U.S. patent application number 13/305239 was filed with the patent office on 2013-05-30 for heat exchanger with end seal for blocking off air bypass flow.
This patent application is currently assigned to Dana Canada Corporation. The applicant listed for this patent is Lee Kinder, Desmond Magill. Invention is credited to Lee Kinder, Desmond Magill.
Application Number | 20130133869 13/305239 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 48465761 |
Filed Date | 2013-05-30 |
United States Patent
Application |
20130133869 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Kinder; Lee ; et
al. |
May 30, 2013 |
Heat Exchanger With End Seal For Blocking Off Air Bypass Flow
Abstract
A heat exchanger having a plurality of spaced-apart plate pairs,
where each plate pair defines a flow passage for the flow of a
first fluid. One or more fins are thermally coupled and sandwiched
by the spaced-apart plate pairs for flow of a second fluid. A fluid
manifold being fluidly coupled to the flow passages of the
spaced-apart plate pairs is also provided. The heat exchanger has a
front face and side faces defined by at least the plurality of
spaced-apart plate pairs and the one or more fins. And, a bypass
seal complementary to the front face or one of the side faces and
engagingly coupled to the front face or one of the side faces for
blocking a gap between the heat exchanger and a housing for
receiving the heat exchanger. Also disclosed is a heat exchanger
assembly having the heat exchanger disclosed.
Inventors: |
Kinder; Lee; (Oakville,
CA) ; Magill; Desmond; (Fergus, CA) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Kinder; Lee
Magill; Desmond |
Oakville
Fergus |
|
CA
CA |
|
|
Assignee: |
Dana Canada Corporation
Oakville
CA
|
Family ID: |
48465761 |
Appl. No.: |
13/305239 |
Filed: |
November 28, 2011 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
165/173 |
Current CPC
Class: |
F28D 9/0043 20130101;
F28F 9/02 20130101; F28F 2230/00 20130101; Y02T 10/12 20130101;
F28F 9/00 20130101; F02B 29/0462 20130101; Y02T 10/146
20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
165/173 |
International
Class: |
F28F 9/02 20060101
F28F009/02 |
Claims
1. A heat exchanger, comprising: a plurality of spaced-apart plate
pairs, where each plate pair defines a flow passage for the flow of
a first fluid; one or more fins thermally coupled and sandwiched by
the spaced-apart plate pairs for flow of a second fluid; a fluid
manifold being fluidly coupled to the flow passages of the
spaced-apart plate pairs; the heat exchanger having a front face
and side faces defined by at least the plurality of spaced-apart
plate pairs and the one or more fins; and a bypass seal
complementary to the front face or one of the side faces and
engagingly coupled to the front face or one of the side faces for
blocking a gap between the heat exchanger and a housing for
receiving the heat exchanger.
2. The heat exchanger according to claim 1, wherein the bypass seal
is complementary to one of the side faces and engagingly couples to
the one of the side faces of the heat exchanger.
3. The heat exchanger according to claim 2, wherein the bypass seal
is present on both side faces of the heat exchanger.
4. The heat exchanger according to claim 1, wherein the seal has a
heat exchanger engaging face and a sealing face, the heat exchanger
engaging face having notches for receiving ends of the plurality of
the spaced-apart plate pairs.
5. The heat exchanger according to claim 4, wherein the sealing
face permits mounting of the heat exchanger in the housing.
6. The heat exchanger according to claim 4, wherein the sealing
face is tapered for slidingly mounting into a recess in the
housing.
7. The heat exchanger according to claim 1, wherein the bypass seal
is complementary to the front face and engagingly couples to the
front face of the heat exchanger.
8. The heat exchanger according to claim 1, wherein the bypass seal
is complementary to the front face and positioned at an edge of the
front face adjacent to one of the side faces of the heat
exchanger.
9. The heat exchanger according to claim 1, further comprising a
tab for coupling the seal to the heat exchanger.
10. The heat exchanger according to claim 1, wherein the seal is
clipped-on the heat exchanger.
