JPWO2014115240A1 - Refrigerant distributor and heat pump device using the refrigerant distributor - Google Patents

Abstract

A refrigerant distributor 10 for distributing a refrigerant to a plurality of heat transfer tubes 3 constituting the heat exchanger 1, wherein the refrigerant is distributed by a first distributor 20 that distributes the refrigerant into a plurality of parts, and the first distributor 20. And a plurality of two-way branch pipes 30 for branching the refrigerant into two and flowing into the two heat transfer pipes 3.

Description

  The present invention relates to a refrigerant distributor.

  In a heat exchanger that acts as a condenser or an evaporator in a heat pump apparatus such as an air conditioner or a refrigeration apparatus, when the refrigerant flow path has a plurality of paths, a refrigerant distributor that distributes the refrigerant to each path is provided on the refrigerant inlet side. is necessary.

  A distributor is conventionally used as a refrigerant distributor, and each refrigerant distributed by the distributor is caused to flow into each heat transfer tube of the heat exchanger through a capillary tube (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2008-121984 (page 4, FIG. 1)

  As a method for increasing the efficiency of heat exchange in a heat exchanger, it is known to use a circular tube with a reduced diameter as a heat transfer tube or a flat tube in which a plurality of refrigerant channels are formed. If the diameter of the heat transfer tube is reduced and the tube is flattened in this way, the number of heat transfer tubes used in one heat exchanger also increases.

  In Patent Document 1, a plurality of heat transfer tubes are connected to distributors through the capillary tubes, and the end portions serving as refrigerant inlets from the outside are individually connected, and the number of heat exchanger passes and the number of capillary tubes are the same. It is. For this reason, when the number of heat transfer tubes increases and the number of passes increases, the number of capillary tubes also increases accordingly.

  When the number of capillary tubes is increased, it is difficult to handle the capillary tubes, and there is a problem that an arrangement space for mounting the capillary tubes on an actual machine increases. Further, since the cost increases as the number of capillary tubes increases, it is required to reduce the cost increase associated with the diameter reduction and flattening of the heat transfer tubes.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, a refrigerant distributor capable of reducing the number of connections of capillary tubes, reducing the installation space when mounting the capillary tubes on an actual machine, and reducing the cost, and the refrigerant. Provided is a heat pump device using a distributor.

  A refrigerant distributor according to the present invention is a refrigerant distributor for distributing refrigerant to a plurality of heat transfer tubes constituting a heat exchanger, the first distributor for distributing the refrigerant into a plurality of parts, and the first distributor And a plurality of second distributors for branching the refrigerant distributed by the distributor into two and allowing the refrigerant to flow into the two heat transfer tubes.

  According to the present invention, the number of connected capillary tubes can be reduced, and the installation space for mounting the capillary tubes on an actual machine can be made compact and the cost can be reduced.

It is the schematic block diagram which showed the state which connected the refrigerant distributor which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention to the heat exchanger. It is a perspective view of the two-way branch pipe of FIG. It is a perspective view of a circular tube-flat tube joint. It is structure explanatory drawing of the two-way branch pipe of the refrigerant distributor which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the refrigerant circuit of the heat pump apparatus with which the refrigerant distributor which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention is used. It is a figure which shows the structural example which connected the refrigerant distributor which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention to the heat exchanger for the outdoor units of the air conditioner which used the flat tube for the heat exchanger tube. It is the expansion perspective view which looked at the connection part with the refrigerant distributor of the heat exchanger of FIG. 5 from the back side. It is a perspective view of the flat tube of FIG. It is the figure which showed the prior art example which does not use a two-way branch pipe in the heat exchanger of 3 rows structure. It is a block diagram of the refrigerant distributor which concerns on Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the 3rd distributor in the refrigerant distributor of FIG. It is a block diagram of the 2nd divider | distributor in the refrigerant distributor which concerns on Embodiment 3 of this invention. It is a block diagram of the 2nd distributor in the refrigerant distributor in Embodiment 4 of this invention. It is a principal part enlarged view of FIG. 13 (A). It is a figure which shows the structural example which used the header for the 1st divider | distributor.

Embodiment 1 FIG.
FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram illustrating a state in which the refrigerant distributor according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention is connected to a heat exchanger. In FIG. 1 and the drawings to be described later, the same reference numerals denote the same or corresponding parts, which are common throughout the entire specification. Furthermore, the forms of the constituent elements appearing in the entire specification are merely examples and are not limited to these descriptions.

  The heat exchanger 1 includes a plurality of plate-like fins 2 stacked at intervals, and a fin-and-tube provided with a plurality of heat transfer tubes 3 that penetrate the plate-like fins 2 in the stacking direction and in which refrigerant flows. It is a heat exchanger. The heat transfer tube 3 is a copper or aluminum circular tube, a flat tube, or the like. A refrigerant distributor 10 is connected to one end side of the plurality of heat transfer tubes 3, and a gas header 6 is connected to the other end side.

Next, the refrigerant distributor 10 connected to the heat exchanger 1 will be described.
The refrigerant distributor 10 includes a first distributor 20 and a plurality of two-way branch pipes 30 as second distributors. The first distributor 20 is required to evenly branch the refrigerant that has flowed into the first distributor 20 in the gas-liquid two-phase state to the heat transfer tubes 3 of the heat exchanger 1. For this reason, a distributor is used as the first distributor 20 in FIG.

