Evaporator

Abstract

A corrugate fin of an evaporator includes wave crest portions, wave trough portions, and flat connection portions connecting together the wave crest portions and the wave trough portions. Opposite end portions of a cutout extend to corresponding connection portions located at opposite ends of the wave crest portion and the wave trough portion. A projection projecting inward is formed integrally with end portions of the connection portions, the end portions of the connection portions corresponding to opposite ends of the cutout. The projection extends between the end portions of the connection portions located at the opposite ends of the wave crest portion and the wave trough portion. The projection projects inward in a shape resembling a lying letter V. The evaporator exhibits excellent drainage of condensed water and enables high work efficiency in manufacture thereof.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application is an application filed under 35 U.S.C. §111(a) claiming the benefit pursuant to 35 U.S.C. §119(e)(1) of the filing date of Provisional Application No. 60 / 619,009 filed Oct. 18, 2004 pursuant to 35 U.S.C. §111(b).TECHNICAL FIELD [0002] The present invention relates to an evaporator for use in a car air conditioner, which is a refrigeration cycle to be mounted on, for example, a vehicle. [0003] Herein and in the appended claims, the upper, lower, left-hand, and right-hand sides of FIGS. 1 and 2 will be referred to as “upper,”“lower,”“left,” and “right,” respectively. The downstream side of an air flow (a side represented by arrow X in FIG. 1, and a right-hand side in FIG. 3) is referred to as the “front,” and the opposite side as the “rear.”BACKGROUND ART [0004] A conventionally used evaporator for use in a car air conditioner includes a plurality of refrigerant flow members arranged in parallel, and corrugate fins each ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0033] With the evaporator of any one of pars. 1) to 3), a portion of condensed water on the surface of the refrigerant flow members and on the surface of the corrugate fins flows downward through openings between adjacent louvers. The residual condensed water flows, by the effect of surface tension, toward joint portions between the refrigerant flow members and the wave crest portions and the wave trough portions of the corrugate fins, and is collected on the joint portions. The condensed water collected on the joint portions between the refrigerant flow members and the wave crest portions and the wave trough portions of the corrugate fins flows frontward by the effect of air passing through the air-passing clearances. Accordingly, the condensed water remaining rearward of the cutouts flows downward through the cutouts, and the condensed water remaining frontward of the cutouts flows downward along the front ends of the refrigerant flow members. Since the quantity of condensed water collected on the joint portions located frontward of the cutouts and the quantity of condensed water collected on the joint portions located rearward of the cutouts become relatively small, drainage of condensed water is enhanced. This prevents splashing of condensed water from front end portions of the refrigerant flow members at the time of an abrupt change in air flow rate; a drop in cooling performance caused by an increase in air flow resistance which, in turn, is caused by surface tension causing condensed water to block openings between the louvers; and freezing of condensed water. In contrast to the corrugate fins of the evaporator described in the above-mentioned publication, each of the corrugate fins is not divided into a plurality of separate fin members in the air flow direction. This facilitates assembly of the refrigerant flow members and the corrugate fins in manufacture of the evaporator, and suppresses a reduction in the area of heat transfer between the corrugate fins and the air flowing through air-passing clearances between adjacent refrigerant flow members, thereby suppressing a drop in cooling performance of the evaporator.

[0043] With the evaporator of par. 18), while an increase of air flow resistance is suppressed, heat exchange performance is enhanced, thereby establishing good balance between air flow resistance and heat exchange performance.

Problems solved by technology

However, in the case where the quantity of condensed water is large, drainage performance may become insufficient.

This, in manufacture of the evaporator, raises a problem that assembling together the refrigerant flow members and the separate fin members is troublesome.

Also, as compared with an undivided corrugate fin, the divided corrugate fin is smaller in the area of heat transfer with air that flows through an air-passing clearance between adjacent refrigerant flow members, thus raising a problem of an impairment in heat-exchanging performance.

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