DENSO Develops New Smaller and More Efficient Condenser


30 percent size reduction

KARIYA, Japan - DENSO has developed a smaller and more efficient condenser, which helps increase fuel efficiency, while allowing carmakers to have greater design flexibility inside the engine compartment. Compared to conventional models, DENSO's new Global Inner-fin Condenser (GIC) is 30 percent smaller.

By exchanging heat with air, the condenser cools the high-pressure refrigerant vapor and condenses it into a liquid refrigerant. "To condense the vapor into a liquid refrigerant, the condenser must first remove the heat" said Akio Shikamura, senior executive director of DENSO's Thermal Systems Business Group. "Increasing the efficiency of the condenser's heat removal process is one way to improve the overall efficiency of the air-conditioning system, which improves vehicle fuel economy, and helps cool the cabin more quickly."

Smaller and More Efficient:

As car makers worldwide are looking for increased fuel efficiency and more under-the-hood design flexibility, DENSO focused on developing a high-performance condenser that was more efficient, but also smaller than previous generations. To achieve the increase in efficiency, DENSO focused on increasing the heat removal performance of GIC, which is dependent upon the design of the components like tubes and fins.

Tubes & Fins:

To more efficiently transfer the refrigerant's heat flowing in the tubes, the size of the tube's inner fins were reduced and the density of inner fins inside each tube were maximized, which increased the heat transfer area by 20 percent.

In addition, despite how thin it is, the capacity of the inner fin tube was increased by 25 percent, compared to conventional models. The new inner-fin tube has 25 percent more room, which enables even more amount of refrigerant to flow in the tube without increasing power consumption. This new design allows for the flexibility of new, more environmentally friendly refrigerants to be introduced in the future.

DENSO further improved the GIC's heat removal process by increasing the number of louvers in each fin by 30 percent per unit area. Despite this increase in louvers, the size of the fin was not increased.

Combined, these innovations resulted in reducing the GIC product width from 16 mm to 11mm, which is a 30 percent reduction in size from conventional models.

Manufacturing Efficiency, Collaboration and Global Procurement:

Not only is DENSO focused on developing efficient products, but it also places a great emphasis on manufacturing efficiency. The development of new processing technologies, allowed for the mass production of the GIC's inner fin at the same production speed as that of conventional tubes, which has helped maintain the company's productivity.

Also, in collaboration with materials suppliers, DENSO has succeeded in developing materials that offer performance that surpasses those of conventional models. This development has also allowed for global procurement capability in different regions of the world.

The GIC is on the Toyota Corolla, which was launched in Japan on May 11. DENSO will continue its efforts to expand GIC to a much wider range of vehicles, as well as work to develop smaller, more efficient products.

DENSO Corporation, headquartered in Kariya, Aichi prefecture, Japan, is a leading global automotive supplier of advanced technology, systems and components in the areas of thermal, powertrain control, electric, electronics and information and safety. Its customers include all the world's major carmakers. Worldwide, the company has more than 200 subsidiaries and affiliates in 35 countries and regions (including Japan) and employs approximately 120,000 people. Consolidated global sales for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2012, totaled US$38.4 billion. Last fiscal year, DENSO spent 9.5 percent of its global consolidated sales on research and development. DENSO common stock is traded on the Tokyo and Nagoya stock exchanges. For more information, go to www.globaldenso.com, or visit our media website at www.densomediacenter.com

Contact: Sadayoshi Yokoyama,

Goro Kanemasu

DENSO CORPORATION

Phone: 81-566-25-5594

Fax: 81-566-25-4509

sadayoshi_yokoyama@denso.co.jp

goro_kanemasu@denso.co.jp

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