JP2007064540A - Geothermal heat pump type water heater - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the size and cost of a body unit by making an arrangement inside the body unit suitable for a geothermal heat pump type water heater. <P>SOLUTION: The geothermal heat pump type water heater has at least a compressor 2, a water refrigerant heat exchanger 3 and a brine refrigerant heat exchanger 5, all housed in the same casing 1a. The compressor 2 is disposed within a space that connects the plane of the water refrigerant heat exchanger 3 with the plane of the brine refrigerant heat exchanger 5 disposed oppositely to the water refrigerant heat exchanger. In this way, the compressor 2 is sandwiched by the heat exchangers 3, 5 both of which have no penetrating parts from front to back, whereby the heat exchangers serve as sound insulation walls to insulate the operating sound of the compressor 2, i.e., a source of sound, to reduce noise during operation. Thus, the need for a partition plate S previously used and sound insulators for each component can be eliminated and the body unit 1a can be reduced in size and cost. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a geothermal heat pump water heater that uses hot water for hot water supply using a refrigerant compression refrigeration cycle and uses geothermal heat to absorb heat to the refrigerant, and more particularly to a sound insulation structure of a compressor.

  FIG. 6 is a plan view of a conventional heat pump hot water supply body unit 1a. The structure shows that the compressor chamber C in which the compressor 2, the refrigerant circuit parts 3, 4, 6 and the hot water supply circuit parts 7, the electric circuit parts (not shown) and the like are housed, the air refrigerant heat exchanger 50 and its heat exchange. A heat exchanger chamber HE in which a fan & motor 51 that blows outside air is stored in the chamber 50 is divided by a partition plate S for partitioning a ventilation portion. In recent years, there is a heat pump type water heater that uses underground geothermal heat to absorb heat into the refrigerant. And in the main body unit of these heat pump type water heaters, noise during operation is reduced by insulating sound generated for each part.

  However, the main unit of the conventional heat pump type hot water heater has a problem that the sound insulation material and the like are attached to the respective parts, so that the unit becomes large and the cost increases. The present invention has been made in view of the above-described conventional problems, and its purpose is to reduce the size and cost of the main unit as an arrangement in the main unit suitable for a heat pump type water heater using geothermal heat. An object of the present invention is to provide a geothermal heat pump type hot water heater that can be used.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention employs technical means described in claims 1 to 5. That is, in the invention described in claim 1, the compressor (2) for compressing the refrigerant, the refrigerant passage (3a) of the water refrigerant heat exchanger (3), the decompression means (4), and the brine refrigerant heat exchanger (5) A refrigerant circuit (R) in which the refrigerant passage (5a) is annularly connected by refrigerant piping;
A hot water passage (3b) of the water-refrigerant heat exchanger (3), a hot water storage tank (8) for storing hot water from the hot water storage side, and a hot water supply circuit (K) in which a water circulation pump (7) is annularly connected by hot water piping. ,
A brine circuit in which a brine passage (5b) of the brine refrigerant heat exchanger (5), a brine circulation pump (10), and a geothermal heat exchanger (11) for absorbing the geothermal heat in the ground are connected in an annular manner by a brine pipe. (B)
A geothermal heat pump type water heater that operates hot water passing through the hot water passage (3b) by a high-temperature refrigerant passing through the refrigerant passage (3a) by operating the compressor (2) and both circulation pumps (7, 10). ,
At least the compressor (2), the water refrigerant heat exchanger (3), and the brine refrigerant heat exchanger (5) are housed in the same casing (1a), and the plane of the water refrigerant heat exchanger (3); The compressor (2) is disposed in a space between the brine refrigerant heat exchanger (5) and the plane of the brine refrigerant heat exchanger (5) disposed so as to oppose it.

  Since this is geothermal use, both the heat release side and the heat supply side of the refrigeration cycle become a heat exchanger between the refrigerant and water or brine water, and air exchange is not necessary like heat exchange with air. Thus, a plurality of heat exchangers having no penetrating part are formed. As a result, there is no sound exchanged by the first sound source (ventilation) by eliminating heat exchange while blowing.

  In addition, the compressor (2) is sandwiched between heat exchangers that do not penetrate through the front and back, so that the heat exchanger acts as a sound insulation wall and the operation sound of the compressor (2) as the second sound source is cut off. Noise at the time can be reduced. In addition, if the circulation pumps (7, 10) are built in the main unit (1a), a similar sound insulation effect can be obtained for the operation sound of the circulation pumps (7, 10), if not completely. It is done.

