Zexel Gmbh

Zexel Corportion

Seiji Inoue

Kunihiko Nishishita

Fumio Ohkubo

Muneo Sakurada

Takashi Kinugasa

Kiyoshi Tanda

Hitoshi Sakata

Akihiko Takano

In a laminated heat exchanger with a pair of tank portions formed at one side of each tube element and intake/outlet portions for heat exchanging medium provided at one end in the direction of the lamination or in the direction running at a right angle to the direction of the lamination, a constricting portion for limiting the flow passage cross section is provided in an area in the tank portions where the flow shifts from an even-numbered pass to an odd-numbered pass in a plurality of passes. This allows the heat exchanging medium to flow in sufficient quantities into the tube elements near the outlet side of the partitioning portion, preventing inconsistency in temperature distribution. This constricting portion, which is formed in the tank group opposite the tank group where the partitioning portion is provided, is provided at the same lamination position as the partitioning portion. The constricting portion may be also formed with a plurality of holes. Thus, by ensuring that heat exchanging medium flows in an even, consistent manner, an improvement in heat exchanging efficiency is achieved.

Laminated heat exchanger

In a laminated heat exchanger with a pair of tank portions formed at one side of each tube element and intake/outlet portions for heat exchanging medium provided at one end in the direction of the lamination or in the direction running at a right angle to the direction of the lamination, a constricting portion for limiting the flow passage cross section is provided in an area in the tank portions where the flow shifts from an even-numbered pass to an odd-numbered pass in a plurality of passes. This allows the heat exchanging medium to flow in sufficient quantities into the tube elements near the outlet side of the partitioning portion, thereby avoiding inconsistency in temperature distribution. This constricting portion, which is formed in the tank group opposite the tank group where the partitioning portion is provided, is provided at the same lamination position as the partitioning portion. The constricting portion may be also formed with a plurality of holes. Thus, by ensuring that heat exchanging medium flows in an even, consistent manner, an improvement in heat exchanging efficiency is achieved.

In a heat exchanger formed by laminating tube elements alternately with fins over a plurality of levels, a plurality of beads are formed in each of tube elements provided with intake/outlet portions in the areas where the tank portions change to a passage portion. The width of these beads are set to be larger than the beads in other tube elements so as to constrict the passage cross section. In addition, the areas of the communicating holes formed in tank portions away from the intake/outlet portion through which the heat exchanging medium flows in are made smaller than the areas of the communicating holes formed in tank portions near the intake/outlet portion. The centers of the communicating holes in the tank portions further away from the intake/outlet portion are located further downward than the centers of the communicating holes in the tank portions provided closer to the intake/outlet portion. The distribution of the heat exchanging medium is made more consistent to reduce inconsistency in the temperature among individual tube elements in order to achieve good heat exchange.

In a laminated heat exchanger, an intake portion and an outlet portion for heat exchanging medium are provided at one end portion in the direction of lamination. The intake portion is made to communicate with a most upstream pass distance from the one end portion in the direction of lamination via a communicating pipe, and the outlet portion is made to communicate with the most downstream pass at one end portion in the direction of lamination. The communicating pipe is further made to communicate with an odd-numbered pass in the vicinity where the odd-numbered pass changes from the even-numbered pass that immediately precedes it. In addition, the intake portion at one end portion in the direction of lamination is made to communicate with the pass immediately preceding the most downstream pass. Since the heat exchanging medium flows in sufficiently quantity through the tube elements in the vicinity of the downstream side of the partitioning portion, inconsistency in the temperature distribution can be avoided thereby achieving an improvement in heat exchanging efficiency.

In order to improve the anticorrosion properties of a flat plate or an intake/outlet passage plate provided at an outermost end in the direction of lamination in a laminated heat exchanger, a sacrificial layer, whose electrical potential is lower than the electrical potential of the core material, is provided at the outer surface of the flat plate or the intake/outlet passage plate located at the outermost end of the laminated heat exchanger in the direction of lamination. The above arrangement prevents corrosion of the core material through sacrificial corrosion of the sacrificial layer.

In a tank aggregate body for a receiver tank that achieves vapor/liquid separation of a coolant that has been liquefied at a condenser, a primary body wall portion is formed by rolling a plate material, bonding margins are formed at the two sides continuous to the primary body wall portion, a tank primary body is constituted from the primary body wall portion by abutting the bonding margins and the opening ends of the tank primary body are closed off with caps. A communicating passage for coolant inflow or coolant outflow is formed between the bonding margins by creating a gap between them. By constituting such a receiver tank by press-forming a plate material, the need for separately forming the communicating passage at the receiver tank by using a separate member is eliminated, and the shape of the communicating passage can be varied freely by changing the mode for machining the plate material.

Tank aggregate body of receiver tank

A liquid tank used in an air-conditioning system to remove air and water from refrigerant received from a condenser 8 before passing it to an evaporator 11 comprises a tank body, a refrigerant inlet port and a refrigerant outlet port. In a first aspect of the invention which ensures excellent air-liquid separation, easy assembly, low cost, simple structure and ready mounting on the condenser 8, the refrigerant inlet port section 33 is formed at a lower portion of the tank body 31, the refrigerant outlet port section 34 is formed below the refrigerant inlet port section 33 and a cylindrical partition 32 is provided at a lower portion of the tank body 31 to stand higher than the refrigerant inlet port section 33 and define between itself and the inner wall of the tank body 31 an induction space 35 into which the refrigerant inlet port section 33 opens and define therein a liquid pooling space 36 with which the refrigerant outlet port section 34 communicates. In a second aspect of the invention which provides a degree of freedom in positioning the refrigerant outlet port, facilitates tubing and component layout, keeps cost down and ensures excellent assembly and fabrication property, the refrigerant inlet port 6 and the refrigerant outlet port 7 are formed in a head section 3 closing an upper opening of the tank body 2, a refrigerant takeoff tube 5 is disposed along the axis of the tank body 2, a large-diameter port 72 encompassing the refrigerant outlet port 7 is formed on an inner side of the head section 3, and the refrigerant takeoff tube 5 and the large-diameter port 72 are connected by a joint 71. In a third aspect which provides similar advantages, the refrigerant outlet port 7 is disposed at the center of the head section 3 and multiple refrigerant inlet ports 6 are disposed around the refrigerant outlet port 7.

