OIL COOLER

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to International Patent Application No. PCT/EP2023/078927, filed on Oct. 18, 2023 and Japanese Patent Application No. JP2022186382A, filed on Nov. 22, 2022, the contents of both of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to an oil cooler.

BACKGROUND

As an oil cooler to be incorporated in a cooling system for an internal combustion engine of a vehicle, there has been conventionally proposed an oil cooler that has a heat exchanger core including a plurality of plates layered one upon another to form flow paths between the plates (for example, see Patent Literature 1). In the oil cooler disclosed in Patent Literature 1, a bottom plate is sealingly secured to the bottom of the heat exchanger core and the bottom plate is secured to an automatic transmission.

DOCUMENT LIST

Patent Literature

• • Patent Literature 1: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2012-57889

SUMMARY

Technical Problem

In the oil cooler disclosed in Patent Literature 1, protrusions are formed at positions along an outer peripheral edge of the heat exchanger core (heat exchanger main body) on a surface on the heat exchanger core side of the bottom plate (base member), which enables the heat exchanger core to be positioned in an in-plane direction of the bottom plate. However, it has been hard to restrict movement such as rotation of the heat exchanger core around an axis along the perpendicular-to-plane direction of the bottom plate by using only the protrusions along the outer peripheral edge of the heat exchanger core, which makes it difficult to improve the positioning performance of the heat exchanger core. When the positioning performance is ensured by using only such protrusions, it is necessary to increase the number of protrusions or enlarge an area in which the protrusions are provided, resulting in a complicated configuration.

Although it is also conceivable to adopt a method of restricting the above-described rotation by engaging the upper surface of the bottom plate and the bottom surface of the heat exchanger core, when the shape of the bottom surface of the heat exchanger core is changed, the shapes of the flow paths in the heat exchanger core change. The changes in shapes of the flow paths make it difficult to obtain desired fluid flow, which may result in the degradation of the heat exchange performance. As described above, it is difficult to achieve both of the positioning performance and the heat exchange performance.

In view of the above circumstances, it is an object of the present disclosure to provide an oil cooler that can ensure the heat exchange performance while improving the positioning performance.

Solution to Problem

In order to solve the aforementioned problems, an oil cooler according to the present disclosure comprises a heat exchanger main body including a plurality of plates layered one upon another to alternately form two flow paths in a layering direction, and a plate-shaped base member provided on a mounting target apparatus side, wherein the plurality of plates include a bottom plate layered over the base member, the bottom plate includes a plurality of protruding parts formed on a surface opposite to the base member, and through holes formed at positions surrounded by the plurality of protruding parts, the base member includes piercing protruding parts which are inserted through the through holes and form the plurality of protruding parts and embossed parts on the surface opposite to the base member, and in the base member and the heat exchanger main body, positioning parts which enable contact between the base member and the heat exchanger main body are provided at at least two positions to restrict relative movement between the base member and the heat exchanger main body in a plane intersecting the layering direction, and the through holes and the piercing protruding parts function as the positioning parts.

According to this aspect, the piercing protruding parts of the base member and the through holes of the bottom plate function as the positioning parts for restricting the relative movement between the base member and the heat exchanger main body, which enables the positioning in the plane of the bottom plate. This makes it possible to easily restrict movement such as relative rotation about the axis along the perpendicular-to-plane direction of the base member, for example, between the heat exchanger main body and the base member, whereby the positioning performance can be improved. At this time, since the piercing protruding parts are inserted through the through holes and form the plurality of protruding parts and the embossed parts on the bottom plate, it is possible to easily obtain the same fluid flow as that in the configuration in which the embossed parts are formed only by the protruding parts. This can obtain the heat exchange performance.

Here, two or more pairs of piercing protruding parts and two or more pairs of through holes may be provided, or one or more pairs of piercing protruding parts and one or more pairs of through holes may be combined with the other forms of positioning parts (e.g., outer peripheral contact parts).

