JP2021027245A - Cooling system - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a cooling device that cools a plurality of electronic components by receiving heat with a refrigerant, and to make it possible to adjust the flow rate supplied to each surface area expansion member.SOLUTION: The cooling device includes an evaporator 2 that receives heat from electronic components D using a refrigerant. The evaporator 2 includes a housing 2a with a hollow interior, surface area expansion members 2c installed in an inner space of the housing 2a, each of which expands a contact area with the refrigerant, and a distribution channel unit 2b, which distributes the refrigerant supplied to the inner space of the housing 2a to the respective surface area expansion members 2c and adjusts the pressure loss in the middle of the channel according to the surface area expansion members 2c.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

The present invention relates to a cooling device.

Electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles are equipped with power modules to handle large currents. Such a power module is provided with a large number of electronic components that generate a large amount of heat. Therefore, it is necessary to install a cooling device for cooling electronic components that generate a large amount of heat. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a cooling device that evaporates a refrigerant and cools electronic components by the latent heat of the refrigerant.

JP-A-2015-220363

By the way, in the cooling device as described above, in order to improve the cooling efficiency, it is conceivable to install a surface area expanding member having a large contact area with the refrigerant according to the installation location of the electronic component. The surface area expanding member is a member having a larger contact area with the refrigerant than the projected area, and can efficiently transfer the heat of the electronic component to the refrigerant. In such a case, it is conceivable to supply the refrigerant to each of the plurality of surface area expansion members provided according to the number of electronic components. However, the heat generation temperature of the electronic component, the flow path length from the refrigerant supply port to the surface area expanding member, and the like differ depending on the surface area expanding member. Therefore, if a desired flow rate is not supplied to each surface area expanding member, efficient cooling cannot be performed according to each electronic component.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and in a cooling device that cools a plurality of electronic components by receiving heat with a refrigerant, it is possible to adjust the flow rate supplied to each surface area expansion member. The purpose.

The present invention employs the following configuration as a means for solving the above problems.

In the first invention, a heat receiver that receives the heat of an electronic component with a refrigerant, a heat exhaust device that discharges the heat of the refrigerant to the outside, and the heat receiver and the heat exhaust device are installed in an intermediate portion and described above. A cooling device including a circulation pipe that circulates a refrigerant and a pressure feeding unit that is installed in the middle of the circulation pipe and pumps the refrigerant in the circulation pipe. The heat receiver has a hollow inside. A plurality of housings, a surface area expansion member each of which is installed in the internal space of the housing and expands the contact area with the refrigerant, and a surface area expansion member of each of the refrigerants supplied to the internal space of the housing. A configuration is adopted in which a distribution flow path portion is provided in which the pressure loss in the middle of the flow path is adjusted according to the surface area expansion member.

In the second invention, in the first invention, the distribution flow path portion is provided for each of the surface area expansion members, and the individual pipes connected to the surface area expansion members and the plurality of individual pipes are connected. A configuration is adopted in which a common pipe and an orifice plate provided in the individual pipe and defining the pressure loss are provided.

In the third invention, in the second invention, the longer the flow path length from the supply port to which the refrigerant is supplied to the individual pipe of the housing is, the more the pressure loss in the individual pipe is. A configuration is adopted in which the pressure loss in the middle of the flow path is adjusted so that

In the fourth invention, in the first or second invention, the pressure loss in the middle of the flow path is adjusted so that the flow rate of the refrigerant increases as the surface area expanding member has a higher heat receiving temperature. Adopt the configuration that is.

According to the present invention, the distribution flow path portion in which the pressure loss in the middle of the flow path through which the refrigerant flows is adjusted is provided. Therefore, for example, the flow rate of the refrigerant flowing into the surface area expanding member can be adjusted according to the heat receiving temperature from the electronic component and the flow path length from the refrigerant supply port. Therefore, according to the present invention, for example, it is possible to efficiently and reliably cool electronic components with a small amount of energy, or to evenly cool all electronic components.

