Showa Aluminum Corporation

Showa Aluminum Kabushiki Kaisha

Toshinori Tokutake

Hirosaburo Hirano

Katsuhisa Suzuki

Shinji Ito

Wataru Ouchi

Shinichi Ueda

Nobuyuki Okuda

Tatsuya Hanafusa

Yuji Yamamoto

Koichi Inoue

Mitsuru Nobusue

Kanichi Shiina

Hideo Tokita

Kanji Takasaki

Katsuyuki Takahashi

A heat exchanger is made of a metal such as aluminum and for use in the air conditioning apparatuses such as the car coolers and the room air conditioners. A coolant inlet pipe (6) has an end which is forced into a pipe insertion bore (10) of a pipe joint (8) for connection to an external piping, with a cylindrical brazing agent piece (15) being interposed between the outer periphery of the inlet pipe end and the inner peripheral wall of the bore, such that the pipe (6) is brazed integral to the joint (8) by means of the cylindrical piece (15). This cylindrical brazing agent piece (15) is composed of a core layer which has an outer and inner surfaces clad with a brazing agent layer. The pipe (6) and the joint (8) can be preassembled without failing to interpose between them the brazing agent piece (15), so that said pipe and said joint can be brazed one to another surely and at a lowered cost.

Heat exchanger

A heat exchanger has a plurality of flat tubes which alternate with fins, and the tubes and the fins are disposed one on another. Both ends of each tube are connected to a pair of right-hand and left-hand headers, in fluid communication with them. The headers have their ends closed with caps, and each cap has a pin integral with it so as to hold in place a bracket which is used to mount the heat exchanger on a structural base. The integral pins protrude upwards or downwards from the caps.

A heat exchanger has tubes inserted in headers easily to a given depth, and also has brackets which are readily attached to the headers. Each of the headers (3, 4) is divided into an inner half (5) and an outer half (6) facing the inner half in which apertures (5a) for receiving ends of the tubes are formed. The bracket (12) having a fastenable rib (12c) is fitted on the header over its halves (5, 6) so that these halves are made immovable relative to each other. Alternatively, the outer half (6) of the header may have a pair of embracing portions (12a) which fit on lateral sides of the inner half (5) so as to hold it in place.

A pipe joint for joining two pipes end to end comprises a hollow cylindrical spigot portion having an annular projection on the outer periphery of a base end thereof, a hollow cylindrical socket portion having an inside diameter approximately equal to the outside diameter of the spigot portion and formed with two opposed apertures in its peripheral wall close to a forward end thereof and with a stepped part on the inner surface of the peripheral wall for the projection to come into contact with, the stepped part being closer to a base end of the socket portion than the apertures, and a stopper having a pair of circular-arc resilient legs fittable into the respective apertures from outside to project inward and each having a slanting inner surface, the legs being opposed to each other for the inwardly curved surfaces thereof to face each other. The projection is fixedly held between the stepped part and the legs by inserting the stopper into the apertures with the slanting surfaces facing toward the insertion side of the spigot portion and inserting the spigot portion into the socket portion until the projection moves past the legs. The spigot and socket portions are provided at the joint ends of the two respective pipes to be joined.

Pipe joint

A heat exchanger comprises a main body and at least one header-held members, with the main body having a plurality of heat exchanging tubes whose both ends are connected to headers in fluid communication with them, wherein the header-held members are selected from a group consisting of a bracket and an external pipe-connecting member which are attached to the header. The header-held members each comprise a header-surrounding portion which is fitted sideways on and then brazed to the header while remaining self-retained on it, whereby the header-held member can be easily and rigidly secured to the header.

A tube for heat exchangers is a flat tube which either includes a pair of plane walls which are spaced a predetermined distance from one another, the plane walls respectively having one lateral ends integrally connected to each other by a U-shaped bent portion, the plane walls further having their other lateral ends which abut against to be tightly secured to one another, or alternatively, the flat tube includes as the plane walls a pair of preformed plates having the abutted and soldered portions at both lateral ends. The tube further includes one or more curved lugs integral with and protruding inwardly from an inner surface of each plane wall, and the curved lugs respectively having innermost tops so that the innermost tops protruding from one plane wall bear against the inner surface of the other plane wall or against the innermost tops of the other curved lugs protruding from said other plane wall. The tube is thus of an improved pressure resistance despite its minimized height or thickness, and the manufacturing process of the tube involves no difficulty to produce the tubes at a high productivity and lower manufacturing cost.

