Heat collector

A heat storage device of simple design and compact dimensions is disclosed. The device uses a heat storage medium which contracts upon melting and which has a melting point high enough to be of use in connection with conventional, nuclear, and solar power plants.

Rotary disc regenerator, and regenerative air-cooled gas turbine engines embodying the same, characterized by non-rubbing seals which are effective to minimize air-to-exhaust leakage and make it possible to employ a sheet metal matrix as the heat exchange means of the regenerator.

A matrix structure for a rotary regenerator includes a pair of spiral wound strips with each turn of one strip disposed between adjacent turns of the other strip with the strips abutting face to face and fixed together, as by brazing, into a rigid, elastic structure, the one strip being formed with corrugations...     

A plurality of hollow, disc-like containers are each filled with a thermal energy storage material and placed in a stacked array. Each of the disc-like containers has a hole in the center and resembles a flat doughnut. A fluid such as air is directed radially inward between the container comprising the...     

Improved metallic heat exchange apparatus particularly useful in a wheel-like form as a sensible heat exchange wheel in an environmental control apparatus. The heat exchange apparatus is constructed of multiple layers of metallic "honeycomb", with the apertures of the honeycomb layers axially parallel...     

A thermal energy storage system for converting a fluid such as water, into a superheated vapor for driving a turbine includes an energy storage device for storing thermal energy from the vapor to be utilized should the pressure of the vapor fall below a predetermined value. The energy storage device...     

Diffusion-alloying of aluminum into copper brazed joints and structures, particularly for turbine engine regenerator cores.

A regenerative air preheater is provided with a rotatable body mounted within a cylindrical casing. The rotatable body is formed by perforated discs mounted upon a shaft, and the casing is subdivided into passages for the air and the gas, respectively, by means of rows of rod members fitted between the...     

A matrix structure for a rotary regenerator includes a hub and a plurality of matrix elements, each secured at one end to the outer periphery of the hub, and spirally wound in an involute configuration about the hub and fixed together, as by brazing, into a rigid, elastic structure. Each of the matrix...     

A regenerative heat exchanger wherein the rotor-to-shaft connection includes axially spaced annuli fixed about the shaft and rigidly secured to the radial partitions of the rotor.

A cold storage tank is mounted in a pit in the ground. An outer plastic sheet barrier lines the pit. A lining of incompressible insulating material lines the interior surface of the outer barrier. An inner plastic sheet barrier lines the interior surfaces of the insulation. A plurality of bags of fresh...     

Disclosed is a ceramic structural material, which is particularly useful in combination with an assembly or matrix of integrally fused tubes forming a series of longitudinal parallel passageways. Also disclosed is a method for making such ceramic structural material from rods and frit that are thermally...     

In an adsorption process for the separation of gases, e.g., in the separation of CO.sub.2 and H.sub.2 O from air, wherein gas to be separated is passed through one of several interchangeably connected adsorbers, and a main stream of regenerating gas is passed in two periods through another of said interchangeably...     

A thermal storage apparatus comprising two thermal storage vessels, each thermal storage vessel containing a thermal storage medium, one medium being capable of being maintained at a temperature in excess of a pre-selected temperature, and the other medium being capable of being maintained at a temperature...     

A matrix disc for a rotary regenerator heat exchange apparatus includes a pair of spirally wound sheets, a first sheet having a continuously formed sinusoidal corrugation having a pitch dimension that accomodates thermal expansion in the strip. The first sheet is juxtaposed against a second corrugated...     

A system is disclosed for using solar energy to heat the interior of a structure. The system utilizes a low-cost solar collector to heat a recirculating air mass which then flows through a series of interconnected ducts and passageways without the use of exterior fans or blowers. Heat is transferred...     

A rotor construction for a rotary regenerative heat exchanger in which sector-shaped compartments are formed between imperforate diaphragms that extend radially outward from a central rotor post. The diaphragms serve to form the sector-shaped compartments that are packed with heat absorbent plates, while...     

