KR20200009539A - Heat pump system - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a heat pump system and, more specifically, to a heat pump system with a turbo charger or a super charger for supercharging a mixer to an engine. The heat pump system can comprise: the engine; an air conditioning unit having a first refrigerant path in which a refrigerant compressed by a compressor driven by the engine is circulated and including an outdoor heat exchanger connected to the compressor, an inflator connected to the outdoor heat exchanger, and an indoor heat exchanger connected between the inflator and the compressor; and a refrigerant path unit branching from the first refrigerant path to form a second refrigerant path to cool the mixer in which fuels and air that are supplied to the engine are mixed.

Description

Heat pump system

The present invention relates to a heat pump system, and more particularly to a heat pump system to which a turbocharger or supercharger is applied for supercharging a mixer in an engine.

In general, the heat pump includes a compressor for compressing a refrigerant, an indoor heat exchanger for exchanging heat with indoor air, an expansion valve for expanding the refrigerant, and an outdoor heat exchanger for exchanging heat with outdoor air.

Such a compressor and an outdoor heat exchanger may be included in an outdoor unit, and an expansion valve and an indoor heat exchanger may be included in an indoor unit. Depending on the product, an expansion valve may be included in the outdoor unit.

The compressor can be driven by an engine. That is, the engine may provide a driving force to the compressor through combustion of a mixer in which air and fuel are mixed.

On the other hand, since the conventional heat pump introduces the mixer into the engine by underpressure in the engine, there may be a limit in the flow rate per unit time of the mixer supplied to the engine.

The limit of the flow rate per unit time of the mixer supplied to the engine may mean a limit of the engine output. Therefore, in order to increase the output of the engine, research is continued to increase the flow rate per unit time of the mixer supplied to the engine.

To this end, a supercharger such as a turbocharger or a supercharger may be used, but since the mixer supplied through the supercharger may increase the temperature and reduce the engine efficiency, an intercooler may be used to increase the effect of using the supercharger.

However, the heat pump system may be provided with a plurality of components around the engine, it may be necessary to improve the installation space. Therefore, various methods for efficiency of the installation space may be required.

In addition, since the intercooler simply lowers the temperature of the mixer through heat exchange, a method for more precisely controlling the temperature of the mixer may be required.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a heat pump system capable of efficiently controlling the temperature of a mixer in a heat pump system capable of supercharging the mixer with an engine.

In addition, it is an object of the present invention to provide a heat pump system that is easy to secure space in the engine system using the supercharger and can simplify the intake machine.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide a heat pump system capable of reducing pressure leakage in the engine intake system and facilitating control of pressure.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide a heat pump system capable of more precisely controlling the temperature of a mixer supplied to an engine.

In the first aspect of the present invention for achieving the above technical problem, the present invention, the engine; An indoor heat exchanger having a first refrigerant path through which a refrigerant compressed by a compressor driven by the engine circulates, an outdoor heat exchanger connected to the compressor, an expander connected to the outdoor heat exchanger, and an indoor heat exchanger connected between the expander and the compressor An air conditioning unit including a group; And a coolant path part branched from the first coolant path to form a second coolant path for cooling a mixer in which fuel and air supplied to the engine are mixed.

The first refrigerant path may include: a first branch disposed between the outdoor heat exchanger and the expander; And a second branch disposed between the indoor heat exchanger and the compressor.

In this case, the refrigerant path portion, expansion valve connected to the first branch; And one side is connected to the expansion valve and the other side is connected to the second branch portion, it may be configured to include a refrigerant passage portion located on the intake manifold side of the engine.

In this case, the coolant flow path unit may be provided outside the intake manifold of the engine.

In this case, the coolant flow path part may be formed to cover at least a portion of the mixer inlet side of the intake manifold.

In addition, the refrigerant passage portion, the inlet portion may be provided between the intake pipe of the intake manifold.

In addition, the flow direction of the coolant on the coolant flow path part may be opposite to the flow direction of the mixer in the intake manifold.

