US20150167532A1

US20150167532A1 - Cooling module for vehicle

Info

Publication number: US20150167532A1
Application number: US14/286,470
Authority: US
Inventors: Jae Yeon Kim
Original assignee: Hyundai Motor Co
Current assignee: Hyundai Motor Co
Priority date: 2013-12-12
Filing date: 2014-05-23
Publication date: 2015-06-18
Also published as: CN104709071A; KR101542978B1; KR20150068843A; DE102014107869A1

Abstract

A cooling module for a vehicle may include a main radiator, a sub-radiator, a water-cooled condenser and an air-cooled condenser. The main radiator may be disposed at a front region of an engine room and supplies cooled cooling water to an engine. The sub-radiator may be disposed substantially in parallel with the main radiator and in front of the main radiator, have header tanks at both sides and supply the cooled cooling water to an intercooler or electric components. The water-cooled condenser may be disposed in one of the header tanks and primarily condenses a refrigerant by using the cooling water as a heat exchange medium. The air-cooled condenser may be in fluidic communication with the water-cooled condenser to be introduced with the refrigerant condensed in the water-cooled condenser and may be disposed in front of the sub-radiator to secondarily condense the refrigerant.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application claims priority of Korean Patent Application Number 10-2013-0154967 filed on Dec. 12, 2013, the entire contents of which application are incorporated herein for all purposes by this reference.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a cooling module for a vehicle, and more particularly, to a cooling module for a vehicle in which a condenser condensing a refrigerant is configured to be divided into an air-cooled type and a water-cooled type so as to embed the water-cooled condenser in a radiator and a cooling water flow type of the radiator is changed, thereby improving the entire cooling performance.
2. Description of Related Art
Generally, an air conditioner system of a vehicle maintains an indoor temperature of a vehicle at an appropriate temperature independent of a change in external temperature to be able to maintain a comfortable indoor environment.
Recently, as energy efficiency and a problem of environmental pollution receive attention day by day, a development of an environmentally-friendly vehicle which may substantially replace an internal combustion engine vehicle has been required. The environmentally-friendly vehicle is divided into an electric vehicle which is generally driven by using a fuel cell or electricity as a power source and a hybrid vehicle which is driven by using an engine and an electrical battery as a power source.
Herein, the hybrid vehicle drives a motor using electricity supplied from the fuel cell or the electrical battery, along with the engine driven with general fuel, to generate a driving torque. In this case, heat generated from the fuel cell or the battery and the motor needs to be effectively removed to secure the performance of the motor.
Therefore, a cooling system according to the related art, which is equipped in the hybrid vehicle, is configured to include a radiator for an engine which supplies cooling water to the engine, an electric radiator which supplies the cooling water to electric components such as an inverter and a motor, a cooling module which includes a condenser and a cooling fan for cooling a refrigerant of an air conditioner system on a front surface of the vehicle, a cooling line which mutually connects the cooling module to a driving system, a cooling pump which circulates the cooling water, and a reservoir tank which stores the cooling water.
Herein, in a cooling module for a vehicle according to the related art, when the water-cooled condenser is used, the cooling water and the refrigerant exchange heat, and thus an outlet refrigerant temperature of the condenser is increased, thereby increasing the required power.
Further, compared to the air-cooled type condenser, the water-cooled condenser has a larger heat capacity of cooling water, such that the water-cooled condenser has a low condensing pressure but reduces a temperature difference between the cooling water and the refrigerant and has a cooling water temperature higher than external air, such that it is difficult for the water-cooled condenser to form sub-cool, thereby reducing the overall cooling performance of the air conditioner system.
To prevent this, the large-capacity cooling fan and radiator are required, which may have a bad effect on a layout in a narrow engine room and the overall weight and costs of the vehicle.
Further, in order to mount the water-cooled condenser in the narrow engine room, the water-cooled condenser needs to be mounted at a rearward region of a fender or a rearward region of the engine room, and therefore ensuring space is difficult, such that a connecting pipe and a disposition layout may be complicated and assembling performance and mounting performance may deteriorate, and thermal damage to the engine room may cause a reduction in performance, thereby leading to an increase in power consumption of the compressor due to an increase in flow resistance of a refrigerant.
Further, in the case of the environmentally-friendly vehicle to which the motor, electrically driven components, a stack, and the like are applied, the cooling water cools each component and then is introduced into the condenser, and thus the temperature thereof is increased, such that a condensed amount of refrigerant may be more reduced.
Further, it is difficult to secure a space to mount the cooling module between the narrow engine room and a bumper, heat capacities and operation temperatures of the radiator and the air conditioner condenser are differently formed, such that at the time of uniform cooling by the cooling fan and the traveling wind, the problems of the reduction in the cooling performance and the indoor cooling efficiency of the vehicle due to the occurrence of the difference in cooling performance, the reduction in a traveling distance due to the increase in use power of the cooling fan and a water pump, and the like may occur.
The information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