A heat storage unit using salt or a salt mixture. Heat is extracted from the unit by converting water to steam and a series of pipes is provided extending to different depths in the salt. The pipes extend to different heights at the top of the unit so that water first overflows into the pipe extending...     

Simplicity is the height of invention. In the present invention, a plurality of containers provide for heat storage in water or other fluids, plus heat storage in heat-of-fusion heat storage material, plus domestic water heating, including good quality heat exchange going in to storage and going out...     

A heating system for supplying thermal energy to a heater of a machine such as a hot gas engine, this system using a heat-transporting medium which flows within a closed space between a heat-receiving portion to a heat-discharging portion. Thermal energy is supplied from a heat source through a wall...     

A rotor for a rotary heat exchanger comprising a plurality of successive circumferential layers of corrugated foil. The corrugated foil in the adjacent layers may be joined by plane foil layers interposed between adjacent layers of corrugated foil, or may be joined directly to each other. The foil adjacent...     

A thermal energy storage tank charged with a phase changeable thermal energy storage material produces a partial pressure variation due to the flow of a heat transfer medium, when passing through the thermal energy storage material. An attempt is made to provide the uniform phase changeable of the thermal...     

Rotary regenerative total heat energy exchanger having an asbestos-free heat exchange media formed by spirally winding flat and corrugated webs of aluminum foil and/or fully bleached, 45 lb. Kraft paper constituted by 84% fibres and 16% salts. The contained salts are 90% ammonium sulfide and 10% diammonium...     

A heat accumulator in which the heat-energy storage medium consists essentially of a potassium fluoride-water system having a potassium fluoride content between 44 and 48% by weight.

A heat storage and/or recovery system using multiple heat storage tanks to selectively store heat from a solar collector and recover the stored heat to operate a heat driven system. The heat from the solar collector is transferred into the storage tanks through an input heat transfer link configuration...     

A heat exchange element for a rotary regenerative heat exchanger has corrugations of a wave-form conformation which include portions, extending between 10% and 50% of the wave length, which are parallel to the direction of flow of medium through the pack. Comparative data are given showing better efficiency...     

Heat of liquefaction and solidification is transmitted between a heat storing material undergoing the phase transition and a heating medium in a heat exchanger by means of a partly gaseous, partly liquid fluid sealed in a heat pipe a portion of which is received in the container for the aforementioned...     

A heating installation, especially for heating a passenger space in a motor vehicle, with at least one heat-exchanger that is adapted to be connected as a heat-absorbing heat-exchanger to a heat source, preferably to the exhaust gas pipe, and can be provided as a heat-emitting heat-exchanger at any desired...     

A quantity of aluminum is in heat exchange contact with a potassium loop and a steam/water loop. The potassium loop includes a solar energy collector and the solar-heated potassium melts the aluminum to store thermal energy as latent heat of fusion. The steam/water loop extracts steam at 1,000.degree....     

A rotary regenerator construction comprising a ceramic core adapted to rotate upon its central axis and a ring gear surrounding the periphery of the core for purposes of driving the core rotatably and a yieldable compliant ring sandwiched between the ring gear and the periphery of the core to prevent...     

The present invention provides systems for transfer of heat such as useful in solar energy systems. A heat storage medium is used, preferably salt conditioned by anti-caking anti-corrosive treatment whereby hydrated salts have increased utility by remaining granular during severe temperature and humidity...     

Heat transfer structure comprises: A. sandwich assembly including a heat transfer plate to receive infra-red radiation or to transmit such radiation, respectively to or from skyward, B. the assembly defining an enclosed gas flow chamber at the underside of said plate, there being spaced air inlet and...     

A heat storage system consisting of a compartmented tank containing a liquid medium capable of storing heat therein, a flow control system operable to establish a liquid flow in the tank operable to concentrate the hottest liquid in a compartment remote from the outer tank wall, and sucessively less...     

A solar thermal electric energy system utilizes a solar receptor having a double paned glass window with cooling liquid circulating therethrough. This serves as a window for a solar heat receptor cavity having a number of water or steam carrying tubes therein. A portion of the tubes operate at a temperature...     

