Heat exchanger arrangement structure for ejector cooling device

Abstract

A heat exchanger arrangement structure for an ejector cooling device is provided, which can reduce costs and improve assembly efficiency. [Solution] A heat exchanger arrangement structure for an ejector cooling device having a pump that pressurizes the refrigerant, a generator that heats the refrigerant with heat-source hot water and generates a driving flow, an expansion valve that depressurizes the refrigerant, an evaporator 6 that cools a cooled medium with the refrigerant depressurized by the expansion valve, an ejector that sucks in the refrigerant evaporated by the evaporator with the driving flow of refrigerant from the generator, a condenser that cools the refrigerant mixed with the driving flow after being sucked into the ejector, and an intermediate heat exchanger 7 that further cools the heat-source hot water cooled by the generator and supplies the cooled heat-source hot water to the evaporator 6 to produce chilled water, and the evaporator 6 is mounted directly on top of the intermediate heat exchanger 7, which has a high degree of freedom in arrangement within the ejector cooling device.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a heat exchanger arrangement structure for an ejector cooling device that can reduce costs and improve assembly efficiency. [Background technology]

[0002] Ejector cooling systems use hot water, such as factory wastewater, as a heat source, to evaporate high-pressure refrigerant that has been pressurized by a refrigerant pump, generating the driving flow for the ejector. The driving flow is sent to the ejector, and the action of the ejector pressurizes the suction flow from the evaporator. The pressurized refrigerant is sent to the condenser, where it is cooled and liquefied by cooling water. The liquefied refrigerant is reduced in pressure to a low-temperature two-phase refrigerant by passing through an expansion valve, and then sent to the evaporator. In the evaporator, heat is absorbed from the outside as the evaporator evaporates, making it possible to generate cold energy such as chilled water.

[0003] Patent Document 1 discloses a configuration in which heat exchangers are stacked vertically in multiple stages, and a bracket is provided to regulate the panel surface of the upper heat exchanger so that it is flush with the panel surface of the lower heat exchanger. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2019-100598 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] In an ejector cooling device, devices such as a heat exchanger on the refrigerant side via a refrigerant pump must be located higher than the refrigerant pump. Therefore, a base for mounting the heat exchanger and other devices must be provided inside the ejector cooling device. Because the heat exchanger is a fairly heavy object, the base must be strong enough. This requires the base to be thick and additional reinforcement must be provided, resulting in increased costs and a problem with locating the heat exchanger. Furthermore, locating the heat exchanger complicates assembly work, resulting in poor assembly efficiency.

[0006] The present invention has been made in view of the above, and an object of the present invention is to provide a heat exchanger arrangement structure for an ejector cooling device that can reduce costs and improve assembly efficiency. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a heat exchanger arrangement structure for an ejector cooling device having a pump that pressurizes a refrigerant, a generator that heats the refrigerant with heat-source hot water to generate a driving flow, an expansion valve that depressurizes the refrigerant, an evaporator that cools a cooled medium with the refrigerant depressurized by the expansion valve, an ejector that sucks in the refrigerant evaporated by the evaporator with the driving flow of refrigerant from the generator, a condenser that cools the refrigerant mixed with the driving flow after being sucked into the ejector, and an intermediate heat exchanger that further cools the heat-source hot water cooled by the generator and supplies the cooled heat-source hot water to the evaporator to generate chilled water, wherein the evaporator is mounted directly on top of the intermediate heat exchanger, which has a high degree of freedom in arrangement within the ejector cooling device.

[0008] Furthermore, in the above invention, the present invention is characterized in that a side surface on which a connection portion of the intermediate heat exchanger is formed and a side surface on which a connection portion of the evaporator is formed, which connects a connection pipe between the intermediate heat exchanger and the evaporator, are arranged in the same direction.

[0009] Furthermore, in the above invention, the present invention is characterized in that a connection portion of a generator-side pipe that supplies cooled water flowing in a connecting pipe that connects the intermediate heat exchanger and the evaporator from the generator to the intermediate heat exchanger is a connection portion at a vertically lower portion of the intermediate heat exchanger, a first drain valve is provided on the generator-side pipe that is connected to the connection portion at the vertically lower portion, and a second drain valve is provided on a cooling-water-side connecting pipe that is connected to another connection portion at the vertically lower portion of the intermediate heat exchanger from which cooling water flows out.

[0010] In the above invention, anti-tip members are provided on both side surfaces of the evaporator from the housing side plate side of the ejector cooling device.

