Brazed hybrid aluminum/copper heat exchangers

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2025058392-A1
Application number	US-202318450313-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Aug 15, 2023
Priority date	Aug 15, 2023
Publication date	Feb 20, 2025
Grant date	—

Abstract

A heat exchanger including a first component formed of aluminum and/or aluminum alloy and a second component formed of copper and/or copper alloy. The first element and the second element are fused together by furnace brazing. In some examples, the heat exchanger is an aluminum/copper hybrid heat exchanger including an aluminum and/or aluminum alloy component and a copper and/or copper alloy component. The aluminum and/or aluminum alloy component includes a body and/or cover of the hybrid heat exchanger and the copper and/or copper alloy component includes a heat transfer enhancement component, fixedly coupled to the aluminum and/or aluminum alloy component.

First claim

1 . A heat exchanger, comprising:
an aluminum or aluminum alloy component including a body and/or a cover; and a copper or copper alloy component fixedly coupled to the aluminum or aluminum alloy component, wherein the copper or copper alloy component is a heat transfer enhancement component.

2 . The heat exchanger of claim 1 , wherein the copper or copper alloy component is furnace brazed to the aluminum or aluminum alloy component.

3 . The heat exchanger of claim 1 , wherein the copper or copper alloy component is positioned to be in direct contact with a coolant of the heat exchanger.

4 . The heat exchanger of claim 1 , wherein the copper or copper alloy component is a fin and/or a turbulizer.

5 . The heat exchanger of claim 1 , wherein the body and the cover together define a passage through which liquid flows and into which the heat transfer enhancement component extends.

6 . The heat exchanger of claim 1 , wherein the heat transfer enhancement component is positioned based on a position of a heat generating component coupled to a hot side of the cover.

7 . The heat exchanger of claim 1 , wherein dimensions of the heat transfer enhancement component depend on dimensions of a heat generating component coupled to a hot side of the cover.

8 . The heat exchanger of claim 1 , wherein the heat exchanger is configured as a tube-fin heat exchanger or a concentric tube heat exchanger.

9 . An aluminum/copper hybrid heat exchanger, comprising:
a body and/or cover formed of aluminum or aluminum alloy; a first heat transfer enhancement component formed of aluminum or aluminum alloy and fixedly coupled to the body and/or cover; and a second heat transfer enhancement component formed of copper or copper alloy and fixedly coupled to the body and/or cover.

10 . The aluminum/copper hybrid heat exchanger of claim 9 , wherein the second heat transfer enhancement component is fixedly coupled to the body and/or cover in a position under a higher heat load than a position of the first heat transfer enhancement component.

11 . The aluminum/copper hybrid heat exchanger of claim 9 , wherein the aluminum/copper hybrid heat exchanger includes the body and the cover configured to together define a first coolant channel and a second coolant channel or a serpentine coolant channel.

12 . The aluminum/copper hybrid heat exchanger of claim 9 , wherein the aluminum/copper hybrid heat exchanger is a gas-liquid aluminum/copper hybrid heat exchanger.

13 . The aluminum/copper hybrid heat exchanger of claim 9 , wherein dimensions of the first heat transfer enhancement component are different than dimensions of the second heat transfer enhancement component.

14 . The aluminum/copper hybrid heat exchanger of claim 9 , wherein an amount of the first heat transfer enhancement component is different than an amount of the second heat transfer enhancement component.

15 . The aluminum/copper hybrid heat exchanger of claim 9 , wherein the aluminum/copper hybrid heat exchanger includes an aluminum or aluminum alloy layer and a copper or copper alloy layer fixedly coupled to the aluminum or aluminum alloy layer.

16 . A system, comprising:
an aluminum/copper (Al/Cu) hybrid heat exchanger including: a cover formed of aluminum or aluminum alloy, wherein the cover includes a hot side positioned on an outer surface of the cover and a cold side coupled to a body of the Al/Cu hybrid heat exchanger; a copper or copper alloy portion directly fixedly coupled to the hot side of the cover; and an electronic component, electrically coupled to the copper or copper alloy portion and configured to transfer heat to the Al/Cu hybrid heat exchanger.

17 . The system of claim 16 , wherein a first face of the copper or copper alloy portion does not protrude past the hot side of the cover.

18 . The system of claim 16 , wherein the copper or copper alloy portion protrudes a distance past the hot side of the cover.

19 . The system of claim 16 , wherein the copper or copper alloy portion includes more than one copper or copper alloy portion, each of the more than one copper or copper alloy portion electrically coupled to the electronic component.

20 . A heat exchanger, comprising:
a first component formed of aluminum or aluminum alloy; and a second component formed of copper or copper alloy,
wherein the first component is brazed to the second component by a furnace braze process.

Assignees

• Dana Canada Corp

Inventors

• Catuneanu Andrei

Classifications

• F28F21/085

  from copper or copper alloys · CPC title

• F28F21/084 Primary

  from aluminium or aluminium alloys · CPC title

• F28D1/0477

  the conduits being bent in a serpentine or zig-zag · CPC title

• B23K1/008

  Soldering within a furnace (B23K1/012 takes precedence) · CPC title

• F28F2275/04

  by brazing · CPC title