In a heat storage device for low-temperature applications, e.g. for heating greenhouses and warehouses, the drop in temperature in an intermediate heat carrier circuit, which had previously been necessary in such applications, is avoided and a said device of simpler construction than devices previously...     

A furnace having a nitrogen-heat separator comprised of a heat absorbing mass, such as cast iron plates, containing passages through which products of combustion can pass and deposit heat into the metal mass to thereafter be extracted and utilized, a baffle for directing products of combustion through...     

In a rotary regenerative air heater, an improved annular heat exchanger stack composed of several layers of heater lamellae packages and grate-like guide screen layers arranged on both ends of each lamellae package. The guide screen layers guide the flows of flue gas and air between stack layers and...     

A rotor for a gas-liquid heat exchange device that comprises a plurality of spaced heat absorbent elements mounted on a rotary shaft. The shaft is adapted to be rotated continuously between a hot liquid and a cool gas in order that heat contained in the hot liquid is first absorbed by the elements and...     

A heat exchanger of the regenerative type comprising a matrix of heat storage elements and a support structure therefor comprising a plurality of support bars and a support rim upon which the bars are located; at at least one end each element of the matrix comprising a heat storage block having a plurality...     

A spiral solar heat storage unit having air ducts radially spaced from the center to the rim of the spiral storage unit so the air from the solar collector can be delivered to the various ducts located radially along the spiral storage unit. By delivering the hottest air to the center of the spiral storage...     

A ventilator having a rotating drumlike heat exchanging fan and a housing with separation walls and a stationary conical member arranged in the hollow of the fan. Separation walls cooperating with external and internal sides of the fan have lips arranged according to the specification.

A thermal energy storage apparatus and method employs a container formed of soda lime glass and having a smooth, defect-free inner wall. The container is filled substantially with a material that can be supercooled to a temperature greater than 5.degree. F., such as ethylene carbonate, benzophenone,...     

Heat is stored by melting a mixture of salts contained in compartments between an inner and an outer tube and radial copper fins which taper in radial outward direction. The molten salts solidify upon passage of relatively cold water through the inner tube, but formation of salt deposits on the fins...     

A heat exchanger of the regenerative type comprising a rotor constructed of corrugated strip layers providing transverse channels extending therethrough. The device is arranged to have separate gas streams directed through different parts of the rotor so that on rotation of the rotor the storage mass...     

A heat receiver is provided comprising a housing through which the breathing mixture passes in one direction and through which the exhaled breath passes in the opposite direction. The housing contains heat conductive elements through which the breathing mixture and exhaled breath pass and spacers positioned...     

A modular thermal energy storage system comprises a stack of individual heat storage elements, each element having a sealed metal container filled with liquid such as water and separate thermally diffusing layers of insulation on opposite outer portions of the container, with opposite central portions...     

A heat exchanger for use in a Stirling cycle engine includes a plurality of disc-like plates which are stacked in coaxial fashion within a cylindrical housing, and are supported thereby. The plates are all identical, and are provided with a matrix of perforations extending therethrough parallel to the...     

The specification discloses a novel energy saving forced-air furnace. In contrast to previous forced-air furnaces, which ran only on gas or oil and in which approximately half of the energy derived from the burning fuel was lost through the chimney, the furnace of the present invention can run on coal,...     

A phase change material heat exchanger wherein the latent heat of a substance as its physical state changes from solid to liquid, and vice versa, is utilized as a heat storage medium. Structure is also disclosed whereby a heat transfer fluid is intimately associated with the phase change material so...     

A heat storage device comprising a closed reservoir within which is positioned a flexible closed container of smaller volume. The flexible container encloses a liquefiable heat-accumulating material; and the reservoir is provided with a heat-transport medium outside of the flexible container. The heat-transport...     

A heat-exchanger composed of a body of ceramic sponge defining randomly located interconnected walls bounding a plurality of randomly located interconnected cavities and a plurality of elongate heat-conductive members embedded in the body and having a surface in heat-exchanging relation with the body...     

