evaporator

Abstract

Evaporator which has: a plurality of refrigerant tubes (12), each extending in a vertical direction and having a refrigerant passage, the tubes being arranged parallel to each other; a plurality of air passages (13) provided between the refrigerant ports (12); at least one cold storage container (14) which is arranged in a subset of air passages of the plurality of air passages (13) and which contains a cold storage material; a temperature sensor (18) which detects a temperature; and a freezing-permissible area (19a) in which freezing of generated condensed water is permitted, and a freezing-prohibited area (19b) in which freezing of generated condensed water is not permitted, wherein the freezing-prohibited area is provided on an upper side of the freezing-permissible area (19a), wherein the cold storage container (14) comprises a first region (14f) defining a relatively large space with the refrigerant tubes (12) for promoting drainage of the condensed water, and a second region (14g) positioned on an upper side of the first region (14f) and defining a smaller space with the refrigerant tubes (12) than the space defining the first region (14f), the first region (14f) of the cold storage container (14) is positioned within a freezing-permissible region (19a), the second area (14g) of the cold storage container (14) is positioned within the area (19b) which is not permitted for freezing and the temperature sensor (18) is arranged in the area (19a) permissible for freezing.

Description

Technical FieldThe present invention relates to an evaporator of a refrigeration cycle device.Prior ArtIn an air conditioner for a vehicle for a so-called idle stop vehicle, an evaporator having a cold storage function is frequently used to maintain cold sensations from an occupant at the time of temporarily stopping the vehicle. A known such evaporator having the cold storage function is one described in, for example, JP 2011-012 947 A. The evaporator of JP 2011-012 947 A is a type in which cold storage containers containing a cold storage material are disposed between a plurality of refrigerant tubes. Since the arrangement of the cold storage containers may cause retention and freezing of condensed water and deformation or damage of members of the evaporator caused thereby, the cold storage container of JP 2011-012 947 A has grooves or recess portions distributed with uniformity on its entire surface to promote down flow of the condensed water due to gravity.DE 10 2010 022 521 A1 discloses a heat exchanger with a cold storage which is provided with a space for draining condensed water. DE 10 2012 207 700 A1 and JP 2011-006 058 A disclose further prior art.SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONHowever, the condensed water flow down is promoted by the plurality of grooves and recess portions provided in the cold storage containers described in the patent document Particularly when a distance between the refrigerant tubes is narrow, condensed water retention may occur, and thus deformation or breakage may occur due to freezing of the condensed waterIn consideration of the above-described points, an object of the present invention is to provide an evaporator capable of preventing its breakage or the like caused by freezing of condensed water.The above object is achieved by an evaporator according to claim 1.The above object is also achieved by an evaporator according to claim 8.Accordingly, even if the freezing of the condensed water occurs within the freezing allowable range, deformation or breakage of the cold storage container or the like is not caused. In order to prevent freezing of condensed water in the freezing prohibited area, ON / OFF control of a compressor may be performed in accordance with the temperature detected by the sensor It is known that a temperature distribution is caused in which the temperature from the refrigerant pipes becomes lower downward after stopping the compressor. The temperature detected by the temperature sensor disposed within the freezing allowable range is thus used as a representative temperature of a surface of heat exchange. It therefore becomes possible to provide accordingly the evaporator capable of preventing breakage or the like caused by freezing of condensed water.Brief Description of the DrawingsFIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a refrigeration cycle apparatus including an evaporator according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a front view showing the evaporator according to the embodiment. FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view taken along a line III-III of FIG. . 