Abstract:
A water collector is telescoped into the interior of an aircraft condenser. The condenser has a header for collecting air from the condenser and the water collector is disposed at least partially within the header.

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     The cool air stream discharged from a condenser of an air cycle air conditioning system for an aircraft, carries droplets of moisture that are generally removed by a water collector located downstream of the condenser and upstream of the air cycle machine. If the moisture is not removed from the airstream, the droplets, after passing through the air cycle machine may create a foggy or misty atmosphere or, on occasion freeze into ice that is discharged into the aircraft cabin. Further, the frozen droplets may cause a build-up of ice thereby reducing system efficiency and corroding system components. 
     Typically, the water collector concentrates the water on its walls by centrifugal means and then gravity causes the moisture to fall out of the separator as the water is subjected to a tortuous flow path of increasing volume. 
     SUMMARY 
     According to a non-limiting embodiment of the invention, a water collector is telescoped into the interior of an aircraft condenser. The condenser has a header for collecting air from the condenser and the water collector is disposed at least partially within the header. 
     According to a further non-limiting embodiment of the invention, a header collects air from a condenser. The header has a first surface that cooperates with a cartridge disposed at least partially within the header to form a water collector. 
     According to a further non-limiting embodiment of the invention, a cartridge for collecting water from air from a condenser a portion adapted to fit within the condenser to remove water from air therein. 
     According to a still further non-limiting embodiment of the invention, a condenser for condensing water in air has an opening adapted to receive a portion of a water collector. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic layout of a prior art condenser and water collector. 
         FIG. 2  is a perspective view of the water collector disposed in a condenser header. 
         FIG. 3  is a perspective view of the header and the water collector of the invention of  FIG. 2 . 
         FIG. 4  is a view of the water collector and the condenser header broken down of  FIG. 3 . 
         FIG. 5  is a cross sectional view of the condenser header and the water collector of  FIG. 3 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       FIG. 1  shows a prior art condenser  10  and a water collector  15 . A pair of inlet pipes  20  sends moisture-laden air to the condenser  10 . The condenser, which condenses the moisture carried by the inlet pipes  20  into droplets, has a header  25  attaching to outlet pipes  30 ,  35  that direct the droplets and inlet air to the water collector  15 . The water collector  15  removes the droplets received from the condenser and channels drier air to an air cycle machine (not shown) for conditioning. The water collector  15  has an inlet pipe  35  including swirl vanes (not shown), a bulbous portion  40  housing a tortuous path (not shown), and an outlet pipe  45 . This prior art embodiment takes up too much space for modern aircraft that require more functionality in less space to reduce the weight and increase the efficiency of the aircraft. 
     Referring now to  FIG. 2 , an embodiment of the present invention is shown. A condenser  110  has inlet pipes  120  and a header  125  that cooperates with and is part of the water collector  115  as will be shown herein. One can see that the prior art external piping  30 ,  35  that previously connected the header (see  FIG. 1 )  25  to the external water collector  15  is eliminated thereby creating or minimizing the space required for the condenser  110  and the water collector  115 . 
     Referring now to  FIGS. 3 ,  4 , and  5 , the header  125  and a cartridge  130  are shown that combine together to form the water collector. The header has a rectangular opening  137  that attaches to the condenser  110 , narrowing arcuate sides  140 , and a lower trough  145  for receiving the cartridge  130 . The trough angles downwardly to a drain  150  (see  FIG. 5 ). The header has a circular plunger-shaped outlet  155 , which forms part of the water collector and secures the cartridge  130  to the header  125  as will be shown herein. The plunger-shaped outlet  155  has a narrower inner radius  160  for sealing the cartridge  130  and the header  125  and a wider outer radius  165  for completing a tortuous path with the cartridge, and an outer V-band flange  170  that extends outwardly from the wider radius  165  to cooperate with a V-band flange  175  of the cartridge  130  as will be described herein. 
     The exterior of the cartridge has an inlet tube  135 , a flange  180  extending radially from the inlet tube  135 , a bulbous head  141 , the V-band flange  175  extending along the exterior of the bulbous head  141 , a water outlet pipe  185 , an overflow port  187  (see  FIG. 4 ) and an air outlet pipe  190 . The inlet tube  135  fits within the inner radius  160  of the header and the flange  180  seals, using an o-ring  185  disposed against the header, the cartridge  130  from air in the header  125 . 
