US3334704A

US3334704A - Vehicle heat exchanger assembly

Info

Publication number: US3334704A
Application number: US463204A
Authority: US
Inventors: Kenneth W Gehrke; Louis C Toth
Original assignee: International Harverster Corp
Current assignee: Dresser Industries Inc
Priority date: 1965-06-11
Filing date: 1965-06-11
Publication date: 1967-08-08
Anticipated expiration: 1984-08-08
Also published as: SE305818B; GB1151922A

Description

1967 K. w. GEHRKE ETAL 3,334,704

VEHICLE HEAT EXCHANGER ASSEMBLY Filed June 11, 1965 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Aug. 8, 1967 K. W. GEHRKE ETAL VEHICLE HEAT EXCHANGER ASSEMBLY Filed June 11, 1965 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 ,1 K. w. GEHR-KE ETAL 3,334,704

VEHICLE HEAT EXCHANGER ASSEMBLY 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed June 11, 1965 United States Patent 3,334,704 VEHICLE HEAT EXCHANGER ASSEMBLY Kenneth W. Gehrke, Westchester, and Louis C. Toth,

Mount Prospect, Ill., assignors to International Harvester Company, a corporation of Delaware Filed June 11, 1965, Ser. No. 463,204 13 Claims. (Cl. 180-68) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Vehicle oil cooler and engine radiator assembly constructed so that the cooler can be swung out, for trash clean-out from between the units, without dismantling fluid connections and in fact without shutting down the oil system or the vehicle engine. Swivel connections interconnect the cooler and a set of oil hoses provided therefor and hinge connections interconnect the cooler and the supporting structure of the assembly in such a manner that all of said connections define a common swing axis and relieve one another of hydraulic and mechanical stress, respectively.

This application relates to air cooled heat exchanger units which are both face to face with one another and substantially coextensive in the operative relation. It more particularly relates to such units: which have that operative relation in a vehicle; which function as, say, the vehicle radiator and oil cooler units respectively; which are hinged together at one side; and which are detachably connected at the other side so that they will relatively swing apart on the hinge.

A difficulty encountered in cooling the engine, the transmission oil and, in some instances, the hydraulic accessories oil in earth moving, earth and material handling,

agricultural, and other vehicles is that the respective exchanger units tend to collect chaff, insects, and leaves therebetween if the units are nested together so as to share a common forced air stream. Unless such debris carried in by the air is periodically cleaned out, the rate of heat exchange is impaired to a point that the vehicle and/ or its hydraulic accessories operate at low efficiency and at considerably below normal capacity. Clean out is generally a problem in the field and, under the more stringent chafiage and leafage conditions encountered, the clean out is sometimes required two or three times per operating shift.

The foregoing trash removal problem is handled herein in relatively simple steps, and without necessarily stopping the vehicle engine. For purposes of disassembly, the driver unbolts and removes the vehicle radiator guard grill, if any, disconnects the oil cooler at its detachably connected side from the radiator, swings the two units apart, and cleans out the accumulated debris from the confronting faces of the units and also from their outside faces if necessary. Reassembly is accomplished in the inverse order of steps listed, all the while that a pressure regulator which is provided maintains continuous oil circulation and pressure in the cooler.

In the particular organization of our invention as herein illustrated, the exchanger assembly is installed in a vehicle having a chassis-supported engine compartment, a hooded radiator guard defining an exchanger air duct at the outer end of the engine compartment, and a fan in the engine compartment to move air through the air duct. The as sembly itself, more particularly comprises first and second heat exchangers disposed-transversely in the air duct across an air path in common to the exchangers, the first exchanger being framed by a rigid, chassis connected frame; the first exchanger frame having bracket means secured thereto and providing first frame connected connections at one side of the first exchanger swingably seice curing the second exchanger thereto at that side, the first exchanger having second frame connected connections at the opposite side of the exchanger detachably securing the second exchanger thereto at that side; and fluid connections to the second exchanger comprising swivels spaced apart along said one side of the first exchanger, each swivel comprising coupling parts which turn one within another and are arranged so that the axes of the individual swivels are fixed to coincide with one another; the first frame .connected connections comprising mechanical hinges spaced apart on the bracket means along the one side of the first exchanger, the hinges functioning to relieve the fluid connections so that the latter are structurally free from transmitting loads when the exchangers relatively swing, and arranged so that the axes of the hinges are fixed to substantially coincide with the fixed axes of the swivels during such swinging.

The swivellin-g fluid connections referred to provide very simple breakaway couplings, the parts thereof enabling inlet and outlet hoses to which they are connected to be readily uncoupled and recoupled to the cooler, without tools, as will now be explained in detail.