The base member may include outer peripheral contact parts, as the positioning parts, which protrude from a surface on the heat exchanger main body side and are brought into contact with an outer peripheral edge of the heat exchanger main body. According to this aspect, the positioning performance can be further improved by combining the positioning by the piercing protruding parts and the through holes and the positioning by the outer peripheral contact parts.

A protruding dimension of each of the piercing protruding parts from the surface opposite to the base member may be smaller than the protruding dimension of each of the plurality of protruding parts. According to this aspect, the piercing protruding parts are scarcely brought into contact with the plate layered over a side opposite to the base member with respect to the bottom plate, and it is possible to suppress an influence of the piercing protruding parts on alignment between the plates.

The plurality of protruding parts and the piercing protruding parts may be brazed to a surface on the base member side of the plate to be layered over a side opposite to the bottom plate. According to this aspect, the joining strength between the base member and the heat exchanger main body can be enhanced.

According to an oil cooler of the present disclosure, it is possible to ensure the heat exchange performance while improving the positioning performance.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 An exploded perspective diagram of an oil cooler according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 An exploded perspective diagram showing a bottom plate and a base member of the oil cooler according to the embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 A plan diagram showing a state in which the bottom plate and the base member of the oil cooler according to the embodiment of the present disclosure are assembled.

FIG. 4 A plan diagram showing the bottom plate and the base member of the oil cooler according to the embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 A perspective sectional diagram showing a state in which the bottom plate and the base member of the oil cooler according to the embodiment of the present disclosure are assembled.

FIG. 6 A sectional diagram showing a state in which the bottom plate and the base member of the oil cooler according to the embodiment of the present disclosure are assembled.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings. An oil cooler 1 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure comprises a heat exchanger main body 2 including a plurality of plates 21 layered one upon another to alternately form two flow paths in a layering direction (Z direction), and a plate-shaped base member 3 provided on a mounting target apparatus side, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 6. The plurality of plates 21 include a bottom plate 22 to be layered over the base member 3. The bottom plate 22 includes a plurality of protruding parts 226A formed on an upper surface 22C on a side opposite to the base member 3, and through holes 224 and 225 formed at positions surrounded by the plurality of protruding parts 226A. The base member 3 includes piercing protruding parts 34 and 35 which are inserted through the through holes 224 and 225, respectively, and form the plurality of protruding parts 226A and embossed parts 226 on the upper surface 22C. In the base member 3 and the heat exchanger main body 2, positioning parts which enable contact between the base member 3 and the heat exchanger main body 2 are provided at at least two positions to restrict relative movement between the base member 3 and the heat exchanger main body 2 in a plane (XY plane) intersecting the Z direction, and the through holes 224 and 225 and the piercing protruding parts 34 and 35 function as the positioning parts.

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective diagram showing the oil cooler 1 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective diagram showing the bottom plate 22 and the base member 3 of the oil cooler 1, FIG. 3 is a plan diagram showing a state in which the bottom plate 22 and the base member 3 of the oil cooler 1 are assembled, FIG. 4 is a plan diagram showing the bottom plate 22 and the base member 3 of the oil cooler 1, FIG. 5 is a perspective sectional diagram showing a state in which the bottom plate 22 and the base member 3 of the oil cooler 1 are assembled, and FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing a state in which the bottom plate 22 and the base member 3 of the oil cooler 1 are assembled.

The oil cooler 1 is used upon being incorporated in a cooling system for an internal combustion engine of an automotive vehicle (vehicle), for example. The cooling system includes a cooling part such as a radiator, for example. For example, hydraulic oil for a heat generating part such as an automatic transmission is introduced into one flow path of the oil cooler 1, coolant for the cooling system is introduced into the other flow path of the oil cooler 1, and these flow paths are adjacent to each other, so that heat is exchanged between the hydraulic oil and the coolant to thereby cool the hydraulic oil.

That is, it is only required that the oil cooler 1 includes a flow path through which a fluid to be cooled (object fluid, e.g., a hydraulic oil) flows and openings at both ends thereof, and a flow path through which a fluid used for cooling (cooling fluid, e.g., coolant) flows and openings at both ends thereof, and each opening is connected to a suitable device, and the specific connection manner is not limited.

