Heat exchange agitator

Claim 1

AN AGITATED VESSEL COMPRISING A HOLLOW HOUSING HAVING A FIRST AND A SECOND END AND AT LEAST ONE INLET MEANS ADJACENT THE FIRST END AND ONE OUTLET MEANS ADJACENT THE SECOND END, THE HOUSING HAVING A GENERALLY CIRCULAR CROSS-SECTIONAL CONFIGURATION AND DEFINING A PROCESSING CAVITY THEREIN EXTENDING GENERALLY FROM THE FIRST END TO THE SECONE END AND BEING IN COMMUNICATION WITH THE INLET AND OUTLET MEANS, THE HOUSING HAVING AN INNER WALL DEFINING A PLURALITY OF GENERALLY ANNULAR GROOVES, A HEAT EXCHANGER ASSEMBLY DISPOSED WITHIN THE PROCESSING CAVITY, THE HEAT EXCHANGER ASSEMBLY COMPRISING A MULTIPLICITY OF FLAT PLATE HEAT EXCHANGER MEMBERS, EACH OF THE MEMBERS DEFINING A CENTRALLY DISPOSED APERTURE, THE PLATE-LIKE MEMBERS ASSEMBLED PERPENDICULARLY TO THE LONGITUDINAL AXIS OF THE HOUSING WITH A SPACE BETWEEN EACH OF THE INDIVIDUAL PLATE MEMBERS, THE PLATE MEMBERS BEING POSITIONED IN CLOSE PROXIMITY TO ONE ANOTHER TO PROVIDE A FLOW PATH BETWEEN ADJACENT MEMBERS IN A THIN SHEET-LIKE CONFIGURATION, THE PLATE MEMBERS HAVING AN OUTSIDE DIAMETER ABOUT EQUAL TO THE ADJACENT SMALLEST DIAMETER OF THE INNER WALL OF THE HOUSING, THE PLATE MEMBERS AND THE ANNULAR GROOVES IN THE INNER WALL HOUSING DEFINING A PLURALITY OF ANNULAR SPACES, EACH OF THE SPACES COMMUNICATING WITH THE CENTRAL APERTURES OF THE FLAT PLATE HEAT EXCHANGER MEMBERS BY MEANS OF SPACED BETWEEN THE MEMBERS, MEANS DEFINING A PLURALITY OF HEAT EXCHANGE FLUID CONDUITS PASSING THROUGH THE PLATE MEMBERS AND MAINTAINING THE MEMBERS IN SPACED RELATIONSHIP TO EACH OTHER, MEANS DEFINING A HEAT EXCHANGE FLUID INLET AND A HEAT EXCHANGE FLUID OUTLET IN OPERATIVE ASSOCIATION WITH THE HEAT EXCHANGING FLUID CONDUITS, AN AGITATOR GENERALLY ROTATABLE ABOUT THE AXIS OF THE APERTURES OF THE HEAT EXCHANGER MEMBERS, THE AGITATOR HAVING A GENERALLY CIRCULAR CROSS-SECTIONAL CONFIGURATION AND HAVING FORMED THEREIN A PLURALITY OF ANNULAR RECESSES, THE MAXIMUM DIAMETER OF THE AGITATOR APPROXIMATING THAT OF THE ADJACENT CENTRAL APERTURE OF THE PLATE MEMBERS, THE ANNULAR RECESSES OF THE AGITATOR BEING IN A STAGGERED RELATIONSHIP TO THE ANNULAR RECESSES OF THE HOUSING WALL, THEREBY FORMING A GENERALLY ANNULAR SERPENTINE FLOW PATH FROM THE INLET TO THE OUTLET WHEREIN THE FLUID PASSES THROUGH THE FLAT PLATE HEAT EXCHANGER MEMBERS FROM THE ANNULAR GROOVES OF THE HOUSING TO THE ANNULAR GROOVES OF THE AGITATOR AND ALTERNATING FROM THE GROOVES OF THE AGITATOR TO THE GROOVES OF THE HOUSING.