MANIFOLD PROFILE

Abstract

A manifold profile of a heat exchanger. The manifold profile includes two side walls, a top wall connecting the two side walls, a collecting space enclosed on three sides by the two side walls and the top wall, a receiving opening configured to receive a connection piece, the receiving opening being located on one or more of the two side walls and the top wall.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims benefit of and priority to German Patent Application No. 20 2011 051 713.6, filed Oct. 21, 2011, the content of which Application is incorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY

The present invention relates to a manifold profile of a heat exchanger. A manifold profile of a heat exchanger. The manifold profile includes two side walls, a top wall connecting the two side walls, a collecting space enclosed on three sides by the two side walls and the top wall, and a receiving opening configured to receive a connection piece, the receiving opening being located on one or more of the two side walls and the top wall.

Generic manifold profiles of heat exchangers usually consist of two side walls and a top wall which jointly enclose a collecting space on three sides. The manifold profile which is formed in this manner is usually welded or soldered together with a base plate forming the fourth side of the collecting space, to which tubes and plates of the heat exchanger are connected.

An opening is provided in one of the side walls or the top wall, into which a connection piece can be introduced, and via which opening the cooling liquid can be introduced into the manifold profile or can be discharged from the manifold profile. Flanges or bushings are welded or soldered onto the side wall or the top wall for fastening the connection pieces.

The problematic aspect in these flanges or bushings that are attached to the side walls or the top wall is that the subsequent further processing of the manifold profile is only possible by hand because the applied flanges or bushings form discontinuous edges, as a result of which the insertion of such a manifold profile in an automatic welder is not possible.

The embodiments of the present disclosure include a manifold profile of a heat exchanger which is more compact in comparison with the state of the art and with which a faster and more cost-effective connection of the manifold profile to the further components of the heat exchanger is enabled.

Thus, the embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a manifold profile of a heat exchanger. The manifold profile includes two side walls, a top wall connecting the two side walls, a collecting space enclosed on three sides by the two side walls and the top wall, and a receiving opening configured to receive a connection piece, the receiving opening being located on one or more of the two side walls and the top wall. The one or more of the two side walls and the top wall include fastening holes configured to accommodate fastening means for fastening the connection piece to the one or more of the two side walls and the top wall.

In accordance with the embodiments of the present disclosure, at least one of the side walls and/or the top wall includes fastening holes for fixing fastening means in an interlocking or frictionally engaged manner for the purpose of attaching the connection piece to one of the side walls or the top wall.

As a result of the integration of the fastening holes in the side wall and/or the top wall of the manifold profile, the attachment of flanges or bushings to the manifold profile can be avoided. Thus, the manifold profile can be inserted in a longitudinal automatic welder, for example, in which the manifold profile can be welded together with the grid of the heat exchanger in block width. The production times for a manifold profile can be reduced substantially thereby, in accordance with the present disclosure.

Embodiments of the present disclosure are discussed herein, including the appended claims.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure, the fastening holes of the manifold profile may be provided with an internal thread, so that the connection piece can be screwed onto one of the side walls or the top wall.

In accordance with a further embodiment of the present disclosure, the fastening holes may be arranged as pocket holes. The wall thickness of the side wall or top wall is dimensioned in such a way that the fastening holes protrude sufficiently deeply from the outside into the side wall or top wall in order to offer sufficient hold for the fastening means, which fastening means may be screws, for example, for the purpose of fastening the connection piece to the side wall or top wall.

The wall thickness of at least one of the side walls and/or the top wall is larger in a region including the fastening holes than the wall thickness of one of the side walls and/or the top wall in a region without the fastening holes. Thus, in this way, despite the larger wall thicknesses in the region including the fastening holes, a sufficiently large collecting space remains within the side walls and the top wall.

In accordance with the present disclosure, one of the side walls progresses in a concave manner towards the collecting space and converges, formed with constant wall thickness, into the top wall. The wall thickness of the other of the side walls, together with the top wall, is arranged in such a way that the other one of the side walls forms a rectangular triangle in the cross section together with the top wall. An outside of the other of the side walls and the top wall facing away from the collecting space stand perpendicular to one another. And, the fastening holes in the region of the other of the side walls is provided with the top wall.

As a result of the arrangement of the manifold profile as an at least partial round profile, considerable savings in material are achieved for forming the side walls and the top wall of the manifold profile.

