The present application is a National Stage of International Patent Application No. PCT/CN2014/070737 filed Jan. 16, 2014, which claims priority to and all the benefits of Chinese Patent Application No. 201310340612.0 filed Aug. 6, 2013, both of which are hereby expressly incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a refrigerant distributing device, and more particularly to a refrigerant distributing device and a heat exchanger having the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the field of refrigeration, a refrigerant at an inlet of an evaporator or an outdoor heat exchanger in a heat pump system is typically a gas-liquid two-phase mixture, and a gas-liquid separation phenomenon is easily formed due to a big density difference between the gas-phase refrigerant and the liquid-phase refrigerant, so that the gas-phase refrigerant is excessive within a part of flat tubes of the heat exchanger, thus forming a relatively large overheated zone, while the liquid-phase refrigerant is excessive within another part of the flat tubes of the heat exchanger, resulting in an insufficient heat exchanging and thus affecting an overall heat exchanging capability of the heat exchanger. In the related art, a distributing pipe is generally provided within a header of the heat exchanger, the refrigerant is distributed into the header from an inner chamber of the distributing pipe via a distributing hole in the distributing pipe. However, the conventional distributing pipe has an ideal refrigerant distributing effect, and thus there is a need for improvement.
Embodiments of the present invention seek to solve at least one of the problems existing in the related art to at least some extent. For this, a first objective of the present invention is to provide a refrigerant distributing device, which can reduce a gas-liquid separation phenomenon of the refrigerant, improve a distributing uniformity of the refrigerant, thereby improving a heat exchanging performance of a heat exchanger having the refrigerant distributing device.
A second objective of the present invention is to provide a heat exchanger having the above refrigerant distributing device.
A refrigerant distributing device according to embodiments of a first aspect of the present invention includes: a distributing structure includes a plurality of distributing pipes, at least one of the plurality of distributing pipes being provided with a distributing hole, at least two of the plurality of distributing pipes intersecting with each other; and an adapting block provided with an adapting chamber, and connected to the distributing structure such that the adapting chamber is communicated with an inner chamber of the distributing pipe.
With the refrigerant distributing device according to embodiments of the present invention, through the distributing structure including the plurality of distributing pipes, due to a sudden contraction of a flow section, the refrigerant ejected from the distributing hole of the at least one of the plurality of distributing pipes is injected into the heat exchanging pipe in a mist flow form in which the gas and liquid are sufficiently mixed, which strengthens a turbulence of the refrigerant after the refrigerant is ejected so as to avoids that the refrigerant, to which the gas-liquid separation phenomenon occurs, enters the heat exchanging pipe, thus achieving an objective that the refrigerant is uniformly distributed within the heat exchanging pipe and improving the heat exchanging performance of the heat exchanger.
Alternatively, the distributing pipe is configured as a capillary pipe.
In some embodiments of the present invention, the distributing pipe includes a plurality of straight pipes and a plurality of multi-way pipes.
Alternatively, the plurality of straight pipes and the plurality of multi-way pipes are connected detachably.
Specifically, the multi-way pipe includes at least one of a three-way pipe, a four-way pipe and a six-way pipe.
In some embodiments of the present invention, the distributing structure is configured as a network structure.
In an embodiment of the present invention, the distributing structure is configured as a two-dimensional network structure.
Specifically, the two-dimensional network structure includes a plurality of rectangular units.
In another embodiment of the present invention, the distributing structure is configured as a three-dimensional network structure.
Specifically, the three-dimensional network structure includes two mutually orthogonal rectangular two-dimensional network structures.
Specifically, the adapting block is further provided with a connecting hole communicated with the adapting chamber and configured to fit with the distributing pipe.
In some embodiments of the present invention, the refrigerant distributing device further includes a stopper provided with a blind hole which is configured to fit with the distributing pipe.
A heat exchanger according to embodiments of a second aspect of the present invention includes: a first header and a second header; a plurality of heat exchanging pipes, each heat exchanging pipe defining a first end connected to the first header and a second end connected to the second header; a fin disposed between two adjacent heat exchanging pipes; and a refrigerant distributing device according to embodiments of the first aspect of the present invention, disposed within at least one of the first header and the second header.
Other advantages of the invention will be readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
refrigerant distributing device 100, distributing structure 1, distributing pipe 10,
straight pipe 10a, three-way pipe 10b, four-way pipe 10c, distributing hole 11,
adapting block 2, adapting chamber 20, connecting hole 21, stopper 3, blind hole 30.
