GROOVE MACHINING METHOD BY MEANS OF WATER JET, HEAT EXCHANGER MEMBER, AND HEAT EXCHANGER

Abstract

There is provided a groove machining method by means of water jet which machines grooves by means of a water jet device including injection nozzles for injecting a water jet on a face to be machined of a member to be machined, including a step of disposing protection members which are more resistive against an injection power of the water jet than the member to be machined so as to cover a portion which is a part of the face to be machined, and on which grooves are not to be formed in order to form ends of the machined grooves in a travel direction of the injection nozzles inside an outline of the face to be machined, and a step of moving the nozzles across the protection members and the face to be machined while injecting the water jet at a predetermined injection power from the injection nozzles.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 describes groove machining according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 describes a cross sectional configuration of grooves according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 describes a first groove machining step of machining grooves on a face to be machined of a thin plate to produce a grooved plate for a heat exchange core according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 describes a second groove machining step of machining the grooves on the face to be machined of the thin plate to produce the grooved plate for the heat exchange core according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 describes a third groove machining step of machining the grooves on the face to be machined of the thin plate to produce the grooved plate for the heat exchange core according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 describes a fourth groove machining step of machining the grooves on the face to be machined of the thin plate to produce the grooved plate for the heat exchange core according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 describes a fifth groove machining step of machining the grooves on the face to be machined of the thin plate to produce the grooved plate for the heat exchange core according to the embodiment of the present invention; and

FIGS. 8A to 8C relate to the embodiment of the present invention, in which:

FIG. 8A describes a configuration of a grooved plate for a heat exchanger produced without employing the groove machining method according to the present invention;

FIG. 8B describes a configuration of a grooved plate for a heat exchanger produced according to the groove machining method according to the present invention; and

FIG. 8C describes a configuration of a heat exchange core produced using the grooved plates.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

With sequential reference to accompanying drawings, a description will now be given of a groove machining method by means of water jet according to the present invention applied to an example where grooves are machined on a surface, which is a face to be machined, of a thin plate, which is a member to be machined, to manufacture a grooved plate for a heat exchange core (heat exchanger member) which is a component of a heat exchanger.

The grooved plates for the heat exchange core can be produced by machining multiple grooves on a surface of a thin plate, which has a rectangular plane, and is a member to be machined, by means of the groove machining method according to the present invention either with a water jet device including one injection nozzle or with a water jet device including multiple injection nozzles. With sequential reference to FIG. 1, 3 to 7, a description will now be given of first to fifth groove machining steps for machining grooves shown in FIG. 2 whose pitch is 1.6 mm, whose depth is 2 mm, whose width is 1 mm, and whose aspect ratio is 2 to manufacture a grooved plate for a model heat exchanger shown in FIG. 1.

In the first groove machining step for machining a groove on a face to be machined of a thin plate P thereby manufacturing the grooved plate for the heat exchange core, portions in which the grooves are not to be formed on a surface of the thin plate P made of aluminum with a dimension of one edge of 200 mm are covered by placing protection members (referred to as protection plates) in a shape described later, and then an injection nozzle is moved in a predetermined direction while injecting a water jet as shown in FIG. 3.

More specifically, a right-angled corner of a first protection plate 11 in a right triangle shape having edges of 205 mm on both sides of the right angle is aligned to a lower right corner A_rd where the bottom edge and the right edge of the thin plate P intersect at right angle. Thus, the first protection plate 11 covers a half of the area of the thin plate P on the right and bottom sides where the grooves are not to be formed. Moreover, a third protection plate 13 which is 15 mm in width, and is 150 mm in length, is disposed at a left edge portion of the top edge where the grooves are not to be formed, on a top face of the thin plate P in order to form an end of the machined groove in the travel direction of the injection nozzle inside the outline of the surface of the thin plate P.

After these protection plates 11, 13 are disposed, the injection nozzle is moved along the diagonal line extending from the lower right corner A_rd of the thin plate P obliquely leftward and upward in FIG. 3, namely to the upper left corner A_lu, where the top edge and the left edge of the thin plate P intersect at right angle, while injecting the water jet. Then, one groove 1 which runs obliquely leftward and upward, and serves as a start end and a terminal end of the grooves, is machined on the diagonal line of the thin plate P, and on a portion which is not covered with the first and third protection plates 11, 13.

A material, which is machined at a slower speed by means of the water jet (machined to a shallower depth) than the thin plate as the member to be machined, namely, which is more resistive against the injection power of the water jet, can be used as a material of the protection plates. In this case, since the thin plate P is aluminum, stainless steel plates are employed as the protection plates.