In accordance with an embodiment according to the present disclosure, the wall thickness of the side walls together with the top wall is arranged in such a way that each of the side walls together with the top wall forms a rectangular triangle in the cross section. Receiving openings and fastening holes are included on both sides of the manifold profile.

In order to also arrange a manifold profile which saves material to the highest possible extent in the region of the fastening holes, the hypotenuse to one of the side walls formed into a rectangular triangle is arranged as an undulating or serrated line together with the top wall. That is done in order to ensure sufficient material thickness in the region of the fastening holes protruding from the outside into the manifold profile. It is also done to save material in the other areas and simultaneously provide a larger collecting space.

The manifold profile may, according to the present disclosure, be arranged as an integral extruded profile, which thereby allows simple production of the manifold profile.

Other aspects of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following descriptions when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a first embodiment of a manifold profile, in accordance with the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 shows a perspective view of the manifold profile of FIG. 1.

FIGS. 3 to 5 show perspective sectional views of the manifold profile of FIG. 1 and showing the fastening holes embedded in walls of the manifold profile.

FIG. 6 shows a perspective view of another embodiment of a manifold profile, in accordance with the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 shows a perspective view of the manifold profile of FIG. 6.

FIGS. 8 and 9 show perspective sectional views of the manifold profile of FIG. 6 and showing fastening holes and receiving openings embedded in walls of the manifold profile.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the description herein, the terms such as above, below, left, right, front, rear, for example, relate to the shown positions of the manifold profile. These terms shall not be understood as being limiting in any way, meaning that such references can change by different working positions or mirror-symmetrical configurations, for example.

FIGS. 1 and 2 show a first embodiment of a manifold profile 1, in accordance with the present disclosure. Manifold profile 1 includes two side walls 6, 7 and a top wall 5 around a collecting space 9 which is enclosed on three sides and which, on its side opposite of the top wall 5, can be connected to a conventional heat exchanger grid. The grid may include several tubes arranged in parallel and forming cooling channels and plates arranged in an undulating manner between the tubes.

The manifold profile 1 may, in accordance with the present disclosure, be arranged as an extruded profile and which extends along a longitudinal direction y between two face surfaces at an end side.

At least one receiving opening 3, for accommodating a connection piece, is provided in at least one of the side walls 6, 7 and/or the top wall 5. Via such openings 3 a cooling medium, such as oil, air or water, can be introduced into the manifold profile 1 or be discharged from the manifold profile 1.

Several fastening holes 4 are provided around the receiving opening 3 for the purpose of fixing fastening means in an interlocking or frictionally engaged manner. That is done for the purpose of attaching the connection piece, so that the connection piece can be fixed without any connection of additional holding devices to be applied to the manifold profile 1, such as bushings or flanges. In the manifold profiles as known from the state of the art, such connection pieces via bushings or flanges are welded or soldered from the outside onto a side wall or top wall.

As is shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the fastening holes 4 are, for example, arranged as pocket holes, which are introduced with respect to the collecting space 9 from the outside into the side wall 6 or the top wall 5. The material thickness of the manifold profile 1 is accordingly adjusted in this region, that is, the wall thickness d₂ in the region of the side wall 6 and the top wall 5 where there are fastening holes 4 is dimensioned in such a way that it is larger than the depth of the fastening holes 4 and the wall thickness d₁ in the region where there are no fastening holes 4 is smaller than wall thickness d₂.

In the embodiment of the manifold profile 1, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 5, the side wall 7 is formed in the region of the manifold profile 1 in a concave manner and with constant wall thickness d towards the collecting space 9. The side wall 7 converges continuously into the top wall 5. The wall thickness d of the top wall 5 and the side wall 6 is dimensioned in such a way that the side wall 6 forms a rectangular triangle with the top wall 5 in the cross section, wherein the outside of the side wall 6 facing away from the collecting space 9 and the top wall 5 stand perpendicular to one another. The fastening holes 4 and the receiving opening 3 are disposed in the region of the side wall 6 and the top wall 5 where the wall thickness is larger, in accordance with the fastening holes 4. As a result of the different regions of the manifold profile 1 with different wall thicknesses, for example, d₁ and d₂, optimal distribution of material is ensured, wherein larger wall thicknesses are only provided where receiving openings 3 are provided around the enclosing fastening holes 4.

