JP2013015295A - Cooling device and air conditioner with same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an air conditioner that exchanges heat between air within a control box in which a control component of the air conditioner is housed, and a refrigerant to cool the control component, and that prevents the control component from getting wet with dew condensation water to prevent deterioration of an operational efficiency.SOLUTION: In the air conditioner, an outdoor unit includes: a compressor 12; an outdoor heat exchanger 14; an outdoor fan; the control box 32 for controlling the operation of the air conditioner; and the control component 30 housed in the control device 32. The control box 30 includes therein: a cooling unit 34 for cooling the air within the control box 30 by exchanging heat with the refrigerant; and a fin structure 42 for dissipating the heat emitted from a control substrate to the outside of the control box 30.

Description

  The present invention relates to a cooling device for cooling control parts of an air conditioner and an air conditioner including the same.

  Conventionally, in an air conditioner having a compressor, an outdoor heat exchanger, a pressure reducing device, an indoor heat exchanger, and a pipe through which refrigerant flows by connecting them, a control component such as a control board is made of, for example, dust or water It is housed in a control box that can be protected.

  When the control component is accommodated in the control box, it is necessary to consider cooling of the control component in order to ensure stable operation of the control component. For example, in an air conditioner described in Patent Document 1, a control component (a substrate including a heating element) is accommodated in a control box (electric component box), and a cooling member (heat sink) that cools air in the electric component box is provided. It is provided in the electrical component box.

  Specifically, the air conditioner described in Patent Document 1 indirectly cools the heat generating element with a heat sink by utilizing natural convection. In the electrical component box, the heat sink is located above the heat generating element, and the air cooled by the heat sink falls toward the heat generating element. On the other hand, the air heated by the heating element rises toward the heat sink. As a result, natural convection is generated in the electrical component box, and the heat generating element is indirectly cooled by the heat sink located above it.

  In addition, this type of outdoor unit of an air conditioner has a partition plate that is divided into an air passage and a machine room inside, and an outdoor heat exchanger and an outdoor fan are compressed in the space on the divided air passage side, and compressed in the machine room side. In general, the control box is placed on the upper part of the partition plate so as to straddle the air passage and the machine room. Especially, the control part with a large amount of heat generation is used as a heat sink in the control box. It arrange | positions so that it may contact, arrange | positions so that the fin of a heat sink may protrude to the air path side, and it is comprised so that a heat sink may be cooled with the wind which generate | occur | produces with an outdoor fan. (For example, refer to Patent Document 2).

JP 2010-2120 A Japanese Patent No. 3535843

  However, in the case of the air conditioner described in Patent Document 1, since the heat sink is located above the heat generating element, dew condensation water is generated on the surface of the heat sink depending on the use environment, and the dew condensation water is dripped so that the heat generating element is removed. There is a possibility that the heating element may get wet, and the control box is in a closed space. The heat generated from the heating element is indirectly cooled by the cooling member via the air. It is necessary to cover all the amount of heat generated from the element by the cooling capacity of the cooling member. If there are control parts that generate a large amount of heat, it may be necessary to increase the size of the cooling member or reduce the cooling capacity of the air conditioner. In the case of using a part, there has been a problem of reducing the operation efficiency of the air conditioner.

In addition, there are cases where the control components housed in the control box include components that have excellent heat resistance and operate normally even at high temperatures, and components with low heat resistance that significantly impair reliability at high temperatures.

  In such a state, in the configuration in which the cooling member indirectly cools through air, it is necessary to keep the air temperature in the control box at a low temperature according to the parts having low heat resistance. This leads to an increase in size and a decrease in the operating efficiency of the air conditioner.

  Accordingly, the present invention accommodates and protects the control parts of the air conditioner in the control box, cools them, suppresses the control parts from getting wet by the dew condensation water, has high reliability, and increases the size of the cooling member. It is an object of the present invention to provide a rational air conditioner that does not cause an increase in cost due to the above-described cost and a decrease in the operating efficiency of the air conditioner.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, according to the cooling device of the present invention, a control box that controls the operation of the compressor, the outdoor heat exchanger, the outdoor fan, and the air conditioner in the outdoor unit of the air conditioner and the control A control unit housed in the box, arranged in the control box, for cooling the air in the control box by heat exchange with the refrigerant, and heat generated from the control board to the outside of the control box A cooling device is provided that includes a fin structure that dissipates heat.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to prevent the control component from being wetted by the dew condensation water, and to provide high reliability, and it is possible to increase the cost by increasing the size of the heat sink and to reduce the operating efficiency of the air conditioner. A harmony machine can be provided.

