Patent ID: 6840080

Claim:
A press-forming apparatus comprising a pair of press-forming units, which are detachably secured to a movable unit and a stationary unit that face each other, respectively, so that a metallic thin sheet material to be press-formed, which is supplied to the press-forming units in a predetermined feeding direction, subjected to a press-forming through the press-forming units and then discharged there from as a heat transfer member for a heat exchanger, said heat transfer member having a predetermined shape, wherein: each of said press-forming units comprises (i) a main forming section for forming on the material to be press-formed a heat transfer face with a corrugated portion, which has opposite surfaces to be brought into contact with heat exchange fluids, (ii) a pair of first subsidiary forming sections, which are each disposed on upstream and downstream sides of said main forming section so as to be adjacent thereto in the feeding direction of the material to be press-formed, said pair of first subsidiary forming sections of one of said press-forming units respectively facing said pair of first subsidiary forming sections of another of said press-forming units to form an upstream set of first subsidiary forming sections and an downstream set of first subsidiary forming sections in the feeding direction of the material to be press-formed and (iii) a forming section-support base member detachably supporting said main forming section and said pair of first subsidiary forming sections; said main forming section having a press-forming face on which there are formed main corrugation patterned portions that are symmetric with respect to a central line, which is perpendicular to the feeding direction of the material to be press-formed, on one hand, and boundary patterned portions having a predetermined width, on which a plurality of recesses and projections align in a direction perpendicular to the feeding direction of the material to be press-formed, on the other hand; and one of said upstream set of first subsidiary forming sections and one of said downstream set of first subsidiary forming sections being adjustable to shift press-forming faces thereof along a pressing direction, so as to provide switch ably a contact mode in which said press-forming faces come into contact with the material to be press-formed together with the main forming section to apply a press-forming operation to the material to be press-formed and a non-contact mode in which the press-forming operation is not applied thereto.