The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 05, 2000
Filed:
May. 04, 1999
Antonio Baldantoni, Ann Arbor, MI (US);
William Cagle, Pearl, MS (US);
Norsk Hydro a.s., Oslo, NO;
Abstract
A method for enhancing the brazeability of a heat exchanger manifold block (110) by promoting the braze metal flow in and around the manifold block (110) during brazing within a braze furnace. The invention is particularly directed to enhancing a brazement between a manifold block (110) and a jumper tube (124) that fluidically connects the block (110) to another component of the heat exchanger system. The method entails increasing the rate of convective and radiative heat transfer to the block (110) during brazing within a braze furnace by providing fins (116, 128), grooves (118, 130) or similar features on one or more surfaces of the block (110) that increase the surface area of the block (110), and consequently increase the heating rate of the block (110) to something closer to that of the tube (124). In effect, the surface features increase the heat transfer rate of the block (110) to compensate for the disparate thermal masses of the block (110) and tube (124). The fins (116, 128) and grooves (118, 130) have been found to promote the flow of braze metal toward the block (110), which in turn has been found to promote the quality of the resulting brazement between the block (110) and tube (124).