Evaporator having a phase change material louvered clam shell housings

摘要

An evaporator (100) having a phase change material clam shell housing (200) is provided. The evaporator (100) includes an upper manifold, a plurality of refrigerant tubes (110) extending from the manifold, and a louvered clam shell housing (200) defining a chamber for storing a phase change material. The louvered clam shell housing (200) is disposed between and in thermal communication with the upper portion of two adjacent refrigerant tubes (110). The louvered clam shell housing (200) is formed of two clam shell plates, each having louvers defined by slats folded into the phase change chamber. The folded slats define louver openings in the clam shell housing (200) enabling the phase change material to make direct contact with the adjacent refrigerant tubes (110), thereby improving thermal communication between the refrigerant flowing in the tubes and the phase change material in the clam shell housing (200).