Patent Application
20130312453
This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2012-0053983, filed on May 25, 2012, and 10-2012-0054049, filed on May 25, 2012 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
(1) Field of the Invention
The following disclosure relates to an evaporator including a flow part having a refrigerant flow therein, separately from a first compartment and a second compartment to improve a refrigerant channel structure, in a double evaporator in which a refrigerant flows in a first column and a second column, respectively, thereby reducing the total number of four inlets and outlets that are disposed in the first column and the second column, respectively.
(2) Description of the Related Art
An air conditioner for vehicles is an interior part of a car that is installed for the purpose of cooling or heating an interior of a car during the summer season or the winter season or removing a frost formed on a windshield during rainy weather or winter season, and the like, to allow a driver to secure a front and rear sight. The air conditioner usually includes both of the heating system and the cooling system to optionally introduce external air or internal air, heat or cool the air, and then send the air to an interior of a car, thereby cooling, heating, or ventilating the interior of a car.
A general refrigerating cycle of the air conditioner includes an evaporator that absorbs heat from the surroundings, a compressor that compresses a refrigerant, a condenser that discharges heat to the surroundings, an expansion valve that expands the refrigerant. In the cooling system, the refrigerant in a gaseous state that is introduced into the compressor from the evaporator is compressed at high temperature and high pressure by the compressor, liquefaction heat is discharged to the surroundings while the compressed refrigerant in a gaseous state is liquefied by passing through the condenser, the liquefied refrigerant is in a low-temperature and low-pressure wet saturated steam state by again passing through the expansion valve, and is again introduced into the evaporator and vaporized to absorb vaporization heat and cool the surrounding air, thereby cooling the interior of a car.
Numerous researches for allowing representative heat exchangers, such as a condenser, an evaporator, and the like, that are used in the cooling system to more effectively exchange heat between air outside the heat exchanger and a heat exchange medium in the heat exchanger, that is, a refrigerant have been steadily conducted. The most direct effect in cooling the interior of a car is shown in evaporator efficiency. In particular, various structural research and developments for improving heat exchange efficiency of the evaporator have been conducted.
As one of the improved structures to increase the heat exchange efficiency of the evaporator, a double evaporation structure in which a core including a tube and a pin doubly forms a first column and a second column that are a space in which a refrigerant flows individually is proposed as an example.
As the related art, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2000-062452 (“Air conditioner for vehicles, Feb. 29, 2000), Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2005-308384 (“Ejector cycle”, Nov. 4, 2005), and the like, disclose a form similar to a double evaporator in which a refrigerant independently flows in the first column and the second column, respectively.
Meanwhile, an example of the evaporator having the double evaporation structure is illustrated in
An evaporator 1 illustrated in
Referring to
In addition, in the second column, the refrigerant is introduced into the second compartment 10b of the first header tank 11 through the second inlet 43 to move to the second compartment 20b of the second header tank 12 through the tube 20 and again the second compartment 10b of the first header tank 11 through the remaining tubes 20 and is discharged through the second outlet.
In other words, in the evaporator 1 illustrated in
Therefore, in the evaporator having the double evaporation structure four pipes forming the inlets and the outlets need to be connected with one another, and therefore manufacturing costs for manufacturing and fixing them cannot but increase. In particular, as illustrated in
Further, in the evaporator having the double evaporation structure the pipe itself takes up a lot of interior space of an engine room to hinder the miniaturization of the evaporator and reduce a heat exchange region as much, thereby degrading the cooling performance.
Therefore, a need exists for a development of an evaporator having high heat exchange efficiency, high manufacturing performance, and miniaturization.
An exemplary embodiment of the present invention is directed to providing an evaporator with the improved refrigerant channel structure using a flow part in a double evaporator in which a refrigerant independently flows in a first column and a second column, respectively, to solve a problem of degradation of productivity and difficulty of miniaturization due to an increase in the number of inlets and outlets.
In one general aspect, there is provided an evaporator 1000, including: a first header tank 100 and a second header tank 200 formed in parallel with each other, being spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance and including at least one baffle 130 that is partitioned by a barrier rib 111 to form a first column and a second column to partition each of the first compartments 100a and 200a and the second compartments 100b and 200b in a width direction and partitions a space in a length direction; a plurality of tubes 300 of which both ends are fixed to the first header tank 100 and the second header tank 200; and a pin 400 interposed between the tubes 300, wherein the first header tank 100 is lengthily formed with a flow part 100c in a length direction, separately from the first compartment 100a and the second compartment 100b.
