KR19980059229A - Refrigerant Leak Inspection System - Google Patents

Abstract

A refrigerant leak inspection apparatus is disclosed which enables continuous blowing, leakage testing, and purge processes of a refrigerant pipe, and enables a leak test of refrigerant gas to be discriminated by lighting of a lamp. The device is provided with low pressure and high pressure service valves 13 and 14 installed at both ends of the refrigerant pipe 18, a gas supply source for supplying gas to the refrigerant pipe at a constant pressure through the low pressure service valve, and a refrigerant pipe. The pressure check valve 60 is opened and closed according to the change of the gas pressure, and the lamp 41 is turned on when the pressure check valve is opened and closed.

Description

Refrigerant Leak Inspection System

The present invention relates to a refrigerant leak inspection apparatus, and more particularly, to a refrigerant leak inspection apparatus improved to enable automatic inspection by a gas pressure difference without auditory or smell by an operator.

In general, an air conditioner such as an air conditioner compresses refrigerant gas into a gaseous state of high temperature and high pressure in a compressor, releases heat from the condenser, condenses it into a liquid state, and injects it into an evaporator through a small hole of an expansion valve, and then indoor air. It takes the heat of the inside and evaporates it to a gaseous state, and performs a function of cooling indoor air by circulation which enters into a compressor.

The refrigerant that circulates in the air conditioner is leaked and lost to the outside through a minute gap created by a pipe or a mechanical defect.

Therefore, in the assembly production of air conditioners, high vacuum conditions are maintained in the piping by blowing for removing impurities from the pipe, a leak test for testing whether the pipe leaks, a purge process for purging gas in the vessel, and a vacuum measurement. The vacuum test and the refrigerant filling process to inject and charge the refrigerant in the inner tube of the vacuum state.

In the conventional leak test process, as illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 3, nipples are respectively provided to the low pressure side service valve 4d and the high pressure side service valve 4c of the air conditioner 4 conveyed along the conveyor belt 1. 3) and connect the connector 2a of the nitrogen supply pipe 2 to the nipple 3, inject and charge nitrogen to the compressor 4a and the heat exchanger 4b of the air conditioner 4, Sniffing is performed to test the leakage of the refrigerant by hearing / sense.

However, such a conventional leak test has the following problems.

First, the refrigerant leakage test by sniffing is harmful to workers, such as headache and dizziness due to nitrogen gas leaked into the atmosphere.

Second, the leak test is performed by hand, which makes it impossible to accurately inspect and cause a decrease in productivity.

Third, there is a cumbersome problem of removing the nitrogen supply pipe and the refrigerant pipe every time the blowing pipe, the leakage test and the purge operation of the refrigerant pipe.

The present invention was created to solve the above problems, by automatically performing a leak test of the refrigerant gas, to prevent the damage of the operator due to the leaking gas, improved refrigerant leakage to be advantageous for accurate inspection and productivity improvement The purpose is to provide a test method and apparatus.

1 is a schematic plan view of a conventional refrigerant leak inspection apparatus,

Figure 2 is an excerpt of the main portion of Figure 1,

3 is a main configuration diagram of a refrigerant pipe;

Figure 4 is a circuit diagram of the subject innovation inspection device,

5 and 6 is a schematic view showing the inspection device of the present invention,

7 is a hydraulic circuit diagram of the subject innovation inspection apparatus.

* Explanation of symbols for main parts of the drawings

10: air conditioner 11, 12: nipple

13, 14: service valve 20: nitrogen supply pipe

30: conveyor 41: lamp

In the present invention to achieve the above object is a refrigerant leak inspection apparatus for inspecting the leakage of the refrigerant by injecting a predetermined gas into the refrigerant pipe,

Low and high pressure service valves installed at both ends of the refrigerant pipe,

A gas container for supplying gas to the refrigerant pipe at a constant pressure through the low pressure service valve;

A pressure check valve opened and closed according to a change in gas pressure supplied to the refrigerant pipe;

Characterized in that the lamp is provided in accordance with the opening and closing of the pressure check valve.