However, since the protection plates are disposed on the face to be grooved of the thin plate P in order to prevent the machined face of the thin plate P to be grooved from being damaged, the material is not necessarily a hard material.

The material may be an impact-absorbing resin material such as a photo resist which is a polymeric material used in etching and blasting, for example, and is thus not specifically limited to a hard material. Moreover, grooving conditions, namely, the pressure of the water jet device is 1500 kgf/cm², and the travel speed of the injection nozzle is 1000 mm/minute, for example. It should be noted that abrasives including garnet whose average diameter is 180 μm, for example, are mixed with the water jet.

In the second groove machining step for machining a groove on the face to be machined of the thin plate P to produce the grooved plate, the right-angled corner of the first protection plate 11 is aligned to the upper right corner A_ru where the top edge and the right edge of the thin plate P intersect at right angle. Thus, the first protection plate 11 covers a half of the area of the thin plate P on the right and top sides where the grooves are not to be formed as shown in FIG. 4. Moreover, the third protection plate 13 is disposed at a left edge portion of the bottom edge where the grooves are not to be formed, on the top face of the thin plate P in order to form an end of the machined groove in the travel direction of the injection nozzle inside the outline of the surface of the thin plate P. After these protection plates 11, 13 are disposed, the injection nozzle is moved along the diagonal line extending from the upper right corner A_ru of the thin plate P obliquely leftward and downward in FIG. 4, namely to the lower left corner A_ld, where the bottom edge and the left edge of the thin plate P intersect at right angle, while injecting the water jet. Then, one groove 2 which runs obliquely leftward and downward, and serves as a start end and a terminal end of the grooves, is machined on the diagonal line of the thin plate P, and on a portion which is not covered with the first and third protection plates 11, 13.

In the third groove machining step for machining grooves on the face to be machined of the thin plate P to produce the grooved plate, the right-angled corner of the first protection plate 11 is aligned to the lower right corner A_rd of the thin plate P so as to cover a half of the area of the thin plate P on the right and bottom sides as shown in FIG. 5. Moreover, a right-angled corner of a second protection plate 12 in a right triangle shape having edges of 150 mm on both sides of the right angle is aligned to the bottom edge of the first protection plate 11 so as to cover a quarter of the area of the thin plate P on the upper side including the top edge of the thin plate P. Then, multiple parallel grooves are formed on a left right triangle which occupies a quarter of the area of the thin plate P. The left right triangle is formed by the left edge of the thin plate P, the line passing one end of the left edge and the center of the thin plate P, and the line passing another end of the left edge and the center of the thin plate P.

Namely, the injection nozzle is reciprocated downward from the top side in FIG. 5 in parallel with the left edge of the thin plate P while the water jet is being injected to machine straight grooves 3 which intersect the groove 1 oriented obliquely leftward and upward and the groove 2 oriented obliquely leftward and downward at an angle of 45 degrees, and start and terminate at the intersections. Though the grooves machined in the third groove machining step are straight grooves 3, the grooves may be waved grooves.

In the fourth groove machining step for machining grooves on the face to be machined of the thin plate P to produce the grooved plate, the second protection plate 12 is disposed on a quarter of the area on the left side including the left edge and the center of the thin plate P to cover the machined area of the straight grooves 3 as shown in FIG. 6. Moreover, the third protection plate 13 is disposed at a top edge portion of the right edge where the grooves are not to be formed, on the top face of the thin plate P in order to form ends of the machined grooves in the travel direction of the injection nozzle inside the outline of the surface of the thin plate P.

Then, after these protection plates 12, 13 are disposed, multiple waved grooves are machined in a trapezoidal area which is not covered by the protection plates 12, 13, and which is between the top edge of the thin plate P and a horizontal line which is parallel to the top edge and passes the center. Namely, the injection nozzle is reciprocated meandering in parallel with the top edge of the thin plate P from the right side to the left side in FIG. 6 while the water jet is being injected to machine waved grooves 4 which intersect the groove 1 oriented obliquely leftward and upward, and start and terminate at the intersections. Though the grooves machined in the fourth groove machining step are waved grooves 4, the grooves may be straight grooves.

