KR101291027B1 - An Heat Exchanger - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a heat exchanger that can not only improve the flow characteristics in the header tank but also has a structure that facilitates the coupling of the end cap and the pipe by using the heat exchanger header tank and the end cap itself. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a heat exchanger that greatly improves the flow characteristics by minimizing the change in the flow path area when the working fluid is distributed between the pipe and the header tank. Another object of the present invention is to facilitate the coupling of the end cap and the pipe by using the structure of the heat exchanger header tank and the end cap itself, thereby reducing the overall number of processes by eliminating the process of connecting the pipe joints Accordingly, to provide a heat exchanger that can reduce the manufacturing cost.

Heat exchanger, working fluid, temperature distribution, stopper, stopper, coolant

Description

An Heat Exchanger

1 is a perspective view of a heat exchanger.

Figure 2 is a detailed cross-sectional view and assembly step of the conventional pipe and the inlet / outlet connection.

3 is an exploded perspective view of a heat exchanger according to the present invention.

Figure 4 is a detailed view of the distribution cap of the present invention.

Figure 5 is a detailed cross-sectional view of the distribution cap of the present invention.

Figure 6 is a comparison of the distribution cap structure of the prior art and the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF REFERENCE NUMERALS

10: header tank 11: outlet port 12: distribution cap

10a: inlet header tank 11a: inlet 12a: inlet cap

10b: discharge header tank 11b: outlet 12b: discharge cap

20: tube 30: pin 40: pipe

1000: heat exchanger (of the invention)

100: header tank 101: distribution port 102: distribution cap

100a: inlet header tank 101a: inlet 102a: inlet cap

100b: discharge header tank 101b: discharge port 102b: discharge cap

130: end cap

200: tube 300: fin 400: pipe

The present invention relates to a heat exchanger, and more particularly, to improve the flow characteristics inside the header tank as well as to facilitate the coupling of the end cap and pipe using the structure of the heat exchanger header tank and the end cap itself. It relates to a heat exchanger having a.

As concerns about energy and environmental issues are growing around the world, the efficiency of each part including fuel economy has been steadily improved in the automobile production industry. In addition, the appearance of automobiles is also varied in order to satisfy various consumer needs. It is becoming a trend. In accordance with this tendency, each part of the vehicle has been steadily researched and developed for weight reduction, miniaturization and high functionality. In particular, in the vehicle cooling apparatus, since it is difficult to secure enough space in the engine room, efforts have been made to manufacture a heat exchanger having a small size and high efficiency.

The heat exchanger is generally composed of a pair of header tanks through which the working fluid is introduced and discharged, and a tube which connects the header tanks and distributes the working fluid therein to perform heat exchange. Figure 1 shows a conventional heat exchanger, a representative of the heat exchangers of this type is a heater core. A heater core is a heat exchanger that circulates an engine as part of an air conditioner of a vehicle and supplies warm air to a vehicle interior using high temperature cooling water absorbing heat generated during combustion. It is a device that performs heat exchange with the air supplied from the outside by passing the high temperature coolant heated by heat through the tube and the fin of the heater core, and supplies the warmed air to the interior of the vehicle. This heat exchanger shown in Figure 1, the working fluid flows therein, a plurality of tubes 20 arranged in parallel in a line at a predetermined interval in parallel with the air blowing direction; An inflow header tank (10a) for distributing the working fluid introduced through the inlet (11a) and distributing the working fluid to the plurality of tubes (20); A fin (30) interposed between the tubes (20) and increasing a heat transfer area with air flowing between the tubes (20); The working fluid moving in the tube 20 is collected, and is composed of a discharge header tank 10b for discharging the collected working fluid through the outlet 11b. A pipe 40 is coupled to the inlet 11a and the outlet 11b to distribute the working fluid from the outside to the heat exchanger. In this case, inlet header tanks or outlet header tanks are generically referred to as header tanks and the reference number is 10.

