JP2014240726A - Refrigerant distributor, chiller having refrigerant distributor, cooling device having chiller, and assembly process of refrigerant distributor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a refrigerant distributor capable of securely executing the anti-corrosion treatment on the connection between a diffluence pipe connection port and a diffluence pipe even when a chiller cannot be immersed in an electro-deposition coating compound in a coating tank.SOLUTION: A refrigerant distributor 10 comprises: an inflow pipe connection port to be connected to a refrigerant inflow pipe 6; an interior space communicated with the inflow pipe connection port so that refrigerant inflows in the interior space from the refrigerant inflow pipe 6; a body part 11 having a plurality of diffluence pipe connection ports 14 communicated with the interior space and to be connected to diffluence pipes 7 so that refrigerant in the interior space is drained into the diffluence pipes 7; and a recess 16 formed by at least one wall part 15 protruding from an outer surface part of the body part 11 and surrounding the plurality of diffluence pipe connection ports 14 so that the recess 16 is filled with a coating material 17 for coating the connection between the plurality of diffluence pipe connection ports 14 and the diffluence pipes 7.

Description

  The present invention relates to a refrigerant distributor, a cooler including a refrigerant distributor, a cooling device including the cooler, and a method for assembling the refrigerant distributor.

  Conventionally, there has been proposed a cooling device that includes a cooler provided with a refrigerant distributor on the refrigerant inflow side, and that causes the refrigerant to flow through a plurality of flow paths in the cooler by the refrigerant distributor. The refrigerant distributor used in such a cooling device includes, for example, an inflow pipe connection port to which a refrigerant inflow pipe is connected, an internal space that communicates with the inflow pipe connection port and into which refrigerant flows from the refrigerant inflow pipe, A main body is formed which is in communication with the internal space and is formed with a plurality of flow dividing pipe connection ports to which flow dividing pipes through which the refrigerant in the internal space flows are connected. The refrigerant inflow pipe is brazed to the main body after being inserted into the inflow pipe connection port, and the shunt pipe is brazed to the main body after being inserted into the diversion pipe connection port (see, for example, Patent Document 1). ).

  Further, in a cooling device that cools a food factory and a cooling device (such as a refrigerator) that cools the interior of a food store, the cooler is exposed to a corrosive atmosphere, and the cooler corrodes. The problem of end up occurs. For this reason, a technique for immersing the cooler including the refrigerant distributor in the electrodeposition paint in the paint tank and subjecting the cooler to anticorrosion treatment such as cationic electrodeposition coating has been proposed (for example, Patent Document 2).

JP-A-5-340649 JP 2003-138399 A

  If the cooler becomes large, the cooler may not be immersed in the electrodeposition paint in the coating tank, and cationic electrodeposition coating may not be applied to the cooler. In such a case, conventionally, the epoxy resin-based paint is brushed on the brazed portion (connecting portion) between the branch pipe connection port and the branch pipe formed in the main body portion of the refrigerant distributor, and corrosion progresses quickly. The brazing part is prevented from being corroded.

  However, brush coating has lower adhesion than cationic electrodeposition. In other words, when the brazing part is painted by brushing, during the operation of the cooling device, frost adheres to the cooler (freezing of moisture in the atmosphere) and the defrosting of the cooler (freezing moisture) ) Is repeated, the coating film expands and contracts and is easily peeled off. For this reason, there has been a problem that the corrosion of the brazed portion proceeds due to water remaining in the gap between the peeled coating film and the base material. Further, since brush coating has poor uniformity of the coating film, coating unevenness and unpainted portions are generated, and corrosion progresses from the portion.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and even when the cooler cannot be immersed in the electrodeposition paint in the coating tank, the connection portion between the branch pipe connection port and the branch pipe It is a first object of the present invention to obtain a refrigerant distributor that can reliably perform the anticorrosion treatment.
A second object of the present invention is to provide a cooler including the refrigerant distributor according to the present invention, a cooling device including the cooler, and a method for assembling the refrigerant distributor according to the present invention. To do.

  The refrigerant distributor according to the present invention communicates with an inflow pipe connection port to which a refrigerant inflow pipe is connected, with the inflow pipe connection port, with an internal space into which refrigerant flows from the refrigerant inflow pipe, and with the internal space. A main body part formed with a plurality of shunt pipe connection ports to which a shunt pipe through which the refrigerant in the inner space flows out is connected, and the outer surface part of the main body part surrounds the plurality of shunt pipe connection ports. At least one wall portion is protruded to form a recess filled with a coating material that coats the connection portion between the branch pipe connection port and the branch pipe.