It is a schematic diagram which shows the schematic structure of the cooling apparatus in 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is the schematic block diagram of the evaporator provided in the 1st Embodiment of this invention, (a) is the vertical sectional view seen from the back side, (b) is the AA sectional view of (a). is there. It is a vertical cross-sectional view which shows the schematic structure which looked at the back side of the evaporator provided with the cooling device in 2nd Embodiment of this invention.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the cooling device according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

(First Embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a schematic configuration of the cooling device 1 of the first embodiment. The cooling device 1 of the present embodiment is mounted on, for example, an electric vehicle, a hybrid vehicle, or the like, and cools an electronic component D provided in the power control unit. As shown in FIG. 1, the cooling device 1 of the present embodiment includes an evaporator 2 (heat receiver), a condenser 3 (heat exhauster), a circulation pipe 4, and a pump 5 (pump feeding unit). There is.

The evaporator 2 receives heat from the electronic component D and phase-changes a part of the liquid refrigerant X (refrigerant Z) into steam Y (refrigerant Z). In the following description, the side on which the electronic component D is arranged is the front side of the evaporator 2. 2A and 2B are schematic configuration views of an evaporator 2 included in the cooling device 1 of the present embodiment, in which FIG. 2A is a vertical sectional view seen from the back side, and FIG. 2B is an AA sectional view of FIG. 2A. It is a figure.

As shown in FIG. 2, the evaporator 2 includes a housing 2a, a guide pipe 2b, a surface area expansion member 2c, and a guide wall 2d. The housing 2a is a container having a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape in which the projected area seen from the front side is set wider than the projected area seen from the side side. As shown in FIG. 1, in the present embodiment, the evaporator 2 is vertically arranged so that the discharge port 2a6 described later of the housing 2a viewed from the front side faces upward. However, the evaporator 2 can be arranged in another posture such as horizontal placement in which the discharge port 2a6 of the housing 2a viewed from the front side faces the horizontal direction.

The housing 2a made of such a container is hollow, and the internal space is a space for evaporating the liquid refrigerant X. As shown in FIG. 2B, the housing 2a includes a front wall 2a1 and a back wall 2a2 which are arranged so as to face each other with a certain gap in the direction connecting the front side and the back side. Further, as shown in FIG. 2A, the housing 2a is arranged so as to face the pair of side walls 2a3 which are arranged so as to face each other with a certain gap in the width direction and a certain gap in the height direction. It has a wall 2a4 and a bottom wall 2a5.

At the center of the upper wall 2a4 of the housing 2a in the width direction, a discharge port 2a6 (discharge part) for discharging steam Y from the internal space of the housing 2a to the outer space of the housing 2a is provided. That is, the evaporator 2 is provided with a discharge port 2a6 at the upper portion for discharging the steam Y to the outside. Further, a supply port 2a7 for taking the liquid refrigerant X into the internal space of the housing 2a is provided closer to the side wall 2a3 than the center of the bottom wall 2a5 of the housing 2a.

The position where the discharge port 2a6 is provided is not limited to the upper wall 2a4, and the position where the supply port 2a7 is provided is not limited to the bottom wall 2a5. For example, it is also possible to provide the discharge port 2a6 at the upper part of the back wall 2a2 and the supply port 2a7 at the lower part of the back wall 2a2.

Further, in the present embodiment, the outer wall surface of the front wall 2a1 is used as the arrangement area of the electronic component D. For example, the electronic component D is arranged in a state of being in contact with the outer wall surface of the front wall 2a1, and is cooled by transferring the heat generated by itself to the evaporator 2. As shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of electronic components D are arranged on the outer wall surface of the front wall 2a1.