11. The heat exchanger according to claim 1, wherein the seal is
brazed, bolted or brazed and bolted on the heat exchanger.
12. A heat exchanger assembly, comprising: a housing having a
cavity in communication with an opening; and a heat exchanger
receivable in the cavity of the housing, the heat exchanger
comprising: a plurality of spaced-apart plate pairs, where each
plate pair defines a flow passage for the flow of a first fluid;
one or more fins thermally coupled and sandwiched by the
spaced-apart plate pairs for flow of a second fluid; a fluid
manifold being fluidly coupled to the flow passages of the
spaced-apart plate pairs; the heat exchanger having a front face
and side faces defined by at least the plurality of spaced-apart
plate pairs and the one or more fins; and a bypass seal
complementary to the front face or one of the side faces and
engagingly coupled to the front face or one of the side faces for
blocking a gap between the heat exchanger and the housing.
13. The heat exchanger assembly according to claim 12, wherein the
bypass seal is complementary to one of the side faces and
engagingly couples to the one of the side faces of the heat
exchanger.
14. The heat exchanger assembly according to claim 12, wherein the
seal has a heat exchanger engaging face and a sealing face, the
heat exchanger engaging face having notches for receiving ends of
the plurality of the spaced-apart plate pairs.
15. The heat exchanger assembly according to claim 14, wherein the
sealing face permits mounting of the heat exchanger in the
housing.
16. The heat exchanger assembly according to claim 14, wherein the
sealing face is tapered for slidingly mounting into a recess in the
housing.
17. The heat exchanger assembly according to claim 12, wherein the
bypass seal is complementary to the front face and engagingly
couples to the front face of the heat exchanger at an edge of the
front face adjacent to one of the side faces of the heat
exchanger.
18. The heat exchanger assembly according to claim 12, further
comprising a tab for coupling the seal to the heat exchanger.
19. The heat exchanger assembly according to claim 12, wherein the
seal is clipped-on the heat exchanger.
20. The heat exchanger assembly according to claim 12, wherein the
seal is brazed, bolted or brazed and bolted on the heat exchanger.
Description
FIELD
[0001] The specification relates to a heat exchanger having an air
bypass seal, and a heat exchanger assembly having the heat
exchanger and the seal.
BACKGROUND
[0002] Charge air cooler heat exchangers are well known in the art
for mounting along the flow path of charge air supplied to a
combustion engine. This charge air typically comprises ambient air
which has been compressed by apparatus such as a supercharger or
turbocharger to provide an increased mass flow of air to the engine
to permit the engine to combust increased quantities of fuel and
thereby operate at an increased level of power and performance.
However, compression of ambient air also elevates the air
temperature such that the charge air has a relatively high
temperature which, if not reduced, undesirably increases total
engine heat load. It is therefore desirable to cool the charge air
prior to supply thereof to the engine, and charge air coolers are
provided for this purpose.
[0003] In general, the charge air cooler is constructed from a
plurality of lightweight heat transfer elements of a heat
conductive material, such as copper or aluminum, shaped to provide
extended heat transfer surfaces and defining a flow path for the
charge air in heat transfer relation with a suitable coolant, such
as ambient air or a liquid coolant. More specifically, the charge
air cooler may be constructed from a network of finned tubes such
that charge air flowing over the fins is associated with a coolant
flowing through the tubes resulting in adequate heat transfer for
some engine system applications. Alternatively, when improved heat
transfer capacity is required, the charge air cooler is constructed
from a stacked array of plates and fins which cooperate to define a
heat exchanger core having separate flow paths for passage of the
charge air and the coolant in close heat transfer relation with
each other. In either case, however, the charge air cooler is
desirably mounted directly into the intake manifold of the engine
wherein charge air passing through the intake manifold is reduced
in temperature by flow through the charge air cooler immediately
prior to ingestion by the engine.
