WO2015007551A1

WO2015007551A1 - Manifold collector plate for a heat exchanger

Info

Publication number: WO2015007551A1
Application number: PCT/EP2014/064381
Authority: WO
Inventors: Salim RABAHI
Original assignee: Valeo Systemes Thermiques
Priority date: 2013-07-19
Filing date: 2014-07-04
Publication date: 2015-01-22
Also published as: FR3008784A1; FR3008784B1

Abstract

The invention relates to a collector plate (8) for a manifold (3, 4) of a heat exchanger, said plate (8) comprising a bottom (11) and two side walls (14) facing each other, characterised in that said side walls (14) comprise a thinner part (13) forming a stop (15) in the material thickness of said side wall(s) (14), said stop (15) being designed to allow a cover (9) of the manifold (3, 4) to be positioned between said side walls (14). The invention also relates to a manifold (3, 4) that comprises such a collector plate (8) and a cover (9), a heat exchanger comprising such a manifold (3, 4) and a method for manufacturing such a collector plate (8).

Description

Collector plate collector of a heat exchanger

The invention relates to a manifold collector plate of a heat exchanger, a collector comprising such a collector plate and a heat exchanger comprising said collector. It also relates to a method of manufacturing such a collector plate.

The heat exchangers concerned are intended in particular to equip vehicles and correspond, in a preferred application, to the condensers provided on the air conditioning loops or circuits of the vehicles. However, other applications of these heat exchangers are also conceivable without departing from the scope of the invention.

Condensers comprising a bundle of parallel tubes and two collectors are known in which the corresponding ends of the tubes are connected in a fixed and sealed manner. Thus, the fluid of the air conditioning loop, can flow from one manifold to the other, through the tubes in which the fluid passes from the vapor phase to the liquid phase by heat exchange with a flow of air, sweeping the tubes. These exchangers are assembled by soldering.

The collectors comprise a collector plate, having a bottom and side walls facing each other, and a cover located between the side walls and closing the collector plate, after brazing. To pre-assemble the lid and the collector plate before soldering, it is known to crimp them. For this, a peripheral portion of the side walls of the header plate is crimped on the cover.

In order to maintain the cover between the side walls of the header plate before the crimping operation and in order to prevent the cover from sinking between the side walls during the crimping operation, it is known to create local deformations in the walls side against which the lid is held. These local deformations of the collector plate are made by stamping, after folding of its side walls. The collectors are also provided with watertight partitions so as to create several sealed compartments inside the collector. These compartments are created for the purpose of making fluid circulation passes in the exchanger. Depending on the number and the configuration of the passes that one wishes to achieve, these partitions are more or less spaced and more or less numerous in the collector.

However, these partitions have the shape of the inner part of the collector and can not be positioned where the local deformations are located. A disadvantage therefore comes from the fact that it is necessary to deform the side walls of the collector plate as a function of the future positioning of the partitions. It is thus necessary to change the deformation process each time the manifold in manufacture is intended to comprise differently positioned partitions and / or a number of different partitions. This thus leads to loss of time in the manufacturing process and the need for a tool capable of producing deformations at different locations of the collector plates, such as programmable tools to adapt to the different series of collectors manufactured and therefore expensive. .

The object of the invention is to overcome the aforementioned problems.

It proposes for this purpose a manifold collector plate of a heat exchanger, said plate comprising a bottom and two side walls being faces, characterized in that said side walls comprise a thinned portion forming a stop in the thickness of material of the one or more said side walls, said stop being intended to allow the positioning of a cover of the collector between the side walls. In other words, the collector plate comprises another part, adjacent to the thinned portion and of greater thickness than that of the thinned portion, the difference in thickness between the thinned portion and the adjacent portion creating the abutment. The other part of the header plate is intended to provide resistance to the pressure of a fluid, in particular a refrigerant.

Thus, thanks to the invention, the collector plate can hold the lid through the stops so that the presence of local deformations is no longer necessary. The manufacture of collector plates can thus be standardized, the partitions can be positioned all along the collector plate, without limitations due to local deformations.

According to one aspect of the invention, the said thinned portion or portions are in continuity of a base of the side walls, connected to the bottom of the said collector plate. In other words, the base and the thinned portion of the side walls are from the same material, that is to say that they were obtained from the same plate, without the thinned part is reported on the base . According to an exemplary embodiment of the invention, the thinned portions extend stops to the distal ends of said side walls. The stops are thus located close to an edge zone of said walls so as to receive the lid close to the edges of the side walls. The cover can thus be of reduced size. Indeed, the stops being located at the edges, that is to say higher than the bottom of the local deformations, the lateral wings of the cover can be reduced in size.

