Additive manufactured header for heat exchangers

Abstract

A stacked tube heat exchanger consisting of tubes that are affixed to a header or headers that are additively manufactured.

1 . A heat exchanger coil header comprising:
 tubes that are affixed into a header envelope;   wherein the header envelope is produced in-situ by additive manufacturing as the tubes are stacked in the heat exchanger;   
     
     
         2 . The device according to  claim 1  comprising a thermoplastic header and tube material. 
     
     
         3 . The device according to  claim 1  comprising a metallic header and tube material. 
     
     
         4 . The device according to  claim 1  comprising a ceramic header and tube material. 
     
     
         5 . The device according to  claim 1  wherein the header layers are made from a different material than the tubes. 
     
     
         6 . The device according to  claim 1  comprising fins between the tubes 
     
     
         7 . The device according to  claim 1  comprising sealed tubes that are heat pipes. 
     
     
         8 . The device according to  claim 1  wherein some deposited material is solid during deposition and some material is liquid during deposition. 
     
     
         9 . The device according to  claim 7  comprising fins between the tubes. 
     
     
         10 . A method for manufacturing a heat exchanger coil, comprising:
 1. using an additive manufacturing depositor to lay down header material in the form of a first header end-cap;   2. positioning a first heat exchange tube on said first header end cap;   3. using said additive manufacturing depositor to lay down said header material up to and over said first heat exchange tube to encapsulate an end thereof in an interior of said header and to form a first header spacing section between said first heat exchange tube and a second heat exchange tube;   4. positioning a second heat exchange tube on said first header spacing section;   5. repeating steps 3 and 4 until a desired header size is reached;   6. using said additive manufacturing depositor to lay down header material in the form of a second header end-cap.   
     
     
         11 . A method for manufacturing a heat exchanger coil according to  claim 10 , further comprising creating inlets and outlets to said header additively during any one or more of steps 1, 3, and 6. 
     
     
         12 . A method for manufacturing a heat exchanger coil according to  claim 10 , further comprising drilling holes in said header for the passage of fluid into and out of said header. 
     
     
         13 . A method for manufacturing a heat exchanger coil according to  claim 10 , further comprising:
 7. using a second additive manufacturing depositor to lay down header material in the form of a third header end-cap at an opposite end of said heat exchanger coil simultaneously with the formation of said first header end-cap;   8. wherein said positioning a first heat exchange tube on said first header end cap step also positions said first heat exchange tube on said third header end-cap at an opposite end of said first heat exchange tube from said first header end cap;   9. using said second additive manufacturing depositor to lay down header material up to and over said first heat exchange tube to encapsulate an end thereof in an interior of said header and to form a second header spacing section between said first heat exchange tube and a second heat exchange tube at said opposite end of said first heat exchange tube;   10. wherein said positioning a second heat exchange tube on said first header spacing section step also positions said second heat exchange tube on said second header spacing section.   11. repeating steps 9 and 10 until a desired header size is reached;   12. using said second additive manufacturing depositor to lay down header material in the form of a fourth header end-cap at said opposite end of said heat exchanger coil from said second header end-cap.   
     
     
         14 . A method for manufacturing a heat exchanger coil comprising:
 using an additive manufacturing depositor to lay down header material around tube ends and tube-to-tube joints on an end of a pre-formed tube bundle;   using said additive manufacturing depositor to lay down layers of material to build up a header body to a desired height at said end of a pre-formed tube bundle;   using said additive manufacturing depositor to lay down successive overlapping layers of material to form a header end cap.