JP3298691B2 - Refrigerant recovery device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a refrigerant recovery device for recovering refrigerant in a refrigerating cycle device such as a room air conditioner or a car air conditioner. TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a refrigerant recovery device provided with a suction-side recovery tank.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In order to maintain and protect the global environment, a refrigerant recovery device has been developed which collects refrigerant used in a refrigeration cycle device such as a room air conditioner or a car air conditioner and prevents the refrigerant from being released into the atmosphere. I have.

A conventional refrigerant recovery system employs a refrigerant direct recovery system in which refrigerant recovered from a refrigeration cycle device is directly sucked into a compressor for recovery, and is configured as shown in FIG.

This refrigerant recovery apparatus includes a refrigerant recovery circuit 2 connectable to an outdoor unit 1 of a split type air conditioner, which is a refrigeration cycle apparatus to be recovered. The suction side of the recovery compressor 3 of the refrigerant recovery circuit 2 is connected to the outdoor unit 1 via the recovered refrigerant inlet valve 4.
Connected to. Reference numeral 5 denotes a compressor of the outdoor unit 1, 6 denotes a condenser, and 7 denotes an expansion mechanism.

[0005] The refrigerant recovered by the recovery compressor 3 is compressed here and discharged to the oil separator 8, where oil is separated from the discharged refrigerant gas. The separated oil is returned to the recovery compressor 3 via the return valve 9.

On the other hand, the refrigerant gas separated by the oil separator 8 is subsequently sent to a condenser 10 where it is condensed and liquefied. Reference numeral 11 denotes a blower.

[0007] The refrigerant liquid liquefied in the condenser 10 is subsequently recovered via a receiver 12 and a dryer 13 from a recovered refrigerant outlet valve 14 to a refrigerant recovery container 15 as a refrigerant recovery tank and stored.

In the conventional refrigerant recovery device, the suction side of the recovery compressor 3 is connected to the outdoor unit 1 of the split type air conditioner via the recovery refrigerant inlet valve 4, so that the refrigerant in the refrigeration cycle of the air conditioner is removed. And the lubricating oil in the compressor 5 is directly sucked into the recovery compressor 3.

When the refrigerant sucked into the recovery compressor 3 is in a liquid state and has a liquid refrigerant, the refrigerant is compressed, and the recovery compressor 3 is in an abnormal operating state. Becomes excessive. If the type of the lubricating oil for lubricating the recovery compressor 3 and the air conditioner compressor 5 is different, the life of the recovery compressor 3 may be impaired, which may cause damage.

For this reason, there is a refrigerant recovery device in which an oil separator or an accumulator is provided on the suction side of the recovery compressor 3 (see Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 3-73880 and Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 3-105180). This refrigerant recovery device separates the refrigerant and lubricating oil recovered from the refrigeration cycle device by an oil separator, while the separated refrigerant is guided to an accumulator. The accumulator is configured to collect liquid refrigerant and lubricating oil from the discharge-side oil separator, and store the collected liquid refrigerant and lubricating oil.

[0011]

In the conventional refrigerant recovery apparatus, an oil separator and an accumulator are provided on the suction side of the recovery compressor, respectively, and a circuit for returning the lubricating oil from the discharge-side oil separator to the inlet side of the accumulator. Is connected, the piping on the suction side of the recovery compressor is complicated, and the refrigerant recovery structure of the refrigerant recovery device is complicated.

In the conventional refrigerant recovery apparatus, there is a possibility that the lubricating oil of the air conditioner compressor and the lubricating oil of the recovery compressor may be mixed and supplied to the recovery compressor. There is a risk of shortening the life of the.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and simplifies a suction-side refrigerant recovery structure of a recovery compressor and prevents lubricating oil from being sucked into the recovery compressor together with the recovered refrigerant liquid. It is an object of the present invention to provide a refrigerant recovery device which prevents the refrigerant in advance and does not impair the life of the compressor.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a refrigerant recovery apparatus in which the suction-side recovery tank has the functions of an oil separator and an accumulator so that the refrigerant can be recovered efficiently and efficiently.

