JP2019182085A - Evaporator - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide an evaporator that can prevent a tube from being damaged due to freezing.SOLUTION: An evaporator 10 includes: a plurality of tubes 200 through which refrigerant passes; and a cool storage material container 400 disposed between the tubes 200 and storing a cool storage material CM therein. In a part where the tube 200 and the cool storage material container 400 come into contact with each other, the tube 200 has strength higher than strength of the cool storage material container 400.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

  The present disclosure relates to an evaporator that cools air by heat exchange with a refrigerant.

  An evaporator used as a part of a refrigeration cycle in an air conditioner evaporates liquid-phase refrigerant inside to lower its temperature, and cools air by heat exchange with the refrigerant.

  In an air conditioner for a vehicle, a compressor is operated by a driving force of an internal combustion engine, thereby circulating a refrigerant. For this reason, when the internal combustion engine is stopped, the circulation of the refrigerant is stopped, so that the air passing through the evaporator cannot be cooled.

  In recent years, vehicles that perform a so-called idle stop that automatically stops an internal combustion engine during a temporary stop have become widespread. In such a vehicle, the internal combustion engine stops relatively frequently during operation, and the compressor stops each time. At that time, if the air is not cooled as described above, the temperature in the passenger compartment rises, causing discomfort to the occupant.

  Then, the evaporator of the structure provided with the cool storage function has been proposed and has already been put into practical use. For example, in an evaporator (cold heat storage heat exchanger) described in Patent Document 1 below, a cool storage material container that houses a cool storage material is arranged at a position between a plurality of tubes. The cool storage material container is joined to the adjacent tubes.

  When the compressor is operated by the driving force of the internal combustion engine, the cool storage material container is cooled by heat exchange with the refrigerant having a low temperature in the evaporator, and the cool storage material stored in the cool storage material container is solidified.

  After that, even when the idle stop is performed and the circulation of the refrigerant is stopped, the cool storage material container, the nearby tube, and the like are maintained at a low temperature by the solidified cool storage material. For this reason, it becomes possible to continuously cool the air that passes through the evaporator and is blown into the vehicle interior for a while.

Japanese Patent No. 5444782

  When the refrigerant is evaporated in the tube, the temperature of the tube and the cold storage material container is reduced to 0 ° C. or lower. For this reason, in the junction part between a tube and a cool storage material container, the generated dew condensation water freezes and expand | swells, and a tube and a cool storage material container may be damaged.

  In order to increase the durability against corrosion of the cool storage material container, the thickness of the member constituting the cool storage material container is generally made thicker than the thickness of the member constituting the tube. For this reason, when the condensed water freezes at the joint portion as described above, the tube having a relatively low strength is damaged before the cold storage material container. As a result, the refrigerant leaks from the damaged tube and may not function as an evaporator.

  An object of this indication is to provide an evaporator which can prevent breakage of a tube by freezing.

  An evaporator according to the present disclosure is an evaporator (10) that cools air by heat exchange with a refrigerant, and is disposed between a plurality of tubes (200) through which the refrigerant passes and a cold storage inside. A cold storage material container (400) for housing the material (CM). The evaporator is configured such that the strength of the tube is higher than the strength of the cool storage material container in a portion where the tube and the cool storage material container are in contact with each other.

  In such a heat exchanger, the strength of the tube is higher than the strength of the cold storage material container. For this reason, even if dew condensation water freezes and expands at the joint between the tube and the cool storage material container, the cool storage material container having a lower strength is deformed larger than the tube and is damaged earlier. Since the freezing and expansion of the dew condensation water are absorbed by deformation of the cool storage material container, the tube is not damaged. Thereby, although there exists a possibility that the cool storage material container may be unable to exhibit the cool storage function, the function of the evaporator can be continuously performed.

  “The strength of the tube is higher than the strength of the regenerator container” means that the amount of deformation (dent) of the member when a certain pressure is applied to a certain area of the joint is compared. This means that the deformation amount of the tube is smaller than the deformation amount of the cold storage material container. Such a configuration can be realized, for example, by making the plate thickness of the member constituting the tube thicker than the plate thickness of the member constituting the cold storage material container.

  According to the present disclosure, an evaporator that can prevent a tube from being damaged by freezing is provided.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an overall configuration of an evaporator according to the present embodiment. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing the configuration of the tube and the cool storage material container.

