US 7,096,930 B2Granted

Heat exchanger for refrigerant cycle

AssigneeDenso Corporation

InventorsTetsuji Nobuta, Naoki Sugimoto, Ryouichi Sanada, Tatsuhiko Nishino

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Abstract

In a condenser of a refrigerant cycle, a throttle portion is provided at a predetermined position in one of first and second header tanks to decompress refrigerant while refrigerant meanderingly flows within the one of the first and second header tanks. Therefore, refrigerant from the throttle portion is sufficiently mixed with refrigerant directly flowing from tubes into a downstream space of the throttle portion in the one of the first and second header tanks. Accordingly, even when gas refrigerant is directly introduced from a part of the tubes directly into the lower downstream space, the gas refrigerant can be effectively heat-exchanged with the refrigerant flowing from the throttle portion. As a result, it can restrict refrigerant from being discharged from the condenser in a gas-liquid two-phase state.

Claims19

Dependent claims

A heat exchanger for a refrigerant cycle, comprising:

a plurality of tubes in which refrigerant flows in a tube longitudinal direction;
a first header tank extending in a direction perpendicular to the tube longitudinal direction to communicate with the tubes at one end side of each tube in the tube longitudinal direction;
a second header tank extending in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the tubes to communicate with the tubes at the other end side of each tube in the tube longitudinal direction;
and
a throttle portion for decompressing refrigerant, the throttle portion being provided at a predetermined position of one of the first and second header tanks, wherein:
the tubes have outlet openings from which the refrigerant flows out, opened into the one of the first and second header tanks;
the throttle portion is located between adjacent outlet openings of the tubes;
and
the tubes include a first group of tubes having the outlet openings located upstream from the throttle portion and a second group of tubes having the outlet openings located downstream from the throttle portion, the throttle portion has an outlet provided by a hole portion formed on the one of the header tanks at a side opposite to the outlet openings of the second group of tubes.

6 more elements

A heat exchanger for a refrigerant cycle, comprising:

a plurality of tubes in which refrigerant flows in a tube longitudinal direction;
a first header tank extending in a direction perpendicular to the tube longitudinal direction to communicate with the tubes at one end side of each tube in the tube longitudinal direction;
a second header tank extending in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the tubes to communicate with the tubes at the other end side of each tube in the tube longitudinal direction;
and
a throttle portion for decompressing refrigerant, the throttle portion being provided at a predetermined position of one of the first and second header tanks to meanderingly flow the refrigerant within the one of the first and second header tanks in a refrigerant flow of a longitudinal direction of the first and second header tanks;
wherein
the second header tank includes a tank portion that is connected to the tubes and has a hole portion at a side opposite to the tubes;
the throttle portion is arranged at a position where the hole portion is provided;
and
the throttle portion is constructed with at least a turning plate having a flat surface crossing with the longitudinal direction of the second header tank, and a cover member for closing the hole portion.

7 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.