Heat exchange – With protector or protective agent
Reexamination Certificate
2000-02-14
2001-10-16
Leo, Leonard (Department: 3743)
Heat exchange
With protector or protective agent
C165S177000, C165S183000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06302195
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a heat exchanger and particularly relates to a heat exchanger which can be appropriately applied to a condenser, a radiator, an oil cooler or the like to be installed in a vehicle.
An example of a heat exchanger applied for a vehicle may be one applied to a condenser of an air conditioner as shown in FIG.
8
. It is noted that reference symbol R denotes the right side of the vehicle, L denotes the left side thereof and UPR denotes the upper side thereof in FIG.
8
.
The condenser as shown in
FIG. 8
is installed, for example, crosswise in the front portion of the vehicle. The condenser is provided with right and left header pipes
101
, a plurality of tubes
102
coupled to both the right and left header pipes
101
and fins
103
arranged between the tubes
102
, respectively.
When a refrigerant fed from a compressor (not shown) of the air conditioner flows through the tubes
102
, heat is exchanged between the refrigerant and the air passing through the fins
103
, thereby cooling the refrigerant and cooling a car cabin or the like.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to more detailed studies done by the inventor of the present invention, each tube of the condenser shown in
FIG. 8
may have a sectional construction as shown in
FIG. 9
or
10
. It is noted that reference symbol FR denotes a front side of the vehicle and UPR denotes an upper side thereof in
FIGS. 9 and 10
.
In
FIG. 9
, a tube
202
is formed by use of an aluminum material and extrusion process. In the tube
202
, a plurality of refrigerant channels
202
a
parallelly aligned in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle are formed. The refrigerant channels
202
a
of this type are designed to flow a refrigerant therethrough. The reason for providing a plurality of channels
202
a
is to increase the contact area between the refrigerant and the wall surfaces of the channels, i.e., to increase a radiating area to thereby increase heat exchange efficiency.
Meanwhile, in
FIG. 10
, an inner fin type tube
202
′ is shown. A tube main body
221
is formed by folding a metal plate and an inner fin
222
is inserted into the main body
221
. The interior of the tube main body
221
is provided with a plurality of refrigerant channels
202
a
′ defined by the inner fin
222
and these refrigerant channels
202
a
′ are designed to flow a refrigerant therethrough.
In case of the above-stated inner fin type tube, the tube main body and the inner fin can be made thin compared with the extruded tube. Thus, the inner fine type tube is advantageously light weight while maintaining the same radiating area, and air and pressure tightness as those of the extruded tube.
With the inner fin type tube having these advantages, however, it is true that its toughness should be taken into consideration because of the thinner tube main body or the like.
For example, the condenser may be arranged at the lower front portion of the vehicle in view of the layout efficiency of the vehicle components, condenser characteristics or the like. In that case, however, a foreign matter such as a pebble bounced on the road and flew up therefrom is collided against the tube main body
221
as shown by an arrow in FIG.
10
.
If the foreign matter is collided against the tube main body
221
as stated above, i.e., the tube main body
221
is applied with an external action such as an external force, the tube main body
221
, the inner fin
222
and the channels
202
a
′ may possibly be deformed or the like, which are by no means preferable for heat exchange function.
To avoid such disadvantages, the coupled portion
221
a
of the tube main body
221
, which is a relatively tough portion, may be arranged in the front side of the vehicle against which the foreign matter tends to be collided, however, the strength of the main body
221
to be able to attain in practicable has its limit. In the meantime, the plate thickness of the tube main body
221
or the like can be simply and uniformly increased. If so, however, even a part of the plate thickness of the tube main body
221
positioned at the rear and the upper front portion of the vehicle or the like, which do not inherently need to increase its strength, is increased. As a result, not only the weight of the condenser increase but also the heat exchange characteristics thereof deteriorates. Thus, this is not an advisable countermeasure.
The present invention has been made as a result of the above-stated studies. It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a heat exchanger capable of removing the influence of an external action such as the application of an external force and capable of exhibiting sufficient heat exchange characteristics while satisfying the demand for providing a condenser lighter in weight.
A heat exchanger according to the present invention is provided with a tube capable of flowing a fluid through interior of the tube; a partition member provided in the tube to extend in the flowing direction along which the fluid flows; a flow-through space determined by use of the partition member in the tube, the fluid flowing through the interior of the flow-through space; and a non-flow-through space determined by use of the partition member in the tube, the fluid being unable to flow through the interior of the non-flow-through space. Heat is exchanged between the fluid and the exterior of the tube. A portion of the tube corresponding to the non-flow-through space is mainly applied with an external action.
In other words, a heat exchanger according to the present invention is provided with a fluid channel capable of flowing a fluid flow through the interior of the channel; partition means for partitioning the fluid channel; a flow-through section determined by use of the partition means in the fluid channel, the fluid being allowed to flow through the interior of the flow-through section; and a non-flow-through section determined by use of the partition means in the fluid channel, the fluid being unable to flow through the interior of the non-flow-through section.
REFERENCES:
patent: 2902264 (1959-09-01), Schick et al.
patent: 3190352 (1965-06-01), Simplelaar
patent: 5236045 (1993-08-01), Janezich et al.
patent: 5555729 (1996-09-01), Momose et al.
patent: 6000467 (1999-12-01), Tokizaki et al.
patent: 1-217195 (1989-08-01), None
patent: 2-126097 (1990-05-01), None
Leo Leonard
McDermott & Will & Emery
Nissan Motor Co,. Ltd.
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