The oil cooler 1 includes a rectangular parallelepiped-shaped heat exchanger main body 2 and a plate-shaped base member 3, as shown in FIG. 1. Hereinafter, a plane on which the base member 3 extends is referred to as an XY plane, and a thickness (perpendicular-to-plane) direction of the base member 3 is referred to as the Z direction. The heat exchanger main body 2 and the base member 3 are aligned in the Z direction, and hereinafter, for convenience, with respect to the base member 3, a direction toward the heat exchanger main body 2 side is referred to as an upper side, and a direction toward the opposite side is referred to as a lower side, and these may be simply referred to as upper and lower. Here, the upper and lower in the Z direction are represented for convenience, and need not coincide with upper and lower in the vertical direction in the actual usage state.

The heat exchanger main body 2 includes a plurality of plates 21 each having a generally square shape formed of sides formed of sides along an X direction and a Y direction, the plates 21 being layered along the Z direction to form a rectangular parallelepiped shape having sides extending along the X direction, the Y direction and the Z direction. A fin plate or the like may be provided between the plates 21 facing each other. In the heat exchanger main body 2, layers of the flow paths through which the object fluid flows and layers of the flow paths through which the cooling fluid flows are alternately formed in the Z direction. That is, when with respect to a certain plate 21, a layer of a flow path through which the object fluid flows is formed between the certain plate 21 and the plate 21 on the upper side of the certain plate 21, a layer of a flow path through which the cooling fluid flows is formed between the certain plate 21 and the plate 21 on the lower side of the certain plate 21. It is only required that the plate 21 is made of aluminum, for example.

The plurality of plates 21 include the bottom plate 22 to be layered over the base member 3. The bottom plate 22 includes a square flat plate-shaped plate part 22A, and a tapered part 22B upstanding from an end edge of the plate part 22A to form a dish shape. An upper surface 22C of the bottom plate 22 is a surface facing opposite to the base member 3, and also serves as an upper surface of the plate part 22A. A lower surface 22D of the bottom plate 22 is a surface facing the base member 3, and also serves as a lower surface of the plate part 22A. The plate part 22A is formed with a plurality of openings 221 to 223, the two through holes 224 and 225, and the plurality of protruding parts 226A. The tapered part 22B stands upward (toward a side opposite to the base member 3), and is inclined toward the outer side of the plate part 22A in the XY plane as the tapered part 22B extends upward.

The plates 21 except for the bottom plate 22 each also have a plate part and a tapered part similar to the bottom plate 22, and in the plates 21 adjacent to each other, their tapered parts contact with each other and their plate parts are arranged at a predetermined interval from each other. At this time, the bottom plate 22 may have a thickness greater than the thicknesses of the other plates or may have the same thickness as the thicknesses of the other plates. In each of the plates 21 except for the bottom plate 22, it is only required that an opening through which a fluid flows is arranged at a corner portion in the square-shaped plate part, for example, so as to obtain a desired flow. In the present embodiment, each of the bottom plate 22 and the plates 21 except for the bottom plate 22 is formed, for example, of a cladding material, and includes a core material and a brazing-material layer formed on each of front and back of the plate.

In the present embodiment, a flow path through which the coolant as the cooling fluid flows is formed between the bottom plate 22 and the plate 21 on the upper side of the bottom plate 22. Here, a flow path through which an object fluid flows is formed between the bottom plate 22 and the plate 21 on the upper side of the bottom plate 22. The opening 221 formed in the plate part 22A is a simple through hole that has no flange around the opening 221, the opening 221 being arranged at the corner portion of the plate part 22A and allowing the coolant to flow therethrough.

The openings 222 and 223 are arranged at the corner portions adjacent to the opening 221 among the corner portions of the plate part 22A, the openings 222 and 223 having flange parts 222A and 223A around the openings 222 and 223, respectively, and allowing the hydraulic oil as the object fluid to flow therethrough. Tip portions of the flange parts 222A and 223A are brazed to a lower surface 21 A of the plate 21 on the upper side of the bottom plate 22. This prevents the openings 222 and 223 from communicating with the flow path formed between the bottom plate 22 and the plate 21 on the upper side of the bottom plate 22 and forms a fluid path for connecting the plates 21 and 22 in the Z direction which is the layering direction.

