Heat exchanger fin with planar crests and troughs having slits
A heat exchanger has a pair of header tanks with a plurality of tubes and a plurality of fins extending between the pair of header tanks. Each fin forms a plurality of corrugations extending in a length direction between the pair of tanks. Each corrugation extends in a width direction and defines a plurality of sections which are offset from each other in the length direction of the fin. Each section is separated from an adjacent section by a slit.
1. A heat exchanger comprising:
a pair of header tanks;
a plurality of tubes extending between said pair of header tanks; and
a plurality of fins extending in a length direction between said pair of header tanks; wherein
each of said plurality of fins is defined by a strip of material formed into a plurality of U-shaped corrugations extending in said length direction, each U-shaped corrugation defining a first leg, a second leg and a planar crest extending between the first and second legs;
each first and second leg of each corrugation defining a width direction,
each corrugation defines a plurality of sections extending in the width direction, each section being separated from an adjacent section in the length direction of the fin by a single slit through said strip of material configured to form a louver, said slit defining an upstream edge of one section and a downstream edge of an adjacent section, wherein no two sections of each corrugation are aligned in the same plane;
each of said single slits extending into a planar trough and the planar crest of said U-shaped corrugation but not through said planar trough or said planar crest; and
each single slit in the first leg being aligned with a respective single slit in the second leg of each corrugation in the length direction to define a planar portion between the aligned single slits.
2. The heat exchanger according to claim 1 , wherein each of said plurality of fins is disposed between adjacent tubes.
3. The heat exchanger according to claim 1 , wherein each of said sections has an identical dimension in the width direction.
4. The heat exchanger according to claim 1 , wherein one of said sections has a dimension in the width direction different than another of said sections.
5. The heat exchanger according to claim 1 , wherein each of said sections has a different dimension in the width direction.
6. The heat exchanger according to claim 1 , wherein each of said plurality of fins is disposed between adjacent tubes.
7. The heat exchanger according to claim 6 , wherein each of said sections has an identical dimension in the width direction.
8. The heat exchanger according to claim 1 , wherein each corrugation extends in a U-shape in the width direction.
9. The heat exchanger according to claim 8 , wherein each of said plurality of fins is disposed between adjacent tubes.
10. The heat exchanger according to claim 8 , wherein each of said sections has an identical dimension in the width direction.
11. The heat exchanger according to claim 8 , wherein one of said sections has a dimension in the width direction different than another of said sections.
12. The heat exchanger according to claim 8 , wherein each of said sections has a different dimension in the width direction.
13. The heat exchanger according to claim 1 , wherein each corrugation forms a plurality of bends in the width direction.
14. The heat exchanger according to claim 13 , wherein each of said plurality of fins is disposed between adjacent tubes.
15. The heat exchanger according to claim 13 , wherein each of said sections has an identical dimension in the width direction.
16. The heat exchanger according to claim 13 , wherein one of said sections has a dimension in the width direction different than another of said sections.
17. The heat exchanger according to claim 13 , wherein each of said sections has a different dimension in the width direction.