2 FIG. 4 is a partial cross-sectional view taken along a line IV-IV of FIG. 2. FIG. 5 is a partial side view showing a cold storage container of the evaporator according to the embodiment. FIG. 5 is a schematic partial front view showing a region including a freezing allowable region of a heat exchange portion of the evaporator according to the embodiment FIG. 7 is a partial cross-sectional view showing an evaporator according to a modification of the present inventionEmbodiments for Utilizing the InventionHereinafter, an evaporator 8 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 6. The evaporator 8 functions as a component of a refrigeration cycle device 2 that forms a vehicle air conditioner mounted on a so-called idle stop vehicle in the present embodiment, and has a cold storage function.According to the evaporator 8, when a compressor 4 is stopped due to idle stop of the vehicle, a low-temperature cold storage material absorbs heat from ambient air of relatively high temperature, and a speed of temperature increase from the ambient air is reduced Thus, a period of cold feeling of an occupant in the vehicle can be prolongedThe refrigeration cycle device 2 includes the compressor 4, a condenser 5, an expansion valve 6, a liquid receiving member (not shown), the evaporator 8, and a pipe passage 7 that connects them and circulates a refrigerant therein. The refrigeration cycle device 2 performs a refrigeration cycle operation in which the refrigerant absorbs heat from the ambient air in the evaporator 8 and dissipates the heat in the condenser 5.The compressor 4 is driven by a power from an engine 3 of the vehicle via a not-shown belt and an electromagnetic clutch.The evaporator 8 includes frame members 11 vertically extending on right and left outer sides in FIG. 2, a plurality of refrigerant tubes 12 extending in a vertical direction parallel to each other and at regular intervals, air passages 13 being a plurality of spaces between the refrigerant tubes 12, cold storage tanks 14 arranged in a group of air passages 13 of the plurality of air passages 13, fins 15 arranged for heat exchange in a plurality of air passages 13 in which the cold storage tanks 14 are not provided, an upper header 16 extending horizontally and connected to upper end parts of the plurality of refrigerant tubes 12, a lower header 17 extending horizontally and connected to lower end parts of the plurality of refrigerant tubes 12, and a temperature sensor 8 fixed to one of the fins 15, In addition, a heat exchange portion 19 that performs heat exchange between the refrigerant and the air, between the refrigerant and a cold storage material, or between the cold storage material and the air is formed by the refrigerant tubes 12, the air passages 13, the cold storage containers 14, and the fins 15 to detect a temperature of a surface of heat exchange with airThe heat exchange portion 19 includes a freezing allowable portion 19 awhich is a portion formed such that deformation or breakage of the cold storage containers 14 and the refrigerant tubes 12 is not caused even when condensed water generated there is frozen, and a freezing allowable portion 19 bwhich is not formed in such a manner. these portions are two upper and lower separated portions The freezing allowable portion 19 ais provided on a lower side, and the freezing allowable portion 19 bis provided on an upper side of the freezing allowable portion 19 aThe heat exchange portion 19 is, as shown in FIG. 3, formed by a first heat exchange portion 21 and a second heat exchange portion 22 which are arranged in two layers. The second heat exchange portion 22 is disposed upstream and the first heat exchange portion 21 is disposed downstream with respect to a direction of air flow by an arrow A of FIG. 3 Each of the first heat exchange portion 21 and the second heat exchange portion 22 includes the freezing allowable region 19 aand the freezing allowable region 19 bThe upper header 16 includes a first header flow passage 23 and a third header flow passage 24 formed therein, and the lower header 17 includes a second header flow passage 25 and a fourth header flow passage 26 formed therein.The first heat exchange portion 21 includes a plurality of, forty-three in the present embodiment, refrigerant tubes 12, and upper end parts and lower end parts of each refrigerant tube 12 are connected to the first header flow passage 23 and the second header flow passage 25, respectively. Similarly, the heat exchange portion 22 includes forty-three refrigerant tubes 12, and upper end parts and lower end parts of each refrigerant tube 12 are connected to the third header flow passage 24 and the fourth header flow passage 26In an end part of the first header flow passage 23, a not-shown joint is provided as a refrigerant inlet. an interior of the first header flow passage 23 is divided into a first chamber and a second chamber by a not-shown partition plate provided at approximately a center in a longitudinal direction of the first header flow passage 23.The refrigerant is supplied to the first chamber from the first header flow passage 23 through the refrigerant inlet, and then the refrigerant is distributed to the plurality of refrigerant tubes 12 of the first group and flows in and is collected in the second header flow passage 25 Then, the refrigerant is further distributed from the second header flow passage 25 to the plurality of refrigerant tubes 12 of the second group and flows in the second chamber from the first header flow passage 23.In an end part of the third header flow passage 24, a not-shown joint is provided as a refrigerant outlet. An interior of the third header flow passage 24 is divided into a first chamber and a second chamber by a not-shown partition plate provided at approximately a center in a longitudinal direction of the third header flow passage 24In accordance with this, the plurality of refrigerant tubes 12 are divided into