REFRIGERANT MODULE

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application claims priority to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2024-0092079, filed Jul. 12, 2024, the entire contents of which is incorporated herein for all purposes by this reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

The present disclosure relates to a refrigerant module, and more specifically, to a refrigerant module having a structure for preventing oil and refrigerant from being trapped inside a heat exchanger and a refrigerant manifold.

Description of the Related Art

Recently, as interest in environmental pollution issues has increased, research and development and production of eco-friendly vehicles are being actively conducted. In general, the eco-friendly vehicles include electric vehicles driven using fuel cells or electricity as a power source, and hybrid electric vehicles driven using an engine and batteries as a power source.

The electric vehicle or the hybrid electric vehicle includes power electronics (PE) parts including a motor, an inverter, and an onboard charger, and batteries for providing power to the PE parts. In this case, since the PE parts or the batteries generate heat during operation, cooling treatment is essential to protect the parts, ensure durability, and improve the performance of the motor. In addition, in electric vehicles in which heat energy is generated by a chemical reaction, effectively removing the generated heat is directly related to the performance of the fuel cell.

That is, the electric vehicles or the hybrid electric vehicles are provided with a cooling system for cooling the PE parts or the batteries. The cooling system may include a plurality of pipes so that built-in coolant circulates through each device which requires cooling and is heat-exchanged. In this case, the pipes can be formed in consideration of the type of vehicle, the types of devices installed in an engine room, the capacity of the cooling system, the types and number of coolants, and the like and can have a very complicated structure in which a number of pipes and devices are coupled.

To solve this, the cooling system of the vehicle can be modularized to provide ease of assembly and maintenance. Modularization can be done by coupling the devices of the cooling system to the manifold, and in this case, the manifold is a component which has optimized the arrangement of a plurality of pipes formed to allow a fluid to flow between heat exchangers or other devices in a cooling system and has been integrated.

Here, when modularizing refrigerant-related components of the cooling system, it can be formed as a refrigerant manifold. The refrigerant manifold module is formed by assembling heat exchangers such as a chiller, a condenser, and the like and a manifold in which flow paths connecting components including the heat exchangers are integrated. In this case, the manifold preferably has an inlet and an outlet, which are ends of each flow path, connected by forming a closed circuit with the heat exchangers. A configuration of the flow path of the refrigerant manifold can be variously designed differently depending on factors such as the type of vehicle, main components such as an engine and a motor, and the type and number of heat exchange media required.

In this case, depending on positions of the inlet and outlet of the heat exchanger, a pressure drop can occur inside the heat exchanger of the cooling system. For example, when the inlet and outlet of the heat exchanger are disposed continuously at an upper side of the heat exchanger, a pressure drop can occur in the heat exchanger due to gravity when refrigerant moves, and the pressure drop can cause oil and refrigerant to be trapped in the heat exchanger with a high probability. In addition, when oil and refrigerant are trapped, a normal fluid flow is blocked by the trap, resulting in problems that more energy is consumed to move the fluid, the heat transfer efficiency of the exchanger is reduced due to heat transfer obstruction, and the life is shortened due to corrosion and deterioration.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present disclosure has been made in efforts to solve the above problems and is directed to providing a refrigerant manifold module having a structure of preventing oil and refrigerant from being trapped in a heat exchanger and a refrigerant manifold and to providing a refrigerant manifold module in which a location of a connection port structure of a heat exchanger and a refrigerant manifold is restricted to increase heat efficiency by reducing possibility of trapping and smoothing a flow of refrigerant, and formation of a flow path and connection between the heat exchanger and the refrigerant manifold are simplified in consideration of the difficulty of installation, thereby reducing a manufacturing cost and providing ease of installation in a vehicle.

In a refrigerant module of the present disclosure, including a manifold in which a plurality of fluid flow paths are formed, and at least one heat exchanger which is coupled to a lower side of the manifold in a direction of gravity and in which a fluid flows and is heat-exchanged while communicating with the flow path through an inlet and an outlet, wherein, in the refrigerant module, the manifold and the inlet and the outlet of the heat exchanger through which the fluid flows are disposed to be biased to a lower side of the refrigerant module in order to prevent the fluid flowing therein from being trapped.

