JP2011202921A - Evaporator unit - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an evaporator unit simple in a connection structure, and having high sealability against refrigerant leakage.SOLUTION: This evaporator unit includes an evaporator 15 constituting a refrigeration cycle, an internal heat exchanger 13 exchanging heat between a high pressure-side refrigerant and a low pressure-side refrigerant of the refrigeration cycle, and an expansion valve assembling section 29 to which an expansion valve 14 of the refrigeration cycle is assembled. The expansion valve assembling section 29 has an inlet-side flow channel 29b in which the refrigerant flowing into a refrigerant inlet 14a of the expansion valve 14 flows, and an outlet-side flow channel 29c in which the refrigerant flowing out from a refrigerant outlet 14b of the expansion valve 14 flows, and the evaporator 15, the internal heat exchanger 13 and the expansion valve assembling section 29 are made of metal and integrally brazed to each other.

Description

  The present invention relates to an evaporator unit used in a refrigeration cycle.

  Conventionally, this type of evaporator unit is described in Patent Documents 1 and 2. In the prior art of Patent Document 1, an internal heat exchanger is integrated with the evaporator. Specifically, the internal heat exchanger is integrally formed side by side with the heat exchanger core of the evaporator.

  In the prior art of Patent Document 2, an internal heat exchanger and an expansion valve are integrally assembled with an evaporator. Specifically, an expansion valve is sandwiched and assembled between the evaporator and the internal heat exchanger.

JP 2006-97911 A JP 2001-21234 A

  However, since the expansion valve is not integrated with the evaporator in the prior art disclosed in Patent Document 1, connection piping for connecting the expansion valve to the evaporator is required, and the connection configuration is complicated.

  In this regard, in the prior art disclosed in Patent Document 2, since the internal heat exchanger and the expansion valve are integrally assembled with the evaporator, a connection pipe for connecting the expansion valve to the evaporator is not necessary. The configuration is simplified.

  However, since the expansion valve is sandwiched between the evaporator and the internal heat exchanger in the prior art of Patent Document 2, the connection between the evaporator and the expansion valve, and the expansion valve and the internal heat exchanger There is a possibility that refrigerant leakage may occur at the connecting portion.

  Here, if the evaporator, the expansion valve, and the internal heat exchanger are brazed together, it is possible to effectively prevent refrigerant leakage at the connection portion of the evaporator, the expansion valve, and the internal heat exchanger. However, when the expansion valve is integrally brazed, the expansion valve is thermally deformed, and there arises a problem that the shape and dimensions of the passage inside the expansion valve cannot be maintained as intended.

  In view of the above points, an object of the present invention is to provide an evaporator unit having a simple connection configuration and high sealing performance against refrigerant leakage.

In order to achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, an evaporator (15) constituting a refrigeration cycle;
An internal heat exchanger (13) for exchanging heat between the high-pressure side refrigerant and the low-pressure side refrigerant of the refrigeration cycle;
An expansion valve assembly (29) to which the expansion valve (14) of the refrigeration cycle is assembled,
The expansion valve assembly (29) flows out of the inlet-side flow path (29b) through which the refrigerant flowing into the refrigerant inlet (14a) of the expansion valve (14) flows and the refrigerant outlet (14b) of the expansion valve (14). An outlet-side flow path (29c) through which the refrigerant flows is formed,
The evaporator (15), the internal heat exchanger (13), and the expansion valve assembly (29) are all made of metal and integrally brazed to each other.

  According to this, compared with the case where the internal heat exchanger (13) and the expansion valve (14) are assembled to the evaporator (15) after the integral brazing of only the evaporator (15), after the integral brazing. Can be reduced. As a result, the connection configuration can be simplified and the sealing performance against refrigerant leakage can be enhanced.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the evaporator unit according to the first aspect, the inlet-side flow path (29b) extends from the high-pressure side refrigerant outlet (13c) of the internal heat exchanger (13) to the expansion valve (14). An internal heat exchanger-expansion valve refrigerant flow path (29b) leading to the refrigerant inlet (14a) of
The outlet side flow path (29c) is an expansion valve-evaporator refrigerant flow path (29c) from the refrigerant outlet (14b) of the expansion valve (14) to the evaporator (15),
In the expansion valve assembly (29), an evaporator-internal heat exchanger refrigerant flow path (29d) extending from the evaporator (15) to the low-pressure side refrigerant inlet (13d) of the internal heat exchanger (13) is formed. It is characterized by being.

  Thereby, since the flow path between an internal heat exchanger (13), an expansion valve (14), and an evaporator (15) can be collected in an expansion valve assembly part (29), a flow path structure can be simplified. .

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the evaporator unit according to the second aspect, the evaporator (15) includes a plurality of tubes (23) forming a refrigerant flow path of the heat exchange core portion (21a, 22a). Have
End portions of at least some of the tubes (23) are inserted into the expansion valve-evaporator refrigerant flow path (29c) and the evaporator-internal heat exchanger refrigerant flow path (29d). It is characterized by.

  According to this, since the expansion valve assembly part (29) can also serve as a tank part that distributes and collects the refrigerant to the plurality of tubes (23), the unit size can be reduced in size.

Specifically, as in the invention according to claim 4, in the evaporator unit according to claim 3, the refrigerant valve (14a) of the expansion valve (14) is connected to the expansion valve assembly (29). And an expansion valve insertion hole (29a) into which the formation site of the refrigerant outlet (14b) is inserted,
The expansion valve insertion hole (29a) communicates with the internal heat exchanger-expansion valve refrigerant flow path (29b) and the expansion valve-evaporator refrigerant flow path (29c),
The expansion valve assembly portion (29) is inserted with an expansion valve insertion hole forming member (30) that forms an expansion valve insertion hole (29a), and an end of at least a part of the plurality of tubes (23). It is preferable that the tube insertion member (31) is divided and formed.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the evaporator unit according to any one of the second to fourth aspects, the internal heat exchanger (13) has a high pressure side outlet that forms a high pressure side refrigerant outlet (13c). The end (13e) and the low-pressure side inlet end (13e) forming the low-pressure side refrigerant inlet (13d) are formed separately from each other,
A high-pressure side outlet end (13e) is inserted into the inlet of the internal heat exchanger-expansion valve refrigerant channel (29b),
A low pressure side inlet end (13e) is inserted into the outlet of the evaporator-internal heat exchanger refrigerant channel (29d).

  Thereby, an internal heat exchanger (13) and an expansion valve assembly part (29) can be connected with a simple structure.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the evaporator unit according to any one of the second to fifth aspects, the refrigerant is discharged from the refrigerant suction port (40b) by the high-speed refrigerant flow injected from the nozzle portion (40a). An ejector assembly portion (43) to which an ejector (40) for mixing and discharging the refrigerant injected from the nozzle portion (40a) and the refrigerant sucked from the refrigerant suction port (40b) is assembled,
The evaporator (15) is connected to the outlet side of the ejector (40) and is connected to the first evaporator (21) for evaporating the refrigerant discharged from the ejector (40) and the refrigerant suction port (40b). A second evaporator (22) for evaporating the refrigerant sucked by (40);
The ejector assembly part (43) has a nozzle part inlet side flow path (43b) through which refrigerant flowing into the inlet of the nozzle part (40a) flows, and a refrigerant suction port through which refrigerant sucked into the refrigerant suction port (40b) flows. A side flow path (43c) and an ejector outlet side flow path (43d) through which the refrigerant flowing out from the outlet of the ejector (40) flows are formed,
The ejector assembly (43) is formed of metal and brazed integrally with the first and second evaporators (21, 22), the internal heat exchanger (13), and the expansion valve assembly (29). It is characterized by being.

  Thereby, in a refrigerating cycle provided with an ejector (40), while being able to simplify a connection structure, the sealing performance with respect to refrigerant | coolant leakage can be improved.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the evaporator unit according to the sixth aspect, the expansion valve assembly (29) includes a high-pressure side refrigerant outlet and a nozzle part inlet side of the internal heat exchanger (13). A high-pressure refrigerant flow path (29e) communicating with the flow path (43b) is formed;
The high pressure refrigerant flow path (29e) and the nozzle part inlet side flow path (43b) are an internal heat exchanger-nozzle extending from the high pressure side refrigerant outlet (13c) of the internal heat exchanger (13) to the inlet of the nozzle part (40a). A partial refrigerant flow path is configured.

  Thereby, the flow path between the internal heat exchanger (13), the expansion valve (14) and the first and second evaporators (21, 22), and the flow between the internal heat exchanger (13) and the ejector (40). Since the passages can be integrated into the expansion valve assembly portion (29) and the ejector assembly portion (43), the flow path configuration can be simplified.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, in the evaporator unit according to the sixth or seventh aspect, the refrigerant suction port side channel (43c) extends from the second evaporator (22) to the refrigerant suction port (40) of the ejector (40). 40b) the evaporator-refrigerant suction port refrigerant flow path (43c),
The ejector outlet side flow path (43d) is an ejector-evaporator refrigerant flow path (43d) extending from the outlet of the ejector (40) to the first evaporator (21).