In the fifth groove machining step for machining the grooves on the face to be machined of the thin plate P to produce the grooved plate, the third protection plate 13 is removed while the second protection plate 12 remains disposed in the quarter area on the left side including the left edge and the center of the thin plate P. Thereafter, the injection nozzle is reciprocated meandering in parallel with the top edge of the thin plate P from the right side to the left side in FIG. 7 while the water jet is being injected to machine multiple waved grooves in a trapezoidal area which is not covered with the second protection plate 12 and which is between the bottom edge of the thin plate P and a horizontal line parallel with the bottom edge and passes the center, as shown in FIG. 7. Thus, waved grooves 5 are machined so as to communicate with the outside of the thin plate P on one end, to intersect the groove 2 oriented obliquely leftward and downward on the other end, and to terminate at the intersections. Though the grooves machined in the fifth groove machining step are waved grooves as the grooves machined in the fourth groove machining step, the grooves may be straight grooves.

As the above description relating to the groove machining method by means of water jet according to the present invention clearly shows, the groove machining method by means of water jet according to the present invention properly disposes the various protection plates different in shape on the surface of the thin plate P, starts injecting the water jet when the injection nozzle is not above the face to be machined (is above the protection plate, for example), and moves the injection nozzle upon an initial injection power being reached. Then, after the injection nozzle reaches another protection plate, and comes out of the face to be machined, the travel of the injection nozzle is stopped, and the injection of the water jet is stopped. In this way, it is possible to produce the grooved plate shown in FIG. 1 by sequentially going through the first to fifth groove machining steps.

Therefore, it is not necessary for the groove machining method by means of water jet according to the present invention to start the injection as soon as the injection nozzle starts traveling, or to stop the injection as soon as the injection nozzle stops traveling, unlike the conventional groove machining by means of water jet. Moreover, since it is not necessary to gradually weaken the injection so that the injection of the water jet is stopped (the residual pressure becomes zero) when the injection nozzle stops traveling, the depth and width of the groove do not gradually increase or decrease. Thus, according to the groove machining method by means of water jet according to the present invention, since the injection nozzle is simply moved while the water jet is being injected at the initial injection power, there is provided an excellent effect that deep grooves with a complex structure and an approximately uniform depth are machined in a short period without complex control.

In other words, due to the effects of the respective protection plates 11, 12, and 13, the grooves can be machined from the start end to the terminal end only on the portions where the grooves are to be formed without damaging the portions where the grooves are not to be formed while the water jet is being injected from the injection nozzle at the initial injection power. Thus, without the groove machining method by means of the etching, according to the groove machining method by means of water jet according to the present invention, it is possible to easily produce the grooved plate (heat exchanger member), which has the grooves (passages) as shown in FIG. 1, of the heat exchange core, which is a component of a heat exchanger. Moreover, as described above, it is possible to machine a deep groove whose aspect ratio is one or more, and which has an approximately uniform depth and a complex shape in a short period.

According to the groove machining method by means of water jet according to the present invention, in order to form multiple grooves along a travel direction of an injection nozzle at a small pitch, neighboring injection nozzles of multiple provided injection nozzles may be displaced forward and backward in the travel direction of the injection nozzles, and the water jet may be injected from these multiple injection nozzles. With this method, since the neighboring injection nozzles of the multiple provided injection nozzles are displaced forward and backward in the travel direction of the injection nozzles, it is possible to reduce the interval between the injection nozzles compared with the interval between the injection nozzles arranged on the same row, and, thus, to machine grooves at a smaller interval.

Moreover, with the water jet according to the present invention, in order to form terminal ends of the multiple grooves gradually displaced in an oblique direction with respect to the travel direction of the injection nozzles, a protection member may be disposed on the face to be machined, and, then, the terminal ends of the grooves may be formed, and, in order to form grooves starting from these terminal ends, a protection member may be disposed on the face to be machined so as to cover the previously machined multiple grooves, and, then, the injection nozzles may be moved in a direction which intersects the previously formed grooves to form start ends of these grooves.

If multiple curved grooves are formed by means of water jet, and the curved portion of the grooves are formed by means of continuous machining, the travel speeds are different between the inside and the outside of the curve on the grooves, and the depths at the inside and the outside are not the same. For example, if a thin plate (member to be machined) is grooved, a penetration may occur at the inside of the groove. Moreover, if a bent groove is formed, changing machining conditions such as decreasing the travel speed of an injection nozzle is necessary, and the depth of the groove is thus not constant. Moreover, if the travel and the injection of an injection nozzle are once stopped, and the travel direction is changed, it is difficult to maintain machining conditions, and, thus, it is difficult to keep the depth and the width of a groove constant. However, even if the multiple bent grooves are formed by means of water jet, by placing a protection member on a face to be machined so as to cover previously machined multiple grooves, moving the injection nozzles to a direction intersecting to the previously formed grooves, and forming start ends of the grooves, the depth and the width of the grooves can be approximately uniform.

