JPH07329550A - Heat exchanger made of aluminum material - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To simplify the structure of a joint part between a side plate and a header pipe so as to reduce time and cost required for manufacture. CONSTITUTION:Joint pieces 17 are formed at both longitudinal end parts of a side plate 5. The joint piece 17 is bent toward the intermediate part of a header pipe 4, and the middle part in the width direction is provided with a trapezoidal cutout 18. No hole for inserting or fitting the joint piece 17 is formed at the peripheral surface of the header pipe 4. The joint piece 17 is brought into contact with the peripheral surface of the header pipe 4 and brazed. Since the contact point of the joint piece 17 and header pipe 4 is increased by the presence of the cutout 18, joint strength can be sufficiently maintained.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

The heat exchanger made of aluminum material according to the present invention can be used as a radiator for radiating cooling water of an automobile engine, or as a condenser for radiating a refrigerant of an automobile air conditioner.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a condenser for an air conditioner for an automobile, a heat exchanger made of an aluminum material (a generic name for aluminum and aluminum alloys; the same throughout this specification) as shown in FIG. 4 is widely used. In this heat exchanger, a header pipe 4 is provided at both ends in the length direction (left and right direction in FIG. 4) of a core portion 3 composed of a large number of heat transfer tubes 1, 1 and fins 2, 2.
4 is provided, and the ends of the heat transfer tubes 1 and 1 communicate with the insides of the header pipes 4 and 4. When heat exchange is performed between a fluid such as a refrigerant and air by such a heat exchanger, the fluid is sent from the header pipe 4 on the inlet side through the inlet pipe 12a and the header on the outlet side is supplied. Take out from the outlet pipe 12b of the pipe 4. During this period, the fluid flows from the header pipe 4 on the inlet side to the header pipe 4 on the outlet side through a large number of heat transfer tubes 1, 1. Then, heat is exchanged with the air flowing around the core portion 3 while flowing through the large number of heat transfer tubes 1, 1. A partition wall is provided at an intermediate portion of one of the header pipes 4 and 4, and the inlet pipe 12a is provided at one half of the header pipe 4.
There is also a heat exchanger in which the other half is provided with the outlet pipe 12b.

The heat transfer tubes 1 and 1 and the pair of header pipes 4 and 4 are, as shown in FIG.
Insert the ends of the heat transfer tubes 1, 1 into the through holes 9, 9 formed in
Further, by brazing, the insides of each other are communicated with each other.
The through holes 9 and 9 are formed in the axial direction of the header pipe 4 (see FIGS.
In the up and down direction) and are formed at equal intervals. A lid member 13 called a patch end is provided at both ends of the header pipe 4 to liquid-tightly close both ends of the header pipe 4.

On both sides of the core portion 3 in the height direction (vertical direction in FIG. 4), side plates 5 and 5 extending in the length direction of the core portion 3 are provided. Both ends of each of the side plates 5 and 5 in the length direction (left and right direction in FIG. 4) have header pipes 4,
4 to improve the strength of the core portion 3.

As shown in FIG. 5 (A), the side plate 5 has a flat plate-shaped substrate portion 6 and joining pieces 7 protruding from both ends of the substrate portion 6 in the length direction (direction of arrow a in the figure). And a pair of mounting plate portions 8 formed by bending both ends of the board portion 6 in the width direction (direction of arrow b in the figure) in the same direction at a right angle. The dimension of the joining piece 7 in the width direction (the direction of arrow b in the figure) is as shown in FIG.
In addition to the dimension smaller than the width dimension 1 of the above, there is a dimension that is the same as the width dimension 1 of the substrate portion 6. Also, FIG. 5 (B)
As shown in FIG. 5, there is also the side plate 5a that does not form the mounting plate portions 8 and 8. The side plate 5a is used in place of the side plate 5 provided on the upper side of FIG.

The structure of the joint between the side plates 5 and 5a and the pair of header pipes 4 and 4 is described in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.
-34009 gazette. That is, as shown in FIG. 6, among the through holes 9 and 9, the outermost one is located.
Outside the through holes 9 at both ends (on the axial end side of the header pipe 4)
Then, the through hole 10 is formed. The joining piece 7 at the end of the side plate 5 (5a) is inserted into the through hole 10 and further caulked (plastically deformed). The reason for caulking the tip of the joining piece 7 is to prevent the joining piece from coming out of the through hole 10. After that, brazing and fixing the core 3
Improve the strength of.

