Gm Global Technolgoy Operations, Inc.

William D Wright

George K Snyder

Joseph P DiFonzo

Ronald T Burns

Gary C Victor

G Leroy Johnson

A combined mode and temperature control valve for an HVAC housing includes a cylindrical sleeve rotatable within a stationary barrel. Hot or cold air enters lengthwise inlet slots in one side of the barrel located below or above a stationary dividing baffle in the housing. Air entering the barrel can exit to either a heater outlet, defroster outlet, or A/C outlet. The sleeve includes slots and openings which, when rotated continuously through a predetermined increment, open and close the hot and cold inlets in complementary fashion to allow in a full temperature range of hot or cold air, which mixes inside the hollow cylinder. The sleeve opens only one outlet at a time, blocking the other two, over the increment of rotation.

Air conditioning system control valve

A serpentine heat exchanger tube structure is formed with spaces between opposite runs of the tube structure that are smaller than the fins which must be inserted into the spaces. The tube structure is pressed onto a series of spreader blades at a fin inserting station to spread the runs of the tube structure, the fins are loaded into a series of compartments of a shuttle at a remote fin loading station, the shuttle is moved to the fin inserting station to position the compartments opposite the respective spaces of the tube structure on the side of the tube structure opposite the side from which the spreader blades entered, and a series of insertion blades are moved into the compartments to move the fins out of the compartments and into the tube spaces as the spreader blades are simultaneously withdrawn. Timing pins associated with the insertion blades engage timing pins associated with the spreader blades so that the spreader blades are moved in unison with the insertion blades to avoid crushing the fins between the blades during the fin insertion process.

Method for assembling serpentine heat exchangers

Flat tubing is fed from a continuous supply into an embossing station and then into a cutting station and is briefly stopped periodically for an operation in each station. The embossing station has embossing dies for forming a transverse groove in the tube where a cut is desired and for reducing the tube perimeter dimension adjacent the cut to a required size. At the cutting station grippers engage the tubing on either side of the groove and bend the tubing to separate it at the groove.

Method and apparatus for sizing and cutting tubing

An apparatus sizes tubing, and positions and installs a manifold for single or multi-pass heat exchangers. Tubing is provided which has at least one first end and at least one second end. The first end is sized to a first desired perimeter dimension and, simultaneously, a first manifold is positioned and installed which has a first opening for receiving the first end of the tubing. Additionally, the second end is sized to a second desired perimeter dimension and, simultaneously, a second manifold is positioned and installed which has a second opening for receiving the second end of the tubing. A positioning control aids in the insertion of the ends into the manifolds to the desired depth or pressure. The apparatus is capable of sizing tubing, and positioning and installing manifolds for single or multi-pass heat exchangers having variously dimensioned tubing. The present invention also provides for a method of sizing tubing, and positioning and installing manifolds.

Method for sizing and installing tubing in manifolds

Serpentine heat exchanger tubes are formed with spaces smaller than the fins which must fit in the spaces, the tubes are elastically spread apart so that tubes can be inserted, and the tubes are then allowed to contract to grip the elements for good contact and to help maintain the assembly until a brazing operation. A machine for inserting the fins has spreader blades for insertion into the tube spaces remote from the tube bends, and including sets of blades which then are moved toward the bends to fully dilate the spaces to permit easy insertion of the fins.

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Lyndonville, NY, United States of America

William D Wright