a first group and a second group. The first chamber of the third header flow passage 24 is positioned adjacent to the second chamber of the first header flow passage 23 The first chamber of the third header flow passage 24 is in communication with the second chamber of the first header flow passage 23.The refrigerant flows from the second chamber of the first header flow passage 23 into the first chamber of the third header flow passage 24 and is distributed to the plurality of refrigerant tubes 12 of the first group. the refrigerant flows in and is collected in the fourth header flow passage 26 by the first group, and then the refrigerant is further distributed to the plurality of refrigerant tubes 12 of the second group. The refrigerant flows into the second chamber from the third header flow passage 24 through the second group. Accordingly, the second heat exchange portion 22 also has a flow passage in which the refrigerant flows along a U shape. The refrigerant in the second chamber flows from the third header flow passage 24 to the compressor 4 through the refrigerant outlet.As shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of spaces between the plurality of refrigerant tubes 12 which are arranged at regular intervals and extend in the vertical direction function as the air passages 13 through which air blown for heat exchange by a blower not shown passes. The cold storage containers 14 are arranged in a subset of the air passages 13 among the plurality of air passages 13 with a predetermined regularity, and the fins 15 are arranged in another subset of the air passages 13 among the plurality of air passages 13 with a predetermined regularity. The cold storage containers 14 are distributed and arranged evenly in an entirety of the heat exchange portion 19 The fins 15 and the cold storage containers 14 are separately brazed to the refrigerant tubes 12.Each of the refrigerant tubes 12 of the present embodiment is an extrusion molded product made of an aluminum alloy and has multiple refrigerant passages therein. The two main side surfaces of the refrigerant pipe 12 are connected to the fins 15, or one of the two main side surfaces is connected to the fin 15 as shown in FIG. 4, and the other of the two main side surfaces is connected to the cold storage container 14The fins 15 in the present embodiment are so-called corrugated fins and are made of thin aluminum sheets. In a front view of FIG. 2, a plurality of approximately U-shaped portions are continuously alternated to extend in the vertical direction of the drawing. a straight portion of the approximately U-shaped fins 15 includes, as shown in FIG. 4, a plurality of louver members 28 to improve a coefficient of heat transfer by changing a flow of the refrigerant flowing on a surface of the straight portion.A dimension in the vertical direction, i.e., a height of each fin 15, is approximately equal to a height of the air passage 13 between the refrigerant tubes 12. Further, in the present embodiment, the fin 15 is commonly used between the first heat exchange portion 21 and the second heat exchange portion 22.As shown in FIG. 4, each cold storage container 14 of the present embodiment is formed by coupling two sheet metal parts of the plate-like members 141 and 142 on their sides, which are made of aluminum alloy and have approximately the same shape. The cold storage material containing paraffin is sealed inside the cold storage container 14 The cold storage container 14 is disposed in the air passage 13 between the refrigerant tubes 12 and may be fixed to the refrigerant tubes 12 The cold storage container 14 has largest thickness portions 14 athat are largest in thickness (width) in a horizontal direction, and dimensions of the largest thickness portions 14 aare approximately the same as a width of the air passage 13 in the horizontal direction of FIG. 2, i.e., a distance between adjacent refrigerant tubes 12. Each largest thickness portion 14 ais fixed to the refrigerant tubes 12 A height dimension of the cold storage container 14 is also approximately the same as the height of the air passage 13 In other words, the cold storage container 14 has a flattened and approximately rectangular shape, It is of parallelepiped shape.The two sheet metal parts of the plate-like members 141 and 142 have projections and recesses which are similar to each other. Each cold storage container 14 thus has protrusions and recesses which are symmetrical with respect to its line of a vertical axis. As shown in FIG. 5, the cold storage container 14 includes the plurality of largest thickness portions 14 a, a smallest thickness portion 14 bthat has a thickness approximately the same as an entire thickness of the two sheet metal parts of the plate-like members with little holding of the cold storage material, a middle thickness portion 14 cthat has a middle thickness between that of the largest thickness portion 14 aand the smallest thickness portion 14 bin the horizontal direction, a first connection portion 14 dpositioned between the largest thickness portion 14 aand the middle thickness portion 14 cand connecting the largest thickness portion 14 aand the middle thickness portion 14 c, and a second connection portion 14 e, which is positioned between the largest thickness portion 14 