[0011] Furthermore, in the above invention, when the bottom surface of the evaporator is larger than the top surface of the intermediate heat exchanger, a support member is erected from the bottom surface side of a housing of the ejector cooling device to support a portion of the top surface of the intermediate heat exchanger that does not cover the bottom surface of the evaporator.

[0012] In the present invention, at least the intermediate heat exchanger and the evaporator are plate heat exchangers. [Effects of the Invention]

[0013] According to the present invention, with regard to the arrangement of the intermediate heat exchanger and the evaporator among the heat exchangers, the evaporator is directly stacked on top of the intermediate heat exchanger, eliminating the need for a base, thereby reducing costs and improving assembly ease. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0014] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram showing the configuration of an ejector cooling device having a heat exchanger arrangement structure according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a perspective view that schematically shows an arrangement structure of the intermediate heat exchanger and the evaporator when the bottom surface of the evaporator is smaller than the top surface of the intermediate heat exchanger. [Figure 3]FIG. 3 is a perspective view that schematically shows an arrangement structure of the intermediate heat exchanger and the evaporator when the bottom surface of the evaporator is larger than the top surface of the intermediate heat exchanger. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0015] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0016] <Overall structure> Fig. 1 is a circuit diagram showing the configuration of an ejector cooling device having a heat exchanger arrangement structure according to an embodiment of the present invention. The ejector cooling device illustrated here recovers waste heat as a heat source from waste hot water (heat source hot water) such as factory wastewater or used cooling water, and cools the recovered heat source hot water as cooled water to produce cold water.

[0017] 1 has an ejector 1, a condenser 2, a receiver tank 8, a pump 3, and a generator 4, which are connected in sequence on a circulation path L1. The ejector cooling device also has a branch path L2. The branch path L2 branches off from a portion upstream of the pump 3 at a branch point LS between the condenser 2 and the generator 4 of the circulation path L1, and supplies a portion of the refrigerant circulating through the circulation path L1 to the ejector 1 as a suction fluid.

[0018] The pump 3 circulates and supplies the refrigerant through the circulation path L1. More specifically, the pump 3 is, for example, a liquid-phase variable displacement pump, which pressurizes the refrigerant and supplies it to the ejector 1. The generator 4 performs heat exchange to heat the refrigerant with the supplied heat-source hot water, and supplies the driving flow obtained by evaporating the refrigerant supplied from the pump 3 to the ejector 1.

[0019] The condenser 2 exchanges heat between the refrigerant discharged from the ejector 1 and cooling water supplied from the outside, condensing the refrigerant. The cooling water supplied from the outside is heated and discharged to the outside. The refrigerant condensed by the condenser 2 is stored in the receiver tank 8 at the subsequent stage, and the stored refrigerant is then sucked by the pump 3 and supplied to the branch path L2 side.

[0020] Branch path L2 is provided with an expansion valve 5 and an evaporator 6. The expansion valve 5 expands and reduces the pressure of the refrigerant that has passed through the condenser 2 and is branched and supplied via branch point LS. The evaporator 6 evaporates the refrigerant by performing heat exchange between the refrigerant in a liquid phase after passing through the expansion valve 5 and the cooled water that is supplied to the evaporator 6, thereby generating a suction flow to the ejector 1 and producing cold water that cools the supplied cooled water.

[0021] Here, in this embodiment, an intermediate heat exchanger 7 is provided. The intermediate heat exchanger 7 exchanges heat between the heat-source hot water cooled by the generator 4 and cooling water supplied from the outside to further cool the heat-source hot water, and supplies the cooled heat-source hot water to the evaporator 6 as water to be cooled. The cooling water supplied to the intermediate heat exchanger 7 from the outside is discharged as heated water. Therefore, the heat-source hot water is cooled successively by the generator 4 and the intermediate heat exchanger 7, and finally becomes cold water cooled by the evaporator 6.

[0022] At least the intermediate heat exchanger 7 and the evaporator 6 are plate-type heat exchangers. In this embodiment, the generator 4 and the condenser 2 are also plate-type heat exchangers. The plate-type heat exchanger has high heat transfer performance, is compact, and has self-cleaning properties, due to the fact that the heat transfer section is made up of laminated heat transfer plates, which are thin plates with complex pressed shapes.

