CN-122015530-A - Sealing system and method of cooling fluid in a sealing assembly

Abstract

A sealing system and method of cooling a fluid in a sealing assembly are provided. The sealing system includes a fluid cooler including a tapered coil and fins, the tapered coil including a tube defining vertically stacked and spaced apart annular portions of reduced diameter, the fins projecting from an outer surface of the tube, and a sealing assembly connected to the fluid cooler, the fluid cooler configured to receive fluid from a portion of the sealing assembly to transfer thermal energy between the fluid within the tapered coil and another fluid located outside the tapered coil proximate the tapered coil and the fins and further configured to cause the other fluid to flow laterally by natural convection from the inside of the tapered shape of the tapered coil through a space between the annular portions of the tapered coil to the outside of the tapered shape rather than from a top surface of the lower ring to a bottom surface of the upper ring, the fluid cooler including a closed loop system in which the fluid within the tapered coil is separated from the other fluid to be cooled by the fluid within the tapered coil.

Inventors

• Ronald von neusel
• Dennis van Shea
• Frank olman

Assignees

• 芙罗服务私人有限公司

Dates

Publication Date

20260512

Application Date

20190412

Priority Date

20180413

Claims (20)

1. 1. A sealing system, the sealing system comprising: A fluid cooler, the fluid cooler comprising: A conical coil comprising at least one conduit defining vertically stacked and spaced apart coils of reduced diameter, the coils being positioned in a vertical orientation with a largest lowermost coil being located at a bottom portion of the coils and a smallest uppermost coil being located at an upper portion of the coils, and A fin protruding from an outer surface of the at least one pipe, and A seal assembly connected to the fluid cooler, the fluid cooler configured to receive fluid from a portion of the seal assembly to transfer thermal energy between fluid within the conical coil and another fluid located on an exterior of the conical coil proximate the conical coil and the fins, the fluid cooler further configured to cause the another fluid to flow laterally by natural convection from an interior of the conical shape of the conical coil through a space between the vertically stacked and spaced apart annular portions of the conical coil to an exterior of the conical shape, rather than from a top surface of a lower ring to a bottom surface of an upper ring, the fluid cooler comprising a closed loop system in which the fluid within the conical coil is separated from the another fluid to be cooled by the fluid within the conical coil.
2. 2. The sealing system of claim 1, wherein the sealing assembly comprises a pump.
3. 3. The sealing system of claim 1, wherein the at least one conduit comprises at least two conduits defining the vertically stacked and spaced apart collars.
4. 4. The sealing system of claim 3, further comprising at least one manifold connected to at least one end of the at least two pipes.
5. 5. The sealing system of claim 1, wherein the fluid cooler further comprises: a vent located at an uppermost portion of the conical coil, the vent comprising a vent valve and a vent conduit; a drain located at a lowermost portion of the conical coil, the drain including a drain valve and a drain conduit, and At least two mounting flanges, wherein a first mounting flange connects a top ring of the conical coil to a frame and a second mounting flange connects a bottom ring of the conical coil to the frame.
6. 6. The sealing system of claim 5, wherein a distance between the vent valve and the drain valve is less than 1 meter.
7. 7. The sealing system of claim 6, wherein the conical coil comprises a single tube having a length of between about 6 meters and about 15 meters.
8. 8. The sealing system of claim 1, wherein the engagement between the at least one conduit and the fins comprises at least one of a flange extending between adjacent fins, an interlocking engagement between the fins, a raised engagement between adjacent fins, a tongue and groove engagement, or a continuous engagement between adjacent fins.
9. 9. The sealing system of claim 1, wherein the fluid cooler comprises a frame and the at least one conduit comprises at least two tubes coupled to and extending between the first fitting and the second fitting, the at least two tubes defining a generally conical coil extending about a longitudinal axis of the fluid cooler, a centerline of the conical coil defined by the at least two tubes being coincident with a vertical axis extending perpendicular to a lateral surface on which the frame is located.
10. 10. The sealing system of claim 9, wherein the at least two tubes are connected to the first fitting at an upper location of the conical coil along the vertical axis and relatively far from the surface on which the frame is located, and are connected to the second fitting at a lower location of the conical coil along the vertical axis and relatively close to the surface on which the frame is located.
11. 11. A sealing system, the sealing system comprising: A fluid cooler, the fluid cooler comprising: A tube defining a generally conical coil, the tube extending about a longitudinal axis of the fluid heat exchanger, the tube having at least one arcuate portion that is laterally offset with respect to another arcuate portion of the tube in a direction transverse to the longitudinal axis; A fin attached to an outer surface of the tube; A fitting coupled to the tube to enable fluid to flow into and out of the tube, and A frame coupled to and extending between a first one of the fittings and a second one of the fittings, the tube defining a generally conical coil extending about a longitudinal axis of the fluid cooler, a centerline of the conical coil defined by the tube being coincident with a vertical axis extending perpendicular to a lateral surface on which the frame is located, and A seal assembly connected to the fluid cooler, the fluid cooler configured to receive fluid from a portion of the seal assembly to transfer thermal energy between the fluid within the conical coil and another fluid located on an exterior of the conical coil proximate the conical coil and the fins.
