Evaporator with cool storage function

Abstract

An evaporator with a cool storage function includes a cool storage material container disposed at least one of air-passing clearances formed between adjacent refrigerant flow tubes, and fins disposed in air-passing clearances on opposite sides of the cool storage material container. The cool storage material container includes a container body portion joined to the corresponding refrigerant flow tubes, and an outward extending portion which extends from the front edge of the container body portion and projects frontward in relation to the refrigerant flow tubes. Each of the fins has a fin body portion joined to the corresponding refrigerant flow tubes, and an outward extending portion which extends from the front edge of the fin body portion body and projects frontward in relation to the refrigerant flow tubes. The outward extending portions of the fins are brazed to opposite sides of the outward extending portion of the cool storage material container.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0001]The present invention relates to an evaporator with a cool storage function for use in a car air conditioner for a vehicle in which an engine serving as a drive source for a compressor is temporarily stopped when the vehicle is stopped.[0002]In the present specification and appended claims, the upper and lower sides of FIG. 1 will be referred to as “upper” and “lower,” respectively.[0003]In recent years, in order to protect the environment and improve fuel consumption of automobiles, there has been proposed an automobile designed to automatically stop the engine when the automobile stops, for example, so as to wait for a traffic light to change.[0004]Incidentally, an ordinary car air conditioner has a problem in that, when an engine of an automobile in which the air conditioner is mounted is stopped, a compressor driven by the engine is stopped, and supply of refrigerant to an evaporator stops, whereby the cooling capacity of the air conditioner shar...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0046]According to the evaporator with a cool storage function of each of pars. 13) and 14), the container body portion of the cool storage material container has an internal-volume reducing portion which is formed through partial inward deformation of a wall of the cool storage material container and which reduces the internal volume of the cool storage material container. Therefore, the internal volume of the cool storage material container decreases as compared with the case where the internal-volume reducing portion is not provided. As a result, even when the quantity of the cool storage material charged into the cool storage material container is determined to attain a cool storage material charging ratio suitable for the case where the internal-volume reducing portion is not provided (e.g., 70 to 90%), the cool storage material exists even in the vicinity of the upper end of the cool storage material container. Therefore, cool can be stored even in the vicinity of the upper end of the cool storage material container. Thus, when the compressor stops, an increase in the temperature of air flowing through portions of the air-passing clearances corresponding to the vicinity of the upper end of the cool storage material container can be restrained, whereby variation of discharge air temperature, which is the temperature of air having passed through the evaporator with a cool storage function, can be restrained.

[0047]Even the evaporator with a cool storage function of par. 13) or 14) is designed such that within an ordinary temperature range of use environment (e.g., −40 to 90° C.), the cool storage material container does not break even when the internal pressure increases because of a change in the density of the cool storage material in the liquid phase, and thermal expansion of air remaining in the cool storage material container. When the cool storage material container is exposed to a temperature (e.g., 100° C.) higher than the ordinary temperature range of use environment, the change in the density of the liquid-phase cool storage material and the thermal expansion of air remaining in the cool storage material container become remarkable, whereby the internal pressure of the cool storage material container increases excessively. In such a case, the internal-volume reducing portion of the cool storage material container deforms through bulging, whereby breakage of the cool storage material container due to an increase in the internal pressure of the cool storage material container can be prevented. In addition, since the strength of the internal-volume reducing portion is lower than that of the remaining portion, when the cool storage material container is exposed to a higher temperature, the cool storage material container breaks at the internal-volume reducing portion, and the cool storage material leaks. However, since leakage of the cool storage material occurs at a previously determined location (the internal-volume reducing portion), the leaked cool storage material can be coped relatively easily.

[0048]According to the evaporator with a cool storage function of each of pars. 15) and 16), breakage of the cool storage material container due to the internal pressure thereof can be prevented even when the density of the liquid-phase cool storage material changes and air remaining in the cool storage material container expands within the temperature range of use environment (e.g., −40 to 90° C.).

[0049]According to the evaporator with a cool storage function of par. 16), breakage of the cool storage material container due to the internal pressure thereof within the temperature range of use environment can be prevented effectively.

[0050]According to the evaporator with a cool storage function of any one of pars. 17) to 19), when cool is stored, cool is efficiently transferred from refrigerant flowing through the flow channels of the refrigerant flow tubes to the opposite side surfaces of the cool storage material container, and, when cool is released, the cool stored in the cool storage material within the cool storage material container efficiently passes through the refrigerant flow tubes in the tube height direction, whereby both cool storage performance and cool release performance become excellent. In addition, cooling performance at the time of ordinary cooling when the compressor is operating is not sacrificed

[0051]According to the evaporator with a cool storage function of par. 18), both cool storage performance and cool release performance become more excellent.

Problems solved by technology

Incidentally, an ordinary car air conditioner has a problem in that, when an engine of an automobile in which the air conditioner is mounted is stopped, a compressor driven by the engine is stopped, and supply of refrigerant to an evaporator stops, whereby the cooling capacity of the air conditioner sharply drops.

However, the evaporator with a cool storage function disclosed in the publication has a problem in that, as compared with an ordinary evaporator which has the same effective core area and which does not has a cool storage material container, the number of refrigerant flow tubes decreases, whereby cooling performance deteriorates.

However, the evaporator with a cool storage function disclosed in the publication has the following problem.

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