In this case, the manifold includes a flow path part located at a lower side thereof and having a plurality of fluid flow paths formed through straight processing disposed in a polygonal shape, and a valve block located above the flow path part and for installation of a valve that controls a flow of the flowing fluid.

In addition, the heat exchanger has the inlet and the outlet disposed adjacent to each other by an assembly port, and the assembly port is located at a farthest side from the manifold.

In this case, the assembly port is configured so that the inlet and outlet are disposed in parallel in a horizontal direction with respect to a ground.

In this case, the at least one of the inlet and the outlet is located at a corner of the heat exchanger.

In addition, the heat exchanger forms a fluid flow in which a fluid introduced through the inlet circulates along a flat surface of the heat exchanger, moves downward in the direction of gravity, and then is discharged through the outlet.

In this case, the heat exchanger can minimize a pressure drop of the fluid by the fluid flow moving downward in the direction of gravity, thereby preventing oil and refrigerant from being trapped.

In addition, the heat exchanger forms a fluid flow in which a fluid introduced through the inlet circulates clockwise or counterclockwise along a flat surface of the heat exchanger and then is discharged through the outlet.

In addition, the heat exchanger is coupled to the flow path part and disposed to overlap one surface of a polygonal shape portion formed by the flow paths.

In this case, the heat exchanger has the inlet and the outlet disposed adjacent to each other by an assembly port, and the assembly port is located at a lower end away from the valve block.

In addition, the flow path part includes a refrigerant port that is formed to correspond to an assembly port configured so that the inlet and the outlet are disposed adjacent to each other and includes the inlet and the outlet through which a fluid is introduced into and discharged from the flow path part.

In this case, the refrigerant port is formed at a connection point between the plurality of straight fluid flow paths.

In addition, the flow path part controls a flow of the fluid between the flow path part and a heat exchanger by the refrigerant port.

In addition, the heat exchanger is a power electronics chiller (PE chiller).

In addition, the manifold is disposed so that the plurality of straight fluid flow paths are formed at angles.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the entirety of a manifold refrigerant module according to one embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a manifold according to one embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a heat exchanger according to one embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a front view of the entirety of the refrigerant module according to one embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a rear view of the entirety of the refrigerant module according to one embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a conceptual diagram of a fluid flow of a heat exchanger according to one embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, the technical spirit of the present disclosure will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Prior to this, terms or words used in this specification and claims should not be interpreted as limited to their usual or dictionary meanings and should be interpreted as meanings and concepts that conform to the technical idea of the present disclosure based on the principle that the inventor can appropriately define the concepts of the terms in order to describe his or her own invention in the best way.

Accordingly, since the embodiments described in the present specification and the configurations illustrated in the drawings are only the best exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure and do not represent the technical spirit of the present disclosure, it should be understood that there may be various modifications which can replace them at the time of filing this application.

Hereinafter, the technical spirit of the present disclosure will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Since the accompanying drawings are merely examples illustrated to more specifically describe the technical spirit of the present disclosure, the technical spirit of the present disclosure is not limited to the form of the accompanying drawings.

Referring to FIG. 1, a refrigerant module 10 according to one embodiment of the present disclosure may include a manifold 100 in which a plurality of fluid flow paths 111 are formed, and at least one heat exchanger 200 that is coupled to one side of the manifold 100 so that a fluid flows and is heat-exchanged while communicating with the flow paths 111 through an inlet 211 and an outlet 212. That is, the refrigerant module 10 includes the manifold 100 that integrates the plurality of flow paths 111 along which refrigerant flows, and the heat exchanger 200 that communicates with the flow paths 111 of the manifold 100 so that a fluid flowing along the paths 111 is introduced and is heat-exchanged.

