EP0460872A1
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Heat exchangers
Assignee: Rolls Royce PLC
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Filing: 1991-05-30
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2011-05-30
Abstract
Abstract A compact, high integrity heat exchanger element comprises a core layer through which the heat exchange fluid passes between its inlet (90) and its outlet (114). The core layer includes a main heat exchange region (96) containing heat exchange surfaces acting as fins. It also has distributor/ collector regions (94,116) containing flow intercepting features for distributing or collecting the fluid flow over the width of the element. The heat exchange element consists of a minimum of two unitary sheets of metal joined by diffusion bonding in selected places. During manufacture, at least one of the unitary sheets has been superplastically deformed, in at least some of the places where it has not been diffusion bonded, so as to form the core layer complete with all its features in one operation.
Inventors
- 👤 Simon Andrew Banks
- 👤 Alistair Calderwood
- 👤 James Edward Boardman
- 👤 Colin Ivan Adderley
- 👤 John Owen Fowler
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-06 09:01
CPC Classifications
F; F28; F28D; F28D9/00; F28D9/0031; B; B21; B21D; B21D53/00; B21D53/02; B21D53/04; B21D53/045; B23; B23K; B23K20/00; B23K20/18; F28F; F28F3/00; F28F3/12; F28F3/14
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 11
Claim 1
Independent Claim
148 words
A heat exchanger element comprising a core layer for flow of heat exchange fluid therethrough, and fluid inlet and outlet means communicating with the core layer; the core layer including a main heat exchange region containing heat exchange surfaces, and a distributor region containing flow intercepting surfaces, the distributor region extending between the main heat exchange region and the inlet means so as to distribute the fluid flow across the extent of the core layer; the heat exchange element comprising at least two unitary sheets of metal joined by diffusion bonding in selected places, at least one unitary sheet having been superplastically deformed, in at least some of the places where it has not been diffusion bonded, so as to form the core layer and define therein the flow intercepting surfaces in the distributor region as well as the heat exchange surfaces in the main heat exchange region.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
48 words
A heat exchanger element according to claim 1 in which the flow intercepting surfaces in the distributor region comprise corrugations in the at least one superplastically deformed sheet, the corrugations being arranged to convey the heat exchange fluid from the inlet means to the main heat exchange region.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
19 words
A heat exchanger element according to claim 2, comprising two unitary sheets, one of which comprises the core layer.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
66 words
A heat exchanger element according to any preceding claim in which the at least one superplastically deformed sheet has a relatively undeformed transitional portion between a part of itself which is deformed so as to define the heat exchange surfaces in the main heat exchange region and another part of itself which is deformed so as to definfe the flow intercepting surfaces in the distributor region.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
64 words
A heat exchanger element according to claim 1, comprising at least two unitary sheets of metal joined by diffusion bonding in selected places, the flow intercepting surfaces in the distributor region comprising an array of superplastically formed hollow projections projecting outwardly from a side of the at least one superplastically deformed sheet, the ends of the projections being diffusion bonded to the adjacent sheet.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
95 words
A heat exchanger element according to claim 1, comprising at least three unitary sheets of metal joined by diffusion bonding in selected places, the flow intercepting surfaces in the distributor region comprising first and second sets of superplastically formed hollow projections, the first set of hollow projections projecting outwardly from a first side of the at least one superplastically deformed sheet, and the second set of hollow projections projecting outwardly from a second side of the at least one superplastically deformed sheet, the ends of the projections being diffusion bonded to the two adjacent sheets.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
75 words
A heat exchanger element according to any preceding claim, in which the core layer additionally comprises a collector region formed integrally with the main heat exchange region and the distributor region and containing flow intercepting surfaces, the collector region extending between the main heat exchange region and the outlet means so as to collect the fluid flow from across the extent of the core layer and concentrate it for flow through the fluid outlet means.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
16 words
A heat exchanger matrix comprising heat exchanger elements according to any one of the preceding claims.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
226 words
A manufacturing method for a heat exchanger element, comprising the steps of: (a) selecting at least two metal sheets for stacking together, at least one of the metal sheets being capable of being superplastically deformed to form an expanded core layer in the finished element for flow of fluid heat exchange medium therethrough; (b) applying anti-diffusion-bonding stop-off substance in selected interfacial areas of at least one of the sheets thereby to define where diffusion bonding of the sheets will not occur, said interfacial areas being selected to define heat exchange surfaces in a main heat exchange region of the core layer, fluid inlet and outlet means for the core layer, and flow intercepting surfaces in a flow distributor region between the main heat exchange region and the fluid inlet means; (c) stacking the sheets together and applying heat and pressure across the stack thickness to diffusion bond the sheets together where there is no anti-diffusion-bonding substance; (d) cooling the resulting diffusion-bonded structure; (e) pressurising the interior of the structure by injecting a suitable fluid to break adhesive bonds between the anti-diffusion-bonding substance and the sheets; and (f) heating the structure and pressurising its interior to superplastically deform said at least one metal sheet thereby simultaneously producing the heat exchange surfaces in the main heat exchange region and the flow intercepting surfaces in the flow distributor region.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
37 words
A manufacturing method according to claim 9, wherein between steps (e) and (f) are inserted the consecutive additional steps of purging the resulting structure of contaminants using an inert fluid to do so; and evacuating the structure.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
78 words
A manufacturing method according to claim 9 or claim 10, wherein the anti-diffusion-bonding stop-off is applied to define flow intercepting surfaces in a flow collector region extending between the main heat exchange region and the outlet means, whereby during the heating and pressurising step (f) the flow intercepting surfaces in the flow collector region are produced simultaneously with the heat exchange surfaces in the main heat exchange region and the flow intercepting surfaces in the flow distribution region.
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