This patent application is a U.S. National Phase patent application of PCT/KR2015/001484 filed Feb. 13, 2015 which claims priority to KR 10-2015-0014045 filed Jan. 29, 2015, KR 10-2015-0014044 filed on Jan. 29, 2015, KR 10-2014-0025855 filed Mar. 5, 2014, and KR 10-2014-0020212 filed Feb. 21, 2014, the disclosure of each of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
The present invention relates to a tube for a heat exchanger, and more particularly, to a tube for a heat exchanger which has first reinforcement portions and second reinforcement portions formed on both end portions of an inner fin disposed in the internal space thereof, wherein the first reinforcement portions correspond to curved portions of the tube and the second reinforcement portions are bonded to the first reinforcement portions, thus increasing the strength on both end portions of the tube in an air flow direction of the tube.
Generally, a heat exchanger as one of components for constituting an air conditioner for a vehicle is adapted to change the state of a heat exchanging medium or perform heat exchange of the heat exchanging medium with outdoor air, thus conducting cooling or heating.
The heat exchanger includes a pair of header tanks spaced apart from each other in parallel to each other, tubes each having both ends fixed to the header tanks to form a heat exchanging medium passage, and fins interposed between the tubes.
Each tube is made by means of extrusion and folding, and the methods for making the tubes are appropriately selected according to the specifications (sizes, weights, pressure resistances, and amounts of heat exchanging medium flow) required by the kinds of heat exchangers.
The method for making the tubes through folding provides better productivity than the method for making the tubes through extrusion, but has lower strength than that.
Further, the tube made through folding is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-214511 (entitled ‘heat exchanger’), which is shown in
As shown in
The conventional tube 5 as shown in
Particularly, if the heat exchanger is used as a condenser for a vehicle and the left and right portions of
To further meet the demand of today's miniaturization trends, the weight of the tube should be reduced, and accordingly, there is a need for the development of a heat exchanger capable of reducing an amount of materials used and providing sufficient durability.
Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems occurring in the prior art, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a tube for a heat exchanger which has first reinforcement portions and second reinforcement portions formed on both end portions of an inner fin disposed in the internal space thereof, wherein the first reinforcement portions correspond to curved portions of the tube and the second reinforcement portions are bonded to the first reinforcement portions, thus increasing the strength on both end portions of the tube in an air flow direction of the tube.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a tube for a heat exchanger wherein the tube and an inner fin disposed inside the tube are made of thin plates, thus achieving high productivity, increasing strength, and providing good durability.
To accomplish the above-mentioned objects, according to the present invention, there is provided a tube for a heat exchanger tube, which is connected between a pair of header tanks of the heat exchanger to form a heat exchanging medium passage and has an inner fin disposed at the inside thereof, the tube including: plane portions disposed in parallel to each other in an air flow direction; curved portions formed on both sides thereof to connect the plane portions with each other to a shape of a curve; and first reinforcement portions and second reinforcement portions formed on both end portions of the inner fin, the first reinforcement portions being bonded to the inner surfaces of the curved portions and the second reinforcement portions being extended from the first reinforcement portions and bonded to the first reinforcement portions.
According to the present invention, preferably, the second reinforcement portions of the inner fin are bonded to the external surfaces of the first reinforcement portions and the inner surfaces of the curved portions.
According to the present invention, preferably, the second reinforcement portions of the inner fin are bonded to the internal surfaces of the first reinforcement portions.
According to the present invention, preferably, the tube is formed by bending a first plate, and the first plate has a first partition wall-forming portion and a second partition wall-forming portion formed on given areas of both end portions thereof and a partition wall formed by bonding the first partition wall-forming portion and the second partition wall-forming portion to each other to divide the internal space of the tube into a first space portion and a second space portion in the air flow direction of the tube.
According to the present invention, preferably, the first plate includes: a first extension portion extended from the end portion of the first partition wall-forming portion and bonded to the opposite surface of the first partition wall-forming portion to the surface of the first partition wall-forming portion contacted with the second partition wall-forming portion; and a second extension portion extended from the end portion of the second partition wall-forming portion and bonded to the opposite surface of the second partition wall-forming portion to the surface of the second partition wall-forming portion contacted with the first partition wall-forming portion.
