Compact heat exchanger with wavy fin turbulizer

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12215933-B2
Application number	US-202017107102-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 30, 2020
Priority date	Nov 30, 2020
Publication date	Feb 4, 2025
Grant date	Feb 4, 2025

Abstract

A heat exchanger includes a fluid flow passage with a wavy fin turbulizer. The turbulizer includes sidewalls extending lengthwise along a fluid flow direction between its first and second ends, and the sidewalls are spaced apart across the width of the turbulizer. Each flow channel of the turbulizer is defined between two adjacent sidewalls. Each sidewall has a smoothly and continuously curved profile with repeating wave forms being defined along the length of the turbulizer. The continuously curved profile of the sidewalls is defined by a non-circular shape, such as elliptical, sinusoidal, parabolic and hyperbolic shapes. The radius of curvature changes constantly and reaches a maximum at or near the inflection point between adjacent crests and troughs of the profile, to provide improved particle pass-through, lower pressure drop, and enhanced plateability of internal surfaces.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A heat exchanger assembly having a fluid flow passage provided with a wavy fin turbulizer, the turbulizer comprising:
a plurality of sidewalls extending lengthwise along a fluid flow direction between a first end and a second end of the turbulizer, the sidewalls being spaced apart across a width of the turbulizer;
a plurality of flow channels, each said flow channel being defined between two of said sidewalls which are adjacent to one another, each said flow channel having a first open end at the first end of the turbulizer and a second open end at the second end of the turbulizer; wherein:
each one of the sidewalls, independently, has a smoothly and continuously curved profile comprising a plurality of wave forms defined along the length of the turbulizer, the wave forms comprising a plurality of alternating crests and troughs, each wave form having a wavelength and an amplitude, wherein the continuously curved profile includes inflection points, each inflection point, independently, defined at a point midway between a crest and an adjacent trough wherein wherein a convex curvature defined by the wave form transitions to a concave curvature, the continuously curved profile configured such that each inflection point of a one of the plurality of sidewalls is disposed along a longitudinal line that extends parallel to a longitudinal axis of the heat exchanger, the longitudinal line intersecting each of the inflection points of the one of the plurality of sidewalls; and

the plurality of wave forms are configured such that the continuously curved profile of each one of the plurality of sidewalls, independently, includes:
an alternating arrangement of a plurality of continuously curved profile portions;
each one of the plurality of continuously curved profile portions, independently, extending between an adjacent pair of inflection points of the continuously curved profile of the respective one of the plurality of sidewalls such that adjacent continuously curved profile portions extend on opposite sides of the longitudinal line that extends through each of the inflection points of the sidewall; and
each one of the plurality of continuously curved profile portions, independently, forms part of a non-circular shape with effect that the flow channels of the turbulizer each, independently, have an inflection point channel width, as measured along an axis that extends normal to a first sidewall of the two adjacent sidewalls that define a respective one of the flow channels at the inflection point to a second sidewall of the two adjacent sidewalls that define the respective one of the flow channels, that is at least 85-95% of a channel width of the respective one of the flow channels as measured along an axis that extends normal to the first sidewall at a respective crest or trough to the second adjacent sidewall.

2. The heat exchanger assembly of claim 1 , wherein the non-circular shape defining each one of the plurality of continuously curved profile portions is a non-circular conic section.

3. The heat exchanger assembly of claim 1 , wherein the non-circular shape defining each one of the plurality of continuously curved profile portions is selected from the group consisting of: sinusoidal, elliptical, parabolic and hyperbolic.

4. The heat exchanger assembly of claim 1 , wherein the inflection point channel width is 88% of the channel width measured along the axis that extends normal to the first sidewall a respective crest or trough of the first sidewall to the adjacent second sidewall.

5. The heat exchanger assembly of claim 1 , further comprising a first plate wall and a second plate wall spaced apart from one another, the first and second plate walls each having an inner surface and an outer surface, wherein the fluid flow passage is defined between the inner surfaces of the first and second plate walls.

6. The heat exchanger assembly of claim 5 , wherein the wavy fin turbulizer comprises first and second longitudinal side edges;
wherein the heat exchanger further comprises a peripheral sidewall enclosing outer peripheral edges of the fluid flow passage, the peripheral sidewall including first and second longitudinally extending portions;
wherein a first side channel is defined between the first longitudinal side edge of the turbulizer and the first longitudinally extending portion of the peripheral sidewall, and a second side channel is defined between the second longitudinal side edge of the turbulizer and the second longitudinally extending portion of the peripheral sidewall; and
wherein the first and second side channels have alternating wide and narrow areas differing in width by about twice the amplitude of the wave forms.

7. The heat exchanger assembly of claim 1 , wherein the wavy fin turbulizer further comprises a plurality of top walls and a plurality of bottom walls, wherein each of the top walls joins top edges of a pair of adjacent sidewalls and each of the bottom walls joins bottom edges of a pair of adjacent sidewalls, such that the wavy fin turbulizer comprises a plurality of longitudinally-extending corrugations arranged across its width.

8. The heat exchanger assembly of claim 7 , further comprising a first plate wall and a second plate wall spaced apart from one another, the first and second plate walls each having an inner surface and an outer surface, wherein the fluid flow passage is defined between the inner surfaces of the first and second plate walls; and
wherein the top walls of the wavy fin turbulizer are in contact with the inner surface of the first plate wall and the bottom walls of the wavy fin turbulizer are in contact with the inner surface of the second plate wall.

9. The heat exchanger assembly of claim 6 , wherein interior surfaces of the fluid flow passage, including the turbulizer, the inner surfaces of the first and second plate walls, and the peripheral sidewall, include a thin layer of metal plating.

10. The heat exchanger assembly of claim 6 , wherein each of the first and second side channels have a minimum side channel width which is defined by a width of one or more of the narrow areas, and
wherein the minimum side channel width is at least ⅓ of the width of the flow channels of the turbulizer.

11. The heat exchanger assembly of claim 6 , wherein the wavy fin turbulizer is substantially centered between the first and second longitudinally extending portions of the peripheral sidewall, such that the first and second side channels are of substantially the same width.

12. The heat exchanger assembly of claim 6 , further comprising a plurality of positioning elements provided along the side edges of the wavy fin turbulizer, each of the positioning elements comprising a low, button-like projection or dimple protruding inwardly into the fluid flow passage from the inner surface of first plate wall or the second plate wall.

13. The heat exchanger assembly of claim 12 , wherein a plurality of said positioning elements are provided along each of said side edges.

14. The heat exchanger assembly of claim 1 , wherein the profile of the wavy fin turbulizer is varied along its length and/or its width, by varying one or more of the non-circular shape, amplitude, wavelength, and flow channel width.

15. The heat exchanger assembly of claim 1 , further comprising a first plate wall and a second plate wall spaced apart from one another, the first and second plate walls each having an inner surface and an outer surface, wherein the fluid flow passage is defined between the inner surfaces of the first and second plate walls; and
wherein the wavy fin turbulizer is integ

Assignees

• Dana Canada Corp

Inventors

• Catuneanu Andrei
• Burgers John G
• Abels Kenneth M A

Classifications

• F28F3/025 Primary

  the means being corrugated, plate-like elements · CPC title

• F28B9/00

  Auxiliary systems, arrangements, or devices · CPC title

• F28B1/06

  using air or other gas as the cooling medium · CPC title

• H01M10/6569

  Fluids undergoing a liquid-gas phase change or transition, e.g. evaporation or condensation (heat pipes H01M10/6552) · CPC title

• H01M10/613

  Cooling or keeping cold · CPC title