Modified shaped heat exchanger inlets/outlets

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11209221-B2
Application number	US-202016854661-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 21, 2020
Priority date	Apr 21, 2020
Publication date	Dec 28, 2021
Grant date	Dec 28, 2021

Abstract

A modified shaped heat exchanger hot air inlet and hot air outlet comprising a first heat exchanger manifold surrounding said hot air inlet and a second heat exchanger manifold surrounding said hot air outlet; an array of shaped inlets and shaped outlets, each of said shaped inlets and shaped outlets being configured to align vertices with thermal load directions responsive to a thermal expansion mismatch between the hot air inlet and hot air outlet and respective first heat exchanger manifold and second heat exchanger manifold.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A modified shaped heat exchanger hot air inlet and hot air outlet comprising:
a first heat exchanger manifold surrounding said hot air inlet and a second heat exchanger manifold surrounding said hot air outlet; and
a shaped array of a shaped inlet and a shaped outlet, each of said shaped inlet and shaped outlet being configured to align vertices with thermal load directions responsive to a thermal expansion mismatch between the hot air inlet and hot air outlet and respective first heat exchanger manifold and second heat exchanger manifold.

2. The modified shaped heat exchanger hot air inlet and hot air outlet according to claim 1 , wherein said first heat exchanger manifold and second heat exchanger manifold constrain said thermal expansion of said hot air inlet and hot air outlet respectfully.

3. The modified shaped heat exchanger hot air inlet and hot air outlet according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a first hot side transition region between said hot air inlet and heat transfer channels, said first hot side transition region configured as a smooth gradual cross sectional area transition to said heat transfer channels; and
a second hot side transition region between said hot air outlet and said heat transfer channels, said second hot side transition region configured as a smooth gradual cross sectional area transition to said heat transfer channels.

4. The modified shaped heat exchanger hot air inlet and hot air outlet according to claim 3 , wherein said heat transfer channels have a rectangular cross sectional flow area.

5. The modified shaped heat exchanger hot air inlet and hot air outlet according to claim 1 , wherein said shaped hot air inlet comprises a star shaped hot air inlet and said shaped hot air outlet comprises a star shaped hot air outlet; said star shaped hot air inlet and said star shaped hot air outlet are configured to align secondary vertices with the thermal load directions in a corner of the heat exchanger.

6. The modified shaped heat exchanger hot air inlet and hot air outlet according to claim 1 , wherein said shaped hot air inlet comprises a star shaped hot air inlet and said shaped hot air outlet comprises a star shaped hot air outlet; said star shaped hot air inlet and star shaped hot air outlet are configured to align primary vertices with the thermal load directions in a corner of the heat exchanger.

7. The modified shaped heat exchanger hot air inlet and hot air outlet according to claim 1 , wherein said shaped hot air inlet comprises:
a star shaped hot air inlet; and
a diamond shaped hot air inlet situated proximate to the star shaped hot air inlet; and
said shaped hot air outlet comprises:
a star shaped hot air outlet; and
a diamond shaped hot air outlet situated proximate to the star shaped hot air outlet.

8. A modified shaped heat exchanger inlet and outlet comprising:
a hot side of said heat exchanger configured to flow hot air from a hot air inlet through heat transfer channels to a hot air outlet;
a first manifold surrounding said hot air inlet forming a first cavity and a second manifold surrounding said hot air outlet forming a second cavity;
a cold side of said heat exchanger including cold side heat transfer passageways thermally coupled to said heat transfer channels, said cold side heat transfer passageways configured to flow cold air over said heat transfer channels; and
a shaped inlet at said hot air inlet and a shaped outlet at said hot air outlet, said shaped inlet and said shaped outlet being configured to align vertices with thermal load directions responsive to a thermal expansion mismatch between the hot air inlet and the first manifold and hot air outlet and the second manifold.

9. The modified shaped heat exchanger inlet and outlet according to claim 8 , further comprising:
a first hot side transition region between said hot air inlet and heat transfer channels; and
a second hot side transition region between said hot air outlet and said heat transfer channels.

10. The modified shaped heat exchanger inlet and outlet according to claim 8 , wherein said shaped hot air inlet comprises at least one of a star shaped and diamond shaped hot air inlet and said shaped hot air outlet comprises at least one of a star shaped and a diamond shaped hot air outlet.

11. The modified shaped heat exchanger inlet and outlet according to claim 10 , wherein said star shape is configured to align secondary vertices with the thermal load direction in a corner of the heat exchanger; and wherein said star shape is configured to align primary vertices with the thermal load direction at a center of the first manifold wall and with the thermal load direction at a center of the second manifold wall.

12. The modified shaped heat exchanger inlet and outlet according to claim 10 , further comprising:
a diamond shaped inlet situated proximate the star shaped inlet, and
a diamond shaped outlet situated proximate the star shaped outlet.

13. The modified shaped heat exchanger inlet and outlet according to claim 8 , wherein a star shaped inlet at said hot air inlet and a star shaped outlet at said hot air outlet, are configured to align flexible vertices, including primary vertices and secondary vertices, with the thermal load directions thereby enabling the first cavity and second cavity to distort, changing the shape of the first cavity and the second cavity.

14. A process for creating a flexible heat exchanger inlet and outlet comprising:
surrounding a hot air inlet with a first manifold;
surrounding a hot air outlet with a second manifold;
forming an array of shaped inlets at said hot air inlet;
forming an array of shaped outlets at said hot air outlet; and
aligning a vertices direction of said shaped inlets and said shaped outlets with a thermal load direction, said thermal load being responsive to a thermal expansion mismatch between the hot air inlet and the first manifold and a thermal expansion mismatch between the hot air outlet and the second manifold.

15. The process of claim 14 , wherein the array of shaped inlets at said hot air inlet comprises at least one of a star shaped and diamond shaped hot air inlet; and said array of shaped outlets at said hot air outlet comprises at least one of a star shaped and a diamond shaped hot air outlet.

16. The process of claim 14 , further comprising:
coupling a first hot side transition region between said hot air inlet and heat transfer channels; and
coupling a second hot side transition region between said hot air outlet and said heat transfer channels.

17. The process of claim 14 , further comprising:
aligning secondary vertices with the thermal load directions in a corner of the heat exchanger.

18. The process of claim 14 , further comprising:
forming at least one star shaped inlet within the array of shaped inlets;
forming at least one star shaped outlet within the array of shaped outlets;
forming at least one diamond shaped inlet proximate the at least one star shaped inlet; and
forming at least one diamond shaped outlet proximate the at least one star shaped outlet.

19. The process of claim 14 , further comprising:
aligning primary vertices with the thermal load directions.

20. The process of claim 19 , further comprising:
changing the shape of a first cavity formed by the first manifold surrounding said hot air inlet by allowing the first cavity to distort while said vertices align with said thermal load directions; and
changing the shape of a second cavity formed by the

Assignees

• Raytheon Tech Corp

Inventors

• Spangler Brandon W
• Pack David R
• Stillman William P

Classifications

• F28F1/045

  with assemblies of stacked elements · CPC title

• F28F2255/14

  molded · CPC title

• F28F9/0282

  by varying the geometry of conduit ends, e.g. by using inserts or attachments for modifying the pattern of flow at the conduit inlet or outlet · CPC title

• F28D1/05366 Primary

  Assemblies of conduits connected to common headers, e.g. core type radiators · CPC title

• F28F1/022

  with multiple channels · CPC title