The opening 223 is formed as an elongated hole extending from the corner portion toward a center portion of the plate part 22A. The opening 223 is formed in a shape for connecting an opening 33 (which will be described later) in the base member 3 and the opening in the plate 21 on the upper side of the bottom plate 22. That is, the shape of the opening formed in the bottom plate 22 is formed according to the arrangement of the openings provided on the upper and lower sides of bottom plate 22.

The plurality of protruding parts 226A are formed on the upper surface 22C so as to avoid the openings 221 to 223 and the corner portion diagonally opposite to the opening 221. That is, the plate part 22A includes, in the upper surface 22C, a non-forming part 227 in which the protruding parts 226A are not formed. The plate 21 on the upper side of the bottom plate 22 has an opening through which the coolant flows, at a position corresponding to the non-forming part 227. This allows the coolant to flow along a diagonal of the plate part 22 A from the opening 221 toward the non-forming part 227 (or the reverse direction). It is preferable to provide a top plate in a top surface of the heat exchanger main body 2 (surface on a side opposite to the base member 3), and the top plate is not shown in each figure. It is only required that the top plate is connected to the coolant flow path by attaching a pipe.

The protruding part 226A is formed into a hemispherical shape by press working, for example, and in the lower surface 22D, a recessed part is formed at a position where the protruding part 226A is formed. The plurality of protruding parts 226A are randomly arranged to be interspersed, and that is, do not correspond to linear arrangements along the X direction, the Y direction, and the diagonal of the plate part 22A.

The through holes 224 and 225 are formed at positions surrounded by the plurality of protruding parts 226A, and are formed within a region of the embossed parts 226 (which will be described later). More specifically, the through hole 224 is arranged between the opening 221 and the corner portion adjacent to the opening 221 in the plate part 22A, and the through hole 225 is arranged between the opening 222 and the non-forming part 227.

The base member 3 is formed entirely into a plate shape made of aluminum, for example, along the XY plane, an upper surface 3A of the base member 3 is layered over the lower surface 22D of the bottom plate 22, and a lower surface 3B of the base member 3 is layered over the mounting target apparatus (e.g, a control valve housing on the internal combustion engine or automatic transmission side). The base member 3 includes three openings 31 to 33, the two piercing protruding parts 34 and 35, three outer peripheral contact parts 36 to 38, and four fixing parts 39.

The three openings 31 to 33 are aligned and communicate with the openings 221 to 223, respectively. At this time, the opening 33 is aligned with a portion in the vicinity of the corner portion of the plate part 22A in the opening 223 having an elongated hole shape. The coolant flows through the opening 31, and the hydraulic oil flows through the openings 32 and 33.

The piercing protruding parts 34 and 35 are formed by press working, for example, are inserted through the through holes 224 and 225, respectively, and protrude to the upper surface 22C side. The piercing protruding parts 34 and 35 can be brought into contact with the inner peripheral surfaces of the through holes 224 and 225. The tip portions of the piercing protruding parts 34 and 35 (portions passing through the through holes 224 and 225 and protruding to the upper surface 22C side) have the same shape as the protruding part 226A, that is, are formed into a hemispherical shape. At this time, it is preferable that the maximum diameter of each of the piercing protruding parts 34 and 35 is about 106 to 112% with respect to the maximum diameter of the protruding part 226 A. When such a maximum diameter is set, it is possible to easily ensure the positioning performance, the press workability, and the embossing functionality. In the present embodiment, the protruding dimension of each of the piercing protruding parts 34 and 35 from the upper surface 22C is smaller than the protruding dimension of the protruding part 226A. That is, the overall protruding dimension of each of the piercing protruding parts 34 and 35 is smaller than the sum of the protruding dimension of the protruding part 226A and the thickness of the plate part 22A. Thus, the tip portion of each of the piercing protruding parts 34 and 35 is separated from the plate 21 on the upper side of the bottom plate 22.