[0015]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a refrigerant recovery apparatus for compressing a recovered refrigerant and a compressor for compressing the recovered refrigerant. A discharge-side oil separator that separates the oil component from the refrigerant gas discharged from the heat exchanger, a heat exchanger that condenses the refrigerant gas from the oil separator, and a refrigerant that collects and stores the refrigerant liquid liquefied by the heat exchanger In a refrigerant recovery device provided with a recovery tank and provided on a suction side of the recovery compressor, a suction side recovery tank for separating lubricating oil from the recovered refrigerant and gasifying a liquid refrigerant, the suction side recovery tank is a tank case. Inside is partitioned into a refrigerant recovery chamber and a gas chamber by a partition plate having a number of small holes,
The gas chamber is provided with a refrigerant suction pipe of a recovery compressor, while the refrigerant recovery chamber is provided with two refrigerant recovery pipes separated from each other, and the two refrigerant recovery pipes are provided with a split type, which is a refrigeration cycle device to be recovered. The gas pipe and the liquid pipe of the outdoor unit of the air conditioner are configured to be connectable.

Further, in order to solve the above-mentioned problem, a refrigerant recovery device according to the present invention includes, in addition to the contents described in claim 1, two refrigerant recovery pipes as described in claim 2.
It comprises a refrigerant recovery pipe having an oil return hole and entering from the bottom of the tank case and terminating and opening in the middle of the refrigerant recovery chamber, and a refrigerant recovery pipe opening to the side of the tank case.

[0017]

In the refrigerant recovery apparatus of the present invention, on the suction side of the recovery compressor, suction side recovery having both functions of an oil separator and an accumulator for separating lubricating oil from the recovered refrigerant and gasifying the liquid refrigerant is provided. A tank is provided to prevent the lubricating oil recovered in the recovery tank from being supplied to the recovery compressor beforehand and reliably. On the other hand, the refrigerant gas gasified in the suction side recovery tank is used for recovery compressor. Therefore, there is no danger of liquid compression occurring in the recovery compressor, and the life of the compressor can be extended without impairing its life.

Further, since the suction side of the recovery compressor need only be provided with a recovery tank having both functions of an oil separator and an accumulator, the refrigerant recovery structure on the suction side of the recovery compressor is not complicated. In addition, the refrigerant can be simplified and the refrigerant can be efficiently and efficiently recovered from the refrigeration cycle device.

Further, since two refrigerant recovery pipes are separately provided in the refrigerant recovery chamber of the suction side recovery tank, the gas pipe and the liquid pipe of the outdoor unit of the split type air conditioner which is the refrigeration cycle apparatus to be recovered are provided. The recovered refrigerant is quickly recovered into the refrigerant recovery chamber through each of the above, and the collision, agitation, and expansion of the recovered refrigerant can be performed with high efficiency, and the separation of the lubricating oil and the gasification of the liquid refrigerant are reliably performed. be able to.

[0020]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a refrigerant recovery apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an example of a refrigerant recovery apparatus according to the present invention.
Is configured to be connectable to an outdoor unit 21 of, for example, a split type air conditioner as a refrigeration cycle device. Outdoor unit 21
The compressor 22, the outdoor heat exchanger 23 and the expansion mechanism 24 are sequentially connected, and the outdoor unit 21 is connected to the suction side recovery tank 26 of the refrigerant recovery circuit 20. Specifically, the suction-side recovery tank 26 has two refrigerant recovery pipes 27, 27 on the suction side of the compressor 22 and on the downstream side of the expansion mechanism 24.
28. Each of the refrigerant recovery pipes 27 and 28 has refrigerant inlet valves 30 and 31 in the middle, and one is mainly distinguished as a liquid refrigerant and the other is a gas refrigerant.

The suction side recovery tank 26 has both functions of an oil separator and an accumulator.
The refrigerant recovered inside is separated into lubricating oil and refrigerant, while the liquid refrigerant is gasified. The refrigerant gas gasified in the suction side recovery tank 26 is sucked into the recovery compressor 34 via the refrigerant suction pipe 33 and is compressed therein.

The refrigerant compressed by the recovery compressor 34 is then sent to an oil separator 35, where the discharged refrigerant is separated into an oil (lubricating oil) component and a refrigerant gas component. The oil separated by the oil separator 35 is returned to the recovery compressor 34 via the oil return passage 36. An oil return valve 37 is provided in the oil return passage 36.