Schematic configuration diagram of an air conditioner according to an embodiment of the present invention Schematic configuration diagram showing the inside of the control box shown in FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the cooling unit shown in FIG. The schematic block diagram which shows the inside of the control box of the air conditioner which concerns on another embodiment of this invention. 1 is a schematic perspective view of an air conditioner according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  The first invention includes a compressor, an outdoor heat exchanger, an outdoor fan, a control box for controlling the operation of the air conditioner, and a control component housed in the control box in the outdoor unit of the air conditioner, Since the control box includes a cooling unit that is disposed and cools the air in the control box by exchanging heat with the refrigerant, and a fin structure that radiates heat generated from the control board to the outside of the control box. The heat generated from the element is dissipated to the air outside the control box by the fin structure, while the parts with low heat generation but low heat resistance are cooled by the air inside the control box cooled by exchanging heat with the refrigerant in the cooling unit. Therefore, the cooling member is not enlarged more than necessary, and the operation efficiency of the air conditioner is not reduced.

  In the second invention, the control box is made of a material having good thermal conductivity, and one of the fin structures is mounted with the control component of the control box.

According to this configuration, it is made of a material with good thermal conductivity and is arranged so as to penetrate the control box, one of which is inside the control box and mounts a control component with a large amount of heat generation, and the other is outside the control box and The fin structure is located at the position where the wind hits.This prevents the control parts from getting wet by the dew condensation water generated on the surface of the cooling unit, generates a large amount of heat, and is relatively excellent in heat resistance. The heat generated from the heat generating element is dissipated to the air outside the control box by the fin structure, while the heat generated in the control box is cooled by exchanging heat with the refrigerant in the cooling unit while the heat generation amount is small but the heat resistance is low. Therefore, the size of the cooling member is not increased more than necessary, and the operation efficiency of the air conditioner is not reduced.

  In the cooling device of the third aspect of the invention, the cooling unit includes a control box pipe that is arranged in the control box and through which the refrigerant flows, and a fin structure that includes a plurality of fins and is attached to the control box pipe. Thereby, the heat exchange between the air in the control box and the refrigerant flowing through the piping in the control box is efficiently performed.

  In the cooling device of the fourth invention, the pipe in the control box of the cooling unit is a part of the pipe connecting the pressure reducing device and the indoor heat exchanger. By effectively using the piping connecting the decompression device and the indoor heat exchanger, it is not necessary to provide new piping only for cooling the air in the control box.

  The cooling device of 5th invention has the water receiving tray which receives dew condensation water under the cooling unit. Thereby, it can prevent that the component of the air conditioner located under a cooling unit gets wet with the dew condensation water which generate | occur | produced on the surface of the cooling unit.

  The cooling device of 6th invention has a heat insulating material which heat-insulates the interior space of a control box. Thereby, the movement of the heat from the outside into the control box is suppressed. As a result, the cooling effect of the control component by the cooling unit is improved as compared with the case where there is no heat insulating material.

  In the cooling device of the seventh invention, the heat insulating material is a vacuum heat insulating material. The heat transfer from the outside into the control box is further suppressed by the vacuum heat insulating material as compared with the heat insulating material. As a result, the cooling effect of the control component by the cooling unit is further improved.

  8th invention is an air conditioner provided with the cooling device of 1st-7th invention. Thereby, an air conditioner having high reliability can be realized.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited to the present embodiment.

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing a configuration of an air conditioner according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically showing the internal configuration of the control box according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the air conditioner 10 includes a compressor 12, an outdoor heat exchanger 14, a decompression device 16, an indoor heat exchanger 18, and refrigerant pipes 20 to 26 that connect them. As the decompression device 16, an expansion valve or a capillary tube that is a copper capillary tube can be employed. The air conditioner 10 is divided into an outdoor unit that houses the compressor 12, the outdoor heat exchanger 14, and the decompression device 16, and an indoor unit that houses the indoor heat exchanger 18.