The first header tank 100 may include: a first inlet 510 connected with one portion of the first compartment 100a to be introduced with a refrigerant; an outlet 520 connected with the other portion of the first compartment 100a to discharge the refrigerant; and a second inlet 530 connected with the other portion of the second compartment 100b to be introduced with the refrigerant, and the flow part 100c may be provided with a first communication hole 122 that is adjacent to a formation region of the first inlet 510 in a length direction to communicate with the second compartment 100b and a second communication hole 123 that is adjacent to a formation region of the outlet 520 and the second inlet 530 in a length direction to communicate with the first compartment 100a.
The evaporator 1000 may further include: in the first column, a 1-1-th region A1-1 that the refrigerant introduced into the first compartment 100a of the first header tank 100 through the first inlet 510 moves to the first compartment 200a of the second header tank 200 through the tube 300 and a 1-2-th region A1-2 in which the refrigerant of the first compartment 200a of the second header tank 200 moves to the first compartment 100a of the first header tank 100 through the tube 300; and in the second column, a 2-1-th region in which the refrigerant introduced into the second compartment 100b of the first header tank 100 through the second inlet 530 moves to the second compartment 200b of the second header tank 200 through the tube 300 and a 2-2-th region in which the refrigerant of the second compartment 200b of the second header tank 200 moves to the second compartment 100b of the first header tank 100 through the tube 300, and the refrigerant passing through both of the 2-1-th region A2-1 and the 2-2-th region of the second column may move to the flow part 100c through the first communication hole 122 and move in a length direction and may be joined with the refrigerant discharged through the 1-1-th region A1-1 and the 1-2-th region A1-2 of the first column through the second communication hole 123 to be discharged through the outlet 520.
The first header tank 100 may be formed by the coupling of the header 110 and the tank 120.
The tank 120 of the first header tank 100 may be formed in a width direction and a depressed part 121 of which the central region formed with the barrier rib 111 is depressed is lengthily formed in a length direction, and the first header tank 100 may include a first formation member 160 provided to cover the depressed part 121 of the tank 120, so that a portion surrounded by the depressed part 121 of the tank 120 and a first formation member 160 forms the flow part 100c.
The tank 120 may be inclined to the barrier rib 111 so that the depressed part 121 has a “Y”-letter shape along with the barrier rib 111.
In the tank 120, at least one first protruded bead 124 that is protruded to the flow part 100c to support the first formation member 160 may be formed at the depressed part 121.
In the first header tank 100, the first formation member 160 may be provided with extensions 161 that extend to contact at least two of the surfaces of the first protruded beads 124 vertically to the length direction of the first header tank 100.
Both ends of the first header tank 100 may be provided with an end cap 150 including a plate part 151 and a support part 151a that is protruded in a form in which a predetermined region of the plate part 151 corresponds to a space of the flow part 100c to support the first formation member 160.
One of the end caps 150 disposed at both ends of the first header tank 100 may be provided with a first hollow hole 152 of which the predetermined region corresponding to the first compartment 100a in a predetermined region of the plate part 151 is hollowed and a second hollow hole 153 of which the predetermined region corresponding to the second compartment 100b in the predetermined region of the plate part 151 is hollowed, and the other one of the end caps 150 may be provided with a third hollow hole 154 of which the predetermined region corresponding to the first compartment 100a in the predetermined region of the plate part 151 is hollowed.
The first header tank 100 may form the flow part 100c, including a second formation member 170 that partitions one portion or both portions of the first compartment 100a and the second compartment 100b formed by the coupling of the header 110 and the tank 120 in a height direction.
The second formation member 170 may include: a partition plate 171 that partitions one portion or both portions of the first compartment 100a and the second compartment 100b in a height direction; and a support surface 172 that extends from the partition plate 171 to be adhered to the barrier rib 111 and an inner surface of the tank 120.
The header 110 of the first header tank 100 may be further provided with a second protruded bead 113 that is protruded so as to support the second formation member 170.
In the first header tank 100, the support surface 172 of the second formation member 170 may be adhered to the inner surface of the tank 120 and a bent part 173 bent so that the predetermined region of the end surrounds the end of the tank 120 is formed.
The second formation member 170 may extend from the tank 120.
The second formation member 170 may extend from the header 110.
In the first header tank 100, a partition plate of the second formation member 170 that extends from the header 110 may be provided with a tank fixing groove 174 and both ends of the tank 120 may be inserted into the tank fixing groove 174.
The first header tank 100 may include a third formation member 180 coupled with an outer surface of the tank 120 to form the flow part 100c formed therein.
The first header tank 100 may be formed in an extrusion tank type.
