PLATE-CONNECTION TYPE HEAT EXCHANGER

Abstract

The present invention relates to a heat exchanger and, more specifically, to a plate-connection type heat exchanger, wherein the assembling and connection of plates used in a heat exchanger can be simplified so as to reduce the manufacturing time thereof and manufacturing process, thereby improving productivity and product quality.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2014-0149363, filed on Oct. 30, 2014, in the KIPO (Korean Intellectual Property Office), the disclosure of which is incorporated herein entirely by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present disclosure relates to a heat exchanger and, more specifically, to a plate-connection type heat exchanger, wherein the assembling and connection of plates used in a heat exchanger can be simplified so as to reduce the manufacturing time thereof and manufacturing process, thereby improving productivity and product quality.

2. Description of the Related Art

A plate-shaped heat exchanger used in a boiler employs plate generally uses stacked plate chambers for the improvement of heat exchange efficiency with respect to the combustion heat generated in a burner part.

As an example, there has been suggested a plate-shaped heat exchanger 1 in Korean Reg. Utility Model Publication No. 20-0275401, wherein a top plate 10 having outlets and inlets for direct water and heating water is positioned at an upper side and a plurality of first and second path plates 20 and 30 are stacked in a mutually intersecting shape at the lower side of the top plates in such a manner that paths are formed so as to prevent the mixing of the fluids, which flow through the outlets and inlets for the direct water and the heating water, from each other, as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2.

In other words, the positions of the paths, through which the fluids flow, intersect each other in the vertical direction such that the fluids passing through the paths are not mixed with each other while passing through the paths but the fluids carry out the heat exchange operations with each other, wherein the surface contact areas between the mutually intersecting paths are connected by brazing welding.

However, in the process of connecting the first and second path plates 20 and 30, the brazing welding is carried out relatively weakly at the corner parts rather than in the centers of the plates so that local pressure is generated due to the excessive water pressure by water hammering and cracks are generated in the peripheries of the welded parts.

That is, the plate chambers for the prior art heat exchanger as described above have a wing structure, in which the first path plates 20 and the second path plates 30 are aligned in a same direction, such that the wing surfaces of the path plates are overlapped to be connected. Therefore, the brazing welding is carried out for the connection by using copper plates or after additionally applying a solvent in accordance with circumstances.

However, according to the prior art plate chambers, if the brazing work is carried out in a state, where the wing surfaces of the first path plate 20 and the second path plate 30 are overlapped or the solvent 2 is applied to the top parts of the wing surfaces of the second path plates, as shown in FIG. 3, the surfaces to be applied with the solvent 2 are small, or the volume of the solvent 2 is expanded due to the thermal deformation of the basic materials between the wing surfaces, or bubbles are generated above the melting temperature thereof. Therefore, even though a section having the bubbles can maintain the airtightness for a short time, the section having the bubbles is likely to be eroded with speed after a certain time. Consequently, the prior art has advantages of water leakage, crack generation and the like in the welded parts.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems occurring in the prior arts, and it is an objective of the present invention to provide a plate-connection type heat exchanger, the edge wing parts of a top plate and a bottom plate, which form a plate chamber of a heat exchanger, have different angles from each other such that the stacking and assembling of the top plate and the bottom plate can be simplified and the failure in the welding work can be improved.

It is another objective of the present invention to provide a plate-connection type heat exchanger, wherein the wing surface of the bottom plate and the wing surface of the top plate are elastically fitted with each other so as to be assembled with each other, thereby simplifying the applying of a solvent and improving the convenience in the brazing welding work.

To accomplish the above objectives, according to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided, in a heat exchanger, wherein plates, each having a top plate and a bottom plate, are stacked, and wing parts of the top plate and the bottom plate are brazed to be joined together such that a path is defined inside, a plate-connection type heat exchanger, characterized in that the wing part of the top plate is folded downwards, and the wing part of the bottom plate is formed with a fitting surface to be fitted with the wing part of the top plate and a base surface folded in the outward direction from the fitting surface, such that the wing part of the top plate is fitted inside the fitting surface and a solvent applying space H is formed between the base surface and the wing part of the top plate.

