Classifications

• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F28—HEAT EXCHANGE IN GENERAL
  • F28F—DETAILS OF HEAT-EXCHANGE AND HEAT-TRANSFER APPARATUS, OF GENERAL APPLICATION
  • F28F3/00—Plate-like or laminated elements; Assemblies of plate-like or laminated elements
  • F28F3/08—Elements constructed for building-up into stacks, e.g. capable of being taken apart for cleaning
• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F28—HEAT EXCHANGE IN GENERAL
  • F28D—HEAT-EXCHANGE APPARATUS, NOT PROVIDED FOR IN ANOTHER SUBCLASS, IN WHICH THE HEAT-EXCHANGE MEDIA DO NOT COME INTO DIRECT CONTACT
  • F28D9/00—Heat-exchange apparatus having stationary plate-like or laminated conduit assemblies for both heat-exchange media, the media being in contact with different sides of a conduit wall
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B21—MECHANICAL METAL-WORKING WITHOUT ESSENTIALLY REMOVING MATERIAL; PUNCHING METAL
  • B21D—WORKING OR PROCESSING OF SHEET METAL OR METAL TUBES, RODS OR PROFILES WITHOUT ESSENTIALLY REMOVING MATERIAL; PUNCHING METAL
  • B21D53/00—Making other particular articles
  • B21D53/02—Making other particular articles heat exchangers or parts thereof, e.g. radiators, condensers fins, headers
  • B21D53/022—Making the fins
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B21—MECHANICAL METAL-WORKING WITHOUT ESSENTIALLY REMOVING MATERIAL; PUNCHING METAL
  • B21D—WORKING OR PROCESSING OF SHEET METAL OR METAL TUBES, RODS OR PROFILES WITHOUT ESSENTIALLY REMOVING MATERIAL; PUNCHING METAL
  • B21D53/00—Making other particular articles
  • B21D53/02—Making other particular articles heat exchangers or parts thereof, e.g. radiators, condensers fins, headers
  • B21D53/04—Making other particular articles heat exchangers or parts thereof, e.g. radiators, condensers fins, headers of sheet metal
• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F25—REFRIGERATION OR COOLING; COMBINED HEATING AND REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS; HEAT PUMP SYSTEMS; MANUFACTURE OR STORAGE OF ICE; LIQUEFACTION SOLIDIFICATION OF GASES
  • F25J—LIQUEFACTION, SOLIDIFICATION OR SEPARATION OF GASES OR GASEOUS OR LIQUEFIED GASEOUS MIXTURES BY PRESSURE AND COLD TREATMENT OR BY BRINGING THEM INTO THE SUPERCRITICAL STATE
  • F25J5/00—Arrangements of cold exchangers or cold accumulators in separation or liquefaction plants
• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F25—REFRIGERATION OR COOLING; COMBINED HEATING AND REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS; HEAT PUMP SYSTEMS; MANUFACTURE OR STORAGE OF ICE; LIQUEFACTION SOLIDIFICATION OF GASES
  • F25J—LIQUEFACTION, SOLIDIFICATION OR SEPARATION OF GASES OR GASEOUS OR LIQUEFIED GASEOUS MIXTURES BY PRESSURE AND COLD TREATMENT OR BY BRINGING THEM INTO THE SUPERCRITICAL STATE
  • F25J5/00—Arrangements of cold exchangers or cold accumulators in separation or liquefaction plants
  • F25J5/002—Arrangements of cold exchangers or cold accumulators in separation or liquefaction plants for continuously recuperating cold, i.e. in a so-called recuperative heat exchanger
• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F28—HEAT EXCHANGE IN GENERAL
  • F28D—HEAT-EXCHANGE APPARATUS, NOT PROVIDED FOR IN ANOTHER SUBCLASS, IN WHICH THE HEAT-EXCHANGE MEDIA DO NOT COME INTO DIRECT CONTACT
  • F28D9/00—Heat-exchange apparatus having stationary plate-like or laminated conduit assemblies for both heat-exchange media, the media being in contact with different sides of a conduit wall
  • F28D9/0062—Heat-exchange apparatus having stationary plate-like or laminated conduit assemblies for both heat-exchange media, the media being in contact with different sides of a conduit wall the conduits for one heat-exchange medium being formed by spaced plates with inserted elements
• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F28—HEAT EXCHANGE IN GENERAL
  • F28F—DETAILS OF HEAT-EXCHANGE AND HEAT-TRANSFER APPARATUS, OF GENERAL APPLICATION
  • F28F13/00—Arrangements for modifying heat-transfer, e.g. increasing, decreasing
  • F28F13/18—Arrangements for modifying heat-transfer, e.g. increasing, decreasing by applying coatings, e.g. radiation-absorbing, radiation-reflecting; by surface treatment, e.g. polishing
• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F28—HEAT EXCHANGE IN GENERAL
  • F28F—DETAILS OF HEAT-EXCHANGE AND HEAT-TRANSFER APPARATUS, OF GENERAL APPLICATION
  • F28F3/00—Plate-like or laminated elements; Assemblies of plate-like or laminated elements
  • F28F3/02—Elements or assemblies thereof with means for increasing heat-transfer area, e.g. with fins, with recesses, with corrugations
• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F28—HEAT EXCHANGE IN GENERAL
  • F28F—DETAILS OF HEAT-EXCHANGE AND HEAT-TRANSFER APPARATUS, OF GENERAL APPLICATION
  • F28F3/00—Plate-like or laminated elements; Assemblies of plate-like or laminated elements
  • F28F3/02—Elements or assemblies thereof with means for increasing heat-transfer area, e.g. with fins, with recesses, with corrugations
  • F28F3/025—Elements or assemblies thereof with means for increasing heat-transfer area, e.g. with fins, with recesses, with corrugations the means being corrugated, plate-like elements
  • F28F3/027—Elements or assemblies thereof with means for increasing heat-transfer area, e.g. with fins, with recesses, with corrugations the means being corrugated, plate-like elements with openings, e.g. louvered corrugated fins; Assemblies of corrugated strips
• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F25—REFRIGERATION OR COOLING; COMBINED HEATING AND REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS; HEAT PUMP SYSTEMS; MANUFACTURE OR STORAGE OF ICE; LIQUEFACTION SOLIDIFICATION OF GASES
  • F25J—LIQUEFACTION, SOLIDIFICATION OR SEPARATION OF GASES OR GASEOUS OR LIQUEFIED GASEOUS MIXTURES BY PRESSURE AND COLD TREATMENT OR BY BRINGING THEM INTO THE SUPERCRITICAL STATE
  • F25J2290/00—Other details not covered by groups F25J2200/00 - F25J2280/00
  • F25J2290/12—Particular process parameters like pressure, temperature, ratios
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y10—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
  • Y10T—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER US CLASSIFICATION
  • Y10T29/00—Metal working
  • Y10T29/49—Method of mechanical manufacture
  • Y10T29/4935—Heat exchanger or boiler making
  • Y10T29/49366—Sheet joined to sheet

Definitions

• Plate fin heat exchangers are generally used for exchanging heat between process streams for the purpose of heating, cooling, boiling, evaporating, or condensing the process streams.
• the process conditions in these heat exchangers may involve single phase or two phase flow and heat transfer. While some plate fin exchangers contain only two streams, others contain multiple streams in multiple sets of plate fin passages. Individual streams may be fed into and withdrawn from the heat exchanger using nozzles and headers. Each stream flows into specific plate-fin passages allocated within the bank of adjacent plate-fin passages.
• the individual plate-fin passages are contained between pairs of parting sheets, which are spaced apart by the fins and the plate-fin passages are enclosed on the outer periphery by sidebars and endbars so they can be isolated from each other and can contain the fluids of interest.
• the plate-fin passages that are adjacent to each other they exchange heat through the parting sheets which are referred to as primary heat transfer surfaces as well as the fin legs that separate them, which are referred to as secondary heat transfer surfaces.
