IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR COOLING OR HEATING LIQUIDS
Year: 1883

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Bernhard Heinrich Remmers at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 4th August 1883.
BERNHARD HEINRICH REMMERS, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark,
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR COOLING OR HEATING LIQUIDS,"
The object of this Invention is to provide simple and inexpensive apparatus to
be used in cooling or refrigerating liquids, such as brewers' worts or beer or saline
solutions, or for imparting heat to liquids.
The improved apparatus is so constructed that the liquids to be cooled or heated,.
circulate through a series of narrow channels in a direction contrary to that of a
stream of cooling or heating liquid which is kept separato from the liquid under
treatment by thin conducting platos or partitions.
According to one modification of the Invention, the improved apparatus
comprises a series of thin plates or sheets of copper or other suitable conducting
material arranged vertically and parallel to each other, and separated by thin
frames of wood or metal of open rectangular shape, against which the plates are
tightly pressed, to form a series of cells or narrow water-tight compartments. Tho
frames are formed with a series of horizontal or vertical bars which serve to
divide the cells or compartments into channels through which the liquids flow in a
zig-zag path, or alternately back and forth, the communication between the
channels or divisions of the cells being effected by means of perforations or slots
cut through the dividing bars. The alternate cells of the sories are placed in
communication with each other in pairs alternately at top and bottom, by means
of couplings fitted over perforations or slots cut through the dividing frames,
preferably near each end. For example, the first and third cells may be in
cominunication at the top, the third and fifth at the bottom, the fifth and seventh
at the top, the seventh and ninth at the bottom, and so on in regular sequence, so
that the liquid to be treated may flow onwards through the alternato calls or
compartiments from the first, where it enters by an inlet pipe, to the last which is
fitted with a discharge pipe. The remaining cells or compartments, that is, the
second and fourth, fourth and sixth, etcetera, are similarly connected together (but
at the opposite side) so that the water or other liquid used for cooling or heating
the worts or liquids under treatment may circulate through the adjacent cells in
the opposite direction, that is entering at the last of this series and discharging
!....מ

page_text: at the first of the same series. The two liquids, that is the liquid being treated
and that used for cooling or heating, thus traverse the series of cells in opposite
directions in thin layers or streams, and in close proximity to each other, being
only separated by the thin sheets or partitions of conducting material so that the
heat of the one liquid is readily abstracted from it by the other. The extent and
duration of exposure of the one liquid to the action of the other is however
further increased by causing the liquids to circulate through the zig-zag channels
which are formed in each cell by the longitudinal or horizontal bars of the dividing
frames. To provide a maximum extent of surface for the action of the treating
liquid, the dividing plates or partitions may be partially corrugated.
The copper sheets or plates and the wooden frames, aro secured between strong
side plates or frames which are bolted together, or they may be secured in a
- manner analogous to that in which the plates of filter presses are fitted together,
and provision may be made for withdrawing the sheets for cleaning, or for other
purposes, without undoing the entire apparatus, by forming a bead on the upper
edge of each plate.
The couplings used to connect in pairs the series of cells through which the
liquids flow, are formed by preference of dished vessels (with flanges provided
with rubber or other jointing material) which extend over or cover the perforations
or slots cut through the sides of the alternate frames, and convey the liquid from
-one.cell past the adjacent. frame to the alternate cell. Thus for the series of cells
containing the liquid under treatment, a set of couplings is provided at the top,
and another set at the bottom, and for the cells containing the heating or cooling
liquid, similar sets of couplings are provided and are fitted at the opposite side of
the frames. Each set of couplings-is-preferably connected to transverse. lever bars
jointed to the framework of the apparatus, and fitted to bear on the back of the
couplings to keep them close on their seats, and the bars are also arranged to lift
or disconnect all the couplings simultaneously. The pressure on the individual
couplings can however be regulated by means of screws fitted in the transverse
lever bars,
In using the improved apparatus, it is immaterial which series of cells is
employed for conveying the heating or cooling liquid through the apparatus. In
cooling beer, for example, the beer is admitted to circulate through one series of
alternate cells or compartments, and cold water is caused to dow through the
other series of alternate cells in the opposite direction. After working for a time,
the cells used for the beer may become slightly fouled by deposition. The cells can
then be emptied, the admission pipe for the beer be connected to the cells formerly
used for the cooling liquid, and the water admission pipe connected to the other
series of cells, when the action of the water passing through the fouled cells will
be to cleanse them. Each series of cells may thus be used alternately for the beer
and for water.
In cases where the number of cells or compartments employed is very numerous,
it may be advantageous to run the cooling or heating liquid in separato stroams
through a number of the cells, or through the individual cells.