KR101221368B1 - Extremely Low Temperature Refrigerative Apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention is to provide a refrigeration apparatus that can be more compact and compact, the refrigerant of the refrigerating apparatus including a condenser for condensing the refrigerant compressed by the compressor in the liquid phase, and an expansion valve for expanding the liquid refrigerant into a low pressure liquid refrigerant is mutually It is a mixed refrigerant mixed with a refrigerant having a different boiling point, characterized in that between the condenser and the expansion valve is provided with a gas phase refrigerant removing means for converting the gas phase refrigerant remaining in the refrigerant passing through the condenser into a liquid phase.

Description

Extremely Low Temperature Refrigerative Apparatus

The present invention relates to a refrigerating device, and more particularly, to a cryogenic freezing device that can be installed in a narrow space due to its simple structure and can reduce manufacturing costs.

The cold pack method is used as a method of treating bruises, edema or burns. Cold compress slows the metabolism in cells by lowering the temperature of the area where it is steamed, thereby reducing inflammation and swelling due to damage, shrinking blood vessels in the damaged area, reducing internal bleeding, and having a local anesthetic effect, It has been found to have pain relief effects.

Cryogenic cryotherapy has been developed as a method of maximizing the effect of such cold packs. Cryogenic cryotherapy is a method of contacting the entire body or part of the patient in ultra-low-humidity (-130 ~ -160˚C) environment for a very short time. Cryogenic cryotherapy is known to not only enhance the effects of inflammation, swelling, pain reduction, etc., but also to enhance the body's immunity and resistance to stress compared to conventional cold therapy. The cryogenic cryotherapy is used for the treatment and prevention of rheumatoid arthritis, skin diseases such as ankylosing spondylitis, inflammatory arthritis, atopy, control of acute pain before and after surgery.

Cryogenic cryotherapy requires a freezer to create a cryogenic environment. An example of such a refrigeration apparatus is shown in FIG.

As shown in the drawing, a conventional cryogenic refrigeration apparatus includes three cascade refrigeration stages 100, 200, and 300 each having a compressor 10, an expansion valve 30, and a heat exchanger 51 between the stages. , 52), the condenser 20 of the first stage 100, and the evaporator 40 of the rear stage of the third stage 300. The heat exchangers 51 and 52 serve as condensers for the stages of the front stage and evaporators for the stages of the rear stage. The evaporator 40 functions to absorb air and heat inside the refrigerating chamber. Accordingly, the cooler is cooled more gradually toward the stage of the rear stage, and the freezer compartment is cooled to cryogenic temperature by the evaporator 40 of the final stage.

Hereinafter, the operation of the conventional refrigeration apparatus will be described in more detail.

The heat exchanger 51 (evaporation function) connected to the first stage is cooled to a predetermined primary temperature (for example, −35 ° C.) by a compressor, a condenser, and an expansion valve constituting the first stage. Since the heat exchanger 51 cooled to the primary temperature acts as a condenser in the second stage to condense the refrigerant flowing in the second stage, the refrigerant passing through the expansion valve of the second stage is the heat exchanger 52 (evaporation function). Vaporize at and thus the heat exchanger 52 is cooled to a lower predetermined secondary temperature (eg -75 ° C). The heat exchanger 52 cooled to the secondary temperature again acts as a condenser of the third stage and transmits the refrigerant of the third stage to the expansion valve in a state where the refrigerant of the third stage is more condensed, so that the evaporator 40 is cryogenic (about -125 ° C.). To cool the freezer.

As described above, the conventional cryogenic refrigeration apparatus is configured as described above, each stage is provided with a compressor, an expansion valve, not only three pairs of components are overlapped, but also includes a condenser, a heat exchanger, and an evaporator. Of course, the manufacturing cost is high because of the complexity, and because the device is large, there is a problem that the installation site is restricted.

The present invention has been developed to solve the problems of the prior art as described above, it is an object to provide a cryogenic refrigeration apparatus that can be installed in a narrow space as well as to reduce the manufacturing cost of the simple structure.