According to the present invention, preferably, the first partition wall-forming portion and the second partition wall-forming portion have a bonding area formed to bond given areas of the first partition wall-forming portion and the second partition wall-forming portion to each other on the outside of the tube and a space-forming area formed at a first angle on the remaining areas of the first partition wall-forming portion and the second partition wall-forming portion to form a third space portion among the first partition wall-forming portion, the second partition wall-forming portion and the inner fin.
According to the present invention, preferably, the first angle is in the range of 10 to 30°.
According to the present invention, preferably, the first partition wall-forming portion and the second partition wall-forming portion have a second angle formed when coming into contact with the external surface of the tube, and the second angle is in the range of 5 to 15°.
According to the present invention, preferably, the inner fin has a third angle formed between a reference line vertical to the air flow direction with respect to the center of the curvature radius of the curved portion of the tube and a line connecting the end of the second reinforcement portion and the center of the curvature radius of the curved portion of the tube, and the third angle is in the range of 10 to 45°.
According to the present invention, preferably, the inner fin is formed by bending a second plate, and the second plate has bonding portions and partitioning portions alternately formed thereon, the bonding portions being bonded to the plane portions of the tube to partition the internal space of the tube into a plurality of space portions and the partitioning portions being bent from the bending portions to partition the internal space of the tube in the air flow direction.
According to the present invention, preferably, the inner fin further comprises third reinforcement portions extended from the second reinforcement portions and bonded to the bonding portions.
According to the present invention, preferably, if a clad material is applied to the external surface of the first plate, the clad material is applied to both side surfaces of the second plate, respectively, and if the clad material is applied to both side surfaces of one of the first plate and the second plate, no clad material is applied to the other plate.
According to the present invention, preferably, the first plate has a thickness in the range of 0.1 to 0.2 mm, and the second plate has a thickness in the range of 0.05 to 0.12 mm.
According to the present invention, the tube for a heat exchanger has the first reinforcement portions and the second reinforcement portions formed on both end portions of the inner fin disposed in the internal space thereof, and the first reinforcement portions correspond to the curved portions of the tube and the second reinforcement portions are bonded to the first reinforcement portions, thus increasing the strength on both end portions of the tube in the air flow direction of the tube.
Further, the tube and the inner fin disposed inside the tube are made of thin plates, thus achieving high productivity, increasing strength, and providing good durability.
Hereinafter, an explanation on a tube for a heat exchanger according to the present invention will be in detail given with reference to the attached drawing.
According to the present invention, a tube 100 for a heat exchanger is connected between a pair of header tanks 310 and 320 to form a heat exchanging medium passage and has an inner fin 120 disposed therein.
The heat exchanger 1000 (the condenser) is configured to thermally exchange a high temperature and high pressure vapor refrigerant discharged from a compressor with outdoor air, to condense the thermally exchanged refrigerant to a high temperature and high pressure liquid, and to discharge the condensed liquid to an expansion valve, and accordingly, the heat exchanger 1000 provides a cooling module, together with a radiator (not shown) and a fan/shroud assembly (not shown).
Referring in detail to
The tube 100 for the heat exchanger according to the present invention is applicable to the condenser, and further, it may be applied to other heat exchangers including an evaporator.
The evaporator is the heat exchanger 1000 that thermally exchanges a low pressure liquid refrigerant throttled in an expansion valve with the air blowing to the interior of a vehicle, evaporates the liquid refrigerant, and cools the air in the interior of the vehicle through the heat absorption of the latent heat of evaporation of the refrigerant, and in this case, the entire configuration of the evaporator except the vapor-liquid separator 500 is similar to that of the condenser.
Now, the tube 100 for the heat exchanger according to the present invention will be in detail explained.