Features, objects, and advantages are either specifically pointed out or will become apparent when, for a better understanding of the invention, reference is made to the following written description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which show a preferred embodiment thereof and in which:

FIGURE 1 is an external isometric view, toward a front quarter, of a crawler vehicle performing an earth handling operation and embodying the exchangers of the present invention;

FIGURES 2, 3 and 4 are side elevational, front elevational, and top plan views of the exchanger assembly in the vehicle of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary isometric view of a hinged, detachably secured exchanger unit showing the detachably secured side thereof;

FIGURE 6 is an enlarged, partially broken away, more complete view of a detail of FIGURE 3, likewise being a front plan view; and

FIGURES 7, 8 and 9 are broken out showings of one detail of FIGURES 2, 3 and 4, and are likewise side elevational, front elevational, and top plan views.

More particularly in FIGURE 1 of the drawings, a crawler vehicle 10 is shown having a chassis suspended by and between a right track frame 12 and a left track frame 14. The chassis includes two forwardly extending arms, one being shown at 16, formed on a unitary front carrier. The carrier supports an engine in an engine compartment 18 which is open in the upper rear sides for ventilation purposes.

A wrap around radiator guard 20, having a perforated guard grill 22 at the front, is d-oweled at its opposite lower sides to the arms 16 of the front carrier. The guard 20 supports the front end of the hood 24 which surrounds the engine compartment and which defines an exchanger aid duct at the outer end of the engine compartment 18. Within the air duct, in a line behind the guard grill 22, there are arranged a transmission oil cooler 26 for oil to air heat exchange, a cooling system radiator 28 for water to air heat exchange, and a pusher disk fan, not shown, for forcing air frontwardly in a fan path through the respective radiator, oil cooler and grill.

In FIGURES 2 and 3, the oil cooler 26 and radiator 28 are supported as an exchanger assembly within the guard 20. The radiator 26 is framed-in by rectangular structure including vertically disposed frame side members 30, an upper tank 32 bridged between, and joined by corner brackets 34 to, the top ends of the side members 30, and front and rear frame bottom rail members 36 bridging between, and joined by corner brackets 38 to, the bottom ends of the frame side members 30. Upper and

lower devices

40 and 42 provide a rubber biscuit or pad connection between four points on the wrap around plate of the guard 20 and four trunnions 44 on the radiator frame side members 30.

The upper radiator tank 32 carries a fill cap 46 at the top and carries a water inlet 48 at the rear. A lower tank 50 in the radiator carries a downwardly and rearwardly extending water outlet 52 for connection to the vehicle engine, not shown.

A pusher fan 54 within the engine compartment draws air across the engine and forces it in the direction of the arrows (FIGURE 2) across the core of the radiator 28 and across the core of the cooler 26. The radiator core comprises a series of parallel rows of vertically disposed flat water tubes 56 which are connected at their opposite ends to the tanks so as to conduct water from the upper tank 32 to the lower tank 50. The radiator core also includes vertically spaced apart flat steel fins 58 which increase the heat transfer to air and which extend horizontally across the radiator.

In FIGURES 2, 3 and 4, the oil cooler 26 is in the space between, and is parallel to, the grill 22 at the front and the radiator 28 at the rear so as to define with the latter a vertical, thin, trash clean out gap or space 60. The cooler 26 has a vertically extending right tank 62 and left tank 64, the latter being divided by a horizontal partition 66 into an upper and a lower portion.

Oil flows through the cooler 26 in a path including a lower fluid connection 67, the lower portion of the left tank 64, a series of horizontal, flat oil tubes 68 disposed in the lower half of the cooler core, the right tank 62 where the oil transfers from the bottom end to the top end, a series of flat oil tubes 70 which are horizontally disposed and which connect the upper half of the right tank 62 and the upper half of the left tank 64, and thence through the upper portion of the tank 64 and an upper fluid connection 72 into a gooseneck down pipe 74. The balance of the core of the cooler 26 includes a horizontal, top end plate 76, a horizontal, bottom end plate 78, and a row of vertically disposed cooling fins 80 extending between the top and

bottom plates

76 and 78. The

oil tubes

68 and 70 are transverse to all water tubes 56.

In FIGURE 2, a hose for leading the discharge from a torque converter forwardly is connected to an inlet fitting 82 that supplies the hot oil input to the lower fluid connection 67 on the cooler. Cool oil discharged by the cooler 26 into the gooseneck down pipe 74 is discharged through an outlet fitting 84 into a hose leading to an oil pressure regulator and to be a pressurizing pump for filling the torque converter. Two vertically spaced apart J-clamps 86 are secured by bolts to a clamp attachment plate 88 and encircle the down pipe 74 so as to prevent it from rotating.

