Heat management system for vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2025196570-A1
Application number	US-202318847301-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jul 28, 2023
Priority date	Aug 10, 2022
Publication date	Jun 19, 2025
Grant date	—

Abstract

The present invention relates to a heat management system for a vehicle, and more specifically, to a heat management system for a vehicle in which the refrigerant discharged from a compressor flows into a muffler to reduce the noise of the refrigerant, and the oil in the refrigerant is separated therefrom so that only the refrigerant flows to the indoor heat exchanger, and the separated oil is circulated back to the compressor, thereby improving the durability of the compressor.

First claim

1 . A heat management system for a vehicle, which comprises a compressor installed on a refrigerant circulation lines and configured to compress and discharge refrigerant, an evaporator installed inside an air conditioning case and configured to exchange heat between air in the air conditioning case and the refrigerant supplied to the compressor, an outdoor heat exchanger installed outside the air conditioning case and configured to exchange heat between the refrigerant circulating through the refrigerant circulation line and outdoor air, and an expansion means installed on the refrigerant circulation line at an inlet side of the evaporator and configured to expand the refrigerant supplied to the evaporator,
wherein a muffler installed at an outlet side of the compressor and configured to attenuate noise of the refrigerant discharged from the compressor, and an oil circulation line installed to directly or indirectly connect the muffler to the compressor are provided on the refrigerant circulation line, and wherein the muffler is configured to separate oil contained in the refrigerant discharged from the compressor, discharge only refrigerant separated from the oil through the refrigerant circulation line at an outlet side of the muffler, and discharge the separated oil to the compressor through the oil circulation line so that the oil circulates.

2 . The heat management system of claim 1 , wherein the muffler has a cylindrical shape extending vertically, with a funnel-shaped structure that decreases in cross-sectional area from top to bottom, the muffler is configured to separate the refrigerant and the oil in a centrifugation manner by spirally rotating the refrigerant introduced into an internal space thereof.

3 . The heat management system of claim 2 , wherein the muffler comprises:
a main body having the internal space; a refrigerant inlet provided on one side of the main body, configured to introduce refrigerant containing oil from outside into the internal space; a refrigerant outlet provided on the other side of the main body, configured to discharge the refrigerant separated from the oil in the internal space from the main body; and an oil outlet provided on another side of the main body, configured to discharge the oil separated from the refrigerant in the internal space from the main body.

4 . The heat management system of claim 3 , wherein the main body comprises an upper chamber having a cylindrical shape and a lower chamber having a funnel shape, and the refrigerant inlet is provided on a side surface of the upper chamber, the refrigerant outlet is provided on an upper surface of the upper chamber, and the oil outlet is provided at the center of the lower end of the lower chamber.

5 . The heat management system of claim 4 , wherein the refrigerant inlet is connected to a centrifugation induction pipe extending from the side surface to the internal space, and
the centrifugation induction pipe comprises a linear portion that extends horizontally toward a center of the upper chamber and a curved portion that is bent in a curved manner toward an inner circumferential surface of the upper chamber from a front end of the linear portion.

6 . The heat management system of claim 4 , wherein the main body further comprises a collection chamber partially protruding upward from the center of the upper surface of the upper chamber, and the collection chamber is configured to have a diameter smaller than that of the upper chamber and to be connected to the refrigerant outlet.

7 . The heat management system of claim 4 , wherein the lower chamber has a guide protrusion provided on an inner circumferential surface thereof, the guide protrusion is configured to guide the oil separated from the refrigerant to flow to the oil outlet while rotating along the inner circumferential surface.

8 . The heat management system of claim 7 , wherein the guide protrusion comprises a plurality of guide protrusions arranged along the inner circumferential surface.

9 . The heat management system of claim 7 , wherein the guide protrusion is provided with a curved shape corresponding to a rotation direction of the oil and extends from an upper side of the lower chamber toward the oil outlet at a lower side thereof.

10 . The heat management system of claim 3 , wherein a filter configured to remove foreign substances contained in the separated oil is installed on the oil outlet.

11 . The heat management system of claim 1 , wherein the oil circulation line is connected to the refrigerant circulation line at the inlet side of the compressor.

12 . The heat management system of claim 11 , wherein the oil circulation line is configured to have a diameter smaller than that of the refrigerant circulation line.

13 . The heat management system of claim 1 , wherein the compressor comprises a low-pressure section at a front end where the refrigerant is introduced, a high-pressure section at a rear end where the refrigerant and the oil are discharged, and an intermediate-pressure section between the low-pressure section and the high-pressure section, and the oil circulation line is connected to either the low-pressure section or the intermediate-pressure section.

14 . The heat management system of claim 1 , wherein an expansion valve or an orifice is installed on the oil circulation line.

15 . The heat management system of claim 1 , further comprising an indoor heat exchanger installed inside the air conditioning case, configured to exchange heat between the air in the air conditioning case and the refrigerant discharged from the compressor, wherein the muffler is configured to discharge only the refrigerant separated from the oil to the indoor heat exchanger through the refrigerant circulation line.

Assignees

• Hanon Systems

Inventors

• Lim Ju Young
• Kim Gun Ryang
• Lee Dong Won
• Lee Hun Sang

Classifications

• B60H1/3228

  characterised by refrigerant circuit configurations · CPC title

• B60H2001/00928

  comprising a secondary circuit · CPC title

• B60H2001/00949

  comprising additional heating/cooling sources, e.g. second evaporator · CPC title

• B60H1/00921 Primary

  where the flow direction of the refrigerant does not change and there is an extra subcondenser, e.g. in an air duct · CPC title

• F25B2500/12

  Sound · CPC title