  A throttling mechanism such as an orifice is inserted inside the distributor, and the two-phase flow that has flowed in is passed through the orifice to form a spray flow state, which facilitates uniform distribution. The sprayed refrigerant is evenly distributed to each capillary tube 40. In addition, the distributor may have a specification that does not have a restriction mechanism such as an orifice inserted therein. In short, the first distributor 20 may be a distributor capable of even distribution. The material of the distributor is made of copper, aluminum, brass or the like.

  Here, a capillary tube 40 having an inner diameter of about 3.5 mm and a length of about 1000 mm is used as the capillary tube 40. The above dimensions of the capillary tube 40 are just an example. The capillary tube 40 may be bent in a circular shape due to the relationship between the length and the installation space.

  In addition, the capillary tube 40 can adjust the pressure loss in the tube according to the specifications (inner diameter, length), and can adjust the diversion ratio from the first distributor 20 to each of the two-way branch tubes 30. The wind speed from a blower fan (not shown) that blows air to the heat exchanger 1 is not necessarily uniform over the entire surface of the heat exchanger 1, and a wind speed distribution may exist. For example, when a blower fan is installed in the upper part of the heat exchanger 1, the wind speed is faster in the upper part of the heat exchanger 1 than in the lower part.

  In the case where the heat exchanger 1 is used as an evaporator, the refrigerant that passes through the portion where the wind speed is fast is more easily gasified and easily dried than the refrigerant that passes through the portion where the wind speed is slow. Therefore, when the amount of refrigerant flowing into each heat transfer tube 3 is the same, the refrigerant that has passed through the portion with the high wind speed has a higher dryness than the refrigerant that has passed through the portion with the low wind speed, and the refrigerant state varies at the outlet of the heat exchanger. Occurs, and the refrigerant state becomes unstable. Therefore, it is required to divert so that a large amount of refrigerant flows into the heat transfer tube located in the portion where the wind speed is high. Thus, when it is required to adjust the flow dividing ratio, the flow dividing ratio can be adjusted by adjusting the specifications of the capillary tube 40.

  A two-way branch pipe 30 is connected to the end of the capillary tube 40 opposite to the first distributor 20. By using the two-way branch pipe 30, it is possible to distribute the refrigerant to a 2 × A branch number (pass number), where A is the number of branches of the first distributor 20 and the number of capillary tubes 40. Hereinafter, the structure of the two-way branch pipe 30 will be described.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the two-way branch pipe of FIG.
The two-way branch pipe 30 has a U-bend part 31 formed by bending a circular pipe into a U shape, and a straight inflow part 35. The U-bend portion 31 includes a connecting portion 32 and two arm portions 33 and 34 that extend in parallel from both ends of the connecting portion 32. The straight inflow portion 35 is formed by bulging one of the two arm portions 33, 34 of the U bend portion 31 (here, the arm portion 34). Here, the example which provided the linear inflow part 35 in the arm part 34 side is shown. In the bulge forming process, a pipe-shaped material is first set in a mold in a press and then clamped. And it is a processing method that stretches the material to the shape carved in the mold and compresses it by compressing in the axial direction so that both ends of the material approach each other while filling the material with high pressure liquid .

  One end of an L-shaped tube 36 bent in an L-shape is attached to the linear inflow portion 35 of the two-way branch tube 30 thus configured, and the other end of the L-shaped tube 36 is connected to the capillary tube 40. Is done. The openings A and B of the two arm portions 33 and 34 of the two-way branch tube 30 are connected to the heat transfer tube 3 of the heat exchanger 1. The connection between the two arm portions 33 and 34 and the heat transfer tube 3 is directly connected if the heat transfer tube 3 is a circular tube, and the circular tube-flat tube joint shown in FIG. 3 if the heat transfer tube 3 is a flat tube. 4 is connected. In addition, the two-way branch pipe 30 is connected to the heat exchanger 1 so that the two arm portions 33 and 34 are along the horizontal direction, and the refrigerant flowing into the arm portion 34 from the linear inflow portion 35 branches in the horizontal direction. And make it flow. The reason will be described later.

  In the right diagram of FIG. 2, the dotted arrows indicate the flow of refrigerant when the heat exchanger 1 is used as an evaporator, and the refrigerant flowing from the capillary tube 40 passes through the L-shaped pipe 36 in the two-way branch pipe 30. It flows into the linear inflow part 35 via. The refrigerant that has flowed into the straight inflow portion 35 is branched into two, that is, the arm portion 33 side and the arm portion 34 side, and each flows into each heat transfer tube 3.

  Thus, since the two-way branch pipe 30 branches the refrigerant that has flowed into two and flows into each heat transfer pipe 3, compared to the configuration in which the capillary tube 40 is directly connected to each heat transfer pipe 3, The number of capillary tubes 40 can be reduced to half. Therefore, the installation property of the capillary tube 40 can be improved by using the refrigerant distributor 10 of the first embodiment.

  In addition to improving the ease of installation of the capillary tube 40, the two-way branch tube 30 is also required to have a function of evenly distributing the refrigerant flowing from the capillary tube 40 and flowing it into each heat transfer tube 3. In the refrigerant distributor 10, the refrigerant can be evenly distributed to the capillary tubes 40 in the first distributor 20, but finally flows into the heat transfer tubes of the heat exchanger 1 while maintaining the equal distribution state. It is necessary to distribute evenly even in the two-way branch pipe 30 portion.