The present invention for achieving the above object is to provide a refrigeration apparatus that can be more compact and compact, a compressor for compressing a low-temperature gaseous refrigerant at a high temperature and high pressure, and a condenser for condensing the refrigerant compressed in the compressor into a liquid phase And an expansion valve for expanding the liquid refrigerant into a low pressure liquid refrigerant, and an evaporator for absorbing external heat while evaporating the liquid refrigerant expanded by the expansion valve to send low-temperature low-pressure gas phase refrigerant to the compressor. The refrigerant of the refrigerating device is a mixed refrigerant in which refrigerants having different boiling points are mixed, and between the condenser and the expansion valve, gas phase refrigerant removal means for converting the phase refrigerant remaining in the refrigerant passing through the condenser into a liquid refrigerant is provided. It is characterized by.

The refrigerating device has a higher freezing efficiency as the ratio of the liquid refrigerant in the refrigerant introduced from the evaporator is higher. Therefore, the refrigerant passing through the condenser is sufficiently phase-changed into the liquid phase and must be supplied to the expansion valve in the liquid phase. For this purpose, the gas phase refrigerant removing means is installed.

In order to increase the ratio of the liquid phase of the refrigerant introduced into the evaporator, it is preferable to provide at least two gas phase refrigerant removal means, and each gas phase refrigerant removal means is a gas-liquid separator separating the gas phase refrigerant from the liquid phase refrigerant among the refrigerant condensed in the condenser. Wow; And a heat exchanger for liquefying the gas phase refrigerant by cooling the gas phase refrigerant with the cold of the liquid refrigerant separated by the gas-liquid separator.

The gas-liquid separator includes: a gas-liquid separation tube, which stands vertically and passes through a refrigerant in which gaseous and liquid refrigerants are mixed; An inert filler filled in the gas-liquid separation tube; A liquid refrigerant discharge pipe discharging the liquid refrigerant collected at a lower portion of the gas-liquid separation tube; And a gaseous refrigerant discharge pipe through which the gaseous refrigerant passing through the inert filler is discharged.

The heat exchanger is to liquefy by cooling the gas phase refrigerant with cold of the liquid refrigerant should be able to absorb more heat of the gas phase refrigerant. Therefore, it is preferable to install the liquid refrigerant passage coil through which the liquid refrigerant passes and the gas phase refrigerant passage coil through which the gas phase refrigerant passes in contact with each other.

As described above, the present invention uses a mixed refrigerant mixed with refrigerants having different boiling points, and installs a gas-liquid separator and a heat exchanger to sufficiently liquefy the gaseous refrigerant remaining in the refrigerant passing through the evaporator, thereby expanding and evaporating a single refrigerant. A freezing cycle alone can freeze the freezer at cryogenic temperatures.

In other words, it is possible to provide a refrigerating device having a simple structure but high freezing efficiency by repeatedly circulating a gaseous refrigerant in a gas-liquid separator and a heat exchanger, and then expanding and evaporating the gas-liquid separator and a heat exchanger without repeating the conventional stage.

In addition, the oil contained in the refrigerant is filtered by the gas-liquid separator so that the oil is supplied directly to the compressor instead of being provided to the expansion valve or the evaporator, thereby preventing the blockage of the evaporator capillary due to the solidification of the oil. will be.

1 is a configuration diagram of an example of a conventional cryogenic freezing device,
2 is a configuration diagram of an example of a cryogenic refrigeration apparatus according to the present invention,
3 is a block diagram of a gas-liquid separator constituting the present invention,
4 is a block diagram of a heat exchanger of the present invention;

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be understood, however, that the appended drawings illustrate only the contents and scope of technology of the present invention, and the technical scope of the present invention is not limited thereto. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made within the scope of the technical idea of the present invention based on these examples.

First, although the cryogenic freezing device of the present invention has been described as an example that it is used for treatment as described above, it can also be used for the purpose of storing an object that requires cryogenic freezing such a description of the claims of the present invention. It is not limiting.

