JPH05172261A - Flow path selector valve - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a multi-way selector valve (four ways or more) with adjustability for the flow path resistance. CONSTITUTION:A flow path selector valve is composed of a cylindrical body 50 with the end 56 left open and a cylindrical valve element 53 which is inserted in the body 50 and rotates therein, wherein the peripheral wall of the valve element is provided with a plurality of inside openings 61, 62, 63, which are put in communication with the outside opening 51 furnished at the peripheral wall of the body 50 when the valve element 53 rotates, and the flow path resistances of these inside openings are made variable.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a flow path switching valve for switching the flow direction of fluid, and more particularly to controlling the flow of refrigerant in a refrigeration system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a flow path switching valve of this type, there is JP-A-3-39869. The structure of the flow path switching valve 1 shown in this publication is shown in FIG.

A valve body 3 is housed in a main body 2 of the flow path (three-way) switching valve 1. A shaft 4 projects above the valve body 3, and an electric motor 5 is connected to the shaft 4.

In the state of FIG. 13, the first pipe 6
The fluid (refrigerant) flowing into the switching valve 1 from the first opening 7 of the main body 2-the hollow portion 8 of the valve body 3-the opening 9 of the valve body 3-the main body 2
Is guided to the second pipe 11 through the second opening 10 (see solid arrow). On the other hand, in the state of FIG.
Is rotated by 180 °, the third opening 12 of the main body 2 and the opening 9 of the valve body 3 communicate with each other, and the fluid flowing from the first pipe 6 into the switching valve 1 has the opening 7 of the main body 2−the valve body 3 Hollow part 8
-Opening 9 of the valve body 3-Third through the third opening 12 of the main body 2
It is led to the pipe 14 (see the alternate long and short dash line arrow).

[0005]

In the switching valve disclosed in this publication, since only one opening 9 is provided in the valve body 3, this opening 9 communicates with the second opening 10 of the main body 2. Or, there is no choice but to communicate with the third opening 12, and it has only a function as a so-called "three-way switching valve".

Therefore, it is difficult to act as a "four-way switching valve" or a "five-way switching valve" and to change the flow path resistance value.

An object of the present invention is to make it possible to adjust the flow path resistance in such a flow path switching valve and also to use it as a multiway (four or more) switching valve. It is a thing.

[0008]

To achieve this object, the present invention relates to a cylindrical main body having an open end and an opening in a peripheral wall, and a cylindrical main body inserted into the main body to rotate in the main body. A cylindrical valve body that is closed, and a cap that closes the end of the main body and is connected to a pipe, and the valve body has an opening that is connected to the opening of the main body by the rotation of the valve body and has a different flow resistance. A plurality of them are provided.

[0009]

The rotation position of the valve body changes the opening of the valve body connected to the opening of the main body, whereby the amount of fluid passing through both openings is changed by the inner opening.

[0010]

2 is a heat source side unit having a compressor 21, a heat source side heat exchanger 22 and a gas-liquid separator 23, and 24, 25 and 26 are use side units having a use side heat exchanger 27. , 28 are the use side units 24, 2
The air conditioner 29 is configured by a branch kit arranged between the heat source side unit 20 and the heat source side unit 20.

A gas pipe 30 at one end of the heat source side heat exchanger 22 has a discharge pipe 32 branched from a refrigerant discharge pipe 31 of the compressor 21 and a suction pipe 34 branched from a refrigerant suction pipe 33.
And a branch connection via a three-way switching valve 35. The inter-unit pipe 36 connecting the heat source side unit 20 and the branch kit 28 is a high pressure gas pipe 37 branched from the refrigerant discharge pipe 31.
And a low pressure gas pipe 38 branched from the refrigerant suction pipe 33,
The heat source side heat exchanger 22 includes a liquid pipe 39 and a liquid pipe 40 connected to the liquid pipe 39.

The switching kit 28 includes a capillary tube 43 connecting the liquid branch pipe 41 and the high pressure gas branch pipe 42.
And a flow path switching valve 46 according to the present invention, to which the low pressure gas branch pipe 44, the high pressure gas branch pipe 42, and the refrigerant pipe 45 connected to the use side unit 24 are connected. Details will be described later.

Further, the gas pipe 47 of each utilization side heat exchanger 27 is connected to the above-mentioned refrigerant pipe 46, and the liquid pipe 48 is provided with a refrigerant decompressor 49 such as an electric expansion valve.