  In general, the refrigerant that has passed through the expansion valve of the heat pump device and the refrigerant at the inlet of the evaporator are in a gas-liquid two-phase state of a gas refrigerant and a liquid refrigerant, and a density distribution occurs in the cross section of the refrigerant flowing in the pipe. . For example, when the pipe is bent, a drift phenomenon occurs in which the liquid refrigerant is biased toward the inner surface of one of the pipes due to the centrifugal force. That is, the two-phase refrigerant is gas-liquid separated.

  Therefore, when the heat exchanger is used as an evaporator, the refrigerant distributor located on the inflow side is required to have a function that prevents the above-described drift phenomenon and prevents the gas and liquid from separating. . The refrigerant distributor has a function of distributing the refrigerant in a state where the refrigerant is homogeneously mixed and the gas-liquid mass flow ratio at the refrigerant distributor inlet and the gas-liquid mass flow ratio at the refrigerant distributor outlet are equal. Required. Further, as described above, when the number of passes increases due to the diameter reduction and flattening of the circular tube, it becomes an even more important issue to branch a uniform refrigerant flow rate into each pass.

  Therefore, the configuration adopted for equally branching the refrigerant in the two-way branch pipe 30 will be described below.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of the structure of the two-way branch pipe of the refrigerant distributor according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. In FIG. 4, (a) is a front view of the two-way branch pipe 30, and (b) is a side view of (a).
The straight inflow portion 35 bulged in the two-way branch pipe 30 is shaped such that the angle θ ₁ between the pipe axis X1 and the pipe axis X2 of the arm portion 34 is 90 degrees.

When the angle θ ₁ deviates from 90 degrees by 10 degrees or more, the refrigerant flowing in from the linear inflow portion 35 obliquely collides with the portion of the arm portion 34 facing the linear inflow portion 35 and drifts, thereby heat exchange. Efficiency will deteriorate. Therefore, the angle theta ₁ is 90 degrees. In addition, it is not limited to perfect 90 degree | times, The thing slightly back and forth shall be included.

  If the length of the linear inflow portion 35 is 5 mm or more, it is more effective for uniform distribution. This point will be described. The refrigerant two-phase flow is in a state where the liquid portion of the refrigerant is biased to one end by the capillary tube 40. Therefore, a sufficiently stable flow can be obtained by setting the running section until the collision that branches into two branches to 20 times or more of the inner diameter. However, in Embodiment 1, it is structurally difficult to ensure 20 times or more. Therefore, in the case of the first embodiment, the length of the linear inflow portion 35 is ensured to be 5 mm or more, and the distance between the capillary tube 40 or the horizontal portion of the L-shaped tube 36 is 15 mm or more (more than twice the inner diameter). ) Secure.

  If this dimension is secured, it has been experimentally confirmed that the refrigerant two-phase flow flowing into the linear inflow portion 35 has a liquid film that is uniform in the pipe and becomes a stable annular flow. This annular flow collides perpendicularly with the collision wall 34a facing the linear inflow portion 35, and since the branching direction after the collision is horizontal, it is not affected by gravity and is evenly distributed regardless of the circulation amount. It becomes possible to do.

  When the linear inflow portion 35 is less than 5 mm, the gas-liquid two-phase flow is affected by the bending of the capillary tube 40, and the liquid level in the tube of the linear inflow portion 35 is biased. In this case, the gas-liquid two-phase flow that has flowed into the straight inflow portion 35 drifts due to the influence of the unevenness of the liquid level, cannot be evenly distributed by the two-way branch pipe 30, and the heat exchange efficiency deteriorates. .

From the above, 2-way branch pipe 30, the angle theta ₁ of the arm portion 34 of the straight inlet section 35 with a 90 °, it is preferably not less than 5mm in length of the linear inlet portion 35.

Although a straight inlet section 35 of the 2-way branch pipe 30 have been described above points to bulge forming, by using the bulge forming process, the angle theta ₁ is able to stably processing a 90 degree geometry, and, The straight inflow portion 35 can be secured longer than 5 mm. The bulge forming process can be applied to a bent pipe instead of a straight line, and the linear inflow portion 35 can be formed long while suppressing the thinning.

For joining the two-way branch pipe 30 and the capillary tube 40, an L-shaped pipe 36 or a capillary tube 40 having an outer diameter smaller than the inner diameter of the inlet is formed at the inlet of the straight inlet 35 that has been bulged. Insert and braze. By manufacturing in this way, it is possible to manufacture stably without defects. On the other hand, when the linear inflow portion 35 is formed without using bulge forming, the length of the linear inflow portion 35 is shortened and the thickness of the linear inflow portion 35 is reduced. Then, when joining the L-shaped tube 36 or the capillary tube 40 in a straight line inlet portion 35, the angle theta ₁ is shifted more than 90 degrees. In addition, since the straight inflow portion 35 becomes a brazing region during brazing joining, stable brazing cannot be performed due to thinning and the short joint length.

Further, the angle θ ₂ of the linear inflow portion 35 around the tube axis X2 of the arm portion 34 may be any number, but here, θ _{2 is set} to 90 degrees as shown in FIG. . The reason will be described. When the diameter and flattening of the heat transfer tube 3 are reduced, the air ventilation resistance is reduced, so that the arrangement pitch of the heat transfer tubes 3 is narrowed, and the mounting density of the heat transfer tubes 3 is increased. By using the two-way branch pipe 30, the installation property of the capillary tube 40 can be improved as described above, but the angle θ ₂ (described in FIG. 4) of the linear inflow portion 35 of the two-way branch pipe 30 is 90 degrees. By doing so, the connectivity of the capillary tube 40 can be further improved.

