Automotive Components Holdings, LLC

Ford Motor Company Limited

Thomas J Joseph, Sr

Zheng Lou

Thomas B Harris

David Carl Letteer

John A Thomas

Claudia Mills Anderson

George Ulics, Jr

Brett W Kalem

Glen W Ostahowski

Timothy J Udell

A heat exchanger includes two headers and tubes secured to and extending between the headers, each tube including a wall formed with a leading surface, a trailing surface and lateral surfaces extending between the headers and interconnecting the leading and trailing surfaces, a passage enclosed by the wall for carrying fluid between the headers, and long and short fins formed integrally with and extending outward from the wall.

Heat exchanger with long and short fins

An expansion valve for an air conditioning system circulates refrigerant through a fixed-displacement compressor, a condenser, and an evaporator. An inlet is provided for receiving refrigerant liquefied in the condenser. An outlet of the expansion valve supplies refrigerant to the evaporator. A valve element controls flow of refrigerant between the inlet and the outlet, wherein the valve element is normally closed. A control assembly is coupled to the valve element and is responsive to at least one temperature or pressure in the air conditioning system to open the valve element to variably meter the refrigerant to the evaporator. A bleed passage bypasses the valve element to conduct refrigerant between the inlet and the outlet. The bleed passage is adapted to bleed refrigerant to the evaporator immediately after the compressor shuts off to prime the air conditioning system for a lower superheat when the compressor turns on, and the bleed path has a flow capacity substantially smaller than the flow capacity of the main valve aperture.

Automotive thermostatic expansion valve with reduced hiss

A thermostatic expansion valve includes a valve body having an evaporator inlet port, an evaporator outlet port, a suction line port, and a liquid line port. A sensor chamber formed within the valve body is disposed between the evaporator outlet port and the suction line port. A valve is disposed within the valve body controls a flow of refrigerant from the liquid line port to the evaporator inlet port. A diaphragm separates a charge chamber and a pressure chamber where a pressure differential between a charge chamber and a pressure chamber controls the positioning of the valve. A restriction flow passage located to provide fluid communication between the sensor chamber and the pressure chamber is configured to limit a flow rate from the pressure chamber to sensor chamber, thereby slowing the opening of the valve resulting in a reduction of noise generated following an initial startup of a compressor.

Thermostatic expansion valve having a restricted flow passage for noise attenuation

A valve assembly for an air conditioning system includes a liquid line port pressurized at a discharge pressure, an evaporator inlet port pressurized at a suction pressure, a sequence valve for controlling a first flow path between the liquid line port and an outlet in response to a differential between the discharge pressure and the suction pressure, and a thermostatic expansion valve that includes an actuator and an expansion valve member for controlling a second flow path between the outlet and the evaporator inlet port in response to a pressure differential across the actuator.

Air conditioning circuit control using a thermostatic expansion valve and sequence valve

A connector for joining together a pair of fluid carrying hose members in an automotive vehicle is disclosed. The connector includes a tubular body having a first end, a second end, and a shoulder interposed therebetween, the first end including a plurality of angled barbs projecting from an outer surface thereof. The connector also includes a tubular liner press-fit into the first end of the body and a generally cylindrical, cup-shaped collar surrounding the outer surface of the first end of the body. A roll formed beadlock is formed against an interior surface of the collar to prevent axial displacement of the collar along the body of the connector. A method for making such a connector is also disclosed.

Growing community of inventors

Commerce, MI, United States of America

Thomas J Joseph, Sr