Refrigeration – Storage of solidified or liquified gas – Including cryostat
Reexamination Certificate
2000-04-20
2001-11-13
Capossela, Ronald (Department: 3744)
Refrigeration
Storage of solidified or liquified gas
Including cryostat
C062S513000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06314742
ABSTRACT:
This application is the national phase under 35 U.S.C. §371 of PCT International Application No. PCT/JP99/03931 which has an International filing date of Jul. 22, 1999, which designated the United States of America.
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a double-tube type heat exchanger to be used for a super-cooling circuit of a refrigerator and a gas injection circuit thereof to perform heat-exchange between a main flow of a refrigerant and a bypass flow thereof and a refrigerator using it.
BACKGROUND ART
As shown in
FIG. 2
, a double-tube type heat exchanger having a cylindrical inner tube
101
and an outer tube
102
so surrounding the peripheral surface of the inner tube
101
as to enclose it is known. A port
105
at one end of the outer tube
102
of a double-tube type heat exchanger
103
is connected to an outflow end
107
A of a rectification circuit
107
, while a port
106
at the other end of the outer tube
102
is connected to an inflow end
107
B of the rectification circuit
107
via a main electromotive-expansion valve
108
. The outflow end
107
A is connected to an hole
111
of the inner tube
101
on the upstream side thereof via a bypass electromotive-expansion valve
112
. An hole
113
of the inner tube
101
on the downstream side thereof is connected to a bypass pipe
115
.
The rectification circuit
107
has four check valves
121
,
122
,
123
, and
124
connected in a forward direction from the inflow end
107
B to the outflow end
107
A. A connection pipe
107
C connecting the check valves
121
and
123
to each other and a connection pipe
107
D connecting the check valves
122
and
124
to each other serve as the connection pipes connected to a main-flow circuit. A thermostat
119
installed on a bypass pipe
114
detects the temperature of a bypass-flow refrigerant. Temperature information detected by the thermostat
119
is used to control an open degree of the bypass electromotive-expansion valve
112
.
As shown in
FIG. 3
, a gas injection circuit can be constructed by connecting the bypass pipe
115
to an intermediate-pressure position of a compressor
116
and by connecting connection pipes
107
C and
107
D to an outdoor heat exchanger
201
and an indoor heat exchanger
202
, respectively. According to the gas injection circuit, in a cooling time, a refrigerant discharged from the outdoor heat exchanger
201
serving as a condenser is expanded by the bypass electromotive-expansion valve
112
and introduced into the inner tube
101
. After the refrigerant is heated by a main-flow refrigerant inside the outer tube
102
, it can be injected to the intermediate-pressure position of the compressor
116
via the bypass pipe
115
. In a heating time, a refrigerant discharged from the indoor heat exchanger
202
serving as a condenser is heated by a refrigerant inside the outer tube
102
after the refrigerant passes through the bypass electromotive-expansion valve
112
and the inner tube
101
. Then, the refrigerant can be injected to the intermediate-pressure position of the compressor
116
via the bypass pipe
115
.
As shown in
FIG. 4
, by connecting the bypass pipe
115
to an intake side of the compressor
116
and connecting the connection pipes
107
C and
107
D to the outdoor heat exchanger
201
and the indoor heat exchanger
202
, respectively, a super-cooling circuit can be constructed. According to the super-cooling circuit, in a cooling time, a refrigerant discharged from the outdoor heat exchanger
201
is expanded by the bypass expansion valve
112
and introduced into the inner tube
101
. After a main-flow refrigerant inside the outer tube
102
is super-cooled, the refrigerant can be returned to the intake side of the compressor
116
via the bypass pipe
115
. In a heating time, a refrigerant discharged from the indoor heat exchanger
202
is expanded by the bypass electromotive-expansion valve
112
and introduced into the inner tube
101
. After the main-flow refrigerant inside the outer tube
102
is super-cooled, the refrigerant can be returned to the intake side of the compressor
116
via the bypass pipe
115
.
However, according to the conventional double-tube type heat exchanger
103
, in order to construct the gas injection circuit or the super-cooling circuit, a pressure-reducing mechanism, namely, the bypass electromotive-expansion valve
112
is required as described above. The bypass electromotive-expansion valve
112
causes the construction of the conventional double-tube type heat exchanger
103
to be complicated and its cost to increase.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a double-tube type heat exchanger allowing a gas injection circuit or a super-cooling circuit to be compact and inexpensive and provide a refrigerator using the above double-tube type heat exchanger.
To achieve the object, the present invention provides a double-tube type heat exchanger for heat-exchanging between a refrigerant flowing through an outer passage and a refrigerant flowing through an inner passage, comprising a restriction passage, communicating between the inner passage and the outer passage, through which a refrigerant introduced into the outer passage is introduced into the inner passage while the refrigerant of the outer passage expands.
In the double-tube type heat exchanger of the present invention, a part of the refrigerant introduced into the outer passage is introduced into the inner passage through the restriction passage while the refrigerant of the outer passage expands. Heat exchange is made between the expanded bypass refrigerant introduced into the inner passage and the main-flow refrigerant flowing in the outer passage. Accordingly, in the case where a gas injection circuit is constructed from the double-tube type heat exchanger of the present invention, the bypass refrigerant can be gasified with the main-flow refrigerant. In the case where a super-cooling circuit is constructed from the double-tube type heat exchanger of the present invention, the main-flow refrigerant can be super-cooled with the bypass refrigerant.
According to the double-tube type heat exchanger of the present invention, the restriction passage allowing communication between the inner passage and the outer passage with each other serves as an expansion mechanism for a bypass flow. Therefore, it is possible to construct the injection circuit and the super-cooling circuit which are compact and inexpensive.
In one embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a refrigerator comprising a gas injection circuit having the double-tube type heat exchanger wherein an inflow port of an outer passage of the double-tube type heat exchanger is connected to a condenser, an outflow port of the outer passage is connected to an evaporator via an expansion mechanism, and an outflow port of the inner passage is connected to an intermediate-pressure position of a compressor with a bypass pipe.
According to the refrigerator of this embodiment, the restriction passage of the double-tube type heat exchanger serves as an expansion mechanism for the gas injection circuit. Therefore, it is possible to construct the refrigerator having the compact and inexpensive gas injection circuit without adding a pressure-reducing mechanism thereto.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4316366 (1982-02-01), Manning
patent: 4696168 (1987-09-01), Woods et al.
patent: 4715187 (1987-12-01), Stearns
patent: 5388415 (1995-02-01), Glinka et al.
patent: 5561983 (1996-10-01), Remes et al.
patent: 8233378 (1996-09-01), None
Birch & Stewart Kolasch & Birch, LLP
Capossela Ronald
Daikin Industries Ltd.
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