Heat exchanger for air conditioning system

Claim 1

A heat exchanger for an air conditioning system comprising: a plurality of heat transfer tubes arranged substantially parallel to one another; a plurality of fins secured to outer surfaces of said heat transfer tubes and extending outwards; a refrigerant flow passage defined inside said heat transfer tubes; and air passages each defined by the adjacent fins and extending past the outer surface of each of said heat transfer tubes, each of said air passages being substantially at right angles to the axis of each of said heat transfer tubes; said fins being of a constructural form such that their coefficient of heat transfer to and from the air is over 1.2 times that of flat fins; each of said heat transfer tubes being formed on the inner wall surface thereof with a multiplicity of spiral grooves; said heat transfer tubes each having an outer diameter in the range between 6 and 16 mm; said spiral grooves formed on the inner wall surface of each of said heat transfer tubes having a depth in the range between 0.1 and 0.6 mm and a pitch in the range between 0.2 and 0.6 mm; the respective spiral ridges formed by the adjacent twos of said spiral grooves each having a sharp-apex V-shaped cross-section and a vertical angle in the range between 50° and 100°; the spiral grooves formed on the inner wall surface of each of said heat transfer tubes each having a helical angle with respect to the axis of the tube in the range between 16° and 35°; and said heat exchanger being incorporated in a refrigerant circulating cycle of a heat-pump type so as to function selectively as a condenser and an evaporator therein.