Tube for heat exchangers and a method for manufacturing the tube

A tubular body having a pipe joint member attached to the peripheral wall thereof and communicating with the interior of the tubular body. The peripheral wall of the tubular body includes a curved wall portion having a circular-arc cross section and formed with a hole. The joint member has an outward flange at an intermediate portion of its length and a tubular portion positioned beyond the outward flange toward one end of the joint member and has its outer end inserted in the hole in the tubular body curved wall portion. The outward flange of the joint member is brazed to the outer surface of the tubular body curved wall portion with a brazing ring which is fitted around the joint member tubular portion and positioned outside the tubular body. The brazing ring is made of a brazing sheet including cladding of brazing material over each of its opposite surfaces and has one surface joined to the outward flange and the other surface joined to the outer surface of the curved wall portion.

Tubular body having pipe joint member attached thereto with brazing ring

A tubular body according to the present invention has a pipe joint member attached to the peripheral wall thereof and communicating with the interior of the tubular body. The peripheral wall of the tubular body includes a curved wall portion having a circular-arc cross section and formed with a hole. The joint member has an outward flange at an intermediate portion of its length and a tubular portion positioned beyond the outward flange toward one end of the joint member and has its outer end inserted in the hole in the tubular body curved wall portion. The outward flange of the joint member is brazed to the outer surface of the tubular body curved wall portion with a brazing ring which is fitted around the joint member tubular portion and positioned outside the tubular body. The brazing ring is made of a brazing sheet including cladding of brazing material over each of its opposite surfaces and has one surface joined to the outward flange and the other surface joined to the outer surface of the curved wall portion.

Tubular body having pipe joint member attached thereto and method of

A tube for heat exchangers is a flat tube which either comprises a pair of plane walls which are spaced a predetermined distance from one another, the plane walls respectively having lateral ends integrally connected to each other by a U-shaped bent portion, the plane walls further having other lateral ends which abut against and are tightly secured to one another, or alternatively, the flat tube comprises a pair of preformed plates having abutted and soldered portions at both lateral ends. The tube further comprises one or more curved lugs integral with and protruding inwardly from an inner surface of each plane wall, and the curve lugs respectively have innermost tops so that the innermost tops protruding from one plane wall bear against the inner surface of the other plane wall or against the innermost tops of the other curved lugs protruding from said other plane wall. Th tube is thus of an improved pressure resistance despite its minimized height or thickness, and the manufacturing process of the tube permits the production of tubes at a high productivity and lower manufacturing cost.

A heat exchanger comprises a plurality of flat tubes, a pair of hollow headers connected to both ends of each of the flat tubes in fluid communication with them, and at least one fastener secured to the headers. The fastener comprises at least one self-retainable embracing portion capable of resiliently engaging the exterior of the header to keep the fastener in place prior to brazing the components of the exchanger together. The fastener can be temporarily connected, without the aid of any special tools, on a heat exchanger body before brazing with a 'one-shot' procedure, thus rendering easy the manufacture of the heat exchanger. Since special tools are unnecessary, a greater number of temporarily assembled heat exchangers can be accommodated in one oven, thus improving, to a remarkable degree, the productivity in manufacture of the heat exchanger.

The ends of numerous tubes are connected to hollow headers so that they are in fluid communication with the headers. Slit shaped apertures are formed in the outside face of the headers in the direction of their circumference, and partititions are inserted through the apertures. Each partition is constructed out of two partition plates which fit into the header through the aperture in superimposed position. Alternatively, the partition plates may be connected integrally at one end so that their unconnected ends tightly contact the edges of the slit shaped aperture. The partitions are then braced to the header to become integral with it.

Growing community of inventors

Oyamashi, Japan

Toshinori Tokutake