JPH0729415Y2 - Device for connecting the tank and the header plate - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a heat exchanger of a type having a header plate for supporting open ends of a plurality of tubes and a tank fixed to the header plate, and more particularly to a tank and a header plate. The improvement of the coupling device.

[0002]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The prior art relating to the present invention is US Pat.
No. 378,174 and 4,331,201.

In the automobile industry, non-metallic materials are increasingly used in various parts of automobiles in order to reduce the weight of the automobile and improve fuel efficiency. The heat exchangers commonly referred to as "radiators" are no exception. A metal material is used for the core of such a heat exchanger because it has a higher heat transfer coefficient than plastic, but the components of the heat exchanger that do not require a good heat transfer coefficient are plastic. Being manufactured. One example is a tank that is attached to a core of a heat exchanger by being secured to a header that defines the ends of the core.

Since the joint between the header plate and the tank is made of different materials, conventional techniques such as soldering and brazing cannot be used as the joining means. Therefore, a gasket is provided between the two in order to set the required seal (sealing), and the gasket is put under compression in order to ensure the seal at the design operating pressure of the heat exchanger. Some means is used to hold the header and tank in the assembled condition. Of course, the means for joining the two must be strong enough to prevent leakage and have a long life. Furthermore, it is desirable to have a joining means that allows both components to be disassembled as needed for maintenance services and the like. Further, it is desirable that the joining means is suitable for mass production in order to reduce the manufacturing cost.

As an attempt to achieve these objects, a peripheral groove for compressing and mounting the gasket is formed on the header plate, and the tank is fitted with the peripheral groove to compress the gasket. It has been proposed in both of the above U.S. patents to provide a peripheral flange. In this case, the outer wall of the circumferential groove is partially deformed to cover the circumferential flange of the tank, and the flange is held in a state of compressing the gasket. However, this method requires that the metal wall (the wall of the circumferential groove of the header plate) be deformed, and therefore the metal wall must be thin so that it can be easily deformed. The disadvantage is that it does not have the strength of, and during operation the pressure in the system can act on the deformed metal wall and restore it to its original shape. As a result, the compressive force on the gasket is reduced and fluid leakage occurs.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is intended to overcome such problems, and its purpose is to provide an improved joint between the header plate and tank of a heat exchanger. And, in particular, to provide a bond formed by the deformation, but having sufficient strength to resist deformation in the direction in which it returns to its original shape.

[0007]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a heat exchanger of the type having a metal header plate supporting the open ends of a plurality of pipes and a plastic tank. A connecting device for fixing the tank to the header plate, which extends integrally with the header plate at the peripheral edge of the header plate, and has a bottom wall and a deformable upright shape surrounding the bottom wall. A groove having a side wall, a compressible gasket mounted in the groove, a flange integrally formed with the tank at the periphery of the tank and extending outward to define an opening inside, and a groove of the groove. The upright side wall comprises a plurality of projecting pieces formed so as to be positioned below the upper edge thereof, and the flange has one side surface abutting the gasket and the other side surface opposite to the one side surface. Fit in the groove so as to be separated from the upper edge Are dimensioned is urchin shaped,
Each of the protrusions is seated on the other side of the flange to hold the tank so as to exert a compressive force on the gasket, whereby the gasket seals between the tank and the header plate. Is set, and each of the projecting pieces is formed by penetrating through the side wall and cutting and deforming the side wall, and a single curved flat surface that contacts the other side surface of the flange. A free edge, tapering from the free edge toward the upper edge of the side wall, and connecting to the side wall at a position before the upper edge or at the upper edge. A coupling device is provided.

In a preferred embodiment, the gasket receiving portion is formed in the shape of a groove. It is preferable that each of the projecting pieces is connected to the side wall at a position apart from the upper edge of the side wall.
In a preferred embodiment, in order to ensure the contact of the free edge with the flange, the part of the side wall above the free edge is bent towards the tank at a location corresponding to the free edge, At least a portion of which is above the flange.