Reference will be made in detail to embodiments of the present invention. Embodiments of the present invention will be shown in drawings, in which the same or similar elements and the elements having same or similar functions are denoted by like reference numerals throughout the descriptions. The embodiments described herein with reference to drawings are explanatory, illustrative, and used to generally understand the present invention. The embodiments shall not be construed to limit the present invention.
In the following, a refrigerant distributing device 100 according to embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail referring to
As shown in
The distributing hole 11 may be configured to have any suitable shape, for example, a circular hole or a square hole, and a size of the distribution hole may be set according to a specific application. Preferably, the distributing hole 11 is configured as a slot, thus further improving a distributing effect of the refrigerant.
In some embodiments of the present invention, a position where the distributing hole 11 is located at the distributing structure 1 is corresponded to an end portion of a heat exchanging pipe of the heat exchanger when the refrigerant distributing device 100 is mounted within the header of the heat exchanger, so as to better distribute the refrigerant into the heat exchange pipe.
The adapting block 2 is provided with an adapting chamber 20 and connected to the distributing structure 1, and the adapting chamber 20 is communicated with an inner chamber of the distributing pipe 10, so as to facilitate distributing the refrigerant into the plurality of distributing pipes 10 via the adapting block 2. Moreover, the adapting block 2 may be used to fix the distributing structure 1 within the header of the heat exchanger, thereby facilitating mounting the refrigerant distributing device.
Specifically, the refrigerant firstly enters the adapting chamber 20 of the adapting block 2, then flows into the inner chamber of the distributing pipe 10 from the adapting chamber 20 and is ejected from the distributing hole 11. When the refrigerant is ejected from the distributing hole 11, as a flow section of the refrigerant is suddenly contracted, both a kinetic energy and a flow speed of the refrigerant are increased, so that the refrigerant ejected from the distributing hole 11 may enter the header in a mist flow form.
With the refrigerant distributing device 100 according to embodiments of the present invention, through the distributing structure 1 including the plurality of distributing pipes 10, in which at least one distributing pipe 10 is provided with the distributing hole 11, as the flow section of the refrigerant is suddenly contracted, the refrigerant ejected from the distributing hole 11 is ejected in the mist flow form in which the gas and liquid are sufficiently mixed, thereby avoiding that the refrigerant, to which a gas-liquid separation phenomenon occurs, enters the heat exchanger, achieving an objective that the refrigerant is uniformly distributed within the heat exchanging pipe, and improving a heat exchanging performance of the heat exchanger.
In some embodiments of the present invention, the distributing pipe 10 is configured as a capillary pipe. In other words, the distributing pipe 10 may be configured as a pipe whose inner diameter is equal to or less than 1 mm. As the flow section is suddenly contracted, both the kinetic energy and the flow speed of the refrigerant are increased, so that the refrigerant ejected from the distributing pipe 10 is ejected in the mist flow form in which the gas and liquid are sufficiently mixed, which is helpful to further improve the distributing uniformity of the refrigerant. As the distributing pipe 10 is configured as the capillary pipe, as many distributing pipes 10 as possible may be arranged within an inner chamber of the header with a limited space, so as to enhance a mixing of the gas-liquid two-phase refrigerant after the refrigerant is ejected from the capillary. At the same time, by using the capillary, the refrigerant distributing device 100 may also play a role of throttling, i.e., may be partially or even entirely undertakes a function of a throttling device. Therefore, a refrigerating system with the refrigerant distributing device 100 does not need to be provided with the throttling device additionally.
The distributing pipes 10 may be connected to form the distributing structure 1 in the manner of plugging connection, flexible connection, welding connection and gluing connection, etc.
For example, as shown in
According to some embodiments of the present invention, the distributing structure 1 is configured as a network structure, and the network structure herein should be broadly understood. In the following, the distributing structure 1 with the network structure according to different embodiments of the present invention will be described referring to
In an embodiment shown in
In an embodiment shown in
In an embodiment shown in
In an embodiment shown in
In an embodiment shown in
In some embodiments of the present invention, the distributing structure 1 may also be configured as a three-dimensional network structure. Specifically, the three-dimensional network structure may include two mutually orthogonal rectangular two-dimensional network structures which are connected via the six-way pipe.
In one embodiment of the present invention, as shown in
The adapting block 2 according to some embodiments of the present invention will be described below referring to
In some embodiments of the present invention, as shown in
In other embodiments of the present invention, as shown in
In another embodiment of the present invention, as shown in
In one embodiment of the present invention, as shown in
The heat exchanger according to embodiments of the present invention will be described below, which may be used in an air conditioner, a refrigerator and other refrigeration equipment.
