Charge air cooler
AssigneeBehr Industrietechnik GmbH & Co.
InventorGunther Schmalzried
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A charge air cooler is provided in which, in use, the charge air enters a finned tube block at very high temperatures creating a problem in that the lamella-type corrugated fins heat up abruptly and expand in the transverse direction. In order to eliminate the resulting risks of damage, the finned tube block on the air inlet side is provided with expansion joints extending in parallel to the tubes. The expansion joints extend only to a selected depth into the finned tube block in the air flow direction, which depth is selected such that the temperature of the charge air has already dropped there to such an extent that damage as a result of thermal expansions is no longer a concern.
Claims13
A charge air cooler comprising:
- a substantially rigid frame composed of two opposed water boxes and two lateral frame parts connecting the water boxes, and
- a finned tube block inserted in said frame and disposed to accommodate air flow from an air inlet side to an air outlet side of the finned tube block,
- said finned tube block including flat tubes and lamella-type corrugated fins arranged between the flat tubes,
- wherein at least one gap in the form of an expansion joint is provided in at least two fins which are disposed between adjacent flat tubes and extends in parallel to the tubes along only a predetermined portion of the finned tube block in a flow direction of the air to thereby compensate for thermal expansion of the corrugated fins and consequent overstressing of the material during operation of the air cooler.
A charge air cooler comprising:
- a substantially rigid frame composed of two opposed water boxes and two lateral frame parts connecting the water boxes, and
- a finned tube block inserted in said frame and disposed to accommodate air flow from an air inlet side to an air outlet side of the finned tube block,
- said finned tube block including flat tubes and lamella-type corrugated fins arranged between the flat tubes,
- wherein at least one gap in the form of an expansion joint is provided which extends in parallel to the tubes and along the length of the tubes said at least one gap extending in a flow direction of the air only to a predetermined depth of the finned tube block at which, during the use of the charge air cooler, a temperature of the air is reached which no longer causes thermal expansion of the corrugated fins and consequent overstressing of the material, and
- wherein the at least one gap is formed as an expansion joint with a mutual spacing between two sets of said corrugated fins which have only a fraction of the width between adjacent tube walls and which each rest against a respective tube wall and are soldered to the respective tube wall.
A charge air cooler comprising:
- a substantially rigid frame composed of two opposed water boxes and two lateral frame parts connecting the water boxes, and
- a finned tube block inserted in said frame and disposed to accommodate air flow from an air inlet side to an air outlet side of the finned tube block,
- said finned tube block including flat tubes and lamella-type corrugated fins arranged between the flat tubes,
- wherein at least one gap in the form of an expansion joint is provided which extends in parallel to the tubes and along the length of the tubes, said at least one gap extending in a flow direction of the air only to a predetermined depth of the finned tube block at which, during the use of the charge air cooler, a temperature of the air is reached which no longer causes thermal expansion of the corrugated fins and consequent overstressing of the material,
- wherein cooling ducts are arranged in the lateral frame parts and directly adjoin respective ones of the corrugated fins assigned to the lateral frame parts, and
- wherein the cooling ducts are bounded by thin metal wall sheets which are soldered to sides of the corrugated fins facing the cooling ducts.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.