[0023] <Arrangement of intermediate heat exchanger and evaporator> 2 is a perspective view that schematically shows an arrangement structure of the intermediate heat exchanger 7 and the evaporator 6 when the bottom surface of the evaporator 6 is smaller than the top surface of the intermediate heat exchanger 7. Here, the intermediate heat exchanger 7 is not on the refrigerant circulation path L1 or the branch path L2, and is a water-based heat exchanger into which the refrigerant does not flow, so there is a high degree of freedom in its arrangement within the housing of the ejector cooling device. Meanwhile, the heat-source hot water cooled by the intermediate heat exchanger 7 is used as cooled water for the evaporator 6.

[0024] 2, the intermediate heat exchanger 7 is placed in an empty space on the housing bottom plate PL2 of the ejector cooling device, and the evaporator 6 is directly stacked on top of the intermediate heat exchanger 7 without using a pedestal. Because the pump 3 is placed on the housing bottom plate PL2 of the ejector cooling device, the evaporator 6 is placed at a higher position vertically above the pump 3. Moreover, although heat exchangers such as the evaporator 6 are heavy, no pedestal is required between the intermediate heat exchanger 7 and the evaporator 6, which reduces costs and improves assembly.

[0025] <Pipe connection between the intermediate heat exchanger and the evaporator> Here, the plate heat exchanger has two pairs of connections on one side, i.e., four connections, through which the water and refrigerant undergoing heat exchange flow in and out. The water and refrigerant undergo heat exchange flow in and out in countercurrent fashion. For example, cooling water from the outside flows into the intermediate heat exchanger 7 via pipe L11, and heated water heated by heat exchange flows out of connection 7b via pipe L12. Meanwhile, heat-source hot water cooled by the generator 4 flows into connection 7c via pipe L13, and further cooled heat-source hot water flows out of connection 7d to the evaporator 6 side via pipe L14 as cooled water. Note that the intermediate heat exchanger 7 is a water-to-water heat exchanger, and the flow direction of the water flowing through connections 7a and 7b and the water flowing through connections 7c and 7d may be reversed.

[0026] Similarly, in the evaporator 6, the refrigerant flows into the connection part 6a from the expansion valve 5 via the pipe L16, and the refrigerant that has undergone heat exchange flows out from the connection part 6b to the ejector 1 side via the pipe L17. On the other hand, the cooled water from the intermediate heat exchanger 7 flows into the connection part 6c via the pipe L14, and the cold water that has cooled the cooled water flows out from the connection part 6d via the pipe L15.

[0027] In this case, the intermediate heat exchanger 7 and the evaporator 6 are connected by a pipe L14. Therefore, by arranging the side surface on which the connections 7a to 7d of the intermediate heat exchanger 7 are formed and the side surface on which the connections 6a to 6d of the evaporator 6 are formed in the same direction (-Y direction), the length of the pipe L14 can be shortened. As a result, pressure loss can be reduced and space can be saved. Note that it is sufficient that at least the side surface on which the connection 7d is formed and the side surface on which the connection 6c is formed are in the same direction.

[0028] <Water drainage measures> Here, heat exchangers through which water flows require regular maintenance to prevent impurities from getting mixed in and scale buildup, so a drain valve is installed.Note that plate heat exchangers have self-cleaning properties, but still require regular maintenance.

[0029] In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, a first drain valve, a drain valve V1, is provided in the pipe L13, which is connected to the connection part 7c at the vertically lower part of the intermediate heat exchanger 7 and through which cooled heat-source hot water flows in, and a second drain valve, a drain valve V2, is provided in the pipe L12, which is connected to another connection part 7b at the vertically lower part of the intermediate heat exchanger 7 and through which heated water flows out.

[0030] However, there is no need to provide a drain valve on the pipe L15 of the evaporator 6. In other words, the drain valve V1 serves as a drain valve for the heat-source hot water (cooling water) of the intermediate heat exchanger 7 and the evaporator 6. In other words, when the drain valve V1 is opened, the water between the connections 7c and 7d and the water in the pipe L14 is drained, and when air flows in, the water between the connections 6c and 6d is drained. As a result, there is no need to provide a drain valve for the evaporator 6 stacked above. This eliminates the need to drain water for each heat exchanger, improving maintainability. Furthermore, by using the drain valve V1 both as a drain valve for the heat-source hot water (cooling water) of the intermediate heat exchanger 7 and the evaporator 6, the number of parts is reduced, thereby reducing the cost of the device.

[0031] <Fall prevention measures> The intermediate heat exchanger 7 and the evaporator 6 are heavy objects, so they can be stably arranged even if they are directly stacked on top of each other. However, if a large vibration occurs, such as in an earthquake, the upper evaporator 6 may shift position and fall over.

