Refrigerant distribution unit for air conditioner
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing refrigerant distribution units face difficulties in installation, especially in limited spaces, due to the equal length of adjacent gas and liquid pipes, which restricts tool access and complicates the installation process when mounted near obstacles or in vertical arrangements.
Innovation Solution
The refrigerant distribution unit design features horizontally arranged gas and liquid pipes with a 40 mm spacing, allowing for adjustable branch pipe lengths and separate joints, enabling easier installation and maintenance by preventing pipe interference and allowing tool access, even in confined spaces.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If the gas pipe and liquid pipe are arranged horizontally with equal length, then the structure is simple and easy to manufacture, but the installation becomes difficult in limited spaces due to pipe interference
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by making the gas pipe and liquid pipe have different lengths specifically at the branch pipe connection portions, while maintaining equal lengths at other sections. This allows the deeper pipes to be longer, providing sufficient space for tool rotation and installation operations without requiring all pipes to be uniformly long, thus resolving the contradiction between manufacturing simplicity and installation ease.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent resolves the spatial conflict by introducing a dimensional variation in pipe length along the installation direction. By extending the gas pipe or liquid pipe selectively in the depth dimension (away from the distribution unit), the patent creates sufficient working space for tool rotation without increasing the overall width or height, thus enabling installation in limited spaces while maintaining structural simplicity.
2Area of stationary object
If the branch refrigerant pipes are arranged in vertical direction, then the installation space is reduced, but the tool rotation space becomes limited due to pipe interference
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by differentiating the lengths of gas and liquid pipes specifically at the branch connection portions. This allows the deeper pipe to be extended, creating sufficient radial space for tool rotation around the flare connection area, while maintaining compact vertical arrangement of the branch pipes themselves, thus resolving the contradiction between compact installation space and tool rotation space.
3Device complexity
If the gas pipe and liquid pipe have equal length, then the pipe structure is symmetric and simple, but the flare connection operation becomes difficult in confined spaces
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by making the pipe length differentiation localized only at the branch pipe connection portions, while maintaining equal lengths at the distribution unit connection portions. This minimal modification to the pipe structure provides sufficient space for flare connection operations without significantly increasing overall structural complexity, thus resolving the contradiction between structural simplicity and ease of flare connection.
Data Source
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AI summary
A refrigerant distribution unit for an air conditioner, includes: a refrigerant pipe provided on an outdoor unit side; branch refrigerant pipes provided on an indoor unit side; a distribution portion which distributes a refrigerant from the refrigerant pipe to the branch refrigerant pipes; a main unit which stores the distribution portion and includes a first side face from which the refrigerant pipe is drawn out and a second side face from which the branch refrigerant pipes are drawn out; and an electric component box. Each of the branch refrigerant pipes includes a branch gas pipe and a branch liquid pipe which are drawn out from the second side face. The adjacent branch gas pipes are disposed parallel such that lengths of the branch gas pipes increase sequentially from one toward the other, and the adjacent branch liquid pipes are disposed parallel such that lengths of the branch liquid pipes similarly increase sequentially.