JPH0875315A - Outdoor unit and indoor unit of air conditioner and refrigerant distributor to be used for said outdoor and indoor units - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To save the space and cut down the costs of an outdoor unit of an air conditioner by a method wherein a plate pipe type is applied to inlet and outlet piping of a heat exchanger to simplify the shape of the piping. CONSTITUTION: A U-shape refrigerant distributor 4 is made up of a pair of plate members that have grooves and are jointed together, and is connected to an inlet/outlet part of a heat exchanger 1. A rectangular hole 5 is formed in a part between the inlet and outlet of the distributor 4 to prevent heat conduction. Therefore, as the refrigerant distributor 4 is connected to the inlet/outlet part of the heat exchanger 1, the shape of the piping on the inlet/outlet side of the heat exchanger is simplified, resulting in space saving and a reduction of costs.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an air conditioner, and is particularly suitable for an outdoor unit or an indoor unit equipped with a heat exchanger having a large number of branched refrigerant paths.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a method of distributing a refrigerant to a plurality of refrigerant paths of a heat exchanger, it is well known that the inlet side of the heat exchanger is a distributor type and the outlet side is a header type. The distributor system requires a flow distributor and a flow distribution pipe for supplying the divided refrigerant to the heat exchanger, while the header system requires a flow distribution pipe connecting the heat exchanger and the header. Therefore, a heat exchanger having a large number of refrigerant paths requires a large space, has a complicated shape, and is costly. As a method for solving these problems, a plate piping system has been proposed as described in JP-A-4-281166.

[0003]

In the refrigerant distributor used in the outdoor unit or the indoor unit of the conventional air conditioner described above,
Although the miniaturization of the refrigerant distributor is considered,
Heat conduction in the refrigerant distributor has not been fully considered. The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, prevents heat conduction between the inlet side and the outlet side of a heat exchanger, and realizes an air conditioner with a simplified shape and a small installation space. The purpose is to

[0004]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a pair of plate-shaped members having a concavo-convex portion are joined to each other, the plate-shaped members are bent into a U shape, and one side of the refrigerant is at the inlet side of the heat exchanger. A distributor is used, and the other side is used as a refrigerant distributor on the outlet side. ◆
Further, a notch is provided in the central portion of the plate-shaped member to prevent heat conduction between the inlet side and the outlet side.

Further, in an outdoor unit of an air conditioner equipped with an outdoor fan, a compressor and an outdoor heat exchanger, or an indoor unit equipped with an indoor blower and an indoor heat exchanger, the heat exchanger is formed. A refrigerant distributor that distributes the refrigerant to a plurality of refrigerant paths is connected to the outdoor heat exchanger, and the refrigerant distributor is formed by bending and joining a pair of flat plates on which irregularities are formed in a U shape.

[0006]

By bending the pair of plate-shaped members into a U-shape, the refrigerant distribution pipes on the inlet side and the outlet side of the heat exchanger can be independently formed by the plate piping of the pair of plate-shaped members. Further, by providing the notch at the center of the plate member, heat conduction from the inlet side and the outlet side can be prevented to a minimum.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 and 2 show a refrigerant distributor according to an embodiment of the present invention. The outdoor unit of the air conditioner includes a compressor, a four-way valve, an outdoor fan, and an outdoor heat exchanger, which are not shown. A plurality of refrigerant paths are formed in the cross fin type heat exchanger 1 that is often used in the outdoor heat exchanger, and each of the plurality of refrigerant paths has an inlet side 2 and an outlet side 3
The refrigerant distributor 4 is provided so as to flow an appropriate amount of refrigerant to each of these paths. This refrigerant distributor 4
Is formed by joining a pair of U-shaped bent plate-like members 12 by brazing or the like. Then, the pair of plate-shaped members 12
In the case of (1), each plate is subjected to concavo-convex processing before joining, and after joining, the concavo-convex forms a flow path inside. The refrigerant distributor thus formed serves to introduce the refrigerant into the inlet portion of the refrigerant passage inlet side 2, the outlet portion of the refrigerant passage outlet side 3, the inlet side flow dividing portion 6, the outlet side flow dividing pipe portion 9 and the flow dividing portion. It has an inlet pipe part 7 and an outlet pipe part 10. A refrigerant pipe 8 for guiding the outside of the machine is connected to the inlet pipe part 7, and a refrigerant pipe 11 for guiding the outside of the machine is also provided at the outlet part 10. It is connected. Further refrigerant distributor 4
A square hole 5 is provided between the inlet side and the outlet side to minimize heat conduction.

