Heat exchanger

Abstract

A heat exchanger (20) includes a stack (22) of heat exchanger tubes (24), with the stack (22) having a pair of spaced ends (26, 28) that are received into respective manifolds (30, 32) that direct a first fluid (33), such as an exhaust gas flow of a vehicle, to and from interiors (34) of the tubes (24). The manifolds (30) and (32) are bonded to the respective ends (26) and (28) using a suitable bonding technique, such as soldering. Each end (26, 28) has an outer periphery (54) that includes furrows (56) and elongate, narrow protrusions (58), and each manifold (30, 32) has a wall (60) that extends continuously around the associated end (26, 28) and includes inwardly directed ridges (62) that are received in the furrows (56) and elongate slots (64) that receive the protrusions (58) to provide a tight joint between the wall (60) and the associated end (50, 52). Preferably, the ridges (62) and slots (64) extends longitudinally along the wall (60) a sufficient distance to allow the wall (60) to be pushed over a length of the associated end (26, 28) sufficient to provide an adequately large joining surface between the wall (60) and the associated end (26, 28), thereby allowing for a qualitatively high-grade soldering connection.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.