Heat exchange tube and evaporator

Abstract

An evaporator includes a plurality of flat heat exchange tubes extending in a vertical direction and arranged at intervals along a left-right direction with a width direction thereof coinciding with a front-rear direction. The heat exchange tube has a plurality of refrigerant channels arranged along the width direction. The evaporator satisfies a relation 0.558≦A≦1.235, where A is a value in pieces / mm obtained by dividing the number N of the refrigerant channels of the heat exchange tube by a width W of the heat exchange tube as measured in the front-rear direction. Also, the evaporator satisfies a relation 0.35≦Dh≦1.0, where Dh is an equivalent diameter in mm of the heat exchange tube. This evaporator can reduce the temperature difference between air discharged into a compartment when a compressor is turned ON and that when the compressor is turned OFF.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates to a heat exchange tube and an evaporator, and more particularly to a heat exchange tube preferably used in, for example, an evaporator of a car air conditioner, which is a refrigeration cycle to be mounted on an automobile, as well as to an evaporator.

[0002] Herein and in the appended claims, the downstream side (a direction represented by arrow X in FIG. 1) of an air flow through air-passing clearances between adjacent heat exchange tubes will be referred to as the “front,” and the opposite side as the “rear,” and the upper, lower, left-hand, and right-hand sides of FIG. 2 will be referred to as “upper,”“lower,”“left,” and “right,” respectively. Also, herein, the term “aluminum” encompasses aluminum alloys in addition to pure aluminum.

[0003] Conventionally, a so-called laminated evaporator has been widely employed as an evaporator for use in a car air conditioner. In the laminated evaporator, a plurality of flat, hollow ...

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