Daikin Industries, Ltd.

Panasonic Corporation

Hiroaki Matsuda

Masanori Jindou

Hideyuki Ueda

Kouju Yamada

Ken Satou

Yoshio Oritani

Takashi Akiyama

Junichi Hamadate

Masato Okuno

Yoshihiro Teramoto

Tomohiko Sakamaki

Tomoya Yamaguchi

Satoshi Inoue

Shun Yoshioka

Tomoki Yamayoshi

Ayumi Komaki

Kohei Shiomi

A refrigeration apparatus includes: a casing that houses a compressor therein; a four-way switching valve; an accumulator; a first pipe that causes a refrigerant to flow between the four-way switching valve and a discharge portion of the compressor; and a second pipe that causes a refrigerant to flow between the four-way switching valve and the accumulator. The four-way switching valve, the first pipe, and the second pipe are all made of stainless steel.

Refrigeration apparatus with stainless steel four-way switching valve and stainless steel pipes connected thereto

A refrigerant pipe of a refrigeration apparatus includes: a first pipe, made of stainless steel, through which a refrigerant flows; a joint pipe, made of a material different from stainless steel, disposed on an outer peripheral surface of the first pipe; and a second pipe, having a diameter smaller than a diameter of the first pipe, connected to the outer peripheral surface of the first pipe via the joint pipe. A surface of the second pipe at which the second pipe is connected to the joint pipe is made of a material identical to the material of the joint pipe.

Refrigeration apparatus and refrigerant pipe of the same refrigeration apparatus

A refrigerant pipe that constitutes a refrigerant circuit of a refrigeration apparatus includes: a first pipe; and a second pipe. The first pipe includes: a first pipe body, made of stainless steel; and a first connection, made of a material different from stainless steel, disposed at an end of the first pipe body in a pipe axial direction of the first pipe body. The second pipe includes: a second pipe body, made of stainless steel; and a second connection, made of a material identical to the material of the first connection, disposed at an end of the second pipe body in a pipe axial direction of the second pipe body. The first connection is connected to the second connection.

Refrigerant pipe and refrigeration apparatus

A refrigerant pipe that constitutes a refrigerant circuit of a refrigeration apparatus includes: a first pipe; and a second pipe. The first pipe includes a pipe body made of stainless steel; and a connection pipe, made of a material different from stainless steel, disposed at an end of the pipe body in a pipe axial direction. The connection pipe includes a protrusion protruding in the pipe axial direction from the end of the pipe body. The second pipe includes: a second-pipe large diameter portion, made of a material that is a same as the material of the connection pipe, disposed at an end in the pipe axial direction; a second-pipe small diameter portion having a smaller diameter than the second-pipe large diameter portion; and a step portion disposed between the second-pipe large diameter portion and the second-pipe small diameter portion.

A heat exchanger includes: flat pipes disposed in multiple stages in a stage direction corresponding to an up-down direction; and fins that partition a space between adjacent two of the flat pipes into air flow passages through which air flows. Each of the flat pipes includes a passage for a refrigerant inside thereof. The flat pipes are divided into heat exchange paths arrayed in multiple stages in the stage direction. One of the heat exchange paths that includes a lowermost one of the flat pipes is defined as a first heat exchange path. A length of the passage from a first end to a second end of a flow of the refrigerant in each of the heat exchange paths is defined as a path effective length.

Heat exchanger and air conditioning apparatus including the same

A heat exchanger including: a header; flat tubes connected to the header and disposed in line along a longitudinal direction of the header; a first partition that partitions an inner space of the header into a first space on a side where the flat tubes are connected and a second space on a side opposite to the first space; and a second partition that partitions the inner space of the header into a first side and a second side. The first side is one side of the header in the longitudinal direction and the second side is opposite to the first side. The first partition has a common opening. The common opening includes an insertion opening and a refrigerant opening. A refrigerant moves between the first space and the second space via the refrigerant opening. The second partition is inserted into the insertion opening.

Heat exchanger and air conditioner

A refrigerant distributor includes a first refrigerant pipe, a plurality of second refrigerant pipes, a body, a first plate, and a second plate. The body is made of aluminum or aluminum alloy. The body is configured to distribute a refrigerant from the first refrigerant pipe into the second refrigerant pipes or merge the refrigerant flowing from each of the second refrigerant pipes into the first refrigerant pipe. The body has a first surface connected to the first refrigerant pipe and a second surface connected to the second refrigerant pipes. The first plate is joined to the first surface, and has an outer surface exposed to atmosphere and provided with a first sacrificial anode layer for the body. The second plate is joined to the second surface, and has an outer surface exposed to atmosphere and provided with a second sacrificial anode layer for the body.

Refrigerant distributor and air conditioner

A heat exchanger includes: a header; flat tubes disposed in line along a longitudinal direction of the header and connected to the header: a refrigerant pipe connected to an introduction space in the header; and a nozzle. When the heat exchanger operates as an evaporator of a refrigerant, the refrigerant is fed through the nozzle from the introduction space to a supply space disposed adjacent to the introduction space in the longitudinal direction of the header. The nozzle is disposed on a side closer to the flat tubes than to the refrigerant pipe. A width of a first zone in the introduction space on the side closer to the flat tubes is smaller than a width of a second zone in the introduction space on a side where the refrigerant pipe is connected.

