JPH1178501A - Cooling unit - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent the permanent deformation of an elastic material for supporting an evaporator in a case and the generation of a noise. SOLUTION: A support plate 40 with a shape projected facing downward for blocking a clearance S between a flow in side tank 12 and a flow out side tank 13 is provided in an evaporator and a recessed receiving part 41 in response to the shape of this support plate 40 is formed in a case 31. A packing 42 as an elastic material is installed on the upper surface of the recessed receiving part 41.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cooling unit for cooling air in an air conditioner for a vehicle or the like, and more particularly to a cooling unit having an improved structure for supporting an evaporator housed in a case.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As is well known, an air conditioner for an automobile includes an intake unit for selectively taking in outside air and inside air, a cooling unit having a built-in evaporator for cooling the air taken in by the intake unit,
It is configured by connecting a heater unit that reheats the air flowing down from the cooling unit to a desired temperature and blows the air to a predetermined position in the vehicle compartment.

[0003] There are various types of evaporators incorporated in the cooling unit, and there is one as shown in FIG. The evaporator 10 includes an evaporator 11 for exchanging heat between refrigerant and air, and a refrigerant for evaporating the evaporator 1.
An inflow-side tank portion 12 having a substantially arc-shaped cross section to be flowed into 1;
And an outflow-side tank section 13 having a substantially arc-shaped cross section for allowing the refrigerant from the evaporating section 11 to flow out. The inflow-side tank portion 12 and the outflow-side tank portion 13 are separated from each other by a predetermined gap S.
Are disposed at the lower end of the evaporating section 11. Evaporation section 1
The inside of 1 is partitioned by a partition plate 14. Further, a refrigerant inflow pipe 15 is connected to the inflow side tank portion 12, and a refrigerant outflow pipe 16 is connected to the outflow side tank portion 13.

The refrigerant guided from the refrigerant inflow pipe 15 to the inflow-side tank 12 flows upward in the evaporator 11, makes a U-turn at the top of the partition plate 14, flows downward, and flows downward. It reaches the tank section 13 and is guided to a compressor (not shown) through the refrigerant outflow pipe 16. While the refrigerant flows through such a path, the refrigerant exchanges heat with the air indicated by the arrow, and the air is cooled.

[0005] As also shown in FIG.
Is supported at a substantially central portion of the lower end surface thereof in the width direction (direction orthogonal to the air flow direction).
Is housed inside. Conventional evaporator support structure
The support portion 21 which enters the gap S between the inflow side tank portion 12 and the outflow side tank portion 13 and has a convex shape facing upward.
Are formed in a case 20, and an elastic member 22 is attached to the upper surface of the support portion 21. As the elastic member 22, packing is generally used.

[0006]

However, in the above-described conventional evaporator support structure, the tank 1
Since the sections 2 and 13 have a substantially arc-shaped cross section and the compression direction with respect to the packing 22 is inclined, the following problem occurs.
That is, as shown in FIG. 4, the compressed packing 22 freely expands into the gap S between the inflow-side tank portion 12 and the outflow-side tank portion 13 or protrudes from the outer lateral surface of the support portion 21. As a result, the packing 22 is in an excessively compressed state and is permanently deformed. When the packing 22 has been permanently deformed, the vibration damping effect of the packing 22 is low, and the vibration of the evaporator 10 is transmitted to the case 20 to cause a problem that abnormal noise is generated.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the problems associated with the prior art, and can prevent permanent deformation of an elastic material for supporting an evaporator in a case, thereby preventing generation of abnormal noise. It is an object to provide a cooling unit.

[0008]

According to the present invention, there is provided an evaporator for exchanging heat between refrigerant and air, an inflow-side tank having a substantially arc-shaped cross section for allowing the refrigerant to flow into the evaporator. An outflow-side tank portion having a substantially arc-shaped cross section for allowing the refrigerant from the evaporator to flow out, and the inflow-side tank and the outflow-side tank are arranged at a lower end of the evaporator with a predetermined gap therebetween. In the cooling unit which is housed in a case, the evaporator is provided with a support plate having a convex shape facing downward while closing the gap between the inflow-side tank portion and the outflow-side tank portion, A cooling unit, wherein a concave receiving portion corresponding to the shape of the support plate is formed in the case, and an elastic material is attached to an upper surface of the concave receiving portion. General packing is used as the elastic material.

In this cooling unit, although the compression direction of the support plate with respect to the packing is inclined,
Since the support plate exists, the compressed packing does not freely expand into the gap between the inflow-side tank portion and the outflow-side tank portion. Furthermore, a support plate making a downward convex shape,
Since the packing which is attached to the upper surface of the concave receiving portion and has a concave shape is pressed, the packing is shifted toward the bottom. Since the packings are compressed in the gathering direction in this manner, the packings do not protrude more than necessary on the outer lateral surface of the concave receiving portion. Further, since the bottom of the concave receiving portion is relatively small, the packing does not lean toward the bottom indefinitely, and the shift of the packing due to compression is limited to a certain range. With this configuration, the packing does not become excessively compressed, and the packing is not permanently deformed (set). As a result that the elasticity of the packing is not lost, the vibration damping effect of the packing is maintained, the vibration of the evaporator is hardly transmitted to the case, and the generation of abnormal noise is reduced.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A cooling unit according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a main part of a cooling unit according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a main part for explaining the operation. The members shown in FIGS. The same reference numerals are given to members in common with.

A cooling unit 30 according to an embodiment
Is used for a vehicle air conditioner, and is configured by housing an evaporator 10 for cooling air taken in by an intake unit in a case 31. The case 31 is composed of an upper case 32 and a lower case 33, and an air passage 34 is formed inside by joining the upper and lower cases 32, 33 to each other and joining them.

