Patent Application
20250137737
The present application claims priority to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2023-0146392, filed on Oct. 30, 2023 and Application No. 10-2024-0149581, filed on Oct. 29, 2024, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein for all purposes by this reference.
The present invention relates to a heat exchanger, and more particularly, to a condenser integrated with a receiver dryer and used for an air conditioning system of an electric vehicle.
In general, not only components such as an engine for operating a vehicle are provided in an engine room of the vehicle, but also various heat exchangers such as a radiator, an intercooler, an evaporator, and a condenser for cooling the components such as the engine in the vehicle or adjusting an air temperature in an interior of the vehicle are provided in the engine room of the vehicle. In general, heat exchange media flow in the heat exchangers. The heat exchange medium in the heat exchanger exchanges heat with outside air present outside the heat exchanger, such that the cooling operation or the heat dissipation is performed.
Recently, in order to cope with environmental issues and the like, there has been a trend toward changing a drive device from an internal combustion engine to a combination of an internal combustion engine and an electric motor or only to an electric motor. The change in configuration, such as the change of the drive device to the internal combustion engine or the electric motor, most directly changes a temperature range of a coolant. As a result, the change in configuration also significantly changes the overall design and management of the air conditioning system. In case that the drive device in the related art is the internal combustion engine, a condenser does not need to perform other functions. However, in case that the drive device is the electric motor, a heat pump system is often applied and designed to allow a single heat exchanger to serve as a condenser in a cooling mode and serve as an evaporator in a heating mode. This system is disclosed well in Korean Patent No. 1950738 (“Heat Pump System for Vehicle,” Feb. 15, 2019).
The condenser is a heat exchanger responsible for condensation in a main refrigeration cycle in an air conditioning system for a vehicle and serves to condense a high-temperature, high-pressure gaseous refrigerant into a liquid state. In general, the condenser is almost always equipped with a set of receiver dryers. The receiver dryer mainly serves to remove moisture mixed with a refrigerant. In general, the liquid refrigerant discharged from the condenser is moved to and temporarily stored in the receiver dryer, and then delivered to an expansion valve by the amount required for a cooling load. In this case, the design and management for improving cooling efficiency by allowing the liquid refrigerant, which is discharged from the receiver dryer, to be supercooled while passing through a partial region of the condenser are being generally and widely applied.
A capacity of the receiver dryer is determined in consideration of both the effective volume and the refrigerant stabilization section of the receiver dryer described above. In general, packaging and the like are taken into account so that the receiver dryer does not protrude toward an outer periphery of a condenser core.
In the related art, i.e., in case that the condenser only serves as the condenser, the main function of the condenser is to condense the refrigerant, such that the condensing region is naturally designed to be much larger than the supercooling region. More specifically, in the related art, in general, the condensing region is formed to occupy 75 to 85% of the condenser core, and the supercooling region is formed to occupy 15 to 25% of the condenser core. However, as described above, in the heat pump system for an electric vehicle, a single heat exchanger sometimes serves as a condenser in a cooling mode and serves as an evaporator in a heating mode. In case that the single heat exchanger serves as the condenser or the evaporator as described above, there is a problem in that efficiency of the heat exchanger excessively deteriorates in the heating mode when the supercooling region is formed to be excessively large.
The present invention is proposed to solve these problems and aims to provide a heat exchanger, in which a condenser and a receiver dryer are assembled, and an effective volume of the receiver dryer is configured at an upper end of a supercooling region, such that a dead volume of the receiver dryer is minimized.
In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a heat exchanger 100 including: a pair of header tanks 111 and 112 each configured by coupling a header and a tank, configured to define a fluid flow space therein, spaced apart from each other at a predetermined distance, and formed in parallel; a plurality of tubes 120 each having two opposite ends fixed to the header tanks 111 and 112, the plurality of tubes being configured to define flow paths for a heat exchange medium; and a receiver dryer 200 connected to one 112 of the header tanks and configured to remove moisture from the heat exchange medium, in which when a region defined by the tubes 120 is a core region C, a part of the core region C before the heat exchange medium is introduced into the receiver dryer 200 is a condensing region D, and the remaining part of the core region C after the heat exchange medium is discharged from the receiver dryer 200 is a supercooling region S, the supercooling region S is formed to have an area within a range of 30 to 50% of the core region C.
In this case, the header tanks may include: a first header tank 111 having an inlet port and a discharge port for the heat exchange medium; and a second header tank 112 connected to the receiver dryer 200, and the flow of the heat exchange medium may be formed such that the heat exchange medium is introduced into the receiver dryer 200 sequentially through the inlet port, a part of the first header tank 111, the condensing region D, and a part of the second header tank 112, discharged from the receiver dryer 200, and discharged sequentially through the remaining part of the second header tank 112, the supercooling region S, the remaining part of the second header tank 111, and the discharge port.
