Heat exchanger

Abstract

A heat exchanging portion and tank portions are formed by bonding plate members. The tank portion is provided with a refrigerant inlet allowing a refrigerant to flow into a refrigerant tank space, a refrigerant outlet allowing the refrigerant to flow from the refrigerant tank space, a heat medium inlet allowing a heat medium to flow into a heat medium tank space, and a heat medium outlet allowing the heat medium to flow from the heat medium tank space. At least one of the refrigerant inlet, the refrigerant outlet, the heat medium inlet, and the heat medium outlet is disposed between both ends of the tank portions in a tube stacking direction of refrigerant tubes and heat medium tubes.

1 . A heat exchanger comprising:
 a heat exchanging portion configured by stacking a plurality of refrigerant tubes through which a refrigerant in a vapor-compression refrigeration cycle flows, and a plurality of heat medium tubes through which a heat medium flows to exchange heat with the refrigerant; and   a tank portion provided with at least one of a refrigerant tank space adapted to collect or distribute the refrigerant with respect to the refrigerant tubes, and a heat medium tank space adapted to collect or distribute the heat medium with respect to the heat medium tubes, wherein   the heat exchanging portion and the tank portion are formed by bonding plate members,   the heat exchanging portion includes a first heat exchanging portion in which heat is exchanged between the heat medium and the refrigerant on a high-pressure side of the vapor-compression refrigeration cycle, and a second heat exchanging portion in which heat is exchanged between the heat medium and the refrigerant on a low-pressure side of the vapor-compression refrigeration cycle,   the tank portion is provided with a refrigerant inlet that allows the refrigerant to flow into the refrigerant tank space, a refrigerant outlet that allows the refrigerant to flow from the refrigerant tank space, a heat medium inlet that allows the heat medium to flow into the heat medium tank space, and a heat medium outlet that allows the heat medium to flow from the heat medium tank space, and   at least one of the refrigerant inlet, the refrigerant outlet, the heat medium inlet, and the heat medium outlet is disposed between both ends of the tank portion in a tube stacking direction of the refrigerant tubes and the heat medium tubes.   
     
     
         2 . The heat exchanger according to  claim 1 , wherein at least one of the refrigerant inlet, the refrigerant outlet, the heat medium inlet, and the heat medium outlet is opened between both the ends in a direction perpendicular to the tube stacking direction. 
     
     
         3 . The heat exchanger according to  claim 1 , wherein at least one of the refrigerant inlet, the refrigerant outlet, the heat medium inlet, and the heat medium outlet is formed by multiple members disposed between the plate members. 
     
     
         4 . The heat exchanger according to  claim 3 , wherein the multiple members are disposed at a boundary between the first heat exchanging portion and the second heat exchanging portion. 
     
     
         5 . The heat exchanger according to  claim 1 , wherein the plate members are disposed opposite to each other in the tube stacking direction, with a boundary between the first heat exchanging portion and the second heat exchanging portion, as a center. 
     
     
         6 . The heat exchanger according to  claim 1 , wherein an auxiliary heat exchanging portion that exchanges heat between a first fluid and a second fluid is provided between the first heat exchanging portion and the second heat exchanging portion, wherein
 the first fluid is the refrigerant or the heat medium,   the second fluid is the refrigerant or the heat medium, and   at least one of the first fluid and the second fluid is the refrigerant or the heat medium flowing from at least one of the first heat exchanging portion and the second heat exchanging portion.   
     
     
         7 . The heat exchanger according to  claim 6 , wherein
 the auxiliary heat exchanging portion is configured by stacking first fluid tubes adapted to allow the first fluid to flow therethrough, and second fluid tubes adapted to allow the second fluid to flow therethrough,   the first fluid tube are used as the refrigerant tubes or the heat medium tubes,   the second fluid tubes are used as the refrigerant tubes or the heat medium tubes, and   one of the first fluid tubes is sandwiched between adjacent two of the second fluid tubes.   
     
     
         8 . The heat exchanger according to  claim 6 , wherein
 the first fluid is the refrigerant or the heat medium flowing from the first heat exchanging portion, and   the second fluid is the refrigerant or the heat medium flowing from the second heat exchanging portion.   
     
