EP2901095B2 - Heat exchanger - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to a heat exchanger, in particular for a motor vehicle.

In this field, exchangers, known as charge air coolers, are known which allow heat to be exchanged between charge air, intended to supply the vehicle engine, and a coolant. They include a heat exchange bundle consisting of a stack of plates determining between them alternating circulation channels for the charge air and for the coolant. Such exchangers have the advantage of being able to be freely placed under the hood, in particular near the engine of the vehicle, unlike charge air exchangers cooled using an external air flow which need to be arranged on the front of the vehicle or at least near an air supply.

In such exchangers, the bundle is housed in a metal casing on which collectors are attached making it possible to guide the charge air at the inlet and at the outlet of the heat exchange bundle.

It has been proposed to subject collectors from foundries to the casing by welding. This solution is however difficult to industrialize.

It has also been proposed to braze manifolds on the casing simultaneously with brazing of the rest of the exchanger. However, the bundle plates must be positioned in a stack in a precise manner relative to the casing so as to allow brazing with good sealing of the parts together.

For this purpose, it is possible to have positioning flanges for the plates integral with the casing, but this makes the manufacture of the exchanger relatively complex.

The invention aims to improve things and proposes for this purpose a heat exchanger according to claim 1.

Thus, according to the invention, a solution is proposed according to which the collectors make it possible to position said heat exchange bundle in the casing without having to have added elements for positioning the bundle on the casing, which simplifies the structure of heat exchanger assembly.

Advantageously, said manifold comprises a wall which delimits a passage chamber for the first fluid in the bundle, this wall being configured to form said stop for positioning the heat exchange bundle in the casing when assembling said manifold to said casing.

This avoids disturbing the flow of fluid upstream and / or downstream of the beam by positioning stops which could be across the flow of fluid in the casing.

Advantageously, said positioning stop is constituted by at least one deformation of said wall of the manifold capable of holding in position a part, in particular one or more corners, of each of the plates of the heat exchange bundle in the casing.

In particular, said stop for positioning the heat exchange bundle in the casing comprises at least two said deformations of said wall of the manifold, opposite one another relative to the plates of the heat exchange bundle.

Said deformation of the collector can be a fold of the collector wall, for example from stamping of the wall of the collector, and therefore very simple to produce.

Said ply may be a lateral junction flange from the manifold to the casing, for example said flange forming with the casing a lateral cavity arranged to hold in position a part, in particular the corner or corners, of each of the plates of the exchange bundle of heat in the housing.

Advantageously, said lateral junction rim of the collector is configured to cooperate with a lateral junction rim of the casing to the collector, preferably according to a plane junction surface which promotes a connection by soldering.

In particular, said flanges of the manifold and of the casing are offset with respect to each other so as to define a positioning shoulder for said bundle to form said lateral cavity arranged to hold in position a part, in particular the corner (s) , of each of the plates of the heat exchange bundle in the casing.

More particularly, the depth of said flange of the manifold is greater than that of said flange of the casing. The difference in depth of said flanges constitutes in particular said shoulder for holding in position the corner or corners of the plates of the heat exchanger bundle.

Advantageously, the plates of the heat exchange bundle are identical to each other, for example of rectangular format, and their stacking delimits a parallelepiped, in particular a rectangle.

The heat exchanger may comprise a said collector forming an inlet collector of the exchanger and another said collector forming an outlet collector of the exchanger. Preferably, said collectors are opposite one another relative to a median plane of the heat exchange bundle. In particular, said collectors together comprise four deformations of each of the collectors, capable of maintaining in position each a corner of the heat exchange bundle in the casing.

The inlet manifold and / or the outlet manifold are configured to be connected, for example, to a pipe or hose for circulation of the first fluid.

The exchanger can also form an air intake module in which the outlet manifold is an air distributor, configured to be attached to an engine cylinder head, so as to distribute the air to intake pipes an engine cylinder head.