The present invention is to provide a cryogenic refrigeration apparatus that is simple in structure and easy to manufacture, and low in manufacturing cost. In order to increase the cooling efficiency even though the scale is small, the refrigerant may have refrigerants having different boiling points. A mixed mixed refrigerant was used, and a gas phase refrigerant removing means (1) is provided to liquefy the gas phase refrigerant in the refrigerant condensed by the condenser to increase the proportion of the liquid refrigerant.

The cryogenic refrigeration apparatus of the present invention is similar to the components constituting the conventional refrigeration apparatus except for the gas phase refrigerant removal means (1). That is, the apparatus of the present invention is a compressor 10 for compressing the low-temperature low-pressure gas phase refrigerant to high temperature and high pressure, a condenser 20 for condensing the refrigerant compressed by the compressor in the liquid phase, and the liquid phase passed through the condenser 20 Although the expansion valve 30 for expanding the refrigerant to low-pressure liquid refrigerant and the evaporator 40 to absorb the external heat while evaporating the liquid refrigerant expanded in the expansion valve to send a low-temperature low-pressure gas phase refrigerant to the compressor, These components are the same as those of the conventional refrigerating device, and similar description thereof will be omitted.

As described above, one of the gist of the present invention is a mixed refrigerant, which is an azeotropic mixed refrigerant in which two or more kinds of refrigerants having a low boiling point are mixed, and the boiling point is -130 ° C to -160 ° C.

Another feature of the present invention is to increase the proportion of the liquid refrigerant by removing the gaseous refrigerant in the refrigerant condensed in the condenser 20.

In general, the refrigerating efficiency of the refrigerating device increases as the amount of refrigerant evaporated in the evaporator 40 increases, and the amount of refrigerant evaporated in the evaporator 40 is proportional to the amount of refrigerant condensed in the condenser 20. That is, as the ratio of the amount of the liquid refrigerant condensed in the condenser 20 and phase-converted into the liquid phase increases, the amount of evaporated evaporated in the evaporator 40 increases. Accordingly, the refrigerant condensed in the condenser 20 is preferably phase-converted to the liquid phase as much as possible so that no gas phase refrigerant exists. However, in the case of a conventional refrigerator, the refrigerant condensed by the condenser 20 is not completely condensed, and thus, the liquid refrigerant and the gaseous refrigerant coexist in the refrigerant, thereby reducing the amount of evaporation, thereby reducing the freezing efficiency.

The present invention improves this disadvantage, the gas phase refrigerant removing means (1) is provided as a means for phase-changing the gas phase refrigerant remaining in the condensed refrigerant to a liquid phase refrigerant.

Only one gas phase refrigerant removal means 1 may be installed, but when only one is installed, the efficiency of liquefiing the gas phase refrigerant is low, and as shown in FIG. 2, it is preferable to install two or more in series. The installation of three gas phase refrigerant removal means 1 will be described as an example.

The gas phase refrigerant removal means (1) includes a gas-liquid separator (11) for separating the gas phase refrigerant from the liquid refrigerant condensed by the condenser (20); And a heat exchanger (12) for liquefying the gas phase refrigerant by cooling the gas phase refrigerant with the cold of the liquid refrigerant separated by the gas-liquid separator (11).

In order to increase the liquefaction efficiency of the gas phase refrigerant removing means 1, it is necessary to efficiently separate the gas phase refrigerant from the liquid refrigerant. Therefore, the gas-liquid separator 11, as shown in Figure 4, is installed vertically, the gas-liquid separator tube 111 through which the refrigerant mixed with the gaseous phase and the liquid refrigerant passes; An inert filler 112 filled in the gas-liquid separation tube 111; It comprises a liquid refrigerant discharge pipe 113 for discharging the liquid refrigerant collected in the lower portion of the gas-liquid separation tube 111.