In order to bend the pipe so as not to be deformed or wrinkled, it is necessary to secure a bending R that is 2 to 3 times the inner diameter. When the angle θ ₂ is 0 degree, the L-shaped tube 36 or the capillary tube 40 is used. Will interfere with the two-way branch pipe 30. Therefore, when the angle θ ₂ is 0 degree, it is difficult to connect the capillary tube 40 or the L-shaped tube 36 to the linear inflow portion 35 when the mounting density of the heat transfer tubes 3 is increased. By setting the angle θ ₂ to 90 degrees, the connection portion with the capillary tube 40 or the L-shaped tube 36 becomes the air inflow direction, and the connectivity can be improved without interfering with the two-way branch tube 30.

  Here, the usefulness of the L-shaped tube 36 will be described. The L-shaped pipe 36 and the straight inflow part 35 of the two-way branch pipe 30 are brazed in advance, and then the openings A and B are brazed to the circular pipe-flat pipe joint 4 respectively. By adopting the procedure of brazing and joining the tube 36 and the capillary tube 40, a stable manufacturing process with a low defect rate is achieved. This is due to the following reason. That is, the brazing here is based on the premise of the burner brazing, and finally the L-shaped tube 36 and the capillary tube are brazed and joined, so that the fire of the burner hardly hits other piping.

Furthermore, the use of the L-shaped tube 36, the angle theta ₁ which flows into the 2-way branch pipe to 90 degrees, since is possible to lengthen the run-up distance flowing into 2-way branch pipe becomes easy, improved even distribution of To do. When the L-shaped tube 36 is not used, the capillary tube 40 is directly connected to the straight inflow portion 35 of the two-way branch tube 30, so that the capillary tube 40 is long, has poor stability, and is not easily handled. The variation in the angle θ ₁ flowing into the lens 30 tends to increase.

  In the above description, the straight inflow portion 35 of the two-way branch pipe 30 is set to 5 mm or more. However, the L-shaped pipe 36 and the straight inflow portion are only required to have a straight flow path of 10 mm or more. It is good also as 10 mm or more in total with 35.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a refrigerant circuit of the heat pump device in which the refrigerant distributor according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention is used.
The heat pump device 60 includes a compressor 61, a condenser 62 (heat exchanger 1), an expansion valve 63 as a decompression device, and an evaporator 64 (heat exchanger 1). The gas refrigerant discharged from the compressor 61 flows into the condenser 62, exchanges heat with the air passing through the condenser 62, and flows out as high-pressure liquid refrigerant. The high-pressure liquid refrigerant that has flowed out of the condenser 62 is decompressed by the expansion valve 63 to become a low-pressure gas-liquid two-phase refrigerant and flows into the evaporator 64. The low-pressure gas-liquid two-phase refrigerant flowing into the evaporator 64 exchanges heat with the air passing through the evaporator 64 to become a low-pressure gas refrigerant, and is sucked into the compressor 61 again.

Hereinafter, an operation when the heat exchanger 1 is used as an evaporator will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 5. In FIG. 1, the solid line arrows indicate the flow of the refrigerant when the heat exchanger 1 is used as an evaporator.
The gas-liquid two-phase refrigerant flow flowing out from the expansion valve 63 first flows into the first distributor 20 and is sprayed. The sprayed refrigerant flows evenly into each capillary tube 40 and flows. Each refrigerant that has passed through each capillary tube 40 flows into the two-way branch tube 30, is equally branched into two as described above, flows out, and flows into the heat transfer tube 3. The refrigerant that has flowed into each heat transfer tube 3 exchanges heat with air to become a gas state, and merges at the gas header 6. The refrigerant merged in the gas header 6 is sucked into the compressor 61.

Hereinafter, the operation when the heat exchanger 1 is used as a condenser will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 5. In FIG. 1, dotted arrows indicate the flow of refrigerant when the heat exchanger 1 is used as a condenser.
In the case of the condenser, the refrigerant flow direction is opposite to that in the case of the evaporator, and the gas refrigerant flow flowing out of the compressor 61 flows into the gas header 6. The refrigerant flowing into the gas header 6 is equally distributed by the gas header 6 and flows into each heat transfer tube 3. When the refrigerant is in a gas state, equal distribution is easy, so a distributor or the like is unnecessary, and the gas header 6 formed of a cylindrical hollow tube is used.

  The refrigerant flowing into each heat transfer tube 3 exchanges heat with air, and then flows in the order of the two-way branch tube 30, the capillary tube 40, and the first distributor 20. Then, they merge at the first distributor 20 and flow into the expansion valve 63.

  Next, a specific pipe connection example using the refrigerant distributor 10 of the first embodiment will be described.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example in which the refrigerant distributor according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention is connected to a heat exchanger for an outdoor unit of an air conditioner using a flat tube as a heat transfer tube. FIG. 7 is an enlarged perspective view of the connection portion of the heat exchanger of FIG. 5 with the refrigerant distributor as viewed from the back side. In FIG. 7, the solid-coated portion is the two-way branch pipe 30. FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the flat tube of FIG.

  The heat exchanger 100 includes a plurality of plate-like fins 2 stacked at intervals and a plurality of flat tubes 3 that penetrate the plate-like fins 2 in the stacking direction and through which refrigerant flows. In addition, it has a configuration in which three rows are provided in the row direction which is the air passage direction. In addition to the two-way branch pipe 30, the hairpin bent bend 5 and gas header 6 are connected to the ends of the plurality of flat tubes 3. Moreover, in this heat exchanger 100, since the flat tube 3 is used as a heat transfer tube, the flat tube 3 is connected to the two-way branch tube 30 and the bend 5 via a circular tube-flat tube joint 4.