[0004] The current heat exchanger products can allow air bypass
past the ends of the fins (the plate lap joints extend beyond the
end of the fins, or extend beyond the liquid fluid manifold,
leaving unintended air bypass channels), or require additional
brazed on components to compensate by blocking off these regions,
which adds significant cost and/or may be impossible for certain
cooler configurations. To address the above problem, wide elastomer
seals can be provided, such as adhesively bonded or mechanically
trapped seals, as part of the ducting installation--to minimize
such bypass. But these seal materials are expensive, add assembly
complexity, and have service durability limitations. Another
compensating alternative is to overdesign the heat exchanger,
either by over-sizing or adding much higher fin density (pressure
drop penalty) so that performance is maintained even with bypass
flow, which can have other disadvantages.
[0005] There is a need in the art for a heat exchanger and a heat
exchanger assembly, where the heat exchanger has a seal that can
reduce or prevent air bypass around the ends of the heat
exchanger.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0006] In one aspect, the specification discloses a heat exchanger,
containing:
[0007] a plurality of spaced-apart plate pairs, where each plate
pair defines a flow passage for the flow of a first fluid;
[0008] one or more fins thermally coupled and sandwiched by the
spaced-apart plate pairs for flow of a second fluid;
[0009] a fluid manifold being fluidly coupled to the flow passages
of the spaced-apart plate pairs;
[0010] the heat exchanger having a front face and side faces
defined by at least the plurality of spaced-apart plate pairs and
the one or more fins; and
[0011] a bypass seal complementary to the front face or one of the
side faces and engagingly coupled to the front face or one of the
side faces for blocking a gap between the heat exchanger and a
housing for receiving the heat exchanger.
[0012] In another aspect, disclosed is a heat exchanger assembly
containing a housing having a cavity in communication with an
opening for receiving a heat exchanger; and the heat exchanger as
disclosed herein.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0013] Reference will now be made, by way of example, to the
accompanying drawings which show example embodiments of the present
application, and in which:
[0014] FIG. 1 shows an air intake manifold for receiving a heat
exchanger in accordance with the specification;
[0015] FIG. 2(a) shows a heat exchanger having a clip-on bypass
seal in accordance with a second embodiment of the
specification;
[0016] FIGS. 2(b) and (c) show an alternative clip-on bypass seal
attachable to a heat exchanger in accordance with the second
embodiment of the specification;
[0017] FIG. 2(d) shows a sectional view of a heat exchanger with
the clip-on bypass seal in accordance with the second embodiment of
the specification in an air intake manifold;
[0018] FIG. 2(e) shows a top view of the heat exchanger in an
air-intake manifold in accordance with the second embodiment of the
specification;
[0019] FIG. 3(a) shows a schematic elevational view of a heat
exchanger having a clip-on bypass seal in accordance with one
embodiment of the specification;
[0020] FIG. 3(b) shows a top plan view of the heat exchanger of
FIG. 3(a);
[0021] FIG. 4 shows the clip-on bypass seal in accordance with one
embodiment of the specification for use with a heat exchanger;
[0022] FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the air intake manifold
having a cut-out within the manifold for receiving the bypass seal
present on a heat exchanger;
[0023] FIG. 6(a) shows a heat exchanger having a clip-on bypass
seal in accordance with a third embodiment of the
specification;
[0024] FIG. 6(b) shows an expanded view of clip-on bypass seal used
with the heat exchanger in accordance with the third embodiment of
the specification;
[0025] FIGS. 7 (a)-(d) shows views of an end section of heat
exchanger having a retainer for clipping in place the clip-on
bypass seal in accordance with a fourth embodiment of the
specification;
[0026] FIG. 8 shows a heat exchanger having a brazed-on bypass seal
in accordance with a fifth embodiment of the specification;
[0027] FIG. 9 shows an expanded view of an end portion of the heat
exchanger having the brazed-on seal as shown in FIG. 8;
[0028] FIG. 10 shows an embodiment of a seal for use with the heat
exchanger shown in FIG. 8; and
[0029] FIG. 11 another view of the seal shown in FIG. 10.
