1. A five-touch ultrasonic method of dimensioning an object of interest, comprising:
providing an ultrasonic dimensioning system, said system further comprising:
an object support surface,
at least three ultrasonic receivers adapted to be in a suitable position relative to said object of interest when said object of interest resides on said object support surface,
at least one ultrasonic transmitter for transmitting ultrasonic pulses to said at least three ultrasonic receivers while touching said cuboid object, and
a computing device in communication with said at least three receivers and said at least one transmitter, said computing device programmed with at least a five-touch multilateration algorithm;
determining a major axis of said object of interest;
separately touching said ultrasonic transmitter, in no particular order, to a first set of two points on opposite sides of said object of interest and lying a sufficient distance apart, to a second set of two points on opposite sides of said object of interest and lying a sufficient distance apart, and to a fifth point being a sufficient distance from said object support surface;
causing said ultrasonic transmitter to emit an ultrasonic pulse while touching each of said five points;
receiving said ultrasonic pulses at said ultrasonic receivers; and
using said five-touch multilateration algorithm to determine dimensions of said object of interest.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein said object support surface is substantially planar.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein said object support surface is selected from the group consisting of ground, a floor, a pallet, a platter, and a weighing scale.
4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of determining a weight of said object of interest.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein said at least three ultrasonic receivers are positioned above said object of interest when said object of interest resides on said object support surface.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein said computing device is selected from the group consisting of microprocessors and microcontrollers.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein said touching step includes physically contacting said object of interest with said ultrasonic transmitter or positioning said ultrasonic transmitter sufficiently near said object of interest to provide desired accuracy.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein:
said first set of two points lie as far apart as possible in a first direction relative to each other; and
said second set of two points lie as far apart as possible in a second direction relative to each other.
9. The method of claim 8, wherein:
said first direction is generally parallel to said major axis; and
said second direction is generally perpendicular to said major axis.
10. The method of claim 1, wherein said fifth point is a point on said object of interest as far as possible from said object support surface.
11. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of providing at least one locating element to locate at least one side of object of interest.
12. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of using an ultrasonic pulse calibrator to compensate for the effects of one or more atmospheric conditions on the speed of travel of said ultrasonic pulses emitted by said ultrasonic transmitter.
13. The method of claim 1, further comprising using readings from atmospheric sensors to compensate for the effects of one or more atmospheric conditions on the speed of travel of said ultrasonic pulses emitted by said ultrasonic transmitter.
14. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing sensors to automatically detect the presence of said object of interest and to automatically select said five-touch multilateration algorithm to calculate the dimensions of said object of interest.
15. The method of claim 1, wherein said ultrasonic transmitter is adapted to transmit an ultrasonic pulse only when activated by a user.
16. The method of claim 1, wherein said ultrasonic transmitter is adapted to transmit an ultrasonic pulse automatically when touched to said object of interest.
17. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of dimensioning a cuboid of a size sufficient to enclose said object of interest.
18. A five-touch ultrasonic method of dimensioning a cuboid of a size sufficient to enclose an object of interest, comprising:
providing an ultrasonic dimensioning system, said system further comprising:
a substantially planar object support surface,
at least three ultrasonic receivers positioned to be above said object of interest when said object of interest resides on said object support surface,
at least one ultrasonic transmitter for transmitting ultrasonic pulses to said at least three ultrasonic receivers while touching said cuboid object, and
a microprocessor in communication with said at least three receivers and said at least one transmitter, said microprocessor programmed with at least a five-touch multilateration algorithm;
defining a major axis of said object of interest;
separately touching said ultrasonic transmitter, in no particular order, to two points on opposite sides of said object of interest and lying as far apart as possible on lines substantially parallel to said major axis, and to two points on opposite sides of said object of interest and lying as far apart as possible on lines substantially perpendicular to said major axis;
subsequent thereto, touching said ultrasonic transmitter to a fifth point, said fifth point being a point on said object of interest that lies the farthest away from said object support surface;
causing said ultrasonic transmitter to emit an ultrasonic pulse while touching each of said five points;
receiving said ultrasonic pulses at said ultrasonic receivers; and
using said five-touch multilateration algorithm to calculate the dimensions of a cuboid of sufficient size to enclose said object of interest.
19. The method of claim 18, wherein said substantially planar object support surface is a floor.
20. The method of claim 18, wherein said ultrasonic dimensioning system is portable and may be transported to the location of said object of interest.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A heat exchanger comprising:
a heat transfer tube;
a plurality of fins that includes ark-shaped contact surfaces configured to be brought into contact with an outer peripheral surface of the heat transfer tube and are attached from an outside in a radial direction of the heat transfer tube; and
an adhesive that bonds the outer peripheral surface of the heat transfer tube and the contact surface of each of the fins.
