Elastic Seal for Intercooler Housing Deformation Compensation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing heat exchanger assemblies with intercoolers and housings suffer from pressure pulsations in charge air lines, leading to housing deformations and undesirable bypass flows that reduce the cooling capacity of the intercooler.
Innovation Solution
An elastic seal is integrated between the intercooler and the housing to bridge deformations caused by pressure pulsations, ensuring a tight connection and preventing bypass flows, which can be designed as an O-ring, labyrinth seal, or sealing lip, and can be firmly bonded to the housing for enhanced stability and simplified production.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If the housing is formed from plastic to simplify manufacturing, then ease of manufacture is improved, but the housing deforms under pressure pulsations causing bypass flows
Solution Approach 1:
An elastic seal ring is introduced between the intercooler and housing to compensate for housing deformations caused by pressure pulsations. The seal ring's elasticity allows it to maintain sealing contact despite plastic housing deformation, preventing bypass flows while keeping the housing manufacturable from plastic.
Solution Approach 2:
The elastic seal ring acts as an intermediary element between the intercooler and housing. It absorbs the deformation effects and maintains the sealing function, mediating between the rigid intercooler and the deformable plastic housing to ensure reliable sealing.
2Reliability
If the housing is rigid to prevent deformation, then sealing reliability is improved, but manufacturing complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of making the entire housing rigid, only a localized elastic seal ring is used to compensate for deformations. This maintains sealing reliability while keeping the housing structure simple and manufacturable from plastic.
Solution Approach 2:
The sealing function is localized to a specific elastic seal ring rather than requiring the entire housing to be rigid. This allows the housing to remain simple and easy to manufacture while achieving reliable sealing at the critical interface between intercooler and housing.
3Reliability
If the seal is firmly bonded to the housing to prevent bypass flows, then sealing reliability is improved, but assembly complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The seal ring is integrated with the housing as a single component, eliminating the need for separate assembly steps to attach the seal. This merging of components simplifies assembly while maintaining reliable sealing through the elastic properties of the integrated seal ring.
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 elastic seal maintains a reliable flow through the intercooler, ensuring consistent cooling capacity across all operating states and reducing the risk of damage from pressure pulsations, while also simplifying assembly and reducing production costs.
Implementation Method 1
an elastic seal (8) is arranged in the region of the recess (7) between the intercooler (2) and the housing (3), which seal is designed in such a manner that it bridges the deformations of the housing (3) occurring during the pressure pulsations
Data Source
AI summary
A heat exchanger assembly may include an intercooler and a housing which encloses said intercooler. The housing may be part of a charge air line. The housing may include a charge air inlet, a charge air outlet and an opening through which the intercooler can be inserted into the housing from one side. The housing may also include a recess on the side opposite the opening, into which recess the intercooler engages. The heat exchanger assembly may include an elastic seal arranged in the region of the recess between the intercooler and the housing. The seal may be configured to at least one of bridge the deformation of the housing occurring during pressure pulsations, bridge relative movements between the intercooler and the housing, and tightly connect the intercooler to the housing in all operating states preventing an undesirable bypass flow.