Liquid tank

In order to achieve an improvement in the recyclability of a heat exchanger by mounting a seal material for sealing the gap between the heat exchanger and the case in which the heat exchanger is mounted without using an adhesive or the like at the heat exchanger and thus facilitating the removal of the seal material, an arrangement for mounting the seal material is provided at a specific position at an external circumferential portion of the heat exchanger. For instance, a guide is provided by inwardly bending the central portion in the direction of airflow of each of the projecting pieces formed at the tube elements at one end in a lengthwise direction or by cutting and raising the central portion perpendicularly. A pair of retaining portions are formed at specific positions at an external circumferential portion located at the sides of the heat exchanger relative to the direction of airflow to hold the two ends of the seal material with the pair of retaining portions.

Heat exchanger

In order to prevent a communicating pipe from becoming damaged by water (in particular drain water) collecting in the gap formed between the tube element at one end of a heat exchanger that is constituted of a flat plate and a formed plate and the communicating pipe through defective brazing and repeatedly freezing and melting, a flange (32) and a bonding margin (11) continuous to the flange (32) are notched off over almost the entire circumference at the center on the inside of an indented portion (9) in a formed plate (16) which, together with a flat plate (15), constitutes a tube element (3b). Thus, while the communicating pipe (27) comes in contact with the internal surface of a flange (29) of a pipe connection hole (28) of the flat plate (15), it does not come in contact with the formed plate (16), thereby forming a gap bounded by the flat plate (15), the formed plate (16) and the communicating pipe (27).

In a laminated heat exchanger, an intake portion and an outlet portion for heat exchanging medium are provided at one end portion in the direction of lamination. The intake portion is made to communicate with a most upstream pass distanced from the one end portion in the direction of lamination via a communicating pipe, and the outlet portion is made to communicate with the most downstream pass at one end portion in the direction of lamination. The communicating pipe is further made to communicate with an odd-numbered pass in the vicinity where the odd-numbered pass changes from the even-numbered pass that immediately precedes it. In addition, the intake portion at one end portion in the direction of lamination is made to communicate with the pass immediately preceding the most downstream pass. Since the heat exchanging medium flows in sufficient quantity through the tube elements in the vicinity of the downstream side of the partitioning portion, inconsistency in the temperature distribution can be avoided thereby achieving an improvement in heat exchanging efficiency.

In a laminated heat exchanger constituted by using tube elements each having a heat exchanging medium passage and tanks formed as an integrated unit, the wall surfaces between a plurality of shoal-like beads formed in heat exchanging medium passage of the tube element at the boundary between the heat exchanging medium passage and the tank and between the shoal-like beads and the side edges of the tube element are made to incline to gradually widen in the direction of the lamination as they approach the tanks. With this, the flow area at the boundary between the heat exchanging medium passage and the tank is increased compared to that in a tube element in the prior art, and moreover, since the angle at which heat exchanging medium flows from the tanks into heat exchanging medium passage is wider, the resistance that heat exchanging medium is subject to when it flows from the tanks into heat exchanging medium passage becomes reduced. This results in the heat exchanging medium flowing in sufficient quantity in all areas from the tanks into heat exchanging medium passages, thereby achieving a higher degree of consistency in the distribution of the heat exchanging medium.

In order to achieve reduced production costs in an expansion valve mounting member used for mounting an expansion valve on a heat exchanger and an improvement in its suitability for mass production, the expansion valve mounting member has a pair of tubular members, each of which is formed as a pipe, with one end of the pair connecting with a pair of coolant intake/outlet portions provided parallel to each other in the heat exchanger and the other end connecting with the expansion valve. A collar is provided at a specific position on the external circumferential side surface of each tubular member. A plate member is provided with a pair of holes into which the pair of tubular members are inserted. When the tubular members are fitted into the holes of the plate member, the collars come in contact with the circumferential edges of the holes to establish positioning.

Expansion valve mounting member

A plurality of tube elements, each of which is provided with a pair of tanks on one side with these tanks communicating via a heat exchanging medium passage, are laminated. An intake/outlet tank group with intake/outlet portions is divided into three tank sub groups while a non intake/outlet tank group is not partitioned, constituting a single tank group. The intake/outlet portion on the intake side is directly connected with the tank sub group at one end in the intake/outlet tank group and at the same time, it communicates with the tank sub group at the other end via a relay pipe. Consequently, the coolant that has flowed in through the intake/outlet portion is induced to the non intake/outlet tank group from the tank sub group at one end via a heat exchanging medium passage and it is also induced to the non intake/outlet tank group from the tank sub group at the other end via the heat exchanging medium passage before the two flows are joined at the center. Then, the coolant reaches the tank sub group at the center in the intake/outlet tank group by travelling through the heat exchanging medium passage again to flow out through the intake outlet portion on the output side. By improving the distribution of the heat exchanging medium, the performance of the heat exchanger is enhanced.

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Konan, Japan

Seiji Inoue