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Industrial Research And Consultancy Centre
Patent
Panel Heat and Mass Exchanger
Abstract

The Panel Heat and Mass Exchanger is designed to handle both heat and mass transfer processes. It can be used for air conditioning, heating, cooling, drying, and separating mixtures through selective condensation or freezing. The design improves efficiency by integrating fins and passages to enhance surface area and heat/mass transfer coefficients while reducing the overall size, weight, and cost compared to conventional systems.

Societal Impact

The panel heat exchanger offers significant energy savings by improving the efficiency of HVAC systems and reducing the need for additional equipment to handle latent loads. It is very compact and cost-effective as compared to conventional radiant cooling technologies. Additionally, its application for drying agricultural products can significantly enhance livelihood, reduce wastage and improve sustainability.

Salient technical features and Advantages of the Technology
  • Versatile Functionality: Capable of cooling, heating, drying, and separating mixtures through selective condensation or freezing, eliminating the need for parallel systems and reducing complexity and costs. Enhanced 
  • Heat Transfer Efficiency: Features integrated passages with internal corrugations and staggered fins, enhancing surface area density and heat transfer efficiency. 
  • Single Material Construction: Can be optionally built entirely from a single material, avoiding contact resistance and thermal expansion issues, thereby enhancing overall heat and mass transfer. 
  • Compact and Space-efficient: High surface area to projected area ratio (up to 13.5), requiring less installation space and offering significant energy and cost savings.


Technology readiness level

7

Current Status of Technology

The panel heat and mass exchanger has been successfully developed and tested. Prototypes have proven effective in HVAC, drying, thermal storage, desalination, and waste heat recovery. The technology is licensed to several companies for applications like thermal storage and heat exchange with multiple fluid streams. Its efficacy has been demonstrated for radiant cooling, dehumidifying, air and evaporative-cooled condensation, and technology. Efforts are ongoing to enable the licensing and commercialisation of the technology for various applications. Selective condensation using this technology can separate multicomponent gaseous streams into various condensed fractions without fractional distillation.

Relevant Industries

Building Systems and HVAC, Agriculture and Food Processing, Drying, Water Treatment and Desalination,

Applications or Domain
  • HVAC Systems: Efficiently caters to air conditioning, heating, cooling, and moisture control. Industrial Drying Processes: Dries agricultural products like grains, vegetables, fruits, herbs, and spices. 
  • Thermal Storage Systems: Stores thermal energy using phase change or sensible heat storage materials. 
  • Desalination and Purification: Purifies sea water, milk, and fruit juices through desalination and selective freezing. 
  • Waste Heat Recovery: Captures and reuses heat from industrial processes, enhancing energy efficiency. 
  • Selective Condensation: Separate multicomponent gaseous streams into various condensed fractions without fractional distillation.