According to the characteristics of the present invention, the inspection method and apparatus of the present invention detects the leakage of gas as a lamp that is lit in accordance with the difference in the gas pressure injected into the refrigerant pipe, it is possible to accurately detect and prevent the productivity decrease due to manual work.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

5, 6, and 7 showing the leak test apparatus of the present invention and FIG. 4 showing the sequence circuit diagram of the present invention, the leak test process includes the steps of blowing the refrigerant pipe 18 with nitrogen, and then the refrigerant pipe 18 Injecting and filling the nitrogen gas at a constant pressure to detect the leakage state of the nitrogen gas according to the pressure difference, and finally purging the nitrogen gas. In the nitrogen gas leak state detection step, the leak state of the nitrogen gas can be detected by the lamp 41 which is turned on in accordance with the pressure change in the refrigerant pipe 18.

4 to 7 showing a leak test apparatus suitable for carrying out the leak test method of the present invention, respectively, at both ends of the refrigerant pipe 18 of the air conditioner 10 including the compressor 16 and the heat exchanger 15, respectively. The low pressure / high pressure side service valves 13 and 14 are provided, and nipples 11 and 12 are provided at the ends of these valves 13 and 14, respectively.

One side of the conveyor 30 to which the air conditioner 10 is transported is provided with a nitrogen supply pipe 20 connected from a gas container 40 containing nitrogen gas. The nitrogen supply pipe 20 has a gas leakage inspection unit. It is prepared.

The gas leakage inspection unit includes a pressure gauge 45 displaying a gas pressure supplied from the nitrogen supply pipe 20, a blowing lamp 42 displayed when the nitrogen gas is blown into the refrigerant pipe 18, and a refrigerant pipe 18. ) Is equipped with a test lamp (43) displayed when the leakage test by charging the nitrogen gas to a predetermined pressure, and a leak detection lamp (41) displayed when the nitrogen gas is leaked, and is displayed when the charged nitrogen gas is purged. And a connector 46 and 47 coupled to each nipple 11 and 12 of the purge lamp 44 and the air conditioner 10. In addition, the gas leakage detection unit has built-in timers 42a, 43a, 44a for setting the blowing time, the leak test time, and the purge time.

On the other hand, the detection lamp 41 is turned on in accordance with the operation of the pressure check valve 60 is operated by the pressure change according to the leakage of nitrogen gas charged in the refrigerant pipe 18 at a predetermined pressure.

This gas leak detection device operates as follows. First, each coupler 46 and 47 of the leak detection unit to the nipples 11 and 12 coupled to the low pressure / high pressure side service valves 13 and 14 of the air conditioner 10 transported along the conveyor 30. Combine. Then, the power switch SW1 is turned on (the power lamp 53 is turned on), and the blowing time, the leak test time and the purge time are set in each of the timers 42a, 43a and 44a.

When the start switch SW3 is turned on in such a state, the nitrogen gas blows off the refrigerant pipe 18 for the set blowing time. Then, the high pressure service valve 13 is shut off and nitrogen gas is filled in the refrigerant pipe 18. At this time, when the gas pressure is changed due to leakage in the refrigerant pipe 18, the pressure check valve 60 is operated to light the detection lamp 41. In this case, the air conditioner 10 is treated badly by operating the stop switch SW2. On the other hand, if there is no abnormality during the test set time, nitrogen gas is purged for the set time.

First, unlike the conventional leak leakage test by sniffing (sniffing), the leak test method and apparatus of the present invention visually enables the leak test by the lamp 41 is turned on in accordance with the change in the supplied gas pressure due to the pipe defects Thus, the worker's harm caused by the leakage gas is eliminated.

Second, by performing the leak test automatically by turning on the pressure check valve 60 and the lamp 41 without manual labor, accurate inspection is possible.

Third, the blowing, leakage test and purging operation of the refrigerant pipe can be performed by connecting the nitrogen supply pipe 20 and the refrigerant pipe 18 only once, so that continuous work is possible, thereby improving productivity.

Claims (1)

A refrigerant leak inspection apparatus for inspecting a refrigerant leak by injecting a predetermined gas into a refrigerant pipe, wherein the refrigerant pressure is fixed to the refrigerant pipe through low pressure and high pressure service valves installed at both ends of the refrigerant pipe, and the low pressure service valve. A gas supply source for supplying pressure, a pressure check valve that opens and closes according to a change in the gas pressure supplied to the refrigerant pipe, and a lamp that lights up when the pressure check valve is opened and closed, Refrigerant leak test device, characterized in that to check for leakage.