Heat exchanger having a bundle of parallel tubes, and method of assembling its component parts

Abstract

The heat exchanger (10), e.g. a motor vehicle radiator, has a bundle of thin-walled metal tubes (12) passing through a perforated plate or collector (18) via holes (23) therethrough. The collector plate is made with holes having walls that are highly elastic, either by the collector being molded from a highly elastic plastic, or by the collector plate being made from a sheet of metal with the holes being formed with spring shaped rims. The elasticity is used to grip and seal the tubes (12) in the holes (23) through the collector plate, and the relative strengths of the tubes and the plate are such that the portions (38, 61, 92) of the tubes thus elastically gripped in said holes are contracted by the elastic grip and are flanked on either side by non-contracted portions (42, 41; 66, 74; 93, 94) of tube which ensure that the tubes are held fast against longitudinal movement in either direction relative to the collector plate.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.