The refrigerant path unit may further include a temperature sensor that detects a temperature of the mixer.

In addition, it may further include a turbocharger or a supercharger for compressing the mixer introduced into the engine.

In the second aspect of the present invention for achieving the above technical problem, the present invention, the engine; An air conditioning unit configured to circulate a refrigerant compressed by a compressor driven by the engine; And a turbocharger or a supercharger for compressing the mixer introduced into the engine. And a coolant flow path unit installed at an intake manifold side of the engine to cool the compressed mixer using the coolant.

In addition, the coolant flow path part may be formed to cover at least a portion of the mixer inlet side of the intake manifold.

In addition, the refrigerant passage portion, the inlet portion may be provided between the intake pipe of the intake manifold.

In this case, the inlet may be located between the respective intake pipes.

In addition, the flow direction of the coolant on the coolant flow path part may be opposite to the flow direction of the mixer in the intake manifold.

In addition, an expansion valve positioned between the refrigerant passage and the refrigerant passage portion of the air conditioning unit; And a temperature sensor installed at the intake manifold.

The present invention has the following effects.

According to the present invention, the temperature of the mixer supplied to the engine can be efficiently controlled by using the refrigerant.

In addition, since the intercooler can be removed from the engine system using the supercharger, space can be easily secured and the intake machine can be simplified. In addition, the intake system can be simplified to reduce the leakage of pressure and to facilitate the control of the pressure.

Furthermore, the temperature of the mixer can be controlled more precisely through the electronic expansion valve.

1 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a heat pump system.
2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a heat pump system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a perspective view of a refrigerant path unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a plan view of a refrigerant path unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.
5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA ′ of FIG. 3.
6 is a schematic diagram showing a heat pump system according to another embodiment of the present invention.

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

While the invention allows for various modifications and variations, specific embodiments thereof are illustrated by way of example in the drawings and will be described in detail below. However, it is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed, but rather the invention includes all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives consistent with the spirit of the invention as defined by the claims.

When an element such as a layer, region or substrate is referred to as being on another component "on", it will be understood that it may be directly on another element or there may be an intermediate element in between. .

Although the terms first, second, etc. may be used to describe various elements, components, regions, layers, and / or regions, such elements, components, regions, layers, and / or regions It will be understood that it should not be limited by these terms.

1 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a heat pump system.

Referring to FIG. 1, a heat pump system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention may include a compressor 20 driven by an engine 10, an indoor heat exchanger 30, and an outdoor heat exchanger 40.

The engine 10 may be driven by fuel. In one example, the engine 10 may be driven by a gaseous fuel (eg, LNG) and may power the compressor 20. The engine 10 will be described in detail below with reference to other drawings.

The compressor 20 may compress the refrigerant. That is, the compressor 20 may pressurize the low temperature low pressure refrigerant to form a high temperature high pressure refrigerant. At least one compressor 20 may be provided in the heat pump system. Drive power of the compressor 20 may be provided from the engine 10.

The indoor heat exchanger 30 may exchange heat between the refrigerant and the indoor air. This indoor heat exchanger 30 can be operated as an evaporator in the cooling mode of the heat pump system and as a condenser in the heating mode of the heat pump system.

The outdoor heat exchanger 40 may exchange heat between the refrigerant and the outdoor air. This outdoor heat exchanger 40 may be operated as a condenser in the cooling mode of the heat pump system and may be operated as an evaporator in the heating mode of the heat pump system.

The refrigerant discharged from the compressor 20 may be selectively guided to one of the indoor heat exchanger 30 and the outdoor heat exchanger 40 based on the operating mode of the heat pump system.

The heat pump system may further include a flow path switching valve 50 for determining a traveling direction of the refrigerant discharged from the compressor 20. That is, the flow path switching valve 50 may switch the flow path such that the refrigerant discharged from the compressor 20 faces one of the indoor heat exchanger 30 and the outdoor heat exchanger 40.

