Centrifugal blower with cooling function

Abstract

A centrifugal blower with a cooling function includes an impeller, a scroll casing, and an evaporator. The impeller includes a plurality of blades provided around a rotary shaft and blows out in a radially outward direction air taken in along the axial direction of the rotary shaft. The scroll casing accommodates the impeller, and has an intake port, a spiral air passage, and a discharge port. The evaporator is disposed in the air passage of the scroll casing. The evaporator includes a plurality of refrigerant passage members which are stacked in the longitudinal direction of the rotary shaft of the impeller and each of which has a refrigerant flow channel. An air-passing clearance is provided between adjacent refrigerant passage members. The centrifugal blower with a cooling function is used for a vehicle air conditioner.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A centrifugal blower with a cooling function comprising:
 an impeller which includes a plurality of blades provided around a rotary shaft and which blows out in a radially outward direction air taken in along an axial direction of the rotary shaft;   a scroll casing which accommodates the impeller and which has an intake port for taking in air along the axial direction of the rotary shaft of the impeller, a spiral air passage through which the air blown out from the impeller flows, and a discharge port for blowing out the air having flowed through the air passage; and   an evaporator which is disposed in the air passage of the scroll casing and which has a refrigerant flow channel and an air-passing clearance through which the air flowing through the air passage passes.   
     
     
         2 . A centrifugal blower with a cooling function according to  claim 1 , wherein the evaporator includes a plurality of refrigerant passage members stacked in the longitudinal direction of the rotary shaft of the impeller, the refrigerant flow channel is provided in each of the refrigerant passage members, and the air-passing clearance is provided between adjacent refrigerant passage members. 
     
     
         3 . A centrifugal blower with a cooling function according to  claim 2 , wherein the refrigerant flow channels of the refrigerant passage members of the evaporator are formed such that refrigerant flows through the refrigerant flow channels in a direction opposite the flow of air within the air passage of the scroll casing. 
     
     
         4 . A centrifugal blower with a cooling function according to  claim 3 , wherein
 each of the refrigerant passage members of the evaporator is formed by joining two metal plates;   each refrigerant flow channel is formed by a plurality of flow-channel-forming bulging portions provided on the first metal plate such that they are spaced from one another in the flow direction of air within the air passage of the scroll casing, and a plurality of flow-channel-forming bulging portions provided on the second metal plate such that they are spaced from one another in the flow direction of air within the air passage of the scroll casing and partially overlap with the flow-channel-forming bulging portions of the first metal plate; and   the air-passing clearance is formed between two adjacent refrigerant passage members by joining together the flow-channel-forming bulging portions of the first metal plate of one of the two refrigerant passage members and the flow-channel-forming bulging portions of the second metal plate of the other refrigerant passage member.   
     
     
         5 . A centrifugal blower with a cooling function according to  claim 4 , wherein
 the evaporator has a refrigerant inlet header with which upstream ends of the refrigerant flow channels of all the refrigerant passage members communicate, and a refrigerant outlet header with which downstream ends of the refrigerant flow channels of all the refrigerant passage members communicate;   the refrigerant inlet header and the refrigerant outlet header are formed by an inlet header forming portion and an outlet header forming portion, respectively, provided on each refrigerant passage member;   the inlet header forming portion is formed by communicatably joining together adjacent ones of inlet header bulging portions provided on the two metal plates of each refrigerant passage member, and the outlet header forming portion is formed by communicatably joining together adjacent ones of outlet header bulging portions provided on the two metal plates of each refrigerant passage member; and   the flow-channel-forming bulging portion provided on the first metal plate of each refrigerant passage member at the downstream end thereof with respect to the flow direction of air within the air passage of the scroll casing communicates with the inlet header bulging portion of the first metal plate, the flow-channel-forming bulging portion provided on the first metal plate at the upstream end thereof with respect to the flow direction of air does not communicate with the outlet header bulging portion of the first metal plate, the flow-channel-forming bulging portion provided on the second metal plate at the upstream end thereof with respect to the flow direction of air within the air passage of the scroll casing communicates with the outlet header bulging portion of the second metal plate, and the flow-channel-forming bulging portion provided on the second metal plate at the downstream end thereof with respect to the flow direction of air does not communicate with the inlet header bulging portion of the second metal plate.   
     
     
         6 . A centrifugal blower with a cooling function according to  claim 5 , wherein water drain holes in the shape of through holes are formed in portions of the two metal plates of each refrigerant passage member where the flow-channel-forming bulging portions, the inlet header bulging portion, and the outlet header bulging portion are not provided. 
     
     
         7 . A centrifugal blower with a cooling function according to  claim 4 , wherein
 each refrigerant passage member has a circular outer shape and has an eccentric circular hole;   the evaporator is disposed in the air passage of the scroll casing such that the impeller is located within the eccentric circular hole of each refrigerant passage member; and   the flow-channel-forming bulging portions of the first metal plate are straight and incline radially outward toward the downstream side with respect to the flow direction of air within the air passage, and the flow-channel-forming bulging portions of the second metal plate are straight and incline radially outward toward the upstream side with respect to the flow direction of air within the air passage.