In addition, when an extension direction of the header tanks 111 and 112 is a height direction and an extension direction of the tube 120 is a width direction, a lower end of the receiver dryer 200 may be disposed within a height range of the supercooling region S.
In this case, a cap may be assembled to an upper or lower end of the receiver dryer 200.
In addition, when the cap assembled to the lower end of the receiver dryer 200 is a bottom cap and a portion to which the bottom cap is assembled is a bottom cap assembling part, the bottom cap assembling part of the receiver dryer 200 may be disposed within the height range of the supercooling region.
In addition, an upper end of the receiver dryer 200 may protrude to the outside of the height range of the core region C.
In addition, when a length by which the upper end of the receiver dryer 200 protrudes to the outside of the height range of the core region C is a protruding length A and a length from the lower end of the receiver dryer 200 to a lowermost end of the supercooling region S is a dead space length B, the protruding length A and the dead space length B may be formed at levels identical to each other or similar to each other within a range of 90 to 110%.
In addition, the heat exchanger 100 may have a blind connector 130 configured to fix and couple the receiver dryer 200 and one 112 of the header tanks connected to the receiver dryer 200.
In addition, the blind connector 130 may have an external shape identical to a communication flow path between the receiver dryer 200 and one 112 of the header tanks connected to the receiver dryer 200, and the blind connector 130 is formed in a shape in which a communication hole is closed.
Alternatively, the heat exchanger 100 may have a separate bracket configured to fix and couple the receiver dryer 200 and one 112 of the header tanks connected to the receiver dryer 200.
In addition, a pair of communication flow paths may be formed between the receiver dryer 200 and one 112 of the header tanks connected to the receiver dryer 200, and the pair of communication flow paths may be formed as a pair of independent connectors or formed as a single integrated connector having two flow paths.
In addition, an inlet port 111a and a discharge port 111b for the heat exchange medium may be provided in one header tank 111 selected from the header tanks, and the inlet port 111a and the discharge port 111b may be connected to a pair of independent flanges or connected to a single integrated flange having two flow paths 141 and 142.
In addition, the heat exchanger 100 may serve as a condenser in a cooling mode and serve as an evaporator in a heating mode in a heat pump system.
Hereinafter, a heat exchanger according to the present invention configured as described above will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
A heat exchanger 100 of the present invention may be used for a heat pump of an air conditioning system for an electric vehicle described above. More specifically, in a heat pump system, the heat exchanger serves as a condenser in a cooling mode and serves as an evaporator in a heating mode. The above-mentioned description will be briefly described again. Unlike a case in which a drive device in the related art is an internal combustion engine, there is a current trend toward changing the drive device to an electric motor. Therefore, there is a very acute necessity of changing the design and management of air conditioning systems such as cooling and heating systems because the electric motor cannot obtain a high-temperature coolant that can be obtained from the internal combustion engine and because electricity, which is stored in advance in a vehicle or generated and produced while the vehicle travels, is also used by the drive device and the amount of use of electricity is limited. As one example of improving the air conditioning system, a configuration is being widely used that may supply a heating energy source in addition to an electric heater in the heating mode by changing a heat exchange medium route so that the heat exchange medium circulates through a refrigeration cycle in the cooling mode and circulates through a heat pump cycle in the heating mode. In the heat pump system, the heat exchanger, which is collectively called an outdoor unit, serves as the condenser in the cooling mode and serves as the evaporator in the heating mode. That is, the heat exchanger 100 of the present invention may be immediately utilized as the outdoor unit.
In general, the condenser has a receiver dryer, and the receiver dryer serves to receive a mixture of liquid and gaseous heat exchange media, remove moisture, and collect and discharge the liquid heat exchange medium. That is, a condensing operation actively occurs in a region of the heat exchanger before the heat exchange medium is introduced into the receiver dryer. A supercooling operation, instead of the condensing operation, occurs in a region after the heat exchange medium is discharged from the receiver dryer and the heat exchange medium is (almost mostly) already brought into the liquid heat exchange medium. That is, in the condenser to which the receiver dryer is connected, the region is divided based on the receiver dryer, and the condensing and supercooling operations occur. Naturally, there is no problem with these operations occurring in the condenser, but there occurs a problem in case that the same heat exchanger changes to serve as the evaporator.