On the other hand, the refrigerant gas separated by the oil separator 35 is guided to a heat exchanger 38, where it is blown by a blower 39.
The heat is exchanged and condensed by the operation of. The refrigerant liquid condensed and liquefied in the heat exchanger 38 is subsequently sent to a receiver 40, where it is temporarily stored, and then, through a dryer 41, from a recovery refrigerant outlet valve 43 to a refrigerant recovery container 45 as a refrigerant recovery tank. It is sent and collected in the collection container 45.
Therefore, it is possible to prevent the collected refrigerant from being released into the atmosphere.

The suction side recovery tank 26 provided on the suction side of the recovery compressor 34 has a partition plate 48 interposed in a sealed tank case 47 as shown in FIG. Are divided into a refrigerant recovery chamber 50 and a gas chamber 51. The partition plate 48 has, for example, a convex curved surface (or spherical surface), and a large number of small holes 52 are formed in the partition plate 48 as shown in FIG. Is the gas chamber 51
Is communicated to. The partition plate 48 is provided at an upper portion in the tank case 47, and has a function of separating oil refrigerant and a function of converting liquid refrigerant into gas refrigerant.

The refrigerant recovery chamber 50 of the suction side recovery tank 26 is provided with two refrigerant recovery tubes 27 as liquid tubes and a refrigerant recovery tube 28 as gas tubes. The refrigerant recovery pipe 28 as a gas pipe enters the cooling and recovery chamber 50 from the bottom of the suction-side recovery tank 26, terminates in the refrigerant recovery chamber 50, and opens. An oil return hole 54 for extracting oil (lubricating oil) accumulated in the refrigerant recovery chamber 50 to the outside is formed in the refrigerant recovery pipe 28 near the bottom.

Next, the operation of the refrigerant recovery device will be described.

When recovering refrigerant from a refrigerant recovery refrigeration cycle, for example, a split type air conditioner, the outdoor unit 2
The suction side of the compressor 22 and the downstream side of the expansion mechanism 24 are connected to the suction side recovery tank 26 of the refrigerant recovery circuit 20 via the refrigerant recovery pipes 27 and 28 and the refrigerant inlet valves 30 and 31.

With the outdoor unit 21 connected to the refrigerant recovery circuit 20, the recovery compressor 34 and the blower 39 are operated. By this operation, the refrigerant to be recovered in the outdoor unit 21 is sucked into the refrigerant recovery chamber 50 of the suction-side recovery tank 26 through the refrigerant recovery pipes 27 and 28.

The refrigerant sucked into the refrigerant recovery chamber 50 contains oil for lubricating the compressor, and the refrigerant may be in a liquid state. The oil-containing refrigerant is guided to the refrigerant recovery chamber 50 of the suction-side recovery tank 26 and collides with the inner wall and the partition wall of the suction-side recovery tank 26. The refrigerant expands and is gasified.

The gasified refrigerant is supplied to the small holes 52 of the partition plate 48.
From the gas chamber 51, and then sucked into the recovery compressor 34 from the gas chamber 51 and compressed. The refrigerant compressed by the recovery compressor 34 is discharged to a discharge-side oil separator 35, and the oil separator 35
The lubricating oil contained in the discharged refrigerant is separated. The oil is returned to the recovery compressor 34 via the separated lubricating oil return passage 36.

On the other hand, the refrigerant separated by the oil separator 35 is subsequently sent to a heat exchanger (condenser) 38, where it is condensed and liquefied by the operation of a blower 39. The liquefied refrigerant liquid is temporarily stored in the receiver 40, then sent to the refrigerant recovery container 45 from the recovery refrigerant outlet valve 43 via the dryer 41, and is recovered and stored in the recovery container 45.

Incidentally, the lubricating oil separated in the refrigerant recovery chamber 50 which is the oil separation chamber of the suction side recovery tank 26 is stored at the bottom of the recovery tank 26. After the collected lubricating oil has been collected, the refrigerant inlet valve 3
0, 31 is closed, the outdoor unit 21 of the air conditioner, which is the refrigerant recovery refrigeration cycle, is removed, and the refrigerant inlet valve 31 is opened again. Can be recovered.

FIG. 4 shows another embodiment of the refrigerant recovery apparatus according to the present invention.

The refrigerant recovery apparatus shown in this embodiment has an on-off valve 55 between the suction side recovery tank 26 having an oil separator and an accumulator function and the recovery compressor 34.
Since other configurations are not substantially different from those shown in one embodiment, the same reference numerals are given and the description is omitted.

