Method for manufacturing refrigerant distributor, refrigerant distributor manufacturing apparatus, refrigerant distributor, heat exchanger, and air-conditioning device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10175009-B2
Application number	US-201515533683-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 18, 2015
Priority date	Jan 7, 2015
Publication date	Jan 8, 2019
Grant date	Jan 8, 2019

Abstract

A sacrifice positive electrode layer is formed conveniently, efficiently, and accurately on the surface of a refrigerant distributor having a complicated shape. Further, during the formation of the sacrifice positive electrode layer, the strength in the surroundings of joined parts is prevented from being lowered by excessive heating. Included are: an applying step of applying flux to remove an aluminum oxide to a surface of a plurality of outflow sections and a distributing section; an alloy disposing step of disposing a zinc-containing aluminum-silicon alloy on the surface to which the flux is applied; a forming step of forming the sacrifice positive electrode layer on the surface by heating the disposed zinc-containing aluminum-silicon alloy; a brazing material disposing step of inserting a plurality of outflow pipes into the plurality of outflow sections, respectively, and disposing an aluminum-silicon alloy brazing material on the surface of the outflow sections; and a brazing step of brazing the plurality of outflow sections with the plurality of outflow pipes, respectively, by heating the aluminum-silicon alloy brazing material.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for manufacturing a refrigerant distributor, the refrigerant distributor including
an inflow section made of aluminum, into which refrigerant enters from an inflow pipe,
a plurality of outflow pipes each of which is made of aluminum and each of which allows the entering refrigerant to flow out, and
a distributing section made of aluminum, the distributing section including a plurality of outflow sections each being connected to one of the plurality of outflow pipes, the method comprising:
an applying step of applying flux that removes aluminum oxide to a surface of the plurality of outflow sections and the distributing section;
an alloy disposing step of disposing a zinc-containing aluminum-silicon alloy on the surface to which the flux is applied;
a forming step of forming a sacrifice positive electrode layer on the surface by heating the disposed zinc-containing aluminum-silicon alloy;
a brazing material disposing step of inserting the plurality of outflow pipes into the plurality of outflow sections, respectively, and disposing an aluminum-silicon alloy brazing material on the surface of the plurality of outflow sections; and
a brazing step of brazing the plurality of outflow sections with the plurality of outflow pipes, respectively, by heating the disposed aluminum-silicon alloy brazing material.

2. A method for manufacturing a refrigerant distributor, the refrigerant distributor including
an inflow section made of aluminum, into which refrigerant enters from an inflow pipe,
a plurality of outflow pipes each of which is made of aluminum and each of which allows the entering refrigerant to flow out, and
a distributing section made of aluminum, the distributing section including a plurality of outflow sections each being connected to one of the plurality of outflow pipes, the method comprising:
an applying step of applying flux to remove aluminum oxide to a surface of a zinc-containing aluminum-silicon alloy;
an alloy disposing step of disposing zinc-containing aluminum-silicon alloy to which the flux is applied in advance on the surface thereof, at the outflow sections and the distributing section;
a forming step of forming a sacrifice positive electrode layer on a surface of the outflow sections and the distributing section by heating the disposed zinc-containing aluminum-silicon alloy;
a brazing material disposing step of inserting the plurality of outflow pipes into the plurality of outflow sections, respectively, and disposing the aluminum-silicon alloy brazing material to which the flux is applied in advance on a surface thereof, at the plurality of outflow sections; and
a brazing step of brazing the plurality of outflow sections with the plurality of outflow pipes, respectively, by heating the disposed aluminum-silicon alloy brazing material.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising a preparing step of preparing a heating member configured to heat the refrigerant distributor, wherein
the heating in the forming step and the heating in the brazing step are performed simultaneously by using the heating member prepared in the preparing step.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein
the forming step is performed after the brazing step.