The present invention has been made in an effort to provide a cooling module for a vehicle in which a condenser condensing a refrigerant is configured to be divided into an air-cooled type and a water-cooled type so as to embed the water-cooled condenser in a radiator and a cooling water flow of the radiator embedding the water-cooled condenser is applied in a U-turn flow type, thereby increasing a heat radiating amount with respect to the increase in flow resistance of the cooling water to improve the overall cooling performance and reducing a condensing pressure and improving condensing performance at the time of condensing the refrigerant to improve cooling performance.
Further, the present invention has been made in an effort to provide a cooling module for a vehicle in which a radiator is disposed depending on heat capacity and a water-cooled condenser and an air-cooled condenser are mounted, thereby simplifying a package to improve space availability and improving cooling performing without increasing capacity to save manufacturing costs.
Various aspects of the present invention provide a cooling module for a vehicle, including: a main radiator which is disposed at a front region of an engine room with respect to a longitudinal direction of the vehicle, and supplies cooled cooling water to an engine through heat exchange with external air; a sub-radiator which is disposed substantially in parallel with the main radiator and in front of the main radiator, has header tanks at both sides of the sub-radiator and supplies the cooled cooling water to an intercooler or one or more electric components through heat exchange with the external air, wherein one header tank includes an inlet into which cooling water is introduced and an outlet from which the cooling water is discharged, and a diaphragm is disposed inside the sub-radiator and prevents the cooling water introduced through the inlet and discharged through the outlet from being mixed; a water-cooled condenser which is disposed in the other header tank of the header tanks and primarily condenses a refrigerant by using the cooling water as a heat exchange medium; and an air-cooled condenser which is in fluidic communication with the water-cooled condenser to be introduced with the refrigerant condensed in the water-cooled condenser, and is disposed in front of the sub-radiator to secondarily condense the refrigerant by heat exchange with the external air.
The position of the diaphragm may be changed between the inlet and the outlet depending on a mounting position of the air-cooled condenser and a state of the refrigerant passing through the air-cooled condenser. The header tanks may include a first header tank in which the inlet and the outlet are formed and a second header tank in which the water-cooled condenser is disposed. The inlet and the outlet may be formed at one end and the other end of the first header tank, respectively, and the diaphragm may be disposed therebetween.
The sub-radiator may primarily cool the cooling water introduced through the inlet by heat exchange with the external air while flowing the cooling water from a portion of the first header tank partitioned by the diaphragm to the second heater tank, secondarily cool the cooling water by heat exchange with the external air while flowing the cooling water from the second header tank to a portion of the first header tank where the outlet is disposed, and discharge the cooled cooling water through the outlet. The sub-radiator may be configured to flow the cooling water in a U-turn pattern from the first header tank to the second header tank and back to the first header tank.
The main radiator and/or the sub-radiator may be formed of a fin-tube type heat exchanger in which inner sides facing each other include a plurality of tubes and heat radiating fins provided between the respective tubes.
The air-cooled condenser may be configured of a fin-tube type heat exchanger in which a plurality of refrigerant pipes are disposed at substantially equal distances and at least one heat radiating fin is provided between or among the refrigerant pipes. The air-cooled condenser may be divided and partitioned in a height direction of the air-cooled condenser to sequentially condense the refrigerant supplied from the water-cooled condenser for each refrigerant state. The air-cooled condenser may have one side equipped with a receiver dryer which separates a gaseous refrigerant remaining in the refrigerant introduced from the water-cooled condenser, and may be in fluidic communication with the water-cooled condenser through the receiver dryer.