2. The heat exchanger according to claim 1, wherein
the plurality of the fins include a pair of the fins disposed adjacently between which the heat transfer tube is interposed, in an orthogonal plane orthogonal to the tube axis direction of the heat transfer tube, and
assuming, on the orthogonal plane, that a direction in which the pair of the fins are adjacent to each other is a width direction and that a direction orthogonal to the width direction is a length direction, one of the pair of fins and the other one of the pair of fins are disposed by being shifted in position in at least one direction of the tube axis direction and the length direction.
3. The heat exchanger according to claim 1, wherein
the plurality of the fins include a pair of the fins disposed adjacently between which the heat transfer tube is interposed, in the orthogonal plane orthogonal to the tube axis direction of the heat transfer tube, and
assuming, on the orthogonal plane, that a direction in which the pair of the fins are adjacent to each other is a width direction and that a direction orthogonal to the width direction is a length direction, one of the pair of fins and the other one of the pair of fins are configured such that end portions in the width direction, which are adjacent to each other, overlap each other in the tube axis direction.
4. The heat exchanger according to claim 1, wherein
the plurality of the fins include a pair of the fins disposed adjacently between which the heat transfer tube is interposed, in an orthogonal plane orthogonal to the tube axis direction of the heat transfer tube, and
assuming, on the orthogonal plane, that a direction in which the pair of the fins are adjacent to each other is a width direction and that a direction orthogonal to the width direction is a length direction, one of the pair of fins and the other one of the pair of fins are configured such that in the orthogonal plane, end portions in the width direction, which are adjacent to each other, face each other with a predetermined clearance gap.
5. The heat exchanger according to claim 1, wherein
the plurality of the fins are disposed at predetermined intervals in the tube axis direction of the heat transfer tube, and
the heat exchanger further comprises a position regulation portion provided between the fins adjacent to each other in the tube axis direction, the position regulation portion regulating a position in the tube axis direction of each of the fins.
6. The heat exchanger according to claim 5, wherein
the position regulation portion is formed of the adhesive.
7. A heat exchanger manufacturing method comprising:
a fin disposing step for disposing a plurality of fins at predetermined intervals in a tube axis direction of a heat transfer tube, each of the fins having ark-shaped contact surfaces configured to be brought into contact with an outer peripheral surface of the heat transfer tube;
an adhesive applying step for applying an adhesive to at least one of the outer peripheral surface of the heat transfer tube and the contact surface of each of the fins; and
a bonding step for bonding the plurality of the fins from an outside in a radial direction of the heat transfer tube.
8. The heat exchanger manufacturing method according to claim 7, wherein
the adhesive applying step includes applying the adhesive to the outer peripheral surface of the heat transfer tube.
9. The heat exchanger manufacturing method according to claim 7, wherein
the adhesive applying step includes applying the adhesive to the contact surface of each of the fins.
10. The heat exchanger according to claim 2, wherein
the plurality of the fins include a pair of the fins disposed adjacently between which the heat transfer tube is interposed, in the orthogonal plane orthogonal to the tube axis direction of the heat transfer tube, and
assuming, on the orthogonal plane, that a direction in which the pair of the fins are adjacent to each other is a width direction and that a direction orthogonal to the width direction is a length direction, one of the pair of fins and the other one of the pair of fins are configured such that end portions in the width direction, which are adjacent to each other, overlap each other in the tube axis direction.
11. The heat exchanger according to claim 2, wherein
the plurality of the fins include a pair of the fins disposed adjacently between which the heat transfer tube is interposed, in an orthogonal plane orthogonal to the tube axis direction of the heat transfer tube, and
assuming, on the orthogonal plane, that a direction in which the pair of the fins are adjacent to each other is a width direction and that a direction orthogonal to the width direction is a length direction, one of the pair of fins and the other one of the pair of fins are configured such that in the orthogonal plane, end portions in the width direction, which are adjacent to each other, face each other with a predetermined clearance gap.
12. The heat exchanger according to claim 2, wherein
the plurality of the fins are disposed at predetermined intervals in the tube axis direction of the heat transfer tube, and
the heat exchanger further comprises a position regulation portion provided between the fins adjacent to each other in the tube axis direction, the position regulation portion regulating a position in the tube axis direction of each of the fins.
13. The heat exchanger according to claim 3, wherein
the plurality of the fins are disposed at predetermined intervals in the tube axis direction of the heat transfer tube, and
the heat exchanger further comprises a position regulation portion provided between the fins adjacent to each other in the tube axis direction, the position regulation portion regulating a position in the tube axis direction of each of the fins.
14. The heat exchanger according to claim 4, wherein
the plurality of the fins are disposed at predetermined intervals in the tube axis direction of the heat transfer tube, and
the heat exchanger further comprises a position regulation portion provided between the fins adjacent to each other in the tube axis direction, the position regulation portion regulating a position in the tube axis direction of each of the fins.