A heat exchanger includes: heat transfer tubes that are made of aluminum or an aluminum alloy and are disposed in multiple tiers in a first direction that intersects a second direction along which a heating medium flows; and a coupling header that couples the heat transfer tubes together. The coupling header includes: a first member that includes a first core made of aluminum or an aluminum alloy and a first sacrificial anode layer; a second member that includes no sacrificial anode layer; and a third member that includes a second core made of aluminum or an aluminum alloy and a second sacrificial anode layer.

Heat exchanger and air conditioning apparatus

The fuel cell system of the present invention includes: (A) a fuel cell stack including at least one unit fuel cell including a cathode, an anode, and a polymer electrolyte membrane interposed therebetween; (B) a detecting device for detecting lack of humidification in the fuel cell stack; (C) a water supplying device for supplying moisture to the fuel cell stack when lack of humidification is detected by the detecting device; (D) a heating device for heating the supplied moisture; and (E) a cooling device for cooling the supplied moisture. In the fuel cell system of the present invention, the fuel cell stack is humidified by repeating heating and cooling of the supplied moisture by the heating device and the cooling device, respectively.

Fuel cell system comprising fuel cell stack, and method for producing fuel cell stack

A direct oxidation fuel cell including at least one cell, the cell being a stacked body including: a membrane electrode assembly including an anode, a cathode, and an electrolyte membrane disposed between the anode and the cathode; an anode-side separator having a fuel flow channel for supplying a liquid fuel to the anode; and a cathode-side separator having an oxidant flow channel for supplying an oxidant to the cathode, in which the anode-side separator includes a first region including an upstream half of the fuel flow channel and a second region including a downstream half of the fuel flow channel, the anode includes an anode catalyst layer in contact with the electrolyte membrane and an anode diffusion layer in contact with the anode-side separator, the anode catalyst layer includes an anode catalyst and a polymer electrolyte, the anode catalyst layer includes an upstream-side region facing the first region and a downstream-side region facing the second region, and the content of the polymer electrolyte in the anode catalyst layer is higher at the upstream-side region than at the downstream-side region.

Direct oxidation fuel cell

A membrane-electrode assembly for a direct oxidation fuel cell includes an electrolyte membrane, and an anode and a cathode sandwiching said electrolyte membrane. The cathode includes a catalyst layer in contact with the electrolyte membrane and a diffusion layer formed on the catalyst layer, and the catalyst layer contains 2 to 20% by volume of pores. A direct oxidation fuel cell including this membrane-electrode assembly has excellent power generating performance and durability.

Membrane-electrode assembly for direct oxidation fuel cell and direct oxidation fuel cell

The direct oxidation fuel cell of the present invention is provided with: a membrane electrode assembly including an anode, a cathode, and an electrolyte membrane interposed between the anode and the cathode; an anode-side separator having a fuel flow channel for supplying fuel to the anode; and a cathode-side separator having an oxidant flow channel for supplying oxidant to the cathode, in which the anode includes an anode catalyst layer disposed at the side of the electrolyte membrane and an anode diffusion layer disposed at the side of the anode-side separator. The anode diffusion layer includes a water repellent layer disposed at the side of the anode catalyst layer and including a first conductive agent and a first water repellent agent; and a substrate layer disposed at the side of the anode-side separator, and the porosity of the substrate layer is higher at the downstream side than at the upstream side of the fuel flow.

A fuel cell system includes a fuel cell stack for generating power and power generation control means. The fuel cell stack has at least one cell that includes a cathode to which an oxidant is supplied, an anode to which a fuel is supplied, and a polymer electrolyte membrane sandwiched between the cathode and the anode. The power generation control means has dryness degree determination means for determining the degree of dryness of the fuel cell stack based on shut-down period. When the shut-down period is shorter than a predetermined period of time, the power generation control means supplies a gas for drying to the cathode for a predetermined period of time, to remove water remaining in the cathode. When the shut-down period is equal to or longer than the predetermined period of time, such a drying operation is not performed.

Fuel cell system

A direct oxidation fuel cell of the invention includes at least one unit cell, the unit cell including a membrane-electrode assembly including an electrolyte membrane and an anode and a cathode sandwiching the electrolyte membrane, an anode-side separator being in contact with the anode, and a cathode-side separator being in contact with the cathode. The anode includes an anode catalyst layer and an anode diffusion layer, the anode catalyst layer containing an anode catalyst. The cathode includes a cathode catalyst layer and a cathode diffusion layer, the cathode catalyst layer containing a cathode catalyst. The anode-side separator has a fuel flow channel for supplying fuel to the anode. A portion of the cathode catalyst layer facing the upstream of the fuel flow channel has an effective reaction area per unit area larger than that of a portion of the cathode catalyst layer facing the downstream of the fuel flow channel.

Growing community of inventors

Osaka, Japan

Hiroaki Matsuda