  Further, when the heat exchanger 100 is used as an evaporator, the heat exchanger 100 is a so-called parallel flow in which the refrigerant flows so that the refrigerant flow is folded from the upstream side to the downstream side with respect to the air flow direction. The path is assembled. On the other hand, when the heat exchanger 100 is used as a condenser, a path is assembled so as to form a so-called counter flow in which the refrigerant flows in a manner that turns back from the downstream side to the upstream side with respect to the air flow direction. Since the refrigerant is subcooled in the condenser, the refrigerant temperature is lowered. For this reason, the heat exchange efficiency at the time of using the heat exchanger 100 as a condenser can be improved by carrying out path | pass assembly so that a refrigerant | coolant may become a counterflow with respect to an air flow.

  The plate-like fins 2 are made of aluminum, and the flat tubes 3 and the plate-like fins 2 are joined by brazing in the furnace. For heat exchangers with heat transfer tubes that are circular tubes, the heat transfer tubes and plate fins are joined by a mechanical expansion method, and there is an air layer between the heat transfer tubes and plate fins, so heat exchange efficiency deteriorates. There was a problem to make. However, since the flat tube 3 and the plate-like fin 2 are joined by brazing in the furnace, the thermal resistance between the flat tube 3 and the plate-like fin 2 becomes zero, and the heat exchange efficiency can be improved.

  The flat tube 3 is made of aluminum, and as shown in FIG. 8, the inside is partitioned to form a plurality of passages 31a, and the refrigerant flows through the passages 31a. The flat tube 3 can increase the refrigerant and contact heat transfer area three times or more compared to the circular tube.

Next, in the three-row heat exchanger, the case where the refrigerant distributor 10 of the first embodiment is used and the case where the refrigerant distributor 10 is not used are compared using FIG. 7 and FIG. FIG. 9 is a view showing a conventional example in which a two-way branch pipe is not used in a three-row heat exchanger.
As apparent from comparison between FIG. 7 and FIG. 9, the use of the two-way branch pipe 30 can reduce the number of capillary tubes 40 to half that of the conventional one.

  As described above, according to the first embodiment, the refrigerant distributor 10 in which the two-way branch pipe 30 is combined with the capillary tube 40 that is the outflow pipe of the first distributor 20 is used. The number can be reduced. Therefore, the installation space of the capillary tube 40 when mounting the capillary tube 40 on an actual machine becomes compact. Further, the cost can be reduced by reducing the number of capillary tubes 40, and the actual machine can be configured at low cost.

The angle theta ₁ of the arm portion 34 of the straight inlet section 35 is 90 degrees, two-phase flow refrigerant vertically collide with the collision wall 34a opposed to the inlet portion, and the branch direction after collision horizontal Thus, it is not affected by gravity and can be distributed evenly regardless of the amount of circulation. Incidentally, the linear inlet portion 35 to form with a bulge forming process, the angle theta ₁ can be stably processed 90 degrees shape.

  Further, by setting the linear inflow portion 35 to 10 mm or more, the refrigerant two-phase flow that has flowed into the linear inflow portion 35 can collide with the collision wall 34a vertically as a stable annular flow, and variations in refrigerant distribution can be achieved. It can be suppressed and even distribution is possible.

  As described above, since the gas-liquid two-phase flow can be evenly distributed by using the refrigerant distributor 10, the heat exchanger 1 can sufficiently exhibit the predetermined heat exchange performance.

Embodiment 2. FIG.
In the second embodiment, the number of capillary tubes 40 is further reduced. In the following, the second embodiment will be described focusing on the differences from the first embodiment. Note that the modification applied to the same components as those in the first embodiment is similarly applied to the second embodiment.

  FIG. 10 is a configuration diagram of a refrigerant distributor according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. 10A is a front view, and FIG. 10B is an AA cross-sectional view of FIG. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a third distributor in the refrigerant distributor of FIG. In FIG. 11, (a) is a front view of the refrigerant distributor 10A, (b) is a side view of (a), and (c) is a bottom view of (a).

  The refrigerant distributor 10A according to the second embodiment includes a two-way branch as a third distributor in addition to the first distributor 20 and the two-way branch pipe 30 as the second distributor in the first embodiment. The configuration includes a plurality of tubes 50. The two-way branch pipe 50 has the same structural features as the two-way branch pipe 30 of the first embodiment, and a U-bend portion 51 formed by bending a circular pipe into a U-shape, and a linear inflow portion 55. And have. The U-bend portion 51 includes a connecting portion 52 and two arm portions 53 and 54 that extend in parallel from both ends of the connecting portion 52. The straight inflow portion 55 is formed by bulging one of the two arm portions 53 and 54 of the U bend portion 51 (here, the arm portion 54).

  The straight inflow portion 55 of the two-way branch pipe 50 is connected to the capillary tube 40, and the two arm portions 53 and 54 are connected to the straight inflow portion 35 of the two-way branch pipe 30 adjacent to each other. Similarly to the two-way branch pipe 30 of the first embodiment, the two-way branch pipe 50 is also installed so that the two arm portions 53 and 54 are along the horizontal direction.

  The refrigerant distributor 10A of the second embodiment configured as described above can obtain the same effects as those of the first embodiment and the following effects. That is, since the two-way branch pipe 50 is provided as the third distributor, the number of capillary tubes 40 connected to the first distributor 20 can be reduced to half that of the first embodiment.