In FIGURE 9, the frictional binding action of the J- clamps, such as the J-clamp 86, is believed apparent. When the free legs of the clamp, after a cylinder or tube is within the loop of the clamp, are forced together under the head of a bolt, the loop collapses, reducing in circumference and forming a closed band of pressure contact for positive clamping effect.

In FIGURES 2 and 4, the perforated grill 22 fits inside a shallow recess within the wrap around plate of the radiator guard 20 at a point beneath a generally horizontally disposed arching member 90 which bridges across the underside of the guard so as to reinforce the top portion. At the sides, the grill 22 is detachably bolted to attachment angles 92 that are secured to the sides of the plate of the radiator guard 20. A forwardly and diagonally upwardly extending lower plate 94 in the radiator guard terminates in the plane of and at the bottom of the grill 22, presenting a horizontally disposed bracket 96 to which reinforcements, not shown, to the exchanger assembly are mounted.

The upper and

lower corner brackets

34 and 38 adjacent the right cooler tank 62 carry brackets 98 to which attachment angles 100 carried by the right tank 62 are detachably connected by two bolts 102. The bolts 102 are readily removed by the vehicle driver, who gains access thereto by removing the bolted on grill 22 from the radiator guard 20.

In FIGURES 3 and 4, the radiator frame side member 30 adjacent the left tank 64 of the exchanger 26 carries a hinge bracket 104 of angle shape which is secured thereto by a series of bolts 106. The bracket 104 carries vertically spaced apart hinges 108, which are secured to the left tank 64 of the cooler and on which the cooler 26 is mounted to swing about a vertical axis 110.

In FIGURE 4, the cooler swings from an operative position shown by solid lines and limited by engagement between the attachment angles 100 and the bracket 98, to a elean-out position shOWn by the bro-ken lines 26a and limited by engagement of the inner end of the cooler with a vertically extending stop strap 112 which is fixed and disposed parallel to the adjacent attachment angle 92. The limits of swing just noted stop the oil cooler after adequate movement to open the gap 60, and in one physically constructed embodiment of the invention a swing of 64 was found sufficient.

In FIGURE 5, the upper one of the attachment angles 100 of the coller 26 is shown in its disconnected position during swing out for cleaning the cooler.

In FIGURES 6, 7, 8, and 9, the hinges are symmetrically identical to one another and only the upper one of the hinges 108 on the bracket 104 will be specifically described. The supporting part is a small plate 114 of rectangular shape which is welded to the angle shaped hinge bracket 104 and defines an aperture. The supported par is a hinge strap 116 brazed to the oil cooler left tank 64 and presenting a right angle lug having an aperture registering with the first named aperture. A cap screw 118 carrying a nut is received in the registering apertures and forms the pintle of the resulting hinge 108.

Top and bottom retainer plates 120 are welded to the hinge bracket 104 at a point just above the upper fluid connection 72 and at a point just below the lower fluid connection 67 for the cooler 26. The two plates have a forwardly open, semi-circular notch 122 therein for receiving the pipes connected to the inlet and

outlet hose fittings

82 and 84 previously described.

In FIGURE 6, only the upper fluid connection 72 is specifically described. It is symmetrically identical to the lower connection 67 and the same description will sufiice for both connections. An outer sleeve 126 in the connection 72 is brazed at its top end to the short leg of the gooseneck downpipe 74 and carries a dust seal ring 128 at the lower end. The sleeve 126 telescopes over a tubular stud 130 which is sealed thereto and which frictionally resists axial separation therefrom by means of an interposed O-ring 132. A 90 elbow fitting 134 carries the tubular stud 130 so as to align it with the hinge axis and, in a perpendicular direction, carries a threaded adapter 136 connecting it to the inside of the left tank 64 of the oil cooler 26.

The notched plates prevent the

fluid connections

67 and 72 from axially separating, the oil cooling system being designed to handle pressure up to 20 psi. gage.

In operation under the design pressure, the tubular stud member rocks fluid tight on its axis as the cooler swings, whereas the sleeve 126 is frictionally prevented from turning by means of a J-clamp 138 which encircles the outer sleeve. The J-clamp 138 is secured by a nut and bolt 140 to the hinge bracket 104. The J-clamp 138 affords the same non-rotatable clamping action as the J- clamp 86 which is hereinabove described in connection with in FIGURE 9 and which is used to prevent the gooseneck downpipe, not shown, from turning.