Advantageously, said thinned portion has a constant thickness. It can thus be obtained by a simple and economical process such as rolling. According to one aspect of the invention, the header plate has a longitudinal extension dimension and the stops are continuous along said longitudinal extension dimension. This improves the function of holding the lid by supporting it via stops along the entire length of the collector plate.

Advantageously, the side walls are parallel to each other. Advantageously, the bottom of the collector plate comprises slots for receiving tubes of the exchanger.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the invention, said thinned portions extend in thickness from an outer face of said side walls. The outer face is continuous, that is to say that it has no stops. In other words, said stops are only directed towards the inside of the header plate, that is to say that the abutments of each side wall face each other.

Advantageously, said thinned portion of the collector plate has a thickness of between 25% and 75% of the thickness of the base. In particular, it may have a thickness of between 40% and 60% of the thickness of the base. This thickness is particularly advantageous for maintaining the lid and facilitating the crimping of the collector plate on the cover. The invention also relates to a collector of a heat exchanger comprising the collector plate as described above and a cover positioned against said stops.

According to one aspect of the invention, said thinned portion forms an area of the collector plate folded over the lid. A base of said thinned portion thus forms a hinge zone facilitating the folding of the collector plate on the lid. The effort required to apply to the portion of peripheral edge of the plate during crimping of said plate on said lid will be less important and reduce the risk of deformation of the collector. According to an exemplary embodiment of the invention, the cover comprises lateral wings held against said stops. Advantageously, said lateral wings are held against said stops at distal ends of said side wings. According to one aspect of the invention, the lateral wings have a thinned portion and another portion, adjacent to their thinned portion and of greater thickness than said thinned portion of said lateral wings, the difference in thickness forming an abutment in contact with said stop of the collector plate. The counter-stop makes it possible to further improve the holding of the cover on the collector plate.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the invention, the cover has a dimension of longitudinal extension and the abutment is continuous along said dimension of longitudinal extension of the cover. This improves the retention of the lid on the collector plate.

Advantageously, the thinned portion of the lid has a thickness of between 25% and 75% of the thickness of the other portion of the lid. In particular, it may have a thickness of between 40% and 60% of the thickness of the other portion.

According to one aspect of the invention, the thinned portions of the lid are parallel to each other. The invention also relates to a heat exchanger, including a condenser of a motor vehicle air conditioning system, provided with a collector as described above. The invention also relates to a method of manufacturing a collector plate as described above in which:

the collector plate is folded so as to form the side walls facing each other,

- The side walls are laminated so as to create the thinned part or parts at the latest simultaneously when the collector plate is folded.

Thanks to the manufacturing method of the invention, the stops are made at the latest when the side walls are created. A collector plate is thus obtained arranged to receive the cover whatever the future configuration of the partitions in the collector without having to carry out a recovery operation for the realization of the local deformations of the state of the art. The manufacture of the collector plate is therefore simple, fast and requires inexpensive tools.

The appended figures will make it clear how the invention can be realized. In these figures, identical references designate similar elements.

Figure 1 is a schematic plan view of an exemplary embodiment of a heat exchanger according to the invention.

Figure 2 is a cross section of a header plate according to the invention.

Figure 3 is a cross section of a manifold according to the invention, after crimping the header plate on the lid. Figure 4 is a view similar to that of Figure 3 showing an alternative embodiment of the invention. Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure 4, illustrating an alternative embodiment.

Figure 6 is a cross section of the manifold of Figure 3 and a flange crimped between the header plate and the cover.

FIG. 7 is a view similar to that of FIG. 6, representing the variant embodiment of FIG. 4. The invention can be applied in a heat exchanger as shown in FIG. This exchanger is, for example, a condenser of an air conditioning loop of the passenger compartment of a vehicle.

The exchanger 1 may comprise a bundle of parallel tubes 2 whose ends 2A are connected in a fixed and sealed manner to collectors or manifolds respectively upstream 3 and downstream 4 according to the direction of flow of the fluid, in particular the refrigerant , circulating in the loop considered in the direction F. To these collectors are respectively reported input connection flanges 5 and outlet 6 of the fluid.

In particular, the tubes 2 in which the fluid circulates have an oblong cross section and between these are arranged interleaves 7 increasing the heat exchange surface between the fluid flowing in the exchanger 1 and the outside air flow therethrough this one. The inside of the tubes 2 may also include disrupters which, like the spacers, increase the heat exchange surface and the mechanical strength of the tubes. It may also be extruded tubes. Each tube defines, for example, a plurality of internal, parallel, fluid flow channels. The upstream and downstream 3 and 4 collectors are generally identical and have a generally tubular shape. They are of "bipartite" type, that is to say that each of them comprises a header plate 8 and a cover 9. The inlet and outlet flanges 6 and 6 are respectively provided on the upstream and downstream collectors. Alternatively, the two flanges 5, 6 may be on the same tubular collector 5 respectively at the ends thereof, as shown by the flange 6 in dashed lines in Figure 1. The function of the inlet and outlet flanges 6 is to ensure the fluidic connections via unrepresented ducts between, in the example, a compressor of the equipped air-conditioning loop and the interior space of the tubular upstream collector 3, and between the interior space of the tubular downstream collector 4 and a loop expander via fluid passages in the flanges.