An air flow direction in
The tube 100 for the heat exchanger includes plane portions 101 disposed in parallel to each other in the air flow direction thereof and the curved portions 102 formed on both sides thereof to connect the plane portions 101 with each other to a shape of a curve, thus forming a heat exchanging medium passage therein, and further, the tube 100 has the inner fin 120 disposed therein.
At this time, the tube 100 for the heat exchanger is formed by bending a first plate 110.
Further, the tube 100 for the heat exchanger divides the heat exchanging medium passage formed therein into a first space portion 100a and a second space portion 100b by means of a partition wall 103, and in this case, a first partition wall-forming portion 111 and a second partition wall-forming portion 112 formed on given areas of both end portions of the first plate 110 are bonded to each other to form the partition wall 103.
The inner fin 120 divides the first space portion 100a and the second space portion 100b into a plurality of space portions through bending of a second plate 121, and in more detail, the inner fin 120 includes partitioning portions 133 for partitioning the internal space (the first space portion 100a and the second space portion 100b) of the tube 100 and bonding portions 134 bent from the partitioning portions 133 in such a manner as to be parallel to the plane portions 101 of the tube 100 and bonded to the plane portions 101 of the tube 100.
As shown in
Otherwise, the number of bending times of the inner fin 120 is adjustable to increase and decrease the number of partitioning portions 133 formed in the tube 100, so that the internal space portions of the first space portion 100a and the second space portion 100b can be freely adjusted.
At this time, one side surface of the bonding portion 134 of the inner fin 120 for forming the partition wall 103 is bonded to the inner surface of the plane portion 101 of the tube 100, and the other side surface thereof is bonded to the first partition wall-forming portion 111 and the second partition wall-forming portion 112.
According to the present invention, the inner fin 120 of the tube 100 includes the first reinforcement portions 131 corresponding to the curved portions 102 and the second reinforcement portions 132 extended from the first reinforcement portions 131 in such a manner as to be bonded to the external surfaces of the first reinforcement portions 131, on both end portions thereof.
The first reinforcement portions 131 and the second reinforcement portions 132 serve to reinforce the strengths of the curved portions 102 of the tube 100, so that the tube 100 for the heat exchanger according to the present invention can improve the strengths of both end portions thereof in the air flow direction, and accordingly, even if external foreign materials collide against the curved portions 102, the tube 100 may be not damaged at all through high durability.
In more detail, the first reinforcement portions 131 are formed on both end portions of the inner fin 120 in such a manner as to correspond to the curved portions 102 formed at the inside of the tube 100.
Further, the second reinforcement portions 132 are extended from the first reinforcement portions 131 in such a manner as to be bonded to the external surfaces of the first reinforcement portions 131 and the inner surfaces of the curved portions 102. That is, the second reinforcement portions 132 are brought into contact with the inner surfaces of the curved portions 102 and the external surfaces of the first reinforcement portions 131, so that they can be more rigidly bonded to the inner surfaces of the curved portions 102 and the external surfaces of the first reinforcement portions 131 through the contacting force applied toward the inside direction of the tube 100 from the curved portions 102 formed on both sides of the tube 100, thus providing high durability for the tube 100 according to the present invention.
Especially, since the condenser is disposed at the front side of a vehicle, the curved portions 102 may be broken when collide against foreign materials while the vehicle is being driven. According to the present invention, however, the tube 100 for the heat exchanger has the first reinforcement portions 131 and the second reinforcement portions 132 formed on the areas where the curved portions 102 are formed, thus improving the durability of the tube 100.
The first extension portion 111-1 is extended from the end portion of the first partition wall-forming portion 111 and bonded to the opposite surface (in
The second extension portion 112-1 is extended from the end portion of the second partition wall-forming portion 112 and bonded to the opposite surface (in
Through the formation of the first extension portion 111-1 and the second extension portion 112-1, the partition wall 103 can be stably formed, without having any failure in bonding, thus enhancing manufacturing efficiencies.
Further, as shown in
The bonding area A1 is the area wherein given areas of the first partition wall-forming portion 111 and the second partition wall-forming portion 112 are bonded to each other on the outside of the tube 100.
