Folded Fin Array Heat Exchanger with Bead Reinforcement for Strength
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional heat exchangers face challenges in manufacturing and assembly, with weak points forming during folding and gaps between fins affecting performance, and are difficult to integrate into wall-mounted air conditioner indoor units due to their design.
Innovation Solution
A heat exchanger design featuring a fin array with insertion grooves, folding parts, and heat exchange fins that include beads for strength and louvers for airflow path alteration, along with a header that can be bent for easier installation, maintaining gaps and enhancing ventilation and drainage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the fin array is folded to reduce assembly time and simplify manufacturing, then productivity is improved, but weak portions with low strength are folded instead of the intended portions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by creating beads at specific folding portions of the fin array. These beads concentrate structural reinforcement exactly where folding occurs, rather than uniformly strengthening the entire fin array. The beads are formed at predetermined folding portions to provide localized strength enhancement, allowing the fin array to be folded correctly without deforming weak portions.
2Ease of manufacture
If the heat exchange fins are fitted to one side of each refrigerant tube to simplify manufacturing, then ease of manufacture is improved, but gaps between the heat exchange fins cannot be maintained, lowering heat exchanger performance
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces gap maintaining members as intermediary elements between the heat exchange fins. These members are inserted into grooves formed between adjacent fins to prevent the fins from contacting each other. This intermediary structure maintains consistent gaps between fins while allowing the fins to be manufactured as a single integrated array, thus preserving both manufacturing simplicity and gap precision.
3Device complexity
If the header is formed to extend in one direction for simplified structure, then device complexity is reduced, but it is difficult to apply the heat exchanger to indoor units of wall-mounted air conditioners
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dynamics by making the header flexible rather than rigid. The header includes bending portions that allow it to be deformed into different configurations. This flexibility enables the header to adapt to various installation orientations and spatial constraints, including the specific requirements of wall-mounted air conditioner indoor units, while maintaining a relatively simple overall structure.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The design reinforces the fin array's structure for folding, ensures efficient heat exchange, and facilitates easier installation in compact spaces by maintaining gaps and improving moisture drainage, resulting in a high-performance heat exchanger.
Implementation Method 1
at least one bead which is disposed so that a plurality of folding parts are bent in a predetermined shape
Implementation Method 2
a plurality of heat exchange fins which are coupled to between the plurality of refrigerant tubes so as to increase a contact area with an outside
Implementation Method 3
heat exchange fins which are coupled to between the plurality of refrigerant tubes
Implementation Method 4
provides conditioned air through heat exchange between a refrigerant and the air
Implementation Method 5
The pair of contact surfaces may include a burring part which increases a contact area with each of the plurality of refrigerant tubes
Implementation Method 6
a moisture guide groove which is formed in the second direction to discharge moisture generated during a heat exchange process
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3
Figure 4~5
AI summary
The present invention relates to a heat exchanger which additionally has a bead structure to be folded in a predetermined shape, and an air conditioner having the same. The heat exchanger includes a plurality of refrigerant tubes which respectively extend in a first direction, and are disposed to be spaced apart from each other in a second direction; and a fin array which is fitted to the plurality of refrigerant tubes in a third direction, wherein the fin array includes a plurality of insertion grooves which are disposed to be spaced apart in the second direction, such that the plurality of refrigerant tubes are inserted, a plurality of folding parts which are bent so that the plurality of insertion grooves are disposed at one side of the fin array, and a plurality of heat exchange fins which are divided by the plurality of insertion grooves and the plurality of folding parts. The strength can be reinforced by including the bead, and thus the fin array can be folded in the predetermined shape.