Ceramic material, and cryogenic refrigeration apparatus containing thermal energy absorbing elements made of the ceramic material, which is a dielectric insulator and has values of specific heat at selected temperatures below 15.degree. K. that are greater than or at least equal to the values of specific...     

A system for transmitting, storing and utilizing cold which includes the use of heat pipes for transmitting the winter cold to freeze the ground water storage, and two-phase flow pipes to effectively cool the warm air passing through the flow pipes in the air conditioning duct. The system provides for...     

Light weight, compact and efficient thermal energy reservoirs are described in which thin layers of a heat storage material, such as an inorganic salt having a high latent heat of fusion, are heated or cooled by an intermittent primary energy source, such as solar or off-peak electric power. The stored...     

The invention relates to a heat-recovering fan comprising a rotating capillary impeller with a separating plate inside to separate the air currents and being in communication with separate supply air and exhaust air outlets. The invention provides a heat recovering fan having a capillary impeller. The...     

Only a limited number of organic or silicone liquid phase thermal exchange fluid types are suitable for operation over a wide range of hot and cold temperatures and these have an undesirable property of degrading at high temperatures. It is accordingly desirable to subject the thermal exchange fluid...     

In a housing, a clothes dryer wherein dampness in washed clothes is expelled by warm air sweeping therethrough, the air being drawn in at least partly from the environment through openings formed in the housing and heated and, after absorbing the dampness, exhausted at least partly back into the environment,...     

A heat storing fireplace including a fire-box surrounded by a heat storage medium which is either an enclosure containing a material having a high specific heat such as sand or gravel or a large number of heat conducting bags containing a high specific heat material. Exhaust gases are conveyed from the...     

A solar heater adapted to be made as an integral, sealed unit for installation in a building exterior wall or for use in an existing window opening or the like. A collector is operative to transfer solar heat to an adjacent evaporator to heat and vaporize a liquid refrigerant. The refrigerant vapor rises...     

A cooling system particularly suitable for use in the air-conditioning of buildings is described. The system includes: (a) A cooling zone containing a conduit for cooling fluid, the conduit encountering the heat load, means in the conduit for propelling the fluid through the conduit, and cooling fluid...     

A method and apparatus for thermal storage having a movable manifold which discharges thermal transfer fluid to trickle through a particulate solid thermal storage medium to be collected for distribution or recirculation in a manner such as to establish a vertical thermocline within said thermal storage...     

The invention disclosed is of a housing which includes a plurality of assemblies which carry chemical substances which can absorb and store heat. The assemblies comprise sheets of synthetic resinous material which are sealed together along parallel lines to form pockets or chambers in which the chemical...     

A selective extraction heat storage assembly (32) for use in a system including a plurality of such assemblies (32a-c) and for use by itself, includes a heat unit (10) connected in parallel with a fluid circulating passage (54) and has a separate unit heat extractor (exchanger) (34) mounted in the unit...     

A latent heat accumulator gives up its heat when a heat exchange medium is assed through the accumulator and around a circuit containing an external heat sink. The heat storage medium in the accumulator changes its state from liquid to solid as it gives up heat. In order to prevent heat exchange medium...     

A solar heating system including a radiant heat collector apparatus made up of an enclosure having glazed panels. The collector provided within the enclosure is upstanding with the enclosure and the collector has heat absorbent flat walls spaced inwardly from the glazed panels. A heat storage core is...     

Disclosed is a novel rotary heat exchanger and heat exchange system for use in gas turbine engines and other environments. The heat exchanger includes a ceramic disk having a ring gear extending about the outer circumference thereof. The ring gear is joined to the ceramic disk by means of an elastomeric...     

A cold bank tank in an enclosure for storing thermal energy in a very small area contains a liquid heat transfer fluid and has a top which is the top of the enclosure and a spaced opposite bottom. An inside heat exchanger extends from the bottom of the tank in the enclosure for cooling warm air in the...     

A heat wheel is made of spirally wound, interleaved, flat and corrugated strips of metal material. A plurality of circumferentially spaced pairs of radial rods extend between the wheel hub and the outer rim of the wheel. The rods of each pair are disposed in a radial plane and, in that plane, are at...     

