IJSART - Volume 2

Issue 3 MARCH 2016

ISSN [ONLINE]: 2395-1052

Reducing Major defects in Radiators Manufacturing

Kumar P.1,Sonawane B.S.2,Sontakke R.R.3, SurveS.B.4,Wasnik A.R.5
1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Department of Mechanical Engineering

1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Sinhgad Institute of Technology, Lonavala, Maharashtra-410401, India.

Abstract-Radiators are heat exchangers used to transfer

thermal energy from one medium to another for the purpose of
cooling and heating. While manufacturing many defects
occurs .The aim of this paper is to apply the quality tools to
find out the root causes of the quality problems related to
manufacturing of Radiator. The modes of defects on
production line are investigated through direct observation on
the production line and statistical tools like Check sheets,
Histogram, Pareto analysis, Cause and Effect diagram are
used in enhancing the process by continuous monitoring
through inspection of the sample an always change for
betterment. The work shows utility of quality tools to find the
root causes of the problems and eliminate them.

minimizing heat loss in winter and heat gain in summer. Heat

transfer plays a major role in the design of many other
devices, such as radiators, solar collectors, various
components of power plants, and even spacecraft. One of the
important device used for heat transfer is Radiators[3].

Keywords-Radiator, Manufacturing Process, Seven QC Tools,

Fishbone Diagram,FTR Percentage.
I. INTRODUCTION
Radiators are heat exchangers used to transfer
thermal energy from one medium to another for the purpose of
cooling and heating. The radiator is always a source of heat to
its environment, although this may be for either the purpose of
heating this environment, or for cooling the fluid or coolant
supplied to it, as for engine cooling.
Radiator assembly consists of three main parts core,
inlet tank and outlet tank. Core has two sets of passage, a set
of tubes and a set of fins. Coolant flows through tubes and air
flows between fins. The hot coolant sends heat through tubes
to fins. Outside air passing between fins pickups and carries
away heat. Performance of cooling system is influenced by
factors like air and coolant mass flow rate, air inlet
temperature, coolant fluid, fin type, fin pitch, tube type and
tube pitch etc. The problems arising in the manufacture of
radiator are fin bond failure, Clinching open, internal deposit,
fin damage, cracked plastic tank, Nail tank ,Tank broken, flux
and dust on header plate, blown tank to header seal, & loose
side piece.Heat transfer is commonly encountered in
engineering systems and other aspects of life. Many ordinary
household appliances are designed, in whole or in part, by
using the principles of heat transfer. Some examples include
the electric or gas range, the heating and air-conditioning
system, the refrigerator and freezer, the water heater, the iron,
and even the computer, the TV, and the DVD player. Of
course, energy-efficient homes are designed on the basis of
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Fig 1: Radiator Assembly

II. PRODUCTION PROCESSES OF RADIATOR

Tube mill forming-In this process small radiator tubes are

form as per requirements of radiators.
Press machining for header plate.
Fin form machine.
Radiator core assembly-In RCA assembly of header plate
fins and tube are takes place. In this process mainly H/P
tube joint defects are form.
Brazing-In brazing Flux on H/P, adherence NG defects
are form.
Clinching-In clinching Tank Broken and nail cut form.
Air/Water leak testing.

Fig. 2: Production Line Diagram

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III. MAJOR DEFECT OCCURS IN RADIATOR

A. Tube Radiator Leakage:Radiator leakage is the defects occur during brazing
between fins and header plate.

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conducted research it is investigated possibilities of successful
application of 7QC tools in several companies in power
generating and process industry as well as government,
tourism and health services. The seven analyzed quality tools
are:
Flow chart
Cause-and-Effect diagram
Check sheet
Pareto diagram
Histogram
Scatter plot
Control charts
Furthermore, as a part of the research is analysis of
possibilities of systematic use of quality tools in process
industry, what is show in this paper on simple example.

Fig. 3: Radiator leakage

V. FISHBONE DIAGRAM

B. Flux on header plate: The flux was applied on substrate by dipping, and
then dried with blowing warm air. An improper amount of
flux can produced brazing joint with high porosity and flux
residue, therefore appropriate flux must be given.

Fig. 4: Flux on H/P

Fig. 5: Fishbone Diagram for Radiator leakage

C. Clinching open:These defects occur due to improper fixing between

header plate nails and radiator tank.
IV. SEVEN QUALITY TOOLS
Continuous quality improvement process assumes,
and even demands that team of experts in field as well as
company leadership actively use quality tools in their
improvement activities and decision making process. Quality
tools can be used in all phases of production process, from the
beginning of product development up to product marketing
and customer support. At the moment there are a significant
number of quality assurance and quality management tools on
disposal to quality experts and managers, so the selection of
most appropriated one is not always an easy task. In the
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Fig.6: Fishbone Diagram of Flux on H/P

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commonly referred to as CAB (Controlled Atmosphere
Brazing). Priority to brazing the cores must be cleaned and
fluxed. The most common way to apply the flux is to mix the
flux with water and spray it onto the core. A flux machine
typically has multiple zones including a spray application
zone, and dryer section.Tube forming is the process of
forming the flat sheet metals into rectangular cross sectioned
tubes, this tube forming will be performed in tube mill
machine and According to a preferred embodiment the header
is formed in a single sheet of metal by an in expensive
stamping operation[8].
Brazing-

Fig.7:Fishbone dig. for clinching open

VI.SOLUTION FORPROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED IN
DIFFERENT PARAMETERS
A. Radiator Leakage:The big problem in radiator is the leakage to
minimize this we have to focus specially on H/P and tube joint
in brazing process.In this work an attempt is made to find out
the temp-displacement analysis of a radiator tubeelement
from temp. range 35C- 620C of a Brazing process to prevent
the leakage as it start from brazing area temperature and just
before the melting point of material as around 650C, which is
the major problem facing in the heat exchanger at header and
tube joints. A temp-displacement analysis is carried out to find
out the temperature and thermal expansion of radiator tubes
(consider 5different tube dimensions).