  Hereinafter, the present embodiment will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In order to facilitate the understanding of the description, the same constituent elements in the drawings will be denoted by the same reference numerals as much as possible, and redundant description will be omitted.

  The structure of the evaporator 10 which concerns on this embodiment is demonstrated. The evaporator 10 is an evaporator (evaporator) constituting a part of a refrigeration cycle (not shown) configured as a vehicle air conditioner. Refrigerant is fed into the evaporator 10 by a compressor (not shown) arranged in a part of the refrigeration cycle. The compressor is operated by a driving force of an internal combustion engine provided in the vehicle. The evaporator 10 cools the air by performing heat exchange between the refrigerant and air while evaporating the fed refrigerant inside.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the evaporator 10 includes an upper tank 110, a lower tank 120, tubes 200, fins 300, a cool storage material container 400, and a connection member 130. In the present embodiment, these are all made of aluminum.

  In FIG. 1, the x-axis is set with the direction in which air passes through the evaporator 10 and the direction from the front side to the back side in FIG. 1 being the x direction. Also, the y axis is set with the y direction being the longitudinal direction of the upper tank 110 and extending from the left side to the right side in FIG. Furthermore, the z-axis is set with the direction from the lower tank 120 toward the upper tank 110 as the z direction. In FIG. 2, the x axis, the y axis, and the z axis are set in the same manner.

  The upper tank 110 is a container for temporarily storing the refrigerant circulating in the refrigeration cycle and supplying the refrigerant to the tube 200 or receiving the refrigerant that has passed through the tube 200. The upper tank 110 is formed as an elongated rod-like container. The upper tank 110 is disposed in an upper portion of the evaporator 10 with the longitudinal direction thereof set along the horizontal direction.

  Similar to the upper tank 110, the lower tank 120 is a container for temporarily storing the refrigerant circulating in the refrigeration cycle and supplying the refrigerant to the tube 200 or receiving the refrigerant that has passed through the tube 200. . The shape of the lower tank 120 is substantially the same as the shape of the upper tank 110. The lower tank 120 is disposed in the lower portion of the evaporator 10 with the longitudinal direction thereof being set in the horizontal direction in the same manner as the upper tank 110.

  The tube 200 is a tube configured to allow a refrigerant to pass through the inside thereof. The tube 200 is an elongated pipe having a flat cross section, and a plurality of tubes 200 are provided in the evaporator 10. As shown in FIG. 2, a flow path FP through which a refrigerant flows is formed in the tube 200 along the longitudinal direction thereof. Each tube 200 has its longitudinal direction along the vertical direction (z direction), and is laminated in a state where the main surfaces thereof are opposed to each other. The direction in which the plurality of stacked tubes 200 are arranged is the same as the longitudinal direction of the upper tank 110.

  Each tube 200 has one end connected to the upper tank 110 and the other end connected to the lower tank 120. With such a configuration, the internal space of the upper tank 110 and the internal space of the lower tank 120 are communicated with each other by the flow path FP in each tube 200.

  When the refrigerant is circulating in the refrigeration cycle, the refrigerant flows from the upper tank 110 toward the lower tank 120 (or in the opposite direction). The refrigerant evaporates by receiving heat from the air while passing through the flow path FP formed inside the tube 200 and changes from the liquid phase to the gas phase. The air flowing around the tube 200 is deprived of heat by the evaporating refrigerant and decreases its temperature. The air is supplied into the passenger compartment as low-temperature conditioned air.

  The fin 300 is formed by bending a metal plate into a wave shape, and is disposed between the tubes 200. Each top portion of the corrugated fin 300 is in contact with the outer surface of the tube 200 and brazed. For this reason, the heat of the air flowing around the tube 200 is not only transmitted to the refrigerant via the tube 200 but also transmitted to the refrigerant via the fins 300 and the tubes 200. That is, the contact area with the air is increased by the fins 300, and heat exchange between the refrigerant and the air is performed efficiently.

  The fins 300 are arranged over the entire space formed between the two adjacent tubes 200, that is, over the entire range from the upper tank 110 to the lower tank 120. However, in FIG. 1, only a part thereof is shown, and the other parts are not shown.

  The cold storage material container 400 is for performing cold storage when the refrigerant is circulating in the refrigeration cycle, and for keeping the tube 200 and the like at a low temperature even after the circulation of the refrigerant is stopped. The cool storage material container 400 is formed as an elongated rod-shaped sealed container. As shown in FIG. 2, a space SP is formed inside the cool storage material container 400, and a cool storage material CM made of, for example, paraffin is accommodated in the space SP.