The flow path switching valve 50 guides the refrigerant discharged from the compressor 20 toward the indoor heat exchanger 30 in the heating mode, and directs the refrigerant discharged from the compressor 20 toward the outdoor heat exchanger 40 in the cooling mode. I can guide you.

The heat pump system may further include an expander 60 for reducing the refrigerant. The inflator 60 may be provided between the indoor heat exchanger 30 and the outdoor heat exchanger 40. The expander 60 may expand the refrigerant flowing into the heat exchanger operating as the evaporator among the indoor heat exchanger 30 and the outdoor heat exchanger 40.

In other words, the expander 60 may expand the refrigerant passing through the heat exchanger, which operates as a condenser, between the indoor heat exchanger 30 and the outdoor heat exchanger 40.

The heat pump system may further include an accumulator 70 that separates the refrigerant flowing into the compressor 20 into a gaseous refrigerant and a liquid refrigerant and supplies only the gaseous refrigerant to the compressor 20.

The accumulator 70 may be provided upstream of the compressor 20. The accumulator 70 may evaporate from the indoor heat exchanger 30 or the outdoor heat exchanger 40 to separate only the gaseous refrigerant from the abnormal refrigerant directed toward the compressor 20 and guide the compressor 20 to the compressor 20.

In such a heat pump system, a part except the engine 10, that is, a part for air conditioning may be referred to as an air conditioner (or an air conditioner). That is, the air conditioning unit may include a compressor 20, an indoor heat exchanger 30, an outdoor heat exchanger 40, a flow path switching valve 50, an expander 60, an accumulator 70, and the like.

2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a heat pump system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 illustrates the conceptual diagram of FIG. 1 in more detail.

Referring to FIG. 2, an embodiment of the present invention provides an air conditioner having an engine 10 and a first refrigerant path a through which refrigerant compressed by a compressor 20 driven by the engine 10 circulates. It may be configured to include a refrigerant path portion 80 to form a portion 100, and a second refrigerant path (b) for cooling the mixer is a mixture of fuel and air supplied to the engine 10.

As described above, the air conditioner 100 includes an outdoor heat exchanger 30 connected to the compressor 20, an expander 60 connected to the outdoor heat exchanger 30, between the expander 60 and the compressor 20. May be connected to and include an indoor heat exchanger 40.

The path leading to the compressor 20 again through the outdoor heat exchanger 30, the expander 60, and the indoor heat exchanger 40 connected to the compressor 20 may be referred to as a first refrigerant path a.

The second refrigerant path b may be formed to cool the mixer in which the fuel and air supplied to the engine 10 are branched from the first refrigerant path a.

In this way, in order to branch from the first refrigerant path (a) to the second refrigerant path (b), the first refrigerant path (a) is a first component located between the outdoor heat exchanger (30) and the expander (60). It may include a base A and a second branch B located between the indoor heat exchanger 40 and the compressor 20.

At this time, the refrigerant path portion 80, the expansion valve 83 and one side is connected to the expansion valve 83 and the other side is connected to the second branch (B) connected to the first branch (A), the engine It may be configured to include a refrigerant flow path portion 82 located on the intake manifold 81 side of (10).

The expansion valve 83 is an electronic expansion valve (EEV), and may be controlled by the engine control unit ECU 90 or a separate control unit. That is, although not specifically illustrated in FIG. 2, the expansion valve 83 may be controlled by an engine control unit ECU 90 or a separate control unit.

In addition, the refrigerant path unit 80 may further include a temperature sensor 84 for detecting the temperature of the mixer.

Therefore, the controller 90 may adjust the amount of the refrigerant flowing through the refrigerant path unit 80 by adjusting the opening degree of the expansion valve 83 according to the temperature of the mixer detected through the temperature sensor 84.