     The V-band flange  175  on the bulbous head  141  and the V-band flange  170  on the header  125  are joined by a v-band coupling  195  to hold the header  125  and the cartridge  130  together. This easy coupling method allows easy access to the header for maintenance and simple replacement of the cartridge  130 . 
     The inlet pipe  135  has an inlet radius  200  and a swirl blocker  210  formed of a long rectangular extension depending from a bottom  215  of the inlet tube  135 . The swirl blocker  210  minimizes pressure gradients outside of the inlet pipe  135  to allow air to readily enter the inlet pipe. In addition, the swirl blocker  210  slows the flow of air at the bottom  217  of the header  125  so that droplets entrained on the inside of the header may drop to the bottom  217  and travel to the drain  150  for removal. 
     The inlet radius  200  acts as a guide to cause air passing from the condenser  110  to readily enter the inlet pipe of the cartridge without creating pressure gradients that might cause air not to enter the inlet pipe  135 . 
     Referring now to  FIG. 5 , the cartridge includes swirl vanes  220  and a tortuous path (depicted by arrows  225 ) for directing water droplets formed on the walls of the inner wall of the water collector. The tortuous path  225  is formed by an inner tube  230  that is attached by vanes  235  to a flared portion  240  of the inlet tube  135 , a “bundt” bowl  245  attached to the inner tube  230  and to the bulbous head  141  of the cartridge  130  by struts  250 . One boundary of the tortuous path is formed by an inner portion  255  of the plunger-shaped outlet  155  that extends from the inner radius  160  to the outer radius  165 . The inner tube  230  has a stepped down to a narrower cylindrical portion  260  to accelerate the flow of air therethrough as will be discussed herein. The swirl vanes  220  are placed at about 0.8 times the diameter of the inlet pipe from the inner tube  230  to give air swirled by the swirl vanes  220  space to deposit water droplets in the air on the inlet pipe walls. 
     The diameter of the inner tube  230  is less than the inlet pipe  135  to allow water collected on the walls of the inner tube to enter a gap  265  between the inner tube and the inner wall of the inlet pipe. Once entrained between the inner tube and the inlet pipe, the water follows the tortuous path  225  through and out of the curved interior of the “bundt” bowl  245 , is turned by the inner portion  255  of the plunger-shaped outlet  155  from where it eventually enters into an area  270  of expanded volume along the outside of the “bundt” bowl  245 . Continually expanded volume along the tortuous path  225  allows the water droplets collected on the outside walls to slow and then gravity causes the water droplets on inner walls of the bulbous portion and the “bundt” bowl to drop into a collection area  275  and be removed from the system through water outlet pipe  185  and overflow port  187 . 
     Because the inner tube  230  narrows to the narrower cylindrical portion  260 , air therein is accelerated causing the space  280  between the inner tube  230  and the bulbous head  141  to act as a venturi and draw the newly dried air from within the bulbous portion to be passed to an air cycle machine (not shown). 
     Air discharged by the condenser  110  is: slowed by the swirl blocker  210 ; guided into the inlet tube  135  of the cartridge  130  by the inlet radius  200 ; swirled by swirl vanes  220  to enable the air to deposit droplets entrained therein onto the inside of the inlet tube  135 ; and then a portion of the air enters the inner tube  230  and is accelerated to pull air out of the tortuous path  225 ; and a portion of the air pushes the droplets into the tortuous path  225 , is slowed to allow the droplets to drop by gravity to the drain  185 , and then drawn out of the tortuous path  225  by the air in the inner tube  230 . 
     Although a combination of features is shown in the illustrated examples, not all of them need to be combined to realize the benefits of various embodiments of this disclosure. In other words, a system designed according to an embodiment of this disclosure will not necessarily include all of the features shown in any one of the Figures or all of the portions schematically shown in the Figures. Moreover, selected features of one example embodiment may be combined with selected features of other example embodiments. 
     The preceding description is exemplary rather than limiting in nature. Variations and modifications to the disclosed examples may become apparent to those skilled in the art that do not necessarily depart from the essence of this disclosure. The scope of legal protection given to this disclosure can only be determined by studying the following claims.