• ledit carter comprend une plaque inférieure et/ou une plaque supérieure, orthogonale(s) à la direction d'empilement des plaques du faisceau, lesdites plaques inférieure et/ou supérieure comprenant une extension formant paroi du collecteur,
• la paroi du collecteur comprenant ladite butée de positionnement est une paroi latérale reliée auxdites plaques supérieure et/ou inférieure du carter, en particulier au niveau desdites extensions,
• ledit faisceau est assujetti audit collecteur par au moins un de ses coins.

The invention may have the following additional characteristics, taken together or separately:

• said casing comprises a lower plate and / or an upper plate, orthogonal to the stacking direction of the beam plates, said lower and / or upper plates comprising an extension forming a wall of the manifold,
• the manifold wall comprising said positioning stop is a side wall connected to said upper and / or lower plates of the casing, in particular at the level of said extensions,
• said beam is subject to said collector by at least one of its corners.

Said exchanger is, for example, made of aluminum and / or aluminum alloy. The manifold can be brazed to said casing, in a single operation, this brazing advantageously occurring during a brazing in a single operation or a single stroke, of the heat exchanger, said exchanger having been previously assembled so that said beam is positioned in said casing by said collector (s) using said positioning stop.

• la figure 1 est une vue en perspective éclatée partielle illustrant un mode de réalisation d'un échangeur de chaleur conforme à l'invention, et
• la figure 2 est une vue en coupe transversale selon la ligne II - II d'une partie de l'échangeur de chaleur de la figure 1.

Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will become apparent on reading the following description of embodiments of the invention given by way of illustration, with reference to the appended figures. In these figures:

• the figure 1 is a partial exploded perspective view illustrating an embodiment of a heat exchanger according to the invention, and
• the figure 2 is a cross-sectional view along line II - II of part of the heat exchanger of the figure 1 .

Identical reference numerals are used to designate identical or analogous elements.

As illustrated in figure 1 , the invention relates to a heat exchanger 1, in particular for a motor vehicle, comprising a heat exchange bundle 3 between a first fluid A (according to arrow) and a second fluid L (according to arrow), and a casing 5 to l 'inside which said beam 3 is housed. Said exchanger 1 further comprises at least one manifold 7 secured to said casing 5, for example an air inlet manifold A fixed to said casing as illustrated in the present case and an air outlet manifold (not shown) which may be symmetrical with the inlet manifold 7 with respect to a median plane P of the bundle 3 or of the heat exchanger. Said exchanger is made, for example, of aluminum and / or aluminum alloy.

Said first fluid A can be supercharging air from the vehicle engine. Said second fluid L can be a coolant.

The casing 5 here has two parallel upper 11 and lower 13 faces, substantially rectangular, provided with an extension 11a, 13a substantially trapezoidal. The extensions 11a and 13a of these upper and lower faces beyond the section or projection of the beam 3 constitute the upper and lower faces, respectively, of the manifold 7. The casing further comprises two rectangular lateral walls 15, opposite to each other, connecting said upper 11 and lower 13 faces 13. It should be noted that one of them may constitute, as a variant (not shown), a collector plate of the bundle connected to two lateral collector boxes, respectively of inlet and outlet of the second fluid. The casing thus comprises two remaining open faces 17 opposite to each other and called first and second free faces 17.

The inlet manifold 7 of the first fluid is connected to the first free face 17 of the casing by an edge 17a of said casing, here said extensions 11a and 13a of said faces upper 11 and lower 13, applied against a corresponding flat rim 18 of a cover 30 of the collector. The casing 5 is connected to the outlet manifold (not shown) at its second free face. Thus the first fluid A passes through the heat exchange bundle 3, guided by the casing 5, right through from the inlet manifold 7 to the outlet manifold, entering and leaving the exchanger by pipes. 19 for connection to conduits or hoses for circulation of the fluid, via respective inlet and outlet orifices 21.

Each of the walls 11, 13, 15 of the casing here consists of a plate, said plates being secured to each other by their edges, in particular by brazing, to form said casing.