For information, there is shown, by reference 35, other flanges reported by crimping on the tubular collectors 3, 4 and intended for fixing the exchanger 1 on appropriate supports of the vehicle and / or the attachment of a fluid storage bottle in fluid communication with one of the collectors.

Partitions, not shown, are optionally provided at each of the longitudinal ends of the collector to close the collector. Intermediate partitions, which can make two parts of the collector hermetic to one another can also be provided.

The collector plate 8 is shown in greater detail in FIG. 2 on which it is shown before crimping around the cover 9 and in FIGS. 3 to 5 on which the collector plate 8 is crimped on the cover 9. As illustrated in Figure 2, the manifold plate 8 has, for example, a substantially U-shaped cross section and its wall thus defines a bottom 1 1 extended by two branches or side walls 14 being opposite, in particular parallel to each other. The distal ends 31 of the side walls 14 define a longitudinal opening 25 to be closed by the lid. In the bottom 1 1 of the header plate 8 are provided oblong slots 18 all along thereof, in which are received the corresponding ends of the parallel tubes. They may be lined with snares 30.

According to the invention, said side walls 14 comprise a thinned portion 13 forming an abutment 15 in the material thickness of the side walls 14, the abutment 15 allowing the positioning of the collector cover between the side walls 14. The collecting plate 8 comprises another part or base 16, adjacent to the thinned portion 13 and of greater thickness than that of the thinned portion 13, the difference in thickness between the thinned portion and the adjacent portion creating the stop 15. In other words, the thinned portion 13 has a material thickness lower than the material thickness of the base 16 and / or the bottom 1 1 of the header plate 8. The base 16 is here connected to the bottom 1 1 of the header plate 8. It is intended to provide resistance to the pressure of the fluid flowing in the manifold 3, 4.

The thinned portions 13 are here in the continuity of the base 16 of the side walls. The thinned portions 13 thus form part of the same plate as the base 16 and have, for example, been obtained by rolling this plate. The thinned portions 13 have, in particular, a constant thickness. Note that the thinned portions 13 extend in thickness from an outer face of the side walls 14. The outer face is therefore continues and the stops 15 are directed only towards the inside of the collector 3, 4.

As illustrated in FIGS. 3 to 5, the cover 9 of the collector 3, 4 is positioned against the abutments 15. The distal ends 31 of the side walls 14 are here crimped onto the cover 9. In particular, the thinned portions 13 The crimping is thus facilitated by reducing the thickness of the thinned portions relative to the rest of the collector plate 8.

The cover 9 has, for example, also a U-shaped cross section comprising a central wall 21, in particular slightly concave, extended by branches or lateral wings 22, shorter than those of the collecting plate 8. The lateral wings 22 are maintained on said abutments 15. The dimension, in particular in width of the cover 9, is such that the lateral branches 22 fit head to tail between the side walls 14 of the collector plate 8. The lateral flanges 22 are, for example, parallel between them. The assembly of the cover 9 and the manifold plate 8 defines an internal space 24 in which is circulated the fluid of the loop. Due to the nested shape of the U of the plate 8 and the cover 9, the cross section of the collector 3 or 4 is approximately rectangular, but could be different.

Advantageously, the thinned portions 13 of the side walls 14 of the header plate 8 extend from the abutments 15 to the distal ends 31 of the side walls 14. The cover 9 can thus be held close to the distal ends 31 of the side walls 14 of the It can thus be of reduced lateral dimension. The header plate 8 has a longitudinal extension dimension and the stops 15 are continuous along this longitudinal extension dimension. The thinned portion 13 of the header plate 8 has a thickness between 25% and 75% of the thickness of the other part. In particular, it may have a thickness of between 40% and 60% of the thickness of the other part.

The base of the thinned portion 13 forms a hinge zone 36 facilitating the folding of the collector plate 8 on the lid 9. The force required to be applied on the thinned portion 13 during crimping of the collector plate on the body will be less important. and reduce the risk of deformation of the manifold 3, 4. In this example, the thinned portion 13 extends from the hinge zone to the distal edge of the first piece. In other words, it covers the entire portion 12 for crimping.

According to a variant of the invention illustrated in FIG. 3, the lateral wings 22 of the cover 9 are held against the abutments 15 of the collecting plate 8 at the level of the distal ends 32 of the lateral wings 22. The lateral dimension of the cover 9 is thus scaled down.

