Apparatus for assembling a heat exchanger core

摘要

An apparatus assembles a heat exchanger core having first and second side plates. The first and second side plates cooperate with first and second end plates to sandwich a plurality of layered tubes and fin plates therebetween. The apparatus includes a lifting mechanism for stacking the tubes and fin plates with respect to one another to define a layered stack having opposite sides and opposite ends. A side plate assembling mechanism associates the first and second side plates on opposite sides of the layered stack. An end plate assembling mechanism associates the first and second end plates on opposite ends of the layered stack. A method for assembling a heat exchanger core includes the steps of stacking tubes and fin plates with respect to one another to define a layered stack having opposite sides and opposite ends, associating first and second side plates on opposite sides of the layered stack, and associating first and second ends plates on opposite end of the layered stack to form a completed heat exchanger core.