CuproBraze is a
copper-alloy heat exchanger technology for high-temperature and pressure environments such as those in the latest generations of
diesel engine
The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-ca ...
s.
[Partanen, Juho (2011). Hot property: Heat exchangers that optimize product reliability, decrease lifecycle costs and improve profitability are just the ticket for increasing the lifespan and performance of off-highway machinery; Industrial Vehicle Technology; March 2011; http://viewer.zmags.com/services/DownloadPDF] The technology, developed by the International Copper Association (ICA), is licensed for free to heat exchanger manufacturers around the world.
Applications for CuproBraze include
charge air cooler
An intercooler is a heat exchanger used to cool a gas after compression. Often found in turbocharged engines, intercoolers are also used in air compressors, air conditioners, refrigeration and gas turbines.
Internal combustion engines
Most ...
s,
radiator
Radiators are heat exchangers used to transfer thermal energy from one medium to another for the purpose of cooling and heating. The majority of radiators are constructed to function in cars, buildings, and electronics.
A radiator is always a ...
s,
oil cooler
Oil cooling is the use of engine oil as a coolant, typically to remove surplus heat from an internal combustion engine. The hot engine transfers heat to the oil which then usually passes through a heat-exchanger, typically a type of radiator kno ...
s,
climate control
Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) is the use of various technologies to control the temperature, humidity, and purity of the air in an enclosed space. Its goal is to provide thermal comfort and acceptable indoor air quality. H ...
systems, and heat transfer cores.
[Duensing, Lauren (2006) Develop efficient heat-transfer systems, Modern Metals, March 2006]
/ref>machinery
A machine is a physical system using power to apply forces and control movement to perform an action. The term is commonly applied to artificial devices, such as those employing engines or motors, but also to natural biological macromolecul ...
must operate for long periods of time under harsh conditions without premature failures. CuproBraze is being specialized for off-road vehicle
An off-road vehicle, sometimes referred to as an overland or adventure vehicle, is considered to be any type of vehicle which is capable of driving on and off paved or gravel surface. It is generally characterized by having large tires with d ...
s, truck
A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame constructi ...
s, bus
A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...
es, industrial engine
An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy.
Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ...
s, generators, locomotives, and military equipment
A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...
. The technology is also amenable for light trucks, SUV
A sport utility vehicle (SUV) is a car classification that combines elements of road-going passenger cars with features from off-road vehicles, such as raised ground clearance and four-wheel drive.
There is no commonly agreed-upon defini ...
s and passenger cars
A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods.
The year 1886 is regarded as t ...
with special needs.[Asia Hot on New Cooling Technology: Cooling Systems: New engine requirements mean manufacturers are changing to copper and brass for cooling systems; Automotive Engineering International, February 2005][CuproBraze: Advanced heat-exchanger technolog]
/ref>
As an innovation from previous heat exchanger models CuproBraze creates new materials for heat exchanger parts that have previously been made of soldered copper/brass plate fin, soldered copper brass serpentine fin, and brazed aluminum serpentine fin to suit more demanding applications.car
A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods.
The year 1886 is regarded as t ...
s, light truck
A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame constructi ...
s, and other light-duty applications. However, they are not amenable for environments characterized by high operating temperature
Temperature is a physical quantity that expresses quantitatively the perceptions of hotness and coldness. Temperature is measured with a thermometer.
Thermometers are calibrated in various temperature scales that historically have relied on ...
s, humidity
Humidity is the concentration of water vapor present in the air. Water vapor, the gaseous state of water, is generally invisible to the human eye. Humidity indicates the likelihood for precipitation, dew, or fog to be present.
Humidity dep ...
, vibration
Vibration is a mechanical phenomenon whereby oscillations occur about an equilibrium point. The word comes from Latin ''vibrationem'' ("shaking, brandishing"). The oscillations may be periodic, such as the motion of a pendulum—or random, suc ...
, salt
Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quanti ...
y corrosive
A corrosive substance is one that will damage or destroy other substances with which it comes into contact by means of a chemical reaction.
Etymology
The word ''corrosive'' is derived from the Latin verb ''corrodere'', which means ''to gnaw'', ...
air
The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing for ...