Brazing is a metal-joining process whereby a filler

metal is heated above melting point and distributed between
two or more close- fitting parts by capillary action. The filler
metal is brought slightly above its melting temperature while
protected by a suitable atmosphere, usually a flux. It is similar
to soldering, except the temperatures used to melt the filler
metal are higher. According to before analysis, the perfect
brazing gap for header joints and tubes is 0.03 to 0.08 mm.or it
should not be greater than 0.08 mm.In this project we are
concentrating on the leakage occurring between radiator
header and tube joint. If the gap between the header and tube
joint was perfectly made than there wont be any leakage
between header and tube. The perfect gap required between
header and tube is 0.03mm to 0.08. This is the good brazing
gap required. If the gap is 0.03 to 0.08mm between the header
and tube joint will get the perfect brazed together.

Fig.9:Gap size location

Material and Properties-

Fig.8:Tube Dimension
Aluminium radiator cores are brazed in a furnace to
join the tubes, fin, and headers. This brazing process is
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For doing this analysis we chosen the properties of A3003

material are listed below:
Thermal conductivity = 237 w/mk
Density = 2700 kg/m3
Poisons ratio = 0.35
Coefficient of thermal expansion = 0.000023 (m/moC)
Then with the help of formulation the change in length can be
calculated aswww.ijsart.com

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dl = L0 (t1 - t0)
For dim.1.83mmdl=1.83*0.001*0.000023*(620-35)=0.02mm.
Above expansion length is same for all the dimension
approximately. In this analysis process we are finding
expansion of the based on the temperature variation from 35c
to 620 c.Thats why we selected the module tempdisplacement study state. Which helps out to find the
expansion of the tube based on the temperature varies from
35c to 620 c.By analysing the tube cross section with 5
different iterations we got the perfect tube size is 1.89 to
1.95mm.Co efficient of thermal expansion = 0.000025 /m k
In this analysis process we are finding expansion based on the
temperature variation from 35c to 620 c. also depend on
inserting dimension. This perfect tube dimension forms good
joint with header slot when the tolerances are minimum
(1.97mm) or maximum (2.07mm).

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From above analysis acceptable tube size is at no. 3,4
and 5 so we can conclude from above analysis,one we can
directly make tube size from above 1.89mm as its major axis,
also can make jig in range of 1.89 to 1.95mm for to reduce
cycle time or second make expansion tool for expansion for
range from lower value of tube size to between 1.89 1.95mm for brazing gap 0.03-0.08mm..so we can use this
tubes for brazing operation to avoid leakage of radiator and
mainly to reduce rejection percentage which direcly affect the
cost.Below table shows approximately analysis of rejection
and cycle time how it has affect that showed but in the ratio
and by considering anyone model of radiator.So by above
analysis we can make revision of tube tolerance limit as
approximately 1.920.03mmto reduce leakage in radiator or
can make expansion tool as for range 1.89-1.95mm.
Table 2:-Analysis of Rejection and Manufacturing Cycle-time

By using iteration i.e trial method, on the 5 different

dimensions we found out the perfect tube size which makes
perfect joint with the header slot. The analysed tolerance
results were listed below:Dimension 1.83 mmWhen we consider the minimum tolerance (1.97mm) of the
header slot dimension, then the gap/ side coming 0.06mm, and
this is the good brazing gap/side for the particular material
(A3003). When we consider the maximum tolerance
(2.07mm) of the header slot dimension, then the gap/ side
coming 0.11 mm, and this gap was beyond the good brazing
gap/side for the particular material (A3003).
Table 1:-Analysis of Tube Dimension

VII.CONCLUSION
In this paper we studies all the process for
manufacturing of a radiator and the problems in their
manufacturing process specially radiator leakageandimproved
them by qualitative and trial i.e iteration method asconsidering
perfect brazing gap from 0.03 to 0.08mm between the header
and tube joint.From that we have setted new tolerance limit as
1.920.03mm.So as defect in radiator decrease, rejection rate
also reduced and also the cycle time.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
It is our privilege to acknowledge with deep sense of
gratitude to our Project Stage-I guide, Prof. A.R. Wasnikfor
their valuable suggestions and guidance throughout our course
of study and timely help given to us in the completion of
Project Stage-I.
Were highly obliged to Dr. V.V. Shinde, Head of
Department, Dr. M. S. Gaikwad, Principal, Sinhgad Institute
of Technology,and entire staff of Mechanical Engineering
department for their kind cooperation and help. We also take
this opportunity to thankTATA TOYO RADIATOR
LTD.and
our
guideMr.ManishsinghS.Dixit,Operation
Manager,TATA
Toyo
Radiator

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Ltd.,Mr.AmitkumarC.Mehta,Mr.ArifJ.Shaikhwho backed our

interest by giving suggestions and all possible help.

ISSN [ONLINE]: 2395-1052

[11] Hea X.,.Zhanga Y., Cun H., Vibration Measurements
of Clinched Joints Procedia CIRP 26 ( 2015 ) ,pp 208
211.

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