  Since the two-way branch pipe 50 serves as an inflow pipe for the refrigerant that has flowed out of the capillary tube 40, the same function as the two-way branch pipe 30 of the first embodiment is required. That is, the function of distributing the refrigerant flowing in from the capillary tubes 40 evenly and flowing into the heat transfer tubes 3 is required. Since the two-way branch pipe 50 has the same configuration as the two-way branch pipe 30, the refrigerant flowing from the straight inflow portion 35 of the two-way branch pipe 50 is on the wall surface facing the straight inflow portion 55 in the arm portion 54. Collides vertically with a collision wall. And since the branch direction after a collision is a horizontal direction, it is not influenced by gravity, and equal distribution is attained irrespective of the circulation amount.

Embodiment 3 FIG.
Embodiment 3 relates to a refrigerant distributor that can adjust the distribution ratio of the refrigerant. In the following, the third embodiment will be described focusing on the differences from the first embodiment. Note that the modification applied to the same components as those of the first embodiment in the third embodiment is similarly applied to the third embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a configuration diagram of a second distributor in the refrigerant distributor according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention. In FIG. 12, (a) is a front view of the second distributor, and (b) is a side view of (a).
The refrigerant distributor of the third embodiment has a configuration provided with a two-way branch pipe 30A instead of the two-way branch pipe 30 of the first embodiment, and the other configuration is the same as that of the first embodiment.

In two-way branch pipe 30 of the first embodiment, the angle theta ₁ of the arm portion 34 of the straight inlet section 35 was 90 degrees. In contrast, in the two-way branch pipe 30A of the third embodiment is the angle theta ₁ which was adjusted configuration angle corresponding to a desired distribution ratio. When the angle θ ₁ is set to an angle smaller than 90 degrees, the flow rate of the refrigerant flowing to the opening A side is larger than the opening B side, and when the angle θ ₁ is set to an angle larger than 90 degrees, the opening A The flow rate of the refrigerant flowing to the opening B side is larger than the side. Thus, the linear inflow part 35 which requires angle adjustment is formed by a bulge forming process like the first embodiment. By forming the at bulge forming processing, can reduce variations in the angle theta _1, it can be accurately molded by the determined angle. Further, the angle θ ₂ may be any number as in the first embodiment, but is preferably 90 degrees in consideration of the connectivity of the capillary tube 40.

  The two-way branch pipe 30 </ b> A has one end connected to the first distributor 20 and the other end connected to the other end of the capillary tube 40.

The wind speed from the blower fan that blows air to the heat exchanger 1 is not necessarily uniform over the entire surface of the heat exchanger 1 as described above, and there is a wind speed distribution. Due to the difference in the wind speed distribution or the length of the refrigerant flow path per one heat path, the heat load may be different in each path. For this reason, among the paths connected to each of the opening A and the opening B, for example, a path having a higher wind speed or a path having a larger number of heat transfer tubes and a longer flow path length has a larger amount of refrigerant. Need to flow. Therefore, to determine the distribution ratio of the refrigerant to the opening A side and the opening side B in accordance with the thermal load distribution of each path in the heat exchanger 1, for determining the angle theta _1.

By determining the angle θ ₁ in this way, the refrigerant flowing from the linear inflow portion 35 collides with the opposing surface of the linear inflow portion 35 at the angle θ ₁ and then the arm portion 33 according to the inclination angle θ. The flow rate is adjusted and distributed to the side and the arm 34 side. And the refrigerant | coolant of each distributed flow volume flows in into each heat exchanger tube 3 of each path | pass of the heat exchanger 1 from the opening part A and the opening part B. FIG.

  As described above, according to the third embodiment, the number of the capillary tubes 40 can be reduced as in the first embodiment, and a refrigerant distributor capable of adjusting the refrigerant distribution ratio can be obtained.

Embodiment 4 FIG.
The fourth embodiment relates to a refrigerant distributor that can adjust the distribution ratio of the refrigerant, as in the third embodiment. Hereinafter, the difference between the fourth embodiment and the first embodiment will be mainly described. Note that the modification applied to the same components in the third embodiment as those in the first embodiment is similarly applied to the fourth embodiment.

  FIG. 13 is a configuration diagram of a second distributor in the refrigerant distributor according to Embodiment 4 of the present invention. 13A shows a configuration example of the two-way branch pipe 30B when the distribution ratio on the opening B side is larger than that on the opening A side, and FIG. 13B shows a configuration of the two-way branch pipe 30B in the opposite case. An example is shown. 13A and 13B, (a) is a front view of the two-way branch pipe 30B, and (b) is a side view of (a). FIG. 14 is an enlarged view of a main part of FIG.

The refrigerant distributor of the fourth embodiment has a configuration provided with a two-way branch pipe 30B instead of the two-way branch pipe 30 of the first embodiment, and the other configuration is the same as that of the first embodiment. The two-way branch pipe 30B is provided with a recess 37 recessed inwardly adjacent to the collision wall 34a. In addition, the point which processes the linear inflow part 35 by bulge shaping | molding, and the point which may have any angle (theta) ₂ are the same as that of Embodiment 1. FIG.

  For example, when the heat load on the opening B side is high, that is, when it is desired to increase the refrigerant flow rate on the opening B side than on the opening A side, the depression 37 is formed as shown in FIG. 37 is provided closer to the opening A than the collision wall 34 a in the tube axis direction of the U-bend portion 31. On the other hand, when the heat load on the opening A side is high, that is, when it is desired to increase the refrigerant flow rate on the opening A side than on the opening B side, as shown in FIG. A recess 37 is provided on the opening B side of the collision wall 34a in the direction.