  The present invention provides a coating material for coating a connection portion between a branch pipe connection port and a branch pipe by projecting at least one wall portion surrounding a plurality of branch pipe connection ports on an outer surface portion of a main body portion of a refrigerant distributor Is formed in the recess. For this reason, the present invention can reliably coat the connection portion between the branch pipe connection port and the branch pipe by filling the concave portion with a coating material, and the cooler cannot be immersed in the electrodeposition paint in the coating tank. Even if it exists, the anticorrosion process of the connection part of a shunt pipe connection port and a shunt pipe can be implemented reliably.

It is an external appearance perspective view of the cooling device which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a refrigerant circuit figure of the cooling device concerning Embodiment 1 of the present invention. It is a perspective view which shows the refrigerant distributor which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is sectional drawing which shows the refrigerant distributor which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a disassembled perspective view which shows the refrigerant distributor which concerns on Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is an assembly perspective view which shows the refrigerant distributor which concerns on Embodiment 2 of this invention.

Embodiment 1 FIG.
Hereinafter, a refrigerant distributor, a cooler, and a cooling device concerning Embodiment 1 of the present invention are explained based on a drawing. In the first embodiment, an example will be described in which the present invention is applied to a cooling device that is attached to the top surface of a cooling space such as a food factory and cools the inside of the cooling space.

  FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of a cooling device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a refrigerant circuit diagram for explaining a refrigeration cycle circuit of the cooling device. In FIG. 1, the side surface (front side in FIG. 1) of the housing 101 is shown open to facilitate understanding of the structure inside the cooling device 100.

The cooling device 100 according to the first embodiment includes a substantially rectangular parallelepiped housing 101, for example. A cooler 4 is provided inside the housing 101. Further, the housing 101 has a suction port formed in one side surface portion (left side surface in FIG. 1). A blower 9 is provided at a position between the suction port and the cooler 4 to suck the air in the cooling space from the suction port and supply the air to the cooler 4.
An air outlet for blowing out the air cooled by the cooler 4 to the cooling space is provided on the side surface portion (position to be the right side surface portion in FIG. 1) facing the side surface portion where the suction port in the housing 101 is formed. Is formed. Moreover, in this Embodiment 1, the fan guard 9a is attached to this suction inlet.

  Further, an expansion valve 3 that expands the refrigerant and a refrigerant distributor 10 that divides the refrigerant expanded by the expansion valve 3 (divides it into a plurality of flow paths) are provided inside the casing 101 of the cooling device 100. . As shown in FIG. 2 below, the expansion valve 3 and the refrigerant distributor 10 are connected by a refrigerant pipe (a refrigerant pipe 5, a refrigerant inflow pipe 6, a branch pipe 7, a refrigerant pipe 8, and the like, which will be described later), and a cooler 4 constitutes a refrigeration cycle circuit.

FIG. 2 is a refrigerant circuit diagram of the cooling device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 2, the compressor 1, the condenser 2, the expansion valve 3, the refrigerant distributor 10 and the cooler 4 are connected by a refrigerant pipe to constitute a refrigeration cycle circuit. Specifically, the compressor 1 is provided outside the housing 101, and sucks in a low-temperature and low-pressure gas refrigerant, and compresses and discharges the sucked refrigerant into a high-temperature and high-pressure gas refrigerant. Similarly to the compressor 1, the condenser 2 is provided outside the housing 101, and is connected to the discharge port of the compressor 1 through a refrigerant pipe. The condenser 2 is a high-temperature and high-pressure gas refrigerant discharged from the compressor 1 and heat-condensed with outdoor air or the like to condense it into a low-temperature and high-pressure liquid refrigerant. As shown in FIG. 1, the expansion valve 3 is connected to the refrigerant outlet of the condenser 2 via the refrigerant pipe 5, and expands the low-temperature and low-pressure refrigerant that has flowed out of the condenser 2 to expand the low-temperature and low-pressure refrigerant. It is a gas-liquid two-phase refrigerant.