The evaporator 10 includes an evaporator 11 for exchanging heat between a refrigerant and air, an inflow-side tank 12 having a substantially arc-shaped cross section for allowing the refrigerant to flow into the evaporator 11, and a refrigerant from the evaporator 11. And an outflow-side tank portion 13 having a substantially arc-shaped cross-section for allowing water to flow out. The inflow-side tank portion 12 and the outflow-side tank portion 13 are disposed at a lower end of the evaporator 11 with a predetermined gap S therebetween. . The illustrated evaporator 10 is a so-called laminated evaporator, and the evaporating unit 11 and the tank units 12 and 13 are integrally formed by laminating plates made of a material such as an aluminum alloy having a concave shape and a tray shape. It is supposed to be.

The upper end of the evaporator 10 is elastically supported on the case 31 via an appropriate number of support members 35 made of an elastic material. General packing is used as the elastic material.

Particularly, in the present embodiment, a structure for elastically supporting the lower end of the evaporator 10 is configured as follows. In other words, the evaporator 10 is provided with a support plate 40 which closes the gap between the inflow-side tank portion 12 and the outflow-side tank portion 13 and has a downwardly convex shape. Concave receiving part 4 corresponding to the shape of
1 and an elastic member 42 is attached to the upper surface of the concave receiving portion 41. As the elastic member 42, a general packing is used. The support plate 40 is formed with a predetermined width at a substantially central portion of the evaporator 10 in a width direction (a direction orthogonal to the air flow direction).

Both the support plate 40 and the concave receiving portion 41
It has a substantially V-shaped cross section in which the upper part is widened and the bottom part is narrowed. The support plate 40 is made of aluminum or an aluminum alloy of the same material as the evaporator 10.
It is integrally brazed to. The case 30 is made of a resin material, and the concave receiving portion 41 is integrally formed when the lower case 33 is molded with resin. The packing 4 is provided on the upper surface of the concave receiving portion 41.
2, the packing 42 also has a substantially V-shaped cross section in which the top part is expanded and the bottom part is narrowed.

In the figure, reference numeral 43 denotes a continuous foamed sound absorbing material such as an eptsealer lined on the inner surface of the case 31.

In the lower support structure constructed as described above, as shown in FIG. 2, the compression direction of the support plate 40 with respect to the packing 42 is inclined as in the prior art, but the support plate 40 is compressed.
Is present, the compressed packing 42 does not freely expand into the gap S between the inflow-side tank portion 12 and the outflow-side tank portion 13. Further, since the downwardly convex support plate 40 is attached to the upper surface of the concave receiving portion 41 and presses the concave packing 42, the packing 4
2 is shifted toward the bottom as shown by the arrow in the figure. Since the packings 42 are compressed in the gathering direction in this manner, the packings 42 do not protrude beyond the outer lateral surface of the concave receiving portion 41 more than necessary. Also, the concave receiving portion 41
Since the bottom of the packing 42 is relatively small, the packing 42 does not lean toward the bottom indefinitely.
The shift is restricted to a certain extent.

With this configuration, the packing 42 does not become excessively compressed, and the packing 42 is permanently deformed (set).
Disappears. As a result of the elasticity of the packing 42 not being lost, the vibration damping effect of the packing 42 is maintained, the vibration of the evaporator 10 is less likely to be transmitted to the case 31, and the generation of abnormal noise can be reduced.

In the illustrated evaporator 10, the evaporating section 11 and the tank sections 12, 13 are integrally formed by laminating and brazing a plurality of plates. The accuracy is not very high. On the other hand, in the present embodiment, the support plate 40
Are separately and independently attached to the evaporator 10, the dimensional accuracy of the support plate 40 itself is high, and the evaporator 1
The support plate 40 can be attached at a predetermined position with respect to the reference point on the zero. For this reason, compared with the conventional structure in which the evaporator 10 is directly supported by the tank portions 12 and 13, the dimensional accuracy of the supporting position of the evaporator 10 is easily obtained, and the evaporator 10 is more securely prevented from being permanently deformed of the packing 42. It becomes possible to support.

[0021]

As described above, according to the present invention,
A cooling unit capable of preventing permanent deformation of the elastic material for supporting the evaporator in the case and preventing generation of abnormal noise can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a main part of a cooling unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a main part for describing an operation.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an example of an evaporator built in a cooling unit.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a main part showing a conventional evaporator support structure.

[Description of Signs] 10 evaporator 11 evaporating section 12 inflow side tank section 13 outflow side tank section 30 cooling unit 31 case 40 supporting plate 41 concave receiving section 42 elastic material S gap

Claims (1)

[Claims] An evaporator (1) for exchanging heat between a refrigerant and air.
1), an inflow-side tank portion (12) having a substantially arc-shaped cross section for allowing a refrigerant to flow into the evaporating portion (11), and the evaporating portion (1).
And an inflow-side tank portion (13) having a substantially arc-shaped cross section for allowing the refrigerant from 1) to flow out.
And an evaporator (10) in which the outflow-side tank (13) is disposed at the lower end of the evaporator (11) with a predetermined gap (S) therebetween, is housed in a case (31). In the cooling unit, the inflow-side tank portion (12) and the outflow-side tank portion (1)
3) a support plate (40) that closes the gap (S) and has a downwardly convex shape, and a concave receiving portion (41) corresponding to the shape of the support plate (40).
Is formed in the case (31), and an elastic material (42) is attached to an upper surface of the concave receiving portion (41).