• Plate fin exchangers may be formed by using many different types of fins such as plain, perforated, serrated and wavy.
• One embodiment of the current invention deals with perforated fins which have been employed in the industry, but in an inefficient manner.
• the plate fin heat exchangers having perforated fins, according to the present invention have particular application in cryogenic processes such as air separation, although these plate fin heat exchangers may be used in other heat transfer processes.
• perforations or serrations in the fins will increase the heat transfer performance, however, such introduction will also increase pressure losses and, therefore, the geometry and arrangement of the perforations or serrations in the fins is critical for achieving improved performance. It is particularly important in the case of perforated fins because while they disturb the flow leading to an increase in the local heat transfer coefficient proximate to the perforations, introduction of perforations in the fins also results in a loss of surface area from the original material which would otherwise have been beneficial for the overall heat transfer from the heat exchanger. Also removal of metal, for example, in the form of perforations can greatly reduce the strength of the remaining material. Thus, the problem of improving the performance of plate fin heat exchangers by using perforated fins is complicated and it is particularly important to organize the geometry and arrangements of using such perforations to achieve improved performance.
• the Sunder patent teaches use of surface texture to enhance the performance of other perforated fins.
• Figure 2B of the Sunder patent illustrates exemplary fins with a row of perforations along the top and sides of the fins where the perforations are laterally aligned.
• Example 1 of the Sunder patent states that the perforated fins have an open area of about 10%. No other details, however, are provided regarding the perforations.
• Figure 2 of the Hendrix patent shows heat generation side fins 21 with perforations 25 contained therein.
• the Hendrix patent teaches that fins 21 are formed by pleating or folding perforated sheet material. The perforations are said to be perpendicular to the direction of the folds.
• Figure 2 of the Hendrix patent illustrates that the perforations are a single row of perforations along the sides of fins 21 , however, no perforations are shown on the underside where the valleys or crests of the waves would form. Further, the Hendrix patent provides no teaching regarding the position of the perforations.
• the authors of the Zhu and Li paper conducted CFD calculations on one specific exemplary perforated fin geometry. To keep the computation size and time reasonable, the authors only included a minimum repeating structure as illustrated in Figures 2a and 2b on page 2 of the paper.
• the cross section modeled for the perforated fin represents one half of a wavelength of a fin, which includes a half each of the top and bottom fin lengths and one full fin height. These in turn include a series of half perforations on the top and bottom and a series of full perforations on the fin height all along the flow length.
• the full structure corresponds to exactly one row of perforations along the top, bottom, and side of each fin channel along the flow length, all of which are laterally aligned.
• the diameter of the perforations is 0.8 mm as illustrated in Table 1 and the spacing of the perforations along the fins appears to be approximately 1.4 mm from center to center as can be inferred from Figures 6C and 7C.
• This frequency of perforations represents approximately 16% open area on only the sides of the plate fin passages (i.e., the Zhu and Li paper does not count or consider the perforations on the top or the bottom of the fins for determining open area because fins perforations on the top and bottom of the fins are covered by the parting sheets).
• the one specific exemplary perforated fin geometry described above is merely a representative perforated fin that the authors used to compare against the four types of fins (plain, perforated, strip offset and wavy types).
• the pattern and geometry the authors modeled are different from those taught under the current application.
• the disclosed embodiments satisfy the need in the art by providing novel patterns and novel geometry of fin perforations for use in plate fin heat exchangers to maximize the overall heat transfer performance within the allowable pressure drop constraints.
• the benefits of such novel patterns and novel geometry of fin perforations over previously disclosed fin patterns and geometry include: (1 ) a significant reduction in the volume; (2) a significant increase in heat transfer efficiency; (3) a significant reduction in pressure drop losses; or (4) some judicious combination of factors (1 ) to (3) such that the overall capital and operating cost of the heat exchanger system is reduced, thereby also reducing the capital and operating cost of the process that utilizes such a heat exchanger system.