Complete removal of the oil cooler is begun, first, by following all of the steps for trash clean out. Thereafter, the pintle screws 118 are removed from the hinges 108, and all of the J-

clamps

86 and 138 are removed.

The next step is that the cooler 26 is moved forwardly a slight amount so as to be free of the notches in the retainer plates 120, whereupon the upper fluid connection 72 is broken by lifting the gooseneck pipe 74 and the brazed-on tubular sleeve into the withdrawn position shown by the respective dotted lines 74a and 126a. The pipe at the bottom of the lower fluid connection 67 is grasped and the connection is similarly axially broken, after which the cooler, carrying the 90 elbows 134 and the hinge straps 116, is removed from the vehicle through the front end of the radiator guard 20. Reinstallation is accomplished in the inverse order of steps listed.

As herein disclosed, the invention is shown embodied in the mode of assembly of a transmission oil cooler with the engine radiator of a vehicle. It is evident that additional exchanger units can be so mounted in assembly as to share a common fan path, and that units in other and different combinations can be so mounted.

So also FIGURE 1 of the drawings shows that the vehicle 12 is equipped with a front end loader 140, the consequence of which is that the air surrounding the engine compartment tends to fill primarily with trash and flying debris from the falling earth or material 142 being handled. It is evident that the invention is equally applicable to a variety of vehicles and stationary units vulnerable to chaff, leaves, or like trash, and it is not essential that the cooling system fan be a pusher fan because the accumulation of trash and necessity for periodic clean out are a similar problem with reversible fans and with straight suction fans, by which air is drawn from the outside directly through -the exchanger units. The reason for the oil tubes 70 being horizontally disposed in the cooler and the water tubes 56 being vertically disposed in the radiator resides in the mutual crosswise tube arrangement which results. The sets of water tubes are not aligned with any individual oil tube and therefore do not mask or stifle the operation of the oil cooler tubes.

What is claimed is:

1. Exchanger assembly for a vehicle having a chassis and a cooling fan for forcing air in a fan path, comprising:

first and second heat exchangers operatively related both face to face with one another and substantially coextensive across an air path of said fan in common to the exchangers, said first exchanger being framed by a rigid, chassis connected frame;

said first exchanger having first frame connected connections at one side of the exchanger swingably securing the second exchanger thereto at that side, said first exchanger having second frame connected connections at an opposite side of the exchanger detachably securing the second exchanger thereto at that side; and

fluid connections to the second exchanger comprising swivels spaced apart along one side of the first exchanger, each swivel comprising parts which are relatively rotatable about an axis and arranged so that the swivel axes coincide;

said first frame connected connections comprising mechanical hinges spaced apart on the first exchanger frame along said one side of the first exchanger, the hinges functioning to relieve said fluid connections so that they are structurally free from transmitting loads when the exchangers relatively swing, and arranged so that the hinges are substantially coaxial with the swivels during such swinging.

2. Exchanger assembly in combination with a vehicle having a chassis-supported engine compartment, a hooded radiator guard defining an exchanger air duct at the outer end of the engine compartment, and a fan in the engine compartment to move air through the air duct, said assembly comprising:

first and second heat exchangers operatively related both face to face with one another and substantially coextenseive across a common air path in said duct,

said first exchanger being framed by a rigid, chassis connected frame;

said first exchanger frame having bracket means secured thereto and providing first frame connected connections at one side of the exchanger swingably securing the second exchanger thereto at that side, said first exchanger having second frame connected connections at an opposite side of the exchanger detachably securing the second exchanger thereto at that side; and

fluid connections to the second exchanger comprising swivels spaced apart along said one side of the first exchanger, each swivel comprising parts arranged to turn one within another about a fixed axis, and arranged so that the axes of the swivels coincide with one another;

said first frame connected connections comprising mechanical hinges spaced apart on the bracket means along said one side of the first exchanger, said hinges functioning to relieve said fluid connections so that they are structurally free from transmitting loads when the exchangers relatively swing, and arranged so that the axes of the hinges are fixed to substantially coincide with the fixed axes of the swivels during such swinging.

3. The invention of claim 2,

said swivel parts being tubular and comprising an inner stud part and an outer sleeve part in mutually telescoped relation; and

means on the bracket means connected to the swivels to prevent rotation of the sleeve parts.

4. The invention of claim 3,

further comprising means on the bracket means preventing axial withdrawal of the parts in each swivel from their mutually telescoped relation.

5. The invention of claim 3, the last named means comprising J-shaped clamps each having a loop collapsed into a closed band of pressure contact about, and frictionally gripping, a sleeve part.