aand the smallest thickness portion 14 band connects the largest thickness portion 14 aand the smallest thickness portion 14 b. The plurality of largest thickness portions 14 ainclude, as shown in FIG. 5, first largest thickness portions 14 a 1 having V shapes (angle curves) and largest thickness portions 14 a 2 that are thin and elongated and extend in the vertical direction.The smallest thickness portion 14 bof the cold storage container 14 of the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5, covers a comparatively large area within a small thickness area 14 f(first area) which is a relatively low area in the cold storage container 14. The smallest thickness portion 14 bhas a thin rectangular shape along an edge part of the cold storage container 14, and covers a comparatively small area in a large thickness area 14 g(second area) other than the small thickness area 14 f. The large thickness area 14 gis an upper area in the cold storage container 14, and is small in area ratio covered by the smallest thickness portion 14 b. An area ratio of the portions ( 14 b, 14 c) other than that of the parts of a largest thickness to the portions 14 aof a largest thickness in the region 14 fof a small thickness is higher than an area ratio of the portions ( 14 b, 14 c) other than that of the parts of a largest thickness to the portions 14 aof a largest thickness in the region 14 gof the large thickness. The large thickness portion 14 gand the refrigerant pipe 12 define therebetween a smaller space than a space defined between the small thickness portion 14 fand the refrigerant pipe 12 Most of the small thickness portion 14 fis covered by the smallest thickness portion 14 b, but a first largest thickness portion 14 a 1 and two second largest thickness portions 14 a 2 are disposed within the small thickness portion 14 f. These largest thickness portions 14 ain the small thickness portion 14 fare provided mainly for the purpose of securing a joining strength of the cold storage container 14 to the refrigerant pipe 12While the smallest thickness portion 14 bis limited to a small-sectional area region having a thin rectangular shape along the edge part of the container in the large thickness portion 14 g, most of the area of the large thickness portion 14 gis covered by the medium thickness portion 14 cand the first largest thickness portions 14 a 1 thicker than the smallest thickness portions 14 b. The middle thickness portion 14 cis approximately rectangular in shape and extends from an upper end of the small thickness portion 14 ftoward a vicinity of an upper end part of the cold storage container 14. The plurality of V-shaped first largest thickness parts 14 a 1 are arranged at regular intervals in the vertical direction within a range from the large thickness region 14 gwhere the medium thickness portion 14 cis provided. The first largest thickness portions 14 a 1 also accommodate therein the cold storage material. In other words, the plurality of first largest thickness parts 14 a 1 are provided in the large thickness region 14 g. The large thickness portion 14 gis positioned adjacent to an upper side of the small thickness portion 14 g. The large thickness portion 14 gis larger than the small thickness portion 14 fwith respect to a cross-sectional area of the cold storage container 14.The inner fin 29 inside the cold storage container 14 is a corrugated fin made of aluminum, which is provided for improving the performance of heat transfer between the refrigerant pipe 12 and the cold storage material.The large thickness portion 14 gof the cold storage container 14 is formed to be wider than the small thickness portion 14 f In the present embodiment, a ratio of the large thickness portion 14 gto a total length of the cold storage container 14, i.e., a total height, is set to about 80%, and the ratio of the small thickness portion 14 fis set to about 20%FIG. 6 is a schematic partial front view of a region including the infection allowable region 19 aof the heat exchange portion 19, and shows that spaces are provided between the smallest thickness portions 14 bof the small thickness regions 14 fand the refrigerant tubes 12 corresponding to the above-described shapes of the cold storage containers 14 In addition, spaces that are relatively small in width are provided between the medium thickness portions 14 cof the large thickness regions 14 gand the refrigerant tubes 12, although these spaces are not shown in FIG. 6.Condensed water is generated on a surface of the evaporator 8. When the generated condensed water accumulates and freezes in the space provided between the cold storage container 14 and the refrigerant pipe 12, the condensed water may expand in volume and cause deformation or breakage of the cold storage container 14 and the refrigerant pipe 12 The small thickness portion 14 fof the cold storage container 14 is provided to promote discharge of the condensed water from the space such that a width of the space in the horizontal direction in FIG. 6 becomes large Thus, in the present embodiment, even when a small amount of condensed water remains in the space between the small thickness portion 14 fand the refrigerant pipe 12 and freezes, the frozen condensed water does not cause deformation or breakage of the cold storage