The distribution flow path portion 2b connects the supply port 2a7 and the surface area expansion member 2c, and distributes the liquid refrigerant X supplied to the housing 2a via the supply port 2a7 to the surface area expansion member 2c. The distribution flow path portion 2b includes an individual pipe 2d, a common pipe 2e, and an orifice plate 2f.

The individual pipes 2d are provided for each surface area expansion member 2c and are connected to the surface area expansion member 2c. That is, the number of individual pipes 2d is the same as the number of surface area expansion members 2c. A plurality of individual pipes 2d are connected to the common pipe 2e, and the liquid refrigerant X supplied from the supply port 2a7 is guided to the connected individual pipes 2d. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2A, the surface area expanding members 2c are arranged in two rows. One of these two rows is located closer to the upper wall 2a4 of the housing 2a than the other row, and the other row of these two rows is closer to the bottom wall of the housing 2a than the other row. It is arranged on the side close to 2a5. Further, in each row, the plurality of surface area expansion members 2c are arranged in the horizontal direction (direction from one side wall 2a3 of the housing 2a toward the other side wall 2a3). The common pipe 2e is provided for each of these two rows, and two are provided in the present embodiment. It should be noted that these two common pipes 2e are integrated with each other at the root portion on the supply port 2a7 side and connected to the supply port 2a7.

The orifice plate 2f is arranged inside each individual pipe 2d. Each orifice plate 2f is a member of a thin plate provided with an opening. When the area of the opening of the orifice plate 2f is changed, the pressure loss of the liquid refrigerant X in the orifice plate 2f changes, and the flow rate of the liquid refrigerant X passing through the orifice plate 2f changes. Therefore, when the area of the opening of the orifice plate 2f is changed, the flow rate distribution of the liquid refrigerant X supplied from the supply port 2a7 to each individual pipe 2d (that is, each surface area expansion member 2c) changes. By increasing the area of the opening of the orifice plate 2f, the pressure loss in the orifice plate 2f becomes small, and by reducing the area of the opening of the orifice plate 2f, the pressure loss in the orifice plate 2f increases.

The area of the opening of the orifice plate 2f is set according to the flow rate of the liquid refrigerant X to be supplied to the surface area expanding member 2c connected to the individual pipe 2d. That is, the area of the opening of the orifice plate 2f is set so that the liquid refrigerant X of a desired flow rate is supplied to the surface area expanding member 2c connected to the individual pipe 2d provided with the orifice plate 2f. As described above, in the present embodiment, the distribution flow path portion 2b includes an orifice plate 2f that defines the pressure loss in the individual pipe 2d (that is, the pressure loss in the middle of the flow path of the distribution flow path portion 2b).

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2A, the longer the flow path length from the supply port 2a7 to which the liquid refrigerant X of the housing 2a is supplied to the individual pipe 2d, the longer the opening of the orifice plate 2f. The area is set large. That is, in the present embodiment, the distribution flow path portion 2b so that the longer the flow path length from the supply port 2a7 to which the liquid refrigerant X of the housing 2a is supplied to the individual pipe 2d, the smaller the pressure loss of the individual pipe 2d. The pressure loss in the middle of the flow path is adjusted.

The longer the flow path length from the supply port 2a7 to the individual pipe 2d, the larger the pressure loss to the individual pipe 2d. Therefore, if the pressure loss is not adjusted by the orifice plate 2f, the individual pipe 2d from the supply port 2a7 The longer the flow path length up to, the smaller the flow rate of the liquid refrigerant X flowing through the individual pipe 2d. On the other hand, the longer the flow path length from the supply port 2a7 to which the liquid refrigerant X of the housing 2a is supplied to the individual pipe 2d, the smaller the pressure loss of the individual pipe 2d, so that the flow rate of the individual pipe 2d far from the supply port 2a7 Increases, and the flow rate of the individual pipe 2d near the supply port 2a7 decreases. Therefore, if the pressure loss in the middle of the flow path of the distribution flow path portion 2b is adjusted as described above, the flow rate of the liquid refrigerant X supplied to the individual pipe 2d can be made uniform.

