Patent ID: 7222663

Claim:
An evaporator comprising: a front heat exchange assembly and a rear heat exchange assembly arranged at an air inlet side and an air outlet side, respectively, and adjacent to each other, each of the heat exchange assemblies comprising a pair of upper and lower headers extending laterally; a multiplicity of refrigerant channels arranged laterally at a spacing and each having an upper end connected to the upper header and a lower end connected to the lower header, a refrigerant inlet being provided at one end of the upper or lower header of the rear heat exchange assembly, a refrigerant outlet being provided at one end of the upper or lower header of the front heat exchange assembly, the upper or lower header of the rear heat exchange assembly communicating at a portion thereof toward the other end with the upper or lower header of the front heat exchange assembly at a portion thereof toward the other end by communication means; and the upper and lower headers of the rear heat exchange assembly being internally provided with vertical partitions for internally dividing the headers into portions arranged laterally so as to reverse the direction of upward or rearward flow of a refrigerant through the refrigerant channels of the rear heat exchange assembly for every specified number of refrigerant channels and thereby provide at least one group of upward refrigerant channels in each of a left half and a right half of the rear heat exchange assembly, wherein the upper and lower headers of the front and rear heat exchange assemblies are provided by front and rear two tank chambers in a pair of upper and lower tanks, and the refrigerant channels of the front and rear heat exchange assemblies are provided by front and rear two rows of plural refrigerant tubes connected at upper and lower ends thereof to the respective front and rear tank chambers of the upper and lower tanks, the partitions being formed by respective walls so provided as to divide the rear tank chambers of upper and lower tanks into portions arranged laterally, and the communication means is provided by a communication hole formed at the other end of a partition wall which internally divides the upper or lower tank into the front and rear two tank chambers.