  Thereby, since the flow path between the first and second evaporators (21, 22) and the ejector (40) can be concentrated in the ejector assembly (43), the flow path configuration can be simplified.

  In addition, the code | symbol in the bracket | parenthesis of each means described in this column and the claim shows the correspondence with the specific means as described in embodiment mentioned later.

It is a whole lineblock diagram of the refrigerating cycle in a 1st embodiment of the present invention. It is a two-plane figure which shows the whole structure of the integrated unit in 1st Embodiment. It is a front view which shows the vicinity of the expansion valve assembly | attachment part of FIG. FIG. 3 is a two-side view, a cross-sectional view, and a perspective view showing the side plate of FIG. 2. FIG. 3 is a two-side view showing an upper tank portion of FIG. (A) is A arrow directional view of FIG. 5, (b) is BB sectional drawing of FIG. It is a two-plane figure which shows the tube insertion member of FIG. FIG. 3 is a trihedral view showing the expansion valve insertion hole forming member of FIG. 2. It is a front view of the integrated unit of FIG. FIG. 10 is a two-side view showing the expansion valve assembly part of FIG. 9. It is a whole block diagram of the refrigerating cycle in 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing which shows the ejector of FIG. It is a two-view figure which shows the whole structure of the integrated unit in 2nd Embodiment. It is a two-plane figure which shows the ejector assembly part of FIG. It is a two-plane figure which shows the expansion valve assembly | attachment part of FIG. It is a perspective view which shows the side plate in other embodiment. It is a two-view figure which shows the whole structure of the integrated unit in other embodiment.

(First embodiment)
Hereinafter, embodiments of an evaporator unit and a refrigeration cycle using the same according to the present invention will be described. The evaporator unit is connected to a compressor and a condenser, which are other components of the refrigeration cycle, via pipes in order to configure the refrigeration cycle. In one embodiment, the evaporator unit is used as an indoor unit for cooling air. Moreover, an evaporator unit can be used as an outdoor unit in another form.

  FIGS. 1-10 shows 1st Embodiment of this invention, FIG. 1 shows the example which applied the refrigerating cycle 10 by 1st Embodiment to the refrigerating cycle apparatus for vehicles. In the refrigeration cycle 10 of the present embodiment, a compressor 11 that sucks and compresses refrigerant is rotationally driven by a vehicle travel engine (not shown) via an electromagnetic clutch, a belt, and the like.

  The compressor 11 may be a variable capacity compressor that can adjust the refrigerant discharge capacity by changing the discharge capacity, or a fixed capacity compressor that adjusts the refrigerant discharge capacity by changing the operating rate of the compressor operation by switching the electromagnetic clutch. Either of these may be used. Further, if an electric compressor is used as the compressor 11, the refrigerant discharge capacity can be adjusted by adjusting the rotation speed of the electric motor.

  A radiator 12 is disposed on the refrigerant discharge side of the compressor 11. The radiator 12 cools the high-pressure refrigerant by exchanging heat between the high-pressure refrigerant discharged from the compressor 11 and outside air (air outside the vehicle compartment) blown by a cooling fan (not shown).

  Here, as the refrigerant of the refrigeration cycle 10, in this embodiment, a refrigerant whose high pressure does not exceed the critical pressure, such as a refrigerant of chlorofluorocarbon or HC, constitutes a vapor compression subcritical cycle. . For this reason, the radiator 12 acts as a condenser that condenses the refrigerant.

  An internal heat exchanger 13 is connected to the outlet side of the radiator 12. The internal heat exchanger 13 is formed with a high-pressure side refrigerant flow path 13 a through which the high-pressure side refrigerant flowing out from the radiator 12 flows and a low-pressure side refrigerant flow path 13 b through which the low-pressure side refrigerant sucked into the compressor 11 flows. Yes.

  When the internal heat exchanger 13 exchanges heat between the high-pressure side refrigerant and the low-pressure side refrigerant, the enthalpy difference (refrigeration capacity) between the inlet-side refrigerant and the outlet-side refrigerant in the evaporator 15 can be increased.

  A refrigerant inlet 14 a of the expansion valve 14 is connected to the high-pressure side refrigerant outlet 13 c side of the internal heat exchanger 13. The expansion valve 14 is a decompression unit that decompresses the liquid refrigerant from the high-pressure side refrigerant passage 13a of the internal heat exchanger 13.

  An evaporator 15 is connected to the refrigerant outlet 14 b side of the expansion valve 14. The outlet side of the evaporator 15 is connected to the low-pressure side refrigerant inlet 13 d of the internal heat exchanger 13. The low-pressure side refrigerant outlet of the internal heat exchanger 13 is connected to the suction side of the compressor 11.

  The evaporator 15 is housed in a case (not shown), and air (cooled air) is blown as indicated by an arrow A1 by an electric blower 16 common to an air passage configured in the case, and the blown air is evaporated. It cools with the vessel 15.

  The cool air cooled by the evaporator 15 is sent to a space to be cooled (not shown), and the space to be cooled is thereby cooled by the evaporator 15.

  In addition, when applying the refrigeration cycle 10 of this embodiment to the refrigeration cycle apparatus for vehicle air conditioning, a vehicle interior space becomes a space to be cooled. In addition, when the refrigeration cycle 10 of the present embodiment is applied to a refrigeration vehicle refrigeration cycle apparatus, the space inside the refrigeration refrigerator of the refrigeration vehicle is a space to be cooled.

  In the present embodiment, the internal heat exchanger 13, the expansion valve 14, and the evaporator 15 are assembled as one integrated unit 20.

  FIG. 2 is a two-view diagram showing an outline of the overall configuration of the integrated unit 20. In the present embodiment, the evaporator 15 includes a first evaporator 21 disposed on the upstream side (windward side) of the air flow A1 and a second evaporator 22 disposed on the downstream side (leeward side) of the air flow A1. It has a structure that integrates with.

  The first and second evaporators 21 and 22 include heat exchange core portions 21a and 22a, and tank portions 21b, 21c, 22b, and 22c located on both upper and lower sides of the heat exchange core portions 21a and 22a, respectively.

  Hereinafter, the heat exchange core part 21a of the first evaporator 21 is referred to as a first heat exchange core part 21a, and the heat exchange core part 22a of the second evaporator 22 is referred to as a second heat exchange core part 22a.

  The first and second heat exchange core portions 21a and 22a each include a plurality of tubes 23 extending in the vertical direction. A passage through which the heat exchange medium (cooled air) passes is formed between the plurality of tubes 23. Fins 24 can be arranged between the plurality of tubes 23 so that the tubes 23 and the fins 24 can be joined.

  In the present embodiment, the first and second heat exchange core portions 21 a and 22 a have a laminated structure of tubes 23 and fins 24. The tubes 23 and the fins 24 are alternately stacked in the left-right direction of the first and second heat exchange core portions 21a, 22a.

  In FIG. 2, only a part of the laminated structure of the tube 23 and the fin 24 is illustrated, but the laminated structure of the tube 23 and the fin 24 is configured over the entire area of the heat exchange core portions 21a and 22a. The air blown by the electric blower 16 passes through the gap.

  The tube 23 constitutes a refrigerant passage, and is formed of a flat tube whose cross-sectional shape is flat along the air flow direction A1. The fin 24 is a corrugated fin formed by bending a thin plate material into a wave shape, and is joined to the flat outer surface side of the tube 23 to expand the air-side heat transfer area.

  The tube 23 of the first heat exchange core part 21a and the tube 23 of the second heat exchange core part 22a constitute independent refrigerant passages, and tank parts 21b and 21c on both upper and lower sides of the first heat exchange core part 21a, 2 The tank portions 22b and 22c on both the upper and lower sides of the heat exchange core portion 22a constitute independent refrigerant passage spaces.

  The internal spaces of the tank portions 21b and 21c on both the upper and lower sides of the first heat exchange core portion 21a communicate with the upper and lower end portions of the tube 23 of the first heat exchange core portion 21a. Similarly, the internal spaces of the tank portions 22b and 22c on the upper and lower sides of the second heat exchange core portion 22a communicate with the upper and lower ends of the tube 23 of the second heat exchange core portion 22a.

  Thereby, the tank parts 21b, 21c, 22b, and 22c on both upper and lower sides respectively distribute the refrigerant flow to the plurality of tubes 23 of the corresponding heat exchange core parts 21a and 22a, and the refrigerant flows from the plurality of tubes 23, respectively. Play the role of gathering.

  Since the two upper tank portions 21b and 22b and the two lower tank portions 21c and 22c are adjacent to each other, the two upper tank portions 21b and 22b and the two lower tank portions 21c and 22c are integrated with each other. Can be molded. Of course, the two upper tank portions 21b and 22b and the two lower tank portions 21c and 22c may be formed as independent members.