The surface area expanding member 2c is arranged inside the housing 2a, and is provided in contact with the inner wall surface of the front wall 2a1 in accordance with the arrangement area of the electronic component D. That is, in the present embodiment, the surface area expansion members 2c are provided in the same number as the electronic components D arranged on the outer wall surface of the front wall 2a1.

These surface area expanding members 2c are formed of microchannels in which a plurality of flow paths are formed or a porous sintered body, and expand the contact area between the liquid refrigerant X and the evaporator 2. is there. That is, the surface area of the surface area expanding member 2c is larger than the surface area of the front wall 2a1 on which the surface area expanding member 2c is arranged. Therefore, by providing the surface area expanding member 2c, the contact area with the liquid refrigerant X is expanded and the cooling efficiency of the electronic component D is improved as compared with the case where the front wall 2a1 is in direct contact with the liquid refrigerant X. Can be made to.

Returning to FIG. 1, the condenser 3 is connected to the evaporator 2 via the circulation pipe 4, and the vapor Y discharged from the evaporator 2 is condensed to change the phase to the liquid refrigerant X. Such a condenser 3 condenses the steam Y by cooling it, for example, by exchanging heat with the outside air, and discharges the heat of the steam Y (refrigerant Z) to the outside. The circulation pipe 4 is an annular flow path pipe that connects the discharge port of the evaporator 2 (the discharge port 2a6 of the housing 2a) and the supply port of the condenser 3, and also connects the discharge port of the condenser 3 and the evaporator 2. Is connected to the supply port (supply port 2a7 of the housing 2a). The pump 5 is arranged between the discharge port of the condenser 3 and the supply port of the evaporator 2, and pumps the liquid refrigerant X from the condenser 3 toward the evaporator 2 via the circulation pipe 4.

In the cooling device 1 of the present embodiment having such a configuration, when the liquid refrigerant X is supplied from the condenser 3 to the evaporator 2 by the pump 5, the liquid refrigerant X is vaporized by the heat of the electronic component D and becomes steam Y. Become. The electronic component D is cooled by the latent heat accompanying the phase change from the liquid refrigerant X to the vapor Y.

The steam Y generated in the evaporator 2 is discharged to the outside of the evaporator 2 from the discharge port 2a6 of the housing 2a, and is supplied to the condenser 3 via the circulation pipe 4. The vapor Y supplied to the condenser 3 undergoes phase change to the liquid refrigerant X by being condensed in the condenser 3, and is again supplied to the evaporator 2 by the pump 5.

The cooling device 1 of the present embodiment as described above includes the evaporator 2 that receives the heat of the electronic component D by the refrigerant Z, the condenser 3 that discharges the heat of the refrigerant Z to the outside, the evaporator 2, and the condenser 3. Is provided at an intermediate portion and a circulation pipe 4 that circulates the refrigerant Z, and a pump 5 that is installed at an intermediate portion of the circulation pipe 4 and pumps the refrigerant Z in the circulation pipe 4. Further, in the cooling device 1 of the present embodiment, a plurality of evaporators 2 are installed in the hollow housing 2a and the internal space of the housing 2a, and each expands the contact area with the refrigerant Z ( The surface area expanding member 2c (the contact area with the refrigerant Z is larger than the projected area) and the refrigerant Z supplied to the internal space of the housing 2a are distributed to the respective surface area expanding members 2c, and the flow path is changed according to the surface area expanding member 2c. It is provided with a distribution flow path portion 2b in which the pressure loss on the way is adjusted.

The cooling device 1 of the present embodiment includes a distribution flow path portion 2b in which a pressure loss is adjusted in the middle of the flow path through which the refrigerant Z flows. Therefore, for example, the flow rate of the liquid refrigerant X flowing into the surface area expanding member 2c can be adjusted according to the flow path length from the supply port 2a7. Therefore, according to the cooling device 1 of the present embodiment, it is possible to uniformly cool all the electronic components D.