The outer peripheral contact parts 36 to 38 are protruding parts that protrude from the upper surface 3A, and are brought into contact with the outer peripheral edge of the bottom plate 22. More specifically, the outer peripheral contact part 36 is arranged in the vicinity of the opening 221, and the outer peripheral contact parts 37 and 38 are arranged so as to sandwich the corner portion provided with the non-forming part 227.

The fixing parts 39 each are a through holes through which a fixing member such as a bolt is inserted, so as to be fixed to the mounting target apparatus. The base member 3 is formed into a square plate shape, and is turned by 45° about a Z directional axis with respect to the plate part 22A, so that the fixing parts 39 are arranged at positions corresponding to the center portions of respective sides of the plate part 22A.

In the above-described oil cooler 1, when the heat exchanger main body 2 and the base member 3 are assembled, the piercing protruding parts 34 and 35 inserted through the through holes 224 and 225 form the plurality of protruding parts 226A and embossed parts 226 on the bottom plate 22. When the embossed parts 226 are formed, the coolant advances while appropriately spreading in the flow path between the bottom plate 22 and the plate 21 on the upper side, to thereby improve the heat exchange performance.

In the oil cooler 1 of the present embodiment, one opening 221 for coolant is formed in the bottom plate 22, and the two openings 222 and 223 for hydraulic oil are formed, and therefore in the heat exchanger main body 2, the coolant flows only toward one side in the Z direction and the hydraulic oil flows to reciprocate in the Z direction. The flow ways of such fluids are not limited to particular ways, and the appropriate number of openings may be provided according to the flow way.

Here, a method of manufacturing the oil cooler 1 will be described.

A brazing material is provided in a surface of each component forming the oil cooler 1. Here, the brazing material may be provided only in a portion which is in contact with another component. The plurality of plates 21 are layered to form the heat exchanger main body 2, and the heat exchanger main body 2 is placed on the base member 3.

The brazing material is melt by applying pressure and heat to the assembly obtained by thus assembling the heat exchanger main body 2 and the base member 3, and portions which are in contact with each other are joined to each other. In particular, the upper surface 3A of the base member 3 and the lower surface 22D of the bottom plate 22 are joined to each other, the tapered parts of the plates 21 are joined to each other, the flange parts around the openings through which the fluid passes are joined to the lower surface 21A of the plate 21, and the tip portions of the protruding parts 226A are joined to the lower surface 21 A.

When the oil cooler 1 is manufactured as described above, the heat exchanger main body 2 and the base member 3 are positioned as follows. That is, when the piercing protruding parts 34 and 35 are inserted through the through holes 224 and 224, the relative position in the XY plane is determined, and when the outer peripheral contact parts 36 to 38 are brought into contact with the outer peripheral edge of the bottom plate 22, the relative position in the XY plane is determined. That is, in the base member 3 and the heat exchanger main body 2, positioning parts which enable contact between the base member 3 and the heat exchanger main body 2 are provided at a total of five positions of the piercing protruding parts 34 and 35 and the through holes 224 and 224, and the outer peripheral contact parts 36 to 38, to restrict relative movement between the base member 3 and the heat exchanger main body 2 in the XY plane.

At this time, since a slight manufacturing error in dimension of each component of the heat exchanger main body 2 and the base member 3 may occur, a slight likelihood is set between the outer diameter of the piercing protruding parts 34 and 35 and the inner diameter of the through holes 224 and 224, and a slight likelihood is set between the outer dimension of the bottom plate 22 and the inner dimension of the outer peripheral contact parts 36 to 38. Such likelihoods may cause slight translatory relative movement in the XY plane between the heat exchanger main body 2 and the base member 3. However, since the piercing protruding parts 34 and 35 and the through holes 224 and 225 function as the positioning parts, the relative rotation about the axis along the Z direction can be easily restricted.