As described above, the region in the condenser is divided into a condensing region and a supercooling region. Even though the supercooling operation assists in improving the cooling efficiency, but the condenser mainly serves to perform the condensing operation. Therefore, naturally, the condensing region is generally formed to be much larger than the supercooling region. More specifically, in the related art, the supercooling region is formed to be as small as about 15 to 25% of a core region (the condensing region+the supercooling region). However, in case that the heat exchanger, which is used as the condenser, changes to serve as the evaporator, an excessive pressure loss occurs because of the configuration in which the supercooling region is formed to be too small as described above, which causes a problem in that the performance deteriorates. That is, the design, which is optimized when the heat exchanger operates only as the condenser in the related art, is not optimal in the heat exchanger that switches between the condenser and the evaporator.
In order to immediately solve this problem, the heat exchanger 100 of the present invention proposes an improved design capable of obtaining sufficient performance without excessively degrading performance in the cooling mode and the heating mode in case that the heat exchanger 100 is the heat exchanger that serves as the condenser in the cooling mode and serves as the evaporator in the heating mode in the heat pump system.
In this case, as illustrated in
A flow of the heat exchange medium in the heat exchanger 100 of the present invention will be described below clearly. First, more clearly, the header tank includes a first header tank 111 having an inlet port and a discharge port for the heat exchange medium, and a second header tank 112 connected to the receiver dryer 200. In this case, first, the flow of the heat exchange medium is introduced into the receiver dryer 200 sequentially through the inlet port, a part of the first header tank 111, the condensing region D, and a part of the second header tank 112. The heat exchange medium, which is introduced into the receiver dryer 200 as described above, is divided into a gaseous heat exchange medium and a liquid heat exchange medium while moisture is removed in the receiver dryer 200, and the liquid heat exchange medium is collected in a lower portion. The liquid heat exchange medium, which is collected in the lower portion as described above, is discharged from the receiver dryer 200 and discharged sequentially through the remaining part of the second header tank 112, the supercooling region S, the remaining part of the second header tank 111, and the discharge port.
In this case, in the heat exchanger 100 of the present invention, the supercooling region S is formed to have an area within a range of 30 to 50% of the core region C. The supercooling region S of the present invention is formed to be much larger than that in the related art in comparison with the related art in which the supercooling region has an area within a range of 15 to 25% of the core region. Particularly, in the related art, the condensing region is necessarily larger in area than the supercooling region. However, in case that the supercooling region S is 50%, the condensing region D also becomes 60%, such that the areas of the two regions may be equal to each other.
Because an area ratio of the supercooling region S is much larger than that in the related art as described above, there occurs a much less pressure loss than in the related art even in case that the heat exchanger 100 changes to serve as the evaporator. That is, the problem of the deterioration in performance in the heating mode is much less severe than that in the related art.
Meanwhile, adverse effects may occur when the area ratio of the supercooling region S increases as described above. The adverse effects may cause a deterioration in performance when the heat exchanger 100 operates as the condenser. In order to solve this problem, several additional design conditions are further required in addition to the simple change in area ratio.
First, when an extension direction of the header tank 111 and 112 is referred to as a height direction and an extension direction of the tube 120 is referred to as a width direction, the heat exchanger 100 is configured such that a lower end of the receiver dryer 200 is disposed within a height range of the supercooling region S, as illustrated in
Meanwhile, the receiver dryer 200 may have a cap assembled to an upper or lower end thereof. In case that the cap is assembled to the lower end, a bottom cap assembled to the lower end of the receiver dryer 200 is generally integrated with a filter. Even in case that the cap is assembled to the upper end, the filter is provided at the lower end of the receiver dryer 200. That is, the drawings illustrate that the bottom cap is assembled to the lower end of the receiver dryer 200, and a space occupied by a bottom cap assembling part does not belong to the effective volume. However, even in case that the cap is assembled to the upper end of the receiver dryer 200, the space, which is occupied by the filter at the lower end of the receiver dryer 200, also does not belong to the effective volume. In consideration of this situation, it can be said that the lower end of the receiver dryer 200 generally belongs to the dead volume.
If the bottom cap assembling part is disposed above the uppermost end of the height range of the supercooling region S in case that the bottom cap is assembled to the lower end of the receiver dryer 200 based on the drawings, a space in which the bottom cap assembling part protrudes cannot be included in the effective volume any further but becomes the dead volume. In order to immediately prevent this problem, in the heat exchanger 100 of the present invention, the bottom cap assembling part corresponding to the lower end of the receiver dryer 200 is disposed within the height range of the supercooling region S. This configuration may, of course, be equally applied to a case in which the cap is assembled to the upper end of the receiver dryer 200. That is, in general, the lower end of the receiver dryer 200 only needs to be disposed within the height range of the supercooling region S.