  One refrigerant inlet 25 and one refrigerant outlet 26 of the integrated unit 20 are formed at one end in the longitudinal direction of the lower tank portions 21c and 22c.

  Side plates 27 and 28 holding the first and second heat exchange core portions 21a and 22a are brazed and fixed to both side surfaces of the first and second heat exchange core portions 21a and 22a. The side plates 27 and 28 have a shape extending in the longitudinal direction of the tube 23 on the side of the first and second heat exchange core portions 21a and 22a, and tank portions 21b, 21c, 22b and 22c on both upper and lower sides. Also brazed and fixed.

  In addition, as a concrete material of evaporator components, such as the tube 23, the fin 24, the tank parts 21b, 21c, 22b, 22c, and the side plates 27, 28, aluminum which is a metal excellent in thermal conductivity and brazing property It is suitable, and the whole structure of the 1st, 2nd evaporators 21 and 22 can be assembled | attached by integral brazing by shape | molding each component with this aluminum material.

  In the present embodiment, the internal heat exchanger 13 and the expansion valve assembly portion 29 are also assembled integrally with the first and second evaporators 21 and 22 by brazing. The expansion valve assembly portion 29 is formed of an aluminum material (metal material) in the same manner as the evaporator parts, and is provided at one end in the longitudinal direction of the upper tank portions 21b and 22b of the first and second evaporators 21 and 22. It is fixed by brazing.

  On the other hand, since the expansion valve 14 has a micro passage formed therein, when the expansion valve 14 is brazed, the expansion valve 14 is at a high temperature during brazing (a brazing temperature of aluminum: around 600 ° C.). Due to thermal deformation, there arises a problem that the passage shape, dimensions, etc. inside the expansion valve 14 cannot be maintained as designed.

  Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3, the expansion valve 14 is assembled after the first and second evaporators 21 and 22, the internal heat exchanger 13 and the expansion valve assembly portion 29 are integrally brazed. It is designed to be assembled to the attaching part 29.

  More specifically, the assembly structure of the first and second evaporators 21 and 22, the internal heat exchanger 13 and the expansion valve assembly portion 29 will be described. The internal heat exchanger 13 includes the first and second evaporators 21. , 22 are integrated with the side plate 27 on the refrigerant inlet 25 and refrigerant outlet 26 side.

  In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, the high-pressure side refrigerant flow path 13 a and the low-pressure side refrigerant flow path 13 b are formed in the side plate 27 so as to penetrate the tube 23 in a straight line and in parallel. Thus, the internal heat exchanger 13 is integrated with the side plate 27. Such an internal heat exchanger 13 (that is, the side plate 27) can be integrally formed by extrusion molding.

  Ends on the upper and lower tank portions 21 b, 21 c, 22 b, 22 c side of the internal heat exchanger 13 are inserted into and joined to the expansion valve assembly portion 29.

  In the present embodiment, the end portions on the upper tank portions 21b and 22c side of the internal heat exchanger 13 are the high pressure side outlet end portion 13e that forms the high pressure side refrigerant outlet 13c and the low pressure side that forms the low pressure side refrigerant inlet 13d. It is separated into an inlet end 13f. Specifically, the high pressure side outlet end portion 13e and the low pressure side inlet end portion 13f are separated by forming a notch 13g at the end of the internal heat exchanger 13.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the expansion valve assembly portion 29 is formed with an expansion valve insertion hole 29a into which the expansion valve 14 is inserted. The expansion valve 14 is inserted into the expansion valve insertion hole 29a so that the refrigerant inlet 14a and the refrigerant outlet 14b are positioned in the expansion valve insertion hole 29a.

  Inside the expansion valve assembly 29, there are an internal heat exchanger-expansion valve refrigerant flow path 29 b from the high-pressure side refrigerant outlet 13 c of the internal heat exchanger 13 to the refrigerant inlet 14 a of the expansion valve 14, and the refrigerant of the expansion valve 14. An expansion valve-evaporator refrigerant flow path 29c from the outlet 14b to the second evaporator 22, and an evaporator-internal heat exchanger refrigerant flow path from the first evaporator 21 to the low-pressure side refrigerant inlet 13d of the internal heat exchanger 13. 29d.

  The internal heat exchanger-expansion valve refrigerant flow path 29b is an inlet-side flow path through which the refrigerant flowing into the refrigerant inlet 14a of the expansion valve 14 flows. The expansion valve / evaporator refrigerant flow path 29c is an outlet side flow path through which the refrigerant flowing out from the refrigerant outlet 14b of the expansion valve 14 flows.

  End portions of some of the tubes 23 of the first and second heat exchange core portions 21 a and 22 a are inserted into the expansion valve assembly portion 29. Thereby, the expansion valve assembly | attachment part 29 comprises some upper side tank parts 21b and 22b.

  FIG. 5 is a two-side view of the vicinity of the expansion valve assembly portion 29 in the integrated unit 20 and shows a state where the expansion valve 14 is removed. 6 is a view taken in the direction of arrow A and a cross-sectional view taken along the line BB in FIG.

  In this embodiment, the expansion valve assembly portion 29 is divided into an expansion valve insertion hole forming member 30 that forms the expansion valve insertion hole 29a and a tube insertion member 31 into which the ends of the plurality of tubes 23 are inserted. Is formed.

  The expansion valve insertion hole forming member 30 and the tube insertion member 31 also constitute upper tank portions 21b and 22b. Specifically, the upper tank portions 21 b and 22 b are configured by an expansion valve insertion hole forming member 30, a tube insertion member 31, a plate header 32, and a tank header 33.

  More specifically, the upper tank portions 21b and 22b have one end portion in the longitudinal direction formed of the expansion valve insertion hole forming member 30, the tube insertion member 31, and the plate header 32, and the remaining portions are the tube insertion member 31 and the plate header. 32 and a tank header 33. The tube insertion member 31 serves as an intermediate plate that is sandwiched between the plate header 32 and the tank header 33.

  As shown in FIG. 6B, the plate header 32 has a first tube fitting hole 32a to which the upper end portion of the tube 23 of the first heat exchange core portion 21a is fitted and joined, and a second heat exchange. A second tube fitting hole 32b is formed in which the upper end portion of the tube 23 of the core portion 22a is fitted and joined.

  FIG. 7 is a two-side view of the tube insertion member 31. As shown in FIGS. 6B and 8, the tube insertion member 31 is inserted into the upper end portion of the tube 23 of the first heat exchange core portion 21a by overlapping with the first tube fitting hole 32a of the plate header 32. The first tube insertion hole 31a and the second tube insertion hole 31b into which the upper end portion of the tube 23 of the second heat exchange core portion 22a is inserted by overlapping with the second tube fitting hole 32b of the plate header 32. Is formed.

  As shown in FIG. 6A, the tube insertion member 31 is sandwiched between the expansion valve insertion hole forming member 30 and the plate header 32 and fixed by brazing, as shown in FIG. As shown in b), it is sandwiched between the tank header 33 and the plate header 32 and fixed by brazing.

  FIG. 8 is a three-side view of the expansion valve insertion hole forming member 30. As shown in FIGS. 6 and 8, the expansion valve insertion hole forming member 30 and the tank header 33 extend in the longitudinal direction of the upper tank portions 21 b and 22 b and face the first tube insertion hole 31 a of the tube insertion member 31. First tank grooves 30a and 33a are formed. The first tank grooves 30 a and 33 a constitute an internal space of the upper tank portion 21 b of the first evaporator 21.

  Similarly, the expansion valve insertion hole forming member 30 and the tank header 33 have second tank grooves 30b, 33b that extend in the longitudinal direction of the upper tank portions 21b, 22b and face the second tube insertion hole 31b of the tube insertion member 31. Is formed. The second tank grooves 30b and 33b constitute an internal space of the upper tank portion 22b.

  As shown in FIGS. 5B and 6B, the plate header 32 is fitted with and joined to the high-pressure outlet end fitting hole of the high-pressure outlet outlet 13e of the internal heat exchanger 13. 32c and a low pressure side inlet end fitting hole 32d to which the low pressure side inlet end 13f of the internal heat exchanger 13 is fitted and joined are formed.

  As shown in FIG. 6B and FIG. 7, the tube insertion member 31 overlaps with the high-pressure outlet end fitting hole 32 c of the plate header 32 to form a high-pressure outlet end 13 e of the internal heat exchanger 13. The high pressure side outlet end insertion hole 31c to be inserted and the low pressure side inlet end fitting hole 32d of the plate header 32 overlap with the low pressure side inlet end 13f of the internal heat exchanger 13 to be inserted. A part insertion hole 31d is formed. As shown in FIG. 5A, the low pressure side inlet end insertion hole 31 d of the tube insertion member 31 faces the first tank groove 30 a of the expansion valve insertion hole forming member 30.

  As shown in FIGS. 5, 6, and 8, the expansion valve insertion hole forming member 30 is formed with first and second flow path holes 30 c and 30 d that form a refrigerant flow path. As shown in FIG. 5A, the first flow path hole 30c overlaps with the high pressure side outlet end insertion hole 31c of the tube insertion member 31, and communicates with the expansion valve insertion hole 29a. The second flow path hole 30d extends from the expansion valve insertion hole 29a to the tank groove 30b.