6. The invention of claim 2, said vehicle being engine powered and having separate engine cooling and transmission cooling systems, said first and second heat exchangers comprising respectively a radiator included in the engine cooling system and an oil cooler included in the transmission cooling system.

7. The invention of claim 6, said radiator having vertically spaced apart tanks joined by vertically disposed tubes, said oil cooler having laterally spaced apart tanks joined by laterally disposed tubes.

8. The invention of claim 7, the chassis-connected frame which frames the radiator having rubber shock mountings constituting the sole connection between the frame and the chassis of the vehicle so that the exchanger assembly is floated on rubber mountings.

9. The invention of claim 8, said fluid connections comprising pipes, and rubber hoses connected to the sleeve parts of the swivels by means of the pipes.

10. The invention of claim 9, at least one of said pipes comprising a gooseneck pipe and arranged whereby each pipe has a portion coaxial with the coincident axes of the hinges and swivels.

11. Exchanger assembly for a vehicle having a chassis and a cooling fan for forcing air in a fan path comprising:

said first exchanger having first frame connected connections at one side of the exchanger swingably securing the second exchanger thereto at that side, said first exchanger having second frame connected connections at an opposite side of the exchanger detachably securing the second exchanger thereto at that side;

connections providing fluid communication to and from the second exchanger comprising swivels spaced apart along one side of the first exchanger, said swivels having coupling portions which are relatively rotatable on individual swivel axes fixed to coincide with one another;

said first frame connected connections comprising mechanical hinges spaced apart on the first exchanger frame along said one side of the first exchanger, said hinges functioning to relieve said fluid connections so that portions thereof are structurally free from mechanical loading when the exchangers relatively swing, and arranged with the hinges and the swivels maintained substantially coaxial during such swingmg;

means of mechanical attachment between the first exchanger and a portion of each swivel providing support for the latter;

means of mechanical attachment between the second exchanger and a portion of each swivel providing support for the latter;

flexible inlet and outlet hose means coupled by the fluid connections to the second exchanger;

separate fluid connections providing communication to and from the first exchanger; and

inlet and outlet hose means connected to the last named fluid connections.

12. The invention of claim 11,

further comprising stops limiting the exchangers at both ends of their arc of relative swing.

13. The vinvention of claim 12,

said stops being disposed one at an end of swing limiting the exchangers to a substantially parallel relation, and the other limiting the exchangers to an angular separation of no more than approximately 65 from the parallel relation.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 25 LEO FRIAGLIA, Primary Examiner.

MILTON L. SMITH, Examiner.

Claims

1. EXCHANGER ASSEMBLY FOR A VEHICLE HAVING A CHASSIS AND A COOLING FAN FOR FORCING AIR IN A FAN PATH, COMPRISING: FIRST AND SECOND HEAT EXCHANGERS OPERATIVELY RELATED BOTH FACE TO FACE WITH ONE ANOTHER AND SUBSTANTIALLY COEXTENSIVE ACROSS AN AIR PATH OF SAID FAN IN COMMON TO THE EXCHANGERS, SAID FIRST EXCHANGER BEING FRAMED BY A RIGID, CHASSIS CONNECTED FRAME; SAID FIRST EXCHANGER HAVING FIRST FRAME CONNECTED CONNECTIONS AT ONE SIDE OF THE EXCHANGER SWINGABLY SECURING THE SECOND EXCHANGER THERETO AT THAT SIDE, SAID FIRST EXCHANGER HAVING SECOND FRAME CONNECTED CONNECTIONS AT AN OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE EXCHANGER DETACHABLY SECURING THE SECOND EXCHANGER THERETO AT THAT SIDE; AND FLUID CONNECTIONS TO THE SECOND EXCHANGER COMPRISING SWIVELS SPACED APART ALONG ONE SIDE OF THE FIRST EXCHANGER, EACH SWIVEL COMPRISING PARTS WHICH ARE RELATIVELY ROTATABLE ABOUT AN AXIS AND ARRANGED SO THAT THE SWIVEL AXES COINCIDE; SAID FIRST FRAME CONNECTED CONNECTIONS COMPRISING MECHANICAL HINGES SPACED APART ON THE FIRST EXCHANGER FRAME ALONG SAID ONE SIDE OF THE FIRST EXCHANGER, THE HINGES FUNCTIONING TO RELIEVE SAID FLUID CONNECTIONS SO THAT THEY ARE STRUCTURALLY FREE FROM TRANSMITTING LOADS WHEN THE EXCHANGERS RELATIVELY SWING, AND ARRANGED SO THAT THE HINGES ARE SUBSTANTIALLY COAXIAL WITH THE SWIVELS DURING SUCH SWINGING.