KR20080004852A - heat transmitter - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a heat exchanger that can further improve heat exchange performance by improving a refrigerant flow characteristic in a tube in a heat exchanger used in a vehicle cooling apparatus.

An inlet tube group having a refrigerant inlet port 310 side; An outlet side tube group having a refrigerant outlet 320 side; An intermediate tube group disposed between the inlet tube group and the outlet tube group; A flow path cap 111 having a refrigerant flow path for connecting any one end of the upper tank 110 or the lower tank 120 of the inflow tube group and the intermediate tube group to each other; In the tank 110 of the intermediate tube group in which the flow path 111 is formed baffle 400 for partitioning the inner space of the tank into the upper and lower spaces along the longitudinal direction of the tank; heat exchanger (1000) To

The inner space of the tank is provided in the tank 110 provided with the flow cap 111 in the middle tube group (second row) in which the refrigerant flow direction in the upper tank 110 and the lower tank 120 are opposite. Characterized in that it comprises a baffle 400 partitioned into the upper and lower space along the longitudinal direction of the. At this time, the baffle 400 is characterized in that a plurality of refrigerant flow openings 410 are formed.

In addition, the heat exchanger tube group is three rows, the baffle 400 is characterized in that it is mounted to the middle side tube group. In addition, the size of the refrigerant flow opening 410 formed in the baffle 400 increases in the length direction of the tank from the inflow direction to the outflow direction of the coolant in the tube group in which the baffle 400 is formed. It is done.

Description

Heat Exchanger {A Heat Exchanger}

1 is a perspective view of a conventional three-row heat exchanger.

2 is a refrigerant flow inside a three-row heat exchanger.

3 is a perspective view of a three-row heat exchanger according to the present invention.

Figure 4 is an exploded perspective view of a three row heat exchanger according to the present invention.

5 is a variety of shapes of the refrigerant flow opening formed in the baffle included in the present invention.

6 is a flow path form of a three-row heat exchanger according to the present invention.

Figure 7 is a simplified flow of refrigerant in a three-row heat exchanger according to the prior art and the present invention.

8 is a cross-sectional view of the baffle of the three-row heat exchanger according to the present invention.

** Description of the symbols for the main parts of the drawings **

110: upper tank

111: upper euro cap 112: upper closure cap

120: lower tank

121: lower euro cap 122: lower closure cap

200: tube

310: inlet 320: outlet

400: baffle 410: refrigerant distribution port

1000: heat exchanger according to the present invention

The present invention relates to a heat exchanger. More particularly, the present invention relates to a heat exchanger that can further improve heat exchange performance by improving a refrigerant flow characteristic in a tube in a heat exchanger used in a vehicle cooling apparatus.

As concerns about energy and environmental issues are growing around the world, the efficiency of each part including fuel economy has been steadily improved in the automobile production industry. In addition, the appearance of automobiles is also varied in order to satisfy various consumer needs. It is becoming a trend. In accordance with this tendency, each part of the vehicle has been steadily researched and developed for weight reduction, miniaturization and high functionality. In particular, in the vehicle cooling apparatus, since it is difficult to secure enough space in the engine room, efforts have been made to manufacture a heat exchanger having a small size and high efficiency.

The flow of the refrigerant in the conventional three-row heat exchanger is as shown in FIG. As shown, the refrigerant is first introduced into the first row of the lower tank 120 through the inlet 310. The upper closing cap 112 has an inlet port 310 through which the refrigerant may flow into the first row of the upper tank 110 from the outside and an outlet 320 through which the refrigerant may flow out from the third row of the upper tank 110. Formed. At this time, the caps in the B direction, that is, the upper closing cap 112 and the lower closing cap 112 are all closed so that the respective rows do not open to each other.