[0030] Similar reference numerals may have been used in different
figures to denote similar components.
DESCRIPTION
[0031] The specification generally relates to heat exchanger (2),
such as a charge air cooler for reducing the temperature of air
inflow to a combustion engine.
[0032] The heat exchanger (2) is typically placed in an air intake
manifold (4), as shown in FIG. 1, which has a cavity (6) for
placing the heat exchanger (2) through an opening (8). Incoming air
enters the manifold (4) through an air intake aperture (10) and
passes the heat exchanger (2) before being directed to the
combustion engine.
[0033] The heat exchanger (2) used in accordance with the
disclosure is not particularly limited. In one example embodiment,
as shown in FIG. 2a, the heat exchanger (2) has a plurality of
spaced-apart plate pairs (12), where each plate pair defines a flow
passage for the flow of a first fluid, such as a coolant. A fluid
manifold (14) (more clearly seen FIG. 6) having an inlet (16) and
outlet (18) is also provided; where the fluid manifold (14) is
connected to the flow passage of each plate pair (12) to allow
fluid, such as the coolant, to enter through the inlet (16) pass
through the flow passages of the plate pairs (12) and exit through
the outlet (18). The position of the fluid manifold (14) and the
inlet (16) and outlet (18) are not particularly limited. In one
embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2(a), the inlet and outlet can be
present on a top plate (20). While in another embodiment, as shown
in FIG. 6, the inlet (16) and outlet (18) can be present on a side
face (22) of the heat exchanger (2).
[0034] The space between each spaced-apart plate pair (12) is
provided with a fin (24). The fins (24) can provide for a second
fluid flow passage, generally the air entering through the air
intake aperture (10); and where the second flow passage is
perpendicular to the flow passage defined by the plate pairs (12)
to allow for heat exchange.
[0035] The heat exchanger (2) as disclosed herein, has a front face
(26) such that when the heat exchanger (2) is positioned in the air
intake manifold (4), the front face (26) is positioned at the air
intake aperture (10) and allows for the second fluid, the air, to
pass through the fins (24) and undergo heat exchange before
entering the combustion engine.
[0036] In addition, the heat exchanger (2) as disclosed herein, are
provided with side faces (22). In the embodiment shown in FIG. 6a,
one of the side faces is formed by the fluid manifold (14) while
the other side face is formed by the ends of the plate pairs (12)
along with the ends of the fins (24).
[0037] The heat exchanger (2), as disclosed herein, is also
provided with a bypass seal (28) that is complementary to the front
face (26) or one of the side faces (22) of the heat exchanger. The
complementary bypass seal (28) is coupled to the front face (26) or
one of the side faces (22) of the heat exchanger to block a gap
that can be present between the heat exchanger (2) and the inside
of a housing, such as the air intake manifold (4). This can help to
prevent air bypass along the side faces (22) of the heat exchanger
(2) and improve the overall efficiency of heat exchange.
[0038] In the embodiments shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, two bypass seals
(28) are used, with each seal (28) being complementary to the side
face (22) of the heat exchanger (2) to which it is attached. The
seals (28) are provided with a heat exchanger engaging face (30)
and a sealing face (32). It is the heat exchanger engaging face
(30) that is complementary in profile to the side face (22) or the
front face (26), whichever it engages. In one embodiment, the heat
exchanger engaging face (30) is provided with notches (34) (FIGS. 3
and 4), such that when the seal engages the side face (22) or the
front face (26), the grooves formed by the plate pairs (12) and the
fins (24) are blocked. While the sealing face (32) helps to block
any gaps between the ends of the heat exchanger (2) and the
manifold (4).
[0039] The exact shape and dimensions of the seal (28) used in
accordance with the heat exchanger (2) disclosed are not
particularly limited. In one embodiment as shown in FIG. 2, the
sealing face (32) of the bypass seal (28) provides a flat surface.
While in another embodiment as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the sealing
face (32) is inclined; tapering and becoming narrower as it goes
from the top plate (20) towards the bottom of the heat exchanger.
