1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a heat exchanger assembly, and more particularly, to an evaporator for a heating and/or air conditioning system (HVAC) for automotive vehicles.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An evaporator of the type to which the subject invention pertains exchanges heat between a cooling fluid and air. A stack of virtually identical plates are positioned symmetrically in pairs having mating edges and a concave region delimited by the edges to define a fluid passage. The plates have tubular projections defining an inlet for entering fluid to the passage and an outlet for exiting fluid from the passage to thereby establish a direction of fluid flow. Each inlet is connected to the outlet of the preceding pair of plates and each outlet is connected to the inlet of the next pair of plates. Actually, each pair of plates includes a central rib to define a U-shaped passage having a fluid entering leg and a fluid exiting leg interconnected by an open bottom. Examples of such heat exchangers are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,111,878 to Kadle and U.S. Pat. No. 5,409,056 to Farry, Jr. et al.
Hot and humid air flows between the consecutive pairs of plates. The plates are usually stamped of thin gauge metal and a plurality of dimples is stamped into the plates to project into the passage to interact with fluid flow through the passage. These dimples can be identical in shape, position and orientation or they can be of various shapes as illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 6,289,982 to Naji. They project into the interior of the passage formed by the pairs of plates and thus allow better heat exchange by agitating the cooling fluid flow, and especially by promoting its movement in a turbulent flow. These dimples can be formed by an assembly method, particularly by brazing two bosses opposite each other. In this case, the plates forming a pair of plates are the same as one another, and each boss has an equivalent height of approximately one-half of the depth of the U-shaped passage, that is to say of the distance from the opposing plates.
Unfortunately the flow of cooling fluid in this type of evaporator can produce a noise, particularly a “whistling”, i.e., a tonal noise emanating from a plate-type evaporator used in certain automotive climate control systems under transient conditions. It is believed that this tonal noise occurs when gaseous refrigerant at sufficiently high velocities flows over the first dimples. It is further believed that the tonal noise is caused by periodic flow instability (manifested as vortices) in the wake of the first dimples. When the vortex shedding frequency is near the natural frequency of the gas column perpendicular to the direction of flow, a strong acoustic oscillation of the vapor column is excited, and it is this resonant oscillation that is believed to be the source of the tonal noise or whistle.
It is believed that a flow-induced whistle occurs when superheated refrigerant flows through the dimpled tube plate passages. When refrigerant vapor at sufficiently high velocity flows over the dimples in the evaporator tube plates, the flow sets up a periodic flow instability, also known as vortices, in the wake of the dimples. Initially, as the flow velocity increases, the frequency of the vortex shedding also increases. This phenomenon is known as “Strouhal effect”.
The invention resides in a flow divider rib disposed in the fluid passage and parallel to the direction of fluid flow to thereby divide the fluid passage.
The divider rib combined with smaller hemispherical dimples has proven effective in reducing tonal noise under certain conditions.
As the flow velocity increases, and when the vortex shedding frequency happens to be near the natural frequency of the gas column perpendicular to the flow direction, a strong acoustic oscillation of the gas column is excited, and it is this resonant oscillation that is perceived as a tonal noise or whistle. When acoustic resonance is excited, all the vortices are “locked” in at a certain frequency, so to say. Once this vortex locking has occurred, any increase in velocity does not affect the frequency of the pure tone, but does increase the amplitude of the excitation.
The resonant frequency is inversely proportional to the channel width in some evaporators. The shape, size, and distribution of the bumps will affect the character of the whistle by influencing the energy associated with vortex shedding. Hence, in order to suppress or mitigate the flow-induced whistle, the subject invention provides smaller dimples that are hemispherical and packed at an optimum density in a flow channel of limited width. An evaporator with these features eliminates the flow-induced whistle and also provides comparable thermal performance. Typically, the two changes of converting oblong bumps into smaller round bumps and providing a central rail to limit channel width by themselves would have resulted in a thermal performance loss. The reason for this is that although smaller round bumps may shed vortices of lesser intensity (and therefore mitigates or eliminates the whistle), they do not spread the liquid refrigerant as much as the oblong bumps do. This would cause a lower heat transfer effectiveness and lower performance. The middle rail to limit the channel width inhibits the transverse mixing of the refrigerant, which would adversely affect thermal performance. To overcome these potential losses, the round bumps are more densely packed than the oblong bumps.
Other advantages of the present invention will be readily appreciated, as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein:
A heat exchanger assembly is variously shown in the Figures and includes as a basic component at least one pair 20 of plates 22. The plates 22 can be identical and disposed in mirror relationship to one another. The plates 22 have mating edges 24 and a concave region delimited by the edges 24 to define a fluid passage 26 between said pair 20 of plates 22. The assembly includes a plurality of pairs 20 of the plates 22 disposed in series for fluid flow from a pass through one pair 20 of plates 22 to a pass through the next pair 20 of plates 22, as illustrated by the arrows in
As is well known, the heat exchanger assembly normally includes air-fins 32 disposed between adjacent pairs 20 of plates 22 for enhancing heat exchange between air flowing (as shown by the air flow arrow in
A plurality of dimples 36 project into the passage 26 to interact with fluid flow through the passage 26 and each of the dimples 36 has a hemispherical shape. Each of the dimples 36 has a hemispherical shape defining a diameter D and the dimples 36 are spaced apart transversely to the direction of flow a distance less than the diameter D. As shown in
The distance between centers of adjacent dimples 36 in the direction of flow is indicated by L and the width of each passage 26 is indicated by W.
The dimples 36 of the plates 22 of each matched pair 20 may contact one another to hold the plates 22 of each pair 20 apart for the flow through the fluid passage 26. The dimples 36 are disposed in at least a selected section of the last pair 20 of plates 22 defining the last pass of fluid flow through the entire heat exchanger assembly. The dimples 36 may also be disposed in at least the last two pairs 20 of plates 22 defining the last two passes. The dimples 36 may be disposed in the legs and not in the bottom of the U-shaped passage 26 or may also be disposed in the bottom of the U-shaped passage 26 below the bottom end of the mating central ribs 28.
A flow divider rib 38 is disposed in the fluid passage 26 and is parallel to the direction of fluid flow to thereby divide the fluid passage 26. As illustrated in
Although the divider rib 38 is shown dividing the passage 26 into equal paths, the divider rib 38 could divide the passage 26 into unequal paths.
Obviously, many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in light of the above teachings. The invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described within the scope of the appended claims.