Patent Application
20100175861
The present disclosure relates to heat exchanger tube assemblies, and more particularly, to laser-welded stainless steel heat exchanger tube assemblies.
Construction and earthmoving equipment, as well as many other types of machines, are commonly used in a wide variety of applications. Generally, such machines may be powered by an internal combustion engine. In order to optimize the performance of the machine, the engine should perform as efficiently as possible. Various methods have been developed to increase internal combustion engine efficiency. One method has been to incorporate a turbocharger into the internal combustion engine. The turbocharger may compress air prior to entering an engine intake or combustion chamber. Supplying the engine intake with compressed air (“charged air”) may allow for more complete combustion. This may result in lower emissions, improved performance, and better engine efficiency. However, compressing the air may also cause an increase in the intake air temperature. Supplying the engine intake with such heated charged air may lead to an undesirable increase in the amount of emissions exiting from the engine. Also, because engines may generally produce large quantities of heat already, adding heated charged air to the engine intake or combustion chamber may increase the operating temperature of the engine, thus resulting in excessive wear on engine components.
An air-to-air aftercooler (ATAAC) may be used to reduce smoke and other engine emissions by cooling the charged air before it enters the engine intake manifold. Using the ATAAC may also result in lower combustion temperatures, thus improving engine component life by reducing thermal stresses on the engine.
The ATAAC may include one or more lubes through which the heated charged air may pass. The outside of the tube may be subjected to some type of fluid, for example, ambient air, which may cool the tube. As the heated charged air passes through the tube, it may come into contact with the tube walls. Heat may be transferred from the charged air to the tube walls, and then from the rube walls into the ambient air, thus removing heat from the charged air. External fins may be added to the external surfaces of the tube walls to create greater surface area, which may provide improved heat transfer between the heated charged air and the ambient air.
In some traditional heat exchange systems, ATAAC components may be completely comprised of the same materials. One common material selection may include aluminum components having desired heat transfer properties. By way of example, these components may comprise tubings, fins, header assemblies, or manifolds. However, such aluminum components can be susceptible to corrosive effects within the operating environment. This can lead to shortened operational use of the ATAAC or require additional expense and/or downtime to service defective components of the ATAAC.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,730,213, issued to Kiser et al. (“Kiser”) discloses a heat exchanger having aluminum cooling tubes including a plurality of agitating dimples projecting into the interior surface of the tubes. The aluminum cooling tubes are sealed in a jointed connection at opposite tube ends to respective header plates. Aluminum fins are disposed between parallel aluminum cooling tubes to enhance heat transfer from the tubes.
Although the heat exchanger in the Kiser patent may cool heated gas, the heat exchanger design utilizes aluminum cooling tubes, which may be susceptible to the corrosive effects of gas flowing through the cooling tubes. In particular, corrosive elements in the gas flowing through the cooling tubes may erode the walls and joints of the cooling tubes leading to unwanted air leakage. Such leakage may adversely affect the cooling capacity and structural integrity of the heat exchanger. Furthermore, such leaks may adversely affect any other systems in fluid communication with the heat exchanger such as, for example, an exhaust gas recirculation system or an engine intake system.
The present disclosure is directed towards overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above.
In one aspect, the present disclosure is directed toward a rube assembly for a heat exchanger. The tube assembly includes a first U-shaped stainless steel tube assembly component and a second U-shaped stainless steel tube assembly component. In addition, the tube assembly includes at least one laser-welded joint coupling the first and second U-shaped tube assembly components together. The at least one laser-welded joint includes a weld extending along substantially an entire length of the tube assembly.
Consistent with another aspect of the disclosure, a method is provided for producing a tube assembly for a heat exchanger. The method includes shaping a first assembly component into a U-shape and shaping a second assembly component into a U-shape. The method also includes combining the first and second assembly components so that at least a portion of the first assembly component is adjacent to at least a portion of the second assembly component. The method further includes securing the first and second assembly components together by focusing a laser along substantially an entire length of the adjacent portions of the first and second assembly components.
Inlet manifold 12 and outlet manifold 14 may create a structural frame for heat exchanger 10 while providing a way for a fluid 18 to communicate with heat exchanger 10. It should be understood that fluid 18 may be any type of fluid known in the art such as, for example, air, exhaust gas, or hydraulic fluid. Inlet manifold 12 may include an inlet port 20, and outlet manifold 14 may include an outlet port 22. Fluid 18 may enter heat exchanger 10 through inlet port 20 and be directed into core assembly 16. After traversing core assembly 16 and undergoing a heat exchange operation, fluid 18 may be directed from core assembly 16 to outlet manifold 14 and exhausted through outlet port 22 of outlet manifold 14.