A cooling fan may be mounted at rear of the main radiator with respect to the longitudinal direction of the vehicle.
The water-cooled condenser may include: a condensing part that includes at least two plates spaced apart from each other to form at least one refrigerant passage for flowing the refrigerant, wherein a refrigerant passage in the at least one refrigerant passage is formed by coupling two adjacent plates with each other; a refrigerant inlet which is formed at one end of the condensing part in a longitudinal direction of the condensing part, and protrudes outside the corresponding header tank of the sub-radiator; and a refrigerant outlet which is formed at the other end of the condensing part, and protrudes outside the corresponding header tank, and is connected with the air-cooled condenser.
A plate in a pair of two plates disposed at one side may have a plurality of protrusions formed at an outer side thereof at a set interval, and may be coupled with an outer side of a plate in an adjacent pair of two plates disposed at the other side through each of the protrusions contacting the outer side of the plate in the adjacent pair. The plate in the adjacent pair of two plates disposed at the other side may have heat radiating protrusions that protrude toward an outside at both sides of the plate in a width direction of the condensing part.
The header tanks may include a first header tank which is provided with the inlet and the outlet and partitioned by the diaphragm, and a second header tank which is in fluidic communication with the first header tank, and the water-cooled condenser may be disposed inside a portion of the first header tank where the outlet is disposed.
The sub-radiator may supply the cooled cooling water to the intercooler when the sub-radiator is applied to an internal combustion engine vehicle and supply the cooled cooling water to the one or more electric components when the sub-radiator is applied to a hybrid vehicle.
As described above, according to the cooling module for a vehicle of the present invention, the condenser condensing a refrigerant may be configured to be divided into the air-cooled type and the water-cooled type so as to embed the water-cooled condenser in the radiator and the cooling water flow of the radiator embedding the water-cooled condenser is applied in the U-turn flow type, thereby increasing the heat radiating amount with respect to the increase in flow resistance or flow path of the cooling water to improve the overall cooling performance, and the refrigerant passing through the water-cooled condenser may be introduced again into the air-cooled condenser to reduce the condensing pressure of the refrigerant and improve the condensing performance, thereby improving the cooling performance.
Further, both the water-cooled condenser and the air-cooled condenser are mounted to simplify the layout of the pipe and the package, thereby minimizing the mounting space and improving the space availability of the vehicle engine room.
In addition, the cooling performance may be improved without increasing the capacity of the radiator and the cooling fan to save the manufacturing costs and the layout of the pipe may be simplified to reduce the flow resistance of the working fluids and increase the passing flux.
Moreover, the water-cooled condenser and the air-cooled condenser are simultaneously applied to reduce the condensing pressure of the refrigerant and improve the condensing performance, thereby reducing of the required oil of the compressor and improving the overall fuel efficiency of the vehicle.
The methods and apparatuses of the present invention have other features and advantages which will be apparent from or are set forth in more detail in the accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein, and the following Detailed Description, which together serve to explain certain principles of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an exemplary cooling module for a vehicle according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of an exemplary cooling module for a vehicle according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a back view of an exemplary cooling module for a vehicle according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of an exemplary cooling module for a vehicle according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of an exemplary water-cooled condenser applied to an exemplary cooling module for a vehicle according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along line A-A of FIG. 5.