12. 12. A method of cooling a fluid in a seal assembly, the method comprising: Passing fluid from a fluid assembly including one or more fluid seals to a heat exchanger; Passing the fluid through at least one finned tube defining a vertically aligned conical helix of the heat exchanger, the conical helix being located between a first lower end of the conical helix and a second upper end of the conical helix, the diameter of the first lower portion of the conical helix being greater than the diameter of the adjacent second upper portion of the conical helix; by spacing each ring of the conical helix laterally from an adjacent ring of the conical helix, the effect of the lower ring of the conical helix on the upper ring of the conical helix is reduced; Causing a flow as a second fluid to flow at least partially laterally from the interior of the conical helix through spaces between the plurality of rings of the conical helix to the exterior of the conical helix by natural convection, rather than from the top surface of the lower ring to the bottom surface of the upper ring; Directing the flow with the shape of the tapered spiral structure to remove heat from both the upper and lower rings as the second fluid is pumped through the spaces between the plurality of rings; Passively convecting a relatively warm fluid through the heat exchanger by supplying the fluid at a bottom portion of the heat exchanger to direct the relatively warm fluid to flow upwardly through the heat exchanger to a relatively cold fluid in an upper portion of the heat exchanger, and The fluid is cooled during passing the fluid through the tapered helical structure to transfer thermal energy from the fluid within the at least one finned tube to another fluid located outside of the at least one finned tube.
13. 13. The method of claim 12, the method further comprising: defining the tapered helical structure with a second tube, the at least one finned tube and the second tube extending along similar paths adjacent to each other, and The at least one finned tube and the second tube are connected to a first common fitting at a first longitudinal end of the tapered structure and to a second common fitting at an opposite second longitudinal end of the tapered structure.
14. 14. A method of cooling a fluid in a seal assembly, the method comprising: Passing fluid from a fluid assembly including one or more fluid seals to a heat exchanger; Passing the fluid through two finned tubes that together define a tapered helix of the heat exchanger, the tapered helix being positioned in a vertical orientation, the fluid passing between a first end of the tapered helix and a second end of the tapered helix, a diameter of a first lower portion of the tapered helix being greater than a diameter of an adjacent second upper portion of the tapered helix, each tube of the two finned tubes being axially and radially spaced from an adjacent tube of the two finned tubes; During transfer of heat energy from the fluid within the two finned tubes to another fluid located outside of the two finned tubes by passing the fluid through the tapered helical structure, cooling the fluid to provide a cooled fluid, and The fluid cooler comprises a closed loop system in which the fluid within the conical helix is separated from the other fluid to be cooled by the fluid within the conical helix by natural convection causing the other fluid to flow laterally from the interior of the conical helix through the space between the two finned tubes of the conical helix to the exterior of the conical helix, rather than from the top surfaces of the two finned tubes to the adjacent bottom surfaces of the two finned tubes.
15. 15. The method of claim 14, further comprising passively convecting the another fluid through the heat exchanger by supplying the another relatively warm fluid at a bottom portion of the heat exchanger to direct the relatively warm fluid to flow upward through the heat exchanger to a relatively cooler fluid in an upper portion of the heat exchanger.
16. 16. The method of claim 14, further comprising returning the cooled fluid to the fluid assembly comprising the one or more fluid seals.
17. 17. The method of claim 14, further comprising applying thermal energy to the cooled fluid during operation of the fluid assembly, thereby forming a heated fluid.
18. 18. The method of claim 14, wherein the fluid assembly includes one or more pump seals and the method further comprises moving the cooled fluid through the one or more pump seals to fluid flush the one or more pump seals.
19. 19. The method of claim 14, further comprising flowing at least a portion of another fluid around the tube from the interior of the conical helix through the space between the rings of the tube to the exterior of the conical helix by passive convection.
20. 20. A method of cooling a fluid in a seal assembly, the method comprising: Connecting a fluid cooler to a seal assembly, the fluid cooler comprising a tapered coil comprising at least one tube defining vertically stacked and spaced apart coils of reduced diameter positioned in a vertical orientation with a largest lowermost coil located at a bottom portion of the coils and a smallest uppermost coil located at an upper portion of the coils, and a fin protruding from an outer surface of the at least one tube; Receiving fluid from a portion of the seal assembly to transfer thermal energy between the fluid within the conical coil and another fluid located on an exterior of the conical coil proximate the conical coil and the fins, and The fluid cooler comprises a closed loop system in which the fluid within the conical coil is separated from the other fluid to be cooled by the fluid within the conical coil by natural convection causing the other fluid to flow laterally from the interior of the conical shape of the conical coil through the space between the vertically stacked and spaced apart annular portions of the conical coil to the exterior of the conical shape, rather than from the top surface of the lower ring to the bottom surface of the upper ring.