Further, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-279798,
As shown in FIGS. 7 to 8, there is described a structure in which the joint piece 7 at the end of the side plate 5 (5a) is fitted into the fitting hole 11 formed in the header pipes 4 and 4. this house,
FIG. 7 shows the side plate 5 shown in FIG.
Similar to 5a, a fitting state is shown in which the joint piece 7 is made smaller than the width dimension 1 of the substrate portion 6. Further, the one shown in FIG. 8 shows a fitting state in which the joint piece 7 has the same dimension as the width dimension 1 of the substrate portion 6. Even in such a structure, the fitting portion of the side plate 5a (5) and the fitting hole 11 is brazed to improve the strength of the core portion 3.

By the way, when the heat exchanger made of aluminum material as described above is manufactured, it is carried out as follows. First, a large number of heat transfer tubes 1, 1, fins 2, 2, and a pair of header pipes 4,
4. Temporarily assemble the side plate 5 (5a). Then, the heat exchanger is heated in the heating furnace in the temporarily assembled state. At least one of the two components that abut each other to be joined among the above-described components has a brazing material laminated on the abutting surface. For example,
The brazing material is laminated on the surfaces of the header pipes 4 and 4 and the brazing material layer is not provided on the side plates 5 and 5a, or the brazing material layer is provided on the side plates 5 and 5a. The pipes 4 and 4 are not provided with a brazing material layer. Of course, a brazing material layer may be provided on each component. A brazing material layer is always provided on the surfaces of the heat transfer tubes 1 and 1 in order to braze the fins 2 and 2 having no brazing material layer. In any case, since the brazing material layer is provided, if the brazing material is melted by heating the heat exchanger that is temporarily assembled and then cooled and solidified, the constituent parts can be brazed to each other.

[0009]

However, in the case of manufacturing the heat exchanger made of aluminum material which is constructed and operates as described above, the header pipe 4 and the side plate 5 (5a) are to be manufactured.
There are the following problems to be solved regarding the joint portion with. That is, in the case of the structure of the above-mentioned first example of the related art, the joining piece 7 of the side plate 5 (5a) is attached to the header pipe 4
It is inserted into the through hole 10 formed in the above and brazed. At this time, it is necessary to tightly close the gap formed between the inner peripheral edge of the through hole 10 and the outer peripheral edge of the joining piece 7 facing the inner peripheral edge. What is more, if the above-mentioned gap is still formed, the liquid such as the refrigerant sent into or sent out from each heat transfer tube 1, 1 leaks from the gap. Therefore, such a heat exchanger must be discarded as a defective product. In addition, an extra step and a manufacturing die are required to form the through hole 10, which requires time and labor for manufacturing. In the structure of the second example of the related art described above, the airtightness and liquid-tightness failure due to the formation of the through hole 10 as described above does not occur, but in the structure of the second example, the fitting hole 11 is formed. Therefore, the labor and cost are increased in addition to the formation of the through hole 10.

Further, in any of the above-mentioned conventional first and second examples, both end portions of the header pipe 4 are covered with the lid member 13.
(See FIG. 6). As shown in FIG. 6, the lid member 13 is formed by forming an outward flange-shaped portion 15 on the outer peripheral portion of the open end of a convex portion 14 having a short tubular shape with a bottom. Therefore, when the lid member 13 is attached to the opening of the header pipe 4, the convex portion 14 has the height h of the convex portion 14 for the header pipe 4.
Get inside the Therefore, the convex portion 14 and the joining piece 7 (in the case of the structure of the first example shown in FIG. 6) or the fitting hole 11
The through hole 10 or the fitting hole 11 forming position is formed so as not to interfere with the protruding portion (in the case of the structure of the second example shown in FIGS. 7 to 8) protruding into the header pipe 4 formed by forming the From the edge of the header pipe 4 to the height h (for example, 1 cm)
As described above, the position must be set closer to the center side.
As a result, both end portions in the length direction of the header pipe 4 have a shape protruding from the core portion 3. When both ends in the length direction of the header pipe 4 project from the core portion 3 in this way, the degree of freedom for mounting the heat exchanger on the vehicle body becomes small. The aluminum-made heat exchanger of the present invention is intended to eliminate any of the above-mentioned inconveniences.

[0011]

The heat exchanger made of aluminum material according to the present invention is made of aluminum material in the same manner as the conventional heat exchanger made of aluminum material,
A pair of header pipes having circular cross sections, which are provided in parallel with each other at intervals, and a plurality of heat transfer tubes which are connected to both ends of the header pipes and are spaced from each other, Provided outside the outermost heat transfer tube,
It is provided with a pair of side plates each having both ends joined to a pair of header pipes, and fins provided between adjacent heat transfer tubes and between the outermost heat transfer tube and the side plate.