Figure 2 is a detailed cross-sectional view and assembly step diagram of a conventional pipe and the inlet / outlet connection. As shown in Fig. 2A, a bead 41 is formed at an end side of the pipe 40 which is inserted into an inlet or outlet (hereinafter referred to as a distribution port and referred to as 11 when collectively referred to as an inlet or outlet). It is. When the bead 41 is inserted into the outlet 11 and brazed, as shown in FIG. 2B, the pipe 40 is connected to the outlet 11 by the bead 41. In order to be fixed so that there is no variation in the insertion depth is provided to facilitate brazing.

At this time, in the heat exchanger, the distribution of the working fluid from the inflow header tank 10a to the tube 20 should be made evenly, so that the temperature distribution of the heat exchanger is made even and thus the heat exchange performance can be maximized. However, due to the effect of the sudden pressure drop generated by the sudden increase in the flow area in the process of the working fluid flows from the pipe 40 to the inlet 11a, the straightness of the working fluid in the inside of the inlet header tank 10a This is not guaranteed, and thus an even distribution of flow rates is not achieved, making it difficult to achieve an even temperature distribution throughout the heat exchanger.

In order to solve such a problem, there has conventionally been an attempt to reduce the amount of pressure drop by installing an additional structure at the connection portion between the pipe 40 and the inlet 11a. However, this method of attaching additional structures may result in unnecessary pressure drops. This problem occurs when the heat exchanger having the structure is actually applied to a vehicle, and thus the heat exchanger does not secure sufficient working fluid flow rate, thereby degrading heat exchange performance. In addition, due to the additional structure, the structure is complicated, the ease of assembly is greatly reduced and the manufacturing cost is increased, the problem that the productivity is also very large.

In addition, there have been attempts to minimize the influence of the pressure drop by changing the volume of the header tank to solve the above problems, but as the volume of the header tank increases, the overall size of the heat exchanger increases. As described above, the interior space of the engine room is getting narrower according to the current situation in which the weight and compactness of the product are in a trend, and thus there is a problem that it cannot be applied to an actual vehicle.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the problems of the prior art as described above, an object of the present invention is to greatly improve the characteristics of the flow by minimizing the change in the flow path area when the working fluid flows between the pipe and the header tank To provide a heat exchanger. Another object of the present invention is to facilitate the coupling of the end cap and the pipe by using the structure of the heat exchanger header tank and the end cap itself, thereby reducing the overall number of processes by eliminating the process of connecting the pipe joints Accordingly, to provide a heat exchanger that can reduce the manufacturing cost.

The heat exchanger of the present invention for achieving the above object, the working fluid flows therein, a plurality of tubes 200 are arranged in parallel in a line at a predetermined interval in parallel with the air blowing direction; The inlet cap 102a having the inlet 101a formed on one side is coupled to the working fluid through the inlet 101a, and the end cap 130 is coupled to the other side of the plurality of tubes. An inflow header tank (100a) for distributing to 200; A fin (300) interposed between the tubes (200) and increasing a heat transfer area with air flowing between the tubes (200); End cap 130 is coupled to the other side to collect the working fluid to move in the tube 200, the discharge cap 102b is formed by combining the discharge cap (102b) formed on one side through the outlet 101b In the heat exchanger 1000 which consists of the discharge header tank 100b which discharges, the said inflow header tank 100a and the discharge header tank 100b are called the header tank 100, and the said inlet port 101a and the outlet port 101b ) Is called the distribution port 101, and when the inlet cap 102a and the discharge cap 102b are called the distribution cap 102, the internal height (d) of the heat exchanger longitudinal section of the distribution port 101 _c ) is characterized in that it corresponds to the outer height (d _h ) of the cross section of the header tank (100).

At this time, the header tank 100 is exposed to the upper and lower portions of the cross section of the header tank 100 through the distribution port 101 so that the exposed end of the header tank 100 abuts the end of the pipe 400 It is characterized in that it is formed to serve as a stopper (stopper) for fixing the position of the pipe (400). In addition, the distribution port 101 is characterized in that the upper and lower portions of the cross-section of the distribution port 101 is formed in a straight shape having a predetermined length.

