Patent Application
20230341194
The present invention relates to a heat exchanger, and more particularly, to a heat exchanger having a header structure for dispersing thermal stress.
In general, an engine room of a vehicle may be provided with not only components for driving the vehicle, such as an engine, but also various heat exchangers such as a radiator, an intercooler, an evaporator and a condenser for cooling the respective components in the vehicle, such as the engine or for adjusting an air temperature of a vehicle interior. In general, these heat exchangers may each have a heat exchange medium circulating therein, and the heat exchange medium in the heat exchanger and air outside the heat exchanger may exchange heat with each other, thereby achieving cooling or heat dissipation.
The radiator may be a heat exchanger for cooling heat of the engine. A water jacket through which a coolant flows may be positioned in the engine, and heat occurring in the engine may be absorbed by the coolant in the water jacket to heat the coolant to have a high temperature. The high-temperature coolant may flow to the radiator, and exchange heat with the outside while passing through the radiator to have a low temperature again. The low-temperature coolant may flow into a circulation path through which the coolant flows back into the water jacket to absorb heat occurring in the engine.
A lot of heat may occur in the engine, and the coolant can thus have a temperature close to 100° C. when absorbing a lot of heat from the engine. However, the radiator may sufficiently dissipate heat to the outside, and the cooled coolant may thus be dropped to about 40° C. which is a much lower temperature. That is, there may be a large temperature difference between the high-temperature coolant flowing into the radiator (in a state of having heat absorbed from the engine) and the low-temperature coolant discharged from the radiator (in a state of being cooled by having heat dissipated to the outside).
As in the example of the radiator described above, the heat exchanger may generally have a temperature distribution significantly unbalanced due to the temperature of the heat exchange medium. When the temperature distribution is unbalanced as such, a degree of thermal deformation may vary depending on a position, and thermal stress may thus be concentrated on a specific portion of the heat exchanger. The thermal deformation may be a major cause of damage or crack of the heat exchanger, and thus, there is a need for a design to deal with this problem.
Korea Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 10-2017-0082865 (entitled “heat exchanger of bar plate type,” published on Jul. 17, 2017, and hereinafter referred to as a ‘related art document’) discloses a technique related to a heat exchanger of a bar plate type, the heat exchanger including: a plurality of tubes each including an upper plate, a lower plate and an outer fin interposed therebetween, and stacked on each other; and a header combined with each of two ends of this tube stack, wherein a slimming portion, which becomes a plate-shaped member such as the upper or lower plate when unfolded, is positioned in a header bar positioned between the upper and lower plates at each of two ends of the heat exchanger. In the related art document, it is deemed that occurrence of residual stress due to repeated changes between a high temperature/a room temperature is caused by a difference between thicknesses of members connected to each other, and a slimming portion as described above is provided in order to reduce the difference between the thicknesses of connection portions between the header and the tube as much as possible.
The related art document discloses this technique to solve the thermal stress concentration and shape distortion due to the temperature change. However, the technique of the related art document may be limitedly applied to the heat exchanger of a bar plate type, and difficult to be generally applied to a fin-tube type heat exchanger, which is widely used. To briefly explain a structure of the fin-tube type heat exchanger, the fin-tube type heat exchanger may include a pair of header tanks each including a header and a tank combined with each other to have a shape of an enclosure, and positioned in parallel to each other while being spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance; a plurality of tubes each having both ends fixed to the header tanks to form a flow path of a refrigerant; and fins interposed between the tubes. The heat exchanger of a bar plate type disclosed in the related art document includes the tube formed in a shape of a plate stack and the component such as the header bar according to this structure, and uses a method of solving the problem by using the slimming portion, which is a component further provided in the header bar. However, the fin-tube type heat exchanger may not include the components corresponding to the header bar, and it is thus difficult to use the slimming portion of the related art document. In addition, in the related art document, it is deemed that reducing the difference between the thicknesses of the components connected to each other is a method of solving the problem. However, a thickness of the header tank and a thickness of the tube may be basically quite different from each other, it is impossible to change this difference, and it is thus also difficult to use the idea of the related art document.
It is thus essential to develop a design for effectively dispersing the thermal stress concentration caused by the unbalanced temperature distribution in the fin-tube type heat exchanger.
1. Korean Patent Laid-Open Publication 10-2017-0082865 (entitled “heat exchanger of bar plate type,” and published on Jul. 17, 2017)
An object of the present invention is to provide a heat exchanger having a header structure for dispersing thermal stress, in which a tube insertion hole in the header has an improved structure for the thermal stress to be dispersed as much as possible, by focusing on the fact that thermal stress concentration mainly occurs in a tube nose.
