Heat exchanger useful as charge-air cooler for commercial vehicles

Abstract

The invention relates to a heat exchanger, preferably a charge-air cooler for motor vehicles, comprising: first members defining a plurality of passageways for guiding a first fluid in heat exchange relationship with a second fluid flowing over the outside of the members defining the passageways, and at least one second member forming a part of the heat exchanger structure in contact with either the first or second fluid, wherein at least one of the first members and the second member is comprised of a steel strip bearing at least one surface layer of aluminum and / or a brazing material.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATIONS [0001] The right of foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(a) is claimed based on Federal Republic of Germany Priority Application 103 28 748.5, filed Jun. 25, 2003, the entire disclosure of which, including the specification, drawings, claims and abstract, is incorporated herein by reference. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] The invention relates to a heat exchanger, in particular a charge-air cooler for vehicles. [0003] Known heat exchangers, in particular for motor vehicles, are usually made from aluminum or aluminum alloys. A heat exchanger of this type, as disclosed for example by DE-A 198 57 435, comprises a heat exchanger grid with fins and corrugated or web-like fins which are arranged between the fins and are brazed to the outer surfaces of the tubes, which are generally flat or rectangular tubes. The ends of the tubes themselves are held in header plates of collector tanks and are brazed to the header plates. For the brazing ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0005] In particular, it is an object of the invention to improve the hot strength of the heat exchanger components without the weight of the heat exchanger increasing significantly as a result, and to provide that the heat exchanger can, if appropriate, be produced using known processes without significant changes.

Problems solved by technology

The strength of aluminum decreases at temperatures over 150 degrees Celsius, which has adverse effects in particular on the components of a heat exchanger that are directly exposed to such a temperature.

One way to satisfy these high demands imposed on the temperature resistance of the material, for example, is to increase the wall thickness of the tubes, but this inevitably leads to an increased weight and also to a drop in the heat conduction, and the drop in strength generally cannot be compensated for completely at an economically viable cost.

Images