Aluminum heat exchanger brazing method and apparatus
US5322209A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jul 19, 1993 |
| Grant date | Jun 21, 1994 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jul 19, 2013 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC B)Performing Operations; Transporting
- CPC primaryB23K1/0012
- WIPO fieldMachine tools
- WIPO sectorMechanical engineering
Abstract
The brazing process for an aluminum headered condenser is improved by adding a flux drying and preheating process that both dries the wet flux layer and prepares the part for more efficient brazing. An oven is divided into two directly connected zones, one that dries the flux layer at a lower temperature, and one that preheats the condenser at a higher temperature that is still too low to melt the flux layer. Both the tanks and the core of the condenser are heated hotter than they would be if they were only flux dried, although the core is heated significantly more. The preheated parts are then transported to the braze furnace indirectly, through ambient, which serves to cool the core more than the tanks, to a temperature lower than the tanks. Finally, the part is run through a normal braze cycle. Because the tanks begin hotter than normal, they reach braze melt temperature sooner than they normally would. Because the core starts out cooler than the tanks, they reach braze temperature closer in time to the tanks.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.