FIGS. 7 and 8 are block diagrams of another exemplary cooling module for a vehicle according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Reference will now be made in detail to various embodiments of the present invention(s), examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings and described below. While the invention(s) will be described in conjunction with exemplary embodiments, it will be understood that present description is not intended to limit the invention(s) to those exemplary embodiments. On the contrary, the invention(s) is/are intended to cover not only the exemplary embodiments, but also various alternatives, modifications, equivalents and other embodiments, which may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
In order to clearly describe the present invention, portions that are not connected with the description will be omitted. Like reference numerals designate like elements throughout the specification.
In addition, the size and thickness of each configuration shown in the drawings are arbitrarily shown for understanding and ease of description, but the present invention is not limited thereto and in the drawings, the thickness of layers, films, panels, regions, etc., are exaggerated for clarity.
Throughout the present specification, unless explicitly described to the contrary, “comprising” any components will be understood to imply the inclusion of other elements rather than the exclusion of any other elements.
FIG. 1 is a projected perspective view of a cooling module for a vehicle according to various embodiments of the present invention, FIGS. 2 and 3 are a front view and a back view of the cooling module for a vehicle according to various embodiments of the present invention, FIG. 4 is a plan view of the cooling module for a vehicle according to various embodiments of the present invention, FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a water-cooled condenser applied to the cooling module for a vehicle according to various embodiments of the present invention, and FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along line A-A of FIG. 5.
Referring to the drawings, according to a cooling module 100 for a vehicle according to various embodiments of the present invention, condensers 130 and 140 condensing a refrigerant are configured to be divided into an air-cooled type and a water-cooled type so as to embed the water-cooled condenser 130 in a radiator and a cooling water flow of the radiator embedding the water-cooled condenser 130 is applied in a U-turn flow type, thereby increasing a heat radiating amount with respect to the increase in flow resistance of the cooling water to improve the overall cooling performance and reducing a condensing pressure and improving condensing performance at the time of condensing the refrigerant to improve cooling performance.
Further, in the cooling module 100 for a vehicle according to various embodiments of the present invention, radiators 110 and 120 are disposed depending on their heat capacities, and both the water-cooled condenser 130 and the air-cooled condenser 140 are mounted, thereby simplifying a package to improve space availability and improving cooling performing without increasing the capacity to save manufacturing costs.
To this end, as illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 4, the cooling module 100 for a vehicle according to various embodiments of the present invention includes the main radiator 110, the sub-radiator 120, the water-cooled condenser 130, and the air-cooled condenser 140.
First, the main radiator 110 is disposed at a forward region of an engine room and at a rear of the sub-radiator 120, with respect to the longitudinal direction of the vehicle, and supplies cooled cooling water to an engine through heat exchange with external air.
A cooling fan 111 is mounted at a rear of the main radiator 110, with respect to the length direction of the vehicle, and blows wind to the main radiator 110 along with external air introduced while driving, thereby more efficiently cooling the cooling water.
According to various embodiments of the present invention, the sub-radiator 120 is disposed in parallel or substantially in parallel with the main radiator 110 in front of the main radiator 110 to supply the cooled cooling water to an intercooler or electric components through the heat exchange with external air.
That is, when the sub-radiator 120 is applied to an internal combustion engine vehicle, the sub-radiator 120 may supply the cooled cooling water to the intercooler, and when the sub-radiator 120 is applied to a hybrid vehicle, the sub-radiator 120 may supply the cooled cooling water to the electric components.
The sub-radiator 120 has one header tank 121 of header tanks 121 at both sides of the sub-radiator 120, which includes an inlet 123 into which cooling water is introduced, and an outlet 125 from which the cooling water is discharged, and a diaphragm 127 which is disposed inside the sub-radiator 120 and prevents the cooling water introduced and discharged through the inlet 123 and the outlet 125 from being mixed.
