Patent Application
20130146264
The present application claims priority to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2011-0131911 filed in the Korean Intellectual Property Office on Dec. 09, 2011, the entire contents of which is incorporated herein for all purposes by this reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a heat exchanger for a vehicle. More particularly, the present invention relates to a heat exchanger for a vehicle which can control temperatures of operating fluids which flow in the heat exchanger through heat-exchange therebetween.
2. Description of Related Art
Recently, studies of smaller size, lighter weight, and higher efficiency have been developed in vehicle industry because consumers showed higher interested in environment and energy.
A heat exchanger transfers heat from high-temperature fluid to low-temperature fluid through a heat transfer surface, and is used in a radiator, a heater, a cooler, an evaporator, and a condenser. The heat exchanger absorbs heat from an environment and radiates heat to the other environment between two environments having a temperature difference.
Such a heat exchanger reuses heat energy or controls a temperature of an operating fluid flowing therein for demanded performance. The heat exchanger is applied to an air conditioning system or a transmission oil cooler of a vehicle, and is mounted at an engine compartment.
The heat exchanger is hard to be mounted at the engine compartment with restricted space. Studies for the heat exchanger with smaller size, lighter weight, and higher efficiency have been developed.
Recently, a heat exchanger of plate type or a heat exchanger of shell and tube type has been researched. The heat exchanger of plate type is formed by stacking plates and uses a coolant as a heat transfer medium, and the heat exchanger of shell and tube type is provided with reduced-diameter portions formed at interior circumferences of a plurality of pipes so as to change flow of the operating fluid and form turbulence.
Since internal pressure of the heat exchanger of plate type is low compared with the heat exchanger of shell and tube type when exchanging heat between high pressure and low pressure fluids, thickness of the plate should be increased. Therefore, heat-exchanging efficiency between the operating fluids may be deteriorated and manufacturing cost, weight, and size may increase.
Since the reduced-diameter portions should be formed at the interior circumference of each pipe according to the heat exchanger of shell and tube type having excellent heat-exchanging efficiency compared with the heat exchanger of plate type, manufacturing cost may increase. In addition, since an exterior circumference of the pipe is smooth, turbulence is hard to be formed at air. Therefore, heat-exchanging efficiency may not increase efficiently compared with the manufacturing cost.
The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.
Various aspects of the present invention are directed to providing a heat exchanger for a vehicle having advantages of improving heat-exchanging efficiency of operating fluids and cooling performance of the heat exchanger by promoting flow change and formation of turbulence in the operating fluids passing in the heat exchanger.
A heat exchanger for a vehicle according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention may include, a tank adapted to receive a first operating fluid therein through a first inflow port and to exhaust the first operating fluid therefrom through a first exhaust port. first and second headers adapted to receive and exhaust a second operating fluid respectively through a second inflow port and a second exhaust port formed respectively at a lower portion and an upper portion of the tank, and mounted respectively at the lower portion and the upper portion of the tank so as to form first and second chambers at the tank. at least one heat radiating unit provided with at least one coupling pipe formed by coupling at least one plate at which at least one protruding portion is formed along a length direction, and adapted to fluidly connect the first chamber of the first header with the second chamber of the second header, wherein a connecting line is formed in the coupling pipe so as for the second operating fluid to flow therein, and the second operating fluid flowing in the coupling pipe is cooled by heat-exchange with the first operating fluid passing an outside of the coupling pipe.
First and second mounting holes connected to the first and second chambers may be formed respectively at the first and second headers, and both ends of the heat radiating unit may be inserted respectively in the first and second mounting holes.
The first inflow port and the first exhaust port may be disposed in a diagonal direction respectively at an upper portion of a side surface of the tank and a lower portion of the other side surface of the tank between the first and second chambers.
The second inflow port and the second exhaust port may be disposed in a diagonal direction respectively at a lower surface and an upper surface of the tank.
The protruding portion may be formed integrally at the plate by pressing.
The protruding portion may be provided with an exterior circumference and an interior circumference formed with semi-circular shape and be disposed as spiral shape along a length direction of the plate.
Both ends of the heat radiating unit may be inserted respectively in the first header and the second header, and the protruding portion may not be formed at the both ends of the heat radiating unit.
The coupling pipe may be a circular pipe formed by a plurality of protruding portions, and an interior circumference and an exterior circumference of the coupling pipe may be formed as spiral shape such that vortex is generated at the second operating fluid flowing in the connecting line by rotation of the second operating fluid and the first operating fluid passing the outside of the connecting line is caused to form turbulence.