  The cool storage material container 400 is disposed at a position between the two adjacent tubes 200 in a state where the longitudinal direction thereof is along the longitudinal direction of the tube 200. The cool storage material container 400 is joined (brazed) to the adjacent tube 200 at the position.

  As shown in FIG. 1, fins 300 are arranged in a part of the plurality of spaces formed between the tubes 200, and a cold storage material container 400 is arranged in the other part. ing. The position and number of the cool storage material containers 400 in the evaporator 10 may be different from those shown in FIG.

  When the cool storage material container 400 is cooled by the tube 200, the heat of the cool storage material CM is transmitted to the tube 200 through the cool storage material container 400. When the refrigerant circulates through the refrigeration cycle, the regenerator material CM is cooled by the evaporating refrigerant, so that at least a part thereof is solidified.

  When the vehicle is in an idle stop state, the compressor of the refrigeration cycle is stopped. For this reason, the refrigerant is not circulated in the refrigeration cycle, and the refrigerant is not evaporated in the evaporator 10.

  However, since the cool storage material CM at this time is in a solidified state, the cool storage material container 400 and the tubes 200 and fins 300 disposed in the vicinity thereof are both kept at a low temperature. For this reason, even if the circulation of the refrigerant in the refrigeration cycle is stopped, the air passing through the evaporator 10 is cooled. Thus, by arranging the cool storage material container 400, the evaporator 10 can maintain its cooling performance for a while even after shifting to the idle stop state.

  The connection member 130 is a member for receiving the refrigerant supplied from the outside to the evaporator 10 and discharging the refrigerant after passing through the evaporator 10 to the outside. The connection member 130 is connected to the end portion on the −y direction side of the upper tank 110.

  In the present embodiment, each of the upper tank 110 and the lower tank 120 shown in FIG. 1 is arranged so that two are arranged along the x-axis. Similarly, each of the tubes 200, the fins 300, and the cool storage material containers 400 shown in FIG. 1 is also arranged so that two are arranged along the x-axis.

  The pair of lower tanks 120 arranged along the x-axis are connected so that their internal spaces communicate with each other. On the other hand, the pair of upper tanks 110 arranged along the x-axis are separated from each other because their internal spaces do not communicate with each other.

  The connection member 130 is provided with a supply port 131 and a discharge port 132. The supply port 131 is a part that receives a refrigerant supplied from the outside. A pipe extending from a throttle valve (not shown) is connected to the supply port 131. The refrigerant supplied from the pipe to the supply port 131 is supplied into the upper tank 110 disposed on the −x direction side.

  The refrigerant passes through the inside of the tube 200 arranged on the −x direction side and is supplied to the inside of the lower tank 120 arranged on the −x direction side. Thereafter, the refrigerant moves to the inside of the lower tank 120 arranged on the x direction side, passes through the inside of the tube 200 arranged on the x direction side, and enters the inside of the upper tank 110 arranged on the x direction side. Supplied.

  The discharge port 132 is a portion for discharging the refrigerant to the outside. A pipe extending to a compressor (not shown) is connected to the discharge port 132. The refrigerant used for heat exchange in the evaporator 10 is supplied to the inside of the upper tank 110 arranged on the x direction side as described above, and then discharged from the discharge port 132 of the connection member 130. In addition, the path | route through which a refrigerant | coolant flows inside the evaporator 10 may differ from the above.

  Specific configurations of the tube 200 and the cold storage material container 400 will be described with reference to FIG.

  The tube 200 is a tube formed by extrusion molding of aluminum. The tube 200 has a substantially flat outer surface on each of the −y direction side and the y direction side. The normal of each surface is along the y-axis. Air passing through the evaporator 10 flows along the surface. The thickness of the member constituting the above flat surface of the tube 200, that is, the thickness of the flat plate-like portion to which the adjacent cool storage material container 400 is joined is shown as “T1” in FIG. Yes.

  A plurality of inner pillars 210 are formed inside the tube 200. Each inner column 210 is a plate-like column formed so as to extend along the y-axis, and is formed so as to be arranged at equal intervals along the x-axis. The flow path FP described above is divided into a plurality of flow paths by the inner pillars 210.

