Evolutive precooler

A heat exchanger for an aircraft, the heat exchanger arranged along a longitudinal direction X-X′ and comprising:

• a casing defining an inner chamber and comprising an inlet, an outlet and a first and second lateral walls opposite each other and extending between the inlet and the outlet;
• the casing being configured to be in fluid communication with a source of incident flow of coolant through the inlet so that, in an operative mode of the heat exchanger, a flow of coolant flows through the inner chamber from the inlet to the outlet following the longitudinal direction X-X′;
• a plurality of plates housed in the inner chamber of the casing extending substantially parallel to the longitudinal direction X-X′, each of the plurality of plates being spaced from each other between the first lateral wall and the second lateral wall along a transverse direction Y-Y′ perpendicular to the longitudinal direction X-X′;
• and
• a plurality of channels defined between contiguous plates of the plurality of plates;
• wherein each of the plurality of plates comprises a leading edge oriented towards the inlet and configured for diverting the incident flow of coolant towards contiguous channels of the plurality of channels;
• wherein two or more plate of the plurality of the plates comprise an inner hollow area configured to be in fluidic communication with a source of hot bleed air and to conduct a flow of the hot bleed air from the source of hot bleed air therethrough in the operative mode of the heat exchanger;
• wherein the plurality of plates comprises a first group of plates, a second group of plates, and a third group of plates;
• wherein leading edges of a first group of plates are arranged according to a stepped pattern, such that each leading edge is arranged in a downstream position according to the longitudinal direction X-X′ with respect to the inlet and to the leading edge of a contiguous plate of a first group of plates;
• wherein the heat exchanger further comprises a first gap defined between the first group of plates and the first lateral wall of the casing, so that the first gap allows to establish a fluid communication of the coolant through the first group of plates between the inlet and the outlet of the casing;
• and
• wherein a distance between each leading edge of the first group of plates and the first lateral wall according to the transverse direction Y-Y′ decreases along the longitudinal direction X-X′.