Patent ID: 7219717

Claim:
An evaporator comprising: an evaporator core having a refrigerant inlet and a refrigerant outlet in one side portion thereof; and a connecting member joined to said one side portion of the evaporator core and having in an interior thereof a refrigerant inlet channel for holding the refrigerant inlet in communication with a refrigerant inlet pipe and a refrigerant outlet channel for holding the refrigerant outlet in communication with a refrigerant outlet pipe, the connecting member comprising a first plate having an inlet communication hole and an outlet communication hole and joined to said one side portion of the evaporator core so that the communication holes communicate with the respective refrigerant inlet and outlet, and a second plate having an inlet channel recessed portion and an outlet channel recessed portion and joined to an outer surface of the first plate so that the recessed portions are opposed at one end thereof to the inlet communication hole and the outlet communication hole, respectively, the inlet channel recessed portion having on the other end thereof a bottom wall provided with an inlet pipe connecting opening, the outlet channel recessed portion having on the other end thereof a bottom wall provided with an outlet pipe connecting opening, the refrigerant inlet pipe and the refrigerant outlet pipe being connectable to the respective connecting openings by a pipe joint member joined to an outer surface of the second plate, the first plate having on the outer surface thereof a refrigerant flow smoothing projection projecting toward the inlet pipe connecting opening of the second plate, wherein the refrigerant flow smoothing projection has a center coinciding with a center of the inlet pipe connecting opening and has one of a substantially conical shape, a substantially semispherical shape and a substantially frustoconical shape.