The upper flow path 111 is formed such that the first row and the second row of the upper tank 110 are opened to each other and the third row is closed, and the lower flow path 111 is formed of the second row and the second row of the lower tank 120. The three rows are formed to be open to each other and the first row is closed. Therefore, the refrigerant introduced into the first row of the lower tank 120 first flows in the direction of B → A and flows in the lower → up direction along the first layer tubes 200 and flows into the first row of the upper tank 110. As described above, since the upper flow path 111 opens the first row and the second row of the upper tank 110, the refrigerant flows into the second row of the upper tank 110. The introduced refrigerant flows along the second row of the upper tank 110 in the direction A → B and flows along the second layer tubes 200 in the up-to-down direction and flows into the second row of the lower tank 120. As described above, since the lower flow path 111 opens the second row and the third row of the lower tank 120, the refrigerant flows into the third row of the lower tank 120. The introduced coolant flows in the B → A direction along the third row of the lower tank 120 and flows along the third layer tubes 200 in the lower → up direction to flow into the third row of the upper tank 110. The refrigerant introduced into the third row of the upper tank 110 flows in the direction A → B because the A side of the upper flow path cap 111 is closed, and exits the heat exchanger through the outlet 320.

In the flow path of the refrigerant, in the case of a three-row heat exchanger, a portion of the refrigerant flowing from the first row to the second row (upper flow cap 111) and a portion of the refrigerant flowing from the second row to the third row (lower) The flow path cap 111 is similarly formed in the A direction. However, since the first row-second row flow path and the second row-third row flow path are formed in the same direction, the B direction of the second row of the upper tank 110 and the second row of the lower tank 120 are formed. In addition, the refrigerant contained in the inner section is not flowing smoothly, and the distribution state of the refrigerant is also concentrated in the B direction (the direction in which the flow path is located) and in the A direction (the direction in which all the paths are closed). The refrigerant is not well distributed and is not uniform. If the first heat-second heat flow path and the second heat-third heat flow path are formed in opposite directions, respectively, the tendency of the smooth flow in some sections of the tank can be greatly reduced. As described above, it is often difficult for a vehicle cooling device to occupy sufficient space in an engine room, but the refrigerant inlet 310 and the outlet 320 are designed to be located in the same direction in order to solve the problem. As conceived, a solution must be found without changing the positions of the inlet 310 and outlet 320.

As such, various techniques have been disclosed to address non-uniformity of refrigerant distribution. In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-195317 (prior art 1), a baffle is formed inside a refrigerant outlet header tank so as to be partitioned into a plurality of cross sections in the cross section of the header tank, and a refrigerant passage hole is formed in the baffle. A heat exchanger structure is disclosed. The prior art 1 is intended to improve the cooling performance by uniformizing the distribution of the refrigerant in the outlet header portion, the effect of the prior art 1 is difficult to apply except when the header tank is in two rows, even in the claims of the prior art 1 The technique is limited to those applied in two-row heat exchangers. Therefore, the structure of the prior art 1 cannot solve the problem presented in the present invention, that is, the problem of uneven distribution of refrigerant in each of the second row of the upper and lower tanks of the three-row heat exchanger.

In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1997-14885 (prior art 2), a member of a proper length formed in the longitudinal direction of the header tank and the transverse direction of the header tank cross section is inserted into the header tank. The members are formed to be shorter than the length of the header tank, and divided into a plurality of sections so that the cross section of the inlet through which the refrigerant is introduced into the header tank is divided into appropriate flow rates. When there are a plurality of members, the length of the member becomes longer as it goes from the lower side to the upper side when viewed from the header tank section, so that the introduced refrigerant flows along the member and can flow downward from the end of the member. In the prior art 2, the refrigerant flowing into the upper compartment of the inlet flows to the rear of the header tank (far side from the inlet), and the refrigerant flowing into the lower compartment of the inlet flows to the front of the header tank (near the inlet). . The prior art 2 shows an embodiment in which two or three such members are inserted into the header tank, and the problem of non-uniformity of refrigerant distribution may be solved to some extent by the above-described method. However, since a plurality of members have to be inserted in this way, there is a possibility that the tank body may be overwhelmed at the time of manufacturing the header tank, and there is an inconvenience in that the lengths, positions, etc. of the plurality of members must be exactly adjusted. . In addition, in order to avoid such a problem, it is difficult to change the manufacturing method to the user's convenience because it has a form that is too complicated to be manufactured in the same way as the extrusion molding, even if trying to use another manufacturing method. As described above, according to the related art 2, even if the problem of refrigerant distribution nonuniformity is solved to some extent, new problems arise, which is not the best solution to the problem posed by the present invention.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the problems of the prior art as described above, an object of the present invention is to provide a heat exchanger for improving the refrigerant flow characteristics in order to improve the heat exchange performance.