  Furthermore, the same sound insulation effect can be obtained with respect to the refrigerant passing sound generated when the refrigerant passes through the pipe during the heat pump cycle operation. Therefore, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the partition plate S and the sound insulation material of each component that have been conventionally configured can be eliminated, the main unit (1a) can be reduced in size, and the cost can be reduced. Can be suppressed.

  Moreover, in invention of Claim 2, in the heat pump type water heater using geothermal heat of Claim 1, the water refrigerant heat exchanger (3) and the brine refrigerant heat exchanger (5) are manufactured in a plate shape. It is a feature. According to the second aspect of the present invention, both heat exchangers (3, 5) can be used as a sound insulation wall.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the geothermal heat pump water heater according to the first or second aspect, the water refrigerant heat exchanger (3) and the brine refrigerant heat exchanger (5) include a housing. It is characterized by being arranged in the front-rear direction of (1a). According to the third aspect of the present invention, the operation sound of the compressor (2) can be effectively blocked from being emitted in the front-rear direction.

  Moreover, in invention of Claim 4, in the geothermal heat pump water heater of any one of Claims 1 thru | or 3, a water refrigerant | coolant heat exchanger (3) and a brine refrigerant | coolant heat exchanger ( The outer surface of 5) is covered with a heat insulating member (25). According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, by covering the heat exchangers (3, 5) with a heat insulating member (25) such as a foam material, the heat insulating member (25) can be used as a sound absorbing material. It is possible to improve the performance by reducing the cost and noise.

  Moreover, in invention of Claim 5, in the heat pump type water heater using geothermal heat described in any one of Claims 1 to 4, a water refrigerant heat exchanger (3), a brine refrigerant heat exchanger ( Any one of 5) or both are divided into a plurality of parts, and these are arranged so as to surround the compressor (2).

  According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, by arranging the divided heat exchangers (3, 5) also in the left-right direction of the compressor (2), the both heat exchangers arranged in the front-rear direction. The operation sound of the compressor (2) reflected by (3, 5) can be effectively blocked from being emitted in the left-right direction. Incidentally, the reference numerals in parentheses of the above means are examples showing the correspondence with the specific means described in the embodiments described later.

(First embodiment)
A first embodiment (corresponding to claims 1 to 4) of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a geothermal heat pump water heater (hereinafter abbreviated as a water heater) 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a diagram of a water-refrigerant heat exchanger 3 in FIG. It is a front view which shows an example. 3 is a bottom view of the water-refrigerant heat exchanger 3 of FIG. 2, and FIG. 4 is a plan view of the main unit 1a of the water heater in the first embodiment of the present invention.

  The water heater 1 is roughly divided into a main unit 1a and a hot water storage tank unit 1b. The main unit 1a includes a compressor (compressor) 2 for compressing the refrigerant, a refrigerant passage 3a for the water refrigerant heat exchanger 3, an electric expansion valve 4 as decompression means, and a refrigerant passage 5a for the brine refrigerant heat exchanger 5. A refrigerant circuit R is formed by connecting the refrigerant pipes in an annular shape.

  In the present embodiment, the refrigerant evaporated in the brine refrigerant heat exchanger 5 is gas-liquid separated on the downstream side of the brine refrigerant heat exchanger 5 to store surplus refrigerant in the cycle, and only the gas refrigerant is sucked into the compressor 2. An accumulator 6 is provided for this purpose. The hot water passage 3b, the water circulation pump 7, and the hot water storage tank 8 of the water refrigerant heat exchanger 3 are connected in a ring shape with hot water piping to form a hot water supply circuit K.

  Further, as one of the features of the present embodiment, the brine passage 5b of the brine refrigerant heat exchanger 5, the brine circulation pump 10, and the underground heat exchanger 11 for absorbing the geothermal heat in the ground are annularly formed by brine piping. A brine circuit B is connected. In addition, the underground heat exchanger 11 puts a U pipe in the borehole BH dug to about 10-100 m in the ground. Ethylene glycol is used as the circulating brine. Further, in the present embodiment, an expansion tank 9 is disposed on the downstream side of the brine refrigerant heat exchanger 5 as a liquid reservoir that absorbs a volume change due to the temperature of the brine.

  And the control apparatus as a control means (not shown) which controls the compressor 2, the electric expansion valve 4, the water circulation pump 7, and the brine circulation pump 10 is provided. The control device controls the compressor 2, the electric expansion valve 4, the water circulation pump 7, and the brine circulation pump 10 to perform the heat pump operation, the high-temperature refrigerant passing through the refrigerant passage 3 a of the water-refrigerant heat exchanger 3, and hot water The hot water is heated by exchanging heat with the hot water passing through the passage 3b.