The wing part of the top plate is formed to be folded downwards at an obtuse angle, and the fitting surface forming the wing part of the bottom plate is formed to be folded upwards.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided, in a heat exchanger, wherein plates, each having a top plate and a bottom plate, are stacked, and wing parts and of the top plate and the bottom plate are brazed to be joined together such that a path is defined inside, a plate-connection type heat exchanger, characterized in that the wing part of the top plate is folded downwards at an obtuse angle, and a fitting surface forming the wing part of the bottom plate is formed to folded upwards in a direction forming a right angle to an obtuse angle, such that the wing part of the top plate is fitted inside the fitting surface and a solvent applying space H is formed between the fitting surface and the wing part of the top plate.

The wing part of the top plate is formed to be folded downwards at an obtuse angle, and the fitting surface forming the wing part of the bottom plate is formed to be folded upwards at an acute angle in an inward direction.

The wing part of the top plate is formed to be folded downwards at a right angle, and the fitting surface forming the wing part of the bottom plate is formed to be folded upwards at a right angle.

A plurality of embossing protrusions are formed to be protruded at a predetermined interval on the inside of the fitting surface of the bottom plate wing part, and a bending protrusion is formed on the front end of the top plate wing part so as to be held by and fitted with the embossing protrusions.

According to the present invention as structures above, the assembling of the top plate and the bottom plate of a plate member used in a heat exchanger can be conveniently and easily carried out, thereby improving the productivity.

Further, an area and a volume for a solvent to be applied to the wing parts of the top plate and the bottom plate can be uniformly formed, thereby preventing defective brazing welding. Even though a defective is generated, secondary solvent applying is enabled using the solvent applying space, thereby reducing a fraction defective.

Therefore, the assembling of the top plate and the bottom plate can be conveniently carried out and the solvent can be applied from the outside after the assembling such that the automated manufacturing of the plate-connection type heat exchanger can be realized, thereby noticeably improving the productivity.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other features and advantages will become more apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art by describing in detail exemplary embodiments with reference to the attached drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view for illustrating the appearance of a prior art plate-shaped heat exchanger.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view for illustrating the prior art plate-shaped heat exchanger.

FIG. 3 is an expanded cross-sectional view for illustrating the prior art plate-shaped heat exchanger.

FIG. 4A to FIG. 4C are expanded cross-sectional view for illustrating the coupling process to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 5A is a partially expanded cross-sectional view for illustrating an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5B is an expanded cross-sectional view for illustrating an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6A and FIG. 6B are expanded cross-sectional view for illustrating another embodiment of the present invention.

In the following description, the same or similar elements are labeled with the same or similar reference numbers.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention now will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which embodiments of the invention are shown. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “includes”, “comprises” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. In addition, a term such as a “unit”, a “module”, a “block” or like, when used in the specification, represents a unit that processes at least one function or operation, and the unit or the like may be implemented by hardware or software or a combination of hardware and software.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.

Preferred embodiments will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, they may be embodied in different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the disclosure to those skilled in the art.

A plate-connection type heat exchanger according to the present invention can simplify the assembling and connection of plates used in a heat exchanger, thereby reducing the manufacturing time and the manufacturing process and thus improving the productivity and product quality.

First, referring to the accompanying drawings, a heat exchanger according to an embodiment of the present invention includes plates 50, each including a top plate 60 and a bottom plate 70, are stacked and then the wing parts 61, 71 of the top plate 60 and the bottom plate 70 are brazed to be jointed together such that a path is formed in the plate 50.