EXAMPLE

FIG. 8A shows a grooved plate for a heat exchanger produced by machining grooves by means of water jet without any protection members since the grooves have a form which does not require protection members. FIG. 8B shows a grooved plate for a heat exchanger produced by machining grooves by means of water jet with protection members (according to the groove machining method of the present invention). FIG. 8C shows a heat exchange core produced with these grooved plates. FIG. 8A shows a plate with straight grooves 21 on which straight grooves extending from one end to the other end are machined, and FIG. 8B shows a plate with bent grooves 22 on which bent grooves extending from one end to the other end are machined. The grooved plates 21, 22 for the heat exchange core are produced by forming passages including multiple grooves whose pitch is 1.6 mm, whose depth is 2 mm, whose width is 1 mm, and whose aspect ratio is 2 on one surface of a thin plate which is made of aluminum, and whose width and the length are respectively 200 mm and 400 mm under groove machining conditions that the pressure of the water jet device is 1500 kgf/cm², and the travel speed of the injection nozzle is 1000 mm/minute. It should be noted that it was confirmed that grooves whose depth is at least 1 mm can be machined with single path.

A heat exchange core 20 is constructed by alternately stacking the plates with straight grooves 21 and the plates with bent grooves 22, and stacking thin plates 23 at the top and the bottom in order to cover the openings of the grooves as shown in FIG. 8C. Though only one surface of each of the thin plates is grooved in this example as shown in FIGS. 8A and 8B, if the plates are thick, both the front and rear surfaces thereof may be grooved.

Since this heat exchange core has a large surface area per volume due to the grooves with the large aspect ratio formed on the grooved plates, if only one surface of the plates is grooved, it is possible to manufacture a heat exchanger of high heat transfer performance with a stacked body obtained by combining and brazing the surface on the grooved side of one heat exchange core to the surface on the non-grooved side of another heat exchange core. Moreover, if both the surfaces of the plates are grooved, it is possible to manufacture a heat exchanger of high heat transfer performance with a stacked body obtained by interposing a thin plate between the heat exchange cores, and brazing them.

Though the specific shapes and dimensions of the protection plates and the thin plate are described in the embodiment, they are simply examples. In other words, the specific shapes and dimensions of the protection plates and the thin plate can be properly set as necessary, and the description of the embodiment of the present invention is thus not intended to limit the application of the present invention. Moreover, though the description is given of an example where the thin plate, which is the member to be machined, is an aluminum plate, grooves can be machined on a plate made of stainless steel, copper, titanium, and the like according to the groove machining method of the present invention. Accordingly, material of the thin plate is thus not limited to aluminum, and may be a non-metal material such as ceramic. Further, the stacked body may be joined by a method other than brazing such as diffusion bonding and welding.

Claims

1. A groove machining method by means of water jet which machines a groove by means of a water jet device including an injection nozzle for injecting a water jet on a face to be machined of a member to be machined, comprising: a step of disposing a protection member which is more resistive against an injection power of the water jet than the member to be machined so as to cover a portion which is a part of the face to be machined, and on which the groove is not to be formed, and a step of moving the injection nozzle across the protection member and the face to be machined while injecting the water jet at a predetermined injection power from the injection nozzle.

2. The groove machining method by means of water jet according to claim 1, wherein the water jet is injected from a plurality of provided injection nozzles.

3. The groove machining method by means of water jet according to claim 1, wherein the member to be machined is made of metal, and abrasives are mixed with the water jet.

4. A heat exchanger member manufactured by the groove machining method by means of water jet according to claim 3, wherein the aspect ratio of the groove formed by the groove machining method is equal to or more than 1.

5. The heat exchanger member according to claim 4, wherein the member to be machined is a plate-shape member, and the groove is machined on either of front and rear faces as the face to be machined.

6. The heat exchanger member according to claim 4, wherein the member to be machined is a plate-shape member, and the groove is machined on both of front and rear faces as the face to be machined

7. A heat exchanger comprising a plurality of the heat exchanger members according to claim 5 stacked in the thickness direction of the plate members.

8. A heat exchanger comprising a plurality of the heat exchanger members according to claim 6 and a plurality of flat plate members alternately stacked in the thickness direction.

9. The heat exchanger according to claim 7, wherein the members to be stacked are partially or entirely joined at a portion which does not include the machined groove, and remains at an outer periphery of the face to be machined by brazing, diffusion bonding, or welding.