The tank is usually made of plastic, and in a preferred embodiment each of the protrusions is substantially oval or spherical. The uniquely shaped prongs distribute sufficient force to the sidewalls of the gasket receiver or groove,
It exhibits excellent resistance to deformation in the direction in which it returns to its original shape. Moreover, these ridges can be easily formed by mass production methods and can be purposely deformed back to their original shape, for example, if necessary to disassemble the device. These protrusions can be formed on the side wall by punching or punching. At this time, the side wall portion forming the protruding piece is not provided with a backing support which opposes the punching or punching tool, so that the side wall portion is slightly deformed toward the tank by the pressing force of the tool. .
The side wall is then preferably bent from a vertical plane towards the tank so that the lower free edge of the projection is parallel to the upper side of the flange.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to the attached drawings, a plastic radiator tank 1 joined by a joint according to the present invention.
0 and a metal header plate 12 are shown. The header plate 12 receives the open ends 14 of a plurality of heat transfer tubes 16 (only one shown in FIG. 3) in a conventional manner. The tank 10 has an opening 18 surrounded by an outwardly projecting flange 20. The flange 20 has an upper side surface 22 and a lower side surface 24. The tank 10 is provided with one or more cooling water ports 26. Third
As shown in the figure, the pipe pulling plate 12 has a peripheral groove 28 on its peripheral edge. The circumferential groove 28 includes an upright outer side wall 30 and
It is defined by a bottom wall 32 and an inner side wall 34. The inner side wall 34 is substantially parallel to the outer side wall 30, and the curved portion 3
It is connected to the main body of the guide plate 12 via 6. As can be seen, the groove 28 and the flange 20 are shaped and dimensioned such that the latter is received by the former.

When the tank 10 is joined to the header plate 12, a compressible gasket 40 is inserted into the circumferential groove 28 and arranged so as to abut against the bottom wall 32 of the groove.
0 is oriented such that its flange 20 is received in groove 28. Next, the flange 20 is inserted into the circumferential groove 28, the lower surface 24 of the flange 20 is brought into contact with the gasket 40, and the tank 10 is continuously pressed toward the header plate 12, whereby the gasket 40 is compressed to a desired degree. To be done.
At that time, a compression force which is slightly larger than a desired compression force is usually applied to pull the flange 20 sufficiently downward, and a series of protrusions 42 are deformed from the upright outer side wall 30 of the header plate to deform them. Can be engaged on the upper side 22 of the flange 20. After the projecting piece 42 is formed, if the compressive force applied to the tank 10 is released, the projecting piece 42 engages with the flange 20 and the state shown in FIG. 3 is obtained.

In order to obtain sufficient holding force and deformation resistance against the pressure in the tank 10, the protruding piece 42 has a quadrant or oval shape. The lug 42 has a single curved lower free edge 44. The free edge 44 is flat,
It abuts the upper side surface 22 of the flange 20. The protrusion 42 gradually tapers from the lower free edge 44 toward the upper edge 48 of the side wall 30 and is continuous with the wall 30 at a line 46. Protrusion 4
2 and the upper edge 48 of the side wall 30 have a space 5 between them.
Separate so that 0 is present. These protrusions 42 are
It can be formed in a single step by penetrating the side wall 30 to form the free edge 44 while simultaneously deforming a portion of the side wall 30 to use a suitably shaped tool to define the body of the barb 42. Therefore, this molding process can be easily adapted to mass production.

In order to simplify the assembly work and minimize the required tools, the upper part 52 of the side wall 30 forming the projection 42 is pierced or punched (punch) which is pushed in the piercing or punching operation. ) It is advantageous not to provide a backing bearing force against the tool. As a result, the upper part 52 of the side wall 30 is slightly bent towards the tank 10, as can be seen in FIG.
4 is located above the upper surface of the flange 20.