As shown in FIG. 3, the gas-liquid separation tube 111 is configured in a meander form meandering in the vertical direction, and the liquid refrigerant discharge pipe 113 is connected to the bottom of the lower bent portion. The inert filler 112 is provided at a portion where the coolant flows upward.

The inert filler 112 is intended to allow the liquid refrigerant to remain inside the gas-liquid distributor 111 by passing only the gaseous refrigerant, and may be made of any material that is chemically stable without reacting with the refrigerant or oil, It is preferable that it is a metal ball. In addition, the inert filler 112 is preferably filled with a relatively large gap so that the gaseous refrigerant passes smoothly.

The liquid refrigerant discharge tube 113 is a tube for discharging the liquid refrigerant accumulated in the lower portion of the gas-liquid separation tube 111 without passing through the filler 112, as shown in FIG. 3, the gas-liquid separation tube 111. The branch pipes were connected to each of the bent portions formed below, and the branch pipes were connected to one pipe.

In the gas-liquid separator 11 configured as described above, the refrigerant including the gaseous refrigerant introduced through the inlet 11a of the gas-liquid separation tube 111 passes through the filler 112 and the liquid refrigerant is filtered to the liquid refrigerant discharge pipe 113. The gaseous refrigerant is discharged through the outlet 11b. The liquid refrigerant and the gaseous refrigerant discharged from the gas-liquid separator 11 flow into the heat exchanger 12.

The heat exchanger (12) serves to change the phase of the liquid phase refrigerant by cooling the gas phase refrigerant to the cold generated in the process of absorbing the external heat of the liquid refrigerant of low temperature and high pressure.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, the heat exchanger 12 includes a liquid refrigerant passage coil 121 through which the liquid refrigerant discharged through the liquid refrigerant discharge pipe 113 passes, and the gas-liquid separator tube 111. It consists of a gas phase refrigerant passage coil 122 through which the gas phase refrigerant discharged from the outlet (11b) of the passage.

As shown in FIG. 2, the liquid refrigerant passage coil 121 is connected to a refrigerant line L between the evaporator 40 and the compressor 10, and the gas phase refrigerant passage coil 122 is a gas liquid installed at a rear end thereof. It is connected to the separator 11 or to the expansion valve (30).

Absorption of external heat in the process of passing the low-temperature and high-pressure liquid refrigerant inside the liquid refrigerant passage coil 121, the cold air at this time is transferred to the gas phase refrigerant passage coil 122 to cool the gas phase refrigerant liquid liquid refrigerant Is converted to. The two coils 121 and 122 are installed close to each other so that the cool air of the liquid refrigerant passage coil 121 is more efficiently transferred to the gas phase refrigerant passage coil 122.

The liquid refrigerant is heat-exchanged with the gaseous refrigerant passing through the liquid refrigerant passage coil 121, and a part thereof is phase-converted to the gaseous refrigerant.

The gaseous refrigerant including the liquid refrigerant cooled and liquefied while passing through the gaseous refrigerant passage coil 122 is introduced into the gas-liquid separator 11 at the rear end and undergoes heat exchange after gas-liquid separation. By repeating this process several times, most of the gaseous refrigerant is supplied to the expansion valve 30 in a state changed into liquid refrigerant.

As shown in FIG. 2 and described above, the liquid refrigerant passage coil 121 is connected to the refrigerant line (L), and the refrigerant passing therethrough is mixed with the refrigerant in the refrigerant line (L). Therefore, the refrigerant passing through the liquid refrigerant passage coil 121 and the refrigerant in the refrigerant line L between the evaporator 40 and the compressor 10 should be in the same state.

The refrigerant passing through the liquid refrigerant passage coil 121 includes a gaseous refrigerant but is a low-temperature, high-pressure liquid state having a high proportion of the liquid refrigerant, and the refrigerant passing through the evaporator is a gaseous state of high temperature and low pressure, so that the two refrigerants are in the same state. The auxiliary expansion valve 13 and the cooling heat exchange coil 123 are provided to make them.

