Vehicle air conditioner with vapor-compression refrigerant cycle and method of operating the same
AssigneeDenso Corporation
InventorsShin Nishida, Yoshitaka Tomatsu
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An air-conditioner includes a compressor, a radiator, an evaporator, an ejector, and a separator. The compressor compresses refrigerant and variably controls an amount of the refrigerant. The radiator cools high-pressure refrigerant. The evaporator cools air blowing into a passenger compartment of a vehicle. The ejector having a nozzle jets the refrigerant at high speed. The separator separates the refrigerant into gas refrigerant and liquid refrigerant. An opening degree of a throttle of the nozzle in the ejector becomes larger so as to increase a cooling performance of the air-conditioner when the amount of the refrigerant discharged from the compressor is smaller than a maximum amount of the refrigerant.
Claims20
An air-conditioner with a vapor-compression refrigerant cycle comprising:
- a compressor for sucking and compressing refrigerant and for variably controlling an amount of the refrigerant discharged from the compressor per unit of time;
- a radiator for radiating heat and cooling high-pressure refrigerant compressed by the compressor;
- an evaporator for cooling air blowing into a passenger compartment of a vehicle by evaporating the refrigerant;
- an ejector having a nozzle with an opening degree of a throttle for jetting the refrigerant at high speed by decompressing and expanding the high-pressure refrigerant at the nozzle so that low-pressure refrigerant is circulated by jetting the refrigerant and that suction pressure of the compressor is increased by converting expansion energy to pressure energy;
- and
- a separator for separating the refrigerant jetted from the ejector into gas refrigerant and liquid refrigerant so that the gas refrigerant is supplied to a suction side of the compressor and the liquid refrigerant is supplied to the evaporator,
- wherein the opening degree of the throttle of the nozzle in the ejector becomes larger so as to increase a cooling performance of the air-conditioner when the amount of the refrigerant discharged from the compressor is smaller than a maximum amount of the refrigerant discharged from the compressor.
A method for operating an air-conditioner with a vapor-compression refrigerant cycle, which includes a compressor for sucking and compressing refrigerant and for variably controlling an amount of the refrigerant discharged from the compressor per unit of time, a radiator for radiating heat and cooling high-pressure refrigerant compressed by the compressor, an evaporator for cooling air blowing into a passenger compartment of a vehicle by evaporating the refrigerant, an ejector having a nozzle with an opening degree of a throttle for jetting the refrigerant at high speed by decompressing and expanding the high-pressure refrigerant at the nozzle so that low-pressure refrigerant is circulated by jetting the refrigerant and that suction pressure of the compressor is increased by converting expansion energy to pressure energy, and a separator for separating the refrigerant jetted from the ejector into gas refrigerant and liquid refrigerant so that the gas refrigerant is supplied to a suction side of the compressor and the liquid refrigerant is supplied to the evaporator, the method comprising the steps of:
- enlarging the opening degree of the throttle of the nozzle in the ejector so as to increase a cooling performance of the air-conditioner;
- and
- increasing an amount of the refrigerant discharged from the compressor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.