In one general aspect, a heat exchanger 1000 having a header structure for dispersing thermal stress includes a pair of header tanks 100 each including a header 110 and a tank 120 combined with each other, and positioned in parallel to each other while being spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance; and a plurality of tubes 200 each having both ends fixed to the header tanks 100 to form a flow path of a refrigerant, wherein the header 110 extends in one direction and includes a plurality of tube insertion holes 115 into which the tube 200 is inserted, and for the at least one tube insertion hole 115, the header 110 includes a slope portion S in which a wall surface of the header 110 in contact with the tube 200 is inclined to the tube 200 in a cross-section thereof in the width direction at a position of the tube insertion hole 115.
In more detail, the header 110 may have a bottom surface 111 formed on a plane formed in a length direction and a width direction thereof, a side surface 112 bent from the bottom surface 111 and extending in a height direction thereof, a hole formation portion 113 in which an inner partial portion of the bottom surface 111 protrudes into the header tank 100 and the plurality of tube insertion holes 115 are formed, and an inner wall surface 114 formed between the bottom surface 111 and the hole formation portion 113, and the slope portion S may have an angle inclined between the bottom surface 111 and the inner wall surface 114 in the cross-section in the width direction at the position of the tube insertion hole 115.
Here, for the tube insertion hole 115 having the slope portion S formed therein, the header 110 may have the angle between the bottom surface 111 and the inner wall surface 114 which is an obtuse angle with respect to the bottom surface 111 in the cross-section in the width direction at the position of the tube insertion hole 115.
In addition, the header 110 may accommodate a gasket 130 in a space formed between the side surface 112 and the inner wall surface 114 to secure airtightness between the header 110 and the tank 120 of the header tank 100, and for the tube insertion hole 115 having no slope portion S formed therein, the header 110 may include a misassembly prevention portion P for preventing the gasket 130 from being deviated from its correct position by having the angle between the bottom surface 111 and the inner wall surface 114 less inclined than the slope portion S or perpendicular, in the cross section in the width direction at the position of the tube insertion hole 115.
In addition, the header 110 may accommodate a gasket 130 in a space formed between the side surface 112 and the inner wall surface 114 to secure airtightness between the header 110 and the tank 120 of the header tank 100, and include a misassembly prevention portion P for preventing the gasket 130 from being deviated from its correct position by having the angle between the bottom surface 111 and the inner wall surface 114 less inclined than the slope portion S or perpendicular, in the cross section in the width direction at a position between the tube insertion holes 115.
In addition, the slope portion S may be formed over an entire range of the inner wall surface 114, or formed in a partial range of the inner wall surface 114 adjacent to the tube 200 and a periphery connection portion P′ in which the angle between the bottom surface 111 and the inner wall surface 114 is less inclined than the slope portion S or perpendicular may be formed in the other portion of the inner wall surface 114.
In addition, the header 110 may include a contact extension portion 116 in which an inner partial region of the hole formation portion 113 is recessed to the outside of the header tank 100. Here, the contact extension portion 116 may be formed in a region including the tube insertion hole 115 having the slope portion S formed therein.
In addition, in the header 110, the tube insertion hole 115 having the slope portion S formed therein may be formed within a deformation range extending in the length direction from its position corresponding to a position of an inlet, through which a heat exchange medium is introduced into the header tank 100, on the header 110. Here, the deformation range may have a value within a range of 40 to 60 mm.
According to the present invention, it is possible to effectively prevent the thermal stress concentration from occurring in the heat exchanger due to the unbalanced temperature distribution of the heat exchange medium. In more detail, the present invention may have the improved header structure that effectively disperses the thermal stress in the circumferential direction of the tube by allowing the cross-section of the tube insertion hole connected to the tube nose, which is the region where the thermal stress concentration mainly occurs, to be inclined and by increasing the cross-sectional area of the tube insertion hole in contact with the two surfaces of the tube. It is thus possible to greatly reduce the damage and crack occurring in the connection portions between the header and the tube by effectively dispersing the thermal stress.
In addition, the header structure of the present invention can be formed by simply replacing a mold in a conventional header manufacturing process, and thus have excellent compatibility with the conventional header and heat exchanger manufacturing process.
Hereinafter, a heat exchanger having a header structure for dispersing thermal stress according to the present invention, having the above-described configuration, is described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
The bottom surface 111 may be a surface formed on a plane formed in the length direction and the width direction, and generally regarded as a representative reference surface of the header 110.