The manifold 100 of the present disclosure may have a structure including a flow path part 110 that integrates the plurality of flow paths 111 and a valve block 120 including a plurality of valves 121 for controlling a fluid flow of the flow path part 110. Here, the manifold 100 may be formed so that the flow path part 110 and the valve block 120 are located separately. That is, referring to FIG. 2, the manifold 100 may have a form in which the flow path part 110 is disposed on one side and the valve block 120 is disposed on the other side. Here, the fluid flowing in the manifold 100 may be refrigerant.

Referring to FIG. 2, the flow path part 110 may have the plurality of fluid flow paths 111 formed through straight processing and disposed in a polygonal shape 112. That is, all of the plurality of fluid flow paths 111 may be formed in a straight line, the straight flow paths 111 may be connected at a predetermined angle, and thus the arrangement shape of the plurality of flow paths 111 connected may have the polygonal shape 112. In this case, the polygon may be a triangle, a quadrangle, a pentagon, or the like, and an angle between line segments may be determined in consideration of the number of flow paths 111 disposed or peripheral devices thereof. In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the flow path part 110 may have the flow path 111 formed by a drilling method. The drilling method may manufacture the plurality of fluid flow paths 111 by processing a body in a straight line using a drill in order to form the flow path 111 after forming the body through forging processing for the flow path part 110. Here, to form an inlet and outlet of a fluid, the flow path part 110 preferably has two or more straightly processed flow paths 111 formed to communicate with the valve 121. That is, in the flow path part 110, the valve block 120 disposed on the other side of the flow path part 110 needs to communicate with two or more flow paths 111, and the flow paths 111 that communicate with the valve block 120 are connected by the remaining straight flow paths 111 so that the flow paths 111 connected form the polygonal shape 112. The flow path part 110 of the present disclosure may be formed to have a flesh removal portion in the manifold 100 through the plurality of straight flow paths 111.

Referring to FIG. 3, the valve block 120 includes the valve 121 for controlling the flow of a fluid flowing along the flow path 111 and may be located on the other side of the flow path part 110. The valve block 120 includes one or more valves 121 that may control the transport of a flow rate, flow direction, and the like of the fluid flowing along each of the plurality of fluid flow paths 111 configured in the flow path part 110 and may be a block for installing the valves 121 of the flow path part 110 at a specific location. The valve block 120 may include the one or more valves 121 and may be processed so that a mode, such as A/C or H/P, is implemented by rotating balls of the one or more refrigerant valves 121 according to a refrigerant circuit mode.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 4, the manifold 100 of the present disclosure is configured so that locations of the flow path part 110 and the valve block 120 are separated. In addition, the present disclosure is characterized in that the heat exchanger 200 coupled to the manifold 100 is coupled to one side of the manifold 100. In the manifold 100 of the present disclosure, refrigerant as a fluid may flow, and thus, the heat exchanger 200 that exchanges heat through the refrigerant is coupled to communicate with the manifold 100 to configure the refrigerant module 10. Accordingly, the refrigerant module 10 of the present disclosure includes the manifold 100 and the heat exchanger 200, and in this case, the heat exchanger 200 is preferably provided as one or more heat exchangers.

The heat exchanger 200 communicates with the flow path 111 of the manifold 100 through the inlet 211 and the outlet 212 so that the fluid flowing in the manifold 100 is heat-exchanged while also flowing in the heat exchanger 200. Preferably, the refrigerant module 10 includes one or more heat exchangers 200, and each of the heat exchangers 200 includes the inlet 211 and the outlet 212 that communicate with the manifold 100. The heat exchanger 200 is not limited as long as it is a device that exchanges heat through refrigerant, but as an embodiment of the present disclosure, the heat exchanger 200 may be a power electronics chiller (PE chiller) device.