Heat exchanger of the present invention for achieving the above object, the inlet side tube group having a refrigerant inlet 310 side; An outlet side tube group having a refrigerant outlet 320 side; An intermediate tube group disposed between the inlet tube group and the outlet tube group; A flow path cap 111 having a refrigerant flow path for connecting any one end of the inflow side tube group (first row) and the middle side tube group to the upper tank 110 or the lower tank 120; In the tank of the intermediate tube group in which the flow path cap 111 is formed, a baffle (400) for dividing the inner space of the tank into the upper and lower spaces along the longitudinal direction of the tank; heat exchanger (1000) comprising:

The inner space of the tank in the tank 110 provided with the flow cap 111 among the middle tube group in which the refrigerant flow direction in the upper tank 110 and the lower tank 120 are opposite is along the longitudinal direction of the tank. Characterized by comprising a baffle 400 partitioned into the upper and lower spaces. At this time, the baffle 400 is characterized in that a plurality of refrigerant flow openings 410 are formed.

In addition, the heat exchanger tube group is three rows, the baffle 400 is characterized in that it is mounted to the middle side tube group. In addition, the size of the refrigerant flow opening 410 formed in the baffle 400 increases in the length direction of the tank from the inflow direction to the outflow direction of the coolant in the tube group in which the baffle 400 is formed. It is done.

In addition, the tank into which the refrigerant is first introduced into the tube group is the upper tank 110, the flow path cap 111 forms a refrigerant flow path so that the refrigerant flows only in one side of the upper space of the upper tank 110, Alternatively, the tank into which the coolant is first introduced into the tube group is a lower tank 120, and the flow path cap 121 forms a coolant flow path such that the coolant is introduced only to one side of the lower space of the lower tank 120. It is done. In addition, it is characterized in that the uneven portion is formed in the inner position of the tank 110 in contact with the baffle 400 to assemble the baffle 400 to the tank 110.

Hereinafter, a heat exchanger according to the present invention having the configuration as described above will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a perspective view of a conventional three-row heat exchanger, and FIG. 2 illustrates a refrigerant flow form in a three-row heat exchanger. As shown in FIG. 2, in the first layer and the third layer, since the direction in which the refrigerant flows into the layer and the direction in which the refrigerant flows out are opposite to each other, the flow of the refrigerant can be smoothly and well distributed throughout, but the second layer In the refrigerant inflow direction and the outflow direction is the same as the flow to form a U-flow, the distribution of the refrigerant is reduced toward the B direction. As described above, the nonuniformity of the refrigerant distribution is a great cause of deterioration in the cooling performance of the heat exchanger.

3 is a perspective view of a three-row heat exchanger according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 3, the baffle 400 in the horizontal direction with respect to the tank cross section is inserted into the second row of the upper tank 110 of the three-row heat exchanger 1000 according to the present invention. The baffle 400 has a plurality of refrigerant flow openings 410, so that the refrigerant flows through the compartments inside the upper tank 110 separated by the baffle 400.

