Delphi Technologies, Inc.

Gm Global Technolgoy Operations, Inc.

Mahle International Gmbh

Karl Paul Kroetsch

David A Southwick

Lawrence P Scherer

David M Smith

Peter G Wolf

Robert Charles Gmerek

Terry Joseph Hunt

Krzysztof Wawrocki

Laurent Art

Chris A Calhoun

Yusuke Matsunaga

Khalid El Moutamid

Joel Thomas Hambruch

Brian M Hartman

Scott B Lipa

Don C Corser

Christopher Alfred Fuller

Sourav Chowdhury

Steve C Brick

Mark R Hammer

Jeffrey Leo Minner

David W Patterson

Ange D Koeppen

Charles K Rottner

Chris A Fuller

Kenneth R Handley, Iii

David G Schmidt

Girish K Puntambekar

Kenneth R Handley Iii

Krzysztof Wawroki

A condensate drainage enhancing device is provided for an evaporator. An integrally molded plastic part snap fits around the conventional lower manifold, with rails maintained in tight engagement with the front and rear edges of the refrigerant flow tubes. These interrupt the meniscus films of columns of retained water that would otherwise form and, which instead drains down ribs that depend from the rails.

Condensate drainage device for heat exchanger

A heat exchanger assembly includes a core having first and second header tanks covered by tank caps. A pair of core reinforcing members presenting terminal ends extend between the first and second header tanks. A least one tab and an opening for receiving the tab are used for connecting the core reinforcing members to the tank caps.

Heat exchanger assembly for a motor vehicle

A secondary heat exchanger subassembly, such as a transmission oil cooler, is disposed in a metal tank of a radiator and has a pair of metal fluid fittings. Either a connector ring engages a fitting extending through the opening in the tank or a connector nut extends into the opening to threadedly engage the fitting whereby the metal fittings are held to the metal tank and inserted into a furnace for being brazed into sealed relationship with the metal tank.

Method of attaching a transmission oil cooler to an aluminum tank

A heat exchanger assembly that addresses the thermal cycling problem to increase the durability of the heat exchanger core by fabricating at least the tube next adjacent to each of the reinforcing members with a cross section adjacent each of the headers including a radius having a partial maximum tube strain energy density and fabricating each of the reinforcing members with a connection section adjacent each of the headers having a reinforcement with a partial maximum strain energy density greater than the partial maximum strain energy density of the adjacent tube.

Heat exchanger design based on partial stain energy density ratio

The fabrication of a heat exchanger assembly by disposing a metal fitting of an oil cooler subassembly into an opening in a first tank and disposing a tubular connector into a bore in the fitting. These components are mechanically held together prior to brazing by disposing an outer clinch cylinder to extend from the fitting though the opening and by disposing an inner clinch cylinder to extend from the fitting to above an annular rib on the tubular connector and placing V-shaped first stakes in the inner clinch cylinder for mechanical engagement with the rib and placing V-shaped second stakes in the outer clinch cylinder for mechanical engagement with the first tank.

Aluminum radiator tank with oil cooler clinch fitting

An end cap closes the open end of the tank. The end cap is comprised of an inlet diverter wall and tube diverter wall. The inlet diverter wall extends into the tank across the inlet axis for redirecting fluid from the inlet and longitudinally into the tank along the end of the core. The tube diverter wall also extends longitudinally into the tank in a spaced relationship to the tubes of the core for directing fluid out of the tubes and longitudinally into the tank. A first embodiment of the invention provides tube diverter walls that are planar. A second embodiment of the invention provides tube diverter walls that are curved.

End cap with an integral flow diverter

A heat exchanger is disclosed. A plurality of guides are integrally formed with the walls of a header tank and are used to position an oil cooler inside the tank to align a pair of fittings carried by the cooler with a pair of spaced openings in the tank.

Heat exchanger with tank utilizing integral positioning guides

A radiator core reinforcement self shears in the braze oven as strategically placed voids in the reinforcement erode away under the flowing action of the melted surface braze layer.

Method of making a brazed metal heat exchanger core with self-shearing reinforcement

A metal tank cap is integral with a reinforcing member via a narrow connection and is flared outwardly at the narrow connection portion to be over an open end of the tank simultaneously with moving the metal tubes of the core into the tank. By unbending the connection portion, the respective tank caps are deflared into the open ends of the respective tanks and the entire assembly is placed in a furnace and brazed together.

One piece integral reinforcement with angled end caps to facilitate assembly to core

A metal tank cap is integral with a reinforcing member via a narrow connection and covers an open end of the tank with adjacent reinforcement members being spaced from one another along each side of the core. The reinforcing members each have a pair of flanges extending outwardly from the sides thereof and have openings therein for receiving mounting anchors.

End cap with integral partial reinforcement

A one-piece header tank includes side edges that are overlapped and brazed together to form a joint positioned within the interior of the tank. The tank also includes an integrally formed mounting flange that may be fabricated without jeopardizing the leak integrity of the tank.

Header tank with integral mounting flange

A vacuum brazing method is disclosed for joining aluminum stock materials to each other. The typical cladding material utilized includes aluminum and a melting point lowering agent such as silicon. In addition, the cladding material typically includes magnesium to provide for enhanced wetting of the cladding material into the joint area. It has been found that adjusting the ratio of magnesium to calcium to a level of equal to or greater than 625 to 1 provides greatly enhanced brazed joint formation and reliability of the vacuum brazing method.

Vacuum brazing method for aluminum-based material

A novel extruded aluminum condenser flow tube cross section includes a wider central web flanked by a pair of wider, inboard flow passages with rounded corners integral to the wider web. When inserted into the slot of a highly curved header plate, the wider central web corresponds to a central area of higher bending stresses, which are more strongly resisted. The two wider, inboard flow passages help compensate for the potential flow area removed by the wider central web.

Heat exchanger flow tube with improved header to tube end stress

A radiator tank of the type that has a perimeter foot clinched into a U shaped header plate channel to compress an elastomer seal is improved with a means to help assure that portions of the gasket that are displaced from beneath the foot at installation either do not create leak paths, or create leak paths that are static and easier to detect. Integrally molded discrete ribs above the bottom of the perimeter foot extend out and over the inner surface of the header plate, in a location where they can engage and pinch displaced portions of the gasket down against the header plate. Leaks are thereby either prevented, or, at least, the displaced and pinched down section of the gasket is held fast and prevented from moving in and out of the crevice between the tank foot and the channel under the influence of negative to positive pressure variations in the coolant. This makes leak detection easier, because the leak is static and consistent.

Heat exchanger sealed tank and header assembly with gasket displacement

A side mounting channel for a radiator is an integrally molded plastic unit with a shape particularly tailored to efficiently resisting the warping forces that result from thermal growth of the radiator core. Each side channel has a flat web and parallel, perpendicular edge flanges that substantially symmetric to the web. The edge flanges taper down into the plane of the web over a transition portion of defined length.

Growing community of inventors

Williamsville, NY, United States of America

Karl Paul Kroetsch