Heat exchangers and air conditioning systems including such heat exchangers

Abstract

A heat exchanger including a pair of header pipes and a plurality of heat transfer tubes extending between and placing the header pipes in communication and extending in parallel to each other to form a parallel-flow type heat exchanger core. The heat exchanger core is bent, so that relative to a center portion of the core, at least one header pipe is offset in the direction of air flow across the heat exchanger. The offset disposition of a larger header pipe may be achieved without increasing a tube insertion length into the header pipe or the reduction or elimination of liquid storing and moisture reducing unit contained in the header pipe. Consequently, heat exchangers achieving enhanced performance may be realized at a lower cost than known heat exchangers. Moreover, methods of producing such heat exchangers may achieve higher productivity.

1 . A heat exchanger comprising a pair of header pipes and a plurality of heat transfer tubes extending between and placing said pair of header pipes in communication and extending in parallel to each other to form a parallel-flow type heat exchanger core wherein said heat exchanger core bent, so that relative to a center portion of said core, at least one of said pair of header pipes is offset in a direction of air flow across said heat exchanger.  
   
   
       2 . The heat exchanger according to  claim 1 , wherein said heat exchanger core is bent toward an upstream side of said air flow direction.  
   
   
       3 . The heat exchanger according to  claim 1 , wherein said heat exchanger core is bent toward a downstream side of said air flow direction.  
   
   
       4 . The heat exchanger according to  claim 1 , wherein a unit comprising a desiccant is contained in said at least one of said pair of header pipes.  
   
   
       5 . The heat exchanger according to  claim 1 , wherein cross-sectional areas of interiors of each of said pair of header pipes are not equal, and at least one of said pair of header pipe has a larger cross-sectional area.  
   
   
       6 . The heat exchanger according to  claim 1 , wherein said heat exchanger is a subcooling-type heat exchanger, and said heat exchanger core comprises a refrigerant condensation core portion for condensing refrigerant and a subcooling core portion for supercooling refrigerant condensed by said refrigerant condensation core portion.  
   
   
       7 . An air conditioning system for vehicles comprising said heat exchanger of  claim 1.