As shown in FIG. 1, the refrigerant distributor 10 has a refrigerant inlet (an inlet pipe connection port 13 described later) connected to the refrigerant inlet pipe 6, and a plurality of refrigerant outlets (an outlet pipe connection port 14 described later). ) Is connected to the shunt pipe 7. The refrigerant distributor 10 distributes the low-temperature and low-pressure gas-liquid two-phase refrigerant flowing out from the expansion valve 3 to the plurality of branch pipes 7 so that the ratio of the gas refrigerant to the liquid refrigerant is substantially equal.
The detailed configuration of the refrigerant distributor 10 will be described later.

  The cooler 4 is, for example, a fin tube type heat exchanger, and includes a plurality of flow paths through which the refrigerant passes. The flow dividing pipes 7 are connected to these flow paths as shown in FIG. The cooler 4 cools the air in the cooling space (air supplied from the blower 9) with the refrigerant flowing into each flow path from each of the flow dividing pipes 7. The refrigerant that has cooled the air in the cooling space becomes a low-temperature and low-pressure gas refrigerant, and is sucked into the compressor 1 through the refrigerant pipe 8.

  The casing 101 of the cooling device 100 configured as described above is provided, for example, by passing a mounting bolt provided on the top surface of the cooling space through the mounting bracket 101a and tightening the mounting bracket 101a on the mounting bolt with a nut. It is attached to the top of the.

(Detailed configuration of refrigerant distributor 10)
Subsequently, a detailed configuration of the refrigerant distributor 10 according to the first embodiment will be described.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the refrigerant distributor according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing this refrigerant distributor.
The refrigerant distributor 10 according to the first embodiment includes a main body 11 formed in a cylindrical shape, for example. The main body 11 communicates with an inflow pipe connection port 13 to which the refrigerant inflow pipe 6 is connected, an inflow pipe connection port 13, an internal space 12 into which the refrigerant flows from the refrigerant inflow pipe 6, and an internal space 12. In addition, a plurality of branch pipe connection ports 14 to which the branch pipe 7 is connected are formed. That is, the gas-liquid two-phase refrigerant (refrigerant flowing out from the expansion valve 3) that has flowed into the internal space 12 from the refrigerant inflow pipe 6 and the inflow pipe connection port 13 is liquid with the gas refrigerant when discharged into the internal space 12. The refrigerant is mixed, the ratio of the gas refrigerant to the liquid refrigerant becomes substantially equal, and the refrigerant flows out to each branch pipe connection port 14 (that is, each branch pipe 7).

Specifically, the main body 11 according to the first embodiment includes a first main body 11 a that forms the lower part of the main body 11 and a second main body 11 b that forms the upper part of the main body 11.
The 1st main-body part 11a is carrying out the substantially cylindrical shape, and the through-hole penetrated to an axial center direction is formed. An inflow pipe connection port 13 is formed at the lower end of the through hole. One end of the refrigerant inflow pipe 6 is inserted into the inflow pipe connection port 13 and connected by brazing or the like.

  The second main body portion 11b has a substantially cylindrical shape with an outer diameter slightly larger than that of the first main body portion 11a, and a substantially cylindrical space is formed at the lower end portion. The upper part of the substantially cylindrical space is a substantially conical space. The first main body portion 11a is inserted into the lower portion of the substantially cylindrical space, and the first main body portion 11a and the second main body portion 11b are connected by brazing or the like, for example. A part and the substantially conical space are the internal space 12.

  The second body portion 11b is formed with a plurality of through holes penetrating from the upper end portion to the internal space 12. These through holes are formed at substantially equal intervals on a concentric circle centered on the axis of the second main body portion 11b. And the branch pipe connection port 14 is formed in the upper end part of each of these through-holes. One end of the branch pipe 7 is inserted into the branch pipe connection port 14 and connected by brazing or the like.

  Furthermore, a wall portion 15 is formed on the upper end edge of the upper end portion (that is, the outer surface portion) of the second main body portion 11b. That is, one wall portion 15 is formed at the upper end portion of the second main body portion 11b so as to surround all the branch pipe connection ports 14. The wall 15 extends to a position higher than the upper end of the branch pipe connection port 14, that is, the connection part between the branch pipe connection port 14 and the branch pipe 7. As a result, a recess 16 is formed inside the wall portion 15. The recess 16 is filled with a coating material 17. Therefore, after connecting the flow dividing pipe connection port 14 and the flow dividing pipe 7 by brazing or the like, for example, the concave portion 16 is filled with the coating material 17, so that the connection portion between the flow dividing pipe connection port 14 and the flow dividing pipe 7 is coated. It will be coated with the material 17.

