Outdoor heat exchanger and air conditioner

Abstract

An outdoor heat exchanger has a total length of refrigerant flow passage in which a refrigerant flows along a refrigerant tube, and exchanges heat with outdoor air, the outdoor heat exchanger including a plurality of refrigerant tubes spaced apart from one another, a first and second header respectively coupled to both end portions of each of the refrigerant tubes, and a plurality of heat exchanging fins coupled to outer surfaces of the refrigerant tubes to widen a surface making contact with an outside, wherein a total length of a refrigerant flow passage in which a refrigerant flows along the refrigerant tube and exchanges heat with outdoor air is equal to or greater than about 1500 mm and equal to or less than about 6000 mm, in which range, the outdoor heat exchange achieves the optimum performance.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An outdoor heat exchanger, comprising:
 a plurality of refrigerant tubes;   a first header and a second header coupled to each end portions of each of the plurality of refrigerant tubes, respectively; and   a plurality of heat exchanging fins coupled to outer surfaces of the plurality of refrigerant tubes,   wherein a total length of a refrigerant flow passage in which a refrigerant flows along the refrigerant tubes is equal to or greater than about 1500 mm and equal to or less than about 6000 mm.   
     
     
         2 . The outdoor heat exchanger of  claim 1 , wherein:
 when a heat transfer performance of the outdoor heat exchanger is equal to or less than about 4000 W, the total length of the refrigerant flow passage is equal to or greater than about 1500 mm and equal to or less than about 5000 mm.   
     
     
         3 . The outdoor heat exchanger of  claim 1 , wherein:
 when a heat transfer performance of the outdoor heat exchanger exceeds about 4000 W, the total length of the refrigerant flow passage is equal to or greater than about 2500 mm and equal to or less than about 6000 mm.   
     
     
         4 . The outdoor heat exchanger of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a baffle provided inside the first header or the second header to block a longitudinal flow of the refrigerant to change a direction of the refrigerant.   
     
     
         5 . The outdoor heat exchanger of  claim 4 , wherein:
 the baffle on of a plurality of baffles installed inside the first header and the second header.   
     
     
         6 . The outdoor heat exchanger of  claim 5 , wherein:
 the plurality of baffles are installed in an alternate manner lengthwise along the first header and the second header.   
     
     
         7 . The outdoor heat exchanger of  claim 6 , wherein:
 the total length of the refrigerant flow passage is equal to a length of the refrigerant tube multiplied by the number obtained by adding 1 to the number of the baffles.   
     
     
         8 . The outdoor heat exchanger of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the refrigerant tube is a micro-channel tube having equal to or less than about 3 mm of hydraulic diameter.   
     
     
         9 . The outdoor heat exchanger of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the outdoor heat exchanger is used by converting the outdoor heat exchanger into one of a condenser and an evaporator.   
     
     
         10 . The outdoor heat exchanger of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the refrigerant comprises at least one of R22 and R410a.   
     
     
         11 . The outdoor heat exchanger of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the refrigerant comprises at least one of R32, R1234yf, and R1234ze.   
     
     
         12 . An air conditioner, comprising:
 a compressor configured to compress refrigerant gas and discharge the compressed refrigerant gas;   an outdoor heat exchanger in which the refrigerant exchanges heat with outdoor air; and   an expansion valve to expand condensed refrigerant liquid,   wherein the outdoor heat exchanger comprises a plurality of refrigerant tubes and a plurality of headers coupled to each end portion of each of the plurality of refrigerant tubes, respectively, and   a total length of a refrigerant flow passage in which a refrigerant flows along the refrigerant tube is equal to or greater than about 1500 mm and equal to or less than about 6000 mm.   
     
     
         13 . The air conditioner of  claim 12 , wherein:
 the total length of the refrigerant flow passage is equal to a length of the refrigerant tube multiplied by the number of paths in which refrigerant flows in one way.   
     
     
         14 . The air conditioner of  claim 13 , wherein:
 the path is formed by a first path in which the refrigerant flows in a first direction, and a second flow path which is alternately formed with the first path and in which the refrigerant flows in a second direction opposite to the first flow path.   
     
     
         15 . The air conditioner of  claim 12 , further comprising:
 a refrigerant conversion apparatus configured to change a flow of refrigerant, wherein the outdoor heat exchanger is installed to be converted into one of a condenser that condenses the refrigerant gas discharged from the compressor into refrigerant liquid to emit heat to an outside, and into an evaporator that evaporates the refrigerant liquid expanded in the expansion valve into refrigerant gas to absorb heat from an outside.   
     
     
         16 . The air conditioner of  claim 15 , wherein:
 the refrigerant conversion apparatus is positioned in between the compressor and the outdoor heat exchanger.   
     
     
         17 . The air conditioner of  claim 12 , wherein:
 the refrigerant comprises at least one of R22, R410a, R32, R1234yf, and R1234ze.