  The high pressure side outlet end insertion hole 31c of the tube insertion member 31 and the first flow path hole 30c of the expansion valve insertion hole forming member 30 constitute an internal heat exchanger-expansion valve refrigerant flow path 29b of the expansion valve assembly 29. is doing. The high-pressure side outlet end 13e of the internal heat exchanger 13 is inserted into the inlet of the internal heat exchanger-expansion valve refrigerant channel 29b.

  The second flow path hole 30 d of the expansion valve insertion hole forming member 30 constitutes an expansion valve-evaporator refrigerant flow path 29 c of the expansion valve assembly part 29.

The tank groove 30a of the expansion valve insertion hole forming member 30 and the low pressure side inlet end insertion hole 31d of the tube insertion member 31 constitute an evaporator-internal heat exchanger refrigerant channel 29d of the expansion valve assembly 29. . The low pressure side inlet end portion 13e of the internal heat exchanger 13 is inserted into the outlet portion of the evaporator-internal heat exchanger refrigerant channel 29d. Here, the upper tank portion of the first evaporator 21 shown in FIG. 21b is referred to as a first upper tank portion 21b, and the upper tank portion 22b of the second evaporator 22 is referred to as a second upper tank portion 22b.

  A partition plate (not shown) is disposed at a substantially central portion in the longitudinal direction of the internal space of the first upper tank portion 21b, and the internal space of the first upper tank portion 21b is divided into two longitudinal spaces by this partition plate. That is, the left space 34 and the right space 35 are partitioned. The left side space 34 of the first upper tank portion 21b is connected to the low-pressure side refrigerant flow path inlet 13f (that is, the low-pressure side) of the internal heat exchanger 13 via the evaporator-internal heat exchanger refrigerant flow path 29d of the expansion valve assembly section 29. It communicates with the refrigerant flow path 13b).

  A partition plate (not shown) is disposed at a substantially central portion in the longitudinal direction of the internal space of the second upper tank portion 22b, and the internal space of the second upper tank portion 22b is divided into two spaces in the longitudinal direction by the partition plate. That is, it is partitioned into a left space 36 and a right space 37. The left side space 36 of the second upper tank portion 22b communicates with the expansion valve-evaporator refrigerant flow path 29c of the expansion valve assembly portion 29.

  The right spaces 35 and 37 of the upper tank portions 21b and 22b communicate with each other through a refrigerant channel (not shown).

  The left side space 34 of the first upper tank part 21 b serves as a collecting tank that collects the refrigerant from the plurality of tubes 23, and the right side space 35 of the first upper tank part 21 b distributes the refrigerant to the plurality of tubes 23. Serves as a distribution tank.

  The left space 36 of the second upper tank portion 22b serves as a distribution tank that distributes the refrigerant to the plurality of tubes 23, and the right space 37 of the second upper tank portion 22b collects the refrigerant from the plurality of tubes 23. It plays a role as a collecting tank.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the expansion valve 14 is inserted into the expansion valve insertion hole 29 a of the expansion valve assembly portion 29 after the assembly process (brazing process) for integrally brazing the evaporators 21, 22 and the like.

  Specifically, in the expansion valve 14, the refrigerant inlet 14a communicates with the internal heat exchanger of the expansion valve assembly part 29-expansion valve refrigerant flow path 29b, and the refrigerant outlet 14b is an expansion valve of the expansion valve assembly part 29- The expansion valve assembly 29 is assembled to communicate with the evaporator refrigerant flow path 29c.

  As a result, the high-pressure side refrigerant flow path 13a of the internal heat exchanger 13 communicates with the refrigerant inlet 14a of the expansion valve 14 via the internal heat exchanger-expansion valve refrigerant flow path 29b of the expansion valve assembly 29, and expands. The refrigerant outlet 14 b of the valve 14 communicates with the left space 36 of the upper tank portion 22 b via the expansion valve-evaporator refrigerant flow path 29 c of the expansion valve assembly portion 29.

  At this time, the O-ring 38 is assembled together with the expansion valve 14 into the expansion valve insertion hole 29 a of the expansion valve assembly portion 29. The O-ring 38 seals between the refrigerant inlet 14a and the refrigerant outlet 14b of the expansion valve 14.

  Furthermore, the expansion valve 14 is sealed and joined to the end of the expansion valve assembly portion 29 on the side where the expansion valve insertion hole 29a opens. In the present embodiment, the expansion valve 14 has a seal joint portion with the expansion valve assembly portion 29 formed of a metal material such as aluminum, and is metal-sealed to the expansion valve assembly portion 29 by resistance welding. Thereby, refrigerant leakage from between the expansion valve 14 and the expansion valve assembly portion 29 is prevented.

  In the present embodiment, an electric expansion valve that adjusts the valve opening (refrigerant flow rate) by driving the valve element 14d by energizing the coil 14c is used as the expansion valve 14. The expansion valve 14 detects the degree of superheat of the compressor suction-side refrigerant based on the temperature and pressure of the suction-side refrigerant (evaporator outlet-side refrigerant described later) of the compressor 11, and overheats the compressor suction-side refrigerant. A temperature type expansion valve that adjusts the valve opening degree (refrigerant flow rate) so that the degree becomes a predetermined value set in advance may be used.

  The expansion valve 14 has an elongated cylindrical shape extending in the displacement direction of the valve body, and the expansion valve 14 is aligned with the longitudinal direction of the upper tank portions 21b and 22b so that the expansion valve 14 is in the upper tank. It is installed in parallel with the parts 21b and 22b.

  With this configuration, the expansion valve 14 and the evaporators 21 and 22 can be arranged in a compact manner, and as a result, the physique of the entire unit can be gathered in a compact manner. Moreover, the expansion valve 14 is disposed in an expansion valve assembly portion 29 that is integrally brazed with the evaporators 21 and 22, and the refrigerant inlet 14 a and the refrigerant outlet 14 b are directly opened in the expansion valve assembly portion 29. Installed. This configuration makes it possible to reduce refrigerant piping.

  The refrigerant flow path of the entire integrated unit 20 in the above configuration will be specifically described with reference to FIGS. 9 and 10. In FIG. 10, for convenience of illustration, the expansion valve 14 inserted into the expansion valve assembly portion 29 is indicated by a solid line.

  The refrigerant flowing into the refrigerant inlet 25 of the integrated unit 20 first passes through the high-pressure side refrigerant flow path 13a of the internal heat exchanger 13 as indicated by an arrow a1, and is subjected to heat exchange. The refrigerant after this heat exchange is indicated by an arrow a2. In this way, the internal pressure of the expansion valve assembly 29 is reduced through the expansion valve 14 via the expansion valve refrigerant flow path 29b, and the low-pressure refrigerant after the decompression is expanded in the expansion valve assembly 29. The refrigerant flows into the left space 36 of the upper tank portion 22b of the second evaporator 22 as indicated by an arrow a3 through the evaporator refrigerant flow path 29c.

  The refrigerant in the left space 36 descends the plurality of tubes 23 on the left side of the heat exchange core portion 22a of the second evaporator 22 as indicated by an arrow a4, and the left side portion in the lower tank portion 22c of the second evaporator 22. Flow into. Since no partition plate is provided in the lower tank portion 22c, the refrigerant moves from the left side portion of the lower tank portion 22c to the right side portion as indicated by an arrow a5.

  The refrigerant on the right side of the lower tank portion 22c moves up the plurality of tubes 23 on the right side of the heat exchange core portion 22a of the second evaporator 22 as indicated by an arrow a6, and the upper tank portion 22b of the second evaporator 22 Then, the refrigerant flows into the right space 35 of the upper tank portion 21b of the first evaporator 21 as indicated by an arrow a7.

  The refrigerant in the right space 35 descends the plurality of tubes 23 on the right side of the heat exchange core portion 21a of the first evaporator 21 as indicated by an arrow a8, and the right side portion in the lower tank portion 21c of the first evaporator 21. Flow into. Since no partition plate is provided in the lower tank portion 21c, the refrigerant moves from the right side portion of the lower tank portion 21c to the left side as indicated by an arrow a9.

  The refrigerant on the left side of the lower tank portion 21c moves up the plurality of tubes 23 on the left side of the heat exchange core portion 21a of the first evaporator 21 as indicated by an arrow a10, and the upper tank portion 21b of the first evaporator 21. Flows into the left side space 34. The refrigerant in the left space 34 passes through the evaporator-internal heat exchanger refrigerant flow path 29d of the expansion valve assembly 29 as indicated by an arrow a11, and passes through the low pressure side refrigerant flow path of the internal heat exchanger 13 as indicated by an arrow a12. Heat is exchanged through 13b, and the refrigerant after this heat exchange flows to the refrigerant outlet 26 of the integrated unit 20.