The side surface 112 may be a surface bent from the bottom surface 111 and extending in the height direction, and connected and combined with a lower end of the side surface of the tank 120, as shown in the right cross-sectional view of
The hole formation portion 113 may be a surface in which the plurality of tube insertion holes 115 are formed, and an inner partial portion of the bottom surface 111 protrudes into the header tank 100. That is, when viewed from the outside of the header tank 100, the hole formation portion 113 may have a concave shape compared to that of its edge portion. The header 110 may have and an approximate shape of a rectangle, the hole formation portion 113 may also have an approximate shape of a rectangle as shown in the upper left view of
The inner wall surface 114 may be a surface formed between the bottom surface 111 and the hole formation portion 113. As shown in the right cross-sectional view of
As described above, the thermal stress may be concentrated on various positions on the heat exchanger 1000 due to the non-uniform temperature distribution and the temperature change of the heat exchange medium, in the heat exchanger 1000. In particular, it is well known that this tendency is greater when the heat exchanger 1000 is a radiator. Here, a region most vulnerable to the thermal stress concentration on the heat exchanger 1000 may be the region where the header tank and the tube are combined with each other, especially the tube nose region.
In the present invention, the thermal stress concentrated on the tube nose may be dispersed by improving a structure of the region where the header tank and the tube are combined with each other. In detail, for the at least one tube insertion hole 115, the header may include a structure of a slope portion S in which a wall surface of the header 110 in contact with the tube 200 is inclined to the tube 200, in a cross-section thereof in the width direction at a position of the tube insertion hole 115. To define the slope portion S by using each detailed portion of the header 110 described above, the slope portion S may have a structure in which an angle between the bottom surface 111 and the inner wall surface 114 is inclined in the cross-section in the width direction at the position of the tube insertion hole 115.
The thermal stress concentration may be stronger in a periphery of an inlet on the header 110, through which the heat exchange medium is introduced into the header tank 100, and it is thus preferable that the tube insertion hole 115 having the slope portion S formed therein is also formed within a preset range extending in the length direction from its position corresponding to a position of the inlet, through which the heat exchange medium is introduced into the header tank 100, on the header 110. When the range here is referred to as a deformation range, it is empirically known that the crack in the region where the header 110 and the tube 200 are combined with each other may occur in a range of about 50 mm from the position corresponding to the position of the inlet on the header 110 due to the thermal stress concentration, and the deformation range can thus be determined to have a value within a range of 40 to 60 mm.
Meanwhile, the description with reference to
In order to solve this problem, the present invention may further introduce a structure for increasing the combination area on wide two surfaces of the tube 200 (that is, the surfaces other than that of the nose region). In more detail, as shown in
That is, in short, the combination area may be reduced in the nose region of the tube 200 (by inclining the inner wall surface), and the combination area may be increased in the wide two surface region of the tube 200 (by forming the contact extension portion). In this way, it is possible to effectively disperse the thermal stress while eliminating a loss of the overall combination force in the circumferential direction of the tube 200. In order to properly obtain this effect, it is preferable that the contact extension portion 116 is formed in a range including the tube insertion hole having the improved structure of the present invention, that is, in a range including some tube insertion holes 115 in which the angle between the bottom surface 111 and the inner wall surface 114 is inclined.
In the above-described portion A-A′ (i.e. tube insertion hole having the improved structure) according to an exemplary embodiment, the slope portion S may be formed over an entire range of the inner wall surface 114. However, in
In order to avoid this problem, the slope portion S may be formed over a partial range of the inner wall surface 114 adjacent to the tube 200 to further reduce the distortion in the portion where the two shapes are connected to each other.
When comparing
The present invention is not limited to the abovementioned exemplary embodiments, and may be variously applied. In addition, the present invention may be variously modified by those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains without departing from the gist of the present invention claimed in the claims.
According to the present invention, it is possible to effectively prevent the thermal stress concentration from occurring in the heat exchanger due to the unbalanced temperature distribution of the heat exchange medium. It is thus possible to greatly reduce the damage and crack occurring in the connection portions between the header and the tube by effectively dispersing the thermal stress. In addition, the header structure of the present invention can be formed by simply replacing a mold in a conventional header manufacturing process, and thus have excellent compatibility with the conventional header and heat exchanger manufacturing process.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10-2020-0020166 | Feb 2020 | KR | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/KR2021/002109 | 2/19/2021 | WO |