In addition, the refrigerant module 10 of the present disclosure may have a form in which the heat exchanger 200 is coupled to one side of the manifold 100. In this case, the manifold 100 may have the flow path part 110 disposed on one side thereof and the valve block 120 disposed on the other side of the flow path part 110. That is, as illustrated in FIG. 4, the refrigerant module 10 may be a component in which the flow path part 110 and the heat exchanger 200 are disposed on one side and the valve 121 block is disposed on the other side. In addition, the flow path part 110 may have a plurality of straight flow paths 111 disposed in the polygonal shape 112 to form the flesh removal portion. In this case, the present disclosure may be used as a space in which other components are assembled to the shape of the flesh removal portion. That is, other components may be disposed on one surface of the flow path part 110 disposed in the polygonal shape 112. In the refrigerant module 10 of the present disclosure, the heat exchanger 200 is disposed to overlap the one surface of the flow path part 110, and the valve block 120 including a port or the valve 121 for refrigerant pipes is assembled to be disposed outside the heat exchanger 200.

The refrigerant flowing into the heat exchanger 200 from the manifold 100 is heat-exchanged while circulating and then is discharged back to the manifold 100. In this process, the heat exchanger 200 may have a different fluid flow of the refrigerant according to the locations of the inlet 211 and the outlet 212, and a pressure drop may occur according to the flow, and there is a problem that the pressure drop may cause oil and refrigerant trapped in the heat exchanger 200 or the manifold. The present disclosure provides the refrigerant module 10 having a structure for preventing oil and refrigerant from being trapped by reducing the pressure drop of the refrigerant flowing in the refrigerant module 10.

To configure a structure for preventing oil and refrigerant from being trapped, the refrigerant module 10 of the present disclosure is configured so that the heat exchanger 200 of the present disclosure has the inlet 211 through which a fluid is introduced from the manifold 100 and the outlet 212 through which the fluid completely heat-exchanged is discharged to the manifold 100 that are located to be biased to one side. This is to minimize the phenomenon of the pressure drop of the refrigerant by improving the flow direction of the refrigerant flowing in the heat exchanger 200 so that the fluid can flow smoothly without pressure drop. According to the present disclosure, due to the characteristics of the refrigerant manifold in which the heat exchanger 200 is assembled, the locations of the inlet 211 and the outlet 212 of the heat exchanger 200 are limited to locations away from the valve block 120 in order to reflect the structure of the heat exchanger 200 so that the flow of the refrigerant is smooth. Accordingly, in the refrigerant module 10, when the heat exchanger 200 is coupled to overlap one side of the manifold 100 on the manifold 100, the inlet 211 and the outlet 212 of the heat exchanger 200 are located to be biased to one side on the heat exchanger 200.

More specifically, referring to FIGS. 1 and 4, the inlet 211 and the outlet 212 of the heat exchanger 200 are disposed on the farthest side from the valve block 120 through which the refrigerant is introduced and discharged. The heat exchanger 200 has the inlet 211 and the outlet 212 disposed adjacent to each other by an assembly port 210 to be connected to the manifold 100. The assembly port 210 is a connection passage for connecting the flow path part 110 to the heat exchanger 200, and the inlet 211 and outlet 212 are formed in the assembly port 210. In this case, the assembly port 210 may be formed on the flow path 111 of the flow path part 110. More specifically, the assembly port 210 may be formed at a point at which the fluid paths 111 are connected among the plurality of fluid paths 111 formed in a straight line by straight processing.

In this case, as illustrated in FIG. 5, the flow path part 110 may include a refrigerant port 113 that is in contact with the assembly port 210. The refrigerant port 113 may be formed in a shape corresponding to a location corresponding to the assembly port 210 to form a fluid flow passage between the flow path part 110 and the heat exchanger 200. The refrigerant port 113 may include an inlet and an outlet formed at locations corresponding to the assembly port 210 so that the refrigerant may flow into the heat exchanger 200 through the inlet 211 of the assembly port 210 and the inlet of the refrigerant port 113, and the refrigerant may be discharged from the heat exchanger 200 through the outlet 212 of the assembly port 210 and the outlet of the refrigerant port 113. In this case, when the flow path part 110 includes the assembly port 210 at a point at which the straight flow paths 111 are connected, the refrigerant port 113 may be formed to correspond to a location of a connection point at which the plurality of fluid flow paths 111 formed through straight processing are connected while corresponding to the assembly port 210.