  Since the integrated unit 20 has the refrigerant flow path configuration as described above, it is only necessary to provide one refrigerant inlet 25 and one refrigerant outlet 26 as the integrated unit 20 as a whole.

  Next, the operation of the first embodiment will be described. When the compressor 11 is driven by the vehicle engine, the high-temperature and high-pressure refrigerant compressed and discharged by the compressor 11 flows into the radiator 12. In the radiator 12, the high-temperature refrigerant is cooled and condensed by the outside air. The high-pressure refrigerant that has flowed out of the radiator 12 flows into the refrigerant inlet 25 of the integrated unit 20.

  The refrigerant flowing into the refrigerant inlet 25 passes through the high-pressure side refrigerant flow path 13a of the internal heat exchanger 13 and is heat-exchanged with the low-pressure side refrigerant of the low-pressure side refrigerant flow path 13b in this high-pressure side refrigerant flow path 13a. The exchanged refrigerant passes through the expansion valve 14.

  In the expansion valve 14, the valve opening degree (refrigerant flow rate) is adjusted so that the degree of superheat of the outlet refrigerant (compressor suction refrigerant) of the evaporator 15 (first and second evaporators 21, 22) becomes a predetermined value. The high-pressure refrigerant is depressurized. The refrigerant (intermediate pressure refrigerant) that has passed through the expansion valve 14 flows in the refrigerant flow path indicated by arrows a4 to a10 in FIG.

  During this time, in the evaporator 15, the low-temperature low-pressure refrigerant absorbs heat from the blown air in the direction of the arrow A1 and evaporates. The vapor-phase refrigerant after evaporation passes through the low-pressure side refrigerant flow path 13b of the internal heat exchanger 13, and exchanges heat with the high-pressure side refrigerant of the high-pressure side refrigerant flow path 13a in the low-pressure side refrigerant flow path 13b. The refrigerant after the heat exchange is sucked into the compressor 11 from the refrigerant outlet 26 of the integrated unit 20 and is compressed again.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the internal heat exchanger 13, the expansion valve 14 and the evaporator 15 are assembled as one structure, that is, the integrated unit 20 as shown in FIG. As a whole, only one refrigerant inlet 25 and one refrigerant outlet 26 are provided.

  As a result, when the refrigeration cycle 10 is mounted on a vehicle, one refrigerant inlet 25 is connected to the outlet side of the radiator 12 as a whole of the integrated unit 20 including the various parts 13, 14, 15. The piping connection operation can be completed simply by connecting the outlet 26 to the suction side of the compressor 11.

  Therefore, the various parts 13, 14, and 15 are configured as independent parts, and the vehicle of the refrigeration cycle 10 having the evaporator 15 with simplified piping as compared with the case where these parts are connected to each other by piping. As a result, the number of cycle parts can be reduced and the cost can be reduced.

  Furthermore, according to the integrated unit 20, since the length of the connection passage between the various parts 13, 14, 15 can be shortened, the pressure loss of the refrigerant flow path can be reduced, and at the same time, heat exchange between the low-pressure refrigerant and the ambient atmosphere can be performed. Can be reduced effectively. Thereby, the cooling performance of the evaporator 15 can be improved.

  In particular, according to the integrated unit 20, the expansion valve 14 is assembled to the expansion valve assembly 29 after the evaporator 15, the internal heat exchanger 13 and the expansion valve assembly 29 are integrally brazed. Compared to the case where the internal heat exchanger 13 and the expansion valve 14 are assembled to the evaporator 15 after performing only 15 integral brazing, the number of connection points after integral brazing can be reduced. As a result, the connection configuration can be simplified, the number of assembling steps of the integrated unit 20 can be reduced, and the sealing performance against refrigerant leakage can be enhanced.

  And since the expansion valve 14 assembled | attached after integral brazing is metal-seal-joined to the expansion valve assembly | attachment part 29, the sealing performance with respect to a refrigerant | coolant leak can be improved more.

  Moreover, according to this embodiment, since the expansion valve assembly part 29 comprises a part of upper tank part 21b, 22b, the increase in the physique of the integrated unit 20 by the expansion valve assembly part 29 can be suppressed.

(Second Embodiment)
In the first embodiment, the internal heat exchanger 13, the expansion valve 14, and the first and second evaporators 21 and 22 are assembled as one integrated unit 20, but in the present embodiment, the various components 13, In addition to 14, 21, and 22, the ejector 40 is also assembled as one integrated unit 41.

  As shown in FIG. 11, the refrigeration cycle 10 of the present embodiment constitutes an ejector refrigeration cycle including an ejector 40, and includes a high-pressure side refrigerant outlet 13 c of the internal heat exchanger 13 and a refrigerant inlet 14 a of the expansion valve 14. The refrigerant branch passage 42 is branched from a branch point Z provided between the ejector 40 and the ejector 40 is connected to the downstream side of the refrigerant branch passage 42.

  The ejector 40 is a decompression means for decompressing the refrigerant, and is also a refrigerant circulation means (momentum transport type pump) for fluid transportation that circulates the refrigerant by a suction action (convolution action) of the refrigerant flow injected at high speed.

  As shown in FIG. 12, the ejector 40 has a nozzle portion 40a for reducing the passage area of the refrigerant (intermediate pressure refrigerant) after passing through the expansion valve 14 to further expand the refrigerant under reduced pressure, and a refrigerant outlet of the nozzle portion 40a. And a refrigerant suction port 40b for sucking the gas-phase refrigerant from the second evaporator 22 is provided.

  Furthermore, a mixing unit 40c that mixes the high-speed refrigerant flow from the nozzle unit 40a and the suction refrigerant from the refrigerant suction port 40b is provided in the refrigerant flow downstream portion of the nozzle unit 40a and the refrigerant suction port 40b. And the diffuser part 40d which makes a pressure | voltage rise part is arrange | positioned in the refrigerant | coolant flow downstream of the mixing part 40c. The diffuser portion 40d is formed in a shape that gradually increases the refrigerant passage area, and functions to decelerate the refrigerant flow to increase the refrigerant pressure, that is, to convert the velocity energy of the refrigerant into pressure energy.

  In the present embodiment, a variable ejector that can adjust the passage area of the nozzle portion 40 a is used as the ejector 40. Specifically, a needle 40e is inserted into the passage of the nozzle portion 40a, and the position of the needle 40e is controlled by an electric actuator to adjust the passage area. As the ejector 40, a fixed ejector in which the passage area of the nozzle portion 40a is constant may be used.

  As shown in FIG. 11, the downstream side of the refrigerant branch passage 42 branched from the branch point Z is connected to the inlet of the nozzle portion 40a. The outlet of the ejector 40 (that is, the outlet of the diffuser section 40 d) is connected to the first evaporator 21, and the outlet side of the first evaporator 21 is connected to the low-pressure side refrigerant inlet 13 d of the internal heat exchanger 13.

  On the other hand, the second evaporator 22 is connected to the refrigerant outlet 14 b side of the expansion valve 14, and the outlet side of the second evaporator 22 is connected to the refrigerant suction port 40 b of the ejector 40.

  Next, a specific example of the integrated unit 41 will be described with reference to FIGS. 13 to 15. FIG. 13 is a two-view diagram showing an outline of the overall configuration of the integrated unit 41. In the present embodiment, the internal heat exchanger 13, the expansion valve assembly portion 29, and the ejector assembly portion 43 are also assembled integrally with the first and second evaporators 21 and 22 by brazing.

  On the other hand, since the ejector 40 forms a highly accurate minute passage in the nozzle portion 40a, when the ejector 40 is brazed, the nozzle is formed at a high temperature during brazing (a brazing temperature of aluminum: around 600 ° C.). The part 40a is thermally deformed, resulting in a problem that the passage shape and dimensions of the nozzle part 40a cannot be maintained as designed.

  Accordingly, the ejector 40 is assembled to the evaporator side after the first and second evaporators 21 and 22, the internal heat exchanger 13, the expansion valve assembly 29 and the ejector assembly 43 are integrally brazed. I have to do it.

  The ejector assembling portion 43 is formed of an aluminum material (metal material) in the same manner as the expansion valve assembling portion 29, and the longitudinal direction of the upper tank portions 21 b and 22 b of the first and second evaporators 21 and 22. It is fixed by brazing to the end (the end opposite to the expansion valve assembly 29).

  As shown in FIG. 14, an ejector insertion hole 43 a into which the ejector 40 is inserted is formed in the ejector assembly portion 43. In FIG. 14, for convenience of illustration, the ejector 40 inserted into the ejector assembly 43 is indicated by a solid line.

  As for the ejector 40, the formation part of the inlet of the nozzle part 40a, the refrigerant | coolant suction port 40b, and the exit of the diffuser part 40d is inserted in the ejector insertion hole 43a. Thereby, the inlet of the nozzle part 40a, the refrigerant | coolant suction port 40b, and the outlet of the diffuser part 40d will be located in the ejector insertion hole 43a.

