Refrigeration – Refrigeration producer – With lubricant handling means
Reexamination Certificate
2002-03-29
2003-06-10
Esquivel, Denise L. (Department: 3744)
Refrigeration
Refrigeration producer
With lubricant handling means
C055S459100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06574986
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to an oil separator used primarily in refrigerating devices and air conditioning devices for separating oil, which is carried out from the compressor along with a refrigerant gas, from the refrigerant gas and then returning this oil to the compressor, and also relates to an outdoor apparatus using such an oil separator.
BACKGROUND ART
FIG. 14
is an internal structural diagram of a conventional oil separator disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 8-319815.
In
FIG. 14
,
101
represents a shell of a substantially cylindrical shape, wherein one of open ends
101
a
is of a small diameter, and the other open end
101
b
is of a large diameter. A taper section
101
c
is formed at the open end
101
a
, and a flange section
101
f
which extends out in radial direction is formed at the other open end
101
b
. Furthermore at the open end
101
b
, an inlet pipe
102
is formed as an integral part of the shell
101
, and an inlet port
102
a
is formed in the shell
101
in a tangential direction to the inner cylindrical surface of the shell
101
.
103
represents an outlet pipe of a cylindrical shape with a collar section
104
formed around the middle section of the pipe, and this collar section
104
has a flange section
104
f
which is stuck onto the flange section
101
f
of the shell
101
.
In this type of oil separator, a gas liquid mixture of gas and oil mist flows in from the inlet pipe
102
in a tangential direction to the inner surface of the shell
101
and circles around inside the shell
101
, and centrifugal force causes the oil mist to separate and adhere to the inner surface of the shell
101
, and then flow down along the inner surface and discharge from the open end
101
a
. Furthermore, the gas which remains after the oil mist has separated is discharged from the outlet pipe
103
. Because an internal opening of the outlet pipe
103
inside the shell is larger than an external opening, the speed of the gas inside the shell
101
is reduced when being drawn into the outlet pipe
103
, so that oil mist adhering to the outside wall of the outlet pipe
103
is prevented from being carried on the gas current and caught in the outlet pipe
103
.
FIG. 15
is a partial longitudinal sectional view of a conventional oil separator disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 9-177529.
In
FIG. 15
,
201
represents a shell, which is provided with a cylindrical section
202
a
with an integrated flange section
202
b
extending outward at its top end. Furthermore, an inverted cone shaped cylinder
202
c
is integrally attached to the bottom edge of the cylindrical section
202
a
, and an oil recovery section
202
d
is integrally attached to the bottom opening of the inverted cone shaped cylinder
202
c
. In addition, an inlet pipe
203
is attached to an opening near the top end of the cylindrical section
202
a
. A circular lid
204
is fixed to the flange section
202
b
of the cylindrical section
202
a
. An outlet pipe
205
passes through the center of the lid
204
. A non-woven fabric
206
of a predetermined shape is attached to the inside of the outlet pipe
205
.
In this type of oil separator, gas incorporating oil mist flows from the inlet pipe
203
into the shell
201
, and circles around within the cylindrical space formed between the cylindrical section
202
a
and the outlet pipe
205
extending into the cylindrical section
202
a
. As a result of the cyclone effect resulting from the circling gas, the oil mist in the gas, particularly with a particle diameter of 5 &mgr;m or greater, collides with the inner surface of the shell
201
and condenses, and when a particle grows to a sufficiently large diameter on the inner surface, gravity causes the particle to slide down the inner surface and flow into the oil recovery section
202
d.
Furthermore, the oil mist of a smaller particle diameter, which has not separated out through collision with the inner surface of the shell
201
, flows into the outlet pipe
205
together with the gas. Due to the effect of the circling motion inside the cylindrical space K, the gas does not pass straight through the outlet pipe
205
, but rather moves upwards in a helical type circling motion. At this point, the velocity distribution of the gas stream is such that the velocity close to the pipe wall is large, whereas the velocity in the center is extremely small. The gas which is circling at high speed in a helical type motion around the periphery hits the non-woven fabric
206
attached to the pipe wall and is adsorbed. Repeated adsorption of these minute particles leads to an increase in the diameter of the particles adsorbed to the non-woven fabric
206
, and particles which have grown sufficiently large move down the non-woven fabric
206
under the influence of gravity, drop off the bottom edge of the outlet pipe
205
, and are collected in the oil recovery section
202
d.
FIG. 16
is a structural diagram showing a conventional gas liquid separator disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 6-60402, and
FIG. 17
is a cross-sectional diagram viewed from above.
In the diagrams, a gas-liquid separator
301
includes a shell
304
formed of a combination of a cylinder
302
and a cone
303
. Inlet pipes
305
for introducing a two phase flow in a tangential direction are provided on the side of the cylinder
302
of the shell
304
, and this two phase flow is separated into a liquid and a vapor by the centrifugal force produced by the two phase flow circling around inside the shell
304
, so that the liquid adheres to the inside wall of the shell
304
through self adhesion.
A wick is also provided on the internal wall of the shell
304
for guiding the separated liquid into the cone
303
. This wick is provided with a plurality of narrow grooves
306
of 0.3 to 0.5 mm formed in a helical pattern, and the force of the circling flow and the capillary phenomenon causes the liquid to move smoothly to the cone.
In addition, in order to prevent diffusion of the two phase flow from the cylinder
302
to the cone
303
, a diaphragm
307
is provided inside the shell
304
to partition the shell into two portions on the sides of the cylinder
302
and the cone
303
. The diaphragm
307
is provided with small apertures
308
for connecting the cylinder
302
side with the cone
303
side to maintain a uniform pressure within the shell
304
. Furthermore, a gap
309
is provided between the outer perimeter of the diaphragm
307
and the inner surface of the shell
304
. A wire gauze folded in a wave like pattern is put as a coarse wick, inside the cone
303
side of the shell
304
partitioned by the diaphragm
307
, and functions as a liquid collector
310
for accumulating liquid. A liquid guide pipe
311
for guiding liquid out of the shell
304
is formed at the apex of the cone
303
. Furthermore, an outlet pipe
312
is formed in the center of the cylinder
302
side of the shell
304
partitioned by the diaphragm
307
, so as to pass through the end plate
302
a
of the cylinder
302
side.
In this type of conventional oil separator and gas liquid separator, the ideal positional relationship between the outlet pipe and the inlet pipes is unclear. Therefore, in systems in which the flow rate of the refrigerant varies in accordance with high pressure and low pressure fluctuations in the refrigerating cycle caused during load fluctuations, or in systems in which the compressor controls the capacity in accordance with the load, the system is unable to deal appropriately with such a problem that though the system operates appropriately at the time when the refrigerant flow rate is large, the velocity of the circling gas inside the oil separator falls and the oil separation efficiency resulting from the cyclone effect declines at the time when the refrigerant flow rate falls. Here, the oil separation efficiency is the ratio of the volume of oil discharged from the discharge pipe per a unit of time, relative to the volume of oil fl
Kasai Tomohiko
Koge Hirofumi
Morimoto Osamu
Murakami Hiroki
Ali Mohammad M.
Esquivel Denise L.
Mitsubishi Denki & Kabushiki Kaisha
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