AFTERCOOLER HAVING BYPASS PASSAGE INTEGRALLY FORMED THEREWITH

摘要

An aftercooler for cooling a compressed fluid exiting from a compressor, the aftercooler including a radiator unit for receiving the compressed fluid exiting from the compressor and for cooling the compressed fluid, the radiator unit having an inlet for receiving the compressed fluid, an outlet for discharging the compressed fluid and a plurality of heat exchange passageways connecting the inlet and the outlet for transferring heat from the compressed fluid. The aftercooler also includes a bypass channel for bypassing the plurality of heat exchange passageways which extends from a first point substantially adjacent the inlet of the radiator unit to a second point substantially adjacent the outlet of the radiator unit. The aftercooler also includes a bypass flow proportioning mechanism that is effective to proportion the flow of the compressed fluid exiting from the compressor and flowing through the aftercooler between the radiator unit and the bypass channel dependent upon a pressure differential across the radiator unit. Preferably, the bypass flow proportioning mechanism is a substantial restriction disposed along the bypass channel which operates to continuously proportion flow between the radiator unit and the bypass channel. The bypass channel is formed substantially integrally with the radiatorunit. Preferably, the plurality of heat exchange passageways are arranged to form an array and at least a portion of a length of the bypass channel extends contiguous with a portion of a periphery of the array of the heat exchange passageways.