Since the protruding piece 42 is formed by deforming the metal material of the side wall 30, the free edge 44 of the protruding piece 42 is moved to the side wall 3 by the flow of the metal material generated during the forming process.
Gradually away from the upper side 22 of the flange 20 as it moves away from 0 towards the tank 10. Therefore, in order to bring the entire free edge 44 into contact with the upper surface of the flange 20, the side wall 30 is formed after the protrusion 42 is formed.
The upper part 52 of the line 5 at the height of the substantially free edge 44
It is preferable to fold it further along 4 towards the tank 10. As a result, the upper portion 52 of the side wall 30 remains straight, but halfway over the flange 20, causing the free edge 44 of the ridge to strike the upper side 22 of the flange 20 in parallel. This bending operation can be performed by an appropriate method such as rolling. The upper portion 52 extends from the vertical plane toward the tank 10 by approximately 3
Bending at 0 ° is preferable.

When necessary, for example, when the tank 10 has to be removed from the header plate 12 for some reason, the projecting piece 42 can be deformed back to its original shape. In that case, in order to be able to insert the deformation tool between the side wall 56 of the tank 10 and the projecting piece 42,
It is preferable that the protrusion 42 or the upper portion 52 of the side wall 30 is not deformed inward so much as it comes into contact with the side wall 56 of the tank 10 when the protrusion 42 is first formed.

The projection 42 has a shape and dimension so that the force for separating the tank 10 from the header plate 12 is evenly distributed to the outer side wall 30 to resist the outward deformation of the side wall. There is. (When the sidewall 30 is deformed outwards, the compressive force on the gasket 40 is released, causing fluid leakage.) That is, the free edge 44 has a fairly large contact area with the surface 22 of the flange. , The force directed to the free edge 44 is distributed to the rest of the respective projection 42, so that the projection 42 is under compression without being subjected to a large bending moment. As a result, a very reliable connection is obtained between the flange 20 of the tank 10 and the circumferential groove 28 of the header plate 12.

[0017]

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an assembly of a tank and a header plate connected by a connecting device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partially enlarged side view of the assembly of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a partially enlarged cross-sectional view taken along line 3-3 of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a partially enlarged view of a pipe moving plate having a protruding piece formed therein.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10: Tank 12: Pipe assembly plate 18: Opening 20: Flange 28: Gasket receiving part (groove) 30: Outer side wall 32: Bottom wall 34: Inner side wall 40: Gasket 42: Projection piece 44: Free edge 48: Upper edge

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Creator James El Wehrmann, 8th Street, Pleasant Preari, Wisconsin, USA 5411

Claims (5)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A heat exchanger of the type having a metal header plate supporting the open ends of a plurality of tubes and a plastic tank, which is a coupling device for fixing the tank to the header plate. A groove that has a bottom wall and a deformable upright side wall that surrounds the bottom wall and that extends integrally with the pipe header plate around the periphery of the header plate; And a flange formed integrally with the tank on the periphery of the tank and extending outward to define an opening inside, and formed on the upright side wall of the groove so as to be located below the upper edge thereof. The flange is fitted in the groove such that one side of the flange is in contact with the gasket and the other side opposite to the one side is separated from the upper edge. Is shaped and dimensioned as follows, Seated on the other side of the flange to hold the tank against the gasket so that it exerts a compressive force so that the gasket establishes a seal between the tank and the header plate. Each of the projecting pieces is formed by cutting through the side wall and cutting and deforming the side wall, and has a single curved flat free edge that contacts the other side surface of the flange. A coupling device that tapers from the free edge toward the upper edge of the side wall and is connected to the side wall at a position near the upper edge or at the upper edge. 2. The coupling device according to claim 1, wherein each of the protrusions is substantially oval or spherical. 3. A portion of the side wall above the free edge is bent towards the tank at a location corresponding to the free edge to ensure contact of the free edge with the flange. The coupling device of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the coupling device is located above the flange. 4. The coupling device according to claim 3, wherein the portion of the side wall is bent by approximately 30 ° toward the tank. 5. The coupling device according to claim 1, wherein each of the projecting pieces is connected to the side wall at a position apart from an upper edge of the side wall.