     
         9 . The heat exchanger according to  claim 8 , wherein
 the tank portion is provided with a first fluid tank space adapted to allow the first fluid flowing from the first heat exchanger to enter the auxiliary heat exchanging portion, and a second fluid tank space adapted to allow the second fluid flowing from the second heat exchanging portion to enter the auxiliary heat exchanging portion,   the first fluid tank space is the refrigerant tank space or the heat medium tank space,   the second fluid tank space is the refrigerant tank space or the heat medium tank space,   a part of the first fluid tank space corresponding to the first heat exchanging portion is superimposed on a part of the first fluid tank space corresponding to the auxiliary heat exchanging portion when being viewed from the tube stacking direction, and   a part of the second fluid tank space corresponding to the second heat exchanging portion is superimposed on a part of the second fluid tank space corresponding to the auxiliary heat exchanging portion when being viewed from the tube stacking direction.   
     
     
         10 . The heat exchanger according to  claim 1 , wherein at least one of the refrigerant outlet and the heat medium outlet is disposed between (i) a first boundary serving as a boundary between the first heat exchanging portion and the auxiliary heat exchanging portion, and (ii) a second boundary serving as a boundary between the auxiliary heat exchanging portion and the second heat exchanging portion. 
     
     
         11 . The heat exchanger according to  claim 1 , wherein
 at least one of the refrigerant outlet and the heat medium outlet is configured by multiple members disposed between the plate members, and   the multiple members are disposed at least one of (i) between the first heat exchanging portion and the auxiliary heat exchanging portion, and (ii) between the auxiliary heat exchanging portion and the second heat exchanging portion.   
     
     
         12 . The heat exchanger according to  claim 11 , wherein
 the multiple members extend from one end to the other end of the plate member in a longitudinal direction of the refrigerant tubes and the heat medium tubes, and   wherein outlets formed by the multiple members among the refrigerant outlet and the heat medium outlet are disposed at both sides of one end and the other end of the refrigerant tubes and the heat medium tubes.   
     
     
         13 . The heat exchanger according to  claim 1 , wherein the plate members are disposed opposite to each other in the tube stacking direction with the multiple members centered. 
     
     
         14 . The heat exchanger according to  claim 1 , wherein
 a decompression device that decompresses the refrigerant flowing from the first heat exchanger is disposed between the first heat exchanging portion and the second heat exchanging portion, and   the refrigerant decompressed by the decompression device flows into the second heat exchanging portion.   
     
     
         15 . The heat exchanger according to  claim 14 , wherein the refrigerant tank space is provided with a first tank space for the refrigerant adapted to allow the refrigerant flowing from the first heat exchanging portion to enter the decompression device, and a second tank space for the refrigerant adapted to allow the refrigerant flowing from the decompression device to enter the second heat exchanging portion, and
 wherein the first tank space for the refrigerant and the second tank space for the refrigerant are superimposed on each other when being viewed from the tube stacking direction.   
     
     
         16 . The heat exchanger according to  claim 15 , wherein
 the decompression device includes a decompression flow path decompressing the refrigerant flowing from the first heat exchanging portion and allowing the decompressed refrigerant to enter the second heat exchanging portion, and   the first tank space for the refrigerant, the decompression flow path, and the second tank space for the refrigerant are arranged side by side linearly in the tube stacking direction.   
     
     
         17 . The heat exchanger according to  claim 15 , wherein
 the decompression device includes a decompression flow path decompressing the refrigerant flowing from the first heat exchanging portion and allowing the decompressed refrigerant to enter the second heat exchanging portion,   an inlet and an outlet of the decompression flow path are disposed at different positions when being viewed from the tube stacking direction,   a refrigerant flow path formation member forming a refrigerant flow path through which the refrigerant flows is provided at least one of between the first tank space for the refrigerant and the inlet, and between the outlet and the second tank space for the refrigerant, and   the refrigerant flow path is non-parallel to the tube stacking direction.   
     
     
         18 . The heat exchanger according to  claim 1 , wherein a cavity formation portion is provided between the first heat exchanging portion and the second heat exchanging portion to form a cavity that suppresses heat transfer between the first heat exchanging portion and the second heat exchanging portion. 
     
     
         19 . The heat exchanger according to  claim 18 , wherein the cavity formation portion is formed by bonding a plurality of member parts disposed between the plate members. 
     
     
         20 . The heat exchanger according to  claim 18 , wherein
 the plate members are disposed opposite to each other in the first heat exchanging portion and in the second heat exchanging portion, and   the cavity formation portion is formed by bonding the two plate members which are disposed opposite to each other in the tube stacking direction.