Appeal No. 2003-0669
Application 09/407,116
Daily’s heat exchanger overcomes this problem by making use of
the discovery that “zones of stratified fluid flow may be
disrupted without substantial variation in the resistance to the
flow of fluid therethrough by causing an ionic discharge to
traverse the several stratified layers of fluid flow” (column 1,
lines 46 through 49). As described by Daily,
[a] heat exchanger embodying the present invention is
shown in FIGURE 1 wherein a heating fluid admitted to a
housing 10 through an inlet 12 is directed through
grounded tubes 14 to an outlet 16 and a connected
exhaust duct. A fluid to be heated is admitted to the
housing through an inlet port 22 where it flows around
the tubes 14 to receive heat from the heating fluid
inside said tubes before it is exhausted to the outlet
port 26 as a heated fluid.
The tubes 14 extend axially through the housing 10
between apertured tube sheets 28 and 34 having one or
more baffle plates 36 preferably positioned
therebetween to effectively increase the "dwell period"
of any fluid passing over the tubes between inlet and
outlet ducts. Each tube 14 contains a centrally
mounted discharge electrode 38 supported by insulators
40 which electrically isolate the electrodes 38 from
the grounded tubes 14. The discharge electrodes 38 are
themselves electrically charged by being connected to a
suitable source 42 of high voltage direct current, and
then discharged across the space which surrounds each
electrode to the grounded tubes 14. As the flow of
ions moves from the discharge electrode 38 to the
grounded tube 14 an “electric wind” is produced
transversely with respect to inlet and outlet ports so
as to increase the turbulence of the fluid inside the
tubes and to preclude conditions of laminar flow.
Inasmuch as laminar flow conditions are obviated
without the necessity of placing extended surface means
in the fluid stream, there is an increase of heat
transfer without a corresponding increase in pressure
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