Oil Separator

Abstract

Provided is an oil separator which can separate refrigerant and refrigeration machine oil with high efficiency, which can effectively prevent the outflow of separated oil towards the refrigerant discharge path side, which can reduce pressure loss in the flow of refrigerant, and which can be made compact especially in the radial direction. The oil separator is provided with: a tubular outer pipe which is disposed on the compressor outlet side; an inlet pipe for introducing refrigerant containing refrigeration machine oil into the tubular outer pipe in such a manner as to produce a downward helical flow of refrigerant containing refrigeration machine oil along the inner surface of the tubular outer pipe; a refrigerant outlet pipe which has an external outflow port for the outflow of refrigerant to outside the tubular outer pipe, has a section extending in the axial direction of the tubular outer pipe at the central position of the tubular outer pipe, and allows the inflow, from the lower end of the above-mentioned section, of refrigerant separated from the refrigerant containing refrigeration machine oil having flowed down in the helical flow, and wherein the flow direction has been inverted in relation to the vertical direction at a first refrigerant inversion part; a refrigerant return pipe which extends in the axial direction of the tubular outer pipe at the central position of the tubular outer pipe, below the refrigerant outlet pipe, and which allows the inflow, from the lower end thereof, of refrigerant separated from the refrigerant containing refrigeration machine oil having flowed down in the helical flow, and wherein the flow direction has been inverted in relation to the vertical direction at a second refrigerant inversion part; and an oil storage part which is formed at the bottom of the tubular outer pipe. Furthermore, a part exhibiting a reflector function for preventing refrigeration machine oil stored in the oil storage part from flowing out into the refrigerant outlet pipe is provided between the refrigerant return pipe and the inner surface of the tubular outer pipe.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0001]The present invention relates to an oil separator which separates refrigeration machine oil mixed in refrigerant discharged from a compressor, and specifically, to an oil separator suitable to be disposed in a refrigeration circuit of an air conditioning system for a vehicle.BACKGROUND ART OF THE INVENTION[0002]For example, in a refrigeration circuit of an air conditioning system for a vehicle, there may be a case where provided is an oil separator having a function for separating refrigeration machine oil mixed in refrigerant discharged from a compressor and returning the separated refrigeration machine oil to the compressor. In a conventional oil separator, because the outer shape and the length dimension are large, the mounting position to an automobile has been limited, and further, because the structure is relatively complicated and the cost is high, it has not been so common to separate oil in refrigerant discharged from a compressor by an...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0006]However, in the above-described oil separator structure disclosed in Patent document 1, outflow of the oil stored in the lower part into the outlet pipe (inner tube) due to splashing up cannot be avoided, and consequently, it is difficult to realize an excellent oil separation performance. Further, because a structure is employed wherein the diameter of the outer tube is enlarged partially, large-sized form in the radial direction as the whole of the oil separator cannot be avoided, and therefore, it is a disadvantageous structure less in freedom on space for disposition in refrigeration circuit or space for being mounted. Furthermore, although in the above-described Patent document 1 there is a description of a structural example which employs an improvement for enlarging the pipe diameter of the entrance of the outlet pipe provided as a return pipe in order to reduce the pressure loss in return flow to the outlet pipe of the separator, this causes the oil to be liable to enter into the outlet pipe further easily, and the amount of oil flowing out from the outlet pipe toward outside (for example, toward a condenser in the refrigeration circuit) may increase.

[0007]Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an oil separator which can separate refrigerant and refrigeration machine oil with extremely high efficiency, which can effectively prevent the outflow of separated oil towards the refrigerant discharge path side, and which can reduce pressure loss in the flow of refrigerant.

[0008]Further, another object of the present invention is to provide an oil separator which can realize a compact structure without making it large-sized especially in the radial direction while achieving an excellent separation performance, which can spatially improve mounting property in case of being mounted as a sole body, and which can be easily designed to be integrated with another device.Means for Solving the Problems

Problems solved by technology

In a conventional oil separator, because the outer shape and the length dimension are large, the mounting position to an automobile has been limited, and further, because the structure is relatively complicated and the cost is high, it has not been so common to separate oil in refrigerant discharged from a compressor by an oil separator disposed outside the compressor and to return the separated refrigeration machine oil to the compressor.

Therefore, an oil separating mechanism incorporated integrally into a compressor itself has been common, but in such a case, the function for oil separation has been limited.

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