In this configuration, the header tank 121 may be configured to include a first header tank 121 a in which the inlet 123 and the outlet 125 are formed, and a second header tank 121 b in which the water-cooled condenser 130 is provided.
According to various embodiments of the present invention, the inlet 123 and the outlet 125 may be formed at one end and the other end of the first header tank 121 a, respectively, having the diaphragm 127 disposed therebetween.
In this configuration, a position of the diaphragm 127 may be changed between the inlet 123 and the outlet 125 depending on a mounting position of the air-cooled condenser 140 and a state of a refrigerant passing through the air-cooled condenser 140.
The sub-radiator 120 configured as described above primarily cools the cooling water introduced through the inlet 123 by heat exchange with external air while moving the cooling water from the inside of the first header tank 121 a partitioned by the diaphragm 127 to the second heater tank 121 b.
Next, the sub-radiator 120 secondarily cools the cooling water by heat exchange with the external air while moving the cooling water from the second header tank 121 b to the first header tank 121 a in which the outlet 125 is disposed, and then discharges the cooled cooling water through the outlet 125.
The sub-radiator 120 may be formed in a U-turn flow type which moves the cooling water from the first header tank 121 a via the second header tank 121 b and then to the first header tank 121 a again to U-turn the flow of the cooling water.
Meanwhile, the main radiator 110 and the sub-radiator 120, which are configured as described above, may be formed of a fin-tube type heat exchanger in which inner sides facing each other include a plurality of tubes T and heat radiating fins P provided between the respective tubes T.
That is, the main radiator 110 and the sub-radiator 120 are the fin-tube type heat exchanger, and exchanges heat between the introduced cooling water with the external air introduced into the heat radiating fins P mounted between the respective tubes T while moving the cooling water through the respective tubes T, thereby cooling the cooling water.
According to various embodiments of the present invention, the water-cooled condenser 130 is configured by stacking a plurality of plates 133 in the other header tank 121 of the header tanks 121 at both sides of the sub-radiator 120, and primarily condenses the a refrigerant by using the cooling water as a heat exchange medium.
That is, as described above, the water-cooled condenser 130 is mounted in the second header tank 121 b, in which the inlet 123 and the outlet 125 are not formed, among the first and second header tanks 121 a and 121 b.
In this configuration, the water-cooled condenser 130 is configured to include a condensing part 132, a refrigerant inlet 137, and a refrigerant outlet 139, which will be described below in more detail.
First, in the condensing part 132, one refrigerant passage 135, through which the refrigerant moves, is formed by coupling two plates 133 with each other, and at least two of the two plates 133, which are coupled with each other, are provided so that at least one refrigerant passage 135 is formed, and are disposed to be spaced apart from each other.
In this configuration, the condensing part 132 may be configured by mutually stacking a plurality of pairs such as seven pairs of two plates 133, which are coupled with each other, so that the refrigerant passage 135 formed through the two plates 133, which are coupled with each other, becomes seven columns.
The refrigerant inlet 137 is formed at one end of the condensing part 132 in a longitudinal direction of the condensing part 132, protrudes outside the second header tank 121 b of the sub-radiator 120 to be connected to a refrigerant pipe 131, and introduces the refrigerant into the condensing part 132 through the refrigerant pipe 131.
Further, the refrigerant outlet 139 is formed at the other end of the condensing part 132, corresponding to the refrigerant inlet 137, protrudes outside the second header tank 121 b, and is connected with the air-cooled condenser 140 through the refrigerant pipe 131.
In this configuration, the plate 133 of the two plates 133 that is disposed at one side has a plurality of protrusions 134, which is formed on one surface at a set interval, and may be coupled with the outer side of the plate 133 disposed at the other side through each of the protrusions 134, while contacting the outer side of the plate 133.
That is, according to various embodiments of the present invention, each of the protrusions 134 is formed on an upper surface of the plate 133 disposed at the upper portion on the basis of the drawings, and the plate 133 is coupled with the plate 133 disposed at the lower portion through the protrusions 134, such that the two plates 133, which are coupled with each other, may be more stably coupled with each other.
Further, when the cooling water introduced into the second header tank 121 b may flow between the spaces formed through each of the protrusions 134, the flow of the cooling water through each of the protrusions 134 is continuously changed, such that the heat exchange of the cooling water and the refrigerant may be more easily performed and the condensed rate of the refrigerant may be increased.