  As shown in FIGS. 14 and 15, the interior of the expansion valve assembly 29 and the interior of the ejector assembly 43 are connected from the high-pressure side refrigerant outlet 13 c of the internal heat exchanger 13 to the nozzle 40 a of the ejector 40. The internal heat exchanger-nozzle part refrigerant flow paths 29e and 43b are formed. The internal heat exchanger-nozzle part refrigerant flow paths 29e and 43b constitute a refrigerant branch passage 42 shown in FIG.

  The internal heat exchanger-nozzle part refrigerant flow paths 29e and 43b are composed of a high-pressure refrigerant flow path 29e formed in the expansion valve assembly part 29 and a nozzle part inlet-side flow path 43b formed in the ejector assembly part 43. It is configured.

  The high pressure refrigerant flow path 29e of the expansion valve assembly part 29 is a flow path that connects the high pressure side refrigerant outlet 13c of the internal heat exchanger 13 and the nozzle part inlet side flow path 43b of the ejector assembly part 43. The nozzle part inlet side flow path 43b of the ejector assembly part 43 is a flow path through which the refrigerant flowing into the inlet of the nozzle part 40a flows.

  Inside the ejector assembly 43, there are an evaporator-refrigerant suction port refrigerant channel 43 c extending from the second evaporator 15 to the refrigerant suction port 40 b of the ejector 40, and a first evaporator from the outlet of the diffuser portion 40 d of the ejector 40. Thus, an ejector-evaporator refrigerant flow path 43d extending to 21 is formed.

  The evaporator-refrigerant suction port refrigerant channel 43c is a refrigerant suction port side channel through which the refrigerant sucked into the refrigerant suction port 40b flows. The ejector-evaporator refrigerant flow path 43d is an ejector outlet side flow path through which the refrigerant flowing out from the outlet of the ejector 40 flows.

  End portions of some of the tubes 23 of the first and second heat exchange core portions 21a and 22a are inserted into the ejector assembling portion 43, and the ejector assembling portion 43 serves as the upper tank portion 21b. , 22b.

  In the present embodiment, the ejector assembly portion 43 is formed by being divided into an ejector insertion hole forming member 44 that forms the ejector insertion hole 43 a, a tubular member 45, and a tube insertion member 31. The tubular member 45 is disposed between the expansion valve insertion hole forming member 30 and the ejector insertion hole forming member 44 in parallel with the longitudinal direction of the upper tank portions 21b and 22b, and forms the expansion valve assembly portion 29 and the ejector insertion hole. The member 44 is connected.

  As shown in FIG. 15, the end of the tubular member 45 on the expansion valve assembly portion 29 side communicates with the internal heat exchanger-nozzle portion refrigerant flow path 29 e of the expansion valve assembly portion 29. The internal heat exchanger-nozzle part refrigerant flow path 29e of the expansion valve assembly 29 is branched from the internal heat exchanger-expansion valve refrigerant flow path 29b, and the branch point is a branch of the refrigerant branch path 42 shown in FIG. A point Z is formed.

  As shown in FIG. 14, the upper tank portions 21 b and 22 b have the other end in the longitudinal direction (the end opposite to the expansion valve assembly portion 29) at the tube insertion member 31, the plate header 32 and the ejector insertion hole forming member 44. It consists of

  The ejector insertion hole forming member 44 is formed with a first tank groove 44 a that extends in the longitudinal direction of the upper tank portions 21 b and 22 b and faces the first tube insertion hole 31 a of the tube insertion member 31. The first tank groove 44 a constitutes the right space 35 of the upper tank portion 21 b of the first evaporator 21.

  Similarly, the ejector insertion hole forming member 44 is formed with a second tank groove 44b extending in the longitudinal direction of the upper tank portions 21b and 22b and facing the second tube insertion hole 31b of the tube insertion member 31. The second tank groove 44 b constitutes the right space 37 of the upper tank portion 22 b of the second evaporator 22.

  Further, the ejector insertion hole forming member 44 is formed with first, second, and third flow path holes 44c, 44d, and 44d that form a refrigerant flow path.

  The first flow path hole 44c communicates the other end portion of the tubular member 45 and the ejector insertion hole 43a. The second flow path hole 44d extends from the second tank groove 44b to the ejector insertion hole 43a. The third flow path hole 44e extends from the ejector insertion hole 43a to the first tank groove 44a.

  The internal space 45 a of the tubular member 45 and the first flow path hole 44 c of the ejector insertion hole forming member 44 constitute an internal heat exchanger-nozzle part refrigerant flow path 43 b of the ejector assembly part 43.

  The second tank groove 44 b and the second flow path hole 44 d of the ejector insertion hole forming member 44 constitute an evaporator-refrigerant suction port refrigerant flow path 43 c of the ejector assembly portion 43.

  The third flow path hole 44e and the first tank groove 44a of the ejector insertion hole forming member 44 constitute an ejector-evaporator refrigerant flow path 43d of the ejector assembly portion 43.

  The ejector 40 is inserted into the ejector insertion hole 43a of the ejector assembly portion 43 after the assembly process (brazing process) for integrally brazing the evaporators 21, 22 and the like.

  Specifically, in the ejector 40, the inlet of the nozzle portion 40a communicates with the internal heat exchanger-nozzle portion refrigerant flow path 43b of the ejector assembly portion 43, and the refrigerant suction port 40b is an evaporator of the ejector assembly portion 43- The refrigerant suction port communicates with the refrigerant flow path 43c, and is assembled to the ejector assembly section 43 so that the outlet of the diffuser section 40d communicates with the ejector-evaporator refrigerant flow path 43d of the ejector assembly section 43.

  Thereby, the high pressure side refrigerant flow path 13a of the internal heat exchanger 13 is connected to the nozzle of the ejector 40 via the internal heat exchanger-nozzle section refrigerant flow paths 29e and 43b of the expansion valve assembly section 29 and the ejector assembly section 43. The right side space 37 of the upper tank portion 22b of the second evaporator 22 communicates with the inlet of the portion 40a and the refrigerant suction port 40b of the ejector 40 via the evaporator-refrigerant suction port refrigerant channel 43c of the ejector assembly portion 43. The outlet of the diffuser part 40d of the ejector 40 communicates with the right space 35 of the upper tank part 21b of the first evaporator 21 via the ejector-evaporator refrigerant flow path 43d of the ejector assembly part 43.

  At this time, an O-ring (not shown) is assembled in the ejector insertion hole 43a of the ejector assembly portion 43. This O-ring seals the gap between the inlet of the nozzle portion 40a of the ejector 40, the refrigerant suction port 40b, and the outlet of the diffuser portion 40d.

  Further, the ejector 40 is sealed and joined to the end of the ejector assembly portion 43 on the side where the ejector insertion hole 43a is opened. In the present embodiment, the ejector 40 has a seal joint portion with the ejector assembly portion 43 formed of a metal material such as aluminum, and is metal-sealed to the ejector assembly portion 43 by resistance welding. Thereby, the refrigerant | coolant leak from between the ejector 40 and the ejector assembly part 43 is prevented.

  The ejector 40 has an elongated cylindrical shape extending in the axial direction of the nozzle portion 40a. The longitudinal direction of the elongated cylindrical shape is made to coincide with the longitudinal direction of the upper tank portions 21b and 22b, so that the ejector 40 becomes the upper tank portion. It is installed in parallel with 21b and 22b.

  With this configuration, the ejector 40 and the evaporators 21 and 22 can be arranged in a compact manner, and as a result, the physique of the entire unit can be gathered in a compact manner. In addition, the ejector 40 is disposed in an ejector assembly portion 43 integrally brazed with the evaporators 21 and 22, and the ejector assembly portion 43 is connected to the inlet of the nozzle portion 40a, the refrigerant suction port 40b, and the outlet of the diffuser portion 40d. It is installed with a direct opening inside. This configuration makes it possible to reduce refrigerant piping.

  Moreover, in this embodiment, the 1st evaporator 21 is provided adjacent to the 2nd evaporator 22, and the downstream edge part of the ejector 40 is the distribution tank (upper tank part 21b of the 1st evaporator 21). It is installed adjacent to the right space 35). This configuration provides an advantage that the refrigerant flowing out from the ejector 40 can be supplied to the first evaporator 21 side through a very short simple refrigerant passage (ejector-evaporator refrigerant flow path 43d).

  The refrigerant flow of the entire integrated unit 41 in the above configuration will be specifically described with reference to FIGS. 14 and 15. First, the refrigerant flowing into the refrigerant inlet 25 of the integrated unit 41 is first an internal heat exchanger as indicated by an arrow b1. Heat exchange with the low-pressure side refrigerant flowing through the high-pressure side refrigerant flow path 13a and flowing through the low-pressure side refrigerant flow path 13b. The refrigerant after the heat exchange is directed to the expansion valve 14 in the expansion valve assembly 29. The flow is branched into the flow of the heat exchanger-expansion valve refrigerant flow path 29b and the flow of the internal heat exchanger-nozzle part refrigerant flow paths 29e, 43b indicated by the arrow b2.