  The air conditioner 10 performs a refrigeration cycle in which the refrigerant returns to the compressor 12 again via the refrigerant pipes 20 to 26 in order from the compressor 12 through the outdoor heat exchanger 14, the decompression device 16, and the indoor heat exchanger 18. It is configured to be realized.

In the refrigeration cycle, the refrigerant flows through the refrigerant pipe 20 toward the outdoor heat exchanger 14 in a gas phase after being compressed by the compressor 12. Next, the refrigerant is deprived of heat by heat exchange with outdoor air via the outdoor heat exchanger 14, enters a liquid phase state, and flows through the refrigerant pipe 22 toward the decompression device 16. Subsequently, the refrigerant is expanded by the decompression device 16 to reduce the pressure, and flows through the refrigerant pipe 24 toward the indoor heat exchanger 18. Then, the refrigerant takes heat from the indoor air via the indoor heat exchanger 18 to be in a gas phase, and flows through the refrigerant pipe 26 toward the compressor 12.

  In addition, the air conditioner 10 includes a control board (that is, a control component) 30 that controls the refrigeration cycle, and a control box 32 that protects the control board 30. The control box 32 is provided in the outdoor unit.

  The “control component” referred to in the present invention is a component used for controlling the air conditioner 10, for example, an electronic component that controls the output of the compressor 12 and the throttle amount of the expansion valve as the decompression device 16. Thus, it is not limited to a control board on which a plurality of electronic components are mounted, and refers to a component that needs to be cooled because it generates heat partially or entirely.

  The control board 30 is protected from, for example, dust or water by being accommodated in the control box 32. Therefore, the control box 32 is configured so that dust and water do not enter the inside thereof.

  For example, in the control box 32, a hole through which a cable (not shown) extending from the control board 30 to the outside of the control box 32 passes is sealed. Further, the control box 32 is preferably composed of a main body whose upper surface is open and a lid that covers the upper surface of the main body from the viewpoint of maintainability, and further, the space between the main body and the lid is also sealed. Is desirable. For such a seal, a sponge-like resin material such as an EPT sheet can be used.

  Since the control board 30 is housed in the control box 32, it needs cooling, but the control components mounted on the control board 30 and generating heat directly act on the output of the compressor 12 and are relatively heat resistant. There are excellent semiconductor devices 61 such as power transistors and diode bridges, and components such as electrolytic capacitors 62 whose reliability may be significantly lowered due to temperature rise.

  In a state where control parts having different heat generation amounts and heat resistances are arranged close to each other, the air temperature in the control box 32 is cooled below a limit temperature at which the reliability of the control parts having low heat resistance, for example, the electrolytic capacitor 62 is lowered. There is a need to. On the other hand, a control component with excellent heat resistance, for example, a semiconductor element 61 such as a power transistor or a diode bridge has a large calorific value, but on the other hand, the control component with low temperature resistance, for example, the limit of reducing the reliability of the electrolytic capacitor 62 is lowered. There is no need to reduce the temperature.

  That is, a semiconductor element 61 such as a power transistor or a diode bridge having relatively high heat resistance and a component such as an electrolytic capacitor 62 whose reliability may be remarkably lowered due to a temperature rise should be cooled by another method. Is desirable.

  For this purpose, a cooling unit 34 is provided in the control box 32 and is made of a material having good heat conductivity and is disposed so as to penetrate the control box. One of them is inside the control box 32 and generates a large amount of heat. While the control component is mounted, the other is also provided with a fin structure 42 arranged outside the control box and at a position where the wind hits. Specifically, similarly to the fin structure 36 of the cooling unit 34, the fin structure 42 is made of, for example, aluminum and includes a plurality of fins 42a. The fins 42 a of the fin structure 42 are configured to be exposed to the outside of the control box 32.

  Moreover, the fin 42a is provided so that it may be located in the lee of the fan 51 for discharging | emitting the air around the outdoor heat exchanger 14 to the exterior of an outdoor unit, as shown in FIG. Through such a fin structure 42, the control component such as the semiconductor element 61 mounted on the control board 30 and having a large heat generation amount is cooled by the fan 51 of the outdoor unit.

  The cooling unit 34 is configured to cool the air in the control box 32 by heat exchange with the refrigerant in the refrigeration cycle, and as shown in FIG. 2, the refrigerant pipe 24 and the fin structure attached to the refrigerant pipe 24. 36.