container 14 and the refrigerant pipe 12 due to this, the width of the space is largeOn the other hand, in the large thickness region 14 g, since the first largest thickness parts 14 a 1 are formed in the V shapes, performance of discharging from the condensed water is improved. however, in the present embodiment, the space provided between the medium thickness portion 14 cand the refrigerant pipe 12 is small in width in the horizontal direction, and thus most of the space is filled with the generated condensed water. When the condensed water filling the space freezes, the condensed water may cause deformation or breakage of the cold storage container 14 and the refrigerant pipe 12 depending on strengths thereof. The main reason why the medium thickness portion 14 cis provided in the large thickness region 14 gis to reduce a rate of error generation of soldering by reducing a soldering region.A boundary line between the small thickness portions 14 fand the large thickness portion 14 gof the cold storage container 14 coincides with a boundary line between the ice permissible portion 19 aand the freezing permissible portion 19 bof the heat exchange portion 19. The small thickness portion 14 fis thus positioned within the freezing allowable portion 19 a, and the large thickness portion 14 gis positioned within the freezing allowable portion 19 b. The small thickness portion 14 fmay be coincident with the freezing allowable portion 19 a, and the large thickness portion 14 gmay be coincident with the freezing allowable portion 19 b.The temperature sensor 18 is constituted by a thermistor 18 in the present embodiment, and a connection line (not shown) extending from the thermistor 18 is connected to a control unit (not shown) of the air conditioner of the vehicle. The thermistor 18 is fixed to a part which is a downstream side of the fin 15 in an air flow by a clip-like fixing member not shown to detect a temperature of a surface of the fin 15, which is a surface for heat exchange with the air, The thermistor 18 is fixed to the fin 15 which is disposed at approximately a center in the horizontal direction of FIG. 2 within the freezing allowable range 19 a. More specifically, the thermistor 18 is positioned on the rib 15 slightly lower than the upper end of the freezing allowable range 19 aand within the freezing allowable range 19 aOperations and effects of the evaporator 8 of the present embodiment will be describedWhen the refrigeration cycle device 2 is operated, the compressor 4 is operated, and the refrigerant starts to circulate in the device. A low-temperature refrigerant passing through the refrigerant tubes 12 of the evaporator 8 absorbs heat from relatively high-temperature ambient air passing through the air passages 13 and the cold storage material in the cold storage containers 14, and accordingly reduces the temperatures thereof In this case, the refrigeration cycle device 2 controls the compressor 4 in ON or OFF based on the temperature of the fin 15 detected by the thermistor 18 such that the temperatures of the surfaces of the refrigerant tubes 12 and the fins 15 become not lower than or equal to 0° C. to avoid freezing of the generated condensed water In the present embodiment, a region is made in which the temperatures of the surfaces of the refrigerant tubes 12 and the fins 15 become lower than or equal to 0° C. This will be described in detail belowImmediately after the compressor 4 is stopped, all the refrigerant in the refrigerant tubes 12 flows downward into the second header flow passage 25 and the fourth header flow passage 26 of the lower header 17 In this case, a lower part of the refrigerant tubes 12 which is in contact with the flowing refrigerant for a longer time decreases in temperature more than an upper part of the refrigerant tubes 12 Thus, immediately after the stop of the compressor 4, a temperature of the fin 15 which is located more downward than the position of the thermistor 18 will become lower than the detection temperature of the thermistor 18, and a temperature of the fin 15 which is located more upward than the position of the thermistor 18 will become higher than the detection temperature of the thermistor 18In the present embodiment, a temperature at which the compressor 4 is turned ON or OFF in the ON / OFF control is set to a temperature slightly higher than 0° C. (e.g.. ON temperature: 2°C and OFF temperature: 1°C). Thus, the compressor 4 is sometimes operated before the temperature of the fin 15 that is disposed lower than the position of the thermistor 18 sufficiently increases after the stop of the compressor 4 As a result, the condensed water that is in contact with the fin 15 and the pipe 12 that are disposed lower than the position of the thermistor 18 can be frozen. On the other hand, the temperature of the fin 15 that is located higher than the position of the thermistor 18 is maintained at a higher temperature of at least 0° C., and thus freezing of the condensed water does not occur.The thermistor 18 is disposed within the freezing allowable range 19a. Since the freezing allowable range 19 ais provided lower than the position of the thermistor 18, deformation or breakage of the refrigerant tubes 12 and the cold storage containers 14 is avoided even when the accumulated condensed