• the disclosed embodiments contained herein are mainly aimed at easyway fins, wherein the flow is largely parallel to the fin flow channels, the teachings may also be applicable to distribution fins, which simultaneously perform some heat transfer function and wherein the flow is predominantly, but not exclusively, parallel to the fin flow channels.
• the embodiments disclosed herein are particularly suitable for applications in which the fluid streams experience heat transfer without any phase change over at least 80% of the flow length, more preferably over at least 90% of the flow length, and most preferably over 100% of the flow length within the plate-fin passages of the plate fin exchanger, for example, containing fin channels with the perforation patterns and geometry disclosed herein.
• a plate fin heat exchanger comprising a folded fin sheet comprising fins having a height, a width, and a length, the folded fin sheet being positioned between a first parting sheet and a second parting sheet; and a first side bar and a second side bar, wherein the first side bar is positioned between the first parting sheet and the second parting sheet and adjacent to a first side of the folded fin sheet, and wherein the second side bar is positioned between the first parting sheet and the second parting and adjacent to a second side of the folded fin sheet thereby forming at least a part of a plate fin passage; wherein the fin sheet comprises a plurality of perforations, such plurality of perforations are positioned on the fin sheet in parallel rows when such fin sheet is in an unfolded state, such parallel rows of perforations on the fin sheet comprise a first spacing between the parallel rows of perforations (S1 ), a second spacing between sequential perforations within the parallel row of perforations (S2),
• a process for exchanging heat between at least two streams in a plate fin heat exchanger in accordance with the first embodiment wherein at least one stream undergoes heat transfer without phase change over at least 80% of the length of the plate-fin passages, and wherein the Reynolds Number of the at least one stream is in the range of 800 to 100,000 and more preferably in the range of 1 ,000 to 10,000.
• a process for separating nitrogen, oxygen and/or argon from air by cryogenic distillation which utilizes the plate fin heat exchanger in accordance with the first embodiment is disclosed, wherein at least one stream undergoes heat transfer without phase change over at least 80% of the length of the plate-fin passages, more preferably over at least 90% of the length of the plate-fin passages, and most preferably over 100% of the length of plate-fin passages.
• a method for manufacturing a plate fin heat exchanger comprises the steps of: providing at least one perforated sheet, the at least one perforated sheet comprising a plurality of perforations arranged in parallel rows, wherein such parallel rows of perforations on the perforated sheet comprise a first spacing between the parallel rows of perforations (S1 ), a second spacing between sequential perforations within the parallel row of perforations (S2), a third spacing (or offset) between the perforations in adjacent parallel rows of perforations (S3), and a perforation diameter (D), wherein the ratio of the first spacing between the parallel rows of perforations to the perforation diameter (S1/D) is in the range of 0.75 to 2.0; folding the at least one perforated sheet into fins to form a folded perforated sheet such that the angle between the fins and the parallel rows of perforations is less than or equal to five degrees ( ⁇ 5°); positioning a first side bar adjacent to a first side of the at
• Figure 1 is an exploded perspective view of a basic element or sub-assembly of a plate-fin heat exchanger with fins having a perforation pattern and geometry according to one embodiment of the present invention
• Figure 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating an embodiment of the perforation pattern on a flattened plate prior to their being formed into fins according to the present invention.
• Figure 3 is a graph illustrating the relative heat transfer and pressure loss performance of perforated fins as a function of S1/D with an indication of the preferred range.
• One embodiment of the current invention relates to plate fin exchangers that comprise perforated fins in at least a portion of the plate-fin passages and to the methods for assembling such plate fin exchangers.
• the perforated fins are assembled using flat perforated sheets.
• the formed fins have a special relationship to the perforation pattern on the flat sheet. While some plate-fin passages have the aforesaid fins, other plate-fin passages may have different types of fins, including plain, perforated, strip offset and wavy types, for example.
• Plate-fin heat exchangers that comprise such perforated fins have particular application in cryogenic processes such as air separation, although they may also be used in other heat transfer processes.