[0032] 2, tip-prevention members 11 are installed on both side surfaces (±X direction) of the evaporator 6 from the housing side plate PL1 side of the ejector cooling device to suppress large displacement of the evaporator 6 and prevent the evaporator 6 from tipping or falling. The tip-prevention members 11 are, for example, bolts installed on the housing side plate PL1.

[0033] <Measures when the bottom surface of the evaporator is larger than the top surface of the intermediate heat exchanger> 3 is a perspective view that schematically shows an arrangement structure of the intermediate heat exchanger 7 and the evaporator 6 when the bottom surface of the evaporator 6 is larger than the top surface of the intermediate heat exchanger 7. As shown in FIG. 3, when the bottom surface of the evaporator 6 is larger than the top surface of the intermediate heat exchanger 7, a support member 12 is erected from the bottom surface PL2 side of the housing of the ejector cooling device to support a portion where the top surface of the intermediate heat exchanger does not cover the bottom surface of the evaporator 6. In this case, it is sufficient that the tip of the support member 12 abuts against the bottom surface of the evaporator 6. Furthermore, when the support member 12 is provided, the intermediate heat exchanger 7 may be placed on a pedestal having an area corresponding to the bottom surface of the evaporator 6, and the support member 12 may be erected.

[0034] Note that the configurations illustrated in the above embodiments are merely functional schematics and are not necessarily physically configured as shown. In other words, the distribution and integration of each device and component is not limited to that illustrated, and all or part of them can be functionally or physically distributed and integrated in any unit depending on various usage situations, etc. [Explanation of symbols]

[0035] 1 Ejector 2 Condenser 3. Pump 4 Generator 5 Expansion valve 6. Evaporator 7 Intermediate heat exchanger 8 Receiver Tank 11 Anti-tip members 12 Support member L1 Circulation Route L2 branching pathway L11~L17 piping LS Junction PL1 housing side panel PL2 housing bottom plate V1, V2 drain valve

Claims

1. a heat exchanger arrangement structure for an ejector cooling device, the heat exchanger arrangement structure comprising: a pump that pressurizes a refrigerant; a generator that heats the refrigerant with heat-source hot water to generate a driving flow; an expansion valve that decompresses the refrigerant; an evaporator that cools a medium to be cooled with the refrigerant decompressed by the expansion valve; an ejector that draws in the refrigerant evaporated by the evaporator with the driving flow of the refrigerant from the generator; a condenser that cools the refrigerant mixed with the driving flow after being drawn into the ejector; and an intermediate heat exchanger that further cools the heat-source hot water cooled by the generator and supplies the cooled heat-source hot water to the evaporator to generate chilled water, A heat exchanger arrangement structure for an ejector cooling device, characterized in that the evaporator is directly mounted on top of the intermediate heat exchanger, which has a high degree of freedom in arrangement within the ejector cooling device.

2. 2. The heat exchanger arrangement structure of the ejector cooling device according to claim 1, wherein a side surface on which a connection portion of the intermediate heat exchanger is formed and a side surface on which a connection portion of the evaporator is formed, which connects a connection pipe between the intermediate heat exchanger and the evaporator, are arranged in the same direction.

3. a connection portion of a generator-side pipe that supplies cooled water flowing in a connection pipe that connects the intermediate heat exchanger and the evaporator from the generator to the intermediate heat exchanger is a connection portion located vertically below the intermediate heat exchanger, and a first drain valve is provided on the generator-side pipe that is connected to the connection portion located vertically below; 2. The heat exchanger arrangement structure of an ejector cooling device according to claim 1, wherein a second drain valve is provided in a cooling water side connection pipe that connects to another connection portion vertically below the intermediate heat exchanger from which the cooling water flows out.

4. 2. The heat exchanger arrangement structure of an ejector cooling device according to claim 1, wherein anti-tip members are provided upright on both side surfaces of the evaporator from a side plate of the housing of the ejector cooling device.

5. 2. The heat exchanger arrangement structure for an ejector cooling device according to claim 1, wherein, when a bottom surface of the evaporator is larger than an upper surface of the intermediate heat exchanger, a support member is erected from a bottom surface side of a housing of the ejector cooling device to support a portion of the intermediate heat exchanger that does not cover the bottom surface of the evaporator.

6. 6. The heat exchanger arrangement structure of an ejector cooling device according to claim 1, wherein at least the intermediate heat exchanger and the evaporator are plate-type heat exchangers.

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