Hereinafter, a heat exchanger according to the present invention having the configuration as described above will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

3 is an exploded perspective view of a heat exchanger according to the present invention. As shown, the heat exchanger 1000 of the present invention, the working fluid flows therein, a plurality of tubes 200 are arranged in parallel in a line at a predetermined interval parallel to the air blowing direction; The inlet cap 102a having the inlet 101a formed on one side is coupled to the working fluid through the inlet 101a, and the end cap 130 is coupled to the other side of the plurality of tubes. An inflow header tank (100a) for distributing to 200; A fin (300) interposed between the tubes (200) and increasing a heat transfer area with air flowing between the tubes (200); End cap 130 is coupled to the other side to collect the working fluid to move in the tube 200, the discharge cap 102b is formed by combining the discharge cap (102b) formed on one side through the outlet 101b The discharge header tank 100b is discharged. A pipe 400 is coupled to the inlet 101a and the outlet 101b to distribute the working fluid from the outside to the heat exchanger 1000. Hereinafter, the inlet header tank 100a and the discharge header tank 100b are collectively referred to as the header tank, the inlet 101a and the outlet 101b collectively so that the distribution port, the inlet cap 102a and the discharge cap 102b are collectively It is called a distribution cap. In addition, the reference numeral of the header tank is 100, the reference numeral of the distribution port is 101, and the reference numeral of the distribution cap is 102.

Figure 4 is a detailed view of the distribution cap of the present invention, as shown in Figure 4, the distribution cap 102 of the present invention is a burr type distribution port of the shape as close as possible to the cross-sectional shape of the pipe 400 Has 101. When comparing the distribution port 101 and the distribution port 11 of the conventional heat exchanger shown in FIG. 1, the conventional distribution port 11 has a cross-sectional height of the header tank larger than that of the pipe. On the other hand, in the distribution port 101 of the present invention, it can be seen that the cross-sectional height of the header tank 100 and the pipe cross-sectional height are substantially the same.

FIG. 5A is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA ′ of FIG. 4, and FIG. 5B is a cross-sectional view taken along the line B-B ′ of FIG. 5A. As shown in Figure 5 (A), since the distribution cap 102 is to be fitted to fit tightly on one side of the header tank 100, the inner cross-section around the distribution cap 102 is the header tank 100 Coincides with the outer circumference of the cross section. That is, the inner cross-sectional height d _c of the distribution port 101 is equal to the outer cross-sectional height d _h of the header tank 100. Therefore, when the distribution cap 102 and the header tank 100 are coupled to each other, as the distribution port 101 formed in the distribution cap 102, the cross section of the header tank 100 as shown in FIG. Part of the top and bottom will be exposed.

Figure 5 (B) is a cross-sectional view of the assembly state up to the pipe 400 to the assembly of the header tank 100 and the distribution cap 102. The cross-sectional height (d _c ) of the distribution port 101 is to match the cross-sectional height of the distribution cap 102, thereby exposing the upper and lower portions of the cross section of the header tank 100, thereby exposing the exposed header tank (100) The cross section may serve as a stopper that prevents the pipe 400 from being inserted beyond a predetermined depth. Accordingly, even though the pipe 400 does not have a bead-like structure as shown in FIG. 2, the end surface of the header tank 100 exposed to the distribution port 101 stops. The insertion depth can be fixed. As the insertion depth of the pipe 400 is fixed in this way, the position of the pipe 400 does not change when brazing the pipe 400 and the distribution port 101, thereby greatly increasing the convenience of the brazing operation. That is, according to the present invention, since the insertion depth of the pipe 400 is fixed by the assembly structure itself even without forming a special structure (for example, a structure such as the bead 41 of FIG. 2) in the pipe 400, In the manufacturing of the shape of the 400, the bead forming process can be omitted, and the mold design can be much simpler, resulting in an economic effect that can greatly reduce the manufacturing cost.