In particular, in the aluminum heat exchanger of the present invention, the side plates are bent at both ends in the length direction toward the middle part of the header pipe, and cut in the middle part in the width direction. A joining piece having a notch is formed. The joining piece is brought into contact with the peripheral surface of the header pipe and further brazed and joined.

[0013]

The operation itself when heat is exchanged between a fluid such as a refrigerant flowing inside and air flowing outside using the heat exchanger made of aluminum material of the present invention having the above-described structure, This is similar to the conventional heat exchanger made of aluminum material described above. Particularly, in the aluminum heat exchanger of the present invention, no through hole or fitting hole for joining the joining piece to the header pipe is provided. Therefore, the process and the manufacturing die for forming the through hole or the fitting hole can be omitted, and the manufacturing cost can be reduced. Further, unlike the case where the through hole is provided, the airtightness and liquid tightness of the through hole portion do not occur, and the number of defective products is reduced.

Furthermore, since there is no interference between the joint piece inserted into the through hole or the protruding portion formed by forming the fitting hole, the lid members provided at both ends of the header pipe do not interfere with each other. The hole or fitting hole can be provided at a position close to the edge of the header pipe. Therefore, if the length of the header pipe is the same as the conventional one, the number of heat transfer tubes can be increased by joining the side plate to the portion near the edge of the header pipe, and the overall heat exchanger can be enlarged. Without increasing the size of the core, the performance can be improved. Alternatively, when the size of the core portion is the same as the conventional one, the length dimension of the header pipe can be shortened, so that the heat exchanger can be downsized while keeping the same performance.

[0015]

The present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the illustrated embodiments. The aluminum heat exchanger of the present invention is characterized by the joint between the joint piece of the side plate and the header pipe. Other configurations and operations are the same as those of the conventional heat exchanger made of aluminum material described above, and therefore, redundant description will be omitted, and the characteristic part of the present invention will be mainly described below.

The side plate 5 constituting the aluminum-made heat exchanger of the present invention has a longitudinal direction (arrow a in FIG. 1).
Direction) The joining pieces 17 are provided at both ends. This joining piece 1
7 is bent toward the middle portion of the header pipe 4. Along with this, the joining piece 17 is provided with a trapezoidal notch 18 in the middle portion in the width direction (direction of arrow b in FIG. 1).

As described above, the joining piece 17 is bent in order to absorb all variations such as variations during assembly and core shrinkage during heating brazing. In the illustrated embodiment, the bending angle θ of the joining piece 17 is approximately 50 degrees, but the value of this angle θ is arbitrary. However, when the bending angle θ is too small (too close to horizontal) or too large (too close to vertical with respect to the substrate 6), the assembly of the side plate 5 and the header pipe 4 becomes troublesome. However, the displacement absorption is not sufficiently performed. Therefore, the bending angle θ is determined in consideration of the size of the core portion 3 and the like so that the temporary assembly with the header pipe 4 and the joining can be smoothly performed.

The notch 18 is provided in the widthwise intermediate portion of the joining piece 17 in order to increase the contact points between the header pipe 4 and the joining piece 17. That is, in the present invention, since the through-hole 10 and the fitting hole 11 are not provided in the header pipe 4, if the notch 18 is not provided in the joining piece 17, one of the leading edges of the joining piece 17 is provided. Only the points contact the peripheral surface of the header pipe 4 having a circular cross section.
On the other hand, when the notch 18 is provided as described above, the end surface of the joint piece 17 and the end portion of the notch 18 come into contact with the peripheral surface of the header pipe 4 at three locations. For this reason, the brazing length is increased and the joint strength is improved. The notch 18 may have a trapezoidal shape as shown, or a curved shape such as a V shape, a semicircular shape, or a semielliptic shape.

To join the side plate 5 and the header pipe 4 as described above, the following procedure is carried out. That is, as in the case of manufacturing a conventional heat exchanger, a large number of heat transfer tubes 1, 1 (FIG. 4) are inserted between a pair of header pipes 4. Further, the pair of side plates 5 is brought close to the header pipe 4 as shown in FIG. 2, and is sandwiched between the pair of header pipes 4. At this time, the joining piece 17 was bent as shown by the chain line in FIG. 3, but it is elastically deformed as shown by the solid line in FIG. 3 while absorbing the dimensional error of each component during assembly. It is sandwiched between a pair of header pipes 4. After the components are temporarily assembled in this manner, they are brazed by heating as in the conventional example described above to obtain a heat exchanger made of aluminum. When brazing by heating,
The brazing material existing between the contact surfaces of the heat transfer tubes 1 and 1 and the fins 2 and 2 (Fig. 4) flows out of the contact surfaces to cause core contraction, which reduces the height of the core portion 3. To do. Further, the header pipe 4 expands in the axial direction along with the thermal expansion during heating.
Each of these displacements is absorbed by the joint piece 17 bent toward the central portion of the header pipe 4 sliding on the outer peripheral surface of the header pipe 4.

