Patent Application
20150144308
The present disclosure relates to a heat exchanger, and more particularly to a baffle arrangement for a tube bundle of the heat exchanger.
A heat exchanger or an oil cooler associated with an engine system generally includes a plurality of tubes that allow a passage of coolant therethrough in order to exchange heat and thereby cool the oil flowing over the tubes. The tubes are arranged to form a tube bundle, and this bundle is provided within a core or housing of the oil cooler. The tubes are generally positioned through baffles that provide stability and support to the tubes.
However, the tubes may be exposed to a multitude of forces due to hydraulic dynamics during operation of the engine. This may lead to damage or fretting of the tubes. Further, due to relative movement between the tubes and the baffles, friction between the tubes and the baffles may increase, causing breakage of walls of the tubes and thereby leading to failure. In order to reduce or prevent this movement, glue or any suitable adhesive is used to secure every row of the tubes within the baffle. However, applying glue to every aperture in the baffle to secure the tubes therein is a laborious, time consuming procedure having high associated costs.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,520,868 describes a heat exchanger. The heat exchanger includes a plurality of longitudinally-extending tubes disposed within a shell. The heat exchanger also includes baffle plates with apertures. The tubes are provided through the apertures of the baffle plates for support and alignment. The baffle plates are adhesively bonded to external surface of at least some of the tubes to establish an initial position for assembly purposes. However, the patent reference does not disclose a retention assembly for the tubes and the baffles that provides support and counter fretting, as described in the present disclosure.
In one aspect of the present disclosure, a baffle assembly for a heat exchanger housing is described. The baffle assembly further includes a plurality of baffles positioned within the heat exchanger housing. The plurality of baffles is provided in an offset arrangement with respect to each other. The plurality of baffles have a generally disc shape having a plurality of guides. The plurality of guides defines an aperture therein. The apertures are configured to receive one of a plurality of tubes therethrough. The baffle assembly also includes a retention assembly associated with the plurality of baffles for securely holding the plurality of tubes passing through the respective baffle therewithin. The retention assembly includes an adhesive provided between an interface of each tube of the plurality of tubes and each guide of the plurality of guides.
Other features and aspects of this disclosure will be apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawings.
Wherever possible, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or the like parts. Referring to
The oil cooler 102 disclosed herein is configured to cool the oil flowing through various components of the engine system. In one embodiment, the oil cooler 102 may embody a radiator. A coolant may be used for cooling the oil flowing through the oil cooler 102. The coolant used for a particular application may vary based on a type of the oil cooler 102. In the illustrated embodiment, the oil cooler 102 is embodied as a liquid-to-liquid cooler, the coolant is any engine coolant known to a person of ordinary skill in the art. In one example, water may be used as the coolant. Alternatively, the coolant may be a mixture of water and an antifreeze solution, wherein the antifreeze solution may include ethylene glycol or propylene glycol.
It should be noted that the coolant flowing through the engine system may serve as a primary cooling source of the engine components. This coolant may be further directed towards the oil cooler 102 for cooling of the oil flowing therethrough. In an alternate embodiment, the oil cooler 102 may be embodied as an air-to-liquid cooler, wherein air may be used as a coolant for cooling purposes. The air may flow through the oil cooler 102 either at an ambient pressure or may be compressed to increase a pressure thereof. Alternatively, the oil cooler 102 may embody any heat exchanger known to a person of ordinary skill in the art. The oil cooler 102 may be associated with the engine system used for marine and/or automobile applications.
The oil cooler 102 includes a heat exchanger housing 104, hereinafter referred to as a housing 104, (see
Referring to
The baffles 112 may be provided at different locations along a length of the tube bundle 100. Referring to
It should be noted that a cross section of the tube bundle 100 corresponds to a cross section of the housing 104, so that the tube bundle 100 may be received within the interior space 106 of the housing 104. In the illustrated embodiment, the tube bundle 100 has a circular cross section. However, based on the cross section of the housing 104, the cross section of the tube bundle 100 may vary and include any of a square, rectangular, or elliptical shape.
The baffle assembly 101 further includes a retention assembly 120 associated with the baffles 112. The retention assembly 120 is configured to securely hold the tubes 110 passing through the respective baffles 112. In reference to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the retention assembly 120 includes an adhesive 122. The adhesive 122 may be any state of the art known substance applied to the surfaces of materials that bind the tubes 110 and the baffles 112 and resists separation.
Referring to
It should be noted that the accompanying figures are for exemplary purposes. Dimensions, such as, a diameter of the housing 104, the tube bundle 100, and the tubes 110 may vary based on an application size. The number of tubes 110 per tube bundle 100 may also vary, and is based on the size of the housing 104 and the operational requirements of the engine system.
The industrial applicability of the baffle assembly 101 of the tube bundle 100 described herein will be readily appreciated from the foregoing discussion. As described earlier, the baffle assembly 101 includes the retention assembly 120 associated with the each of the plurality of baffles 112 for securely holding the plurality of tubes 110 passing through the apertures 115 of the respective baffles 112. The retention assembly 120 includes the adhesive 122 provided in each of the apertures 115 of the guides 114 positioned at the periphery 402 of the baffle 112, i.e., the adhesive 122 is provided at the apertures 115 that are positioned at the periphery 402 of the respective baffle 112 in such a manner so as to circumferentially surround the interface between the tubes 110 and the guides 114.
The wave like pattern of the adhesive 122 achieves equivalence in operation and structural strength to the tube bundle 100 and counters fretting among the tubes 110, thereby avoiding breakage of the tubes 110 and failure of the oil cooler 102. Such use of the adhesive 122 of the retention assembly 120 is cost effective, easy to assemble, contributes less weight to the oil cooler 102 and securely holds the tubes 110 within the baffles 112. Further the baffle assembly 101 of the tube bundle 100 described herein is a simple configurable structure that can be easily retrofitted on pre-existing heat exchanger or oil cooler housings with minimal modifications and cost inclusions. The tube bundle 100 is easily replaceable in view of any maintenance or service related aspects.
While aspects of the present disclosure have been particularly shown and described with reference to the embodiments above, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various additional embodiments may be contemplated by the modification of the disclosed machines, systems and methods without departing from the spirit and scope of what is disclosed. Such embodiments should be understood to fall within the scope of the present disclosure as determined based upon the claims and any equivalents thereof.
