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US 5,172,752 AGranted
Curved heat exchanger with low frontal area tube passes
OwnerEdward E. Goetz, Jr.inventor
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OwnerEdward E. Goetz, Jr.inventor
Estimating the term…
A curved heat exchanger for a vehicle has tubes generally sector shaped in cross section and arranged in an arcuate pattern to transmit heat exchanger fluid between laterally spaced tanks. One embodiment has discrete heat exchanger fluid sections respectively connected to a vehicle engine, torque converter transmission and between the air conditioner compressor and evaporator. The tubes are tilted to align air passages therebetween with the radial direction of air flow discharged from an interior fan so that there is improved fan-heat exchanger matching resulting in reduced separation of air from the surfaces of the heat exchanger tubes and turbulence in the air passages. The side walls of adjacent tubes are equally spaced from one another to receive standard width air centers therebetween. The tubes may have discrete inner and outer flow sections insulated from one another and respectively employed to conduct engine coolant and another heat exchanger fluid such as for the air conditioning system. This invention features air pressure drop through the core so that a low horse power motor drive can be effectively utilized to pump cooling air through the heat exchanger. In another embodiment of the invention, axial flow fans are mounted at the ends of the cylindrical heat exchanger.
A heat exchanger for receiving fluids from a plurality of mechanisms that each impart heat energy to one of the fluids, comprising a series of tubes arranged side-by-side in an arcuate pattern, each of said tubes being generally sector shaped in cross section and having discrete inner and outer sections each providing a separate fluid flow path, tank means for receiving fluid from at least one of said mechanisms, said tank means being connected to the outer sections of said tubes for circulating fluid therethrough, fluid conductor means for operatively connecting the inner sections of said tubes to a second of said mechanisms, and web means interconnecting said inner and outer sections of each tube for insulating said fluid flow paths from one another and reducing the conduction of heat energy between fluids flowing in the flow paths of said inner and outer sections.
A circular heat exchanger including bladed fan means for effecting the flow of cooling air therethrough, said heat exchanger having tank means for receiving a fluid from a mechanism that imparts heat energy to said fluid and for returning the fluid back to the mechanism, a plurality of elongated tubes operatively connected to said tank means for circulating said fluid supplied to said tank means, each of said plurality of tubes being generally sector shaped in cross section and having discrete inner and outer sections each providing a separate fluid flow passage therethrough, and web means interconnecting said inner and outer sections to each other for insulating said flow passages from one another and reducing the conduction of heat energy between fluids flowing in the passages of the discrete inner and outer sections.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.