Method of making a refrigeration system having a heat exchanger

Abstract

A complete refrigeration system (CRS) including at least one heat exchanger which is designed to occupy an irregular volume to reduce the overall profile of the CRS. The heat exchanger may be a condenser or an evaporator, and includes a substantially solid body made of a thermally conductive metal, plastic, or other material. A plurality of fluid and refrigerant passageways are defined substantially within the solid body for conducing fluid and refrigerant, respectively, through the solid body and facilitating the transfer of heat between the fluid and refrigerant. Also disclosed is a method wherein the spatial orientation of each passageway is optimized with respect to all of the other passageways and the walls of the solid body by determining the relative distance of each passageway from all of the other passageways and the walls of the solid body at a plurality of points along each passageway, followed by adjusting the spatial orientation of the passageway accordingly.

1 - 19 . (canceled) 
     
     
         20 . A method of making a heat exchanger for a refrigeration system, comprising:
 providing a plurality of layers of thermally conductive material each having planar faces extending from one edge to an opposite edge of the layer;   forming openings through each layer extending between the respective planar faces;   stacking the layers one against another with adjacent planar faces in abutment to form a solid body; and   aligning the openings in adjacent layers to form in the solid body a plurality of first air conducting passageways extending between at least one air inlet and at least one air outlet and to form in the solid body a plurality of second refrigerant-conducting passageways extending between at least one refrigerant inlet and at least one refrigerant outlet.   
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 20 , and forming a plurality of the first passageways to be oriented non-parallel to each other. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 21 , and forming at least two of the first passageways to have different lengths of travel between their respective inlet and outlet. 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 22 , and forming a plurality of the second passageways to be oriented non-parallel to each other. 
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 23 , and forming at least two of the second passageways to have different lengths between their respective inlet and outlet. 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 20 , and forming at least two of the second passageways to have different lengths between their respective inlet and outlet. 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 20 , and forming a plurality of the second passageways to be oriented non-parallel to each other. 
     
     
         27 . A method for determining an efficient spatial orientation for a plurality of passageways within a heat exchanger having a solid body, at least one inlet, and at least one outlet, comprising the steps of:
 determining the geometry of outer surfaces of the heat exchanger;   determining locations for at least one inlet and at least one outlet with respect to the outer surfaces;   calculating, for at least one passageway extending between a respective inlet and outlet, at least one of a distance between the passageway and another passageway and a distance between the passageway and one of the outer surfaces;   adjusting the orientation of the at least one passageway based on the at least one calculated distance; and   repeating said calculating step for each of said plurality of passageways.   
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 27 , wherein said calculating step further comprises conceptually dividing said at least one passageway into a plurality of sections and performing said calculating step with respect to each of said plurality of sections. 
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 27 , further comprising the additional steps of repeating said calculating step for each of said plurality of passageways. 
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 29 , wherein said adjusting step further comprises adjusting the orientation of each of said plurality of sections based on the calculation. 
     
     
         31 . The method of  claim 27 , further comprising the additional steps of repeating said calculating step until a desired orientation is reached.