Meanwhile, according to various embodiments of the present invention, the plate 133 of the two plates 133 that is disposed at the other side may have heat radiating protrusions 136, which integrally or monolithically protrude toward the outside, at both sides of the plate 133 in a width direction of the condensing part 132.
The heat radiating protrusion 136 smoothly radiates heat of the refrigerant passing through the refrigerant passage 135 of the water-cooled condenser 130 when heat exchange with the cooling water in the second header tank 121 b.
In the water-cooled condenser 130 configured as described above, when the cooling water flows in the space formed between the two plates 133, each of the protrusions 134 serves as a flow resistance to increase a contact area with the plate 133 so as to more efficiently exchange heat between the refrigerant and the cooling water passing through the refrigerant passage 135, thereby improving the condensing efficiency of the refrigerant.
Further, the heat radiating protrusions 136 may smoothly radiate the heat, which is transferred from the refrigerant passing through the refrigerant passage 135, to the cooling water introduced into the second header tank 121 b.
Further, the air-cooled condenser 140 is interconnected with the water-cooled condenser 130 through the refrigerant pipe 131 to be introduced with the primarily condensed refrigerant in the water-cooled condenser 130, and is disposed in front of the sub-radiator 120 to secondarily condense the refrigerant by heat exchange with the external air.
Herein, the air-cooled condenser 140 may be mounted in front of the sub-radiator 120 in a longitudinal direction and may be configured of a fin-tube type heat exchanger in which a plurality of refrigerant pipes 141 is disposed at equal or substantially equal distances and the heat radiating fin P is mounted between or among the respective refrigerant pipes 141.
The air-cooled condenser 140 may be divided and partitioned in a height direction to sequentially condense the refrigerant supplied from the water-cooled condenser 130 for each refrigerant state.
For example, the air-cooled condenser 140 may be divided and partitioned into three stages or two stages, and when the air-cooled condenser 140 is divided into three stages, the air-cooled condenser 140 cools and condenses a superheated vapor refrigerant among the refrigerants supplied from the water-cooled condenser 130 at the upper portion thereof, cools and condenses a wet vapor refrigerant among the condensed refrigerants at the center portion thereof, and finally supercools and condenses a liquid refrigerant at the lower portion thereof.
Further, when the air-cooled condenser 140 is divided and partitioned into the two stages, the air-cooled condenser 140 condenses the wet vapor refrigerant including in the superheated vapor refrigerant in the region including the upper portion and the center portion thereof, and condenses the refrigerant at the lower portion thereof that is divided into a sub-cool refrigerant region which supercools and condenses the liquid refrigerant.
The air-cooled condenser 140 configured as described above has one side equipped with a receiver dryer 143 which separates a gaseous refrigerant included in the refrigerant introduced through the refrigerant pipe 131 from the water-cooled condenser 130, and may be interconnected with the water-cooled condenser 130 through the receiver dryer 143.
That is, the air-cooled condenser 140 allows the refrigerant, which is introduced from the water-cooled condenser 130, to pass through the receiver dryer 143 and then be introduced and condensed by heat exchange with the external air, such that at the time of secondarily condensing the refrigerant, the refrigerant is condensed in the state in which a gaseous refrigerant is removed, thereby increasing the condensing efficiency.
FIGS. 7 and 8 are block diagrams of a cooling module for a vehicle according to various other embodiments of the present invention.
First, referring to FIG. 7, in a cooling module 200 for a vehicle according to various other embodiments of the present invention, a diaphragm 227 included in a first header tank 221 a is disposed corresponding to the sub-cool refrigerant region disposed at the lower portion of an air-cooled condenser 240.
Therefore, the diaphragm 227 introduces heated air passing through the upper portion of the sub-cool refrigerant region of the air-cooled condenser 240 into the entire region of a sub-radiator 220 to prevent the heat radiating performance of the sub-radiator 220 from deteriorating.
Further, when the cooling water cooled by being introduced into a second header tank 221 b is additionally cooled by heat exchange with the external air while flowing in the first header tank 221 a again, the diaphragm 227 introduces external air, which is less heated than the external air heated while passing through the upper portion of the sub-cool refrigerant region of the air-cooled condenser 240 and has a relatively lower temperature, to prevent the cooling efficiency of the cooling water from deteriorating.
