Pre braze installed desiccant assembly for automotive condenser with integral receiver

Abstract

A condenser ( 10 ) with a return header tank ( 14 ) has a receiver tank ( 22 ) physically attached along side a return header tank ( 14 ). The bottom of receiver tank ( 22 ) is closed by an end cap ( 42 ) that is attached during the single, high temperature braze process that forms the entire condenser. The desiccant cartridge assembly ( 24 ) of the invention has components of a material and design that allow it to be installed within tank ( 22 ) before the end cap ( 42 ) is attached during the braze process, with no subsequent steps.

1 - 3 . (Canceled)  
   
   
       4 . A condenser having a header tank and a receiver tank attached to said header tank, said receiver tank having a tubular body, an end closure brazed to one end thereof and an end closure brazed to an opposite end thereof, said condenser further comprising a desiccant cartridge assembly installed within the receiver tank prior to a brazing operation for brazing the end closures to the tubular structure, said desiccant cartridge assembly comprising, 
 a tube formed of a material capable of withstanding the braze operation, and inserted within the receiver tank spaced apart by a radial clearance, said tube comprising an open end,    a desiccant material contained with the tube spaced apart from the open end and exposed to refrigerant within said receiver tank,    a filter plug formed of a material capable of withstanding the brazing operation, said filter plug being disposed within the tube adjacent the open end to retain said desiccant material, and,    a locating and retention member between the tube and the tubular body of the receiver tank so as to maintain said tube radially centered and axially retained.    
   
   
       5 . A condenser according to claim  1 , further characterized in that said locating and retention member is a clip formed of a braze compatible material that brazes to the outside of said tube and to the inside of said tubular body.  
   
   
       6 . A condenser according to claim  1 , further characterized in that the filter plug has a porosity sufficiently small to retain said desiccant material and sufficiently large to admit refrigerant, said desiccant cartridge assembly further comprising a screen disposed within the open end of the tube and retaining the filter plug.