FIGS. 6 to 9 show another embodiment of a manifold profile 11, in accordance with the present disclosure. Manifold profile 11 is configured such that both manifold profile halves are provided with enlarged thicknesses, as seen in the longitudinal direction y. The manifold profile 11 is, for example, provided with an approximately cuboid shape. Collecting space 9 is formed in an approximately triangular way within the side walls 16, 17 and the top wall 15, so that receiving openings 13 and fastening holes 14, which enclose or surround the receiving openings 13, can be introduced in this manifold profile 11 on both sides of the manifold profile 11, as seen in the longitudinal direction y.

The fastening holes 4 may, in accordance with the present disclosure, be provided, in the embodiments of FIGS. 1 and 6, with an internal thread. This is so that screws can be used as fastening means for fixing the connection piece or pieces, which can be screwed into the fastening holes 4.

The side walls 16, 17, which form a rectangular triangle in the cross section, and the top wall 15 comprise an inside wall extending in the longitudinal direction y, which inside wall represents the hypotenuse in the rectangular triangle. An inside portion is arranged as an undulating or serrated line 8 (see FIGS. 1-5) and 18 (see FIGS. 6-9) for optimally utilizing material and forming optimal flow conditions.

The two embodiments of the manifold profile 1, 11, for example, thus enable material savings of up to 30% in comparison with conventional manifold profiles. Furthermore, no flanges or bushings need to be welded or soldered onto the manifold profiles 1, 11, thus reducing the production times of manifold profiles 1, 11. As a result of the integration of the receiving openings 3 and the fastening holes 4, in accordance with the present disclosure, any desired number of connections in any size is enabled. The connections themselves can be integrated in an optionally vertical or horizontal way, that is, on the side walls 6, 7, 16, 17 or the top wall 5, 15.

A bypass valve can, in accordance with the present disclosure, be integrated directly into the manifold profiles 1, 11 without any additional bushing.

Furthermore, in accordance with the present disclosure, a more compact installation of the heat exchanger into a device accommodating the heat exchanger may be further enabled by the omission of the bushings or flanges which need to be attached to the outside in conventional manifold profiles. Finally, in accordance with the present disclosure, automatic welding of the heat exchanger in a longitudinal automatic welder, for example, is also possible by omitting the bushings and flanges on the outside of the manifold profiles 1, 11.

Although the present disclosure has been described and illustrated in detail, it is to be clearly understood that this is done by way of illustration and example only and is not to be taken by way of limitation. The scope of the present disclosure is to be limited only by the terms of the appended claims.

Claims

1. A manifold profile of a heat exchanger, the manifold profile comprising:

two side walls;

a top wall connecting the two side walls;

a collecting space enclosed on three sides by the two side walls and the top wall;

a receiving opening configured to receive a connection piece, the receiving opening being located on one or more of the two side walls and the top wall; and

wherein the one or more of the two side walls and the top wall including fastening holes configured to accommodate fastening means for fastening the connection piece to the one or more of the two side walls and the top wall.

2. The manifold profile according to claim 1, wherein the fastening holes include an internal thread.

3. The manifold profile according to claim 1, wherein the fastening holes are configured as pocket holes.

4. The manifold profile according to claim 1, wherein a first wall thickness of one or both of the side walls and the top wall is larger in a region of the fastening holes than a second wall thickness of one or both of the side walls and the top wall in a region without the fastening holes.

5. The manifold profile according to claim 1, wherein a first of the side walls converges towards the collecting space in a concave manner and is shaped with a constant wall thickness into the top wall, whereas a wall thickness of a second of the side walls is arranged together with the top wall in such a way that the second of the side walls, together with the top wall, forms a rectangular triangle in the cross section, and an outside of the second of the side walls facing away from the collecting space and the top wall are perpendicular to each other, and the fastening holes are provided in the region of the second of the side walls and the top wall.

6. The manifold profile according to claim 1, wherein a wall thickness of the side walls is arranged together with the top wall in such a way that each of the side walls forms a rectangular triangle in the cross section together with the top wall.

7. The manifold profile according to claim 5, wherein a hypotenuse of the second of the side walls is formed into a rectangular triangle together with the top wall and is arranged as an undulating line.

8. The manifold profile according to claim 1, wherein the manifold profile is arranged as an integral extruded profile.

9. The manifold profile according to claim 1, wherein the connection piece is fastened in an interlocking engagement.

10. The manifold profile according to claim 1, wherein the connection piece is fastened in a frictionally engaged manner.

11. The manifold profile according to claim 6, wherein a hypotenuse of each of the side walls is formed into a rectangular triangle together with the top wall and arranged as an undulating line.