JPH0457956B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a plate heat exchanger formed by connecting heat transfer plates. A gasket is sandwiched between each plate or at least every second plate, and the gasket transfers heat between one or a pair of heat exchanger plates and the adjacent one or pair of heat exchanger plates. The heat transfer surface is arranged to be fastened to the liquid flow hole at a portion defining a boundary on the outside of the heat transfer surface.

A plate heat exchanger is formed by stacking heat exchanger plates on horizontally disposed support rods via vertically disposed gaskets. These heat transfer plates are fastened together and installed within the framework. According to the prior art, the gasket is glued into the gasket groove before assembly to facilitate the assembly of the heat exchanger plate. The purpose of this gluing line is therefore to hold the gasket on the heat exchanger plate during the assembly process.

However, this method has many drawbacks. This stagnation operation is uneconomical because it requires many complicated steps and must be carried out extremely precisely. Glue surfaces must be cleaned and degreased before applying glue. Retaining long, thin gaskets within the grooves of the heat transfer surface is difficult, especially with large heat transfer plates. In order to bond the gasket and the heat exchanger plate to each other by applying adhesive, the heat exchanger plate is fastened to a curing plate, and the adhesive surface is cured in a furnace. The curing plate and heat transfer plate cannot be separated until they are cooled. Thereafter, the residual adhesive is removed and the finished state of the adhesive area is visually inspected. Stalemate work also requires special considerations for the working environment, such as ensuring that the room where the work is performed is well ventilated.

If the gasket must be replaced due to leakage or other reasons after a plate heat exchanger has been used for a considerable period of time, it is difficult to remove the used gasket and glue from the packing grooves. Performing this task at the equipment installation site would be difficult and time consuming, and the complete equipment would have to be returned to the factory for repair.

An object of the present invention is to provide a solution to the above-mentioned problems when joining a gasket to a heat exchanger plate of a plate heat exchanger. The present invention proposes a design in which the gasket is coupled and fixed to the heat exchanger plate at a coupling and fixing portion on the outside of the fastening surface sealed by the gasket (ie, on the edge side of the heat exchanger plate). In a preferred embodiment of the invention, each heat exchanger plate is provided with one or more gasket embossed grooves, and each heat exchanger plate is provided with one or more gasket embossed grooves on the heat exchanger plate outside the clamping surface defined by the gasket grooves. The gaskets are arranged so as to be joined. This joining procedure allows the gasket to be joined on the outside of the gasket groove, rather than on the clamping surface within the gasket groove.

In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, the elongated gasket includes a protruding tab on the opposite side of the heat transfer surface, which tab is joined to the heat transfer plate. One example of a variation in gasket placement that joins the gasket of the present invention to a heat exchanger plate is in association with a thin strip of gasket material.

The protruding tabs can be joined to the heat exchanger plate by either mechanical fixing or gluing. The above-mentioned problems related to the gluing operation are alleviated by making the gluing operation simpler and using less glue, and the reduced amount of glue used also reduces the problems in the working environment. Furthermore, removal of the gasket from the heat exchanger plate is also easier because less glue is required to be removed.

With this invention, it is possible to mechanically bond the gasket to the heat transfer surface, and the problem of sticking due to adhesives is completely avoided.

The mechanical bonding described above can be performed in a number of ways within the scope of this invention. According to a preferred embodiment of the mechanical connection of the gasket, each tab has a tap that is inserted into a hole corresponding to a tap in the heat exchanger plate.

The plate heat exchanger according to the invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, which illustrate only examples of embodiments of the gaskets for mechanical connections given by way of example.

Figure 1 is a top view of a portion of the gasket with protruding tabs and taps;
This is a side view of the figure, and Figure 3 is the line from Figure 1.
4 shows a part of the heat exchanger plate when using the gasket shown in FIG. 1,
FIG. 5 shows a cross-section along the line - of FIG. 4, and as can be seen in FIG. 1, the gasket 1 is provided with a protruding tab 2. The elongated portion 3 of the gasket is placed in a groove extending around the heat exchanger plate.
The gasket has a rim 4 on its upper part delimiting the adjacent heat exchanger plate. Above protruding tab 2
is provided with a tap 5 shown in FIG. 2 on its lower side.
There is also a hole 6 inside the tap that passes through it. Gasket 1 also has rims 7 at two locations on its lower side, as shown in FIG.