According to the present embodiment, the refrigerant distributor 4 using the pair of plate-like members 12 is used as the refrigerant distribution portion on the inlet side and the outlet side of the heat exchanger 1 in a relatively simple space-saving and low-cost manner. By providing the square hole 5 between the inlet side and the outlet side of the refrigerant distributor 4, it is possible to minimize the loss of heat exchanger performance due to heat conduction. In addition, although the hole shape is a square hole in the present embodiment, the present invention is not limited thereto and may be any shape as long as it can prevent heat conduction.

As a modification of this embodiment, a heat insulating material such as styrofoam is sandwiched between the inlet and outlet sides of the U-shaped refrigerant distributor to prevent heat transfer in the refrigerant distributor and to prevent vibration. It is also possible to prevent and suppress the generation of noise. Although the outdoor unit is taken up in the above embodiment, it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied to an indoor unit having a plurality of refrigerant paths.

[0010]

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION Since the refrigerant distribution parts on the inlet side and the outlet side of the heat exchanger are integrated by one refrigerant distributor, the refrigerant distributor can have a simple structure. As a result, space saving and cost reduction can be achieved. Further, since the holes are provided in the portion other than the flow path of the refrigerant distributor, heat conduction between the inlet side and the outlet side of the heat exchanger can be suppressed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a top view of an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Heat exchanger, 2 ... Refrigerant path inlet side, 3 ... Refrigerant path outlet side, 4 ... Refrigerant distributor, 5 ... Square hole, 6 ... Inlet side distribution pipe section,
7 ... Inlet pipe part, 8 ... Refrigerant pipe, 9 ... Outlet distribution pipe part, 10 ...
Outlet pipe section, 11 ... Refrigerant piping, 12 ... Plate-shaped member.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Futoshi Kawamura 390 Muramatsu, Shimizu City Shizuoka Prefecture, Hitachi Air Conditioning Systems Division (72) Masahiro Ito 390 Muramatsu Shimizu City, Shizuoka Hitachi Air Conditioning Systems Business, Ltd. (72) Inventor Atsushi Kobayashi 390 Muramatsu, Shimizu City, Shizuoka Prefecture, Hitachi Shimizu Engineering Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor, Hiroyasu Yoneyama 390 Muramatsu, Shimizu City, Shizuoka Prefecture, Hitachi Shimizu Engineering Co., Ltd. (72) Invention Kazuhisa Yagi 390 Muramatsu, Shimizu City, Shizuoka Prefecture, Hitachi Shimizu Engineering Co., Ltd.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An outdoor unit of an air conditioner comprising an outdoor fan, a compressor, and an outdoor heat exchanger, wherein a refrigerant distributor for distributing the refrigerant to a plurality of refrigerant paths formed in the outdoor heat exchanger is provided. An outdoor unit for an air conditioner, wherein the refrigerant distributor is connected to an outdoor heat exchanger, and the refrigerant distributor is formed by bending and joining a pair of flat plates on which irregularities are formed into a U shape. 2. An indoor unit of an air conditioner comprising an indoor blower and an indoor heat exchanger, wherein a refrigerant distributor for distributing the refrigerant to a plurality of refrigerant paths formed in the indoor heat exchanger comprises the outdoor heat exchanger. An indoor unit for an air conditioner, wherein the refrigerant distributor is formed by bending and joining a pair of flat plates on which irregularities are formed into a U shape. 3. The outdoor unit for an air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein each of the U-shaped ends of the refrigerant distributor is connected to an inlet side and an outlet side of the heat exchanger, respectively. . 4. The outdoor unit for an air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the refrigerant distributor has holes formed in portions other than the uneven portions. 5. A refrigerant distributor for distributing a refrigerant to a plurality of refrigerant paths of a heat exchanger, wherein a pair of plate-shaped members having an uneven portion at a predetermined position are joined to each other to form a refrigerant flow path. Along with the formation, between the plate-like material, a flow dividing pipe portion connected to the inlet portion and the outlet portion of each of the refrigerant passages, and a flow dividing portion for performing the refrigerant distribution to the flow dividing pipe portion are formed, and the refrigerant passage A refrigerant distributor characterized in that heat conduction between the inlet side and the outlet side of the refrigerant is prevented.