In the first embodiment, a silicon coating material is used as the coating material 17 for the following reason.
Since the silicon-based coating material does not absorb water, oxygen, moisture, and corrosive components can be prevented from reaching the connection portion (brazing portion) between the distribution pipe connection port 14 and the distribution pipe 7. For this reason, the anticorrosion effect in the connection part (brazing part) of the diversion pipe connection port 14 and the diversion pipe 7 further improves. The refrigerant distributor 10 of the cooling device 100 (more specifically, the connection portion between the branch pipe connection port 14 and the branch pipe 7) is cooled by the low-temperature refrigerant during the cooling operation, and is heated by the high-temperature refrigerant during the defrosting operation. It will be. However, since the silicon-based coating material has a wide use temperature range of “−50 ° C. to + 200 ° C.”, it is suitable for application to such a cooling device 100. Further, since the silicon-based coating material is elastic even when it becomes solid, frost adheres to the cooler 4 (freezing of moisture in the atmosphere) and defrosting of the cooler 4 (melting of frozen moisture) It is also strong against the expansion and contraction of the coating film generated by repeating the above. For this reason, a gap does not occur between the base material, that is, the branch pipe connection port 14 and the branch pipe 7 and the silicon-based coating material, and water and corrosive substances can be further prevented from entering.

  In the case where a silicon-based coating material is used as the coating material 17, a two-component condensation type that has a relatively low viscosity before curing and good deep part curability is suitable so that the coating material 17 can be distributed in detail. . For example, when a silicon-based coating material is used as the coating material 17, KE-200F manufactured by Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd. (viscosity before effect (viscosity of the main agent) is 2.0 [Pa · s]) is suitable.

  As described above, by adopting the refrigerant distributor 10 configured as in the present embodiment in the cooler 4, that is, by adopting it in the cooling device 100, the recess 16 is filled with the coating material 17, thereby connecting the shunt pipe. The connection portion between the mouth 14 and the branch pipe 7 can be reliably coated. For this reason, even if it is a case where the cooler 4 containing the refrigerant distributor 10 cannot be immersed in the electrodeposition paint in a coating tank, the anticorrosion process of the connection part of the branch pipe connection port 14 and the branch pipe 7 is implemented reliably. be able to.

  In the first embodiment, the connection portion between the branch pipe connection port 14 and the branch pipe 7 is covered with one wall portion 15, but this is merely an example. For example, each of the connection portions of the flow dividing pipe connection port 14 and the flow dividing pipe 7 is covered with a different wall portion 15, and the coating material 17 is filled in the concave portion 16 formed inside each wall portion 15. Also good. Further, for example, a wall 15 that covers one or a plurality of connecting portions between the branch pipe connection port 14 and the branch pipe 7 is provided (for example, when there are six connecting portions, three wall portions 15 that cover two connecting portions are provided. Provided), a coating material 17 may be filled in the recess 16 formed inside these wall portions 15.

  In the first embodiment, the refrigerant distributor 10 and the diversion pipe 7 are handled as different configurations. However, a structure in which the diversion pipe 7 is connected to the main body 11 may be handled as the refrigerant distributor 10.

  Moreover, in this Embodiment 1, although this invention was implemented for the example of the cooling device 100 attached to the top | upper surface of cooling spaces, such as a food factory, the air conditioning which cools air, such as a refrigerator and living space, which cools the inside of a store | warehouse | chamber Of course, the refrigerant distributor 10 according to the present invention may be employed in other cooling devices such as a device.

Embodiment 2. FIG.
In Embodiment 1, the main body portion 11 and the wall portion 15 of the refrigerant distributor 10 are integrally formed, but they may be configured separately. For example, when the number of the branch pipes 7 increases due to an increase in the size of the cooling device 100, the gaps between the branch pipes 7 and between the branch pipes 7 and the wall 15 are narrowed. And the connection work (brazing work) with the flow dividing pipe 7 becomes difficult. In such a case, it is preferable to form the main body part 11 and the wall part 15 of the refrigerant distributor 10 separately as in the second embodiment.
In the second embodiment, items that are not particularly described are the same as those in the first embodiment, and the same functions and configurations are described using the same reference numerals.

FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view showing a refrigerant distributor according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. FIG. 6 is an assembled perspective view showing the refrigerant distributor.
As shown in FIG. 5, the refrigerant distributor 10 according to the second embodiment includes an upper portion (an end portion on the side where the branch pipe connection port 14 is formed) of the main body 11 and a lower portion (the inlet pipe connection port 13). An engaging portion 11c having a diameter expanded from an end portion on the formed side to the upper portion is provided. The refrigerant distributor 10 according to the second embodiment also includes a wall forming member 18 that is formed in a trumpet shape (bell mouth shape) and that is open at both ends. The inner peripheral surface of the wall forming member 18 has a shape corresponding to the outer peripheral surface of the engaging portion 11c. By contacting the inner peripheral surface of the wall forming member 18 with the outer peripheral surface of the main body 11 and connecting them (for example, fitting or brazing), the upper end of the main body 11 in the wall forming member 18 The portion protruding from the wall becomes the wall portion 15.

The refrigerant distributor 10 configured as described above is assembled as follows.
First, one end of the branch pipe 7 is inserted into each of the branch pipe connection ports 14 formed at the upper end of the main body 11, and the branch pipe connection port 14 and the branch pipe 7 are connected by, for example, brazing. Thereafter, the wall forming member 18 is moved in the direction of the broken line arrow in FIG. 5, and the lower end of the main body 11 is passed through the wall forming member 18. And the inner peripheral surface of the wall part formation member 18 is made to contact the outer peripheral surface of the main-body part 11, and both are connected (for example, fitting, brazing, etc.). Thereby, the upper end part of the wall part formation member 18 protrudes from the upper end part of the main-body part 11, and the wall part 15 is formed. That is, the recess 16 is formed. Then, after the concave portion 16 is formed, the concave portion 16 is filled with a coating material 17 to coat the connecting portion between the branch pipe connection port 14 and the branch pipe 7.

  When the wall forming member 18 and the main body 11 are detachably connected by fitting or the like, the wall forming member 18 may be removed from the main body 11 after the coating material 17 filled in the recess 16 is cured. Good.

  As described above, in the refrigerant distributor 10 configured as in the second embodiment, in addition to the effects shown in the first embodiment, the gaps between the branch pipes 7 and between the branch pipe 7 and the wall portion 15. Even in a case where the distance becomes narrow, an effect of facilitating connection work (brazing work) between the branch pipe connection port 14 and the branch pipe 7 can be obtained.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Compressor, 2 Condenser, 3 Expansion valve, 4 Cooler, 5 Refrigerant piping, 6 Refrigerant inflow tube, 7 Shunt pipe, 8 Refrigerant piping, 9 Blower, 9a Fan guard, 10 Refrigerant distributor, 11 Main body part, 11a 1st main-body part, 11b 2nd main-body part, 11c Engagement part, 12 Internal space, 13 Inflow pipe connection port, 14 Diverging pipe connection port, 15 Wall part, 16 Recessed part, 17 Coating material, 18 Wall part formation member, 100 Cooling device, 101 housing, 101a mounting bracket.

Claims (6)

An inlet pipe connection port to which the refrigerant inlet pipe is connected;
An internal space that communicates with the inlet pipe connection port and into which the refrigerant flows from the refrigerant inlet pipe;
A plurality of branch pipe connection ports that communicate with the internal space and to which a branch pipe through which the refrigerant in the internal space flows out are connected;
The outer surface of the main body is filled with a coating material for projecting at least one wall portion surrounding the plurality of branch pipe connection ports and coating the connection portion between the branch pipe connection port and the branch pipe. A refrigerant distributor characterized in that a recess is formed. A plurality of the diversion pipes connected to the diversion pipe connection port;
2. The refrigerant distributor according to claim 1, wherein the concave portion is filled with a silicon-based coating material to coat a connection portion between the distribution pipe connection port and the distribution pipe.   The refrigerant distributor according to claim 1, wherein the wall portion is configured separately from the main body portion.   A cooler comprising the refrigerant distributor according to any one of claims 1 to 3.   A cooling device comprising the cooler according to claim 4. A method of assembling the refrigerant distributor according to claim 3,
After connecting the branch pipe connection port and the branch pipe,
A method of assembling a refrigerant distributor, wherein the main body portion and the wall portion are connected to form the concave portion.

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