Herein, according to this embodiment of the present invention, in order to more simply and readily connect the top plate 60 and the bottom plate 70, which formed the plate 50, the shapes of the wing parts 61, 71 are deformed and subject to brazing welding, thereby preventing a defective.

To this end, according to the present invention, the wing part 61 of the top plate 60 is formed to be folded downwards at an obtuse angle, and the wing part 71 of the bottom plate 70 is formed to have a fitting surface 72 folded upwards at an acute angle in an inward direction and a base surface 73 folded in the outward direction from the fitting surface 72, as shown in FIG. 4A.

Further, as shown in FIG. 4B, in a state, where the wing part 61 of the top plate 60 is moved downwards so as to be held by the base surface 73 of the bottom plate wing part 71 and elastically moved inside the base surface 73 of the bottom plate wing part 71, if the top plate 60 is further moved downwards, then the top plate wing part 61 passing the base surface 73 is restored such that the fitting surface 72 formed at an acute angle and the top plate wing part 61 formed at an obtuse angle come into surface-contact with each other and are thus connected together.

Accordingly, a solvent applying space H is formed between the top plate wing part 61 and the base surface 73 of the bottom plate wing part 71, such that a worker can easily apply a solvent 2 to the solvent applying space H.

That is, the plate 50, which is thus integrally formed by the connection between the wing part 61 of the top plate 60 and the wing part 71 of the bottom plate 70, has the solvent applying space H which is formed along the coupled edge part so as to be easily applied with the solvent 2 from the outside, thereby enabling automation.

Then, referring to FIG. 4C, in a state, where the solvent 2 is applied to the solvent applying space H of the plate 50, the brazing welding is carried out so as to complete the connection while the solvent 2 prevents the oxidation of the adhesion surface.

Further, the present invention, if a defective is found in the leakage test of the plate 50 after the brazing welding, the solvent 2 is applied again to the solvent applying space H and then the brazing welding is carried out again. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the generation of defectives.

Further, according to another embodiment of the present invention, a plurality of embossing protrusions 72a are formed at a predetermined interval along the edge of the fitting surface 72 of the bottom plate wing part 71, and a bending protrusion 61a is formed on the front end of the top plate wing part 61 so as to be held by and fitted with the embossing protrusions 72a, as shown in FIG. 5A.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5B, if the wing part 61 of the top plate 60 is coupled to the fitting surface 72 of the bottom plate wing part 71, the bending protrusion 61 at the front end of the wing part 61 is held by the embossing protrusions 72a so as to be fixed.

Herein, a gap is formed between the fitting surface 72 of the bottom plate wing part 71 and the top plate wing part 61 by the embossing protrusions 72a such that the solvent 2 to be applied to the solvent applying space H is introduced into the gap and the brazing welding is carried out in this state, thereby maximizing the connection strength.

Furthermore, according to a further embodiment of the present invention, it is also possible to provide a plate 50, in which the wing part 61 of the top plate 60 is folded downwards at an obtuse angle while the wing part 71 of the bottom plate 70 has a fitting surface folded upwards in a right angle direction and a base surface 73 folded in the outward direction from the fitting surface 72, such that the wing part 61 of the top plate 60 is fitted inside the fitting surface 72, as shown in FIG. 6A.

Therefore, the plate 50 as above has a predetermined gap formed between the top plate wing part 61 and the fitting surface 72 of the bottom plate wing part 71, wherein, if the solvent 2 is applied to the solvent applying space H, the solvent is introduced into the gap and the brazing welding is carried out, thereby maximizing the connection strength.

Further, as shown in FIG. 6B, it is also possible to form a plate 50, in which the top plate wing part 61 is folded downwards at an obtuse angle and the bottom plate wing part 71 has a fitting surface 72 folded upwards at a right angle to an obtuse angle.

Therefore, the top plate wing part 61 is held inside the fitting surface 72 of the bottom plate wing part 71, and the connection therebetween is carried out by applying the solvent 2 to the solvent applying space H between the top plate wing part 61 and the fitting surface 72 of the bottom plate wing part 71 and carrying out the brazing welding.