A regenerative heat exchanger. The rotor is an annular body and includes several rotationally symmetrical chambers which are separated from one another by walls, with the axially parallel dividing walls being permeable for the gaseous heat-dissipating or heat-receiving medium, and the radial dividing...     

A knock-down tank for containing a liquid medium having a bottom panel, multiple side panels and a top panel secured together by fasteners inside the tank and insulated against heat transfer, the tank being made liquid tight by a plastic liner, and the top panel supporting a depending dip tube assembly...     

A thermal energy exchanging device is described as having a stationary, hollow cylindrical gas distributing member around which a closed, hollow torus-shaped member rotates. The stationary member is longitudinally and transversely divided into four compartments. The hollow enclosure of the rotatable...     

The increase in volume of a heat storage medium comprising water or a first eutectic mixture of water and a salt hydrate, when such storage medium passes from the liquid to the solid state, is prevented from occurring by adding 1 to 6% by volume of a second water-salt hydrate eutectic having a lower...     

An apparatus which is in one embodiment structurally integrated with a building and has a solar collector plate with a front side and back side. The collector is mounted a spaced distance from an insulated building interior wall to form a preheating channel with one of its sides. Roof mounted solar admitting...     

An improved seal column design for use in counterflow heat exchanger systems having a centrally supported rotary heat exchanger or heat recovery wheel having an integral strengthened central hub. According to the invention, the edges formed between the end wall of each seal column juxtaposed an annular...     

The present invention is a rotary heat exchanger core for use with a rotary heat exchanger. The core comprises a plurality of discs having passages for axial fluid flow. The discs are axially aligned and connected with a space between adjacent discs. There is a means to prevent circumferential fluid...     

An energy storage system of increased conductivity for enhanced receipt, capture, storage, removal and release of energy is provided by dispersing finely divided filaments of highly conductive material throughout chemical energy storage media and causing the conductive filaments to establish a myriad...     

An energy storage medium that can be raised to a high energy state which is comprised of a gel of polyethylene oxide, water, and a salt which causes gelation of polyethylene oxide and water at or below about 90.degree. C., and a method for storing energy with the medium.

A heat storage unit of the kind comprising a housing in which heat storage elements are contained, with a common passage extending through the heat storage elements, and through which air is fed by a fan to remove heat from the storage elements to apply the heat to the room being served by the unit....     

The bars that abut the ends of the plates employed as heat storing elements in a basket for a regenerative heat exchanger are received in recesses in the ends of the plates. These recesses are sufficiently large so that the exterior edges of the plates are approximately planar with the outer edges of...     

A system for transmitting, storing and utilizing cold which includes the use of heat pipes for transmitting the winter cold to cool the anti-freezing liquid in the ground cold storage which in turn freeze the water bags installed in the cold storage. When the complete air-conditioning system in a cooling...     

A heat storage unit (100) in the form of a rectangular parallelepiped is provided with a removable closure element (104), and contains a plurality of removable closed plastic tubes (126) holding a heat storage substance, the tubes being laterally supported by adjacent tubes and longitudinally supported...     

A heat exchanger for cooling is immersed in a vessel for storing heat filled with a heat-storing material of latent heat type. The heat exchanger for cooling is positioned at an upper level in the vessel when a heat-storing material having a higher specific gravity in a crystal state than in a liquid...     

A hydrostatic bladder-type storage means for storing mechanical energy by a compressible media in a pressure bottle. An interior of the pressure bottle contains an elastically resilient bladder accommodating the medium. The pressurized medium is introduced into the bladder from one side of the bottle,...     

In a heat storage device comprising a container (40) which contains a salt hydrate, the heat of fusion of which is utilized to provide high heat capacity in relation to the volume, oil is circulated by a pump (50) through a number of channels (62, 65) leading to outlet openings (55) distributed in the...     

A latent heat accumulator is disclosed including a vessel for receiving a tent heat storage medium and a circuit for a heat exchanger medium. The heat exchanger medium is immiscible with the latent heat storage medium, has a different density than the heat storage medium and is openly conveyed through...     