  The refrigerant flowing through the internal heat exchanger-nozzle part refrigerant passages 29e and 43b indicated by the arrow b2 passes through the ejector 40 (nozzle part 40a → mixing part 40c → diffuser part 40d) and is depressurized. It flows into the right space 35 of the upper tank portion 21b of the first evaporator 21 as shown by the arrow b3 through the ejector-evaporator refrigerant flow path 43d of the ejector assembly portion 43.

  The refrigerant in the right space 35 descends the plurality of tubes 23 on the right side of the heat exchange core portion 21a of the first evaporator 21 as shown by the arrow b4, and the right side portion in the lower tank portion 21c of the first evaporator 21. Flow into. Since no partition plate is provided in the lower tank portion 21c, the refrigerant moves from the right side portion of the lower tank portion 21c to the left side as indicated by an arrow b5.

  The refrigerant on the left side of the lower tank portion 21c moves up the plurality of tubes 23 on the left side of the heat exchange core portion 21a of the first evaporator 21 as shown by the arrow b6, and the upper tank portion 21b of the first evaporator 21. Then, the refrigerant flows through the evaporator-internal heat exchanger refrigerant flow path 29d of the expansion valve assembly 29 as indicated by an arrow b7 and passes through the refrigerant flow path 29d of the internal heat exchanger 13 as indicated by an arrow b8. Heat exchange is performed with the high-pressure side refrigerant that passes through the low-pressure side refrigerant flow path 13b and flows through the high-pressure side refrigerant flow path 13a, and the refrigerant after the heat exchange flows to the refrigerant outlet 26 of the integrated unit 20.

  In contrast, the refrigerant flowing through the internal heat exchanger-expansion valve refrigerant flow path 29b toward the expansion valve 14 passes through the expansion valve 14 and is depressurized. It flows into the left space 36 of the upper tank portion 22b of the second evaporator 22 as indicated by an arrow b9 through the valve-evaporator refrigerant flow path 29c.

  The refrigerant in the left space 36 descends the plurality of tubes 23 on the left side of the heat exchange core portion 22a of the second evaporator 22 as indicated by an arrow b10, and the left side portion in the lower tank portion 22c of the second evaporator 22. Flow into. Since no partition plate is provided in the lower tank portion 22c, the refrigerant moves from the left side portion of the lower tank portion 22c to the right side portion as indicated by an arrow b11.

  The refrigerant on the right side of the lower tank portion 22c moves up the plurality of tubes 23 on the right side of the heat exchange core portion 22a of the second evaporator 22 as shown by the arrow b12 and flows into the right space 37 of the upper tank portion 22b. To do. The refrigerant in the right space 37 is sucked into the ejector 40 from the refrigerant suction port 40b through the evaporator-refrigerant suction port refrigerant channel 43c of the ejector assembly 43 as indicated by an arrow b13.

  Since the integrated unit 41 has the above-described refrigerant flow path configuration, only one refrigerant inlet 25 and one refrigerant outlet 26 need be provided for the integrated unit 41 as a whole.

  Next, the operation of the second embodiment will be described. When the compressor 11 is driven by the vehicle engine, the high-temperature and high-pressure refrigerant compressed and discharged by the compressor 11 flows into the radiator 12. In the radiator 12, the high-temperature refrigerant is cooled and condensed by the outside air. The high-pressure refrigerant flowing out of the radiator 12 flows into one refrigerant inlet 25 provided in the integrated unit 20.

  The refrigerant flowing into the refrigerant inlet 25 passes through the high-pressure side refrigerant flow path 13a of the internal heat exchanger 13, and exchanges heat with the low-pressure side refrigerant in the low-pressure side refrigerant flow path 13b.

  Here, the refrigerant flow after heat exchange is the refrigerant flow toward the expansion valve 14 via the internal heat exchanger-expansion valve refrigerant flow path 29b of the expansion valve assembly 29, and the expansion valve assembly 29 and the ejector assembly. The flow is divided into the refrigerant flow toward the ejector 40 through the internal heat exchanger-nozzle portion refrigerant flow paths 29e and 43b (refrigerant branch passage 42 in FIG. 11) of the section 43.

  And the refrigerant | coolant flow which flowed into the ejector 40 is decompressed and expanded by the nozzle part 40a. Accordingly, the pressure energy of the refrigerant is converted into velocity energy at the nozzle portion 40a, and the refrigerant is ejected at a high velocity from the outlet of the nozzle portion 40a. Due to the refrigerant pressure drop at this time, the refrigerant (gas phase refrigerant) after passing through the second evaporator 22 is sucked from the refrigerant suction port 40b.

  The refrigerant injected from the nozzle part 40a and the refrigerant sucked into the refrigerant suction port 40b are mixed in the mixing part 40c on the downstream side of the nozzle part 40a and flow into the diffuser part 40d. In the diffuser portion 40d, the passage area is enlarged, so that the speed (expansion) energy of the refrigerant is converted into pressure energy, so that the pressure of the refrigerant rises.

  And the refrigerant | coolant which flowed out from the diffuser part 40d of the ejector 40 flows into the refrigerant | coolant flow path of the arrow b3-b6 of FIG. 14, FIG. During this time, in the first evaporator 21, the low-temperature low-pressure refrigerant absorbs heat from the blown air in the direction of arrow A1 and evaporates. The vapor-phase refrigerant after evaporation passes through the low-pressure side refrigerant flow path 13b of the internal heat exchanger 13, and exchanges heat with the low-pressure side refrigerant flowing through the high-pressure side refrigerant flow path 13a in the low-pressure side refrigerant flow path 13b. Then, the refrigerant after the heat exchange is sucked into the compressor 11 from one refrigerant outlet 26 provided in the integrated unit 20 and compressed again.

  On the other hand, the refrigerant flow that has flowed into the expansion valve 14 from the internal heat exchanger-expansion valve refrigerant flow path 29b of the expansion valve assembly 29 is decompressed by the expansion valve 14 to become low-pressure refrigerant, and this low-pressure refrigerant becomes the second evaporator. The refrigerant flows through the refrigerant flow paths indicated by arrows b9 to b12 in FIG. During this time, in the second evaporator 22, the low-temperature low-pressure refrigerant absorbs heat from the blown air after passing through the first evaporator 21 and evaporates. The vapor phase refrigerant after evaporation is sucked into the ejector 40 from the refrigerant suction port 40b.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the refrigerant on the downstream side of the diffuser portion 40d of the ejector 40 can be supplied to the first evaporator 21, and the refrigerant on the downstream side of the expansion valve 14 can also be supplied to the second evaporator 22. The first and second evaporators 21 and 22 can exhibit a cooling action at the same time. Therefore, the cooling target space can be cooled (cooled) by blowing the cool air cooled by both the first and second evaporators 21 and 22 to the cooling target space.

  At that time, the refrigerant evaporation pressure of the first evaporator 21 is the pressure after the pressure is increased by the diffuser portion 40d, while the outlet side of the second evaporator 22 is connected to the refrigerant suction port 40b of the ejector 40. The lowest pressure immediately after the pressure reduction at the nozzle portion 40a can be applied to the second evaporator 22.

  Thereby, the refrigerant evaporation pressure (refrigerant evaporation temperature) of the second evaporator 22 can be made lower than the refrigerant evaporation pressure (refrigerant evaporation temperature) of the first evaporator 21. And since the 1st evaporator 21 with a high refrigerant | coolant evaporation temperature is arrange | positioned in the upstream with respect to the flow direction A1 of blowing air, and the 2nd evaporator 22 with a low refrigerant | coolant evaporation temperature is arrange | positioned in the downstream, the 1st Both the temperature difference between the refrigerant evaporation temperature and the blown air in the evaporator 21 and the temperature difference between the refrigerant evaporation temperature and the blown air in the second evaporator 22 can be ensured.

  For this reason, both the cooling performance of the 1st, 2nd evaporators 21 and 22 can be exhibited effectively. Therefore, the cooling performance for the common space to be cooled can be effectively improved by the combination of the first and second evaporators 21 and 22. Further, the suction pressure of the compressor 11 can be increased by the pressure increasing action in the diffuser section 40d, and the driving power of the compressor 11 can be reduced.

  Furthermore, according to this embodiment, the internal heat exchanger 13, the expansion valve 14, the first and second evaporators 21, 22 and the ejector 40 are assembled as one structure, that is, an integrated unit 41 as shown in FIG. Thereby, only one refrigerant inlet 25 and one refrigerant outlet 26 are provided for the integrated unit 41 as a whole.

  As a result, also in the refrigeration cycle 40 including the ejector 40, the piping can be simplified and the mountability to the vehicle can be greatly improved, and the cost can be reduced by reducing the number of cycle parts, as in the first embodiment. be able to.