According to this embodiment, the wing part 61 of the top plate 60 is simply assembled into the wing part 71 of the bottom plate 70 and the applying of the solvent 2 is readily carried out, such that the top plate 60 and the bottom plate 70 can be conveniently connected.

While all components constituting the embodiments of the present disclosure are described hereinabove as being coupled into one or operating while coupled, the present disclosure is not necessarily limited to such embodiments. That is, within the objective scope of the present disclosure, the components may operate in a selectively coupled manner of at least one of them. Also, each of the components may be implemented as a single independent hardware, but may be implemented as a computer program having a program module that is composed of a selective combination of some or all of the components and performs some or all of functions of the combinations in one or more hardware. Also, codes and code segments constituting the computer-readable code may be easily inferred by one of ordinary skill in the art. The computer-readable code is stored in a computer-readable medium and is read and executed by a computer system, to implement the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. The recording medium of the computer-readable code may include a magnetic recording medium, an optical recording medium, and the like.

While the present disclosure has been described with reference to the embodiments illustrated in the figures, the embodiments are merely examples, and it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and other embodiments equivalent thereto can be performed. Therefore, the technical scope of the disclosure is defined by the technical idea of the appended claims The drawings and the forgoing description gave examples of the present invention. The scope of the present invention, however, is by no means limited by these specific examples. Numerous variations, whether explicitly given in the specification or not, such as differences in structure, dimension, and use of material, are possible. The scope of the invention is at least as broad as given by the following claims.

Claims

1. A plate-connection type heat exchanger, in which stacked plates, each plate having a top plate and a bottom plate, and wing parts of the top plate and the bottom plate are brazed to be joined together such that a path is defined inside, characterized in that:

the wing part of the top plate is folded downwards, and the wing part of the bottom plate is formed with a fitting surface to be fitted with the wing part of the top plate and a base surface folded in the outward direction from the fitting surface, such that the wing part of the top plate is fitted inside the fitting surface and a solvent applying space is formed between the base surface and the wing part of the top plate.

2. The plate-connection type heat exchanger of claim 1, wherein the wing part of the top plate is formed to be folded downwards at an obtuse angle, and the fitting surface forming the wing part of the bottom plate is formed to be folded upwards.

3. A plate-connection type heat exchanger, in which stacked plates, each plate having a top plate and a bottom plate, and wing parts of the top plate and the bottom plate are brazed to be joined together such that a path is defined inside, characterized in that:

the wing part of the top plate is folded downwards at an obtuse angle, and a fitting surface forming the wing part of the bottom plate is formed to be folded upwards in a direction forming a right angle to an obtuse angle, such that the wing part of the top plate is fitted inside the fitting surface and a solvent applying space is formed between the fitting surface and the wing part of the top plate.

4. The plate-connection type heat exchanger of claim 3, wherein the wing part of the top plate is formed to be folded downwards at an obtuse angle, and the fitting surface forming the wing part of the bottom plate is formed to be folded upwards at an acute angle in an inward direction.

5. The plate-connection type heat exchanger of claim 3, wherein the wing part of the top plate is formed to be folded downwards at a right angle, and the fitting surface forming the wing part of the bottom plate is formed to be folded upwards at a right angle.

6. The plate-connection type heat exchanger of claim 2, wherein a plurality of embossing protrusions are formed to be protruded at a predetermined interval on the inside of the fitting surface of the bottom plate wing part, and a bending protrusion is formed on the front end of the top plate wing part so as to be held by and fitted with the embossing protrusions.

7. The plate-connection type heat exchanger of claim 4, wherein a plurality of embossing protrusions are formed to be protruded at a predetermined interval on the inside of the fitting surface of the bottom plate wing part, and a bending protrusion is formed on the front end of the top plate wing part so as to be held by and fitted with the embossing protrusions.