The coupling pipe, in a state that protruding portions of a pair of plate are disposed so as to be protruded toward the outside, may be formed by coupling the pair of plates.
Neighboring heat radiating units may be disposed alternately in a width direction such that the coupling pipe of one of the neighboring heat radiating units is disposed between neighboring coupling pipes of the other of the neighboring heat radiating units.
The number of the coupling pipes included in the heat radiating unit may be changed according to sizes of the first header and the second header.
The coupling pipes including one heat radiating unit may be releasably assembled with each other.
A plurality of rows of protruding portions may be formed at one plate, and the one plate may be folded to form the heat radiating unit such that one row of protruding portions is connected to another row of protruding portions so as to form the coupling pipe.
The plate may be provided with at least one flowing hole formed between the coupling pipes.
Flowing direction of the second operating fluid passing in the connecting line of the coupling pipe may be perpendicular to that of the first operating fluid passing the outside of the coupling pipe.
According to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the first inflow port and the first exhaust port may penetrate the second header and the first header at the upper portion and the lower portion of the tank and may be positioned at the upper surface and the lower surface of the tank in a diagonal direction, respectively.
The second inflow port may be formed at the lower surface of the tank in a diagonal direction to the first exhaust port, and the second exhaust port may be formed at the upper surface of the tank in a diagonal direction to the first inflow port.
The first operating fluid flowing through the first inflow port and the second operating fluid flowing through the second inflow port may flow in opposite directions in the tank and may exchange heat with each other.
The methods and apparatuses of the present invention have other features and advantages which will be apparent from or are set forth in more detail in the accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein, and the following Detailed Description, which together serve to explain certain principles of the present invention.
It should be understood that the appended drawings are not necessarily to scale, presenting a somewhat simplified representation of various features illustrative of the basic principles of the invention. The specific design features of the present invention as disclosed herein, including, for example, specific dimensions, orientations, locations, and shapes will be determined in part by the particular intended application and use environment.
In the figures, reference numbers refer to the same or equivalent parts of the present invention throughout the several figures of the drawing.
Reference will now be made in detail to various embodiments of the present invention(s), examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings and described below. While the invention(s) will be described in conjunction with exemplary embodiments, it will be understood that the present description is not intended to limit the invention(s) to those exemplary embodiments. On the contrary, the invention(s) is/are intended to cover not only the exemplary embodiments, but also various alternatives, modifications, equivalents and other embodiments, which may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
An exemplary embodiment of the present invention will hereinafter be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Exemplary embodiments described in this specification and drawings are just exemplary embodiments of the present invention. It is to be understood that there can be various modifications and equivalents included in the spirit of the present invention at the filing of this application.
Referring to the drawings, a heat exchanger 100 for a vehicle according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention is adapted to improve heat-exchanging efficiency of operating fluids and cooling performance of the heat exchanger 100 by promoting flow change and formation of turbulence in the operating fluids passing in the heat exchanger 100.
For these purposes, a heat exchanger 100 for the vehicle according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, as shown in
The tank 110 is provided with a first inflow port 112 and a first exhaust port 114. A first operating fluid flows into the tank 110 through the first inflow port 112 and is exhausted from the tank 110 through the first exhaust port 114.
According to the present exemplary embodiment, the first and second headers 120 and 130 are mounted respectively at a lower portion and an upper portion of the tank 110. The first header 120 is provided with a second inflow port 122 so as to receive a second operating fluid therein, and the second header 130 is provide with a second exhaust port 132 so as to exhaust the second operating fluid therefrom.
The first and second headers 120 and 130 form first and second chambers 124 and 134 in the tank 110 so as to prevent the second operating fluid flowing into the tank 110 through the second inflow port 122 from being mixed with the first operating fluid flowing into the tank 110 through the first inflow port 112.
That is, the first chamber 124 is positioned at the lower portion of the tank 110 and the second chamber 134 is positioned at the upper portion of the tank 110. The first chamber 124 temporarily stores the second operating fluid flowing therein through the second inflow port 122, and the second chamber 134 temporarily stores the second operating fluid that will be exhausted through the second exhaust port 132.
Herein, the first inflow port 112 and the first exhaust port 114 are disposed in a diagonal direction respectively at an upper portion of a side surface of the tank 110 and a lower portion of the other side surface of the tank 110 between the first and second chambers 124 and 134.
Therefore, the first operating fluid flowing through the first inflow port 112 flows to the first exhaust port 114, and is distributed evenly in the tank 110 between the first and second headers 124 and 134.
