Evaporator

Details Evaporator Evaporator

2001-06-22

2003-03-25

Flanigan, Allen (Department: 3743)

Heat exchange

Side-by-side tubular structures or tube sections

With manifold type header or header plate

C165S173000, C165S174000, C165S175000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06536517

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to evaporators, and more particularly to evaporators for use in car coolers.
Throughout the specification and the appended claims, the term “front” refers to the side of the evaporator at which air flows thereinto between the heat exchange tubes thereof, the term “rear” to the side at which the air flows out from between the heat exchange tubes, and the terms “left” and “right” are used for the evaporator as it is seen from the front. Further the term “aluminum” includes pure aluminum and aluminum alloys.
FIG. 8
shows a conventional evaporator
30
, which comprises a pair of upper and lower horizontal header tanks
31
,
32
each having a horizontally elongated, approximately rectangular cross section and opposed to each other at a spacing, a group of heat exchange tubes
33
A,
33
B,
34
A,
34
B arranged in front and rear two rows and each in the form of a flat tube, the tubes being arranged leftward or rightward and each connected to the upper header tank
31
and the lower header tank
32
respectively at its upper and lower ends in communication with the tanks, a first vertical partition wall
35
provided in the upper header tank
31
at the midportion of its length and extending from the front rearward, a second vertical partition wall
36
extending from the left rightward and disposed in the left half of the upper header tank
31
separated by the partition wall
35
, the partition wall
36
being disposed at the midportion of width of the tank
31
, and a third vertical partition wall
37
disposed in the lower header tank
32
at the midportion of width thereof and extending from the left rightward. The interior of the upper header tank
31
is divided into an upper left rear half header chamber, an upper left front half header chamber, and an upper right half header chamber by the first and second vertical partition walls
35
,
36
. The interior of the lower header tank
32
is divided into a lower rear header chamber and a lower front header chamber by the third vertical partition wall
37
. An inlet
38
for a liquid-vapor mixture refrigerant R
1
is provided at one end of the upper left rear half header chamber at the side from which cooled air A
2
flows out after passing between the heat exchange tubes
33
A,
33
B,
34
A,
34
B, whereby the upper left rear half header chamber is made to serve as a refrigerant inflow header chamber
39
. An outlet
40
for vaporized refrigerant R
2
is provided at one end of the upper left front half header chamber at the side where the air A
2
to be cooled flows in between the heat exchange tubes
33
A,
33
B,
34
A,
34
B, whereby the upper left front half header chamber is made to serve as a refrigerant outflow header chamber
41
. The lower rear header chamber serves as a first intermediate header chamber
42
, the upper right half header chamber as a second intermediate header chamber
43
, and the lower front header chamber as a third intermediate header chamber
44
. Corrugated fins
45
are provided between the heat exchange tubes
33
A,
33
B,
34
A,
34
B which are adjacent to one another laterally of the evaporator.
With the conventional evaporator
30
described, the liquid-vapor mixture refrigerant R
1
entering the refrigerant inflow header chamber
39
from the inlet
38
flows down the heat exchange tubes
34
A in the left half of the rear row from the header chamber
39
, reaches the left half of the first intermediate header chamber
42
and flows into the right half of the same header chamber
42
. The refrigerant then ascends the heat exchange tubes
34
B in the right half of the rear row from the right half of the chamber
42
, reaches the rear half of the second intermediate header chamber
43
and flows into the front half of the same header chamber
43
. The refrigerant thereafter descends the heat exchanger tubes
33
A in the right half of the front row from the front half of the chamber
43
, reaches right half of the third intermediate header chamber
44
and flows into the left half of the same header chamber
44
. Finally the refrigerant ascends the heat exchange tubes
33
B in the left half of the front row, reaches the refrigerant outflow header chamber
41
and flows out of the outlet
40
in the form of vaporized refrigerant R
2
.
The refrigerant flowing through the heat exchange tubes
33
B communicating with the outflow header chamber
41
is in the form of an almost complete vapor, whereby super heat is available as required. Since the refrigerant is a vapor, however, the heat exchange tubes
33
B are lower in heat exchange ability than the other heat exchange tubes
34
A,
34
B,
33
A wherein the refrigerant flows in a vapor-liquid two-phase state. Accordingly, the air after flowing between the heat exchange tubes
33
B in the left half of the heat exchanger
30
and between the heat exchange tubes
34
A in the left half has a higher temperature than the air after flowing between the heat exchange tubes
33
A in the right half of the heat exchanger
30
and between the heat exchange tubes
34
B in the right half. As a result, the conventional evaporator
30
has the problem that the air A
2
cooled thereby, i.e., the air discharged from the evaporator, is uneven in temperature distribution.
An object of the present invention is to provide an evaporator which is uniform in the temperature distribution of the air discharged from the evaporator.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides an evaporator for fulfilling the above object, the evaporator comprising a pair of upper and lower horizontal header tanks opposed to each other at a spacing, a group of heat exchange tubes arranged laterally of the evaporator in front and rear two rows and each connected to the upper header tank and the lower header tank respectively at upper and lower ends thereof in communication with the tanks, and a vertical partition wall provided inside one of the header tanks and extending laterally of the evaporator so as to form sectioned header chambers for causing a refrigerant to flow through each pair of front and rear adjacent heat exchange tubes in directions opposite to each other, an inlet being provided for a liquid-vapor mixture refrigerant in a sectioned rear header chamber at an evaporator side from which cooled air flows out after passing between the heat exchange tubes to thereby make the sectioned rear header chamber serve as a refrigerant inflow header chamber, an outlet being provided for a vaporized refrigerant in a sectioned front header chamber at an evaporator side where the air to be cooled flows in between the heat exchange tubes to thereby make the sectioned front header chamber serve as a refrigerant outflow header chamber, the evaporator being 3 to 30% in channel opening ratio which is a value obtained by dividing the total cross sectional area of refrigerant channels in one heat exchange tube by the area of the horizontal section of the refrigerant inflow header chamber per heat exchange tube in the inflow header chamber and along openings of the heat exchange tube therein.
The air discharged from the evaporator has a uniform temperature distribution insofar as the liquid portion of the liquid-vapor mixture refrigerant is uniformly distributed as will be described below to the heat exchange tubes arranged in the rear row and connected to the refrigerant inflow header chamber. The refrigerant becomes a vapor within the heat exchange tubes in the front row after passing through the heat exchange tubes in the rear row and enters the refrigerant outflow header chamber after being superheated. Accordingly, the refrigerant is superheated uniformly in all the heat exchange tubes in the front row, with the result that the air passing between the heat exchange tubes in the front row and between those in the rear row is uniformly cooled in its entirely to ensure comfortable air conditioning.
Since the liquid portion of the liquid-vapor mixture refrigerant vaporizes by absorbing heat from outside, it is most important to distri

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