  In FIG. 2, the thickness of the inner pillar 210 (which is the dimension of the inner pillar 210 along the x axis) is indicated as “T11”, and the interval between the inner pillars 210 (the arrangement of the inner pillars 210 along the x axis). (Also referred to as pitch) is shown as “P1”. The thickness and interval of the inner pillars 210 are the same for all inner pillars 210.

  The cool storage material container 400 is formed by joining a pair of plate-like members 401 and 402. The plate-like member 401 arranged on the −y-direction side is a substantially flat plate whose normal direction is along the y-axis, and a plurality of protrusions 410 are formed on the surface thereof. Each protrusion 410 is a protrusion having a circular shape when viewed along the y-axis, and is formed so as to protrude in the −y direction (that is, outside). The tip of the projection 410 is a flat surface and is joined in contact with the surface of the tube 200 on the −y direction side.

  The configuration of the plate member 402 is the same as the configuration of the plate member 401. A plurality of protrusions 410 are also formed on the surface of the plate-like member 402. Each protrusion 410 formed on the plate-like member 402 is a protrusion having a circular shape when viewed along the y-axis, and is formed so as to protrude in the y direction (that is, outside). The tip of the protrusion 410 has a flat surface and is joined in contact with the surface of the tube 200 (not shown) on the y direction side.

  The whole thickness of the plate-like member 401 and the plate-like member 402 is uniform including the tip portion of the protrusion 410. In FIG. 2, the thickness is shown as “T2”. T2 is smaller than T1. That is, in the present embodiment, the plate thickness (T1) of the members constituting the tube 200 is thicker than the plate thickness (T2) of the members (plate-like members 401 and 402) constituting the cold storage material container 400. As a result, the strength of the tube 200 is higher than the strength of the cool storage material container 400 at least in a portion where the tube 200 and the cool storage material container 400 are in contact with each other and joined.

  In addition, the plate | board thickness of the member which comprises the tube 200 is thicker than the plate | board thickness of the member (plate-shaped member 401, 402) which comprises the cool storage material container 400, and the tube 200 and this embodiment are the same. The whole cool storage material container 400 may be sufficient, and it may be only in the part which has mutually contact | abutted among the tube 200 and the cool storage material container 400.

  Inner fins 420 are accommodated inside the cool storage material container 400. The inner fin 420 is a member that is arranged for the purpose of increasing the contact area between the cool storage material container 400 and the cool storage material CM so that heat exchange is efficiently performed. The inner fin 420 is formed by bending a plate-like member into a rectangle. A part of the inner fin 420 has a surface normal direction along the y-axis, and is joined in contact with the plate-like member 401 or the plate-like member 402. Another part of the inner fin 420 has a surface normal direction along the x-axis, and is a portion connecting the plate-like member 401 and the plate-like member 402. Since this part can be referred to as an “inner pillar” formed inside the cool storage material container 400, it will be referred to as an “inner pillar 421” below.

  The entire thickness of the inner fin 420 including the inner pillar 421 is uniform. In FIG. 2, the thickness is indicated as “T12”. T12 is smaller than T11. That is, in this embodiment, the thickness (T11) of the inner pillar 210 formed inside the tube 200 is thicker than the thickness (T12) of the inner pillar 421 formed inside the cool storage material container 400. Yes. Thereby, the intensity | strength of the tube 200 in the junction part of the tube 200 and the cool storage material container 400 is further raised compared with the intensity | strength of the cool storage material container 400 in the part.

  Note that the thickness (T11) of the inner column 210 may be larger than the thickness (T12) of the inner column 421 in the entire tube 200 and the regenerator container 400 as in the present embodiment. 200 and the cool storage material container 400 may be only in a portion in contact with each other.

  In FIG. 2, the interval between the inner pillars 421 (also referred to as the arrangement pitch of the inner pillars 421 along the x-axis) is indicated as “P2”. The interval is the same for all the inner pillars 421. P2 is larger than P1. That is, in this embodiment, the interval (P1) between the plurality of inner pillars 210 formed inside the tube 200 is narrower than the interval (P2) between the plurality of inner columns 421 formed inside the cool storage material container 400. It has become. Thereby, the intensity | strength of the tube 200 in the junction part of the tube 200 and the cool storage material container 400 is further raised compared with the intensity | strength of the cool storage material container 400 in the part.

  The interval (P1) between the inner pillars 210 may be narrower than the interval (P2) between the inner pillars 421 in the entire tube 200 and the regenerator container 400 as in this embodiment. 200 and the cool storage material container 400 may be only in a portion in contact with each other.

