Shell-and-Tube Heat Exchanger

Abstract

A shell-and-tube heat exchanger including a casing tube and at least one inner tube for treating liquid food products, optionally also with a product/product flow guidance, and having at least one thermal-expansion compensating device for the casing and/or inner tube, with the compensating device having a surface which can be contacted by the product to be treated, where the surface is provided on a bellows integrated into the casing and/or inner tube, with a plurality of relatively wide folds which extend around the tube axis and are of rounded cross-section, with the respective fold being configured with a radial depth and an axial width with a ratio of B:T of about 1 or more and to be cleanable on the product side in a hygienically irreproachable way.

1 . A shell-and-tube heat exchanger, comprising a casing tube, at least one inner tube for treating liquid food products, particularly low-viscosity products, such as juices or milk, also with a product/product flow guidance, at least one thermal-expansion compensating device for the casing and/or inner tube, with the compensating device having disposed therein at least one surface which can be contacted by the product to be treated, on at least one bellows integrated into the casing and/or inner tube the surface which can be contacted by the product is provided with a plurality of relatively wide folds which extend around the tube axis and are of rounded cross-section, and that the respective fold is configured on the surface which can be contacted by the product with a radial depth and an axial width with a ratio of B:T of about 1 or more and can thereby be cleaned in a hygienically irreproachable way. 
     
     
         2 . The shell-and-tube heat exchanger according to  claim 1 , wherein the ratio of B:T, at least on the surface which can be contacted by the product, ranges from about 1 to about 2. 
     
     
         3 . The shell-and-tube heat exchanger according to  claim 1 , and a plurality of axially directly successive, alternatingly inwardly and outwardly shaped, at least substantially similar folds are provided with the ratio of B:T of about 1 or more. 
     
     
         4 . The shell-and-tube heat exchanger according to  claim 1 , and a plurality of relatively wide folds which are axially successive with interspaces and substantially of a similar kind are provided inwards or outwards and are formed on the surface which can be contacted by the product with the ratio B:T of about 1 or more, and that narrower folds are provided in the interspaces, the narrower folds being configured with a ratio of B 1 :T of less than 1. 
     
     
         5 . The shell-and-tube heat exchanger according to  claim 1 , wherein the inner diameter of the bellows has a size that is between approximately the inner diameter of the inner or casing tube including the bellows and the inner diameter less the depth. 
     
     
         6 . The shell-and-tube heat exchanger according to  claim 1 , wherein the bellows comprises substantially circular cylindrical tube sockets which are welded to the inner or casing tube and which are inserted in or over inner-tube or casing-tube section ends. 
     
     
         7 . The shell-and-tube heat exchanger according to  claim 1 , wherein the bellows is formed by a roller treatment or by hydraulic formation integrally in the per se circular cylindrical wall of the inner and/or casing tube. 
     
     
         8 . The shell-and-tube heat exchanger according to  claim 1 , wherein the casing tube forms a heat-exchanger module with a plurality of inner tubes, and that the bellows is arranged approximately in the longitudinal center of the heat-exchanger module on relatively wide folds with the ratio of B:T of about 1 or more. 
     
     
         9 . The shell-and-tube heat exchanger according  claim 1 , and wherein on the surface which can be contacted by the product the fold has a harmonious surface extension that promotes substantially turbulent flow conditions such that the flow encompasses all depths of the bellows. 
     
     
         10 . The shell-and-tube heat exchanger according to  claim 1 , wherein each fold is formed in an axial section of the inner or casing tube of curvature sections continuously passed into one another. 
     
     
         11 . The shell-and-tube heat exchanger according to  claim 3 , wherein the plurality of at least substantially similar folds is up to six or more folds. 
     
     
         12 . The shell-and-tube heat exchanger according to  claim 3 , wherein the plurality of at least substantially similar folds are convexly rounded to the outside. 
     
     
         13 . The shell-and-tube heat exchanger according to  claim 1 , wherein the bellows is arranged in the casing tube and with the surface which is oriented towards the inner tubes and can be contacted by the product. 
     
     
         14 . The shell-and-tube heat exchanger according to  claim 10 , wherein the curvature sections have circular-arc sections with a radius of curvature corresponding to about half the depth and/or width.