Circuits for the circulation of the first fluid A are provided in the heat exchange bundle 3, through disturbers 32, only the disturbers of an upper and lower part of the beam having been represented. More specifically, the bundle 3 is formed of parallel plates 23 stacked in a stacking direction D, said plates allowing the circulation of the first and second fluid A, L so as to ensure heat exchange between said fluids.

The plates 23 are grouped in pairs and together define a circulation circuit for the second fluid L. An upper plate and a lower plate of the same pair of plates 23 complement each other to constitute a circulation conduit for the second fluid L. The plates 23 of the same pair have two bosses facing each other (not shown) for passing the second fluid L into the conduit formed by said pair of plates, said bosses of a pair of plates being connected to the bosses of the pairs of neighboring plates. Said casing comprises an inlet duct 25 and an outlet duct 27 for the second fluid L, situated on one side of the casing, said inlet ducts 25 and outlet 27 opening out opposite circulation cavities of the second fluid L formed by said bosses. The circulation circuits of the first fluid A are defined by the plates 23 of two pairs of adjacent plates.

The plates 23 here have the general shape of an elongated rectangle of length just less than that of the upper and lower faces 11, 13 of the casing and of width equal to that of the lateral faces 15 of the casing (see also the figure 2 ). The stack of plates 23 forms a rectangular parallelepiped.

Said bundle 3 is subject to the casing 5 and manifolds 7 assembly, in particular by brazing. More specifically, each of the covers 30 of the collectors 7 comprises a side wall 29 connected to the side walls 15 of the casing according to a lateral rim 29a of the wall 29 of the manifold joining a rim 15a of the wall 15 of the casing.

As it appears better at the figure 2 , said collector and casing edges 29a, 15a form a shoulder or a lateral cavity shaped at a right angle or a corner 31, the apex of which is defined by a line parallel to the stacking direction of the plates 23. a stop 9 capable of holding in position in the casing, with a slight clearance, one or more corners 23a of each of the stacked plates 23 of the heat exchange bundle.

The depth I of said flange 29a of the manifold is greater than that I 'of said flange 15a of the casing. The difference in depth I, I ′ of said flanges 29a, 15a constitutes said shoulder or cavity 31 for holding in position the corner or corners 23a of each of the stacked plates 23. These flanges 29a, 15a here originate from stamping of the walls 29, 15 of the manifold and the casing, which are for example, as already said, made of metal, in particular aluminum and / or aluminum alloy.

Said lateral flange 29a of the manifold wall cooperates with the lateral flange 15a of the casing by means of a connection produced on a flat junction surface, flat on flat. In total, four cavities 31 are formed, two per collector, to receive the four corners of each of the plates and by extension the four edges of the rectangular parallelepiped formed by the stacking of the plates.

As mentioned above, each of the collectors 7 can be brazed to said casing 5, simultaneously with the brazing of the casing 5 and of the bundle 3, in particular of the various stacked plates 23 which constitute it. Thus, it will be possible to braze simultaneously in a single operation said casing 5, bundle 3 and manifolds.

The collector 7 is configured to form a stop 9 for positioning the heat exchange bundle 3 on the casing 5 when assembling said collector to said casing. By this is meant that the assembly of the manifold on the casing positions the beam in said casing. In the case of manufacture of the exchanger by brazing, such positioning takes place, before brazing the parts together. It aims to ensure the quality of the brazing by ensuring a prior positioning of the parts. In particular, such an assembly takes place before the exchanger passes through a brazing furnace.

Such an assembly before brazing can be obtained by crimping the walls 29, 15 of the manifold and the casing, here, using teeth 34 of the casing cooperating with clips 36 of the manifold ( figure 1 ).

It should be noted that, thanks to the shoulders 31, the plates 23 are positioned in a stack in a precise manner relative to the casing (transversely to the direction of vertical stacking of the plates, in vertical alignment) so as to be held horizontally in the casing while allowing freedom of vertical movement connecting the plates one on the other to the brazing.

It can also be seen that the stop formed by the invention does not or very little encroach on the surface for the passage of the first fluid through the beam. This avoids disrupting the flow of said first fluid and reducing the heat exchange surfaces.

