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(11) | EP 2 388 545 A3 |
(12) | EUROPEAN PATENT APPLICATION |
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(54) | Folded tube for an evaporator and evaporator assembly therewith |
(57) An evaporator assembly having a first header, a second header, at least two banks
of evaporator tubes extending therebetween and in hydraulic communication with the
first and second headers. At least one of the evaporator tube may be folded from a
unitary strip clad aluminum folded having a thickness (t). The evaporator tube includes
a height (h) which is measured from the bottom exterior surface to the top exterior
surface, and a corner radius (rc) defined by the transition radius from the flange segments to the channel walls.
The bottom wall includes a width (2w), the corrugated portion includes alternating
flange segments abutting the interior surface and channel walls connecting the alternating
flange segments, at least one of the alternating adjacent flange segments includes
a length (a) cooperating with adjacent the channel walls to define a channel having
a width (b). The evaporator tube also includes a number of ports per millimeter width
(PPMW) in a range of 0.40 to 1.0 as defined by the equation PPMW = 2/(a+b+t); a Port
Shape (PS) ratio of 0.05 to 0.6 as defined by the equation PS ratio = a/b; a non-dimensional
gauge (NDG) ratio of 0.11 to 0.21 as defined by the equation NDG ratio = t/h; and
a non-dimensional corner radius (NDCR) ratio of 0.10 to 0.5 as defined by the equation
NDCR ratio = rc/2t.
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