  Further, according to the integrated unit 41, the length of the connection passage between the various parts 13, 14, 21, 22, 40 can be shortened, so that the pressure loss of the refrigerant flow path can be reduced, and at the same time, the low pressure refrigerant and the ambient atmosphere Heat exchange can be effectively reduced. Thereby, also in the refrigerating cycle 40 provided with the ejector 40, the cooling performance of the evaporators 21 and 22 can be improved similarly to the said 1st Embodiment.

  In particular, according to the integrated unit 41, after the first and second evaporators 21 and 22, the internal heat exchanger 13, the expansion valve assembly portion 29 and the ejector assembly portion 43 are integrally brazed, the expansion valve 14. Is assembled to the expansion valve assembly portion 29, and the ejector 40 is assembled to the ejector assembly portion 43, so that only the first and second evaporators 21 and 22 are integrally brazed, and then the expansion valve 14 and the internal heat Compared with the case where the exchanger 13 and the ejector 40 are assembled to the first and second evaporators 21 and 22, the number of connection points after integral brazing can be reduced. As a result, the number of steps for assembling the integrated unit 41 can be reduced, and the sealing performance against refrigerant leakage can be improved.

  Moreover, since the expansion valve 14 assembled after integral brazing is metal-sealed to the expansion valve assembly 29, and the ejector 40 also assembled after integral brazing is metal-sealed to the ejector assembly 43, The sealing performance against refrigerant leakage can be further enhanced.

  Moreover, according to this embodiment, since the ejector assembly part 43 comprises a part of upper tank parts 21b and 22b, the physique increase of the integrated unit 20 by the ejector assembly part 43 can be suppressed.

(Other embodiments)
In the first and second embodiments, the high pressure side outlet end portion 13e and the low pressure side inlet end portion 13f are separated by forming a notch portion 13g at the upper end portion of the internal heat exchanger 13, As shown in FIG. 16, the high pressure side outlet end portion 13 e and the low pressure side inlet end portion 13 f may be separated by forming a bent portion 13 h or a stepped portion 13 i at the upper end portion of the internal heat exchanger 13.

In each of the above embodiments, the vapor compression subcritical cycle using a refrigerant such as a chlorofluorocarbon or HC system in which the high pressure does not exceed the critical pressure has been described. However, the refrigerant is, for example, carbon dioxide (CO ₂ ). The present invention may also be applied to a vapor compression supercritical cycle that uses a refrigerant whose high pressure exceeds the critical pressure.

  However, in the supercritical cycle, the refrigerant discharged from the compressor is only dissipated in the supercritical state in the radiator 12, and does not condense. Therefore, in the liquid receiver 12a disposed on the high pressure side, the refrigerant gas-liquid separation action and The storage effect of the excess liquid refrigerant cannot be exhibited. Therefore, in the supercritical cycle, a configuration may be adopted in which an accumulator 50 that forms a low-pressure side gas-liquid separator is disposed on the outlet side of the evaporator 15 as shown in FIG.

  Further, in each of the above embodiments, the internal heat exchanger 13 is integrated with the side plate 27, but the internal heat exchanger 13 may be separated from the side plate 27.

  Moreover, each said embodiment is only what showed an example of the specific structure of an evaporator, The specific structure of an evaporator can be variously deformed without being limited to this.

  Further, in each of the above-described embodiments, the case where the space to be cooled by the evaporator is a vehicle interior space or the space inside the refrigerator-freezer of the refrigerator car has been described, but the present invention is not limited to these vehicles. It can be widely applied to refrigeration cycles for various uses such as stationary use.

13 Internal heat exchanger 13c High pressure side refrigerant outlet 13d Low pressure side refrigerant inlet 14 Expansion valve 14a Refrigerant inlet 14b Refrigerant outlet 15 Evaporator 21 First evaporator 22 Second evaporator 29 Expansion valve assembly part 29a Expansion valve insertion hole 29b Inside Heat exchanger-expansion valve refrigerant flow path 29c Expansion valve-evaporator refrigerant flow path 29d Evaporator-internal heat exchanger refrigerant flow path

Claims (8)

An evaporator (15) constituting a refrigeration cycle;
An internal heat exchanger (13) for exchanging heat between the high-pressure side refrigerant and the low-pressure side refrigerant of the refrigeration cycle;
An expansion valve assembly (29) to which the expansion valve (14) of the refrigeration cycle is assembled,
The expansion valve assembly (29) includes an inlet-side flow path (29b) through which refrigerant flowing into the refrigerant inlet (14a) of the expansion valve (14) flows, and a refrigerant outlet (14b) of the expansion valve (14). ) And an outlet side flow path (29c) through which the refrigerant flowing out from
The evaporator (15), the internal heat exchanger (13), and the expansion valve assembly (29) are all made of metal and integrally brazed to each other. . The inlet-side flow path (29b) is an internal heat exchanger-expansion valve refrigerant flow from the high-pressure side refrigerant outlet (13c) of the internal heat exchanger (13) to the refrigerant inlet (14a) of the expansion valve (14). Road (29b)
The outlet side flow path (29c) is an expansion valve-evaporator refrigerant flow path (29c) from the refrigerant outlet (14b) of the expansion valve (14) to the evaporator (15),
The expansion valve assembly (29) includes an evaporator-internal heat exchanger refrigerant flow path (29d) from the evaporator (15) to the low-pressure side refrigerant inlet (13d) of the internal heat exchanger (13). The evaporator unit according to claim 1, wherein the evaporator unit is formed. The evaporator (15) has a plurality of tubes (23) that form refrigerant flow paths of the heat exchange core portions (21a, 22a),
End portions of at least some of the tubes (23) are inserted into the expansion valve-evaporator refrigerant flow path (29c) and the evaporator-internal heat exchanger refrigerant flow path (29d). The evaporator unit according to claim 2, wherein the evaporator unit is provided. The expansion valve assembly portion (29) is formed with an expansion valve insertion hole (29a) into which the formation portion of the refrigerant inlet (14a) and the refrigerant outlet (14b) of the expansion valve (14) is inserted. ,
The expansion valve insertion hole (29a) communicates with the internal heat exchanger-expansion valve refrigerant flow path (29b) and the expansion valve-evaporator refrigerant flow path (29c),
The expansion valve assembly portion (29) includes an expansion valve insertion hole forming member (30) that forms the expansion valve insertion hole (29a), and an end portion of at least a part of the plurality of tubes (23). The evaporator unit according to claim 3, wherein the evaporator unit is divided into a tube insertion member (31) into which the gas is inserted. The internal heat exchanger (13) includes a high pressure side outlet end (13e) that forms the high pressure side refrigerant outlet (13c) and a low pressure side inlet end (13e) that forms the low pressure side refrigerant inlet (13d). Are formed separately from each other,
The high pressure side outlet end (13e) is inserted into the inlet of the internal heat exchanger-expansion valve refrigerant flow path (29b),
The low pressure side inlet end (13e) is inserted into the outlet of the evaporator-internal heat exchanger refrigerant flow path (29d), according to any one of claims 2 to 4. The evaporator unit described. The refrigerant is sucked from the refrigerant suction port (40b) by the high-speed refrigerant flow ejected from the nozzle part (40a), and sucked from the refrigerant jetted from the nozzle part (40a) and the refrigerant suction port (40b). An ejector assembly (43) to which an ejector (40) for mixing and discharging the refrigerant is assembled;
The evaporator (15) is connected to the outlet side of the ejector (40) and is connected to a first evaporator (21) that evaporates the refrigerant discharged from the ejector (40), and the refrigerant suction port (40b). A second evaporator (22) connected and evaporating the refrigerant sucked into the ejector (40);
In the ejector assembly (43), the refrigerant sucked into the nozzle inlet side channel (43b) through which the refrigerant flowing into the inlet of the nozzle (40a) flows and the refrigerant suction port (40b) flows. A refrigerant suction port side channel (43c) and an ejector outlet side channel (43d) through which the refrigerant flowing out from the outlet of the ejector (40) flows are formed,
The ejector assembly (43) is made of metal and integrated with the first and second evaporators (21, 22), the internal heat exchanger (13), and the expansion valve assembly (29). The evaporator unit according to claim 2, wherein the evaporator unit is brazed. The expansion valve assembly part (29) has a high-pressure refrigerant flow path (29e) that communicates the outlet of the high-pressure side refrigerant and the nozzle part inlet-side flow path (43b) in the internal heat exchanger (13). Formed,
The high-pressure refrigerant flow path (29e) and the nozzle part inlet-side flow path (43b) are formed from the high-pressure refrigerant outlet (13c) of the internal heat exchanger (13) to the inlet of the nozzle part (40a). The evaporator unit according to claim 6, comprising a heat exchanger-nozzle part refrigerant flow path. The refrigerant suction side channel (43c) is an evaporator-refrigerant suction port refrigerant channel (43c) from the second evaporator (22) to the refrigerant suction port (40b) of the ejector (40). ,
The said ejector outlet side flow path (43d) is an ejector-evaporator refrigerant flow path (43d) from the outlet of the ejector (40) to the first evaporator (21). 8. The evaporator unit according to 7.

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