Patent ID: 7398820

Claim:
An evaporator comprising: a first heat exchanger; and a second heat exchanger overlapping the first heat exchanger in an air passing direction, the first heat exchanger comprising: an upper tank; a lower tank; tubes extending vertically and arranged side by side in a longitudinal direction of the upper and lower tanks, the tubes configured to connect the upper and lower tanks to each other and communicate with the upper and lower tanks; a coolant inlet provided for the upper tank at a first end of the evaporator; a coolant outlet provided for the lower tank at a second end of the evaporator; and partitions arranged inside the upper and lower tanks, the partitions configured to divide the inside of the first heat exchanger into a first path in which coolant that entered through the coolant inlet flows downwardly, a second path that is downstream from the first path and in which the coolant from the first path flows upwardly, and a third path that is downstream from the second path and in which the coolant from the second path flows downwardly, the second heat exchanger comprising: an upper tank; a lower tank; tubes extending vertically and arranged side by side in a longitudinal direction of the upper and lower tanks, the tubes configured to connect the upper and lower tanks to each other and communicate with the upper and lower tanks; a coolant inlet provided for the lower tank at the second end of the evaporator, the coolant inlet configured to introduce the coolant from the coolant outlet of the first heat exchanger into the second heat exchanger; a coolant outlet arranged at the first end of the evaporator; and partitions arranged inside the lower tank, the partitions configured to divide the inside of the second heat exchanger into at least two paths including a first path in which the coolant that has entered through the coolant inlet flows upwardly, wherein the number of the tubes in the first path of the first heat exchanger being smaller than the number of the tubes in any one of the other paths of the first and second heat exchangers, the number of the tubes in the second path of the first heat exchanger being equal to or greater than the number of the tubes in the third path of the first heat exchanger, and the number of the tubes in the first path of the second heat exchanger being smaller than the number of the tubes in the third path of the first heat exchanger.