Non-circular shape vehicle a/c muffler

A refrigerant muffler comprising:

• six outer walls arranged into a substantially rectangular cuboid shape enclosing a hollow interior of the refrigerant muffler, the six outer walls including a first end wall and an oppositely arranged second end wall, an upper wall and an oppositely arranged lower wall, and a first lateral wall and an oppositely arranged second lateral wall, wherein each of the first lateral wall and the second lateral wall are connected around a respective periphery thereof to each of the first end wall, the second end wall, the upper wall, and the lower wall;
• an inlet port provided in one of the first end wall or the upper wall through which a refrigerant is introduced into the hollow interior of the refrigerant muffler;
• an outlet port provided in one of the second end wall or the first lateral wall through which the refrigerant exits the hollow interior of the refrigerant muffler;
• and
• a plurality of guide walls extending between the first lateral wall and the second lateral wall, each of the plurality of the guide walls arranged in parallel and spaced apart from each other in a direction perpendicular to a direction of parallel extension of the plurality of the guide walls, each of the plurality of the guide walls configured to divert a flow of the refrigerant and/or to reflect acoustic waves associated with the flow of the refrigerant.

A refrigerant circuit including, in an order of flow of a refrigerant during circulation thereof through the refrigerant circuit, a compressor, a refrigerant muffler, a condenser, an expansion element, and an evaporator, the refrigerant muffler comprising:

• a plurality of outer walls forming an outer surface of the refrigerant muffler and enclosing a hollow interior thereof, each of the respective outer walls forming a pair with an oppositely arranged one of the outer walls at opposing sides of the hollow interior;
• an inlet port provided in a first one of the respective outer walls through which a refrigerant discharged from the compressor is introduced into the hollow interior of the refrigerant muffler;
• and
• an outlet port provided in a second one of the respective outer walls through which the refrigerant exits the hollow interior of the refrigerant muffler towards the condenser;
• wherein the refrigerant muffler does not include a cross-section therethrough where the outer surface of the refrigerant muffler has a circular shape comprised of both of the outer walls forming one of the pairs of the oppositely arranged outer walls.