According to another variant of the invention illustrated in FIG. 4, the lateral wings 22 have a thinned portion 23 and another portion 28, adjacent to their thinned portion 23 and of greater thickness than the thinned portion 23 of the wings 22. The difference in thickness between the thinned portions of the lid and the other portions 28 of the lid creates an abutment 29 in contact with the stops 15 of the header plate. The cover 9 here has a dimension of longitudinal extension and the abutment is continuous along this dimension of longitudinal extension. Its thinned portion 23 has a thickness of between 25% and 75%, especially between 40% and 60%, of the thickness of the other portion of the lid. In particular, it may have a thickness of 0.5 mm. Portions 23 of the side wings 22 of the cover 9 are, for example, parallel to each other.

FIG. 5 illustrates another embodiment in which local deformations 40 have been made in the side walls 14. Although they are not necessary, they may be present to further improve the retention of the cover 9 between the side walls 14 .

FIGS. 6 and 7 illustrate the fact that the crimping operation can make it possible to pre-assemble not only the collecting plate 8 and the cover 9, but also the inlet and outlet flanges 6 of the fluids, the flanges 35 intended to attaching the exchanger 1 to appropriate vehicle supports and / or hooking up the fluid storage bottle. These elements are crimped, for example, between the cover 9 and the thinned portion 13 of the side walls 14 of the header plate 8. In this way, a pre-assembly of all these elements is obtained in a single operation.

In addition, in the case of a more complete pre-assembly where the bottle is pre-assembled between the collector plate and the lid to be crimped together with them, the narrowness between the lid and the bottle involves the use of crimping blades of small section thus brittle. By reducing the force required for crimping the side walls 14 on the cover 9 by virtue of the presence of the thinned portion, the risk of breakage of the crimping blades of small section is also reduced.

The invention also relates to a method of manufacturing the collecting plate 8 in which:

the collector plate 8 is folded so as to form the side walls 14 facing each other,

the side walls 14 are rolled so as to create the thinned portion or portions 13 of the collecting plate 8 at the latest at the same time as the collecting plate 8 is folded.

Claims

claims

1. Collector plate (8) of collector (3, 4) of a heat exchanger (1), said plate comprising a bottom (1 1) and two side walls (14) facing each other, characterized in that said side walls (14) comprise a thinned portion (13) forming a stop (15) in the thickness of material of the one or more side walls (14), said stop (15) being intended to allow the positioning of a cover (9) collector (3, 4) between said side walls (14).

2. collector plate (8) according to claim 1, wherein the said thinned portion (s) (13) are in continuity of a base (16) of the side walls (14), connected to the bottom (1 1) of said collector plate (8).

The header plate (8) according to claim 2, wherein said thinned portion (13) of the header plate (8) has a thickness of between 25% and 75% of the thickness of the base (16).

The header plate (8) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the thinned portions (13) extend abutments

(15) to the distal ends (31) of said side walls (14).

A header plate (8) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the header plate (8) has a longitudinal extension dimension and the stops (15) are continuous along said longitudinal extension dimension.

6. collector (3,4) of a heat exchanger (1) comprising the header plate (8) according to any one of claims 1 to 5 and a cover (9) positioned against said stops (15).

7. Collector (3, 4) according to claim 6, wherein the collector plate (8) is crimped on the cover (9), said thinned portion (13) forming a zone (36) of the collector plate (8) bent on the lid (9).

8. Manifold (3, 4) according to claim 6 or 7, wherein the cover (9) comprises side wings (22) held against said stops (15).

The collector (3, 4) of claim 8, wherein said lateral wings (22) are held against said stops (15) at distal end levels (32) of said side wings (22).

10. Collector (3, 4) according to claim 8, wherein the lateral flanges (22) have a thinned portion (23) and another portion (28), adjacent to their thinned portion (23) and thicker than said thinned portion (23) of said lateral flanges (22), the difference in thickness forming an abutment (29) in contact with said abutment (15) of the collector plate (8).

1 1. Manifold (3, 4) according to claim 10, wherein the lid

(3, 4) has a dimension of longitudinal extension and the abutment (29) is continuous along said longitudinal extension dimension of the lid (3, 4).

12. Manifold (3, 4) according to claim 10 or 1 1, wherein said thinned portion (23) of the lid (9) has a thickness between 25% and 75% of the thickness of the other portion (28). ) of the cover (9).

13. Manifold (3, 4) according to any one of claims 10 to 12, wherein said thinned portions (23) of the cover (9) are parallel to each other.

14. Heat exchanger (1), including a condenser of a motor vehicle air conditioning system, provided with a manifold (3,4) according to any one of claims 6 to 13.

A method of manufacturing a header plate (8) according to any of claims 1 to 5 wherein:

the collector plate (8) is folded so as to form the side walls (14) facing each other,

- The side walls (14) are laminated so as to create the thinned portion (s) (13) at the latest at the same time as the collector plate (8) is folded.