Hereinafter, an evaporator 1000 according to the present disclosure having the above-mentioned characteristics will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
The evaporator 1000 according to the present invention includes a first header tank 100, a second header tank 200, tubes 300, and a pin 400, in which the first header tank 100 is provided with a flow part 100c.
First, the first header tank 100 and the second header tank 200 are formed in parallel with each other, being spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance, have a space in which a refrigerant flows, and fix both ends of the tube 300.
The first header tank 100 and the second header tank 200 include at least one baffle 130 that is partitioned by a barrier rib 111 to form a first column and a second column to partition each of the first compartments 100a and 200a and the second compartments 100b and 200b in a width direction and partitions a space in a length direction.
The baffle 124 is configured to partition an interior space of the first compartments 100a and 200a and the second compartments 100b and 200b in a length direction to control a refrigerant flow therein.
In the present invention, the first compartment in the first header tank 100 is represented by reference numeral 100a, the second compartment in the first header tank 100 is represented by reference numeral 100b, the first compartment 200a in the second header tank 200 is represented by reference numeral 200a, and the second compartment 200b in the second header tank 200 is represented by reference numeral 200b.
The evaporator 1000 according to the present invention has a configuration in which a flow part 100c is formed in the first header tank 100 but can be variously practiced and an example thereof will be described again.
The tube 300 has a configuration of forming a refrigerant channel of which both ends are fixed to the first header tank 100 and the second header tank 200 and the tube 300 forms two columns, including a column that communicates with the first compartments 100a and 200a of the first header tank 100 and the second header tank 200 and a column that communicates with the second compartments 100b and 200b of the first header tank 100 and the second header tank 200.
The pin 400 is interposed between the tubes 300.
In addition, in the evaporator 1000 according to the present invention, the first header tank 100 may include a first inlet 510, an outlet 520, and a second inlet 530.
In more detail, in the first header tank 100 the first inlet 510 that introduces a refrigerant into the first column is disposed at one portion of the first compartment 100a so that the refrigerant flows in the first column and the second column, respectively, the outlet 520, the outlet 520 is disposed at the other portion of the first compartment 100a to discharge a refrigerant in the first column, and the second inlet 530 that introduces a refrigerant into the second column is disposed at the other portion of the second compartment 100b.
The flow part 100c serves to deliver the refrigerant moving to the second column 100b of the first header tank 100 by passing through the second column to the first compartment 100a so as to be discharged together with the refrigerant passing through the first column. To this end, the flow part 100c is provided with a first communication hole 122 that is adjacent to a region in which the first inlet 510 is formed in a length direction so as to communicate with the second compartment 100b and a second communication hole 123 that is adjacent to a region in which the outlet 520 and the second inlet 530 are formed in a length direction so as to communicate with the first compartment 100a.
In more detail, describing the flow in the evaporator 1000 according to the present invention, the evaporator 1000 includes, in the first column, a 1-1-th region A1-1 that the refrigerant introduced into the first compartment 100a of the first header tank 100 through the first inlet 510 moves to the first compartment 200a of the second header tank 200 through the tube 300 and a 1-2-th region A1-2 in which the refrigerant of the first compartment 200a of the second header tank 200 moves the first compartment 100a of the first header tank 100 through the tube 300 and in second column, a 2-1-th region in which the refrigerant introduced into the second compartment 100b of the first header tank 100 through the second inlet 530 moves to the second compartment 200b of the second header tank 200 through the tube 300 and a 2-2-th region in which the refrigerant of the second compartment 200b of the second header tank 200 moves to the second compartment 100b of the first header tank 100 through the tube 300, in which the refrigerant passing through both of the 2-1-th region A2-1 and the 2-2-th region of the second column moves to the flow part 100c through the first communication hole 122 and moves in a length direction and is joined with the refrigerant discharged through the 1-1-th region A1-1 and the 1-2-th A1-2 of the first column through the second communication hole 123 to be discharged through the outlet 520.
In this case, the 1-1-th region A1-1, the 1-2-th region A1-2, the 2-1-th region A2-1, and the 2-2-th region A2-2 may each be formed once according to the formation position and number of baffle 130.
That is, the flow part 100c of the first header tank 100 is a space in which the refrigerant passing through the inside of the second column moves and flows and the refrigerant passing through the space of the flow part 100c is joined with the refrigerant passing through the inside of the first column, which is in turn discharged.
As a result, in the case in which the evaporator 1000 according to the present invention has the double evaporation structure of the first column and the second column, the outlet 520 may be integrated and thus the number of connection pipe lines may be more reduced, such that the evaporator 1000 may be miniaturized.
The first header tank 100 may be formed by various methods. First, a configured formed by a combination of the header 110 and the tank 120 will be described.
