Heat exchanger with progressive divided flow circuit, structural load bearing design

A heat exchanger for cooling an operating fluid flowing within and through the heat exchanger, comprising:

• a feed fluid circuit including a plurality of feed fluid passages to transport an operating fluid;
• a heat exchange fluid circuit including a plurality of heat exchange regions that are configured to provide a heat exchange relationship for the heat exchanger, the plurality of heat exchange feed fluid passages being fluidly connected to the feed fluid circuit in a downstream direction of the heat exchanger, the plurality of heat exchange feed fluid passages arranged to provide apportioning of the operating fluid for optimization of heat exchange;
• and
• a discharge fluid circuit including a plurality of discharge fluid passages that are fluidly connected to the heat exchange fluid circuit in the downstream direction;
• wherein the feed fluid circuit includes at least a first feed section having a first set of the plurality of feed fluid passages, and a second feed section having a second set of the plurality of feed fluid passages, the second feed section being located downstream of the first feed section, and
• wherein each of the second set of the plurality of feed fluid passages is progressively smaller than each of the first set of feed fluid passages, as measured by cross-sectional area transverse to a direction of downstream operating fluid flow through the passages, such that operating fluid from at least the first feed section to the second feed section is divided into progressively smaller flow paths in the downstream direction;
• wherein the heat exchanger comprises an air-cooled oil cooler configured to cool the operating fluid;
• wherein each of the plurality of heat exchange regions are configured as a single-pass heat transfer circuit for a local counter-flow configuration, parallel-flow configuration, or crossflow heat exchange configuration relative to an external air flow of the air-cooled oil cooler, or multi-pass heat transfer circuit for a locally mixed-flow heat exchange configuration relative to the external air flow of the air-cooled oil cooler;
• wherein the heat exchange fluid circuit, to optimize heat transfer performance across all the heat exchange regions, includes at least a plurality of dividing flow-control features that recursively divide the operating fluid flow distributing the operating fluid in the downstream direction into the heat exchange regions, and the heat exchange fluid circuit further includes at least a plurality of combining flow-control features that recursively combine the exiting fluid flow in the downstream direction from the heat exchange feed sections to collect and discharge the operating fluid;
• wherein the plurality of heat exchange regions are configured to apportion the flow rate of the operating fluid for balancing heat transfer performance and control pressure loss through the heat exchanger;
• wherein the heat exchange feed sections comprise a tree-like configuration, a fractal-like configuration, or a serial configuration where each feed section utilizes recursively refined or coarsened geometric length scales which augment heat transfer along the progressively smaller flow paths of the second feed section;
• and
• wherein a width and height of the heat exchange regions apportion the flow in the heat exchange regions.