The heat exchanger according to embodiments of the present invention includes: a first header and a second header, a plurality of heat exchanging pipes, a fin and a refrigerant distributing device. The heat exchanging pipe has a first end connected to the first header and a second end connected to the second header. Preferably, the heat exchanging pipe is configured as a flat pipe. The fin is disposed between two adjacent heat exchanging pipes. The refrigerant distributing device may be the refrigerant distributing device 100 according to above embodiments of the present invention, and is disposed within at least one of the first header and the second header. In other words, the refrigerant distributing device 100 may be disposed within only one of the first header and the second header, and may also be disposed within both the first header and the second header at the same time.
The flux and flow speed of the refrigerant may be flexibly adjusted via different assembling manners by the distributing structure 1 of the refrigerant distributing device 100 according to the structures of the heat exchanger, the first header and/or the second header and the distribution of the two-phase refrigerant, so as to achieve an objective of evenly distributing the refrigerant within each heat exchanger.
In one embodiment, the position of the distributing hole 11 in the refrigerant distributing device 100 is corresponded to the end portion position of the heat exchanging pipe, and thus it is convenient for the refrigerant in the mist flow form to directly enter the heat exchanging pipe, so as to prevent the gas-liquid separation phenomenon from occurring to the refrigerant again after the gas-liquid two-phase refrigerant flows through the distributing hole 11.
The heat exchanger of the present invention may be a parallel flow heat exchanger, and more particularly, a micro-channel heat exchanger.
Through the refrigerant distributing device 100, the heat exchanger of the present invention can prevent the gas-liquid separation phenomenon from occurring to the refrigerant, so as to improve the distributing uniformity of the refrigerant and further improve the heat exchanging performance of the heat exchanger.
In the specification, it is to be understood that terms such as “central,” “length,” “width,” “thickness,” “upper,” “lower,” “front,” “rear,” “left,” “right,” “vertical,” “horizontal,” “top,” “bottom,” “inner,” and “outer,” should be construed to refer to the orientation as then described or as shown in the drawings under discussion. These relative terms are for convenience of description and do not require that the present invention be constructed or operated in a particular orientation.
In addition, terms such as “first” and “second” are used herein for purposes of description and are not intended to indicate or imply relative importance or significance or to imply the number of indicated technical features. Thus, the feature defined with “first” and “second” may comprise one or more of this feature. In the description of the present disclosure, “a plurality of” means two or more than two, unless specified otherwise.
In the present disclosure, unless specified or limited otherwise, the terms “mounted,” “connected,” “coupled,” “fixed” and the like are used broadly, and may be, for example, fixed connections, detachable connections, or integral connections; may also be mechanical or electrical connections; may also be direct connections or indirect connections via intervening structures; may also be inner communications of two elements, which can be understood by those skilled in the art according to specific situations.
In the present disclosure, unless specified or limited otherwise, a structure in which a first feature is “on” or “below” a second feature may include an embodiment in which the first feature is in direct contact with the second feature, and may also include an embodiment in which the first feature and the second feature are not in direct contact with each other, but are contacted via an additional feature formed therebetween. Furthermore, a first feature “on,” “above,” or “on top of” a second feature may include an embodiment in which the first feature is right or obliquely “on,” “above,” or “on top of” the second feature, or just means that the first feature is at a height higher than that of the second feature; while a first feature “below,” “under,” or “on bottom of” a second feature may include an embodiment in which the first feature is right or obliquely “below,” “under,” or “on bottom of” the second feature, or just means that the first feature is at a height lower than that of the second feature.
Reference throughout this specification to “an embodiment,” “some embodiments,” “one embodiment”, “another example,” “an example,” “a specific example,” or “some examples,” means that a particular feature, structure, material, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment or example is included in at least one embodiment or example of the present invention. Thus, the appearances of the phrases such as “in some embodiments,” “in one embodiment”, “in an embodiment”, “in another example,” “in an example,” “in a specific example,” or “in some examples,” in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment or example of the present invention. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, materials, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments or examples.
Although explanatory embodiments have been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the above embodiments cannot be construed to limit the present invention, and changes, alternatives, and modifications can be made in the embodiments without departing from spirit, principles and scope of the present invention. Many modifications and variations of the invention are possible in light of the above teachings. Therefore, within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced other than as specifically described.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2013 1 0340612 | Aug 2013 | CN | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/CN2014/070737 | 1/16/2014 | WO | 00 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
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WO2015/018184 | 2/12/2015 | WO | A |
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