Heat exchanger
A heat exchanger may include a block for separately conducting first and second fluids, and a box. The block may have flat tubes through which the first fluid is flowable and each of which may have a narrow tube side and a wide tube side. The box may have a base, the flat tubes being guided into the base via corresponding through-openings in the base. Each through-opening may have at least one raised edge, with at least one narrow edge side and at least one wide edge side, surrounding the corresponding flat tube. The wide edge side may be higher than the narrow edge side. The two may transition into one another via an inclination with a recess that may have a height lower than that of the narrow edge side. A contact surface edge may have a height lower at the recess than at the narrow edge side.
1. A heat exchanger for exchanging heat between a first fluid and a second fluid, comprising:
a plurality of spaced apart flat tubes through which the first fluid flows, each of said flat tubes comprises two narrow tube sides and two wide tube sides;
a box having a base provided with a number of through-openings structured and arranged to receive said flat tubes such that each of said flat tubes is guided into the box via a corresponding through-opening of said through-openings;
said through-openings each having a raised edge that surrounds the corresponding flat tube, the raised edge including two narrow edge sides and two wide edge sides;
wherein each of the narrow edge sides is located between the two wide edge sides and each of the wide edge sides is located between the two narrow edge sides, and the raised edge includes a rounded corner portion located between each of the narrow and wide edge sides;
wherein a height of the wide edge sides is greater than a height of the narrow edge sides, and the height of the narrow edge sides is greater than a height of the corner portion;
wherein the raised edge is directly connected to the corresponding flat tube to define a continuous contact surface around the flat tube, the contact surface being the area of contact between the raised edge and the corresponding flat tube; and
wherein a height of the contact surface at the wide edge sides is greater than a height of the contact surface at the narrow edge sides, and the height of the contact surface at the narrow edge sides is greater than a height of the contact surface at the corner portion.
2. The heat exchanger according to claim 1 , wherein the height of the corner portion is half of the height of the wide edge sides.
3. The heat exchanger according to claim 1 , wherein at least one of: the height of the wide edge sides is 7 mm, and the height of the corner portion is 3.5 mm.
4. The heat exchanger according to claim 1 , wherein the raised edge has a reduced wall thickness at the corner portion.