Furthermore, this design of the manifold formed with extensions of the casing walls and a single cover 30 facilitates the drawing of said cover 30 by allowing, in a single forming operation, to obtain both said beam positioning deformations in the casing as well as the brazing junction flanges to the casing.

According to an alternative embodiment, not illustrated, the heat exchanger may also form an air intake module in which the outlet manifold is an air distributor, configured to be attached to an engine cylinder head so as to distribute the air to the cylinder head intake pipes. The first fluid then flows through the inlet manifold, the exchanger and the air distributor.

The different characteristics, described above, of the different elements of the exchanger can be combined or provided independently of each other, when it is compatible.

Claims (14)

1. Heat exchanger, notably for a motor vehicle, comprising a heat exchange core (3) between a first and a second fluid A, L, and a casing (5) inside which said core (3) is accommodated, said exchanger further comprising at least one manifold (7) secured to said casing (5), said manifold (7) being configured such as to guide said first fluid A between said core (3) and an inlet or an outlet of said exchanger, characterized in that said manifold (7) is configured such as to form a positioning stop (9) of the heat exchange core (3) in the casing (5) upon assembly of said manifold (7) with said casing (5), said core (3) comprises plates (23) for circulation of the second fluid L, stacked in a stacking direction in the casing (5), and wherein said positioning stop (9) of the heat exchange core in the casing is arranged such as to define a transverse positioning of the heat exchange core in the casing relative to the stacking direction of the plates (23), whilst allowing a freedom of movement of the plates in said stacking direction.
2. Exchanger according to Claim 1, wherein said manifold (7) comprises a wall (29) that delimits a chamber for passage of the first fluid A in the core (3), this wall (29) being configured such as to form said positioning stop (9) of the heat exchange core in the casing upon assembly of said manifold (7) with said casing (5).
3. Exchanger according to Claim 2, wherein said positioning stop (9) of the heat exchange core in the casing is formed by at least one deformation of said wall (29) of the manifold capable of holding in position a part (23a) of the heat exchange core in the casing.
4. Exchanger according to Claim 3, wherein said positioning stop (9) of the heat exchange core in the casing comprises at least two of said deformations of said wall (29) of the manifold, opposite one another relative to the heat exchange core.
5. Exchanger according to Claim 3, wherein said deformation of the manifold (7) is a fold in the wall of the manifold.
6. Exchanger according to Claim 5, wherein said fold is the result of stamping of the wall of the manifold.
7. Exchanger according to Claim 5 or 6, wherein said fold is an edge (29a) for lateral joining of the manifold to the casing.
8. Exchanger according to Claim 7, wherein said edge (29a) for lateral joining of the manifold is configured such as to interact with a lateral edge (15a) for joining the casing to the manifold.
9. Exchanger according to Claim 8, wherein said edges (29a, 15a) of the manifold and of the casing are offset relative to one another in such a manner as to define a shoulder (31) for positioning said core.
10. Heat exchanger according to any one of Claims 2 to 9, wherein the casing (5) comprises a lower plate (13) and/or an upper plate (11), orthogonal to a stacking direction of plates (23) of the core, said lower (13) and/or upper (11) plates comprising an extension (11a, 13a) forming a wall of the manifold (7).
11. Heat exchanger according to Claim 10, wherein the wall (29) of the manifold comprising said positioning stop (9) is a lateral wall connected to said upper (11) and/or lower (13) plates of the casing.
12. Exchanger according to any one of the preceding claims, comprising one said manifold (7) forming an inlet manifold of the exchanger and another said manifold forming an outlet manifold of the exchanger.
13. Exchanger according to Claim 12, wherein said manifolds (7) together comprise four deformations (31) of each of the manifolds, which are each capable of holding in position a corner (23a) of the heat exchange core in the casing.
14. Exchanger according to Claim 12 or 13 forming an air intake module, wherein the outlet manifold is an air distributor configured such as to be attached to an engine cylinder head in such a manner as to distribute air towards intake pipes of an engine cylinder head.

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