• a plate-fin heat exchanger of the current invention comprises several plate fin passages, some of which are made by placing at least one fin sheet 10 in between parting sheets or plates 30,40 sidebars 50,60, distributing fins (not shown but generally known in the art) and endbars (not shown but generally known in the art).
• These plate-fin passages comprise special patterns of perforations 20 in at least some portion of such plate-fin passages.
• the fin sheet 10 Prior to being formed into the fin sheet 10 as illustrated in Figure 1 , the fin sheet 10 is a flattened sheet made of a metal such as aluminum, copper, another alloy, or any other heat conducting material known in the art for fabrication of fins.
• the flattened fin sheet 10, as illustrated in Figure 2 comprises the perforations 20.
• the flattened sheet has special perforation patterns comprising several parallel rows of perforations 100,200,300 with each parallel row 100,200,300 comprising perforations 1A, 1 B, 1 C; 2A,2B,2C; and 3A,3B,3C.
• the rows of perforations 1A,1 B, 1 C; 2A,2B,2C; and 3A,3B,3C will align in a direction that is parallel to the desired direction of the fins when the flattened sheet is folded to form the fin sheet 10 as depicted in the Figure 1 .
• the nominal stream lines of the flow will be parallel to the direction of perforations as illustrated in Figure 2.
• the perforations have a diameter (D).
• the spacing between parallel rows of perforations 100, 200, 300 is designated S1 while the spacing between sequential perforations (i.e., between perforation 2A and 2B) in the stream flow direction is designated as S2.
• the offset between perforations in adjacent parallel rows 100, 200, 300 i.e. between 2A and 3A is designated as S3.
• the fluid flow direction is parallel to the parallel rows of perforations 100,200,300, but in a preferred arrangement/embodiment the direction of fluid flow is within five degrees (5%) to the direction of the parallel rows of perforations 100,200,300.
• the fin sheet 10 should be folded such that the angle between the fin folds and such parallel rows of perforations 100,200,300 is less than or equal to five degrees, while the most preferred arrangement is where such angle is zero degrees (0°).
• the fin sheets 10 may comprise perforations 20 that are circular as illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, however, those skilled in the art will recognize that non-circular perforations may also be used including, but not limited to perforations in the shape of ellipses, rectangles, parallelograms, and other such shapes.
• the arrangement of the offset rows of perforations will repeat every two rows as illustrated in Figure 2 (i.e., Row 100 shall be offset similar to Row 300, 500 (not shown), 700 (not shown), etc.). Further, when the flat perforated sheets are folded into fins in a finning operation, the structure of perforations that result on the finished fin sheet 10 tend to have a complex relationship because of the mechanical details of how the material flows in the finning dies.
• the flattened sheet is folded such that the perforation patterns on the finished fin sheet 10 repeat at least once every ten (10) fin wavelengths and more preferably at least once every five (5) fin wavelengths, in at least fifty percent (50%) of the heat exchanger plate- fin passages containing such perforated fins, more preferably in at least eighty percent (80%) of the plate-fin passages and most preferably in one-hundred percent (100%) of the plate-fin passages.
• surface texture may be applied to the perforated sheets prior to the material being folded into fins as taught by U.S. Patent No. 6,834,515 B2, entitled “Plate Fin Exchangers with Textured Surfaces,” to Sunder et al., that is incorporated by reference in its entirety.
• the surface texture may be created in the process of creating the fins from the flat perforated sheets.
• the embodiments described herein are suitable for plate fin heat exchangers wherein at least a portion of the fins have a height in the range of 0.25 inches to 1 inch (.635 centimeters to 2.54 centimeters), more preferably in the range of 0.40 inches to 0.75 inches (1.016 centimeters to 1.905 centimeters) and most preferably in the range of 0.5 inches to 0.6 inches (1.27 centimeters to 1 .524 centimeters).
