Heat exchanger core attachment and sealing apparatus and method

The method of limiting accumulated thermal growth along a plate-type heat exchanger in a direction orthogonal to the plane of the plates comprising the steps of:

• dividing the heat exchanger into sections of limited dimension along said direction;
• assembling a plurality of such sections in side-by-side relationship;
• spacing adjacent sections by a selected distance from each other;
• and
• joining together in sealed relationship corresponding openings of adjacent sections by attaching a circumferential bladder member of U-shaped cross-section to adjacent mounting elements of said sections defining said openings.

The method of joining the manifold of a heat exchanger core section to an adjacent air passage, which heat exchanger core section and adjacent passage are subject to relative variations in the dimensional spacing therebetween due to differences in temperature of operation thereof comprising the steps of:

• affixing a flexible sealing member at the opposite ends thereof to the heat exchanger core section and the passage, respectively,
• attaching an extended circumferential flange to said passage on one side of said sealing member;
• and
• securing said flange in sliding relationship to said heat exchanger core section on the opposite side of said sealing member.