The auxiliary expansion valve 13 is installed at the rear end of the liquid refrigerant passage coil 121 to expand the low temperature and high pressure liquid refrigerant passing through the liquid refrigerant passage coil 121 to lower the temperature and pressure to the refrigerant line (L). Supply.

The cooling heat exchange coil 123 is installed between the condenser 40 and the compressor 10 to cool the refrigerant flowing therein by the cold air of the liquid refrigerant passage coil 121.

The heat exchange is performed between the liquid refrigerant passage coil 121 and the cooling heat exchange coil 123 so that the two refrigerants have the same temperature, and the refrigerant flowing through the liquid refrigerant passage coil 121 is vaporized while passing through the auxiliary expansion valve 13. The same state as that of the refrigerant flowing in the line L is obtained.

As described above, the refrigerant passing through the evaporator 40 is a gas state of high temperature and low pressure, which is cooled by heat exchange while passing through the cooling heat exchange coil 123, but does not lower to the room temperature required by the compressor 10.

The preheat exchanger 14 may be further installed to lower the temperature of the refrigerant flowing into the compressor 10 to room temperature.

As shown in FIG. 2, the preheat exchanger 14 includes a low temperature and high pressure refrigerant coil 141 installed between the condenser 20 and the gas phase refrigerant removing means 1, and between the evaporator 40 and the compressor 10. It is composed of a low temperature low pressure refrigerant coil 142 connected to.

The refrigerant flowing in the low temperature high pressure refrigerant coil 141 is a refrigerant condensed in the condenser 20, and thus has a lower temperature than the refrigerant flowing in the low temperature low pressure refrigerant coil 142, thereby exchanging heat between the two coils 141 and 142. This is done so that the refrigerant supplied to the compressor 10 is cooled to room temperature.

Hereinafter, the operation of the refrigeration apparatus of the present invention configured as described above.

The operation of the other components, including the compressor is similar to the components constituting the conventional refrigeration apparatus, and a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

As described above, the flow of the refrigerant, that is, the flow of the liquid refrigerant and the gaseous refrigerant in the refrigerating device in which the plurality of gas phase refrigerant removal means 1 is installed is as follows.

First, in the flow of the liquid refrigerant, the liquid refrigerant discharged from the first and second gas phase refrigerant removal means is heat exchanged through the liquid refrigerant passage through coil 121 of the heat exchanger 12, the auxiliary expansion valve (13) Passing through the phase is converted to a low-temperature, high-pressure gas state to join the refrigerant line (L) is introduced into the compressor (10).

The gas phase refrigerant undergoes heat exchange while passing through the gas phase refrigerant passage coil 122 of the heat exchanger 12, thereby converting a part of the gas phase into a liquid phase and thus including a liquid refrigerant. The gas phase refrigerant including the liquid refrigerant passes through the gas-liquid separator at the rear stage, is separated from the liquid refrigerant, and flows into the gas-liquid separator at the rear stage, and the separated liquid refrigerant is joined to the refrigerant line (L) through the same process as the liquid refrigerant. Flows into (10).

As described above, most of the gas phase refrigerant is phase-converted to become liquid refrigerant while passing through the multi-stage gas phase refrigerant removal means (1), and the liquid refrigerant is expanded to low temperature and low pressure while passing through the expansion valve (30). Is supplied.

The low-temperature low-pressure liquid refrigerant absorbs external heat while passing through the evaporator 40 to become a high-temperature low-pressure gas.

In order to supply the high-temperature low-pressure gas phase refrigerant passing through the evaporator 40 to the compressor 10, it is required to cool to room temperature and low pressure. The gaseous refrigerant of high temperature and low pressure is gradually cooled by heat exchange with the refrigerant of the liquid refrigerant passage coil 121 while passing through the cooling heat exchange coil 123 of the heat exchanger 12.

Even if the high-temperature low-pressure gaseous refrigerant is cooled while passing through the heat exchangers 12, it may not be lowered to a desired temperature in the compressor 10. In order to cool the refrigerant having less cooling, the refrigerant passes through the low temperature low pressure refrigerant coil 142 of the preheat exchanger 14 and exchanges heat with the refrigerant passing through the low temperature high pressure refrigerant coil 141.