In addition, the second inflow port 122 and the second exhaust port 132 are disposed in a diagonal direction respectively at a lower surface and an upper surface of the tank 110.
That is, the second inflow port 122 is formed at a side portion of the lower surface of the tank 100 and the second exhaust port 132 is formed at the other side portion of the upper surface of the tank 100.
According to the present exemplary embodiment, first and second mounting holes 126 and 136 are formed respectively at an upper surface of the first header 120 and a lower surface of the second header 130. Both end portions of the heat radiating unit 140 are mounted in and the first and second chambers 124 and 134 are connected to the first and second mounting holes 126 and 136, respectively.
In addition, the heat radiating unit 140 includes a plurality of coupling pipes 148 formed by assembling plates 142 at which at least one protruding portion 144 is formed along a length direction. A connecting line 146 for fluidly connecting the first chamber 124 with the second chamber 134 is formed in the coupling pipe 148. Therefore, the second operating fluid in the first chamber 124 flows to the second chamber 134 through the connecting line 146.
A plurality of heat radiating units 140 is disposed in parallel with each other between the first chamber 124 and the second chamber 134. The second operating fluid passing through the coupling pipe 148 is cooled by heat-exchange with the first operating fluid passing an outside of the coupling pipe 148 in the tank 110. The plurality of heat radiating units 140 connects the first header 120 with the second header 130 in the tank 110.
That is, a lower end of the heat radiating unit 140 is inserted in the first mounting hole 126 formed at the first header 120, and an upper end of the heat radiating unit 140 is inserted in the second mounting hole 136 formed at the second header 130. Therefore, the heat radiating unit 140 fluidly connects the first chamber 124 with the second chamber 134.
In addition, the neighboring heat radiating units 140, as shown in
Therefore, the plurality of heat radiating units 140 is disposed in multi-layers between the first and second headers 120 and 130 in the tank 110, and thereby contact area between the first operating fluid passing an outside of the heat radiating unit 140 and the external circumference of the coupling pipe 148 can be increased.
Herein, flowing direction of the second operating fluid flowing in the connecting line 146 of the coupling pipe 148 is perpendicular to that of the first operating fluid passing the outside of the coupling pipe 148.
Therefore, since the first operating fluid and the second operating fluid exchange heat with each other while flowing in different directions according to the heat exchanger 100, heat may be exchanged more efficiently.
An exterior circumference and an interior circumference of the protruding portion 144, as shown in
Herein, the protruding portion 144 is not formed at both end portions of the heat radiating unit 140. Since the both end portions of the heat radiating unit 140 are inserted in the first and second mounting holes 126 and 136 formed at the first header 120 and the second header 130 respectively, straight line sections are formed at the both end portions of the heat radiating unit 140 so as to seal between the both end potions of the heat radiating unit 140 and the first and second mounting holes 126 and 136.
The protruding portion 144 can be integrally formed at the plate 142 by pressing.
According to the present exemplary embodiment, the coupling pipe 148 is a circular pipe formed by the plurality of protruding portions 144, and an interior circumference and an exterior circumference of the coupling pipe 148 are formed as spiral shape.
When the second operating fluid flows in the connecting line 146, the coupling pipe 148 causes the second operating fluid to rotate so as to generate vortex.
In addition, the first operating fluid passing the outside of the coupling pipe 148 is caused to form turbulence such that heat-exchanging efficiency between the first operating fluid and the second operating fluid may be improved.
A pair of plates 142 is coupled to form a pipe shape in a state that the protruding portions 144 of the pair of plates 142 are disposed so as to be protruded toward the outside. Thereby, the coupling pipe 148 is formed.
That is, in a state that the pair of plates 142 is disposed such that inner surfaces of the protruding portions 144 formed at the pair of plates 142 face each other, the pair of plates 142 are coupled to each other so as to form the coupling pipe 148 having the connecting line 146 therein.
Herein, the pair of plates 142 may be coupled by welding.
The number of the coupling pipe 148 included in the heat radiating unit 140 can be controlled according to sizes of the first header 120 and the second header 130. In addition, the coupling pipes 148 including one heat radiating unit 140 are releasably assembled.
The heat radiating unit 140, as shown in
Meanwhile, at least one flowing hole 149 may be formed between the coupling pipes 148 in the plate 142 according to the present exemplary embodiment. The flowing hole 149 is formed along a length direction of the plate 142.
After the protruding portion 144 is formed at the plate 142 by pressing, the flowing hole 149 may be formed by punching.