The compressor 2 is an electric compressor that is driven by an electric motor (not shown), and compresses and discharges the sucked gas refrigerant to a critical pressure or higher. In this embodiment, since carbon dioxide (CO ₂ ) refrigerant having a low critical pressure is used as the refrigerant, the compressor 2 is operated so that the high-pressure refrigerant pressure on the discharge side exceeds the critical point of the refrigerant. Yes. For this reason, since the refrigerant on the outlet side of the water refrigerant heat exchanger 3 is in a supercritical state, the refrigerant changes into any phase region depending on the state of heat exchange. In addition, the refrigerant | coolant discharge amount of the compressor 2 can be changed according to the rotation speed of an electric motor.

  The water-refrigerant heat exchanger 3 exchanges heat between the high-temperature and high-pressure gas refrigerant compressed by the compressor 2 and hot water supply water, and the refrigerant passage 3a through which the refrigerant passes and the hot-water passage 3b through which the hot water passes are adjacent to each other. The refrigerant flow direction is opposite to the hot water flow direction.

  More specifically, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a thin rectangular box is formed by joining two upper and lower plates (upper plate 21 and lower plate 22) obtained by drawing a copper plate into a shallow container shape and joining the peripheral edges thereof. The body 3b is formed, the inlet 23 is opened at the peripheral edge of the box, the outlet 24 is opened at the opposite side, and the hot water passage 3b from the inlet 23 to the outlet 24 is formed.

  A corrugated plate (not shown) in which a copper plate is corrugated is accommodated in the box 3b. This corrugated plate has a flat shape with a flat top and bottom folded surface (mountain surface and trough surface) and a rectangular wave with a continuous cross section. The outer shape (length × width × height) is adapted to the inner size of the box 3b. The corrugated plate is housed in the box 3b, and the upper and lower folded surfaces are joined to the upper and lower plates 21 and 22, respectively.

  The refrigerant passage 3a is formed by spirally winding two copper thin tubes 3a juxtaposed in parallel on the outer periphery of the box 3b, and the thin tubes 3a are joined to both flat surfaces (front side and back side) of the box 3b. Has been. And the further outer peripheral side of the thin tube 3a wound around the outer periphery of the box 3b is covered with a heat insulating member 25 such as a foam material.

  The water-refrigerant heat exchanger 3 houses a corrugated plate, abuts flanges formed on the peripheral edges of the upper and lower plates 21 and 22 to temporarily assemble the box 3b, winds the thin tube 3a around the box 3b, A brazing material is placed on the joint surface and assembled with a predetermined jig. This assembly is put into a heating furnace, brazed, and manufactured in a single process in a batch.

  In the water-refrigerant heat exchanger 3 configured as described above, the water flowing into the box 3b from the inlet 23 flows through the water passage, and the high-temperature / high-pressure refrigerant passes through the narrow tube 3a spirally wound around the box 3b. Circulates, heat exchange is performed via both flat surfaces of the box 3b, the wall surface of the corrugated plate functions as a heat transfer fin, water is heated, and hot water is discharged from the outlet 24. In addition, the specific structure of the water refrigerant heat exchanger 3 described above is an example, and the present invention is not limited to this structure.

  The expansion valve 4 is provided in a refrigerant circuit that connects between the refrigerant passage 3 a of the water refrigerant heat exchanger 3 and the refrigerant passage 5 a of the brine refrigerant heat exchanger 5, and the refrigerant passage of the water refrigerant heat exchanger 3. The refrigerant that has passed through 3a and is cooled is reduced in pressure when passing through the expansion valve 4 and is sent to the refrigerant passage 5a of the brine refrigerant heat exchanger 5. The expansion valve 4 is an electric expansion valve that can variably control the valve opening degree according to the output from the control device.

  The brine refrigerant heat exchanger 5 evaporates the refrigerant by exchanging heat between the brine that has absorbed the geothermal heat in the ground with the underground heat exchanger 11 and the refrigerant that has been decompressed by the expansion valve 4, and the refrigerant passes through it. The refrigerant passage 5a and the brine passage 5b through which the brine passes are provided adjacent to each other, and the refrigerant flow direction and the brine flow direction are opposed to each other. The specific structure is exactly the same as that of the water refrigerant heat exchanger 3 described above. The brine circulation pump 10 for circulating the brine is also driven and controlled by the output from the control device.