The assembly port 210 of the heat exchanger 200 of the present disclosure limits its location by reflecting the structure of the heat exchanger 200, and the assembly port 210 is located on one side facing the flow path part 110 that is the farthest from the valve block 120 on the heat exchanger 200. That is, in the refrigerant module 10, the heat exchanger 200 may be disposed to overlap the flow path part 110 disposed on one side of the manifold 100, and the assembly port 210 may be disposed on one possible end of the heat exchanger 200.

Describing one embodiment of the present disclosure with reference to FIG. 4, the manifold 100 may have the valve block 120 disposed on an upper side thereof and the flow path part 110 disposed on a lower side thereof in a direction of gravity. In addition, the heat exchanger 200 may be coupled to the manifold 100 while overlapping one surface of the flow path part 110. That is, the heat exchanger 200 may be disposed at a lower side of the refrigerant module 10. In this case, the assembly port 210 of the heat exchanger 200 is disposed at the lowest end of the heat exchanger 200 that is the farthest from the valve 121 block. Here, the assembly port 210 may be formed on the heat exchanger 200 so that the inlet 211 and the outlet 212 are formed in parallel in a horizontal direction with respect to the ground. That is, the inlet 211 and the outlet 212 of the heat exchanger 200 may be arranged in parallel in the horizontal direction and disposed at the lowest end of the heat exchanger. In this case, the assembly port 210 is preferably disposed at a corner of the heat exchanger 200. That is, at least one of the inlet 211 and the outlet 212 may be disposed to be located at the corner of the heat exchanger 200. This is to improve the flow of the fluid, and when described based on the refrigerant of the heat exchanger 200 circulating in a plane direction of the heat exchanger 200, when the assembly port 210 is disposed at a lower end of the heat exchanger 200 and at least one side of the assembly port 210 is disposed at least at the corner of the heat exchanger 200, the heat exchanger 200 may form a fluid outflow in which the fluid introduced through the inlet 211 moves upward, circulates clockwise or counterclockwise in the plane direction of the heat exchanger 200, moves downward in the direction of gravity, and then is discharged through the outlet 212.

Describing one example in detail with reference to FIG. 6, when the assembly port 210 is located at a lower left corner of the heat exchanger 200, the inlet 211 may be located at the right of the assembly port 210, and the outlet 212 may be located at the left of the assembly port 210. Accordingly, the fluid flow of the heat exchanger 200 is formed so that the refrigerant introduced through the inlet 211 may move rightward, circulate counterclockwise along the flat surface of the heat exchanger 200, moves downward in the direction of gravity, and may be discharged through the outlet 212 located at the left corner of the heat exchanger 200. Accordingly, the refrigerant of the heat exchanger 200 may be discharged after circulating with the help of gravity, thereby minimizing the pressure drop phenomenon and preventing oil and refrigerant from being trapped in the heat exchanger 200 and the manifold.

According to the refrigerant manifold module of the present disclosure having the above configuration, by reflecting the characteristics of the refrigerant manifold to which the heat exchanger is assembled and the structure of the heat exchanger to restrict the location of the assembly port of the heat exchanger and the manifold, it is possible to minimize a pressure drop of refrigerant, prevent oil and refrigerant from being trapped due to the pressure drop, and furthermore, provide the heat exchanger with the maximized refrigerant flow efficiency, increase the effect of cost saving and packability of the cooling system by reducing the refrigerant module package compared to the conventional vehicle due to miniaturization and simplification of the plurality of pipes through the shape of the flesh removal portion of the manifold, easily implement the shape through processing, and provide the ease of assembly and installation by integrating the heat exchanger and the manifold.

Although the present disclosure has been described above by specific matters such as specific components and limited embodiment drawings, it is provided only to help a more general understanding of the present disclosure, the present disclosure is not limited to the above one embodiment, and those skilled in the art to which the present disclosure pertains can make various modifications and variations from this description.

Accordingly, the spirit of the present disclosure should not be limited to the described embodiments, and not only the appended claims, but also all things that are equivalent or have modifications equivalent to the claims fall within the scope of the spirit of the present disclosure.

DESCRIPTION OF REFERENCE NUMERALS