A casing for a building having an absorbing and heat exchange layer, which on operation for heating the building, has the function of stopping the loss of heat from the inside to the outside and, on cooling operation, of stopping the transfer of heat from the outside to the inside. A glass-clear or opaque...     

The resistance of a honeycombed structure to damage from asymmetric thermal shock occurring across its surface during use and formed with cells having anisotropic Young's moduli in the planes perpendicular the central longitudinal axis of each cell can be improved by varying the orientation of the anisotropic...     

A liquid melt becomes converted to crystalline form at a particular temperature either spontaneously or when artificially nucleated. The liquid releases heat at crystallization. An additive is dissolved in the liquid melt. The additive has properties of forming a metastable solid solution together with...     

A heat storage and delivery apparatus includes a cabinet containing a plurality of heat storage rods which absorbs and stores heat when heated air is directed over the surfaces thereof. A delivery passage and a return passage within the cabinet are adapted to be connected to a heat generator, preferably...     

A heat storage material comprises a composition of CaCl.sub.2.6H.sub.2 O for preventing a crystallization of CaCl.sub.2.4H.sub.2 O and 0.01 wt. % or more of at least one compound selected from the group consisting of KCl, RbCl, NaCl, NaF, Na.sub.3 AlF.sub.6 and other double salts of NaF.

A rotary regenerative heat exchanger (2) for transferring heat from a hot fluid to a cold fluid by means of an assembly (30) of heat transfer element which is alternately contacted with the hot and cold fluid. The heat transfer element assembly (30) is comprised of a plurality of first and second heat...     

A displacer for low-temperature refrigerating machines having a regenerator disposed in a hollow space of the displacer, wherein the regenerator is formed at least in part of a sintered material, preferably sintered bronze spheres.

A heat storage material comprises NaCH.sub.3 COO.3H.sub.2 O as a main component and a nucleating agent comprising 95 to 10 wt. % of anhydrous sodium acetate and 5 to 90 wt. % of at least one of the other sodium salts selected from the group consisting of Na.sub.3 PO.sub.4, Na.sub.2 HPO.sub.4, NaH.sub.2...     

A sensibe heat storage unit is provided which has a "step function" thermal gradient, and is constructed so as to have alternated regions of different thermal conductivity along the flow path through the unit such that, in one embodiment, there are spaced elements within the storage unit having transverse...     

An open ended basket 20 that contains a mass of heat absorbent material for a rotor of a rotary regenerative heat exchange apparatus. The basket has a uniquely curved support bar 26 at opposite ends thereof adapted to extend obliquely across the mass of heat absorbent material. The support bar is of...     

A thermal energy storage medium comprising Na.sub.2 SO.sub.4.10H.sub.2 O and Na.sub.2 HPO.sub.4.12H.sub.2 O. This material provides advantages over Na.sub.2 SO.sub.4.10H.sub.2 O alone such as constancy of heat delivery temperature and energy output, improved reversibility, and greater usable volumetric...     

A latent heat accumulator is disclosed including an upright container hav, in a major volume first section, a latent heat storage medium, and a passage for a heat exchange medium extending through the charge in the first section. The passage is of the type of a conduit provided with intake openings at...     

A heat-storing composition comprising acetic acid and at least one of sodium acetate, ammonium acetate, potassium acetate and calcium acetate works at a desired temperature in a temperature range of 5.degree.-20.degree. C. and is chemically stable with a high heat-storing capacity.

A regenerator including a heat accumulating material is disposed on an engine exhaust tube for accumulating heat given by the exhaust gas passing through the exhaust tube. An air distributor unit including an electric fan is arranged to force the air warmed by the heat accumulating material to be fed...     

Supercooling of sodium thiosulfate pentahydrate is prevented by adding thereto naphtharene or naphthol and/or at least one of calcium sulfate, potassium chloride, sodium chloride, potassium bromide, sodium bromide, potassium iodide, and sodium iodide, or a pyridine.