Description

Sealing system and method of cooling fluid in a sealing assembly The present application is a divisional application of the inventive patent application having filing date 2019, 04, 12, 2019800254808, entitled "fluid cooler, heat exchanger, seal assembly, system including fluid cooler or heat exchanger, and related methods". Priority claim The present application claims the benefit of the filing date of U.S. provisional patent application serial No. 62/657,343, filed on date 13 at 2018, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, for a fluid cooler, heat exchanger, seal assembly, and systems and related methods including a fluid cooler or heat exchanger. Technical Field Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to fluid coolers and/or heat exchangers and related systems and methods. In particular, some embodiments of the present disclosure relate to air-cooled fluid coolers and heat exchangers for seal assemblies, as well as systems and related methods. Background The fluid heat exchanger or cooler operates according to the general principle of keeping two fluids separated from each other by connecting the two fluids of a thermally conductive material such as metal. The fluid may be in liquid or gaseous form, depending on the application. Heat is transferred from the high temperature fluid to the low temperature fluid through the thermally conductive material, thereby cooling the high temperature fluid and heating the low temperature fluid. An example of a heat exchanger is shown in us patent 6,076,597, which describes a liquid-liquid heat exchanger in which tubes formed as coils are immersed in a cooling fluid, wherein a working fluid flows through the tubes. The tube is formed of a thermally conductive material and is configured to transfer heat from the working fluid to the cooling fluid. Another example of a heat exchanger is shown in us patent 3,802,499, which describes the tube being formed as a spiral coil within the housing. The tube has external fins extending perpendicular to the axis of the tube. The cooling fluid bypasses the tubes in a direction parallel to the fins. The fins provide additional surface area of the thermally conductive material to provide additional heat transfer between the two fluids. Heat exchangers can be used to remove heat from many processes. Some processes that utilize heat exchangers are, for example, air conditioning systems, industrial processes, internal combustion engines, industrial pumps, refrigeration systems, and the like. Generally, these systems utilize a cooling fluid to transfer heat generated by the process to a heat exchanger. The heat exchanger then transfers heat from the cooling fluid through the heat exchanger to the second fluid. In many cases, the second fluid is ambient air. In some processes, where flow is induced by adding heat to the second fluid, the second fluid may be allowed to passively move through the heat exchanger by naturally occurring wind or natural convection. In other processes, the second fluid may be mechanically pushed through the heat exchanger using, for example, a fan or pump. Disclosure of Invention In some embodiments, a fluid heat exchanger may include a tube and a plurality of fins. A plurality of fins may be attached to the outer surface of the tube. The tube may be formed as a generally conical coil. In some embodiments, the fluid heat exchanger may include a coiled tube extending about a longitudinal axis of the heat exchanger, the coiled tube having at least a portion that is laterally offset in a direction transverse to the longitudinal axis relative to another portion of the coiled tube. In some embodiments, a sealing system (e.g., a pump or mechanical seal) may include an air-cooled fluid cooler and a sealing assembly. The air-cooled fluid cooler may include a tapered coil and a plurality of fins. The conical coil may be formed by at least one tube. The at least one conduit may define a plurality of stacked loops of reduced diameter. The at least one tube may further comprise a plurality of fins protruding from an outer surface of the tube. The seal assembly may be connected to an air-cooled fluid cooler. In some embodiments, the fluid cooling system may include a single tube, a vent, a drain, and at least two mounting flanges. The single tube may define a reduced diameter ring. The ring may define a vertically oriented conical helix. The vent may extend from an uppermost portion of the tube and the drain may extend from a lowermost portion of the tube. The vent may include a vent valve and a vent tube. The drain may include a drain valve and a drain conduit. The at least two mounting flanges may include a first mounting flange and a second mounting flange. The first mounting flange may be connected between the top ring of the conical screw and the frame. The second mounting flange may be connected between the bottom ring of the conical screw and the frame. Some embodime