water freezes. Since the freezing allowable portion 19 ais covered by the small thickness portion 14 fof the cold storage container 14, an amount of condensed water accumulated in the air passages 13 in which the cold storage containers 14 are provided is small, thus even if the small amount of condensed water freezes, the refrigerant tubes 12 or the cold storage containers 14 are not damaged on the other hand, even if the condensed water accumulated in the air passages 13 in which the fins 15 are provided freezes, the condensed water is capable of freely expanding in volume without limitation in the direction of the air flow Thus, a force for damaging the refrigerant tubes 12 or the fins 15 is not generated, and thus there is no problemSince the setting of the temperature of the ON / OFF control of the compressor is higher than 0° C. as described above, the condensed water generated on an upper side of the thermistor 18 does not freeze. Thus, the condensed water within the freezing allowable range 19 b, which is located on an upper side of the thermistor 18 located within the freezing allowable range 19 a, does not freeze a condensed water in a space between the large thickness portion 14 gof the cold storage container 14 and the refrigerant pipe 12 nor freezes, and a force for damaging the refrigerant pipe 12 and the cold storage container 14 is not generated.According to the present embodiment, even when the compressor 4 is controlled to be ON or OFF at a temperature slightly higher than 0° C., deformation or breakage of a component of the evaporator 8 caused by freezing of the condensed water can be preventedIn the above-described embodiment, the thermistor 18 detects the temperature of the fin 15 as a temperature from the surface of heat exchange with the air, but the thermistor 18 may detect a surface temperature of the refrigerant pipe 12 as the temperature from a surface of heat exchange with the air. Actually, the surface temperature of the refrigerant pipe 12 is slightly lower than a surface temperature of the fin 15, but this temperature difference is at a negligible level or a manageable level by fine-regulating the setting of the temperature of the ON / OFF control. When the thermistor: 18 is fixed to the refrigerant pipe, the thermistor is attached to the principal side surface of the refrigerant pipe by a fixing tool, not shown, as shown in FIG. 7, which is a partially planar cross-sectional view similar to FIG. 4, a part of the rib 15 which is in contact with the thermistor is cut and omittedThe thermistor 18 can detect a surface temperature of the cold storage container 14. In this case, the thermistor 18 is attached to a surface of the small thickness portion 14 fdisposed within the freezing allowable portion 19 aof the cold storage container 14.Further, the thermistor 18 may detect a temperature of the air instead of the surface of heat exchange with the air. In this case, the thermistor 18 is arranged to detect an air temperature of the air passage 13 within the freezing allowable range 19 aor an air temperature on an immediately downstream side of the air passage 13 within the freezing allowable range 19 a.In the above-described embodiment, the rib 15 extends over the entire length of the air passage 13 in which the rib 15 is disposed, but the rib 15 may partially extend in the air passage 13 For example, the rib 15 may extend only within the freezing allowable range 19 b, and the rib 15 may not be provided in the freezing allowable range 19 a. In this case, the thermistor 18 detects the surface temperature of the refrigerant pipe 12 Accordingly, accumulation of the condensed water in the air passage 13 within the freezing allowable range 19 acan be greatly reducedAt least a part of the air passage 13 of the plurality of air passages 13 may be an air passage 13 in which neither a fin 15 nor a cold storage container 14 is provided.In the above-described embodiment, the large thickness region 14 gof the cold storage container 14 includes not only the first largest thickness part 14 a 1 but also the smallest thickness portion 14 band the middle thickness portion 14 c. However, the large thickness region 14 gof the cold storage container 14 may be formed only by the largest thickness portion.In the above-described embodiment, the small thickness region 14 fof the cold storage container 14 includes not only the smallest thickness portion 14 bbut also the second largest thickness part 14 a 2 and the middle thickness portion 14 c. However, the small thickness region 14 fof the cold storage container 14 may be formed only by the smallest thickness portion 14 b.In the above-described embodiment, a configuration applied to the refrigeration cycle device 2 of the vehicle using an internal combustion engine: as a drive source for running the vehicle is described. However, the configuration may be applied to a refrigeration cycle device of a vehicle that uses a motor as the drive source of running the vehicleIn the above-described embodiment, the evaporator 8 is used for the refrigeration cycle device 2 for an idle stop vehicle. however, the evaporator 8 according to the present invention may be used not only for the refrigeration cycle device 2 for an idle stop vehicle but also for various refrigeration cycle devices.

