Method and apparatus for making a looped fin heat exchanger
OwnerRoy W. Abbottinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A heat transfer device effective in minimizing frost bridging in refrigeration operations to be wound helically onto a refrigerant-carrying tube, has an integrally formed chain of looped fins, each fin having a mounting flange at each end of the chain, and a vertical tin member extending from each mounting flange connected by a bridge portion. A method and apparatus for making the heat transfer device a unitary stretch preforming process to reform the beginning fin stock into final looped fin shape in a single forming step.
Claims12
A method of making a looped fin heat transfer device comprising the steps of:
- [a] providing an elongate ribbon of thermally conductive material;
- [b] transversely lancing and forming said ribbon into an intermediate configuration having a pair of imperforate opposing side portions interconnected by a lanced web portion;
- and
- [c] stretching said imperforate side portions of said intermediate configuration to reform the same into a subsequent configuration comprising an integrally formed chain of looped fins, said chain comprising an integrally formed chain of looped fins, said chain comprising a mounting flange reformed from each of said imperforate opposing side portions at each edge of said chain and a plurality of fins between said mounting flanges, each of said fins comprising leg members extending outwardly from each of said mounting flanges and a bridge section connecting said leg members at the distal end of said leg members.
Apparatus for making a looped fin heat transfer device, comprising, in combination:
- [a] means for supplying an elongate ribbon of thermally conductive material;
- [b] means for transversely lancing said ribbon into an intermediate configuration having a pair of imperforate opposing side portions interconnected by a lanced web portion;
- and
- [c] means for stretching and reforming said intermediate configuration into a subsequent configuration comprising an integrally formed chain of looped fins, said chain having a mounting flange reformed from each of said imperforate opposing side portions at each base edge of said chain and a plurality of fins extending between said mounting flanges with each of said fins comprising vertical leg members extending outwardly from each of said mounting flanges and a bridge portion connecting said leg members at the distal end of said leg member.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.