Heat exchanger, particularly for a motor vehicle

• US 20050103486A1
• Filed: 12/19/2002
• Published: 05/19/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: BEHR GmbH & Company KG (MAHLE-STIFTUNG GmbH)
• Original Assignee: BEHR GmbH & Company KG (MAHLE-STIFTUNG GmbH)
• Inventors: Staffa, Karl-Heinz, Kranich, Michael, Mittelstrass, Hagen, Walter, Christoph, Krauss, Hans Joachim, Demuth, Walter, Kotsch, Martin
• Granted Patent: US 7,650,935 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 165/174
• CPC Class Codes: F28D 1/0478 the conduits having a non-circular cross-section
• CPC Class Codes: F28D 1/05391 with multiple rows of conduits or with multi-channel conduits combined with a particular flow pattern, e.g. multi-row multi-stage radiators
• CPC Class Codes: F28D 2021/0073 Gas coolers
• CPC Class Codes: F28D 2021/0085 Evaporators
• CPC Class Codes: F28F 2280/00 Mounting arrangements; Arrangements for facilitating assembling or disassembling of heat exchanger parts
• CPC Class Codes: F28F 9/0221 Header boxes or end plates formed by stacked elements
• CPC Class Codes: F28F 9/0278 in the form of stacked distribution plates or perforated plates arranged over end plates

Abstract

The invention relates to a heat exchange comprising tubes (2,3) that can be flown through along a number of hydraulically parallel flow paths (2c, 2d) that are comprised of sections.

Claims

1. A heat exchanger, in particular for a motor vehicle, having tubes which, along a plurality of flow paths which are hydraulically in parallel, have a first medium flowing through them and a second medium flowing around them, characterized in that two sections of a flow path, through which medium can flow in opposite directions, are arranged next to one another in the main direction of flow of the second medium.

2. The heat exchanger as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the parallel flow paths are arranged next to one another, in particular without an overlap, in the main direction of flow of the second medium.

3. The heat exchanger as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the parallel flow paths are each limited to a continuous subregion of an end face of the heat exchanger which the flow of the second medium can reach.

4. The heat exchanger as claimed in claim 1, characterized by at least one distribution and/or collection device which is in communication with the tubes, with all the distribution and/or collection devices being arranged on one side of the heat exchanger.

5. The heat exchanger as claimed in claim 1, characterized by at least one distribution and/or collection device, which comprises a tube plate which is actually composed of plates bearing against one another, it being possible for ends of the tubes to be connected to a base plate of the tube plate, and wherein at least one pass-through and/or diverter passage is formed by a cutout in a diverter plate of the tube plate and can be closed off in a fluid-tight manner with respect to an environment surrounding the heat exchanger by means of a cover plate.

6. The heat exchanger as claimed in claim 1, characterized by a distribution and/or collection device having a housing and at least one collection chamber.

7. The heat exchanger as claimed in claim 6, characterized in that the distribution and/or collection device comprises a tube plate with cutouts, it being possible for tubes to be accommodated in the cutouts.

8. The heat exchanger as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the distribution and/or collection device has at least one refrigerant inlet and at least one refrigerant outlet, which open out into at least one header tube, the at least one header tube being divided by at least one separating element into at least one inlet section and at least one outlet section, and at least one tube around which the second medium can flow opening out into the at least one header tube.

9. The heat exchanger as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that two or more flow-path sections are hydraulically connected to one another by a transverse distributor.

10. The heat exchanger as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that at least one diverter passage connects the heat-exchange passages of two flow-path sections through which the first medium can flow in succession to one another in particular on the basis of predetermined criteria.

11. The heat exchanger as claimed in claim 10, characterized in that the two flow-path sections which are connected to one another are arranged next to one another in the main direction of flow of the second medium.

12. The heat exchanger as claimed in claim 10, characterized in that the two flow-path sections which are connected to one another are arranged one behind the other in the main direction of flow of the second medium.

13. The heat exchanger as claimed in claim 10, characterized in that the two flow-path sections which are connected to one another are arranged in a single tube.

14. The heat exchanger as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the number of sections of at least one flow path can be divided by two, in particular, by four.

15. The heat exchanger as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that for each flow path hydraulically the first section is arranged in a tube which, within a row of tubes, is adjoined by tubes on two opposite sides.

16. The heat exchanger as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that two adjacent flow paths run mirror-symmetrically with respect to one another.

17. The heat exchanger as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that diverter passages of at least two flow paths communicate with one another.

18. The heat exchanger as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that a cross section of flow of a flow path changes from one section to a hydraulically succeeding section.

19. The heat exchanger as claimed in claim 18, characterized in that the cross section of flow of the flow path increases in the direction of a decreasing density of the first medium within the flow path while the heat exchanger is operating.

20. The heat exchanger as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the two flow-path sections arranged next to one another are arranged in a tube and are connected to one another via an in particular U-shaped tube bend.

21. The heat exchanger as claimed in claim 20, characterized in that the tube bend curves in the direction of a shorter side of the tube, which is designed in particular as a flat tube.

22. The heat exchanger as claimed in claim 20, characterized in that all the tubes have precisely one tube bend.

23. The heat exchanger as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that at least one tube has a plurality of heat-exchange passages, which in particular are assigned to different flow paths and through which medium can flow in particular in opposite directions.

24. The heat exchanger as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the tubes are designed as flat tubes, in particular with corrugated fins between them.

25. An air-conditioning device, in particular for motor vehicles, having at least one air-feed element, at least one heat exchanger and at least one air-guiding passage, characterized in that at least one heat exchanger, in particular a refrigerant evaporator, is designed as described in claim 1.