Herein, the flowing hole 149 enables the first operating fluid passing the outside of the heat radiating unit 140 to flow upwardly or downwardly with respect to the heat radiating unit 140. Therefore, flow of the first operating fluid at an exterior circumference of the coupling pipe 148 can be uniformalized. Therefore, heat-exchanging efficiency between the first and second operating fluids can be further enhanced.
According to the present exemplary embodiment, two plates 142 are assembled with each other so as to form the heat radiating unit 140. However, this is not limited. A plurality of rows of protruding portions 144 is formed at one plate 142, and the one plate 142 is folded to form the heat radiating unit 140 such that one row of protruding portions 144 is connected to another row of protruding portions 144 so as to form the coupling pipe 148 having the connecting line 146.
Hereinafter, operation and function of the heat exchanger 100 for the vehicle according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail.
The first operating fluid, as shown in
In addition, the second operating fluid flowing into the first chamber 124 through the second inflow port 122 flows to the second chamber 134 along the connecting line 146 of the coupling pipe 148 formed at the heat radiating unit 140.
At this time, since the protruding portions 144 of the coupling pipe 148 are formed as spiral shape, the second operating fluid flowing in the connecting line 146 is rotated to generate the vortex.
Herein, the first operating fluid passes the outside of the heat radiating unit 140 in the tank 110. At this time, the turbulence is formed at the first operating fluid by spiral shape of the protruding portions 144 when the first operating fluid passes the outside of the coupling pipe 148, as shown in
Simultaneously, the first operating fluid is distributed evenly above and below of the heat radiating unit 140 disposed in the multi-layers through the flowing hole 149. Therefore, the first operating fluid exchanges heat with the second operating fluid flowing in the connecting line 146 efficiently.
According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the first and second operating fluids flowing into the heat exchanger 100 for the vehicle may be coolant, engine oil, transmission oil, air conditioner refrigerant and vehicle exhaust gas.
In addition, the heat exchanger 100 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention can be used to various applications including the vehicle.
Referring to the drawings, a heat exchanger 200 for the vehicle according to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention is the same as that 100 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention except positions of the first inflow port 212 and the first exhaust port 214.
That is, the first inflow port 212 and the first exhaust port 214, as shown in
The first inflow port 212 and the first exhaust port 214 are positioned at the upper surface and the lower surface of the tank 110 in a diagonal direction, respectively.
In addition, the second inflow port 222 is formed at the lower surface of the tank 210, the second exhaust port 232 is formed at the upper surface of the tank 210, and the second inflow port 222 and the second exhaust port 232 are disposed in a diagonal direction. In addition, the second exhaust port 232 is disposed in a diagonal direction to the first inflow port 212, and the second inflow port 222 is disposed in a diagonal direction to the first exhaust port 214.
Since the first inflow port 212 and the second inflow port 222 are positioned corresponding to each other at the upper surface and the lower surface of the tank 110 respectively, the first and second operating fluids flowing into the tank 210 through the inflow ports 212 and 222 flow in opposite directions to each other.
That is, since the first and second operating fluids, as shown in
Since other constituent elements of the heat exchanger 200 for the vehicle according to, another exemplary embodiment of the present invention are the same those of the heat exchanger 100 for the vehicle according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, detailed description thereof will be omitted.
Since flow change and formation of turbulence in the operating fluids passing in the heat exchanger 100 and 200 is promoted according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, heat-exchanging efficiency of the operating fluids and cooling performance of the heat exchanger 100 and 200 may be improved.
In addition, at least one plate 142 forming with the protruding portions 144 of spiral shape is assembled to form the coupling pipe 148 of spiral shape having the connecting line 146. Therefore, manufacturing cost may be reduced and weight of the heat exchanger 100 and 200 may be lowered.
Since a cross-sectional shape of the connecting line 146 in which the high pressure operating fluid flows is circular, internal pressure may be raised and durability may be improved compared with a conventional heat exchanger of plate type.
For convenience in explanation and accurate definition in the appended claims, the terms “upper”, “lower”, “inner” and “outer” are used to describe features of the exemplary embodiments with reference to the positions of such features as displayed in the figures.
The foregoing descriptions of specific exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been presented for purposes of illustration and description. They are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed, and obviously many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings. The exemplary embodiments were chosen and described in order to explain certain principles of the invention and their practical application, to thereby enable others skilled in the art to make and utilize various exemplary embodiments of the present invention, as well as various alternatives and modifications thereof. It is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the Claims appended hereto and their equivalents.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10-2011-0131911 | Dec 2011 | KR | national |
