A method of manufacturing a gas-liquid separator

Abstract

The application relates to a manufacturing method of a gas-liquid separator. An upper end cover, a cylinder body and a cushion block are respectively formed through a forming process. The cylinder body is a hollow cylinder with an open top and a closed bottom. A mounting portion is formed by extending the circumferential outer wall of the lower part of the cylinder body outward perpendicularly to the bottom surface of the cylinder body. The mounting portion protrudes from the bottom surface of the cylinder body and is integrally formed with the cylinder body. The outer surface of the mounting portion along the axial direction of the cylinder body does not protrude from the circumferential outer wall of the cylinder body. The upper end cover is welded to the open top end of the cylinder body. The cushion block is welded and fixed to the axial outer surface of the mounting portion of the cylinder body. The cylinder body structure designed in the application can be formed through a cold extrusion forming process, which is beneficial to improving the utilization rate of the forming material and the production efficiency. The cylinder body with the closed bottom and the mounting portion has high strength and reduces the risk of external leakage caused by welding quality problems. Compared with the prior art, the application simplifies the process and improves the production efficiency.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to a gas-liquid separator in an automotive air conditioning system, and more specifically to a method for manufacturing a gas-liquid separator. Background Technology

[0002] The gas-liquid separator is one of the core components of an automotive air conditioning piping system. It plays a crucial role in separating gas and liquid within the air conditioning assembly, while also providing filtration and auxiliary connections to the air conditioning pipes. Traditionally, the gas-liquid separator housing consists of an upper end cover and a cylindrical body. The cylindrical body is an open-top, closed-bottom cylinder, with the upper end cover welded to it. The upper end cover has a mounting section for securing the gas-liquid separator; in other words, the traditional gas-liquid separator is fixed to the air conditioning assembly via this mounting section. With the increasing integration of automotive air conditioning piping systems, to facilitate the integrated installation of the gas-liquid separator within the air conditioning assembly, the housing structure has been gradually changed from the traditional design, as shown in announcement number CN219103403U. This new structure consists of an upper end cover, a cylindrical body, and a bottom cover. The cylindrical body is a hollow cylinder open at both ends, with the end cover and bottom cover welded to it. The bottom cover has a protruding mounting section on its outer circumference. This new structure allows the gas-liquid separator to be fixed to the air conditioning assembly via the mounting section on the bottom cover.

[0003] In the improved gas-liquid separator shell described above, the upper end cover, cylinder body, and bottom cover are each formed independently during the production process. Then, the upper end cover and bottom cover are laser-welded to the cylinder body separately. In existing manufacturing methods, both the upper end cover and bottom cover need to be welded to the cylinder body, which places high demands on the sealing performance of the gas-liquid separator shell. If there are defects in the welding quality, there is a risk of leakage. Therefore, the welding process requires extremely high precision. Summary of the Invention

[0004] This invention discloses a method for manufacturing a gas-liquid separator, which can reduce the risk of product leakage, improve product strength, simplify the process, and improve production efficiency.

[0005] To achieve the above objectives, the technical solution adopted by the present invention is as follows:

[0006] A method for manufacturing a gas-liquid separator includes the following steps:

[0007] The upper end cap, cylinder, and pad are formed separately through a molding process;

[0008] The cylinder is a hollow cylinder with an open top and a closed bottom. The outer circumferential wall of the lower part of the cylinder extends outward perpendicular to the bottom surface of the cylinder to form a mounting part. The mounting part protrudes from the bottom surface of the cylinder and is integrally formed with the cylinder. The outer surface of the mounting part along the axial direction of the cylinder does not protrude from the outer circumferential wall of the cylinder.

[0009] Weld the upper end cap to the open top of the cylinder, and weld the pad block to the axial outer surface of the cylinder mounting part.

[0010] Furthermore, the cylinder is formed using a cold extrusion molding process.

[0011] Furthermore, the upper end cap is formed using a cold extrusion molding process.

[0012] Furthermore, the pad is formed using a cold extrusion molding process.

[0013] Furthermore, the axial outer surface of the mounting part forms a concave groove, and the pad is embedded in the groove and welded and fixed.

[0014] Furthermore, after the pad is welded onto the cylinder, the outer surface of the pad protrudes from the circumferential outer wall of the cylinder along the axial direction.

[0015] Furthermore, a through hole is formed on the pad, and a through hole is formed on the mounting part of the formed cylinder along the radial direction of the cylinder. After the pad is welded to the mounting part, the through hole of the pad is connected to the through hole of the mounting part.

[0016] In terms of structural design, this invention combines the existing split bottom cover and cylinder structure into one piece, using a one-piece molding process to form a cylinder with a bottom cover structure and a closed bottom. This reduces the welding process between the bottom cover and the cylinder in the prior art, simplifies the process flow, improves production efficiency, and reduces the risk of leakage due to poor welding quality. Compared with cylinders with open ends in the prior art, the one-piece molded, closed-bottom cylinder has improved product strength. Regarding the structural design of the mounting part on the cylinder, considering the requirements of the cold extrusion molding process, this invention splits the mounting part that protrudes on the bottom cover in the prior art into two parts: one part is a separately molded pad, and the other part is directly formed on the bottom of the cylinder by cold extrusion. Finally, the pad is welded to the mounting part of the cylinder. Attached Figure Description

[0017] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the housing assembly of the gas-liquid separator of the present invention;

[0018] Figure 2 This is an exploded view of the casing of the gas-liquid separator of the present invention;

[0019] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the bottom structure of the cylinder of the gas-liquid separator of the present invention.

[0020] Figure label:

[0021] 1. Top cover; 2. Cylinder body; 3. Spacer block. Detailed Implementation

[0022] The technical solutions of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present invention.

