Heat exchanger and air-conditioning apparatus including the heat exchanger

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2023095279-A1
Application number	US-202017911490-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	May 22, 2020
Priority date	May 22, 2020
Publication date	Mar 30, 2023
Grant date	—

Abstract

A heat exchanger includes: a plurality of flat tubes each of which has a refrigerant flow passage through which refrigerant flows in an up-down direction, the plurality of flat tubes being arranged parallel to each other at intervals; a plurality of fins each of which is provided between adjacent flat tubes of the plurality of flat tubes; an upper header to which an upper end portion of each of the plurality of flat tubes is connected; and a lower header to which an a lower end portion of each of the plurality of flat tubes is connected. Lower end portions of the plurality of fins are not joined to the lower header, and a lower gap is formed between the lower end portions of the plurality of fins and the lower header.

First claim

1 . A heat exchanger comprising:
a plurality of flat tubes each of which has a refrigerant flow passage through which refrigerant flows in an up-down direction, the plurality of flat tubes being arranged parallel to each other at intervals; a plurality of fins each of which is provided between adjacent flat tubes of the plurality of flat tubes; an upper header to which an upper end portion of each of the plurality of flat tubes is connected; and a lower header to which a lower end portion of each of the plurality of flat tubes is connected, wherein lower end portions of the plurality of fins are not joined to the lower header, and a lower gap is formed between the lower end portions of the plurality of fins and the lower header, upper end portions of the plurality of fins are not joined to the upper header, and an upper gap is formed between the upper end portions of the plurality of fins and the upper header, and the vertical width dimension of the upper gap is one third or less of the vertical width dimension of the lower gap.

2 - 3 . (canceled)

4 . The heat exchanger of claim 1 , wherein
each of the plurality of fins is formed by bending into a corrugated shape extending in the up-down direction, and includes a portion with a small pitch of waveform and a portion with a large pitch of waveform, and the portion with the small pitch of the waveform is disposed at a position higher than the portion with the large pitch of the waveform.

5 . An air-conditioning apparatus comprising an outdoor unit including the heat exchanger of claim 1 .

6 . The air-conditioning apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the outdoor unit further comprises a casing including an air outlet provided at an upper surface thereof, and an outdoor fan disposed at a position directly below the air outlet.

7 . An air-conditioning apparatus comprising:
a heat exchanger; a casing including an air outlet provided at an upper surface thereof; an outdoor unit including a fan disposed at a position directly below the air outlet, wherein the heat exchanger includes a plurality of flat tubes each of which has a refrigerant flow passage through which refrigerant flows in an up-down direction, the plurality of flat tubes being arranged parallel to each other at intervals; a plurality of fins each of which is provided between adjacent flat tubes of the plurality of flat tubes; an upper header to which an upper end portion of each of the plurality of flat tubes is connected; and a lower header to which a lower end portion of each of the plurality of flat tubes is connected, wherein lower end portions of the plurality of fins are not joined to the lower header, and a lower gap is formed between the lower end portions of the plurality of fins and the lower header, upper end portions of the plurality of fins are not joined to the upper header, and an upper gap is formed between the upper end portions of the plurality of fins and the upper header, and the vertical width dimension of the upper gap is less than the vertical width dimension of the lower gap.

Assignees

• Mitsubishi Electric Corp

Inventors

• Hara Naoto
• Saikusa Tetsuji

Classifications

• F28F2270/00

  Thermal insulation; Thermal decoupling · CPC title

• F28F2215/04

  Assemblies of fins having different features, e.g. with different fin densities · CPC title

• F28F9/02

  Header boxes; End plates · CPC title

• F28D1/05366

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

• F28D1/05383 Primary

  with multiple rows of conduits or with multi-channel conduits (F28D1/05391 takes precedence) · CPC title