Patent ID: 8176750

Claim:
A heat exchanger comprising first and second header tanks disposed apart from each other; and a plurality of heat exchange tubes are disposed between the header tanks and opposite end portions of the heat exchange tubes are connected to the corresponding header tanks, wherein the first header tank includes a refrigerant inlet header section and a refrigerant outlet header section juxtaposed in an air flow direction, the second header tank includes a first intermediate header section and a second intermediate header section juxtaposed in the air flow direction, and the heat exchange tubes establish communication between the refrigerant inlet header section and the first intermediate header section and communication between the refrigerant outlet header section and the second intermediate header section, wherein a portion of the interior of the refrigerant inlet header section, the portion communicating with the heat exchange tubes, is divided into a plurality of sections in a longitudinal direction of the header tanks; flow diverging means is provided in the refrigerant inlet header section so as to cause refrigerant having flowed into the refrigerant inlet header section to diverge into the sections; each of the interiors of the first intermediate header section and the second intermediate header section is divided into sections in the longitudinal direction of the header tanks, the number of the sections being equal to the number of the sections of the refrigerant inlet header section; the heat exchange tubes communicating with the sections of the refrigerant inlet header section communicate with the corresponding sections of the first intermediate header section; and the sections of the first intermediate header section communicate with the corresponding sections of the second intermediate header section.