Core assembly 16 may facilitate the transfer heat from fluid 18 to a cooling medium (not shown). The cooling medium may be any type of cooling medium known in the art, such as, for example, air, water, glycol, or a water/glycol mixture. Core assembly 16 may include an assembly of headers 24, side sheets 26, external fins 28, and tube assemblies 30. Headers 24 may connect tube assemblies 30 to inlet and outlet manifolds 12 and 14. In addition, headers 24 and side sheets 26 may provide structural support for core assembly 16. Furthermore, headers 24 may include a design such as one including one piece or a single component. In another exemplary embodiment, headers 24 may include a design such as one made from modular components, which may be fitted together to form a unitary assembly.
In one exemplary disclosed embodiment disclosed in
Each tube assembly 30 may also include one or more devices such as, for example, turbulator 44 to promote mixing of fluid 18 passing through tube assembly 30. Creating a turbulent flow within tube assembly 30 may facilitate increased heat transfer between fluid 18, tube 30, and fins 28. Turbulator 44 may include relatively thin strips of metal material, bent or otherwise formed into desired configurations and located within an interior 46 of tube assembly 30. The metal material from which turbulator 44 is made may be any material such as, for example, stainless steel or any other material resistive to corrosive elements that may be contained within fluid 18 and capable of withstanding high temperatures that may be experienced while fluid 18 flows through tube assembly 30. Each tube assembly 30 may further include brazing layers 48 adjacent to the interior surfaces of first and second U-channels 36 and 40. Brazing layers may be conducive to forming rigid connections within tube assembly 30 as discussed below.
Tube body 34 may enclose turbulator 44 to create tube assembly 30. In one embodiment, second U-channel 40 may be fashioned slightly larger than first U-channel 36. A portion of turbulator 44 may be disposed within an interior receiving region 50 of first U-channel 36. Second U-channel 40 may fee positioned to encapsulate turbulator 44, for example, by disposing a portion of turbulator 44 and a portion of first U-channel 36 within an interior receiving region 52 of second U-channel 40.
Conventional welding techniques such as, for example, high frequency induction welding, extrusion, and arc or plasma welding may not be suitable for coupling thin gauge stainless steel components because such techniques may cause undesired distortions along the surfaces of the components. Such distortions may lead to undesired leakage. However, laser welding operations may cause minimal distortions in stainless steel surfaces and may be used to couple connecting surfaces 38 and 42 to facilitate the forming of tube assembly 30. It should be understood that the laser welding operation may be performed by any type of laser machine such as, for example, a pulsed YAG laser-welding machine or a carbon dioxide laser machine. In addition, connecting surfaces 38 and 42 may be secured to each other by any type of laser weld such as, for example, lap welds, stack welds, or any other type of weld capable of forming an air-tight seal between connecting surfaces 38 and 42.
When securing connecting surfaces 38 and 42 to each other, the laser from the laser welding machine may be focused on a seam edge 54 illustrated in
In an alternate embodiment, the laser from the laser welding machine may be focused on a center seam portion 56. By focusing the laser on center seam portion 56, portions of connecting surfaces 38 and 42 within the immediate vicinity of the laser may melt and combine with each other to form a stack weld. It should be understood that the laser may be focused along substantially the entire length of connecting surfaces 38 and 42 to create a continuous weld and minimize or prevent any possible leaks.
Once first U-channel 36 and second U-channel 40 are secured to each other by a laser weld, a brazing operation may be implemented to rigidly retain turbulator 44 within first U-channel 36 and second U-channel 40. For example, brazing may occur along a surface of turbulator 44, brazing layers 48, an abutting surface of first U-channel 36, and second U-channel 40. It is contemplated that after the laser welding operation is performed, tube assembly 30 may be assembled in core 16 with other components such as headers 24, side sheets 26, and external fins 28. Core 16 may then be placed in a brazing furnace where many brazing joints may be created including, for example, a brazing joint between turbulator 44 and first and second U-channels 36 and 40. It is further contemplated that tube assembly 30 may be assembled without turbulator 44, if desired.
The disclosed heat exchanger tube may resist corrosion issues that may result from corrosive elements contained within the air or gas flowing through the rube. The stainless steel material from which the tube may be manufactured may be resistant to corrosion. Also, the stainless steel material may withstand the high temperatures that may be experienced as hot gas flows through the tube.
By securing the thin gauge stainless steel assembly together by a laser welding process, possible leaks caused by corrosion and/or poor joint construction may be minimized or eliminated. The stainless steel material may effectively resist corrosion due to elements contained within the gas flowing through the tube. In addition, utilizing a laser welding process to secure the thin-gauge stainless steel components together may minimize distortion or structural degradation of the components. Such distortions or structural degradations may contribute to the formation of leaks within the tubes.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the disclosed apparatus without departing from the scope of the disclosure. Other embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification disclosed herein. It is intended that the specification and examples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope being indicated by the following claims and their equivalents.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 200710163053.5 | Sep 2007 | CN | national |
This application claims the benefit of prior PCT application Serial Number PCT/CN08/72515 filed Sep. 25, 2008, which claims priority to Chinese Patent Application 200710163053.5 filed Sep. 29, 2007, which are incorporated herein by reference.