  By the way, when the refrigerant is evaporated inside the tube 200, the temperature of the tube 200 and the cool storage material container 400 is lowered to 0 ° C. or lower. For this reason, the condensed water which generate | occur | produced may freeze and expand in the junction part between the tube 200 and the cool storage material container 400. FIG. As a result, each member is expanded by the expanded frozen water. If the tube 200 is damaged due to deformation, the refrigerant leaks from the damaged tube, and there is a concern that the evaporator 10 may not function.

  As a countermeasure for this, as described above, the evaporator 10 according to this embodiment is at least a portion where the tube 200 and the cool storage material container 400 are in contact with each other, and the strength of the tube 200 is that of the cool storage material container 400. It is comprised so that it may become higher than intensity | strength. For this reason, even if the condensed water freezes and expands at the joint portion, the cold storage container 400 having a lower strength is deformed more than the tube 200 and is damaged earlier. Since the freezing and expansion of the dew condensation water are absorbed by deformation of the cold storage material container 400, the tube 200 is not damaged. Thereby, although there exists a possibility that the cool storage material container 400 may be in the state which cannot exhibit a cool storage function, it becomes possible to continue exhibiting the function of the evaporator 10 after that.

  Thus, in the evaporator 10 according to the present embodiment, it is possible to prevent the tube 200 from being damaged by freezing by making the strength of the tube 200 higher than the strength of the cold storage material container 400. . Note that “the strength of the tube 200 should be higher than the strength of the regenerator container 400” means that the amount of deformation of the member (the amount of depression) when a certain pressure is applied to a certain area in the joint portion. ) Means that the deformation amount of the tube 200 is smaller than the deformation amount of the cold storage material container 400.

  In this embodiment, the plate thickness of the members (plate members 401 and 402) constituting the tube 200 is increased, and the interval between the inner pillars 210 formed in the tube 200 is reduced. The strength of the tube 200 is made higher than the strength of the cool storage material container 400 by three measures of increasing the thickness of the inner pillar 210. It is good also as an aspect which replaced with such an aspect and employ | adopted only one or two of the said 3 measures.

  Further, the strength of the tube 200 may be made higher than the strength of the cold storage material container 400 by making the strength of the material forming the tube 200 higher than the strength of the material forming the cold storage material container 400. The “material strength” in this case refers to tensile strength or shear strength. For example, stainless steel having high strength may be used as the material of the tube 200, and aluminum having low strength may be used as the material of the cold storage material container 400. Such a measure by selecting a material may be adopted together with the above three measures or instead of the above three measures.

  In the above description, the configuration in which the plurality of protrusions 410 are formed in the cool storage material container 400 has been described. However, the cool storage material container 400 may have a configuration in which the protrusions 410 are not formed. That is, the whole part of the regenerator container 400 that faces the tube 200 may be a flat surface, and the surface may be joined in contact with the tube 200.

  The present embodiment has been described above with reference to specific examples. However, the present disclosure is not limited to these specific examples. Those in which those skilled in the art appropriately modify the design of these specific examples are also included in the scope of the present disclosure as long as they have the features of the present disclosure. Each element included in each of the specific examples described above and their arrangement, conditions, shape, and the like are not limited to those illustrated, and can be changed as appropriate. Each element included in each of the specific examples described above can be appropriately combined as long as no technical contradiction occurs.

10: Evaporator 200: Tube 400: Cold storage material container CM: Cold storage material

Claims (5)

An evaporator (10) for cooling air by heat exchange with a refrigerant,
A plurality of tubes (200) through which refrigerant passes;
A cold storage material container (400) disposed between the tubes and containing a cold storage material (CM) therein;
An evaporator configured such that the strength of the tube is higher than the strength of the cold storage material container in a portion where the tube and the cold storage material container are in contact with each other.   The evaporator according to claim 1, wherein a plate thickness of a member constituting the tube is larger than a plate thickness of a member constituting the cold storage material container.   The evaporator according to claim 1, wherein a strength of a material forming the tube is higher than a strength of a material forming the cold storage material container.   The space | interval of the inner pillars (210) formed in multiple numbers inside the said tube is narrower than the space | interval of the internal pillars (421) formed in multiple numbers inside the said cool storage material container. Evaporator.   The evaporator according to claim 1, wherein a thickness of an inner column formed inside the tube is larger than a thickness of an inner column formed inside the cold storage material container.

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