Heat exchange – With external support
Patent
1999-01-11
1999-12-07
Lazarus, Ira S.
Heat exchange
With external support
165 69, 165 4, 165121, 165140, 165DIG311, 180 684, F28F 900
Patent
active
05996684&
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to an improved radiator and condenser assembly for a motor vehicle.
Most motor vehicles now have two major heat exchangers, a radiator used to dissipate the heat from the engine and a condenser forming part of the climate control system for controlling the temperature of air fed into the passenger compartment of the vehicle for the comfort of passengers.
Each heat exchanger essentially comprises a body of a plurality of small tubes spaced apart and parallel to one another through which a fluid may pass allowing heat exchange through the surface of the tubes. Typically the parallel tubes extend between two further tubes or end tanks arranged substantially perpendicular to the plurality of tubes. The arrangement is essentially in the form of a cuboid slab with four elongate substantially rectangular edges and two substantially planar faces. The heat exchangers are not of constant cross section, for example the end tank may be cylindrical or part cylindrical.
The radiator end tanks are typically of moulded plastics material, and include an inlet end tank and a return end tank. The condenser typically has end caps at each end of each end tube, the end caps extending out of the condenser in a direction parallel to the longitudinal axis of the tank. Thus the two transverse edges of the condenser have two end caps.
It is accepted that a practical and effective heat exchange takes place when the condenser and radiator are mounted parallel one to another so that they can sit within the same cooling air flow and one fan can provide the air flow through both heat exchangers. It is well known in the prior art to mount the condenser and radiator together within the engine compartment. Similarly the fan shroud of the fan which provides this air flow is often mounted upon the radiator. Typically the condenser has brackets welded or brazed to its surface and the radiator has flanges which allow the condenser and radiator to be coupled together via the bracket and flange being fastened together.
In one radiator and condenser assembly of the prior art described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,219,016, the condenser and radiator are arranged such that the radiator and condenser may be slid with respect to each other to mount the condenser upon the radiator. The condenser has mounted upon it a pair of J shaped brackets and the radiator has two L shape brackets attached to it. By sliding the radiator with respect to the condenser in two directions the L shape bracket of the radiator is brought into the J shaped bracket of the condenser. In order to hold the condenser and radiator vertically with respect to one another a clamping member with resilient jaws is placed over the upper edges of the condenser and radiator.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the invention there is provided a radiator and condenser assembly, in which the condenser includes at least one end cap facing longitudinally outwards of the edge of the condenser for closing an aperture into the condenser, the end cap being a shaped end cap with an inner body portion of a cross section shaped and sized to cover the condenser aperture and which in use lies closest to the condenser, and an outer head portion of smaller cross section than the body portion such that a shoulder is formed between the head and body portion of the end cap facing longitudinally outwards of the condenser, and the radiator includes at least one radiator end tank which comprises a condenser mounting bracket, the mounting bracket including an end cap receiving housing spaced from the surface of the radiator with walls defining an open faced cavity for receiving the shaped end cap, a first open face of the cavity facing longitudinally inwards of the radiator and a second open face of the cavity facing transversely inwards of the radiator, the cavity defining a body cavity whose cross sectional dimension at least in a direction perpendicular to the face of the radiator is slightly greater than the cross section of the body portion of the shaped end cap and
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Capaldi Benedict
Clifton Andrew
White Ian
Cappiellie Raymond L.
Ford Motor Company
Lazarus Ira S.
McKinnon Terrell
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