Further, in the cooling device 1 of the present embodiment, the distribution flow path portion 2b is provided for each of the surface area expansion members 2c, and the individual pipes 2d connected to the surface area expansion members 2c and the plurality of individual pipes 2d are provided. It is provided with a connected common pipe 2e and an orifice plate 2f provided on the individual pipe 2d and defining a pressure loss. Therefore, according to the cooling device 1 of the present embodiment, the pressure loss in the middle of the flow path of the distribution flow path portion 2b can be easily adjusted by the size of the area of the opening of the orifice plate 2f. ..

Further, in the cooling device 1 of the present embodiment, the distribution flow path portion 2b flows so that the longer the flow path length from the supply port 2a7 of the housing 2a to the individual pipe 2d, the smaller the pressure loss in the individual pipe 2d. The pressure loss in the middle of the road is adjusted. Therefore, the flow rate of the individual pipe 2d far from the supply port 2a7 is relatively increased, the flow rate of the individual pipe 2d near the supply port 2a7 is relatively decreased, and the flow rate of the liquid refrigerant X supplied to the individual pipe 2d is made uniform. can do.

In the cooling device 1 of the present embodiment, as described above, the distribution flow path is such that the longer the flow path length from the supply port 2a7 of the housing 2a to the individual pipe 2d, the smaller the pressure loss in the individual pipe 2d. The pressure loss in the middle of the flow path of the part 2b is adjusted. However, for example, the pressure loss in the middle of the flow path of the distribution flow path portion 2b may be adjusted so that the flow rate of the liquid refrigerant X increases as the surface area expanding member 2c has a higher heat receiving temperature. In such a case, the pressure loss of the distribution flow path portion 2b connected to the surface area expansion member 2c having a high heat generation temperature and a high heat reception temperature of the electronic component D becomes the surface area expansion member 2c having a relatively low heat reception temperature. The area of the opening of the orifice plate 2f is adjusted so as to be lower than the connected distribution flow path portion 2b. In such a case, since a large amount of the liquid refrigerant X is supplied to the surface area expanding member 2c having a high heat receiving temperature, it is possible to positively cool only the electronic component D having a high heat generation temperature. It is possible to prevent unnecessary cooling of the electronic component D having a low heat generation temperature. Therefore, the electronic component D can be efficiently cooled with a small amount of energy as a whole, and the pump 5 can be miniaturized.

(Second Embodiment)
Next, the second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In the description of the present embodiment, the description of the same parts as those of the first embodiment will be omitted or simplified.

FIG. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing a schematic configuration of the evaporator 2 included in the cooling device of the present embodiment as viewed from the back side. As shown in this figure, in the evaporator 2 of the present embodiment, the orifice plate 2f of the first embodiment is not provided for the individual pipe 2d, and the flow path width of the individual pipe 2d is changed. As a result, the pressure loss in the individual pipe 2d is adjusted. In the present embodiment, the longer the flow path length from the supply port 2a7 to which the liquid refrigerant X of the housing 2a is supplied to the individual pipe 2d, the larger the flow path width of the individual pipe 2d is set. That is, in the present embodiment, the distribution flow path portion 2b so that the longer the flow path length from the supply port 2a7 to which the liquid refrigerant X of the housing 2a is supplied to the individual pipe 2d, the smaller the pressure loss of the individual pipe 2d. The pressure loss in the middle of the flow path is adjusted. According to the cooling device of the present embodiment as described above, the pressure loss in the middle of the flow path of the distribution flow path portion 2b can be adjusted without providing the orifice plate 2f.