Since the cryogenic refrigeration apparatus of the present invention configured as described above passes through the gas phase refrigerant removal means 1 installed in multiple stages, the gas phase refrigerant becomes liquefied and becomes a liquid refrigerant, so that the ratio of the liquid refrigerant in the refrigerant flowing into the expansion valve 30 is increased. . Accordingly, the amount of expansion of the refrigerant into the liquid refrigerant of low temperature and low pressure in the expansion valve 30 increases, and the amount of the refrigerant evaporated from the evaporator 40 increases, thereby increasing the freezing efficiency.

Although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to preferred embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and the present invention belongs to the present invention without departing from the technical scope of the present invention as claimed in the claims. It is to be understood that the technical idea of the present invention extends to the extent that various changes or modifications can be made by those skilled in the art.

1: gas phase refrigerant removal means
11: gas-liquid separator
111: gas-liquid separator 11a: inlet 11b: outlet
112: filler
113: liquid refrigerant discharge pipe
12: heat exchanger
121: liquid refrigerant passage coil
122: weather refrigerant passing coil
123: cooling heat exchange coil
13: auxiliary expansion valve
14: preheat exchanger
141: high temperature refrigerant coil
142: low temperature refrigerant coil
10: compressor
20 condenser
30: Expansion valve
40: evaporator

Claims (8)

A compressor for compressing the low-temperature low-pressure gas phase refrigerant to high temperature and high pressure, a condenser for condensing the refrigerant compressed in the compressor into the liquid phase, an expansion valve for expanding the liquid refrigerant into the low pressure liquid refrigerant, and a liquid refrigerant expanded from the expansion valve to evaporate In the refrigeration apparatus comprising a vaporizer for absorbing the external heat while sending a low-temperature low-pressure gas phase refrigerant to the compressor, and a refrigerant line for transferring the low-temperature low-pressure gas phase refrigerant from the evaporator to the compressor,
The refrigerant of the refrigerating device is a mixed refrigerant,
Between the condenser and expansion valve
(A) a gas-liquid separator tube having a meander shape meandering in an up and down direction and filled with an inert filler for passing only a gas phase refrigerant;
A liquid refrigerant discharge tube for supplying the liquid refrigerant collected in the lower portion of the gas-liquid separation tube to a compressor or an expansion valve; and a gas-liquid separator for separating the liquid refrigerant and the gaseous refrigerant from the refrigerant passing through the condenser;
(B) a liquid refrigerant passage coil which passes through the liquid refrigerant separated in the gas-liquid separator in a direction opposite to the transfer direction of the refrigerant line and then joins the refrigerant line;
An auxiliary expansion valve installed at a position immediately before the liquid refrigerant passing coil is joined to the refrigerant line;
Consists of a gas phase refrigerant passing through the gas phase refrigerant separated by the gas-liquid separator passes through,
The refrigerant line in the portion adjacent to the gas phase refrigerant passage coil is in the form of a coil, and the gas phase refrigerant passage coil is disposed between the liquid refrigerant passage coil and the coil type refrigerant line,
The gas phase refrigerant removal means comprising a heat exchanger for liquefying the gas phase refrigerant by first cooling the gas phase refrigerant by the liquid refrigerant passage coil and secondarily cooling by a coil type refrigerant line in which the liquid refrigerant is joined. Cryogenic freezing device characterized in that.
The method of claim 1,
Cryogenic refrigeration apparatus characterized in that at least two gas phase refrigerant removal means are installed.
delete delete delete delete The method of claim 1,
And the mixed refrigerant is a non-azeotropic mixed refrigerant. The method of claim 1,
And a preheat exchanger between the condenser and the gas phase refrigerant removing means for preheating the refrigerant supplied to the gas phase refrigerant removing means by exchanging heat with the low temperature low pressure gas phase refrigerant passing through the evaporator.

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