For example, when the temperature of the mixer detected through the temperature sensor 84 is higher than the set value, the expansion valve 83 may be further opened to increase the flow rate of the refrigerant. On the contrary, when the temperature of the mixer detected through the temperature sensor 84 is lower than the set value, the expansion valve 83 may be further closed to reduce the flow amount of the refrigerant.

The coolant flow path 82 may be provided outside the intake manifold 81 of the engine 10. For example, it may be provided in the form of a double tube on the outside of the intake manifold 81. Here, the double tube shape may mean a shape in which another tubular shape is formed on the tubular shape forming the intake manifold 81. The shape of the coolant flow path 82 is described later in detail.

On the other hand, the engine 10 may generate an output by burning a mixture of air and fuel. The output of the engine 10 is also related to the flow rate per unit time of the mixer supplied to the engine 10. For example, when the flow rate per unit time of the mixer supplied to the engine 10 increases, the output of the engine 10 may increase.

In order to increase this flow rate, that is, a turbocharger 70 or a supercharger may be provided as a supercharger for supercharging the mixer flowing into the engine 10.

2 shows a state in which a turbocharger 70 is driven which is driven using the exhaust gas of the engine 10 to supercharge (or compress) the mixer. Of course, however, an electrically operated supercharger may be used. The following description will focus on an embodiment in which the turbo magnetic device 70 is used as the supercharger. However, the present invention can be equally applied to the embodiment using the supercharger.

As mentioned above, the engine 10 may be driven by gaseous fuel. In addition, the air supplied to the engine 10 may be filtered and supplied to clean air through an air cleaner (not shown).

The gaseous fuel and air supplied in this way may be sucked into the engine 10 by a mixer 11 having a constant mixing ratio of air and fuel.

A fuel valve (not shown) is provided at the inlet side of the mixer 11 to adjust the supply amount of gaseous fuel mixed with air. When a large amount of gaseous fuel is supplied, the mixing ratio of the air and fuel mixed mixer is increased.

In this case, the turbo charger 70 may compress the mixer to a high temperature and high pressure. The turbocharger 70 may rotate the turbine by the force of the exhaust gas, compress the intake air by the rotational force, and send the turbocharger 70 to the cylinder of the engine 70 to increase the output.

Turbocharger 70 is composed of a turbine 71 and an air compressor 72 directly connected thereto to rotate the turbine 71 by the energy of the exhaust gas and to compress the air sucked by the air compressor 72 to the engine ( 10) can be sent to.

The turbocharger 70 has a structure in which a blade 71 is installed to connect the impeller of the turbine 71 and the air compressor 72 to one shaft, and each is surrounded by a housing, and is located near the exhaust manifold 13 of the engine 10. Can be arranged.

Usually, the mixer may be compressed by the turbocharger 70 and rise in temperature, so that the mixer may be cooled by an intercooler (not shown) and then introduced into the engine 10 through the intake manifold 81. The intercooler can increase the absolute amount of the mixer flowing into the engine by increasing the density by cooling the mixer to improve the engine output.

However, according to one embodiment of the present invention, since the temperature riser by the turbocharger 70 may be cooled while passing through the refrigerant path unit 80, a separate intercooler may not be required.

In this manner, if the intercooler is not installed, the space for configuring the heat pump system can be reduced, and thus a space for providing another configuration can be secured.

In contrast, since the refrigerant passage 82 is provided in the form of a double pipe on the intake manifold 81, it may not occupy a large space. Moreover, the temperature of the mixer can be effectively controlled by the coolant flow path 82.

A throttle valve (ETC) 12 may be provided between the turbocharger 70 and the intake manifold 81 to adjust the amount of the mixer flowing into the engine 10. The throttle valve may use an electronic throttle control valve (ETC) to control the amount of mixer introduced into the engine 10 by the controller 90.

The engine 10 is an internal combustion engine which operates through four strokes of the suction, compression, explosion, and exhaust of the mixer introduced through the intake manifold 81. At this time, the explosion stroke may be made by an ignition plug installed inside the engine, and the ignition angle may be adjusted by controlling the explosion point through the ignition plug in the ECU 90.