, and air pollution
Air pollution is the contamination of air due to the presence of substances in the atmosphere that are harmful to the health of humans and other living beings, or cause damage to the climate or to materials. There are many different type ...
. In these environments, the additional tensile strength
Ultimate tensile strength (UTS), often shortened to tensile strength (TS), ultimate strength, or F_\text within equations, is the maximum stress that a material can withstand while being stretched or pulled before breaking. In brittle materials ...
, durability, and corrosion resistance
Corrosion is a natural process that converts a refined metal into a more chemically stable oxide. It is the gradual deterioration of materials (usually a metal) by chemical or electrochemical reaction with their environment. Corrosion engi ...
that CuproBraze technology provides are useful.brazing
Brazing is a metal-joining process in which two or more metal items are joined together by melting and flowing a filler metal into the joint, with the filler metal having a lower melting point than the adjoining metal.
Brazing differs from w ...
instead of soldering
Soldering (; ) is a process in which two or more items are joined by melting and putting a filler metal ( solder) into the joint, the filler metal having a lower melting point than the adjoining metal. Unlike welding, soldering does not in ...
to join copper and brass radiator components. The heat exchangers are made with anneal-resistant copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish ...
and brass
Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other wit ...
alloys. The tubes are fabricated from brass strip and coated with a brazing filler material in form of a powder-based paste or an amorphous brazing foil The filler metal (FM) alloys that can be produced as amorphous brazing foils (ABF) are eutectic compositions formed by transition metals such as nickel, iron, copper, etc., in combination with metalloids, such as silicon, boron and phosphorus. I ...
is laid between the tube and fin. There is another method of coating the tube in-line on the tube mill. This is done using the twin wire-arc spray process where the wire is the braze alloy, deposited on the tube as it is being manufactured at 200-400 fpm. This saves one process step of coating the tube later. The coated tubes, along with copper fins, headers and side supports made of brass, are fitted together into a core assembly which is brazed in a furnace
A furnace is a structure in which heat is produced with the help of combustion.
Furnace may also refer to:
Appliances Buildings
* Furnace (central heating): a furnace , or a heater or boiler , used to generate heat for buildings
* Boiler, used t ...
.
The technology enables brazed serpentine fins to be used in copper-brass heat exchanger designs. They are stronger, lighter, more durable, and have tougher joints.
Performance benefits
CuproBraze radiators have important performance advantages over radiators made with other materials. These include better thermal performance, heat transfer, size, strength, durability, emissions, corrosion resistance, reparability, and antimicrobial benefits.
Thermal performance
The ability to withstand elevated temperatures is essential in high-heat applications. Aluminum alloys are challenged at higher temperatures due to their lower melting point
The melting point (or, rarely, liquefaction point) of a substance is the temperature at which it changes state from solid to liquid. At the melting point the solid and liquid phase exist in equilibrium. The melting point of a substance depends ...
s. The yield strength
In materials science and engineering, the yield point is the point on a stress-strain curve that indicates the limit of Elasticity (physics), elastic behavior and the beginning of Plasticity (physics), plastic behavior. Below the yield point, ...
of aluminum is compromised above 200 °C. Problems with fatigue cracking are exacerbated at elevated temperatures.
Heat transfer efficiency
Cooling efficiency is a measure of heat rejection from a given space by a heat exchanger.[CuproBraze Efficiency (Design Criteria Series): http://www.cuprobraze.com/pdf/Efficiency.pdf] The overall thermal efficiency
In thermodynamics, the thermal efficiency (\eta_) is a dimensionless performance measure of a device that uses thermal energy, such as an internal combustion engine, steam turbine, steam engine, boiler, furnace, refrigerator, ACs etc.
For a ...
of a heat exchanger core depends on many factors, such as thermal conductivity
The thermal conductivity of a material is a measure of its ability to conduct heat. It is commonly denoted by k, \lambda, or \kappa.
Heat transfer occurs at a lower rate in materials of low thermal conductivity than in materials of high thermal ...
of fins and tubes; strength and weight of the fins and tubes; spacing, size, thickness and shape of fins and tubes; velocity
Velocity is the directional speed of an object in motion as an indication of its rate of change in position as observed from a particular frame of reference and as measured by a particular standard of time (e.g. northbound). Velocity i ...
of the air passing through the core; and other factors.