First, the header 110 is provided with a tube insertion hole 112 into which a predetermined region of the tube 300 is inserted and is coupled with the tank 120 to form the first compartments 100a and 200a and the second compartments 100b and 200b therein.
In more detail, the first header tank 100 is provided with the tank 120 in a width direction and longitudinally formed with the depressed part 121 of which the central region formed with the barrier rib 111 is depressed.
The first formation member 160 is provided to cover the depressed part 121 of the tank 120 and is configured to form the flow part 100c in which a refrigerant flows, separately from the first compartment 100a and the second compartment 100b.
That is, the first formation member 160 is configured to be coupled with the tank 120 and form the space of the flow part 100c at a position depressed by the depressed part 121 and components forming the first header tank 100 are temporarily assembled and then may be integrally formed by a final brazing process.
In this case, in the tank 120 of the first header tank 100, the depressed part 121 may be formed with at least one first protruded bead 124 that is protrude to the flow part 100c to support the first formation member 160.
The first protruded bead 124 may support the first formation member 160 to determine an assembly depth of the first formation member 160 in a height direction.
Further, the first formation member 160 may be formed with extensions 161 that extend to contact at least two of the surfaces of the first protruded beads 124 vertically to the length direction of the first header tank 100.
That is, the extensions 161 of the first formation member 160 may be adhered to at least two first protruded beads 124 to prevent the first formation member 160 from moving in a length direction and accurately hold the assembly position.
In addition,
In addition to the examples illustrated in the drawings, in the evaporator 1000 according to the present invention the number and shape of first protruded beads 124 may be formed more variously and the extension 161 may also be formed more variously.
The evaporator 1000 according to the present invention may have more improved durability by forming the first protruded bead 124 in the depressed part 121 and may have more improved assembly performance by using the first formation member 160 formed with the extension 161 to stably hold the temporary assembling state of the first formation member 160 at an accurate position prior to the brazing process.
In this case, the first communication hole 122 through which the second compartment 100b and the flow part 100c communicate with each other and the second communication hole 123 through which first compartment 100a and the flow part 100c communicate with each other are formed in the depressed part 121 and the first communication hole 122 is disposed at a portion formed with the first inlet 510 in a length direction so as to deliver all the refrigerants flowing in the second column to the flow part 100c and the second communication hole 123 is disposed at a portion formed with the outlet 520 in a length direction so as to smoothly discharge the refrigerant moving through the length direction of the flow part 100c along with the refrigerant passing through the first column.
Further, the tank 120 of the first header tank 100 may be inclined to the barrier rib 111 so that the depressed part 121 has a “Y”-letter shape along with the barrier rib 111.
As a result, the evaporator 1000 according to the present invention may more smooth the refrigerant flow in the first compartment 100a, the second compartment 100b, and the flow part 100c that are included in the first header tank 100 and may sufficiently secure the formation area of the first communication hole 122 through which the second compartment 200b and the flow part 100c communicate with each other and the second communication hole 123 through which the first compartment 100a and the flow part 100c communicate with each other.
In this case, the first header tank 100 may have end caps 150 disposed at both ends thereof and a shape of the first inlet 510, the outlet 520, and the second inlet 530 may be more variously formed, in addition to the illustrated example.
A plate part 151 of the end cap 150 has a plate shape to block both ends of the first header tank 100 and is provided with a structure to be easily coupled with an inner circumferential surface or an outer circumferential surface of the first header tank 100.
The evaporator 1000 according to the present invention may have a structure in which the end cap 150 is provided with the plate part 151 and a support part 151a.
In this case, the end cap 150 may be formed with the support part 151a that is protruded in a form in which a predetermined region of the plate part 151 corresponds to the space of the flow part 100c to support the first formation member 160.
That is, the support part 151a is configured to support the first formation member 160 along with the first protruded bead 124 formed in the depressed part 121 and both ends of the first formation member 160 is supported by the end cap 150 and an inner side portion of the first formation member 160 is supported by the support part 151a to prevent the first formation member 160 from moving, including the width direction and the height direction and widen a welding region, thereby more increasing the durability.
Further, one of the end caps 150 disposed at both ends of the first header tank 100 is provided with a first hollow hole 152 and a second hollow hole 153. (see
In addition, in
In more detail, the first hollow hole 152 and the second hollow hole 153 are disposed at one of a pair of the end caps 150 that is disposed at both ends of the first header tank 100 and the first hollow hole 152 is a portion at which the predetermined region corresponding to the first compartment 100a in the predetermined region of the plate part 151 is hollowed and the second hollow hole 153 is a portion in which the predetermined region corresponding to the second compartment 100b in the predetermined region of the plate part 151 is hollowed.