Exhaust gas generated as the engine 10 operates is discharged through the exhaust manifold 13, at which time the impeller of the turbocharger 70 is rotated.

A coolant flow path 82 is provided on the intake manifold 81 to cool the temperature of the mixer by the coolant.

At this time, when the supercharging temperature of the engine 10 is lower than necessary, contaminants may be generated, and when the supercharging temperature is higher than necessary, the supercharging effect is lowered, so that the proper temperature may be maintained using the temperature sensor 84. .

That is, the controller 90 may control the flow rate of the refrigerant and the supercharger temperature sucked into the engine 10 by adjusting the opening degree of the expansion valve 83 according to the temperature of the mixer measured by the temperature sensor 84.

Accordingly, as mentioned above, the intercooler which is usually installed together with the turbocharger 70 can be removed, thereby simplifying the intake machine.

3 is a perspective view of a refrigerant path unit according to an embodiment of the present invention. 4 is a plan view of a refrigerant path unit according to an embodiment of the present invention. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA ′ of FIG. 3.

Hereinafter, the structure of the refrigerant path unit 80 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 3 to 5. In particular, the shape of the refrigerant passage 82 will be described.

First, the coolant flow path 82 may be formed to cover at least a portion of the mixer inlet 81a side of the intake manifold 81.

That is, the refrigerant passage 82 may be formed in the form of a double pipe in the pipe forming the intake manifold 81.

In this case, the coolant flow path 82 may not be formed at a portion connected to each cylinder of the engine 10 of the intake manifold 81. For example, when the coolant flow path 82 is formed in a portion of the intake manifold 81 connected to each cylinder of the engine 10, the coupling of the engine 10 may be prevented. In addition, the coolant flow path 82 may properly adjust the temperature of the mixer without covering the entire intake manifold 81.

4, the inlet portion 82a may be provided between the intake pipes of the intake manifold 81.

For example, FIG. 4 shows an example of a four-cylinder engine. In the intake manifold 81, an intake pipe is branched into four paths so that a mixer is supplied to each cylinder, with an inlet section between each intake pipe. 82a may be provided.

This may be because a larger amount of refrigerant may interact with the mixer when the inlet 82a is provided between each intake pipe.

In addition, the flow direction of the coolant on the coolant flow path 82 may be opposite to the flow direction of the mixer in the intake manifold 81.

That is, the inlet 82a of the coolant flow path 82 is located between each intake pipe at a position far from the mixer inlet 81a side of the intake manifold 81, so that the coolant on the coolant flow path 82 is It may flow in the opposite direction to the mixer in the intake manifold 81.

On the other hand, referring to Figure 5, it can be seen that the refrigerant flow path 82 is provided in the form of a double pipe on the flow path of the intake manifold (81).

In more detail, the coolant flow path 82 on the intake manifold 81 may form a flow path having a predetermined width.

6 is a schematic diagram showing a heat pump system according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 mainly shows the structure of the coolant path part 80 provided on the coolant path part 80, in particular, the intake manifold 81 in the heat pump system.

Referring to FIG. 6, the refrigerant controlled and introduced through the expansion valve 83 in the air conditioning unit 100 (see FIG. 2) may flow into the refrigerant passage 82.

At this time, unlike the embodiment shown in Figure 2, it is understood that a plurality of inlet portion (82a) of the refrigerant flow path portion 82 is provided between each pipe forming each mixer outlet (81b) of the intake manifold (81). Can be.

In other words, taking a four-cylinder engine as an example, four pipes forming the mixer outlet 81b connected to each cylinder of the engine 10 (see FIG. 2) in the intake manifold 81 are provided. At this time, the inlet portion 82a of the refrigerant passage 82 can be located at a position between the four pipes. That is, three inlets 82a may be provided between the four mixer outlets 81b.