In the bottom plate 22, the through holes 224 and 225 do not have two rotation symmetry about the Z direction with respect to the plate center portion (intersection point of diagonal lines of the square). That is, when the through hole 224 is virtually rotated by 180° about this plate center portion, the through hole 224 is not aligned with the through hole 225. Similarly, the piercing protruding parts 34 and 35 do not have two rotation symmetry about the Z direction with respect to a position to be aligned with the plate center portion. Thus, even when the bottom plate 22 is rotated by 180° about the Z direction as the center from the original mounted orientation to be aligned with the base member 3, the piercing protruding parts 34 and 35 cannot be inserted through the through holes 224 and 225. That is, the rotation asymmetries between the through holes 224 and 225 and between the piercing protruding parts 34 and 35 enable the above-described positioning as well as can prevent wrong assembly. [0042] Thus, according to the oil cooler 1 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, the piercing protruding parts 34 and 35 of the base member 3 and the through holes 224 and 225 of the bottom plate 22 function as the positioning parts for restricting the relative movement between the base member 3 and the heat exchanger main body 2, which enables the positioning in the XY plane. This makes it possible to easily restrict movement such as relative rotation about the axis along the Z direction between the heat exchanger main body 2 and the base member 3, whereby the positioning performance can be improved. At this time, since the piercing protruding parts 34 and 35 are inserted through the through holes 224 and 225 and form the plurality of protruding parts 226A and the embossed parts 226 on the bottom plate 22, it is possible to easily obtain the same fluid flow as that in the configuration in which the embossed parts are formed only by the protruding parts. This can obtain the heat exchange performance.

Since the base member 3 includes the outer peripheral contact parts 36 to 38 which are brought into contact with the outer peripheral edge of the bottom plate 22, the positioning performance can be further improved by combining the positioning by the piercing protruding parts 34 and 35 and the through holes 224 and 225 and the positioning by the outer peripheral contact parts 36 to 38.

Since the protruding dimension of each of the piercing protruding parts 34 and 35 from the upper surface 22C is smaller than the protruding dimension of each of the plurality of protruding parts 226A, the piercing protruding parts 34 and 35 are scarcely brought into contact with the plate 21 on the upper side of the bottom plate 22, and it is possible to suppress an influence of the piercing protruding parts 34 and 35 on the alignment between the plates 21.

It is noted that the present disclosure is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, but the disclosure includes other configurations which can achieve the object of the present disclosure, and the following modifications are also included in the present disclosure. For example, in the above-mentioned embodiment of the present disclosure, the protruding dimension of each of the piercing protruding parts 34 and 35 from the upper surface 22C is smaller than the protruding dimension of each of the protruding parts 226A, but may be equal to the protruding dimension of each of the protruding parts 226A. In this case, when as in the above-mentioned embodiment, the plate 21 on the upper side of the bottom plate 22 is formed of a cladding material and the brazing-material layer is provided on the lower surface 21A, the piercing protruding parts 34 and 35 may be brazed to the lower surface 21A of the plate 21 on the upper side of the bottom plate 22. According to such a configuration, the joining strength between the base member 3 and the heat exchanger main body 2 can be enhanced.

In the above-mentioned embodiment of the present disclosure, the outer peripheral contact parts 336 to 338 are provided as positioning parts, but only the piercing protruding parts and the through holes may be provided as positioning parts. At this time, it is only required that two or more pairs of piercing protruding parts and two or more pairs of through holes are provided.

In the above-mentioned embodiment of the present disclosure, the positioning parts are provided at a total of five positions, but it is only required that the positioning parts are provided at at least two positions and include the piercing protruding parts and the through holes, and for example, a configuration may be adopted in which a pair of piercing protruding parts and a pair of through holes, and one outer peripheral contact part are provided. In this way, the number of positioning parts and the details thereof may be set appropriately.

Although the embodiment of the present disclosure has been described, the present disclosure is not limited to the oil cooler according to the above-mentioned embodiment, and any mode which falls within the concept and Claims of the present disclosure. Further, the configurations may be selectively combined as desired to solve or provide at least part of the above-described problems or effects. For example, the shape, the material, the arrangement, the size and the like of each component in the above-mentioned embodiment may be suitably changed depending on a specific use mode of the present disclosure.

