Refrigeration – Refrigeration producer – Heat exchange between diverse function elements
Reexamination Certificate
1999-12-08
2001-05-22
Tanner, Harry B. (Department: 3744)
Refrigeration
Refrigeration producer
Heat exchange between diverse function elements
C062S113000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06233969
ABSTRACT:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This application is related to and claims priority from Japanese Patent Application No. Hei. 10-350309 filed on Dec. 9, 1998, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a decompression device-integrated heat exchanger in which a pressure-reducing unit and a heat-exchanging unit of a refrigerant cycle are integrated. In the heat-exchanging unit, high-pressure refrigerant before being decompressed in the pressure-reducing unit is heat-exchanged with low-pressure refrigerant after being decompressed in the pressure-reducing unit. The decompression device-integrated heat exchanger is suitably used for a supercritical refrigerant cycle in which pressure of high-pressure refrigerant discharged from a compressor exceeds the critical pressure of refrigerant.
2. Description of Related Art
In a conventional refrigerant cycle, an enthalpy difference between an inlet side and an outlet side of an evaporator is enlarged by setting the enthalpy of refrigerant at the inlet side of the evaporator to be smaller, so that refrigerant capacity of the refrigerant cycle is improved. However, in this case, an inner heat-exchanging unit is need for performing heat exchange between high-pressure refrigerant and low-pressure refrigerant. Therefore, a new attachment space and a mounting step for mounting the inner heat-exchanging unit are necessary.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the foregoing problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a decompression device-integrated heat exchanger in which a pressure-reducing unit and a heat-exchanging unit are integrated, while coefficient of performance of a refrigerant cycle is improved.
According to the present invention, a decompression device-integrated heat exchanger for a refrigerant cycle includes a pressure-reducing unit for reducing pressure of refrigerant in the refrigerant cycle, and a heat-exchanging unit integrated with the pressure-reducing unit, for performing heat-exchange between high-pressure refrigerant before being decompressed in the pressure-reducing unit and low-pressure refrigerant after being decompressed in the pressure-reducing unit. The heat-exchanging unit includes a first tube through which the high-pressure refrigerant flows, and a second tube through which the low-pressure refrigerant flows. The first and second tubes are disposed to be wound around a case of the pressure-reducing unit while the first and second tubes are contact. Thus, in the decompression device-integrated heat exchanger, the case of the pressure-reducing unit is used as an inner solid member of the first and second tubes. As a result, even when exterior force is applied to the first and second tubes, the tubes are prevented from being bent and deformed.
Preferably, the second tube is disposed between the case and the first tube. Therefore, low-pressure refrigerant flowing through the second tube is heat-exchanged with high-pressure refrigerant flowing through the first tube and refrigerant within the case of the pressure-reducing unit. Therefore, coefficient of performance of the refrigerant cycle is further improved.
Preferably, the first tube has a first contacting portion contacting the second tube, and the first contacting portion has a wall thickness thinner than that of the other portion of the first tube. Similarly, the second tube has a second contacting portion contacting the first tube, and the second contacting portion has a wall thickness thinner than that of the other portion of the second tube. Because the first and second contacting portions of the first and second tubes are not exposed outside, the first and second contacting portions are hardly corroded. Thus, the weight of the heat-exchanging unit is reduced while corrosion of the tubes is prevented. Further, because each wall thickness of the contacting portions of the tubes is made thinner, heat-exchanging performance between high-pressure refrigerant and low-pressure refrigerant can be improved.
REFERENCES:
patent: 1830314 (1931-11-01), De Remer
patent: 4259848 (1981-04-01), Voigt
patent: 5568736 (1996-10-01), Nivens
patent: 6105386 (2000-08-01), Kuroda et al.
Ohta Minoru
Yamamoto Ken
Yamauchi Yoshiyuki
Denso Corporation
Harness Dickey & Pierce PLC
Tanner Harry B.
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