The space-forming area A2 is formed at a first angle α on the remaining areas of the first partition wall-forming portion 111 and the second partition wall-forming portion 112, so that a third space portion 100c is formed among the first partition wall-forming portion 111, the second partition wall-forming portion 112 and the inner fin 120 (the bonding portion 134 of the inner fin 120 on which the partition wall 103 is formed).
The third space portion 100c is a separate space portion that is defined by the first partition wall-forming portion 111, the second partition wall-forming portion 112 and the inner fin 120 and partitioned from the first space portion 100a and the second space portion 100b of the tube 100. In the state where the first plate 110 and the second plate 121 are temporarily coupled to each other, as shown in
If the clad materials 110a and 121a used for the brazing bonding are disposed in the tube 100 in large quantities, erosion may occur due to the clad materials 110a and 121a, but according to the present invention, the formation of the third space portion 100c prevents the occurrence of the erosion.
At this time, the first angle α formed by the first partition wall-forming portion 111 and the second partition wall-forming portion 112 from the bonding area A1 is desirably in the range of 10 to 15°.
If the first angle α is less than 10°, the area of the third space portion 100c becomes small so that the advantages in the formation of the third space portion 100c cannot be obtained, and contrarily, if the first angle α is more than 15°, the areas of the first space portion 100a and the second space portion 100b along which the heat exchanging medium flows become small so that the heat exchange performance may be deteriorated.
According to the present invention, accordingly, the first angle α is desirably in the range of 10 to 15°.
Further, a second angle between the first partition wall-forming portion 111 and the second partition wall-forming portion 112 contacted with each other on the outside of the tube 100 is desirably in the range of 5 to 15°.
On the other hand,
First, as shown in
According to the present invention, further, the third angle γ may be defined differently from that as shown in
According to the present invention, further, a fourth angle δ, which is formed between an auxiliary reference line L′ parallel to the plane portions 101 with respect to the center C and the line L132 connecting the center C of the reference line L and the end of the second reinforcement portion 132, is desirably in the range of 45 to 80°. The auxiliary reference line L′ and the fourth angle δ are shown in
On the other hand,
At this time, the clad materials 110a are applied to both side surfaces of the first plate 110 as shown in
According to the present invention, if the clad material 110a is applied to the external surface of the first plate 110 (
Further, if the clad materials 110a are applied to both side surfaces of the first plate 110 (
According to the present invention, particularly, the first plate 110 has a thickness D110 in the range of 0.1 to 0.2 mm, and the second plate 121 has a thickness D121 in the range of 0.05 to 0.12 mm, so that the tube 100 and the inner fin 120 are made of such thin plates, thus reducing the weight of the tube 100, achieving high productivity, increasing strength, and providing good durability.
While the present invention has been described with reference to the particular illustrative embodiments, it is not to be restricted by the embodiments but only by the appended claims. It is to be appreciated that those skilled in the art can change or modify the embodiments without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
10-2014-0020212 | Feb 2014 | KR | national |
10-2014-0025855 | Mar 2014 | KR | national |
10-2015-0014044 | Jan 2015 | KR | national |
10-2015-0014045 | Jan 2015 | KR | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
PCT/KR2015/001484 | 2/13/2015 | WO | 00 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
WO2015/126105 | 8/27/2015 | WO | A |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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6209202 | Rhodes | Apr 2001 | B1 |
8438728 | Zobel | May 2013 | B2 |
20140298653 | Nordlien | Oct 2014 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
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103025479 | Apr 2013 | CN |
103080686 | May 2013 | CN |
1243884 | Sep 2002 | EP |
2000097589 | Apr 2000 | JP |
2000329488 | Nov 2000 | JP |
2005214511 | Aug 2005 | JP |
2011163666 | Aug 2011 | JP |
1020130100245 | Sep 2013 | KR |
1020140015766 | Feb 2014 | KR |
2008011115 | Jan 2008 | WO |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20160356555 A1 | Dec 2016 | US |