Refrigeration – Refrigeration producer – Evaporator – e.g. – heat exchanger
Reexamination Certificate
1999-04-01
2001-08-14
Capossela, Ronald (Department: 3744)
Refrigeration
Refrigeration producer
Evaporator, e.g., heat exchanger
C165S153000, C165S174000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06272881
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an evaporator for evaporating refrigerant of a refrigerant cycle and a method for manufacturing the evaporator. The evaporator is suitable for a vehicle air conditioner.
2. Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 5,701,760 discloses a refrigerant evaporator by the applicant of the present invention. As shown in
FIG. 20
, an evaporator
100
has an upper inlet-side tank
50
, a lower inlet-side tank
51
, an upper outlet-side tank
52
and a lower outlet-side tank
53
. The upper inlet-side tank
50
and the upper outlet-side tank
52
are disposed at an upper end of the evaporator
100
, and the lower inlet-side tank
51
and the lower outlet-side tank
53
are disposed at a lower end of the evaporator
100
. The evaporator
100
includes an inlet-side heat exchange portion X and an outlet-side heat exchange portion Y. The inlet-side heat exchange portion X is disposed on a downstream air side of the outlet-side heat exchange portion Y with respect to an air flowing direction A.
Further, the evaporator
100
has plural tubes through which refrigerant flows. Each of the tubes is formed by connecting a pair of metal thin plate having a bowl-like protruding portion at both longitudinal ends thereof. Each of the bowl-like protruding portions is integrally connected with each other, thereby forming the tanks
50
-
53
.
As shown in
FIG. 20
, refrigerant is introduced into the evaporator
100
from an inlet
54
a
formed in a pipe joint
54
and flows into a first inlet-side tank portion
51
a
of the lower inlet-side tank
51
through a side passage
55
. Then, refrigerant flows upwardly through a downstream-air-side passage I of the tubes and flows into the upper inlet-side tank
50
. Refrigerant in the upper inlet-side tank
50
flows downwardly through a downstream-air-side passage II of the tubes and flows into a second inlet-side tank portion
51
b
of the lower inlet-side tank
51
. Next, refrigerant flows from the second inlet-side tank portion
51
b
into a first outlet-side tank portion
52
a
of the upper outlet-side tank
52
through a side passage
56
. Then, refrigerant flows downwardly through an upstream-air-side passage III of the tubes and flows into the lower outlet-side tank
53
. Refrigerant in the lower outlet-side tank
53
flows upwardly through an upstream-air-side passage IV of the tubes and flows into a second outlet-side tank portion
52
b
of the upper outlet-side tank
52
. Finally, refrigerant flows through a side passage
57
and is discharged to the outside of the evaporator
100
through an outlet
54
b.
In the evaporator
100
, the inlet-side heat exchange portion X is disposed on the downstream air side of the outlet-side heat exchange portion Y, and a flowing direction of refrigerant in the inlet-side heat exchange portion X corresponds to that in the outlet-side heat exchange portion Y. That is, in
FIG. 20
, refrigerant flows upwardly on a right side of partition members
58
,
59
and flows downwardly on a left side of the partition members
58
,
59
in both of the heat exchange portions X, Y. Therefore, even when liquid-gas two-phase refrigerant is biasedly distributed into the passages I-IV, air having an uniform temperature distribution is blown out from the evaporator
100
. Further, refrigerant flows in a zigzag route through the passages I, II in the inlet-side heat exchange portion X and through the passages III, IV in the outlet-side heat exchange portion Y. As a result, heat amount absorbed by refrigerant is increased, thereby improving cooling performance of the evaporator
100
.
However, the evaporator
100
requires the side passage
56
for a communication between the passage II and the passage III, and the side passages
55
,
57
for a communication between the inlet
54
a
and the passage I and a communication between the passage IV and the outlet
54
b.
Each of the side passages
55
-
57
may be formed between two metal thin plates disposed on an end surface of the evaporator
100
. As a result, the number of parts of the evaporator
100
is increased, thereby increasing production cost of the evaporator
100
. Further, pressure loss of refrigerant in the evaporator
100
is increased due to the side passages
55
-
57
. As a result, evaporation pressure and evaporation temperature of refrigerant in the evaporator
100
is increased, and cooling performance of the evaporator
100
is decreased.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the foregoing problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide an evaporator having a zigzag-routed refrigerant passage formed by plural tanks and plural tubes arranged in plural rows, in which the number of parts is reduced thereby simplifying a structure, and pressure loss of refrigerant is reduced.
According to the present invention, an evaporator includes a plurality of tubes through which refrigerant flows and a tank disposed at both longitudinal ends of each tube for distributing refrigerant to the tubes and collecting refrigerant from the tubes. The tubes are arranged in parallel with each other in a width direction perpendicular to a flow direction of external fluid passing through the evaporator, and is further arranged in plural rows in the flow direction of the external fluid. The evaporator further has a partition wall for dividing the tank into plural tank portions extending in the width direction, and the tank portions are arranged in the plural rows in the flowing direction of the external fluid to correspond to the arrangement of the tubes. The partition wall has a bypass passage unit through which adjacent two tank portions communicate with each other in the flow direction of the external fluid. As a result, a zigzag-routed refrigerant passage of the evaporator is readily formed without using an additional side passage or the like. That is, the bypass passage unit is formed in the partition wall, a U-turn routed refrigerant passage is readily formed in the evaporator. Therefore, the number of parts of the evaporator is reduced, thereby simplifying the structure thereof and reducing production cost thereof. Further, pressure loss of refrigerant in the evaporator is decreased, thereby improving cooling performance of the evaporator.
Preferably, the bypass passage unit is plural holes arranged in the width direction perpendicular both of the flow direction of the external fluid and a flow direction of refrigerant in each tube. Therefore, the U-turn routed refrigerant passage is readily simply formed in the evaporator without a side passage for U-turning the refrigerant flow.
More preferably, the tubes and the tank portions are separately formed and thereafter integrally connected with each other. Therefore, a thickness of each tube can be decreased so that a size of the evaporator is reduced and minuteness of a heat exchange portion of the evaporator is improved, while a thickness of each of the tank portions can be increased so that each of the tank portions has sufficient strength. Further, the tank portions and the partition wall having the holes are formed from a single thin metal plate by bending the single thin metal plate. Therefore, the producing cost of the evaporator can be further reduced.
REFERENCES:
patent: 2237239 (1941-04-01), Smith
patent: 5662164 (1997-09-01), Nishishita
patent: 5701760 (1997-12-01), Torigoe et al.
patent: 5735343 (1998-04-01), Kajikawa et al.
patent: 5918664 (1999-07-01), Torigoe
patent: 0 632 245 A1 (1995-01-01), None
patent: 0 683 373 A1 (1995-11-01), None
patent: 0 802 383 A2 (1997-10-01), None
patent: 0 807 794 A1 (1997-11-01), None
patent: Y2-3-28276 (1991-06-01), None
patent: U-7-12778 (1995-03-01), None
patent: 10-19490 (1998-01-01), None
Kamiya Sadayuki
Kuroyanagi Isao
Makihara Masamichi
Ohara Toshio
Capossela Ronald
Denso Corporation
Harness Dickey & Pierce PLC
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