[0023] This embodiment discloses a method for manufacturing a gas-liquid separator, wherein the gas-liquid separator has the following structure: Figure 1 As shown, from Figure 1 As can be seen, the gas-liquid separator designed in this invention also has its mounting part located at the bottom of the cylinder, and its overall structural design is quite similar to the structure disclosed in the prior art CN219103403U. To more clearly compare the differences between the gas-liquid separator structure designed in this invention and the existing design, we will first introduce the problems existing in the product of the existing design CN219103403U: In this patent, the cylinder and the bottom cover are two independent components. The cylinder is a hollow cylinder with open ends, and the mounting part is formed on the bottom cover, which is welded to the open end of the cylinder bottom using laser welding. In this existing structural design, because the mounting part on the bottom cover protrudes from the circumferential surface of the bottom cover, the bottom cover cannot be formed using cold extrusion molding; therefore, hot extrusion molding is usually used. As is well known, compared with hot extrusion molding, cold extrusion molding has higher molding precision, better surface quality of the molded product, higher utilization rate of molding material, and faster molding speed. Furthermore, the above-mentioned method of welding and assembling the bottom cover and cylinder separately is prone to leakage risks due to welding quality problems.

[0024] The main purpose of this invention is to avoid the risk of product leakage and improve production efficiency. Therefore, as Figures 1 to 3 As shown, the shell of the gas-liquid separator designed in this invention is assembled from an upper end cover 1, a cylinder 2, and a pad 3. The main difference between the structure of this invention and existing designs lies in the cylinder 2 and the pad 3. The cylinder 2 of this invention has an open top and a closed bottom. The interior of the cylinder 2 is hollow, and it is cylindrical in shape. Furthermore, a mounting portion is provided on the lower circumferential outer wall of the cylinder 2. This invention transfers the mounting portion, originally designed on the bottom cover in the prior art, to the cylinder 2, forming a cylinder 2 with a closed bottom and mounting portion through an integral molding process. This saves the welding process between the bottom cover and the cylinder, simplifying the process and improving production efficiency. Moreover, the integrally molded, closed-bottom cylinder 2 only needs to be welded to the upper end cover, resulting in a product with higher strength than existing designs and reducing the risk of leakage.

[0025] Following the above, in terms of the selection of molding process, in order to improve molding efficiency and material utilization, and to improve molding accuracy, this invention chooses to use cold extrusion molding to form the upper end cap 1, the cylinder 2, and the pad 3 respectively. To enable the cylinder 2 with the mounting portion to also be cold extruded, this invention splits the originally protruding mounting portion in the prior art into two parts. The part protruding from the cylinder 2 is divided into the pad 3 in this invention, while the remaining part on the cylinder 2 (i.e., the mounting portion mentioned in this invention) does not protrude from the circumferential outer wall of the cylinder 2. After this structural splitting, the cylinder 2 can be formed by cold extrusion molding. The mounting portion remaining on the cylinder 2, after being integrally formed by cold extrusion, is located on the outer bottom of the cylinder 2 and protrudes from the bottom surface of the cylinder 2, but the outer surface of the mounting portion along the axial direction of the cylinder 2 does not protrude from the circumferential outer wall of the cylinder 2. In this embodiment, to facilitate positioning when installing the pad 3, a concave groove is formed on the axial outer surface of the mounting part. After the cylinder 2 is formed, a through hole is opened in the groove of the mounting part along the radial direction of the cylinder 2. The pad 3 is a rectangular block structure, or it can be formed by cold extrusion molding. A through hole is also opened on the pad 3. The pad 3 is embedded in the groove, so that the through hole on the pad 3 is connected with the through hole on the mounting part of the cylinder 2. The pad 3 is fixed to the groove of the cylinder 2 by laser spot welding. After the pad 3 is welded, the outer surface of the pad 3 along the axial direction of the cylinder 2 protrudes from the circumferential outer wall of the cylinder 2.

[0026] The manufacturing method of the shell of the gas-liquid separator designed in this invention is summarized as follows:

[0027] Step 1: First, the upper end cap 1, the cylinder 2, and the pad block 3 are formed by cold extrusion molding process;

[0028] Step 2: A through hole is made radially on the mounting part of the formed cylinder 2;

[0029] Step 3: Install the upper end cap 1 to the open top end of the cylinder 2 using laser welding;

[0030] Step 4: Embed the pad 3 into the mounting groove of the cylinder 2, and weld the pad 3 onto the cylinder 2 using laser spot welding.

[0031] The order of steps 3 and 4 above is not important.

[0032] Although embodiments of the invention have been shown and described, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes, modifications, substitutions and alterations can be made to these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A method for manufacturing a gas-liquid separator, wherein the shell of the gas-liquid separator is assembled from an upper end cover, a cylindrical body, and a pad, characterized in that, Includes the following: The top cap, cylinder, and pad are formed by cold extrusion molding process. The cylinder is a hollow cylinder with an open top and a closed bottom. The outer circumferential wall of the lower part of the cylinder extends outward perpendicular to the bottom surface of the cylinder to form a mounting part. The mounting part protrudes from the bottom surface of the cylinder and is integrally formed with the cylinder. The outer surface of the mounting part along the axial direction of the cylinder does not protrude from the circumferential outer wall of the cylinder. The outer axial surface of the mounting part forms an inwardly recessed groove. The upper end cap is welded to the open end of the top of the cylinder. A through hole is made in the pad. A through hole is made in the radial direction of the cylinder on the installed part of the formed cylinder. The pad is embedded in the groove and welded to the cylinder. The through hole of the pad is connected to the through hole of the installed part. After the pad is welded to the cylinder, the outer surface of the pad protrudes from the circumferential outer wall of the cylinder along the axial direction.

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