Heat exchange – Radiator core type – With edge cover or frame means
Reexamination Certificate
1999-07-02
2001-08-07
Atkinson, Christopher (Department: 3743)
Heat exchange
Radiator core type
With edge cover or frame means
C165S081000, C165S082000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06269868
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a heat exchanger for an automotive vehicle. More particularly, the present invention relates to an automotive heat exchanger core having a side support which prevents fin damage during the assembly operation.
2. Disclosure Information
Typical automotive heat exchangers, such as radiators, include a plurality of thin-walled tubes interleaved with corrugated fins enclosed in a core frame. The fins are rigidly attached to the tubes as well as to a pair of frame side supports while the tubes are joined to a pair of headers. The frame side supports are attached also to the headers. As is well known in the art, coolant passes from one header through the tubing to the other header. As the temperature of the coolant passing through the heat exchanger core increases, the core expands.
Heat exchanger cores are manufactured by assembling the plurality of tubes interleaved with fins between the pair of side support members. The core is precompressed by a variety of known methods prior to brazing to maintain the tube and fins in proper relationship. One known method is to precompress the core with one or more steel bands completely surrounding the core before brazing. After banding, the core is inserted into a furnace and heated until it brazes together. After brazing, the steel bands are cut from the core and discarded or reused. In addition, these bands often distort and/or skew the core which can result in leaks and/or improper vehicle fit.
Other types of brazing fixtures have been proposed such as that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,165,163, assigned to the assignee of the present invention. The brazing fixture includes a plurality of brazing stations each having a pivotal lever which applies a compressive force against one of the side support members of the heat exchanger while the other side support member is held stationary in the fixture. However, these fixtures tend to become corroded in the brazing atmosphere, reducing the effectiveness of the compressive force applied against the core. Also, these fixtures usually are not used upstream of the braze process due to sheer weight and mass. Heating these fixtures in a braze furnace requires much energy due to their large mass. This adds expense and delay to the manufacturing process.
A third type of brazing fixturing is proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,894,580. In this fixture, a pair of generally parallel ties extend between each of the side support members to fix the core in a predetermined position prior to the brazing operation. The disadvantages of using the generally parallel ties is that unless an elaborate and complicated clamping mechanism, such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,894,580 is utilized on each end of the ties, the heat exchanger core can still skew as a result of normal process handling and/or shrinkage and thermal cycling during the brazing operation. This skewing or misalignment of the heat exchanger core often results in deleterious effects upon the core such as leaking and/or improper vehicle fit.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,450,997, also assigned to the assignee of the present invention, overcomes the problems associated with some prior art brazing fixtures by providing a pair of rod members which engage the side support members of the heat exchanger. The rod members are diagonally placed into holes in the side support members of the heat exchanger, such as a radiator, to prevent skewing. This is shown in
FIGS. 1A and B
. As shown, the rod members
10
engage the side support members
12
to provide a compressive force to the core
14
. A fin member
16
is always placed adjacent the side support members
12
. Because of manufacturing variations, the rod members may be slight too short or too long when placed in the side supports
12
. As illustrated in
FIG. 1B
, if the rod members
10
are too short, damage to the fin members
16
, such as crushing, is possible because the fin members are manufactured from very light gage material. The heat exchanger core must then be scrapped, resulting in waste of material, time and labor.
It would, therefore, be advantageous to provide an effective method for preventing fin damage in a heat exchanger core during a manufacturing process.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art by providing a heat exchanger for an automotive vehicle, comprising a pair of headers, a plurality of generally elongate, fluid carrying tubes having opposite ends connected to each of the headers and defining air paths between adjacent pairs thereof, and a plurality of fin members provided in the air paths. The heat exchanger further comprises a pair of channel-shaped side supports disposed between the headers at opposite ends of the headers. The side supports are aligned generally parallel to the longitudinal axis of the tubes and immediately adjacent the fin members so as to be in contact with the outermost fins. Each of the side supports has a generally planar web portion and a pair of flanges extending generally perpendicularly to the plane of the web portion. At least one of the side supports includes an elastically deformable tab member depending away from the plane of the web portion. The tab member is configured to engage a brazing fixture applied to the heat exchanger and provide a resistive force against the braze fixture.
In one embodiment, the tab member is secured to the web portion by a living hinge at one end and includes a free end extending below the plane of the web portion at a second end. In this embodiment, the tab member extends below the plane of the web portion by a distance equal to two to three times the thickness of the tab member.
It is an advantage of the present invention that the precompression of the core during assembly will not damage the fins, resulting in less scrap. It is a further advantage the tab members may be simply added to the side supports without complex tooling changes.
REFERENCES:
patent: 2327491 (1943-08-01), Blair
patent: 3627035 (1971-12-01), Astrup
patent: 3795274 (1974-03-01), Fieni
patent: 3894580 (1975-07-01), Chartet
patent: 3941293 (1976-03-01), Chartet
patent: 4230176 (1980-10-01), Crews
patent: 4700469 (1987-10-01), Kroetsch et al.
patent: 5165163 (1992-11-01), Pardi
patent: 5186239 (1993-02-01), Young et al.
patent: 5450997 (1995-09-01), Turak et al.
patent: 2270543 (1976-01-01), None
patent: 1423854 (1976-02-01), None
patent: 57-52797 (1982-03-01), None
Dinnan, III William Wellington
Lisk Rodger Alan
Welding Chad Richard
Atkinson Christopher
Shelton Larry I.
Visteon Global Technologies Inc.
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