the static fluid, heating the static fluid. The static fluid, being in thermal contact with the highly heat conductive tube structure, conducts heat into the highly heat conductive tube structure. Fluid flows from the fluid reservoir system into the highly heat conductive tube structure, absorbing heat from the conduit system through the highly heat conductive tube structure and the static fluid. The fluid flows from the highly heat conductive tube structure back into the fluid reservoir system, or into a different fluid reservoir. As one skilled in the art will recognize, in a closed loop system (where the fluid returns to the same reservoir system), in order to maintain cooling efficiency, the fluid is preferably cooled via external means, such as refrigeration, before being resupplied to the highly heat conductive tube structure

Functionally, each cooling cell within cooling system includes several components: a heat exchange region, and a fluid flow control and supply system. Functioning together, these components allow a cell to provide effective cooling to a specific region of a conduit system. A cooling system having a plurality of such cells working in concert provides selective, extensible and configurable cooling to a conduit system. The present invention includes a desired structure and function for each component of a cell within the system.

There are several heat exchange regions in the present invention. In an assembled system, the highly heat conductive tube structure sits within the toroidal channel defined between the gas transport conduit and the outer conduit and filled with the static fluid. Preferably, the highly heat conductive structure is wound in a spiral in the toroidal chamber along the conduit. The region of interface between the conduit and the static fluid within the toroidal channel forms a first heat exchange region: heat flows from the gas transport conduit into the static fluid. The surface of the interface between the static fluid and the highly heat conductive tube structure within the toroidal channel forms a second heat exchange region: heat is conducted from the static fluid into the highly heat conductive tube structure. The inner surface of the highly heat conductive tube structure forms a third heat exchange region: heat flows from the highly heat conductive tube structure into the circulating fluid.

• Provisional Patent
• Utility Patent

• What Is a Patent?
• What Is a Trademark or Servicemark?
• What Is a Copyright?
• Patent Laws