  Thus, by providing the depression 37 adjacent to and adjacent to the collision wall 34a, the passing cross-sectional area becomes small, and the refrigerant after the collision hardly flows to the collision wall 34a. Therefore, in the case of FIG. 13A, the distribution ratio of the opening B can be made larger than the opening A, and in the case of FIG. 13B, the distribution of the opening A than the opening B can be achieved. The ratio can be increased.

  Note that the depression 37 is not provided in the collision wall 34 a facing the linear inflow portion 35. This is because the depression 37 is formed by using a press or a punch, and if the depression 37 is provided in the collision wall 34a, the linear inflow portion 35 may be deformed during the formation. In this way, by adopting a structure in which the depression 37 is not provided in the collision wall 34a facing the linear inflow portion 35, the inconvenience of deformation can be avoided, and the two-way branch pipe 30B can be manufactured stably.

  As described above, according to the fourth embodiment, similarly to the first embodiment, the number of capillary tubes 40 can be reduced, and a refrigerant distributor capable of adjusting the refrigerant distribution ratio can be obtained.

  In the first to fourth embodiments, the first distributor 20 has been described as a distributor. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the header 70 may be used as shown in FIG. In this case, the same effect as described above can be obtained.

  In addition, the heat exchanger described in the above embodiment and the air conditioner using the heat exchanger are soluble in the refrigerant and oil such as mineral oil, alkylbenzene oil, ester oil, ether oil, and fluorine oil. The effect can be achieved with any refrigeration oil, whether or not.

  In addition, although it demonstrated as another embodiment in said Embodiment 1-4, about the embodiment which can be combined, it is good also as a structure combined suitably. For example, the second embodiment and the third embodiment may be combined to replace the two-way branch pipe 30 of the second embodiment shown in FIG. 10 with the two-way branch pipe 30A of the third embodiment.

  As an application example of the present invention, it can be used in a heat exchanger of a heat pump apparatus that requires improved heat exchange performance and improved performance.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Heat exchanger, 2 Plate-shaped fin, 3 Heat exchanger tube (flat tube), 4 circular tube-flat tube joint, 5 Bend, 6 Gas header, 10 Refrigerant distributor, 10A Refrigerant distributor, 20 1st distributor, 30 2-way branch pipe (second distributor), 30A 2-way branch pipe (second distributor), 30B 2-way branch pipe (second distributor), 31 U bend section, 31a passage, 32 connection section, 33 arm part, 34 arm part, 34a collision wall, 35 linear inflow part, 36 L-shaped pipe, 37 depression, 40 capillary tube, 50 two-way branch pipe (third distributor), 51 U bend part, 52 connection Part, 53 arm part, 54 arm part, 55 linear inflow part, 60 heat pump device, 61 compressor, 62 condenser, 63 expansion valve, 64 evaporator, 70 header, 100 heat exchanger.

It is the schematic block diagram which showed the state which connected the refrigerant distributor which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention to the heat exchanger. It is a perspective view of the two-way branch pipe of FIG. It is a perspective view of a circular tube-flat tube joint. It is structure explanatory drawing of the two-way branch pipe of the refrigerant distributor which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the refrigerant circuit of the heat pump apparatus with which the refrigerant distributor which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention is used. It is a figure which shows the structural example which connected the refrigerant distributor which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention to the heat exchanger for the outdoor units of the air conditioner which used the flat tube for the heat exchanger tube. It is the expansion perspective view which looked at the connection part with the refrigerant distributor of the heat exchanger of FIG. 6 from the back side. It is a perspective view of the flat tube of FIG. It is the figure which showed the prior art example which does not use a two-way branch pipe in the heat exchanger of 3 rows structure. It is a block diagram of the refrigerant distributor which concerns on Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the 3rd distributor in the refrigerant distributor of FIG. It is a block diagram of the 2nd divider | distributor in the refrigerant distributor which concerns on Embodiment 3 of this invention. It is a block diagram of the 2nd distributor in the refrigerant distributor in Embodiment 4 of this invention. It is a principal part enlarged view of FIG. 13 (A). It is a figure which shows the structural example which used the header for the 1st divider | distributor.

Further, the angle theta ₂ of the linear inlet portion 35 around the tube axis X2 of the arm portion 34 may be many times, where is the theta ₂ as shown in FIG. 2 and 90 degrees . The reason will be described. When the diameter and flattening of the heat transfer tube 3 are reduced, the air ventilation resistance is reduced, so that the arrangement pitch of the heat transfer tubes 3 is narrowed, and the mounting density of the heat transfer tubes 3 is increased. By using the two-way branch pipe 30, the installation property of the capillary tube 40 can be improved as described above, but the angle θ ₂ (described in FIG. 4) of the linear inflow portion 35 of the two-way branch pipe 30 is 90 degrees. By doing so, the connectivity of the capillary tube 40 can be further improved.

Here, the usefulness of the L-shaped tube 36 will be described. The L-shaped pipe 36 and the straight inflow part 35 of the two-way branch pipe 30 are brazed in advance, and then the openings A and B are brazed to the circular pipe-flat pipe joint 4 respectively. By adopting the procedure of brazing and joining the tube 36 and the capillary tube 40, a stable manufacturing process with a low defect rate is achieved. This is due to the following reason. That is, the brazing here is based on the premise of the burner brazing, and finally the L-shaped tube 36 and the capillary tube 40 are brazed and joined so that the burner does not easily hit other piping.

