Patent ID: 7044200

Claim:
A heat exchanger of the type having a plurality of tubes in each of a plurality of passes, comprising: a first header for receiving from a source, two-phase refrigerant flow and for diverting the flow to be distributed amongst a plurality of first pass tubes being disposed substantially orthogonal to said first header and substantially parallel to each other; a second header disposed substantially orthogonal to said plurality of first pass tubes and fluidly connected thereto for receiving the two-phase refrigerant flow from said plurality of first phase tubes and for conducting the flow of refrigerant to a plurality of second pass tubes being disposed substantially orthogonal to said second header and being disposed substantially parallel to each other; a third header being disposed substantially orthogonal to said plurality of second pass tubes and being fluidly connected thereto for receiving refrigerant flow therefrom; and a bypass tube fluidly connected at its one end to a downstream end of said second header near a last second pass tube farthest from said first pass tubes and at its other end to an intermediate point of said second header adjacent a first second pass tube nearest to said first pass tubes, said bypass tube being capable of conducting the flow of refrigerant from said second header downstream end to said second header intermediate point and thereby aid in the uniform distribution of refrigerant flow to said second pass tubes.