Figure 4 is an exploded perspective view of a three-row heat exchanger according to the present invention, Figure 5 shows separately the various shapes of the refrigerant flow opening formed in the baffle (400). As shown in FIG. 4, the baffle 400 having the refrigerant flow opening 410 is inserted into the second row of the upper tank 110 of the three-row heat exchanger having the conventional configuration. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the refrigerant flow openings 410 formed in the baffle 400 become larger in diameter as they go in the direction A → B shown. As such, the size of the refrigerant flow opening 410 is formed to vary depending on the position, so that the flow rate of the refrigerant passing through both spaces inside the tank partitioned by the baffle 400 can be adjusted. If the coolant is distributed at a uniform density in the upper space of the second row of the upper tank 110 partitioned by the baffle 400, since the diameters of the coolant flow ports 410 formed in the baffle 400 become larger. The flow rate of the refrigerant flowing into the lower space becomes larger as the diameter goes toward the larger direction (ie, from A to B direction). However, in the case of the second row of the upper tank 110, the U-flow of the refrigerant flow passing in the second row of the upper tank 110, the second row-tube 200, the second layer, the lower layer 120, and the second row as described above. As a result, the density of the refrigerant decreases toward the direction A → B. That is, since the density of the refrigerant tends to decrease toward the A → B direction, and the passage flow rate tends to increase toward the A → B direction, two tendencies are canceled and eventually the upper tank partitioned into the baffle 400. The coolant may be distributed at a uniform density in the lower space of the second row.

As shown in FIG. 5, the refrigerant flow openings 410 formed in the baffle 400 may include circles (FIG. 5A), ellipses (FIG. 5B), polygons (FIG. 5C), The shape may be any of the sawtooth shape (FIG. 5D) or the petal shape (FIG. 5E). Circle, ellipse or polygonal shape has the advantage that it is easy to manufacture, the sawtooth or petal shape has the advantage that the refrigerant is better dispersed after passing through the refrigerant flow opening (410).

In order to uniformly distribute the refrigerant by inserting the baffle 400 as described above, the refrigerant should be introduced into the upper space of the second row of the upper tank 110, and thus, the first tank-second row of the upper tank 110. The opening portion of the heat, that is, the structure of the upper euro cap 111 should also be different. 6 is a perspective view showing the shape of the upper flow path cap 111 and the lower flow path cap 111. As shown in FIG. 6 (B), the lower flow path cap 111 is configured to open the second row and the third row of the lower tank 120. Since the upper flow path 111 should allow the refrigerant to flow into only the upper space of the two spaces partitioned by the baffle 400 in the second row of the upper tank 110, the lower space side is closed and only the upper space side is opened. It is formed as shown in (A).

7 is a simplified view showing a refrigerant flow in a conventional three-row heat exchanger and a refrigerant flow in a three-row heat exchanger in which the baffle of the present invention is inserted. As described above, in the second row, the flow passing through the second column of the upper tank, the second column, the tube, and the lower tank is shown as shown in FIG. According to the present invention, however, a baffle having a coolant flow port formed therein is inserted into the second row of the upper tank. The coolant flow port has a small diameter at a portion having a high distribution density and a large diameter at a portion having a low density. Since the flow rate decreases in the portion having a high distribution density and decreases in the portion with a low density, the refrigerant can be uniformly distributed and flow as a whole as shown in FIG. 7 (B). As such, the refrigerant is evenly distributed evenly through the insertion of the baffle, so that the temperature distribution of each layer may be constant, and consequently, the cooling performance may be improved.