Further, the third hollow hole 154 is disposed at the remaining one of the pair of end caps 150 that is disposed at both ends of the first header tank 100 and the third hollow hole 154 is a portion in which the predetermined region corresponding to the first compartment 100a in the predetermined region of the plate part 151 is hollowed.
A portion of the end cap 150 (end cap 150 disposed at the right of
In more detail,
In the evaporator 1000 according to the present invention illustrated in
Further,
Therefore, the evaporator 1000 according to the present invention relates to the double evaporator 1000 in which the refrigerant flows in the first column and the second column, respectively, in which the refrigerant channel structure may be improved by forming the depressed part 121 in the tank 120 forming the first header tank 100 and forming the flow part 100c having the refrigerant flow therein using the first formation member 160, separately the first compartment 100a and the second compartment 100b, such that each of the first column and the second column is provided with the inlet and the outlet 520, thereby reducing the total number of four inlets and outlets that are disposed in the first column and the second column, respectively.
The second formation member 170 may be formed, including a partition plate 171 and support surfaces 172 and the partition plate 171 partitions the inside of the first compartment 100a in a height direction and the support surface 172 extends from the partition plate 171 to be adhered to the barrier rib 111 or an inner surface of the tank 120.
In this case, the header 110 (including the barrier rib 111 part) of the first header tank 100 may be further formed with a second protruded bead 113 that is protruded to support the second formation member 170 so as to secure the fixing force of the second formation member 170.
As illustrated in
In addition, in the evaporator 1000 according to the present invention, as illustrated in
Further, an example in which a pair of the support surfaces 172 of the second formation member 170 is provided with the bent part 173 to surround the end of the tank 120 is illustrated.
In this case, the first header tank 100 of the evaporator 1000 illustrated in
In addition,
The tank fixing groove 174 may be formed to have a predetermined region or the entire region of the tank 120 inserted thereinto and
In the shape illustrated in
That is, the third formation member 180 is coupled with the outer surface of the tank 120 at the outer side of the tank 120 of the header 110 to form the third flow part 100c on the outer surface of the tank 120 and the interior space in which the third formation member 180 is formed.
In this case, in the shape illustrated in
In more detail, an example in which in the first header tank 100 illustrated in
Further, in the first header tank 100 illustrated in
Further, an example in which the first header tank 100 illustrated in
Meanwhile, like the first header tank 100, the second header tank 200 may also be formed by the coupling of the header 100 and the tank 120 and may also be formed in the extrusion tank type.
In addition, in the evaporator 1000 according to the present invention, the second header tank 200 is partitioned by the barrier rib 111 to have the first column and the second column formed therein, such that the first compartment 100a and the second compartment 100b, respectively, are formed in a width direction and if the evaporator 1000 has a form in which at least one baffle 130 that partitions the space in a length direction is provided, the evaporator 1000 may be more variously modified.
Therefore, the evaporator 1000 according to the present invention relates to the double evaporator 1000 in which the refrigerant flows in the first column and the second column, respectively, in which the refrigerant channel structure may be improved by forming the flow part 100c having the refrigerant flow therein using the formation members 160, 170, and 180, separately the first compartment 100a and the second compartment 100b, such that each of the first column and the second column is provided with the inlet and the outlet 520, thereby reducing the total number of four inlets and outlets that are disposed in the first column and the second column, respectively.
Therefore, the evaporator 1000 according to the present invention can reduce the number of components and simplify the assembly process to improve the production efficiency and reduce the number of outlets 520 as compared with the related art to more reduce the number of connection pipe lines, thereby realizing the miniaturization.
According to the present invention, the evaporator includes the flow part having a refrigerant flow therein, separately from the first compartment and the second compartment to improve the refrigerant channel structure, in the double evaporator in which the refrigerant flow flows in the first column and the second column, respectively, thereby reducing the number of four inlets and outlets that is disposed in the first column and the second column, respectively.
Therefore, the evaporator according to the present invention can reduce the number of components and simplify the assembly process to improve the production efficiency and reduce the number of outlets as compared with the related art to more reduce the number of connection pipe lines, thereby realizing the miniaturization.
In particular, the evaporator according to the present invention can propose the detailed embodiments for forming the flow part, improve the refrigerant channel structure by forming the flow part, and simplify the manufacturing process, thereby increasing the productivity.
The present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned exemplary embodiments, and may be variously applied, and may be variously modified without departing from the gist of the present invention claimed in the claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10-2012-0053983 | May 2012 | KR | national |
| 10-2012-0054049 | May 2012 | KR | national |
