Vehicle Heat Exchanger Fin Structure for Noise Leakage Suppression
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing heat exchangers fail to adequately suppress the leakage of operation noise from vehicle components, such as fans and power sources, due to sound leakage through passages between adjacent fins.
Innovation Solution
A heat exchanger design featuring fins shaped to locally increase the dimension of air guide passages, incorporating expansion chambers with varying cross-sectional areas, which function as an expandable silencer to reduce noise by altering sound wave energy through reflection and interference.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If fins are arranged closely to improve heat exchange efficiency, then heat exchange performance is improved, but noise leakage through passages between fins increases
Solution Approach 1:
The fin structure is designed with locally varied properties: straight portions for heat exchange efficiency and undulated portions with expansion chambers for noise suppression. This local quality differentiation allows the same fin component to serve dual functions of heat transfer and acoustic attenuation.
Solution Approach 2:
The undulated fin structure creates nested expansion chambers within the fin passages. The expansion chambers are formed by the undulated portions of adjacent fins, creating a nested structure where the sound wave passage is contained within the fin assembly itself, allowing noise suppression without adding external components.
2Object-generated harmful factors
If louvers are added to reflect sound, then noise suppression is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The fin structure is designed to perform multiple functions simultaneously: heat exchange through its extended surface area and noise suppression through its undulated shape creating expansion chambers. This multi-functionality eliminates the need for separate louver components, reducing overall device complexity while maintaining noise suppression effectiveness.
Solution Approach 2:
The noise suppression function is merged into the fin structure itself by incorporating undulated portions that create expansion chambers. This integration combines the heat exchange fins and sound attenuating structures into a single unified component, eliminating the need for separate louver assemblies and reducing structural complexity.
3Object-generated harmful factors
If expansion chambers are incorporated to reduce noise, then noise suppression is improved, but heat exchange area may be reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The fin structure transitions between straight portions for heat exchange and undulated portions for noise suppression. This dynamic structural variation allows different sections of the fin assembly to optimize for their respective functions, with the undulated sections strategically positioned to minimize impact on overall heat exchange area while maximizing acoustic attenuation.
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 effectively suppresses noise leakage by reducing sound energy through expansion chambers, while maintaining efficient heat exchange and aerodynamic performance, and can be adapted to various vehicle configurations.
Implementation Method 1
a part of the sound generated from the sound source is reflected by the louvers, reducing the sound leaking to the outside of the vehicle
Implementation Method 2
the air guide passage functions as an expandable silencer, effectively reducing noise from the sound source
Data Source
AI summary
A heat exchanger for a vehicle includes a plurality of tubes arranged in a first direction which is a vehicle vertical direction or a vehicle width direction, and a plurality of tubes forming a fin space between adjacent other tubes, and a plurality of fins arranged in a second direction which is a vehicle width direction or a vehicle vertical direction in the fin space, each of the plurality of fins extending in the vehicle front-rear direction and forming an air guide passage between adjacent other fins, wherein at least one of the plurality of fins has a shape locally separated from the adjacent other fins in a process of proceeding in the vehicle front-rear direction so that the second direction dimension of the air guide passage is locally increased.