Figure 8 shows the various insertion forms of the baffle according to the present invention. 8 (A) is a method of forming recesses at both sides of the inner wall of the upper tank and the position where the baffle is inserted and fixing the baffle to prevent the position of the baffle from changing. FIG. 8 (B) shows the shape of the upper tank. The baffle fits tightly without changing the position. Since the baffle has a plurality of coolant flow openings in the middle as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the strength of the baffle itself may be weakened due to the structure according to the shape. Likewise, by adding a member in the middle of the baffle, it is possible to reduce the possibility of damage in the form of baffle during assembly or during operation of the heat exchanger. In this case, too, the baffle fixing method forms a recess in the inner wall of the tank as shown in FIG. 8 (A) and fixes the baffle in place, or fits tightly with the tank inner wall as shown in FIG. 8 (B). It is acceptable to adopt any of the methods to ensure that is fixed. In FIG. 8 (C), recesses are formed only at the position where the pad member is fitted in the tank inner wall, and in FIG. 8 (D), recesses are formed at all three positions where the baffle and the tank inner wall contact each other. In addition, as shown in Fig. 8E, the baffles may be formed by bending both ends of the member having a length longer than the tank inner tube diameter. As shown in FIG. 8E, the bent portions of the baffles are present, thereby increasing the structural strength of the baffle. Also, the baffles have a simpler shape than those of FIGS. . Of course, as shown in FIG. 8 (E), the bent portion of the baffle may be located in the upper space, or conversely, it may be located in the lower space. At this time, the baffle may have a predetermined inner diameter so that the bent baffle may be more firmly fixed by the force pushing the inner wall of the tank. Fig. 8 (F) preferably has a H-shaped cross section so that the portions in contact with both tank inner walls play the same role as the bent portion in Fig. 8E. In addition, as described above, the baffles may be separately manufactured and inserted into the tank, but the baffles may be formed when the tank is molded.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and the scope of application of the present invention is not limited to those of ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention pertains without departing from the gist of the present invention as claimed in the claims. Of course, various modifications can be made.

As described above, according to the present invention, by solving the problem that the refrigerant is not uniformly distributed in the middle row (second row) in the conventional three-row heat exchanger and did not circulate smoothly, cooling performance compared to the conventional three-row heat exchanger There is an effect to improve. In addition, the structure according to the present invention has the effect of increasing the pressure resistance of the header tank itself, and thus additionally increases the life or stability of the heat exchanger itself. In addition, in the actual production of the product to which the structure according to the present invention is applied, it is easy to manufacture because it has a relatively simple structure, by inserting the member inside the three-row heat exchanger tank or integrally manufactured by extrusion molding method Various manufacturing methods convenient for the user can be used.

Claims (6)

An inlet tube group having a refrigerant inlet port 310 side; An outlet side tube group having a refrigerant outlet 320 side; An intermediate tube group disposed between the inlet tube group and the outlet tube group; A flow path cap 111 having a refrigerant flow path for connecting any one end of the upper tank 110 or the lower tank 120 of the inflow tube group and the intermediate tube group to each other; In the tank 110 of the intermediate tube group in which the flow path 111 is formed baffle 400 for partitioning the inner space of the tank into the upper and lower spaces along the longitudinal direction of the tank; heat exchanger (1000) To The inner space of the tank in the tank 110 provided with the flow cap 111 among the middle tube group in which the refrigerant flow direction in the upper tank 110 and the lower tank 120 are opposite is along the longitudinal direction of the tank. Heat exchanger comprising a baffle (400) partitioned into the upper and lower spaces. The method of claim 1, The baffle (400) is a heat exchanger, characterized in that a plurality of refrigerant flow openings (410) are formed. The method of claim 2, The heat exchanger tube group has three rows, and the baffle (400) is mounted on the middle side tube group. The method according to claim 2 or 3, The refrigerant flow opening 410 formed in the baffle 400 is characterized in that its size increases as it proceeds from the inflow direction to the outflow direction of the coolant inflow direction of the tube group on which the baffle 400 is formed heat transmitter. The method of claim 4, wherein The tank into which the refrigerant is first introduced into the tube group is the upper tank 110, and the flow path cap 111 forms a refrigerant flow path so that the refrigerant flows only in one side of the upper space of the upper tank 110, or The tank into which the refrigerant is first introduced into the tube group is a lower tank 120, and the flow path cap 121 forms a refrigerant flow path so that the refrigerant flows only into one side of the lower space of the lower tank 120. Heat exchanger. The method of claim 5, Heat exchanger, characterized in that the concave-convex portion is formed in the inner position of the tank (110) in contact with the baffle (400) to assemble the baffle (400) to the tank (110).

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