With the heat exchanger made of aluminum material of the present invention having the above-described structure, the action when heat is exchanged between the liquid such as the refrigerant flowing inside and the air flowing outside is described above. It is similar to a conventional heat exchanger. Particularly, in the heat exchanger made of aluminum material of the present invention, the header pipe 4 does not have the through hole 10 or the fitting hole 11 unlike the above-mentioned first and second conventional examples. Therefore, it is possible to omit the process and manufacturing die required to form the through hole 10 or the fitting hole 11, and it is possible to reduce the labor and cost at the time of manufacturing. Further, since the through hole 10 is not formed,
The inner peripheral edge of the through hole 10 and the joining piece 7 facing the inner peripheral edge
The gap formed with the outer peripheral edge of (FIG. 5) is not closed due to defective brazing of the portion, and there is no fear of airtightness or liquidtightness failure. Therefore, the generation of defective products can be reduced.

Further, the joining piece 7 inserted through the through hole 10 or the portion where the joining hole 11 is formed into which the joining piece 7 is fitted may interfere with the lid members 13 provided at both ends of the header pipe 4. Absent. Therefore, the through hole 10 or the fitting hole 11 can be provided at a position close to the edge of the header pipe 4. Therefore, when the length dimension of the header pipe 4 is the same as the conventional one, the number of the heat transfer tubes 1, 1 is increased by joining the side plate 5 (5a) to a portion near the end edge of the header pipe 4. Therefore, the core portion 3 can be increased in size without increasing the size of the entire heat exchanger, and the performance can be improved. Alternatively, when the size of the core portion 3 is the same as the conventional one, the length of the header pipe 4 can be shortened, so that the heat exchanger can be downsized while maintaining the same performance.

[0022]

The heat exchanger made of aluminum material of the present invention is constructed and operates as described above, but the number of steps for forming the through hole or the fitting hole and the manufacturing die can be omitted, and the labor and cost can be reduced. Is reduced. Further, since no through hole is provided in the header pipe, no gap is formed in the inner peripheral edge portion of this through hole. Therefore, the above-mentioned portion does not become airtight or liquidtight. Moreover, the lid members at both ends of the header pipe do not interfere with the joint piece or the protruding portion formed by the formation of the fitting hole. Therefore, the side plate can be joined near the edge of the header pipe, and the heat exchanger can be downsized and its performance can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a joining piece of a side plate that constitutes the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a state in which a joining piece and a header pipe are assembled.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing an assembled state.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing an aluminum-made heat exchanger according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing two examples of conventional side plates.

FIG. 6 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing a first example of a conventional joining state of a side plate and a header pipe.

FIG. 7 shows the second example, (A) is a cross-sectional plan view,
(B) is a vertical sectional side view.

FIG. 8 is a view similar to FIG. 7 showing another example of the second example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Heat transfer pipe 2 Fin 3 Core part 4 Header pipe 5, 5a Side plate 6 Board part 7 Joining piece 8 Mounting plate part 9 Through hole 10 Through hole 11 Fitting hole 12a Inlet pipe 12b Outlet pipe 13 Lid member 14 Convex part 15 Outward Flange-like part 17 Joining piece 18 Notch

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A circular cross-section formed of aluminum material and provided in parallel with each other at intervals.
A pair of header pipes and both ends thereof are respectively connected to the above-mentioned pair of header pipes, and a plurality of heat transfer tubes arranged at intervals and a plurality of outermost heat transfer tubes are provided outside the heat transfer tubes. 1 for each pair of header pipes
In a heat exchanger made of aluminum material, which comprises a pair of side plates and fins provided between adjacent heat transfer tubes and between the outermost heat transfer tube and the side plate, the length of the side plates Formed at both ends in the direction of the header pipe are joint pieces bent toward the middle portion of the header pipe and having notches at the middle portion in the width direction, and the joint pieces are brought into contact with the peripheral surface of the header pipe. , A heat exchanger made of aluminum material, which is characterized by being brazed and joined.