Heat exchanger and process for its manufacturing
AssigneeBehr GmbH & Co.
InventorsAndreas Gruner, Gebhard Schwarz
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A heat exchanger has flat tubes arranged in parallel to one another and at a distance from one another. The flat tubes are provided in the area of their ends with connection openings to adjacent flat tubes to avoid difficulties with respect to the tight closing of the open front ends, massive slide-in parts are introduced into the open tube ends. The walls of the flat tubes at least on the narrow sides against the slide-in parts. The slide-in parts therefore act as adapting pieces which determine the final form of the tubes. They cause a tight and pressure-resistant connection after the soldering.
Claims27
A flat tube assembly for a heat exchanger comprising:
- a flat tube having an open end facing longitudinally of the tube, said flat tube having transversely extending aligned connection openings for accommodating fluid connection of the flat tube with an adjacent flat tube, and
- a massive solid slide-in part which in use is slid into and closing said open end, said slide-in part having longitudinally extending legs which engage narrow side walls of said tube while defining a U-shaped opening, said legs extending along and spaced from said connection openings,
- wherein walls of said tube are caulked against the slide-in part.
Heat exchanger assembly comprising:
- a plurality of flat tubes, each having a pair of facing wide tube sidewalls connected by a pair of narrow tube sidewalls to form a closed tube profile with end openings at opposite ends thereof, said flat tubes being disposed adjacent one another with respect to facing parallel wide tube sidewalls,
- connection openings in at least one of the wide tube sidewalls of respective tubes for providing a fluid connection between adjacent ones of said tubes, and
- inserts closing respective end openings of the respective tubes, said inserts being constructed as solid massive slide-in parts, said slide-in parts being held by caulking of at least the narrow tube sidewalls against the slide-in parts.
Process for manufacturing a heat exchanger assembly comprising:
- providing a plurality of flat tubes, each having a pair of facing wide tube sidewalls connected by a pair of narrow tube sidewalls to form a closed tube profile with end openings at opposite ends thereof, said flat tubes being disposed adjacent one another with respect to facing parallel wide tube sidewalls,
- providing connection openings in at least one of the wide tube sidewalls of respective tubes for providing a fluid connection between adjacent ones of said tubes, and
- providing inserts closing respective end openings of the respective tubes, said inserts being constructed as solid massive slide-in parts, said slide-in parts being held by caulking of at least the narrow tube sidewalls against the slide-in parts.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.