FIG. 1 shows the above-mentioned flow path switching valve 46. Reference numeral 50 denotes a cylindrical main body having an open end 56, and the peripheral wall of the main body 50 is changed in height by 90 °. A lower opening 51 and an upper opening 52 are provided at the positions. A low pressure gas branch pipe 44 is attached to the opening 51, and a high pressure gas branch pipe 42 is attached to the opening 52.

Reference numeral 53 denotes a hollow (cylindrical) valve body which is inserted into the main body 50, and a shaft 54 provided on the upper portion thereof.
Penetrates the upper part of the main body 50 and projects upward. An electric motor 55 is connected to the shaft 54. The eleventh opening 61, the twelfth opening 62, and the thirteenth opening 63 are also provided at positions where the height of the peripheral wall of the valve body 53 is changed.
And a twenty-first opening 71. Moreover, the eleventh opening 61 and the twenty-first opening 71 are provided at positions displaced by about 90 °. The diameter dimension of the eleventh to thirteenth openings, that is, the flow resistance is set to 62>63> 61, and the diameter dimension of the eleventh opening 61 is set to match the diameter dimension of the twenty-first opening 71.

Reference numeral 64 denotes a cap attached to the end portion (opening) 56 of the main body 50, to which a refrigerant pipe 45 connected to the use side unit 24 is connected.

The flow path switching valve 46 and the switching kit 28 are equivalently shown by a refrigerant pipe as shown in FIG. 3, and the eleventh opening 61 with a small flow resistance (large opening area) does not have a capillary tube. The twelfth opening 62 having a large flow resistance is connected to the first refrigerant passage 81, and the flow resistance is smaller than the twelfth opening 62 and larger than the eleventh opening 61 to the second refrigerant passage 82 connected to the capillary tube 92 having a large flow resistance. The thirteenth openings 63 correspond to the third refrigerant passages 83, to which the capillary tubes 93 having a small flow resistance are connected. The 21st opening 71 corresponds to the fourth refrigerant passage 84 connected to the high pressure gas branch pipe 42. Then, when the electric motor 55 is energized, the refrigerant pipe 45 connected to the use side units 24, 25, and 26 is connected to the first to fourth refrigerant passages 81 and 8.
2, 83 and 84 are selectively switched and connected.
This switching will be described in the driving operation described later.

Next, the driving operation will be described. When all the rooms are to be cooled at the same time, the three-way switching valve 35 of the heat source side heat exchanger 22 is set to the solid line state shown in FIG. 2, and the flow path switching valve 46 of the switching kit 28 is set to the state shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. To do. In the switching valve 46, the eleventh opening 61 and the lower opening 51 communicate with each other, and the other openings 62, 63, 71 are set to a closed state. Then, in FIG. 2, the refrigerant discharged from the compressor 21 sequentially flows through the discharge pipe 31, the discharge pipe 32, the three-way switching valve 35, the heat source side heat exchanger 22, and is condensed and liquefied there, and then the liquid pipe 39-the fully opened state. Of the auxiliary refrigerant decompressor 100-the liquid pipe 40 and the liquid decompressor 49 of each of the use side units 24, 25 and 26 through the liquid branch pipe 41 of the flow path switching valve 46,
The pressure is reduced here. After that, after evaporating and vaporizing in each of the use side heat exchangers 26, the refrigerant pipe 45-the hollow portion 59 of the valve body 53 in the flow path switching valve 46-the eleventh opening 61-the lower opening 51-.
Low-pressure gas branch pipe 44-low-pressure gas pipe 38-refrigerant suction pipe 33
It is sucked into the compressor 21 through the gas-liquid separator 23 in sequence.
In this way, each usage-side heat exchanger 27 acting as an evaporator
All rooms are cooled at the same time.

On the contrary, when heating all the rooms at the same time, the three-way switching valve 35 is set to the broken line state shown in FIG.
The switching valve 46 is set to the state shown in FIGS. As a result, in the switching valve 46, the 21st opening 71 and the upper opening 52 communicate with each other, and the other openings 61, 62, 63 are set to the closed state. Then, in FIG. 2, the compressor 2
The refrigerant discharged from No. 1 is distributed to the high-pressure gas branch pipe 42 through the discharge pipe 31-high pressure gas pipe 37, and then the upper opening 52 of the switching valve 46-the 21st opening 71-hollow portion 59-the refrigerant pipe 4.
5 to the utilization side heat exchanger 26, where it is condensed and liquefied, and then decompressed by each refrigerant decompressor 49 and the liquid branch pipe 41-
Refrigerant pressure reducer 1 which is merged in the liquid pipe 40 and then fully opened
After passing through 00 to the heat source side heat exchanger 22 to evaporate and vaporize there, the three-way switching valve 35-the suction pipe 38-the gas-liquid separator 23
Is sequentially sucked into the compressor 21. In this way, all the rooms are heated at the same time by each heat exchanger 26 on the use side, which acts as a condenser.