  Specifically, a part of the refrigerant pipe 24 passes through the control box 32 as shown in FIG. 1, and a plurality of plate-shaped fins 36a are provided on the refrigerant pipe 24 in the control box 32 as shown in FIG. A fin structure 36 is provided. The cooling unit 34 cools the air in the control box 32 by exchanging heat between the air in the control box 32 and the refrigerant flowing in the refrigerant pipe 24 via the fin structure 36. By such a cooling unit 34, the control board 30 is cooled via air.

  Note that the refrigerant pipe constituting the part of the cooling unit 34 is preferably the refrigerant pipe 24 connecting the decompression device 16 and the indoor heat exchanger 18. By effectively using the refrigerant pipe 24, it is not necessary to separately provide a pipe through which the refrigerant flows through the control box 32 just for cooling the air in the control box 32.

  Further, since the refrigerant pipe 24 is supplied with the refrigerant whose pressure has been reduced by the decompression device 16, the pressure acting and the generated vibration are small compared to the other refrigerant pipes 20, 22, and 26 shown in FIG. Therefore, the direction in which the refrigerant pipe 24 is arranged in the control box 32 can suppress vibration compared to the case where the other refrigerant pipes 20, 22, and 26 are arranged. As a result, it is possible to reduce the thickness of the piping disposed in the control box 32, which has a secondary merit that the material used can be reduced and the cost can be reduced. Furthermore, as another reason, since the refrigerant flowing through the refrigerant pipe 24 is originally at a low pressure, the influence of the pressure loss caused by passing through the control box 32 (by lengthening) may be small.

  As shown in FIG. 3, for example, the fin structure 36 of the cooling unit 34 is integrally formed of metal such as aluminum. A plurality of plate-shaped fins 36 a are provided on one surface of the main body portion 36 b of the fin structure 36 so as to be arranged in parallel with each other at equal intervals. Further, the fin structure 36 includes a plurality of grooves 36c that are engaged with a portion of the refrigerant pipe 24 formed in a meandering shape on the surface opposite to the surface on which the fins 36a are provided.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the plurality of grooves 36c of the fin structure 36 are formed so as to extend in a direction orthogonal to the parallel direction of the plurality of fins 36a. Thereby, the fin structure 36 can be produced by pultrusion molding or extrusion molding, and can be produced at a lower cost than other production methods (for example, cutting).

  Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the cooling unit 34 is disposed apart from the control board 30 and below the control board 30. This is to prevent the control board 30 from getting wet by the dew condensation water generated on the surface of the cooling unit 34 (specifically, the surface of the fin structure 36 and the surface of the refrigerant pipe 24). As shown in FIG. 4, the cooling unit 34 may be disposed at a position separated from the control board 30 and in the horizontal direction with respect to the control board 30.

It is preferable to provide a dish-shaped water receiving tray 38 for receiving the condensed water below the cooling unit 34 in case the condensed water generated on the surface of the cooling unit 34 drops. Thereby, it can prevent that the component of the air conditioner 10 located under the cooling unit 34 gets wet with dew condensation water.

  As shown in FIG. 2 (or FIG. 4), a drain pipe 40 for discharging condensed water in the water tray 38 to the outside of the control box 32 may be connected to the bottom of the water tray 38.

  Further, a fan 44 for forcibly stirring the air in the control box 32 may be provided in the control box 32. The fan 44 agitates the air in the control box 32 to make the temperature distribution in the control box 32 uniform and increase the cooling efficiency of the control board 30.

  The fan 44 can also suppress the generation of condensed water on the surface of the cooling unit 34 by forcibly stirring the air in the control box 32. More specifically, since the air around the cooling unit 34 is moved by the fan 44, the condensed water is less likely to be generated on the surface of the cooling unit 34 than when the fan 44 is not present, and the condensed water is generated. It is difficult to grow greatly.

  The fan 44 is preferably arranged so as to blow air toward the fin structure 36 of the cooling unit 34 as shown in FIG. 2 (or FIG. 4). When the fan 44 blows air toward the fin structure 36, the air cooled by the cooling unit 34 is diffused throughout the control box 32. In addition, the flow of air around the cooling unit 34 becomes faster, and the condensed water is less likely to be generated on the surface of the cooling unit 34.