Claims

An evaporator comprising: a plurality of refrigerant tubes (12) each extending in a vertical direction and having a refrigerant passage, the tubes being arranged in parallel with each other; a plurality of air passages (13) provided between the refrigerant tubes (12); at least one cold storage container (14) which is arranged in a subset of air passages of the plurality of air passages (13) and which contains a cold storage material; a temperature sensor (18) which detects a temperature; and a freezing allowable range (19a) in which freezing of generated condensed water is allowed and a freezing allowable range (19b) in which freezing of generated condensed water is not allowed, wherein the freezing-prohibited area is provided on an upper side of the freezing-permitted area (19a), the cold storage container (14) comprises a first area (14f) defining a relatively large space with the refrigerant tubes (12) for promoting discharge of the condensed water, and a second area (14g) positioned on an upper side of the first area (14f) and defining a smaller space with the refrigerant tubes (12) than the space defining the first area (14f), the first area (14f) of the cold storage container (14) being positioned within a freezing-permitted area (19a), the second region (14g) of the cold storage container (14) is positioned within the freezing-allowable region (19b), and the temperature sensor (18) is disposed in the freezing-allowable region (19a).The evaporator according to claim 1, wherein the cold storage container (14) includes a largest thickness portion (14a) having a thickness approximately equal to a distance between the refrigerant tubes (12) and fixed to the refrigerant tubes (12), and other portions (14b, 14c) defining a space through which air flows together with the refrigerant tubes (12) except for the largest thickness portion, and a ratio of the other portions (14b, 14c) to the largest thickness portion (14a) in the first region (14f) is higher than a ratio of the other portions (14b, 14c) to the largest thickness portion (14a) in the second region (14g).The evaporator according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising a heat exchange fin (15) disposed in another part of the air passages, wherein the temperature sensor detects a temperature of the heat exchange fin (15)The evaporator according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the temperature sensor detects a temperature of a surface of the refrigerant tubesThe evaporator according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the temperature sensor detects a temperature of a surface of the cold storage containerThe evaporator of claim 1 or 2, wherein the temperature sensor detects a temperature of air in the air passages.The evaporator according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the temperature sensor detects a temperature of air on an immediately downstream side of the air passages.An evaporator comprising: a plurality of refrigerant tubes (12) having refrigerant passages and which are arranged in parallel to each other to extend in a vertical direction; a plurality of air passages (13) provided between the refrigerant tubes (12); at least one cold storage container (14) which is arranged between the refrigerant tubes (12) which are adjacent to each other and accommodates a cold storage material therein; and a temperature sensor (18) that detects an air temperature on a downstream side of the air passages (13) or a temperature corresponding to a temperature of a refrigerant passing through the inside of the refrigerant tubes, wherein the cold storage container (14) includes: a portion (14a) of a largest thickness that is in contact with the refrigerant tubes (12) and has a thickness approximately equal to a distance between the refrigerant tubes (12) that are adjacent to each other; a first region (14f) that defines a space with the refrigerant tubes (12); a second region (14g) that defines a space with the refrigerant tubes (12) and has a cross-sectional area larger than that of the first region (14f), and the temperature sensor (18) is disposed lower than the second region (14g)The evaporator according to claim 8, wherein a fin (15) is provided in the air passages (13), and the temperature sensor (18) is mounted on a downstream side of the fin in a flow of air.The evaporator according to claim 8, wherein the temperature sensor (18) is attached to the cold storage containers (14).The evaporator of claim 8, wherein the temperature sensor (18) is attached to at least one of the refrigerant tubes (12)

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