Ford Motor Company Limited

Alan L Study

Warren A Smith

An extrudable brazeable corrosion resistant aluminum alloy, consisting essentially of, by weight percent, 0.1-0.2 titanium, 0.6-1.2 manganese, up to 0.1 silicon, up to 0.2 iron, and other impurities up to 0.15, with each such other impurity no greater than 0.03, and the remainder aluminum. A method of fabricating a heat exchange tube array, by (i) extruding aluminum alloy tubing of the above composition to a uniform wall thickness of about 0.4mm; (ii) bending and/or arranging the tubes to form a tube array for conducting a fluid medium therethrough; (iii) interposing an aluminum-based heat exchange means between and in contact with the tubes of the array to provide for heat transfer; (iv) brazing the heat exchange means to the tube array by heating to the temperature range of 595.degree. C. whereby the tube array will not be adversely affected metallurgically by the brazing operation.

Extrudable corrosion resistant aluminum alloy

An accumulator for use with a vehicle air conditioning system is provided. The accumulator comprises a housing having first and second sections, an outlet tube, and an outlet tube shield. Inlet and outlet openings are formed in the housing through which refrigerant enters and exits the interior chamber defined by the housing. The outlet tube extends to the outlet opening and is preferably integral with the second section. The outlet tube shield is integral with the first section and extends into the interior chamber between the inlet opening and the outlet tube to prevent the direct passage of liquid refrigerant into the outlet tube. A desiccant container is preferably provided in the housing to dry the refrigerant as it circulates through the accumulator.

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Southfield, MI, United States of America

Alan L Study