Heat exchanger for cooling interior of housing

Abstract

The air inside a housing containing heat generating parts is forced by an inside air fan to flow in a heat exchanger case through an inside air inlet, flow partially upward and partially downward in an inside air passage while being cooled by inner fins, between the inner fins, installed in the inside air passage, that form a heat exchanger heat sink, and discharge from the inside air passage through an upper, first inside air outlet and a lower, second inside air outlet. The air discharged through the two inside air outlets flows over the surfaces of the heat generating parts in the housing, taking heat from them.

1 . A heat exchanger for cooling the interior of a housing comprising:
 a heat exchanger case mounted on a wall of a housing containing heat generating parts, the heat exchanger case having an inside air inlet through which an air flows into the housing and an inside air outlet through which an air flows back to the housing formed therein;   a single heat exchanger heat sink including a first partitioning member for separating the inside of the heat exchanger case into an inside air passage through which the air from inside the housing flows and an outside air passage through which the air from outside the housing flows, inner fins provided on a surface of the first partitioning member facing the inside air passage, and outer fins provided on a surface of the first partitioning member facing the outside air passage;   an inside air fan for forcing the air inside the housing to flow in the inside air passage having the inner fins provided therein through the inside air inlet and discharging the air flowing in the inside air passage through the inside air outlet; and   an outside air fan for forcing the air outside the housing to flow in the outside air passage having the outer fins provided therein through an outside air inlet formed in the housing and discharging the air flowing in the outside air passage through an outside air outlet formed in the housing;   wherein the first partitioning member, inner fins and outer fins, which form the heat exchanger heat sink, respectively extend in the same longitudinal direction;   the inside air outlets include at least one first inside air outlet formed in the heat exchanger case at a portion near one longitudinal end of the heat exchanger heat sink, and at least one second inside air outlet formed in the heat exchanger case at a portion near another longitudinal end of the heat exchanger heat sink;   the inside air inlet is formed in the heat exchanger case between the first inside air outlet and the second inside air outlet;   the inside air fan is an axial fan disposed facing front edges of the inner fins;   the inside air fan forces the air inside the housing to flow in the inside air passage through the inside air inlet and discharge the air flowing through the inside air passage through both of the first inside air outlet and the second inside air outlet.   
     
     
         2 . The heat exchanger according to  claim 1 , wherein the inside air inlet and the inside air fan are installed at a position where the temperature of the air discharged from the first inside air outlet and the temperature of the air discharged from the second inside air outlet become substantially equal to each other. 
     
     
         3 . The heat exchanger according to  claim 1 , wherein the heat exchanger case is a substantially rectangular parallelepiped structure made of a sheet metal, equipped with a flange for attaching the structure to a wall of the housing and having the first inside air outlet and the second inside air outlet formed therein. 
     
     
         4 . The heat exchanger according to  claim 1 , wherein the heat exchanger heat sink is an aluminum or aluminum alloy molded product manufactured by extrusion from a die and cut to a specific dimension in the longitudinal direction without any other cutting process. 
     
     
         5 . The heat exchanger according to  claim 1 , wherein a first filling member is installed between front edges of the inner fins and an inner surface of the heat exchanger case between the inside air inlet and the first inside air outlet, and a second filling member is installed between the front edges of the inner fins and an inner surface of the heat exchanger case between the inside air inlet and the second inside air outlet. 
     
     
         6 . The heat exchanger according to  claim 1 , wherein a second partitioning member having no fins formed on the surface thereof and having substantially the same width as the first partitioning member is connected to one or both longitudinal ends of the first partitioning member forming the heat exchanger heat sink to separate the one or both longitudinal ends of the heat exchanger heat sink from the heat exchanger case.