Oil separator with integrated muffler

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11536501-B2
Application number	US-201915734420-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 3, 2019
Priority date	Sep 14, 2018
Publication date	Dec 27, 2022
Grant date	Dec 27, 2022

Abstract

An oil separator and an air conditioning system provided with the oil separator are disclosed by the present disclosure. The oil separator comprises: an inlet (20) configured to receive a refrigerant; a duct (10) through which the refrigerant flows, the duct having a circumferential wall and comprising: a first section comprising a first muffler adjacent to the inlet, the first muffler (60) comprising a chamber (11) defined by a first wall (13) of the first section and designed to have a length dimension (L) in a length direction of the duct and a depth dimension (H) intersecting the length dimension; and a second section downstream of the first section, a second wall (23) of the second section being provided with a second muffler (70); and an oil separation assembly (80,90) through which the refrigerant passing through the duct passes. The present disclosure has a simple and reliable structure and is easy to implement.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An oil separator, comprising:
an inlet configured to receive a refrigerant;
a duct through which the refrigerant flows, the duct having a circumferential wall and comprising:
a first section comprising a first muffler adjacent to the inlet, the first muffler comprising a chamber defined by a first wall of the first section and designed to have a length dimension in a length direction of the duct and a depth dimension intersecting the length dimension; and
a second section downstream of the first section, a second circumferential wall of the second section being provided with a second muffler; and

an oil separation assembly through which the refrigerant passing through the duct passes;
wherein the first muffler comprises a separation plate disposed in the chamber in a direction of a flow path of the refrigerant.

2. The oil separator according to claim 1 , wherein the second muffler comprises a porous structure formed on a second wall, the oil separator further comprises a sound absorbing material surrounding the second section, and the sound absorbing material comprises a fiber material such as glass fibers, a porous foam material, a woven wire mesh, or any combination of the above materials.

3. The oil separator according to claim 2 , wherein the sound absorbing material comprises a plurality of fiber mats arranged along the duct and stacked.

4. The oil separator according to claim 1 , wherein the oil separation assembly comprises a buffering plate in a direction of a flow path of the refrigerant, and the buffering plate is provided with holes, wherein a portion of the oil contained in the refrigerant is separated from the refrigerant after impinging on the buffering plate, and the refrigerant continues to pass through the holes.

5. The oil separator according to claim 1 , wherein the oil separation assembly further comprises a mesh structure made of a metal material and having pores for intercepting oil droplets in the refrigerant.

6. An air conditioning system, comprising a compressor, wherein an oil separator according to claim 1 is disposed in a pipeline connecting to an outlet of the compressor or integrated onto an outlet of the compressor.

7. An oil separator, comprising:
an inlet configured to receive a refrigerant;
a duct through which the refrigerant flows, the duct having a circumferential wall and comprising:
a first section comprising a first muffler adjacent to the inlet, the first muffler comprising a chamber defined by a first wall of the first section and designed to have a length dimension in a length direction of the duct and a depth dimension intersecting the length dimension; and
a second section downstream of the first section, a second circumferential wall of the second section being provided with a second muffler; and

an oil separation assembly through which the refrigerant passing through the duct passes;
wherein the duct has a section through which the refrigerant passes, and the depth dimension is set to be larger than a geometrical dimension of the section such that the chamber forms at least one expansion chamber which extends radially from the wall of the duct in the first section.

8. The oil separator according to claim 7 , wherein the length dimension of the chamber is set to correspond to a frequency band of the refrigerant to be resonated; and the expansion chamber is divided into a plurality of spaces each having a length dimension.

9. An oil separator, comprising:
an inlet configured to receive a refrigerant;
a duct through which the refrigerant flows, the duct having a circumferential wall and comprising:
a first section comprising a first muffler adjacent to the inlet, the first muffler comprising a chamber defined by a first wall of the first section and designed to have a length dimension in a length direction of the duct and a depth dimension intersecting the length dimension; and
a second section downstream of the first section, a second circumferential wall of the second section being provided with a second muffler; and

an oil separation assembly through which the refrigerant passing through the duct passes;
wherein the duct and the inlet each have an axis in a same direction, and the refrigerant enters the oil separator along the axis; a radial dimension of the chamber is the depth dimension, and a distance from the first wall to the axis is greater than a distance from the second wall to the axis.

10. An oil separator, comprising:
an inlet configured to receive a refrigerant;
a duct through which the refrigerant flows, the duct having a circumferential wall and comprising:
a first section comprising a first muffler adjacent to the inlet, the first muffler comprising a chamber defined by a first wall of the first section and designed to have a length dimension in a length direction of the duct and a depth dimension intersecting the length dimension; and
a second section downstream of the first section, a second circumferential wall of the second section being provided with a second muffler; and

an oil separation assembly through which the refrigerant passing through the duct passes;
wherein the duct and the inlet each have an axis in a same direction, and the refrigerant enters the oil separator along the axis; the chamber comprises:
a first space, which is provided with a separation plate in a direction of a flow path of the refrigerant and having a first length dimension;
a second space downstream of the first space, the second space having a second length dimension; and
a connection passage between the first space and the second space, via which the refrigerant flows from the first space to the second space,
a distance from the first wall to the axis is greater than a distance from the second wall to the axis.

Assignees

• Carrier Corp

Inventors

• Li Hongyi
• Shi Yuling
• Liu Jin
• Yang Dongsheng
• Zhang Yilin
• Cheng Xin

Classifications

• F25B2500/12

  Sound · CPC title

• F25B43/02 Primary

  for separating lubricants from the refrigerant · CPC title

• F25B43/003

  Filters · CPC title

• F24F13/24

  Means for preventing or suppressing noise · CPC title