This embodiment is suitable for the case where there is a possibility of reusing the air conditioner which is a refrigerant recovery refrigeration cycle, and the lubricating oil of the air conditioner compressor 22 collected in the suction side recovery tank 26. Is suitable for returning to the outdoor unit 21 side.

When returning the lubricating oil recovered in the suction side tank 26 to the outdoor unit 21 after the refrigerant recovery, the on-off valve 55 is closed and the compressor 22 of the air conditioner is driven. By driving the compressor 22, lubricating oil can be returned to the compressor 22 side.

[0038]

As described above, in the refrigerant recovery apparatus according to the present invention, an oil separator / accumulator for separating lubricating oil from the recovered refrigerant and gasifying the liquid refrigerant is provided on the suction side of the recovery compressor. A suction-side recovery tank with both functions is provided.The lubricating oil recovered in this recovery tank can be prevented from being supplied to the recovery compressor beforehand and reliably. Since the converted refrigerant gas is guided to the recovery compressor, there is no risk of liquid compression occurring in the recovery compressor, and the life of the compressor can be extended without impairing its life.

Further, since the suction side of the recovery compressor need only be provided with a recovery tank having both functions of an oil separator and an accumulator, the refrigerant recovery structure on the suction side of the recovery compressor is not complicated. In addition, the refrigerant can be simplified and the refrigerant can be efficiently and efficiently recovered from the refrigeration cycle device.

Further, since two refrigerant recovery pipes are separately provided in the refrigerant recovery chamber of the suction side recovery tank, the gas pipe and the liquid pipe of the outdoor unit of the split type air conditioner, which is a refrigeration cycle apparatus to be recovered, are provided. The recovered refrigerant is quickly recovered in the refrigerant recovery chamber through each of the refrigerant recovery chambers, and the recovered refrigerant expands when the recovered refrigerant is guided to the gas chamber from the many small holes of the partition plate through the refrigerant recovery chamber. In addition, the collision and agitation of the recovered refrigerant are repeated, so that the lubricating oil separating operation and the promotion of gasification of the liquid refrigerant can be performed efficiently and reliably.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram showing one embodiment of a refrigerant recovery device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic longitudinal sectional view showing a suction side recovery tank structure provided in the refrigerant recovery device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a view showing a partition plate incorporated in the suction-side recovery tank shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a circuit diagram showing another embodiment of the refrigerant recovery device according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a conventional refrigerant recovery device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 20 Refrigerant recovery apparatus 21 Outdoor unit (Refrigeration cycle to collect refrigerant) 22 Compressor for air conditioner 26 Suction side recovery tank 27, 28 Refrigerant recovery pipe 30, 31 Refrigerant inlet valve 33 Refrigerant suction pipe 34 Recovery compressor 35 Oil separator 36 Oil return passage 37 Oil return valve 38 Heat exchanger (Condenser) 40 Receiver 43 Recovered refrigerant outlet valve 45 Refrigerant recovery container (Refrigerant recovery tank) 47 Tank case 48 Partition plate 50 Refrigerant recovery chamber (Oil separation chamber) 51 Gas chamber 52 Small hole 55 On-off valve

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A recovery compressor that compresses a recovered refrigerant, a discharge-side oil separator that separates oil from refrigerant gas discharged from the compressor, and a heat exchanger that condenses refrigerant gas from the oil separator. And a refrigerant recovery tank for recovering and storing the refrigerant liquid liquefied by the heat exchanger, wherein a recovery refrigerant is provided on the suction side of the recovery compressor.
To separate the lubricating oil and gasify the liquid refrigerant.
In the refrigerant recovery device provided with a suction- side recovery tank,
-Side collection tank has many small holes inside the tank case
Divided into a refrigerant recovery chamber and a gas chamber by a partition plate
The gas chamber is equipped with a refrigerant suction pipe for the recovery compressor.
On the other hand, two refrigerant recovery tubes are separated from the refrigerant recovery chamber.
Refrigeration cycle to be collected
Pipe of the outdoor unit of the split type air conditioner
And a liquid tube connected thereto . 2. The two refrigerant recovery pipes have oil return holes.
Together with the refrigerant recovery chamber
A refrigerant recovery pipe that terminates and opens halfway, and a tank case
The refrigerant recovery device according to claim 1, comprising a refrigerant recovery pipe that opens to a side portion .