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US 5,307,871 AGranted
Tube support member for a heat exchanger
AssigneeFord Motor Company
InventorsAli Jalilevand, Ramchandra L. Patel
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A tube supporting member for an automotive heat exchanger is disclosed wherein the support member includes a plurality of apertures each having a cylindrical ferrule portion extending therefrom. The apertures include a curvilinear portion terminating in a discontinuous radius to form a corner at the aperture. The ferrule portions support the tube members of the heat exchanger.
Claims11
A heat exchanger for an automotive vehicle, comprising:
- a manifold assembly;
- a plurality of tubular elements being connected to the manifold assembly and defining air paths between adjacent pairs of tubular elements;
- a plurality of fin elements provided in said air paths;
- and
- at least one support member disposed adjacent said manifold assembly, said support member having a generally planar base portion including a plurality of tube receiving apertures therein, each of said apertures including a curvilinear portion terminating in a discontinuous radius and forming a cylindrically extending ferrule portion of predetermined length thereby, said ferrule portion extending generally perpendicularly to the plane of said base portion and being configured to support a tubular element.
2 more elements
A condenser for liquefying gaseous coolant in an air conditioning system of an automobile after the system has compressed the coolant, said condenser comprising:
- a manifold assembly defining a coolant inlet and a coolant outlet for said condenser;
- a plurality of tubular elements being connected to the manifold assembly and defining air paths between adjacent pairs of tubular elements;
- a plurality of fin elements provided in said air paths;
- and
- a pair of support members disposed at opposite ends of said condenser for supporting the tubular elements thereby,
- said support members having a generally U-shaped cross-section including a planar base portion and a pair of flanges extending generally perpendicularly to the plane of said base portion, said base portion including a plurality of tube receiving apertures therein, each of said apertures including a curvilinear portion terminating in a discontinuous radius and forming a cylindrically extending tube-supporting ferrule portion of predetermined length thereby, said ferrule portion extending generally perpendicularly to the plane of said base portion and terminating in an end opposite said base portion of said support member, said terminating end being chamfered.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.