Meanwhile, a capacity of the receiver dryer 200 is determined in consideration of the refrigerant stabilization section and the effective volume. In the related art, the height, the capacity, and the like of the receiver dryer are determined within a range that does not depart from the height range of the condenser (to which the receiver dryer is connected) in consideration of packaging or the like. However, in the present invention, as the area ratio of the supercooling region S increases, the connection position of the receiver dryer 200 may also increase in comparison with the related art. In this case, as in the related art, in case that the receiver dryer is restricted to be within the height range of the condenser, the receiver dryer 200 cannot ensure the sufficient effective volume. This situation eventually causes a deterioration performance. Therefore, this problem needs to be solved.
In the present invention, the ensuring of the sufficient performance is prioritized over packaging convenience. Therefore, as illustrated in
In addition, when a length by which the upper end of the receiver dryer 200 protrudes to the outside of the height range of the core region C is referred to as a protruding length A and a length from the lower end of the receiver dryer 200 to the lowermost end of the supercooling region S is referred to as a dead space length B, the protruding length A and the dead space length B may be formed at levels identical to each other or similar to each other within a range of 90 to 110%. As described above, the protruding length A and the dead space length B are formed to be almost similar to each other, such that the receiver dryer 200 and the specifications in which the supercooling region S is reduced may be commonized.
Meanwhile, as described above, in case that the upper end of the receiver dryer 200 further protrudes than the core region C, there is a concern that the structural stability of the receiver dryer 200 may deteriorate in comparison with the related art. Therefore, the receiver dryer 200 and one (i.e., the second header tank 112) of the header tanks connected to the receiver dryer 200 are fixed to each other by a separate bracket, such that the structural stability may be ensured. Alternatively, the heat exchanger 100 may have a blind connector 130 configured to fix and couple the receiver dryer 200 and one 112 of the header tanks connected to the receiver dryer 200. More specifically, the blind connector 130 has an external shape identical to a communication flow path between the receiver dryer 200 and one (i.e., the second header tank 112) of the header tanks connected to the receiver dryer 200, and the blind connector 130 is formed in a shape in which a communication hole is closed. In this case, a process of forming or assembling the blind connector 130 only needs to be originally identical to the process of forming or assembling the communication flow path (connector) between the receiver dryer 200 and the second header tank 112. Therefore, it is possible to basically eliminate the problem in which separate components or new assembling processes are added. Of course, because the inside of the blind connector 130 is closed, the heat exchange medium never flows through the blind connector 130, and the blind connector 130 only serves to securely fix and support the receiver dryer 200. In case that the blind connector 130 is provided, the above-mentioned separate bracket may not be provided. On the contrary, in case that the separate bracket is provided, the blind connector 130 may not be provided.
Additionally, the configuration in which the heat exchange medium flows between the receiver dryer 200 and one 112 of the header tanks connected to the receiver dryer 200 will be described below briefly. As described above, the flow of the heat exchange medium between the receiver dryer 200 and one 112 of the header tanks needs to exist in two forms including a flow in a direction of [receiver dryer→header tank] and a flow in a direction of [header tank→receiver dryer]. That is, basically, a minimum one pair of communication flow paths needs to be formed between the receiver dryer 200 and one 112 of the header tanks connected to the receiver dryer 200. In this case, the pair of communication flow paths may be formed as a pair of independent connectors as the simplest design. However, because there may somewhat occur a risk, such as an assembling defect, during a process of assembling the plurality of communication flow paths, the pair of communication flow paths may be formed as a single integrated connector including two flow paths.
Meanwhile, the heat exchange medium is introduced or discharged through the other header tank 111 that is not connected to the receiver dryer 200.
First, with reference to
Meanwhile, with reference to
According to the present invention, in the heat exchanger in which the condenser and the receiver dryer are assembled, the effective volume of the receiver dryer is configured at the upper end of the supercooling region, such that the dead volume of the receiver dryer is minimized. In this case, in the related art, the receiver dryer is designed not to depart from the outer periphery of the condenser core in preferential consideration of packaging or the like. However, in the present invention, the operational efficiency is further preferentially taken into account, such that the receiver dryer is formed to protrude toward the outer periphery of the condenser core. As described above, the protruding length of the receiver dryer and the length of the dead volume are similar to each other, such that the supercooling region may be reduced, and the receiver dryer may be commonized.
The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and the scope of application is diverse. Of course, various modifications and implementations made by any person skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains without departing from the subject matter of the present invention claimed in the claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1020230146392 | Oct 2023 | KR | national |
| 1020240149581 | Oct 2024 | KR | national |