For example, in one embodiment, the sealing face (32) is inclined
at 1-2.degree.. The angle can help to ensure that the seal (28)
does not need to be compressed until the heat exchanger (2) is
almost completely inserted in the manifold (4), and hence, assist
with installation.
[0040] Similarly, the shape and dimension of the heat exchanger
engaging face (30) is not particularly limited and would depend
upon, among other factors, the particular application and heat
exchanger to which the seal (28) is applied to. In the embodiment
shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the notches (34) present on the heat
exchanger engaging face (30) can be deeper, while in other case,
the notches (34) can be shallow, depending upon the particular
application and heat exchanger used.
[0041] In one embodiment as shown in FIG. 5, the manifold (4) is
provided with a recess (36) that is complementary to the sealing
face (32) of the bypass seal (28) to block the gap between the heat
exchanger (2) and the manifold (4). In the embodiment of FIG. 5,
the recess (36) is tapered, which can assist in both sealing and
mounting of the heat exchanger (2) in the manifold (4). In
addition, the recess (36) can also assist in retaining the position
of the heat exchanger (2) by resisting movement within the
manifold.
[0042] In further embodiments in accordance with the description,
the heat exchanger (2) has a bypass seal (28) positioned on the
front face (26) of the heat exchanger (2), as shown, for example in
FIGS. 6-9. In such embodiments, and as described previously, the
seal (28) is also provided with a sealing face (32) and a heat
exchanger engaging face (30) that has a profile, which is
complementary to the front face (26) of the heat exchanger (2) to
which it engages. Further, the seal (28) can be present at an edge
(38) of the front face adjacent to the side face (22) of the heat
exchanger (2). In the embodiments shown in FIGS. 6-9, the seal (28)
is present at an edge (38), which is adjacent to a side face (22)
that has the ends of the plate pairs (12) and the fins (24).
However, it would be understood that a second seal (28) can also be
provided at the opposing end of the front face (26) of the heat
exchanger (2).
[0043] The manifold (4) can be prepared or appropriately
manufactured to accommodate a heat exchanger (2) where the seal
(28) is present at the front face (26) of the heat exchanger (2). A
similar recess (36), as described above, can also be provided to
accommodate the seal (28) present on the front face (26).
[0044] The method for attaching the seal (28) to the heat exchanger
(2) is not particularly, and can depend upon the particular
application, among other factors. In one embodiment, the seal (28)
is frictionally attached to the heat exchanger. In another
embodiment, the seal (28) is clipped in place and is provided with
means for clipping the seal (28) to the heat exchanger (2), as
shown in FIG. 6. In a further embodiment, the heat exchanger can be
provided with tabs (40) for retaining the seal, as shown in FIG. 7.
The tabs (40) and the seal (28) can be provided with additional
means, such as an arm and a gap for insertion of the arm into the
gap, to lock the seal (28) in place. Alternatively, the seal (28)
can also be bolted on the heat exchanger (2), as shown in FIGS.
8-11. In a still further embodiment, the seal (28) can be brazed-on
to the heat exchanger (2). Moreover, a combination of methods can
be used to position the seal (28) with the heat exchanger (2).
[0045] The material of construction of the seal (28) is not
particularly limited and can depend upon the particular
application. In one embodiment, for example and without limitation,
the seal (28) is made of plastic, such as a thermoplastic. While in
another embodiment, the seal (28) can be made of a similar material
as the heat exchanger (2) to allow for brazing of the seal (28) to
the heat exchanger (2).
[0046] In another aspect in accordance with the description, a heat
exchanger assembly is provided, which contains the housing (4) and
the heat exchanger (2) as described herein. The entire assembly can
be provided and be fitted into an engine for use. Alternatively,
the heat exchanger (2) and the manifold (4) can be provided
separately.
[0047] Certain adaptations and modifications of the described
embodiments can be made. Therefore, the above discussed embodiments
are considered to be illustrative and not restrictive.
* * * * *