Further, referring to FIG. 8, in a cooling module 300 for a vehicle according to various other embodiments of the present invention, a water-cooled condenser 330 is partitioned from a first header tank 321 a by a diaphragm 327 to be disposed in the inside thereof at which an outlet 325 is disposed.
Therefore, the water-cooled condenser 330 has a more reduced size than the case in which the water-cooled condenser 330 is disposed in a second header tank 321 b without the diaphragm 327, thereby reducing a heat capacity, but may condense the refrigerant by heat exchange with the low-temperature cooled cooling water which is discharged through the outlet 325, thereby securing the equivalent performance in spite of the reduced size.
That is, in the cooling module 300 for a vehicle according to various other embodiments of the present invention, even though the size of the water-cooled condenser 330 is reduced, the equivalent condensing performance may be secured, thereby reducing the manufacturing costs and the entire weight.
Therefore, the cooling modules 100, 200, and 300 for a vehicle according to the present exemplary embodiments move the cooling water in the sub-radiators 120, 220, and 320 in a U-turn flow type to cool the cooling water by heat exchange with the external air twice, thereby improving the heat radiating performance.
Further, the water-cooled condensers 130, 230, and 330 cools the refrigerant by using the cooling water, which has a larger heat transfer coefficient than the external air, as a heat exchange medium, thereby reducing the condensing pressure of the refrigerant generated from the inside thereof.
Further, the air-cooled condensers 140, 240, and 340 receive only the liquid refrigerant through the receiver dryers 143, 243, and 343 while the condensed refrigerant passing through the water-cooled condensers 130, 230, and 330 and may condense the supplied liquid refrigerant by heat exchange with the external air while passing through each region divided and partitioned for each refrigerant state to enable more efficient condensation.
Therefore, the air-cooled condensers 140, 240, and 340 may make the temperature difference between the external air and the refrigerant large to easily form the sub-cool and reduce the heat capacities of the refrigerant pipes 131, 231, and 331.
Therefore, when adopting the cooling module 100 for a vehicle according to various embodiments of the present invention, which is configured as described above, the condensers 130 and 140 condensing a refrigerant are configured to be divided into the air-cooled type and the water-cooled type so as to embed the water-cooled condenser 130 in the sub-radiator 120 and apply the cooling water flow of the sub-radiator 120 embedding the water-cooled condenser 130 in the U-turn flow type, thereby increasing the heat radiating amount with respect to the increase in flow resistance of the cooling water to improve the overall cooling performance, and the refrigerant passing through the water-cooled condenser 130 is introduced again into the air-cooled condenser 140 to reduce the condensing pressure of the refrigerant and improve the condensing performance of the refrigerant, thereby improving the cooling performance.
Further, the water-cooled condenser 130 is mounted in the sub-radiator 120 to simplify the layout of the refrigerant pipe 131 and simplify the package, thereby minimizing the mounting space and improving the space availability of the vehicle engine room.
In addition, the cooling performance may be improved without increasing the capacity of the radiators 110 and 120 and the cooling fan 111 to save the manufacturing costs, and the layout of the pipe may be simplified to reduce the flow resistance of the working fluids and increase the passing flux.
Moreover, the water-cooled condenser 130 and the air-cooled condenser 140 are simultaneously applied to reduce the condensing pressure of the refrigerant and improve the condensing performance, thereby reducing of the required oil of the compressor and improving the overall fuel efficiency of the vehicle.
For convenience in explanation and accurate definition in the appended claims, the terms “upper” or “lower”, “front” or “rear”, “inside” or “outside”, and etc. are used to describe features of the exemplary embodiments with reference to the positions of such features as displayed in the figures.
The foregoing descriptions of specific exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been presented for purposes of illustration and description. They are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed, and obviously many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings. The exemplary embodiments were chosen and described in order to explain certain principles of the invention and their practical application, to thereby enable others skilled in the art to make and utilize various exemplary embodiments of the present invention, as well as various alternatives and modifications thereof. It is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the Claims appended hereto and their equivalents.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A cooling module for a vehicle, comprising:

a main radiator which is disposed at a front region of an engine room with respect to a longitudinal direction of the vehicle, and supplies cooled cooling water to an engine through heat exchange with external air;

a sub-radiator which is disposed substantially in parallel with the main radiator and in front of the main radiator, has header tanks at both sides of the sub-radiator and supplies the cooled cooling water to an intercooler or one or more electric components through heat exchange with the external air, wherein one header tank includes an inlet into which cooling water is introduced and an outlet from which the cooling water is discharged, and a diaphragm is disposed inside the sub-radiator and prevents the cooling water introduced through the inlet and discharged through the outlet from being mixed;

a water-cooled condenser which is disposed in the other header tank of the header tanks and primarily condenses a refrigerant by using the cooling water as a heat exchange medium; and

an air-cooled condenser which is in fluidic communication with the water-cooled condenser to be introduced with the refrigerant condensed in the water-cooled condenser, and is disposed in front of the sub-radiator to secondarily condense the refrigerant by heat exchange with the external air.

2. The cooling module for a vehicle of claim 1, wherein a position of the diaphragm is changed between the inlet and the outlet depending on a mounting position of the air-cooled condenser and a state of the refrigerant passing through the air-cooled condenser.

3. The cooling module for a vehicle of claim 1, wherein the header tanks include a first header tank in which the inlet and the outlet are formed and a second header tank in which the water-cooled condenser is disposed.

4. The cooling module for a vehicle of claim 3, wherein the inlet and the outlet are formed at one end and the other end of the first header tank, respectively, and the diaphragm is disposed therebetween.

5. The cooling module for a vehicle of claim 3, wherein the sub-radiator primarily cools the cooling water introduced through the inlet by heat exchange with the external air while flowing the cooling water from a portion of the first header tank partitioned by the diaphragm to the second heater tank, secondarily cools the cooling water by heat exchange with the external air while flowing the cooling water from the second header tank to a portion of the first header tank where the outlet is disposed, and discharges the cooled cooling water through the outlet.

6. The cooling module for a vehicle of claim 3, wherein the sub-radiator is configured to flow the cooling water in a U-turn pattern from the first header tank to the second header tank and back to the first header tank.

7. The cooling module for a vehicle of claim 1, wherein the main radiator and/or the sub-radiator are formed of a fin-tube type heat exchanger in which inner sides facing each other include a plurality of tubes and heat radiating fins provided between the respective tubes.

8. The cooling module for a vehicle of claim 1, wherein the air-cooled condenser is configured of a fin-tube type heat exchanger in which a plurality of refrigerant pipes are disposed at substantially equal distances and at least one heat radiating fin is provided between or among the refrigerant pipes.

9. The cooling module for a vehicle of claim 1, wherein the air-cooled condenser is divided and partitioned in a height direction of the air-cooled condenser to sequentially condense the refrigerant supplied from the water-cooled condenser for each refrigerant state.

10. The cooling module for a vehicle of claim 1, wherein the air-cooled condenser has one side equipped with a receiver dryer which separates a gaseous refrigerant remaining in the refrigerant introduced from the water-cooled condenser, and is in fluidic communication with the water-cooled condenser through the receiver dryer.

11. The cooling module for a vehicle of claim 1, wherein the main radiator has a cooling fan mounted at rear of the main radiator with respect to the longitudinal direction of the vehicle.

12. The cooling module for a vehicle of claim 1, wherein the water-cooled condenser includes:

a condensing part that includes at least two plates spaced apart from each other to form at least one refrigerant passage for flowing the refrigerant, wherein a refrigerant passage in the at least one refrigerant passage is formed by coupling two adjacent plates with each other;

a refrigerant inlet which is formed at one end of the condensing part in a longitudinal direction of the condensing part, and protrudes outside the corresponding header tank of the sub-radiator; and

a refrigerant outlet which is formed at the other end of the condensing part, and protrudes outside the corresponding header tank, and is connected with the air-cooled condenser.

13. The cooling module for a vehicle of claim 12, wherein a plate in a pair of two plates disposed at one side has a plurality of protrusions formed at an outer side thereof at a set interval, and is coupled with an outer side of a plate in an adjacent pair of two plates disposed at the other side through each of the protrusions contacting the outer side of the plate in the adjacent pair.

14. The cooling module for a vehicle of claim 13, wherein the plate in the adjacent pair of two plates disposed at the other side has heat radiating protrusions that protrude toward an outside at both sides of the plate in a width direction of the condensing part.

15. The cooling module for a vehicle of claim 1, wherein:

the header tanks include a first header tank which is provided with the inlet and the outlet and partitioned by the diaphragm, and a second header tank which is in fluidic communication with the first header tank, and

the water-cooled condenser is disposed inside a portion of the first header tank where the outlet is disposed.

16. The cooling module for a vehicle of claim 1, wherein the sub-radiator supplies the cooled cooling water to the intercooler when the sub-radiator is applied to an internal combustion engine vehicle and supplies the cooled cooling water to the one or more electric components when the sub-radiator is applied to a hybrid vehicle.