  The water circulation pump 7 generates a water flow in which the hot water in the hot water storage tank 8 returns from the bottom outlet 8 a to the hot water storage tank 8 through the hot water passage 3 b of the water refrigerant heat exchanger 3 and from the upper inlet 8 b. The control device controls the rotation speed of the water circulation pump 7 by controlling the amount of power supplied to a pump motor (not shown), and circulates the hot water supply circuit K so that the boiling temperature detected by a boiling temperature sensor (not shown) becomes the target hot water temperature. Adjust the flow rate.

  The hot water storage tank 8 is formed of a metal (for example, stainless steel) having excellent corrosion resistance, and includes a heat insulating structure that can keep hot water for hot water supply for a long time. The hot water in the hot water storage tank 8 is used for kitchen, bath, floor heating, indoor heating, bathroom drying, and the like.

  Next, the main part of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. Inside the main body unit 1a, the compressor 2, the water refrigerant heat exchanger 3, the expansion valve 4, the accumulator 6, and the water circulation pump 7 are in the compressor chamber in the same manner as the main body unit 1a of the conventional heat pump water heater shown in FIG. I put it in the part that was C. The brine refrigerant heat exchanger 5 is disposed instead of the portion where the air refrigerant heat exchanger 50 is disposed, and the expansion tank 9 and the brine circulation pump 10 are accommodated in the portion which is the heat exchanger chamber HE. It is what I did.

  In addition, both the water refrigerant heat exchanger 3 and the brine refrigerant heat exchanger 5 are formed in a plate shape, and both the heat exchangers 3 and 5 are arranged so as to face each other in the front-rear direction of the unit 1a. The compressor 2 is disposed in the space between the planes of the exchangers 3 and 5. Moreover, since there is no ventilation part, the partition plate for the conventional space division is eliminated.

  Next, features and effects of this embodiment will be described. First, at least the compressor 2, the water refrigerant heat exchanger 3, and the brine refrigerant heat exchanger 5 are housed in the main unit 1 a of the same housing, and the plane of the water refrigerant heat exchanger 3 and the brine arranged to face the plane The compressor 2 is disposed in the space between the plane of the refrigerant heat exchanger 5 and the plane.

  Since this is geothermal use, both the heat release side and the heat supply side of the refrigeration cycle become a heat exchanger between the refrigerant and water or brine water, and air exchange is not necessary like heat exchange with air. Thus, the heat exchangers 3 and 5 having no penetrating portion are used. As a result, there is no sound exchanged by the first sound source (ventilation) by eliminating heat exchange while blowing.

  In addition, when the compressor 2 is sandwiched between the heat exchangers 3 and 5 that do not penetrate through the front and back surfaces, the heat exchangers 3 and 5 serve as sound insulation walls, and the operation sound of the compressor 2 that is the second sound source is insulated. Noise at the time can be reduced. Further, since the circulation pumps 7 and 10 are built in the main unit 1a, the same sound insulation effect can be obtained for the operation sound of the circulation pumps 7 and 10 if not completely.

  Furthermore, the same sound insulation effect can be obtained with respect to the refrigerant passing sound generated when the refrigerant passes through the pipe during the heat pump cycle operation. From these things, the partition board S currently comprised conventionally, the sound-insulating material of each component, etc. can be eliminated, and the main body unit 1a can be reduced in size and the cost can be suppressed.

  Further, the water refrigerant heat exchanger 3 and the brine refrigerant heat exchanger 5 are manufactured in a plate shape. According to this, it becomes possible to use both the heat exchangers 3 and 5 as a sound insulation wall. The water refrigerant heat exchanger 3 and the brine refrigerant heat exchanger 5 are arranged in the front-rear direction of the housing 1a of the main unit. According to this, it is possible to effectively block the operation sound of the compressor 2 from being emitted in the front-rear direction.

  Further, the outer surfaces of the water refrigerant heat exchanger 3 and the brine refrigerant heat exchanger 5 are covered with a heat insulating member 25. According to this, by covering both heat exchangers 3 and 5 with a heat insulating member 25 such as a foam material, it is possible to use this heat insulating member 25 as a sound absorbing material, and the performance is improved while suppressing cost and noise. Can be made.

(Second Embodiment)
FIG. 5 is a plan structural view of the main unit 1a of the geothermal heat pump water heater 1 according to the second embodiment (corresponding to claim 5) of the present invention. Features that are different from the first embodiment will be described. In this embodiment, one or both of the water refrigerant heat exchanger 3 and the brine refrigerant heat exchanger 5 are divided into a plurality of parts, and these are arranged so as to surround the compressor 2.