Various examples/embodiments are described herein for various apparatuses, systems, and/or methods. Numerous specific details are set forth to provide a thorough understanding of the overall structure, function, manufacture, and use of the examples/embodiments as described in the specification and illustrated in the accompanying drawings. It will be understood by those skilled in the art, however, that the examples/embodiments may be practiced without such specific details. In other instances, well-known operations, components, and elements have not been described in detail so as not to obscure the examples/embodiments described in the specification. Those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that the examples/embodiments described and illustrated herein are non-limiting examples, and thus it can be appreciated that the specific structural and functional details disclosed herein may be representative and do not necessarily limit the scope of the embodiments.

Reference throughout the specification to “examples, “in examples,” “with examples,” “various embodiments,” “with embodiments,” “in embodiments,” or “an embodiment,” or the like, means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the example/embodiment is included in at least one embodiment. Thus, appearances of the phrases “examples, “in examples,” “with examples,” “in various embodiments,” “with embodiments,” “in embodiments,” or “an embodiment,” or the like, in places throughout the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more examples/embodiments. Thus, the particular features, structures, or characteristics illustrated or described in connection with one embodiment/example may be combined, in whole or in part, with the features, structures, functions, and/or characteristics of one or more other embodiments/examples without limitation given that such combination is not illogical or non-functional. Moreover, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the teachings of the present disclosure without departing from the scope thereof.

It should be understood that references to a single element are not necessarily so limited and may include one or more of such element. Any directional references (e.g., plus, minus, upper, lower, upward, downward, left, right, leftward, rightward, top, bottom, above, below, vertical, horizontal, clockwise, and counterclockwise) are only used for identification purposes to aid the reader's understanding of the present disclosure, and do not create limitations, particularly as to the position, orientation, or use of examples/embodiments.

“One or more” includes a function being performed by one element, a function being performed by more than one element, e.g., in a distributed fashion, several functions being performed by one element, several functions being performed by several elements, or any combination of the above.

It will also be understood that, although the terms first, second, etc. are, in some instances, used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another. For example, a first element could be termed a second element, and, similarly, a second element could be termed a first element, without departing from the scope of the various described embodiments. The first element and the second element are both elements, but they are not the same element.

The terminology used in the description of the various described embodiments herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting. As used in the description of the various described embodiments and the appended claims, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will also be understood that the phrase at least one of successive elements separated by the word “and” (e.g., “at least one of A and B”) is to be interpreted the same as the term “and/or” and as used herein refers to and encompasses any and all possible combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. It will be further understood that the terms “includes,” “including,” “comprises,” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

Joinder references (e.g., attached, coupled, connected, and the like) are to be construed broadly and may include intermediate members between a connection of elements, relative movement between elements, direct connections, indirect connections, fixed connections, movable connections, operative connections, indirect contact, and/or direct contact. As such, joinder references do not necessarily imply that two elements are directly connected/coupled and in fixed relation to each other. Connections of electrical components, if any, may include mechanical connections, electrical connections, wired connections, and/or wireless connections, among others. Uses of “e.g.” and “such as” in the specification are to be construed broadly and are used to provide non-limiting examples of embodiments of the disclosure, and the disclosure is not limited to such examples.

While processes, systems, and methods may be described herein in connection with one or more steps in a particular sequence, it should be understood that such methods may be practiced with the steps in a different order, with certain steps performed simultaneously, with additional steps, and/or with certain described steps omitted.

As used herein, the term “if” is, optionally, construed to mean “when” or “upon” or “in response to determining” or “in response to detecting,” depending on the context. Similarly, the phrase “if it is determined” or “if [a stated condition or event] is detected” is, optionally, construed to mean “upon determining” or “in response to determining” or “upon detecting [the stated condition or event]” or “in response to detecting [the stated condition or event],” depending on the context. All matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative only and not limiting. Changes in detail or structure may be made without departing from the present disclosure.