A comparison of the structure of the distribution port 11 of the conventional heat exchanger shown in FIG. 1 with the structure of the distribution port 101 of the heat exchanger according to the present invention shown in FIGS. 3 to 5 is shown in FIG. 6. have. 6 (A) shows the structure of a conventional distribution port 11 (reference numeral 12 denotes a conventional end cap), and as shown, the cross-sectional area of the distribution port 11 and the header tank 10 are conventionally shown. The cross sectional area of 매우 is very different. Therefore, as described in the problems of the prior art, the pressure drop amount is generated very largely because the flow passage area is suddenly increased in the flow of the working fluid flowing from the pipe to the header tank (10). 6 (B) is a structure of the distribution port 101 according to the present invention, as shown in the present invention, the cross-sectional area of the distribution port 101 is much more similar to the cross-sectional area of the header tank (100). In particular, the inner height of the cross-section of the distribution port 101 and the outer height of the cross section of the header tank 100 are exactly coincident, and thus, when the pipe 400 is fitted, the inner height of the cross section of the pipe 400 and the cross section of the header tank 100 cross-section. The inner height will be exactly the same. In other words, the flow path area is only affected by the increase in cross-sectional area on both sides, and as a whole, the increase in the flow path area is much smaller than in the related art. As a result, the amount of pressure drop in the flow of the working fluid is much reduced, so that the straightness of the flow can be remarkably improved.

In addition, as the size of the distribution port 101 and the size of the header tank 100 almost coincide with each other, the volume of the header tank 100 can be reduced, thereby greatly reducing the total volume of the heat exchanger. An additional effect also arises that makes it possible to achieve compactness.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. It goes without saying that various modifications can be made.

As described above, there is an effect of greatly improving the characteristics of the flow in the working fluid flow between the pipe and the header tank without additional structure. That is, according to the present invention, the pressure drop is greatly reduced by minimizing a change in the flow path area generated while the working fluid flows between the pipe and the header tank, and accordingly, the flow distribution from the header tank to the tube is made uniform. . In addition, as a result, the temperature distribution in the tube becomes uniform, and thus, the heat exchange performance of the entire heat exchanger is greatly improved.

In addition, in the past, in order to stop the pipe at the proper position when inserting and fixing the pipe to form a structure for stopping, such as bead on the pipe, according to the present invention, the pipe is fixed by the structure of the end cap and the header tank itself By doing so, there is an effect that the assembly convenience greatly increases. In addition, in the prior art, a process for forming a bead in the pipe is further required, but in the present invention, such a process may be omitted in principle. Alternatively, the mold of the product is complicated to implement a structure for the conventional stopping, but according to the present invention, the pipe can be stopped even with a simple mold. In addition, there is an effect that can significantly reduce the production cost of the product. In addition, according to the present invention, since the volume of the header tank can be minimized, the compactness of the heat exchanger can be realized.

Claims (3)

A working fluid flows therein, and a plurality of tubes 200 arranged in parallel at a predetermined interval in parallel to the air blowing direction; The inlet cap 102a having the inlet 101a formed on one side is coupled to the working fluid through the inlet 101a, and the end cap 130 is coupled to the other side of the plurality of tubes. An inflow header tank (100a) for distributing to 200; A fin (300) interposed between the tubes (200) and increasing a heat transfer area with air flowing between the tubes (200); End cap 130 is coupled to the other side to collect the working fluid to move in the tube 200, the discharge cap 102b is formed by combining the discharge cap (102b) formed on one side through the outlet 101b In the heat exchanger 1000 consisting of a discharge header tank (100b) to discharge, The inflow header tank 100a and the discharge header tank 100b are referred to as the header tank 100, and the inlet port 101a and the outlet port 101b are referred to as the outlet port 101, and the inlet cap 102a and the outlet port are discharged. When the cap 102b is called a distribution cap 102, Heat exchanger, characterized in that the inner height (d _c ) of the heat exchanger longitudinal cross section of the outlet port 101 coincides with the outer height (d _h ) of the cross section of the header tank (100). The method of claim 1, wherein the header tank 100 A stopper for exposing the upper and lower portions of the cross section of the header tank 100 through the outlet 101 so that the exposed end of the header tank 100 contacts the end of the pipe 400 to fix the position of the pipe 400. Heat exchanger characterized in that it is formed to serve as a (stopper). The method of claim 2, wherein the distribution port 101 Heat exchanger, characterized in that the upper and lower portions of the cross-section of the flow port 101 is formed in a straight form having a predetermined length.

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