A portion of the heat exchanger plate 8 is provided with a gasket groove 9 extending around the heat exchanger plate as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. A part of the heat exchanger plate 8 is provided with an embossed corrugated portion on the outside of the gasket groove. Some of these corrugations are embossed only to half the embossment depth. Such an embossed corrugation 10 has holes 11 for the taps 5 of the above-mentioned protruding tabs 2.

Of course, it is also possible to design the protruding tab so that the tap 5 can be joined to the hole 11 of the embossed corrugation 10 which is embossed to the full embossment depth.

When the gasket is assembled into the heat exchanger plate, the elongated portion of the gasket is placed in the gasket groove 9 and the tap 5 is located above the hole 11. A needle or pin in the hole 6 causes the tap to elongate and become narrower so that it can be crimped through the hole 11 in the heat exchanger plate. When the downward force is removed, the tap attempts to return to its original shape, but since the hole in the plate is smaller in diameter than the tap, the tap extends below the plate and effectively holds the gasket in place. .

In other words, the hole 6 provided in the tap is provided to facilitate the attachment and detachment of the gasket.

The first method described for joining gaskets is that by looking at the back side of the heat exchanger plate, anyone can see that any hole in the heat exchanger plate can accept the protruding part of the gasket; It has the practical benefit of being able to fix the gasket at a rate at every possible junction.

Many arrangements are possible within the scope of this invention, but what they all have in common is that the gasket joint is located outside the fastening surface.

[Effects of the Invention] The invention set forth in claim 1 does not provide a mounting hole in the gasket groove of the heat exchange plate, but provides a mounting hole between the gasket groove and the heat exchange plate, and the gasket is provided with a tab. By extending from the sealing part of the gasket and providing a tab for attaching the gasket to the heat exchange plate, the following effects can be achieved when a plate heat exchanger is assembled with the heat exchange plate and gasket. be.

(1) Since the part that seals the heat exchange area and the part that attaches the gasket to the heat exchange plate are completely isolated, there is no possibility of liquid leakage due to the mounting holes.

(2) Since the tab extends from the sealing part of the gasket, the tab can be bent flexibly, and even if there is a misalignment between the pitch of the mounting hole of the heat exchange plate and the pitch of the tap of the gasket, the gasket will not close. Avoid applying excessive force to the seal part during installation.
Since the seal part is not deformed, no liquid leakage occurs.

(3) The gasket is installed by inserting a tap into the mounting hole, and no adhesive is used, so repair or cleaning is easy.

(4) The tab of the gasket only needs to extend horizontally from the sealing part of the gasket, and the tap only needs to extend vertically from the tab, so the mold for forming the gasket only needs to be substantially open on both sides, top and bottom. Very good workability.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 is a partial view from above of a gasket with protruding tabs and taps, FIG. 2 is a side view of the gasket tab of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a cross-section of the gasket along the line - of FIG. Figure 4 is the first
A partial view of a heat exchanger plate to which a gasket is applied according to the figure,
Figure 5 is a cross-sectional view of the heat exchanger plate along the line - in Figure 4, 1... gasket, 2... tab, 3... elongated portion, 4... rim, 5... tap, 6... hole ,7...
...Rim, 8...Heat exchange plate, 9...Gasket groove, 1
0...embossed waveform part, 11...hole.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A plate heat exchanger in which a plurality of heat exchange plates are assembled so that the gap between adjacent heat exchange plates is determined by gaskets sandwiched between the adjacent heat exchange plates. Each heat exchange plate has a non-perforated gasket groove 9 surrounding the heat exchange area and extending along its periphery.
and a mounting hole 11 provided between the peripheral edge and the gasket groove 9, the gasket having a sealing part and a tab 2 including a tap 5 integrally formed on the sealing part, The seal portion is removably housed in the gasket groove 9 of one of the adjacent heat exchange plates, sealing the heat exchange area between the adjacent heat exchange plates, and the tab 2 performs heat exchange from the seal portion. Extending toward the periphery of the plate, the tap 5 is inserted and fastened into the mounting hole 11 of the one heat exchange plate, and has a hole 6 that facilitates insertion of the tap 5 into the mounting hole 11; A plate heat exchanger characterized in that the holes 6 are open to the atmosphere in a direction perpendicular to the plate. 2. A plate heat exchanger according to claim 1, wherein the holes 6 are open to the atmosphere on the gasket groove side of the plate and closed on the opposite side of the plate.