When the operation of the use side units 24, 25, 26 is stopped, the flow path switching valve 46 is set to the state shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, and the lower opening 51 and the twelfth opening 62 are communicated with each other. Then, the high-pressure refrigerant of the usage-side heat exchanger 27 after the heating operation is completed is passed through the two openings 51 and 62 to the low-pressure gas branch pipe 4
The pressure balance is accelerated by gradually leading to 4.

On the other hand, when switching the use side units 24, 25, 26 from the cooling operation to the heating operation, the flow path switching valve 4
6 is set to the state shown in FIGS. 10 and 3, and all the openings 61,
62, 63, 71 are closed for a certain period of time, and the liquid refrigerant from the liquid branch pipe 41 is passed through the refrigerant decompressor 49 to the use side heat exchanger 27.
In order to reduce the refrigerant noise, the high pressure and the low pressure in the refrigeration cycle are prevented from being rapidly mixed.

On the contrary, the use side units 24, 25, 26
When switching from the heating operation to the cooling operation, the flow path switching valve 46 is brought into the state of FIGS. 8 and 9, that is, the above-mentioned “stop state”.

Further, during cooling operation of the use side units 24, 25 and 26, if the refrigerant pressure of the use side heat exchanger 27 is extremely lowered and the use side heat exchanger 27 is likely to freeze, the switching valve 46 is set to 11 and FIG. 12, the flow passage resistance is made larger than that during normal cooling (see FIG. 4 and FIG. 5) to prevent the pressure drop of the use side heat exchanger 27 before it is used side heat exchange. The freezing of the container 27 is suppressed.

Various operating states (including stop)
In the air conditioner in which
Is used to direct the flow of refrigerant to this one flow path switching valve 46.
You can switch it with.

The above-mentioned flow path switching valve is not used only in the air conditioner having the above-mentioned structure.

[0026]

As described above, according to the present invention, a cylindrical main body having an open end and an opening in a peripheral wall, and a cylindrical valve inserted into the main body and rotating in the main body. A body and a cap that closes the end of the main body and is connected to the pipe are provided, and the valve body is provided with a plurality of openings having different flow resistances connected to the opening of the main body by the rotation of the valve body. With this single flow path switching valve, several kinds of flow paths can be switched and the flow path resistance value can be set. Therefore, the refrigerant circuit can be simplified and the cost can be reduced as compared with the case where the flow path switching and the flow path resistance value setting are determined by the combination of a plurality of on-off valves and capillary tubes.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional view of a flow path switching valve showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a refrigerant circuit diagram of an air conditioner using the flow path switching valve shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a main part of FIG.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a flow of a refrigerant during cooling in FIG.

5 is a cross-sectional view showing a state of the flow path switching valve shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing the flow of the refrigerant during heating in FIG.

7 is a cross-sectional view showing a state of the flow path switching valve shown in FIG.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing the flow of the refrigerant when stopped in FIG.

9 is a cross-sectional view showing a state of the flow path switching valve shown in FIG.

10 is a transverse cross-sectional view showing a state of the flow path switching valve after switching from cooling to heating in the air conditioner shown in FIG.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing the flow of the refrigerant during freeze prevention in FIG.

12 is a transverse cross-sectional view showing a state of the flow path switching valve shown in FIG.

FIG. 13 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a conventional switching valve.

[Explanation of symbols]

 42 High-pressure gas branch pipe (pipe) 44 Low-pressure gas branch pipe (pipe) 45 Refrigerant pipe (pipe) 46 Flow path switching valve 50 Main body 51 Upper opening 53 Valve body 56 End 61 First opening 62 Second opening 63 Third opening 64 cap

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A tubular main body having an open end and an opening in a peripheral wall, a tubular valve body inserted into the main body and rotating in the main body, and an end of the main body closed. And a cap to which a pipe is connected, and the valve body is provided with a plurality of openings having different flow path resistances connected to the opening of the main body by the rotation of the valve body. ..