  According to this, the divided heat exchangers 31, 32, 51, 52 are also arranged in the left-right direction of the compressor 2, so that the compressor reflected by the heat exchangers 3, 5 arranged in the front-rear direction. It is possible to effectively block the operation sound 2 from being radiated in the left-right direction.

(Other embodiments)
In the above-described embodiment, a hot water storage type hot water heater is used. However, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and may be applied to a non-hot water storage type water heater. You may apply to the heat pump type heating (drying) apparatus which connected the panel heater, the floor heating panel, etc., and may apply to the heat pump type heating apparatus which heats a fluid by other uses.

  Moreover, in the above-mentioned Example, although the water circulation pump 7 is incorporated in the water heater main body unit 1a, you may comprise this pump 7 in the tank unit 1b side. The brine circulation pump 10 and the expansion tank 9 may be provided outside the main unit 1a. Conversely, an internal heat exchanger for exchanging heat between the low-temperature refrigerant sucked into the compressor 2 and the high-temperature refrigerant flowing out of the water refrigerant heat exchanger 3 may be configured in the main unit 1a. In the above-described embodiment, an electric expansion valve is used as the pressure reducing means. However, other pressure reducing means such as a mechanical temperature expansion valve, a capillary tube, and an ejector may be used.

It is a schematic diagram which shows the structure of the geothermal utilization heat pump type water heater 1 concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a front view which shows an example of the water refrigerant | coolant heat exchanger 3 in FIG. It is a bottom view of the water-refrigerant heat exchanger 3 of FIG. It is a top view of the main unit 1a of the geothermal heat pump type water heater 1 in the first embodiment of the present invention. It is a top view of the main unit 1a of the geothermal heat pump water heater 1 according to the second embodiment of the present invention. It is a top view of the main unit 1a of the conventional heat pump type water heater.

Explanation of symbols

1a: Water heater body unit (housing)
2 ... Compressor
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 3 ... Water refrigerant | coolant heat exchanger 3a ... Refrigerant channel | path, copper thin tube 3b ... Hot water channel | path, box 4 ... Electric expansion valve (pressure reduction means)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 5 ... Brine refrigerant heat exchanger 5a ... Refrigerant passage 5b ... Brine passage 7 ... Water circulation pump 8 ... Hot water storage tank 10 ... Brine circulation pump 11 ... Underground heat exchanger 25 ... Thermal insulation member B ... Brine circuit K ... Hot water supply circuit R ... Refrigerant circuit

Claims (5)

A refrigerant pipe is provided for the compressor (2) for compressing the refrigerant, the refrigerant passage (3a) of the water refrigerant heat exchanger (3), the decompression means (4), and the refrigerant passage (5a) of the brine refrigerant heat exchanger (5). An annularly connected refrigerant circuit (R);
Hot water passage (3b) of the water-refrigerant heat exchanger (3), a hot water storage tank (8) for storing hot water from the hot water storage side, and a hot water supply circuit (K) in which a water circulation pump (7) is annularly connected by hot water piping. When,
Brine in which a brine passage (5b) of the brine refrigerant heat exchanger (5), a brine circulation pump (10), and a geothermal heat exchanger (11) for absorbing geothermal heat in the ground are connected in a ring shape with a brine pipe. A circuit (B),
The geothermal heat pump type heats the hot water passing through the hot water passage (3b) by the high-temperature refrigerant passing through the refrigerant passage (3a) by operating the compressor (2) and the circulation pumps (7, 10). A water heater,
At least the compressor (2), the water refrigerant heat exchanger (3), and the brine refrigerant heat exchanger (5) are housed in the same housing (1a), and the water refrigerant heat exchanger (3). And the compressor (2) is disposed in a space between the plane of the brine refrigerant heat exchanger (5) and the plane of the brine refrigerant heat exchanger (5) disposed to face each other. vessel.   The geothermal heat pump water heater according to claim 1, wherein the water refrigerant heat exchanger (3) and the brine refrigerant heat exchanger (5) are manufactured in a plate shape.   The geothermal utilization according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the water refrigerant heat exchanger (3) and the brine refrigerant heat exchanger (5) are arranged in the front-rear direction of the casing (1a). Heat pump water heater.   The outer surface of the water refrigerant heat exchanger (3) and the brine refrigerant heat exchanger (5) is covered with a heat insulating member (25), according to any one of claims 1 to 3. Heat pump type water heater using geothermal heat.   One of the water refrigerant heat exchanger (3) and the brine refrigerant heat exchanger (5), or both, is divided into a plurality of parts and arranged so as to surround the compressor (2). The geothermal heat pump type water heater according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

Images