Apparatus for assembling fin plate heat exchangers
AssigneeCarrier Corporation
InventorsKenneth P. Gray, James E. Greever
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method and apparatus for automatically assembling hairpin tubes in the tube receiving holes of a fin pack unit. Pre-assembled fin pack units are serially moved from one station to the next to receive hairpin tubes, to have bells formed in the open ends of the laced hairpin tubes, to have expansion tools inserted upwardly through the open ends of the hairpin tubes to expand the walls of the tubes outwardly into contact against the fin plates and tube sheets with sufficient force to lock the tubes into the unit, and to have return bends interconnect the bell-like seats of adjacent hairpin tubes and thus complete the heat exchanger flow circuit.
Claims20
A method of mounting hairpin tubes in a fin pack unit of the type wherein flat heat exchanger plates are stacked between a pair of tube sheets and parallel rows of tube receiving holes pass through the unit between the tube sheets that includes the steps of
- automatically loading the hairpin tubes into a tube magazine,
- locating the loaded magazine adjacent to one of the tube sheets of the unit so that the tubes are axially aligned with the parallel rows of tube receiving holes,
- driving the hairpin tubes from the magazine through the parallel rows of tube receiving holes in said unit so that the open ends of the tubes extend a predetermined distance beyond the other of said tube sheets,
- forming radially expanded bells in the extended ends of the tubes,
- clamping the bells to prevent the open ends of the tubes from moving, and
- expanding the walls of the tubes outwardly into contact against the fin plates and tube sheets while the tube ends are clamped in a fixed position.
Apparatus for automatically mounting hairpin tubes in a fin pack unit of the type wherein flat heat exchanger plates are stacked between a pair of tube sheets and parallel rows of tube receiving holes are formed in the unit which pass between the tube sheets that includes
- a tube magazine for locating the hairpin tubes in axial alignment with the parallel rows of tube receiving holes formed in one of the tube sheets of the unit,
- means to drive the tubes from the magazine through the tube receiving holes to locate the tube ends of the tubes a predetermined distance beyond the other of said tube sheets,
- a belling means for forming radially expanded bells in the extended ends of the tubes,
- clamping means for securing the belled end of the tubes against movement, and
- expanding means for moving a series of expanding tools into the tubes through the clamped ends thereof to expand the walls of the tubes into contact with the tube sheets and plate fins of the unit.
Apparatus for mounting hairpin tubes in a fin pack unit of the type wherein flat heat exchanger plates are stacked in alignment between a pair of tube sheets and having parallel rows of tube receiving holes passing through the plates and tube sheets that includes
- a lacing station containing a tube magazine for storing hairpin tubes adjacent to one of the tube sheets of a unit positioned in said station with the tubes being supported in axial alignment with the tube receiving holes formed in the unit, means to drive the hairpin tubes simultaneously from the magazine through the rows of tube receiving holes in said unit to extend the open ends of the tubes a predetermined distance beyond the opposite tube sheet,
- a belling station containing a series of belling tools equal in number to the number of tubes extending through a unit positioned in said station, and means to bring the belling tools into expanding contact with the extended ends of the tube contained in said unit to form bells therein,
- an expanding station containing a clamping means for closing over the belled ends of the tubes of a unit positioned in said expanding station to secure the tube ends against movement, expanding rods equal in number to the number of tubes contained in said unit positioned adjacent to the open ends of the tubes secured in said clamping means, and means to pass the rods into said tubes to expand the walls of the tubes into contact against the tube sheets and the fin plates of the unit, and
- a conveyor means for sequentially indexing the units into each of the processing stations whereby the units positioned in each of said stations are processed simultaneously.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.