By this arrangement, the degree of interaction between the refrigerant and the mixer can be maximized, and thus the temperature of the mixer can be controlled more efficiently and with higher sensitivity.

For the parts not described above, the descriptions of the embodiments described with reference to FIGS. 2 to 5 may be equally applied.

As mentioned above, according to this invention, the temperature of the mixer supplied to the engine 10 can be efficiently controlled using a refrigerant | coolant.

In addition, since the intercooler can be removed from the engine system using the supercharger, space can be easily secured and the intake machine can be simplified. In addition, the intake system can be simplified to reduce the leakage of pressure and to facilitate the control of the pressure.

Furthermore, the temperature of the mixer can be controlled more precisely through the electronic expansion valve.

On the other hand, the embodiments of the present invention disclosed in the specification and drawings are merely presented specific examples to aid understanding, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. It is apparent to those skilled in the art that other modifications based on the technical spirit of the present invention can be carried out in addition to the embodiments disclosed herein.

10: engine
11: mixer
12: ETC
13: exhaust manifold
20: compressor
30: outdoor heat exchanger
40: indoor heat exchanger
50: Inflator
80: refrigerant path portion
81: intake manifold
82: coolant flow path
83: expansion valve
84: temperature sensor
90: ECU (control unit)
100: air conditioning

Claims (15)

In the heat pump system for driving the air conditioning unit by the engine,
engine;
An indoor heat exchanger having a first refrigerant path through which a refrigerant compressed by a compressor driven by the engine circulates, an outdoor heat exchanger connected to the compressor, an expander connected to the outdoor heat exchanger, and an indoor heat exchanger connected between the expander and the compressor An air conditioning unit including a group; And
And a coolant path portion branched from the first coolant path to form a second coolant path for cooling a mixer in which fuel and air supplied to the engine are mixed. The method of claim 1, wherein the first refrigerant path,
A first branch disposed between the outdoor heat exchanger and the expander; And
And a second branch located between the indoor heat exchanger and the compressor. The method of claim 2, wherein the refrigerant path portion,
An expansion valve connected to the first branch; And
One side is connected to the expansion valve and the other side is connected to the second branch portion, the heat pump system comprising a refrigerant flow passage portion located on the intake manifold side of the engine. The method of claim 3, wherein the refrigerant flow path unit,
And an outer side of the intake manifold of the engine. The method of claim 4, wherein the refrigerant flow path unit,
And at least a portion of the mixer inlet side of the intake manifold. The heat pump system according to claim 3, wherein the coolant flow path part is provided with an inlet part between intake pipes of the intake manifold. The heat pump system according to claim 3, wherein the flow direction of the coolant on the coolant flow path is opposite to the flow direction of the mixer in the intake manifold. The heat pump system of claim 1, wherein the refrigerant path unit further comprises a temperature sensor that detects a temperature of the mixer. The heat pump system according to claim 1, further comprising a turbocharger or a supercharger for compressing the mixer entering the engine. In the heat pump system for driving the air conditioning unit by the engine,
engine;
An air conditioning unit configured to circulate a refrigerant compressed by a compressor driven by the engine; And
A turbocharger or supercharger for compressing a mixer introduced into the engine; And
And a coolant flow path unit installed at an intake manifold side of the engine to cool the compressed mixer using the coolant. The method of claim 10, wherein the refrigerant flow path unit,
And at least a portion of the mixer inlet side of the intake manifold. The heat pump system according to claim 10, wherein the refrigerant flow path portion is provided with an inlet portion between the intake pipes of the intake manifold. 13. The heat pump system according to claim 12, wherein the inlet is located between the respective intake pipes. The heat pump system according to claim 10, wherein a flow direction of the coolant on the coolant flow path part is opposite to a flow direction of the mixer in the intake manifold. The air conditioner of claim 10, further comprising: an expansion valve positioned between the refrigerant passage and the refrigerant passage part of the air conditioning unit; And
And a temperature sensor mounted to said intake manifold.

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