Method and assembly for manufacturing a convoluted heat exchanger core

Abstract

A method of manufacturing a convoluted heat exchanger core from a continuous sheet of thermally conductive metallic material includes providing a pusher bar assembly having a table, a pusher bar plate mounted transversely across the table and a stripper bar plate mounted transversely across the table in opposed relation to the pusher bar plate. The pusher bar plate is moveable along the length of the table between a feed position that is spaced a predetermined distance from the stripper bar plate and a fold position that is located adjacent the stripper bar plate. The sheet of material is fed lengthwise onto the table and into engagement between the pusher bar plate and the table with a portion of the sheet of material located between the pusher bar plate and the stripper plate when the pusher bar plate is in the feed position. The portion of sheet material is folded into a convolution by moving the pusher bar plate to the fold position. The stripper bar plate is raised above the convolution of the sheet of material to permit the convolution to pass by the stripper bar plate along the length of the table. The stripper bar plate is lowered and the pusher bar plate is retracted to the feed position such that the pusher bar plate is in engagement with the sheet of material against the table.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.