5. A refrigerant distributor manufacturing apparatus configured to manufacture a refrigerant distributor including
an inflow section made of aluminum into which refrigerant enters from an inflow pipe,
a plurality of outflow pipes each of which is made of aluminum and each of which allows the entering refrigerant to flow out, and
a distributing section made of aluminum, the distributing section including a plurality of outflow sections each being connected to one of the plurality of outflow pipes, the refrigerant distributor manufacturing apparatus comprising:
an applying unit configured to apply flux that removes aluminum oxide to a surface of the plurality of outflow sections and the distributing section;
an alloy disposing unit configured to dispose a zinc-containing aluminum-silicon alloy on the surface to which the flux is applied by the applying unit;
an inserting unit configured to insert the plurality of outflow pipes into the plurality of outflow sections, respectively;
a brazing material disposing unit configured to dispose an aluminum-silicon alloy brazing material at the plurality of outflow sections into which the plurality of outflow pipes are inserted, respectively, by the inserting unit; and
a heating unit configured to perform
a forming step of forming a sacrifice positive electrode layer on the surface by heating the zinc-containing aluminum-silicon alloy disposed by the alloy disposing unit and
a brazing step of brazing the plurality of outflow sections with the plurality of outflow pipes, respectively, by heating the aluminum-silicon alloy brazing material disposed by the brazing material disposing unit.

6. A refrigerant distributor manufacturing apparatus configured to manufacture a refrigerant distributor including
an inflow section made of aluminum, into which refrigerant enters from an inflow pipe,
a plurality of outflow pipes each of which is made of aluminum and each of which allows the entering refrigerant to flow out, and
a distributing section made of aluminum, the distributing section including a plurality of outflow sections each being connected to one of the plurality of outflow pipes, the refrigerant distributor manufacturing apparatus comprising:
an applying unit configured to apply flux that removes an aluminum oxide to surfaces of a zinc-containing aluminum-silicon alloy and an aluminum-silicon alloy brazing material;
an alloy disposing unit configured to dispose the zinc-containing aluminum-silicon alloy to which the flux is applied by the applying unit, at the plurality of outflow sections and the distributing section;
an inserting unit configured to insert the plurality of outflow pipes into the plurality of outflow sections, respectively;
a brazing material disposing unit configured to dispose the aluminum-silicon alloy brazing material to which the flux is applied by the applying unit, at the plurality of outflow sections into which the plurality of outflow pipes are inserted, respectively, by the inserting unit; and
a heating unit configured to perform
a forming step of forming a sacrifice positive electrode layer on a surface of the plurality of outflow sections and the distributing section by heating the zinc-containing aluminum-silicon alloy disposed by the alloy disposing unit, and
a brazing step of brazing the plurality of outflow sections with the plurality of outflow pipes, respectively, by heating the aluminum-silicon alloy brazing material disposed by the brazing material disposing unit.

7. The refrigerant distributor manufacturing apparatus of claim 5 , wherein
the heating unit includes a heating member configured to heat the refrigerant distributor and performs the forming step and the brazing step simultaneously by employing the heating member.

8. The refrigerant distributor manufacturing apparatus of claim 5 , wherein
the heating unit is configured to perform the forming step after the brazing step.

9. A refrigerant distributor comprising:
an inflow section made of aluminum, into which refrigerant enters from an inflow pipe and;
a plurality of outflow pipes each of which is made of aluminum and each of which allows the entering refrigerant to flow out;
a distributing section made of aluminum, the distributing section including a plurality of outflow sections each being connected to one of the plurality of outflow pipes; and
an aluminum-silicon alloy brazing material section in which the plurality of outflow pipes and the plurality of outflow sections are

Assignees

• Mitsubishi Electric Corp

Inventors

• Kuriki Hironori
• Miya Kazuhiro
• Miyake Nobuaki
• Murata Akio
• Satake Yoshihiko

Classifications

• B23P15/26

  heat exchangers {or the like (making heat exchangers by methods covered by other subclasses B21D53/02)} · CPC title

• B23K35/00

  Rods, electrodes, materials, or media, for use in soldering, welding, or cutting · CPC title

• B23K1/20

  Preliminary treatment of work or areas to be soldered, e.g. in respect of a galvanic coating · CPC title

• B23K1/0012

  Brazing of heat exchangers · CPC title

• F28F9/0275

  with multiple branch pipes · CPC title