  Furthermore, in order to suppress the movement of heat from the outside to the inside of the control box 32, the internal space of the control box 32 is preferably insulated by a heat insulating material 46. The heat insulating material 46 is provided on the outer surface of the control box 32 as shown in FIG. With this heat insulating material 46, the cooling effect on the control board 30 by the cooling unit 34 is improved as compared to the case without the heat insulating material 46. The heat insulating material 46 is preferably provided on the outer surface of the control box 32 from the viewpoint of effective use of the space in the control box 32, but may be provided on the inner surface of the control box 32.

  Examples of the heat insulating material include fiber heat insulating materials such as glass wool, foam heat insulating materials such as urethane foam, and vacuum heat insulating materials. It is preferable to use a vacuum heat insulating material having higher heat insulating performance than the heat insulating material. Examples of the vacuum heat insulating material include those obtained by packing glass fibers with a laminate film and reducing the internal pressure thereof.

  According to the present embodiment, the cooling unit 34 that cools the air in the control box 32 is separated from the control board 30, or the position in the control box 32 below the control board 30 or the control board 30. Are arranged at positions in the horizontal control box 32. Thereby, it is suppressed that the control board 30 gets wet with the dew condensation water which generate | occur | produced on the surface of the cooling unit 34, and the air conditioner 10 provided with high reliability is realizable.

  Although the present invention has been described with reference to the above-described embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments.

  For example, in the above-described embodiment, the fan 44 is disposed in the control box 32 to forcibly agitate the air in the control box 32. However, the cooling of the control board 30 by the cooling unit 34 is sufficient. If present, the fan 44 may be omitted.

In the above description, the air conditioner 10 in which the refrigerant flows in the order of the compressor 12, the outdoor heat exchanger 14, the decompression device 16, and the indoor heat exchanger 18, that is, the air conditioner 10 that performs the cooling operation has been described. The present invention is not limited to this. The present invention is also applicable to the air conditioner 10 in which the refrigerant flows in the order of the compressor 12, the indoor heat exchanger 18, the decompression device 16, and the outdoor heat exchanger 14, that is, the air conditioner 10 that performs the heating operation. It is.

  Furthermore, in the case of the above-described embodiment, the cooling unit 34 is configured to cool the air in the control box 32 using all the refrigerant flowing in the refrigerant pipe 24, but the present invention is not limited thereto. Absent. A part of the refrigerant flowing in any one of the refrigerant pipes 22 to 26 may be used for cooling the air in the control box 32.

  For example, a bypass pipe that branches from the refrigerant pipe 24 near the downstream side of the decompression device 16, passes through the control box 32, and reaches the refrigerant pipe 24 near the upstream side of the indoor heat exchanger 18. And a cooling unit may be configured by attaching a fin structure to the bypass pipe. In this case, although the cooling capacity with respect to the control board 30 falls compared with the above-mentioned embodiment, the cooling capacity of the air conditioner 10 improves.

  Since this invention cools the air in a control box using a refrigerant | coolant, if it handles not only an air conditioner but a refrigerant | coolant, such as a refrigerator, it is applicable.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Air conditioner 12 Compressor 14 Outdoor heat exchanger 16 Pressure reducing device 18 Indoor heat exchanger 30 Control component (control board)
32 Control box 34 Cooling unit

Claims (8)

In the outdoor unit of the air conditioner, a compressor, an outdoor heat exchanger, an outdoor fan, a control box for controlling the operation of the air conditioner, and a control component housed in the control box, A cooling device comprising: a cooling unit that is disposed and cools air in the control box by heat exchange with a refrigerant; and a fin structure that radiates heat generated from the control board to the outside of the control box. The cooling device according to claim 1, wherein the control box is made of a material having good thermal conductivity, and one of the fin structures is mounted with the control component of the control box. A cooling unit is disposed in the control box, and the piping in the control box through which the refrigerant flows;
The cooling device according to claim 1, further comprising: a fin structure including a plurality of fins and attached to the pipe in the control box. The cooling device according to claim 3, wherein the piping in the control box of the cooling unit is a part of piping connecting the decompression device and the indoor heat exchanger. The cooling device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising a water tray that receives condensed water below the cooling unit. The cooling device as described in any one of Claim 1 to 5 which has a heat insulating material which heat-insulates the interior space of a control box. The cooling device according to claim 6, wherein the heat insulating material is a vacuum heat insulating material. An air conditioner comprising the cooling device according to any one of claims 1 to 7.