• the embodiments are advantageously applied when the fluid flow conditions in such plate fin passages are in a transition state between laminar and turbulent states or in a turbulent state. This may be expressed as a Reynolds Number range of 800 to 100,000 and more preferably a range of 1 ,000 to 10,000.
• the Reynolds Number is calculated as follows:
• V fluid velocity
• A fluid flow cross sectional area
• Embodiments of the present invention have significant value because plate fin heat exchangers may be made more compact relative to conventional plate-fin exchangers, thus, saving combined capital and operating costs of the plant, such as an air separation plant.
• Example 1 concerns easyway fins that are used for heat transfer and/or distribution purposes, wherein, as previously stated, the direction of flow is generally parallel to the fin direction as indicated in Figure 2.
• the exemplary calculations show the relative values of the pressure losses and heat transfer rates that are obtained merely by changing the pattern of perforations.
• the exemplary data was plotted after scaling relative to the values that occur when the ratio of spacing to the perforation dimension was approximately 3. As this ratio is lowered to approximately 2, significant improvement occurs in heat transfer. As noted in Table 1 , the increase in heat transfer is higher than the increase in the corresponding pressure loss. Thus, a heat exchanger designed at a ratio of 2 may be shorter by a factor of about 1.2 compared to a heat exchanger designed at a ratio of 3, while the overall pressure loss will also be lower. This is a significant reduction in length and thereby the volume.
• Example 2 illustrates an exemplary improvement obtained using the teaching contained herein.
• traditional teachings concerning perforated fins in plate fin heat exchangers did not discuss preferred geometry or perforation patterns as outlined herein.
• the current example has been generated by applying the perforation pattern used in the CFD paper by Zhu et al. in the same manner as described in Example 1 .
• the calculated relative performance of a heat exchanger that utilizes such prior art fins is shown in Table 2.
• a heat exchanger constructed according to the teachings of the disclosed exemplary embodiment can have a lesser relative length (21 % less) and a lesser relative volume (21 % less) compared with a heat exchanger constructed based on the teachings of the CFD paper where both heat exchangers have equal or matching heat transfer duty and pressure drop. This is a substantial benefit for utilizing fins made in accordance with the teachings of the disclosed exemplary embodiment over the teachings of the CFD paper.
• a plate fin heat exchanger comprising:
• a folded fin sheet comprising fins having a height, a width, and a length, the folded fin sheet being positioned between a first parting sheet and a second parting sheet;
• the fin sheet comprises a plurality of perforations, such plurality of perforations are positioned on the fin sheet in parallel rows when such fin sheet is in an unfolded state, such parallel rows of perforations on the fin sheet comprise a first spacing between the parallel rows of perforations (S1 ), a second spacing between sequential perforations within the parallel row of perforations (S2), a third spacing (or offset) between the perforations in adjacent parallel rows of perforations (S3), and a perforation diameter (D), wherein the ratio of the first spacing between the parallel rows of perforations to the perforation diameter (S1/D) is in the range
• Aspect 2 The plate fin heat exchanger of Aspect 1 , wherein the angle between the fins and the parallel rows of perforations is zero degrees (0°).
• Aspect 3 The plate fin heat exchanger of Aspect 1 or Aspect 2, wherein the ratio of the first spacing between the parallel rows of perforations to the perforation diameter (S1/D) is in the range of 0.75 to 1 .0.
• Aspect 4 The plate fin heat exchanger of any one of Aspects 1 to Aspect 3, wherein the ratio of the third spacing (or offset) between perforations in adjacent parallel rows of perforations (S3) and the second spacing between sequential perforations within the parallel row of perforations (S2) is in the range of 0.25 to 0.75.
• Aspect 5 The plate fin heat exchanger of any one of Aspects 1 to Aspect 4, wherein 5% to 25% of the area of the folded fin sheet in the unfolded state is occupied by the perforations.
• Aspect 6 The plate fin heat exchanger of any one of Aspects 1 to Aspect 5, wherein the perforation diameter (D) is in the range of 1 mm to 4 mm.