Hereinafter, the operation when the heat exchanger 1 is used as a condenser will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 5. In FIG. 1, dotted arrows indicate the flow of refrigerant when the heat exchanger 1 is used as a condenser.
In the case of the condenser, the refrigerant flow direction is opposite to that in the case of the evaporator, and the gas refrigerant flow flowing out of the compressor 61 flows into the gas header 6. The refrigerant flowing into the gas header 6 is equally distributed by the gas header 6 and flows into each heat transfer tube 3. When the refrigerant is in a gas state, equal distribution is easy, so a distributor or the like is unnecessary, and the gas header 6 formed of a cylindrical hollow tube is used.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example in which the refrigerant distributor according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention is connected to a heat exchanger for an outdoor unit of an air conditioner using a flat tube as a heat transfer tube. FIG. 7 is an enlarged perspective view of a connection portion of the heat exchanger of FIG. 6 with the refrigerant distributor as viewed from the back side. In FIG. 7, the solid-coated portion is the two-way branch pipe 30. FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the flat tube of FIG.

Since the two-way branch pipe 50 serves as an inflow pipe for the refrigerant that has flowed out of the capillary tube 40, the same function as the two-way branch pipe 30 of the first embodiment is required. That is, the function of distributing the refrigerant flowing in from the capillary tubes 40 evenly and flowing into the heat transfer tubes 3 is required. Since the two-way branch pipe 50 has the same configuration as the two-way branch pipe 30, the refrigerant flowing from the straight inflow portion 55 of the two-way branch pipe 50 is on the wall surface facing the straight inflow portion 55 in the arm portion 54. Collides vertically with a collision wall. And since the branch direction after a collision is a horizontal direction, it is not influenced by gravity, and equal distribution is attained irrespective of the circulation amount.

The two-way branch pipe 30 </ b> A has one end connected to the capillary tube 40 and the other end connected to the heat transfer pipe 3 .

By determining the angle theta ₁ In this manner, the refrigerant flowing from the straight inlet section 35, after colliding with the facing surface of the linear inlet portion 35 at the angle theta _1, according to the inclination angle theta ₁ arm portion The flow rate is adjusted and distributed to the 33 side and the arm portion 34 side, respectively. And the refrigerant | coolant of each distributed flow volume flows in into each heat exchanger tube 3 of each path | pass of the heat exchanger 1 from the opening part A and the opening part B. FIG.

Embodiment 4 FIG.
The fourth embodiment relates to a refrigerant distributor that can adjust the distribution ratio of the refrigerant, as in the third embodiment. Hereinafter, the difference between the fourth embodiment and the first embodiment will be mainly described. Note that the modification applied to the same components in the fourth embodiment as those in the first embodiment is similarly applied to the fourth embodiment.

Refrigerant distributor according to the present invention, there is provided a refrigerant distributor for distributing a refrigerant to a plurality of heat transfer tubes that constitute the heat exchanger, a first distributor for distributing a refrigerant to a plurality, in the interior Distributor that has a throttle mechanism and passes the two-phase flow that has flowed through the throttle mechanism to a spray flow state, and is connected to the distributor and the capillary tube, and the refrigerant distributed by the first distributor is branched into two And a plurality of second distributors that flow into the two heat transfer tubes.

Claims (10)

A refrigerant distributor for distributing refrigerant to a plurality of heat transfer tubes constituting a heat exchanger,
A first distributor for distributing a plurality of refrigerants;
A refrigerant distributor comprising: a plurality of second distributors that branch the refrigerant distributed by the first distributor into two and flow into the two heat transfer tubes. The second distributor is composed of a two-way branch pipe,
The two-way branch pipe is
A U-shaped U-bend portion having a connecting portion and two arm portions extending in parallel with each other from both ends of the connecting portion;
The refrigerant distributor according to claim 1, further comprising: a linear inflow portion formed by bulging one of the two arm portions of the U-bend portion. A refrigerant distributor for distributing refrigerant to a plurality of heat transfer tubes constituting a heat exchanger,
A first distributor for distributing a plurality of refrigerants;
A plurality of second distributors that branch the refrigerant into two and flow into the two heat transfer tubes;
The two second distributors that are provided between the first distributor and the second distributor, branch the refrigerant distributed by the first distributor into two, and are adjacent to each other. And a plurality of third distributors that flow into the refrigerant distributor. Each of the second distributor and the third distributor is composed of a two-way branch pipe,
The two-way branch pipe is
A U-shaped U-bend portion having a connecting portion and two arm portions extending in parallel with each other from both ends of the connecting portion;
The refrigerant distributor according to claim 3, further comprising: a linear inflow portion formed by bulging one of the two arm portions of the U bend portion. The two-way branch pipe is
5. The refrigerant distributor according to claim 2, wherein an angle between the linear inflow portion and the one arm portion on which the linear inflow portion is formed is 90 degrees. The second distributor is
The refrigerant distributor according to claim 2 or 4, wherein the linear inflow portion is formed to be inclined with respect to the one arm portion. The refrigerant distribution according to claim 6, wherein an inclination angle of the linear inflow portion with respect to the one arm portion is an angle determined according to a heat load distribution of each path in the heat exchanger. vessel. The second distributor is
The said one arm part has the hollow recessed inward along with the collision wall which is a wall surface facing the said linear inflow part, The any one of Claims 2-8 characterized by the above-mentioned. The refrigerant distributor according to Item.   The refrigerant distributor according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the first distributor includes a distributor or a header.   A heat pump device using the refrigerant distributor according to any one of claims 1 to 9.

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