In the cooling device of the present embodiment, as described above, the distribution flow path portion so that the longer the flow path length from the supply port 2a7 of the housing 2a to the individual pipe 2d, the smaller the pressure loss in the individual pipe 2d. The pressure loss in the middle of the flow path of 2b is adjusted. However, for example, the pressure loss in the middle of the flow path of the distribution flow path portion 2b may be adjusted so that the flow rate of the liquid refrigerant X increases as the surface area expanding member 2c has a higher heat receiving temperature. In such a case, the pressure loss of the distribution flow path portion 2b connected to the surface area expansion member 2c having a high heat generation temperature and a high heat reception temperature of the electronic component D becomes the surface area expansion member 2c having a relatively low heat reception temperature. The flow path width of the individual pipe 2d is adjusted so as to be lower than the connected distribution flow path portion 2b.

Although the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described above with reference to the accompanying drawings, it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. The various shapes and combinations of the constituent members shown in the above-described embodiment are examples, and can be variously changed based on design requirements and the like without departing from the gist of the present invention.

For example, in the above embodiment, the cooling device in which the refrigerant Z undergoes a phase change into the liquid refrigerant X and the vapor Y and the latent heat of the refrigerant Z is used to cool the electronic component D has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, it is also possible to cool the electronic component D by using the sensible heat of the refrigerant whose phase does not change in the operating temperature range. In such a case, the refrigerant is not limited to a liquid refrigerant, and a gaseous refrigerant can also be used. When a gaseous refrigerant is used, a pumping unit such as a blower is used instead of the pump 5. When a refrigerant that does not change phase is used, for example, a heat exchanger is used as a heat receiver or a heat exhauster instead of the evaporator 2 or the condenser 3.

Further, in the above embodiment, the configuration in which the widths of the plurality of surface area expansion members 2c are the same has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, it is possible to change the size of the surface area expanding member 2c according to the shape of the electronic component D to be cooled and the amount of heat generated by the electronic component D. In such a case, for example, it is possible to set the flow path width of the individual pipe 2d so as to match the width of the surface area expanding member 2c.

1 ... Cooling device, 2 ... Evaporator (heat receiver), 2a ... Housing, 2a7 ... Supply port, 2b ... Distribution flow path, 2c ... Surface expansion member, 2d ... Individual piping, 2e ... ... common piping, 2f ... orifice plate, 3 ... condenser (heat exhauster), 4 ... circulation piping, 5 ... pump (pumping part), D ... electronic parts, X ... liquid refrigerant, Y ... … Steam, Z …… refrigerant

Claims (4)

A heat receiver that receives the heat of electronic components with a refrigerant,
A heat exhaust device that discharges the heat of the refrigerant to the outside,
A circulation pipe that circulates the refrigerant while the heat receiver and the heat exhaust device are installed in an intermediate portion.
A cooling device installed in the middle of the circulation pipe and provided with a pumping unit for pumping the refrigerant in the circulation pipe.
The heat receiver
A housing with a hollow inside and
A surface area expanding member that is installed in a plurality of internal spaces of the housing and each expands the contact area with the refrigerant.
It is characterized in that the refrigerant supplied to the internal space of the housing is distributed to each of the surface area expansion members, and the distribution flow path portion is provided with a pressure loss adjusted in the middle of the flow path according to the surface area expansion member. Cooling device. The distribution flow path portion
Individual pipes provided for each of the surface area expansion members and connected to the surface area expansion members,
Common pipes with multiple individual pipes connected and
The cooling device according to claim 1, further comprising an orifice plate provided on the individual pipe and defining the pressure loss. The distribution flow path portion has a pressure loss in the middle of the flow path so that the longer the flow path length from the supply port to which the refrigerant is supplied to the individual pipe of the housing, the smaller the pressure loss in the individual pipe. 2. The cooling device according to claim 2, wherein the cooling device is adjusted. The cooling according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the distribution flow path portion is adjusted for a pressure loss in the middle of the flow path so that the flow rate of the refrigerant increases as the surface area expanding member has a higher heat receiving temperature. apparatus.

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