• Aspect 7 The plate fin heat exchanger of any one of Aspects 1 to Aspect 6, wherein the perforations are circular.
• Aspect 8 The plate fin heat exchanger of any one of Aspects 1 to Aspect 6, wherein the perforations are in the shape of ellipses, rectangles, or parallelograms.
• Aspect 9 The plate fin heat exchanger of any one of Aspects 1 to Aspect 8, wherein the adjacent parallel rows of perforations are offset in alternating fashion such that the position of the parallel rows of perforations repeats every other row of perforations. [0060] Aspect 10.
• Aspect 1 1 The plate fin heat exchanger of any one of Aspects 1 to Aspect 10, wherein the folded fin sheet comprises a surface texture.
• Aspect 12 The plate fin heat exchanger of any one of Aspects 1 to Aspect 1 1 , wherein the fin height is in the range of 0.25 inches to 1 inch, more preferably in the range of 0.4 inches to 0.75 inches, and most preferably in the range of 0.5 inches to 0.6 inches.
• Aspect 13 The plate fin heat exchanger of any one of Aspects 1 to Aspect 12, wherein the folded fin sheet is an easyway heat transfer fin or distributor fin.
• Aspect 14 The plate fin heat exchanger of any one of Aspects 1 to Aspect 13, wherein the plate-fin passages are adapted to accept a fluid stream, and wherein the fluid stream undergoes heat transfer without phase change over at least 80%, more preferably over at least 90%, and most preferably over 100% of the length of the plate-fin passages.
• Aspect 15 A process for exchanging heat between at least two streams in a plate fin heat exchanger constructed in accordance with any one of Aspects 1 to Aspect 13, wherein at least one stream undergoes heat transfer without phase change over at least 80% of the length of the plate-fin passages, and wherein the Reynolds Number of the at least one stream is in the range of 800 to 100,000 and more preferably in the range of 1 ,000 to 10,000.
• Aspect 16 A process for separating nitrogen, oxygen and/or argon from air by cryogenic distillation, which utilizes the plate fin heat exchanger of any one of Aspects 1 to Aspect 13, wherein at least one stream undergoes heat transfer without phase change over at least 80% of the length of the plate-fin passages, more preferably over at least 90% of the length of the plate-fin passages, and most preferably over 100% of the length of plate-fin passages.
• Aspect 17 A method for manufacturing a plate fin heat exchanger which comprises the steps of:
• step (d) placing the preliminary plate fin passage of step (c) between a first parting sheet and a second parting sheet thereby forming a plate fin passage therebetween;
• step (e) combining the plate fin passage of step (d) with other plate fin passages to form the plate fin heat exchanger;
• Aspect 18 A method for manufacturing a plate fin heat exchanger according to Aspect 17, further comprising applying a surface texture to at least one perforated sheet prior to folding the at least one perforated sheet in step (b).
• the claimed invention therefore, should not be limited to any single embodiment or aspect, but rather should be construed in breadth and scope in accordance with the appended claims.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Thermal Sciences (AREA)
• General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Heat-Exchange Devices With Radiators And Conduit Assemblies (AREA)
• Separation By Low-Temperature Treatments (AREA)

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• 2010
  • 2010-09-29 WO PCT/US2010/050685 patent/WO2012044288A1/en active Application Filing
  • 2010-09-29 SG SG2013016266A patent/SG188403A1/en unknown
  • 2010-09-29 EP EP10763557.5A patent/EP2622298A1/en not_active Withdrawn
  • 2010-09-29 CN CN201080069334.4A patent/CN103119388B/zh not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2010-09-29 JP JP2013531543A patent/JP5715259B2/ja not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2010-09-29 KR KR1020137011048A patent/KR101431998B1/ko not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 2010-09-29 US US13/823,147 patent/US20130167584A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2010-09-29 RU RU2013119611/06A patent/RU2528235C1/ru not_active IP Right Cessation
• 2011
  • 2011-09-23 TW TW100134477A patent/TWI463104B/zh not_active IP Right Cessation

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