COOLING STRUCTURE FOR INVERTER HOUSING
In a cabinet, an inverter housing is mounted on an inverter housing mounting surface. Heat-exchanger-side pipe connection ports are disposed so as to extend through the inverter housing mounting surface toward a heat exchanger for use as an air-cooling device. Further, controller-mounting-side pipe connection ports are disposed so as to extend on a controller mounting side. A refrigerant supply line is a refrigerant passage through which a refrigerant is cyclically fed from the refrigerant cooling device. One end of the refrigerant supply line is connected to the heat-exchanger-side pipe connection ports or the controller-mounting-side pipe connection ports, while the other end is connected to the refrigerant cooling device that penetrates an appropriate part of a wall of the cabinet and is situated in a proper position outside the cabinet.
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a piping structure for a refrigerant for cooling a heat sink of an inverter with use of the refrigerant and a cabinet structure for the inverter.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is a known technique to cool a heat sink of an inverter mounted in a controller with a coolant.
According to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-90252, an external pipe connection port of a cooling section is set on the front surface of a power source unit, thereby solving problems including difficulties in piping work and maintenance and inspection operation caused when the external pipe connection port of the cooling section is set on the rear surface of the power source unit.
If piping for the coolant for cooling the heat sink of the inverter is installed on the controller side, the coolant sometimes may leak out through the connection port, possibly adversely affecting the controller. If the piping is installed on a heat exchanger side (i.e., the side where the heat sink (heat exchanger) for cooling power elements and resistors is located) opposite from a mounting surface for an inverter housing, the heat exchanger is situated behind a cabinet, so that the piping is installed in close contact with a wall or the like. If a sufficient space structurally cannot be secured for piping installation or maintenance, therefore, it is difficult to install the piping on the heat exchanger side.
Since the cabinet is miniaturized, moreover, the inverter housing itself is also expected to be miniaturized. Accordingly, it is a difficult task to secure the piping space and arrange the piping.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONAccordingly, in order to solve the above problems, the object of the present invention is to provide a cabinet configured so that an optimum cooling pipe arrangement can be selected depending on a panel installer's circumstances and the pipe setting operation can be performed with ease.
A piping structure according to the present invention is disposed on a cabinet and serves to circulate a refrigerant used to cool a heat sink of an inverter. The piping structure comprises: pipe connection ports disposed individually so as to extend on a controller mounting side of the cabinet and on a heat exchanger side opposite the controller mounting side; and a pipe for the refrigerant, selectively connected to either the pipe connection port disposed on the controller mounting side or the pipe connection port disposed on the heat exchanger side.
The pipe connection port disposed on the controller mounting side and the pipe connection port disposed on the heat exchanger side may be formed on the heat sink itself.
The pipe connection port disposed on the controller mounting side and the pipe connection ports disposed on the heat exchanger side may be provided on a pipe connection port setting part independent of the heat sink, and the pipe connection port setting part has a pipe connection port connected to the heat sink and is connected to the heat sink.
A structure of a cabinet according to the present invention has a piping structure for circulating a refrigerant used to cool a heat sink of an inverter. The piping structure comprises: pipe connection ports disposed individually so as to extend on a controller mounting side of the cabinet and a heat exchanger side opposite the controller mounting side; and a pipe for the refrigerant, selectively connected to either the pipe connection port disposed on the controller mounting side or the pipe connection port disposed on the heat exchanger side. And the cabinet has an inverter housing mounting surface provided with a panel cut which allows the pipe disposed on the heat exchanger side to be connected from the controller mounting side, the panel cut being configured to be closed after the pipe connection.
With the piping structure of the present invention, a cooling pipe arrangement can be selected from both the controller mounting side and the heat exchanger side of the cabinet, depending on a panel installer's circumstances, and the cabinet can be installed easily. By the use of the pipe connection port setting part, moreover, the heat sink can be reduced in thickness and hence in size. Since the position of the pipe connection port of the port setting part can be designed with a predetermined degree of freedom, the easiness of piping work is improved. Furthermore, the piping work and maintenance and inspection operation can be performed with ease when the pipe connection port that extends on the heat exchanger side is selected.
The above and other objects and features of the present invention will be obvious from the ensuing description of embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
In a cabinet 1, an inverter housing 2 is mounted on an inverter housing mounting surface 5. If necessary, a plurality of inverter housings (not shown in
A refrigerant supply line 8 through which the refrigerant supplied from the refrigerant cooling device 9 is circulated has one end connected to one of the heat-exchanger-side pipe connection ports 3 or the controller-mounting-side pipe connection ports 6 and the other end connected to the cooling device 9. The refrigerant cooling device 9 penetrates an appropriate part of a wall of the cabinet 1 and is situated in a proper position outside the cabinet 1. The refrigerant that is cyclically fed from the cooling device 9 may suitably be a gas such as nitrogen gas, a liquid such as water or oil, or a solid-liquid slurry based on water and ice.
The refrigerant that is cyclically fed through the heat-exchanger-side pipe connection ports 3 or the controller-mounting-side pipe connection ports 6 cools the heat sink 10 that is disposed in the inverter housing 2. Heat from heating parts 13 is released through the heat sink 10. The heat sink 10 is formed by joining, for example, two aluminum plates together. A groove is formed in at least one of the aluminum plates so as to define a passage for the refrigerant. If the two aluminum plates are joined together so that the groove in the one aluminum plate faces the other aluminum plate, the refrigerant passage is formed in the heat sink 10. Alternatively, the refrigerant passage may be formed by laying a pipe of a different material with high thermal conductivity, such as a copper pipe, along the groove. Alternatively, moreover, the heat sink 10 may be formed of one aluminum plate such that a groove is formed in one side surface of the aluminum plate and that the refrigerant passage is formed by laying the pipe of the different material along the groove.
As shown in
The pipe connection port setting part 14, includes pipe connection ports connected to the heat sink 10, heat-exchanger-side pipe connection ports 3, and controller-mounting-side pipe connection ports 6. Since the pipe connection port setting part 14 is independent of the heat sink 10, the respective positions of the pipe connection ports can be suitably adjusted by changing the shape of the part 14 as required.
Claims
1. A piping structure which is disposed on a cabinet and serves to circulate a refrigerant used to cool a heat sink of an inverter, the piping structure comprising:
- pipe connection ports disposed individually so as to extend on a controller mounting side of the cabinet and on a heat exchanger side opposite the controller mounting side; and
- a pipe for the refrigerant, selectively connected to either the pipe connection port disposed on the controller mounting side or the pipe connection port disposed on the heat exchanger side.
2. The piping structure according to claim 1, wherein the pipe connection port disposed on the controller mounting side and the pipe connection port disposed on the heat exchanger side are formed on the heat sink itself.
3. The piping structure according to claim 2, wherein a passage branching point from which the pipe connection port disposed on the controller mounting side and the pipe connection port disposed on the heat exchanger side diverge is formed inside the heat sink.
4. The piping structure according to claim 1, wherein the pipe connection port disposed on the controller mounting side and the pipe connection ports disposed on the heat exchanger side are provided on a pipe connection port setting part independent of the heat sink, and the pipe connection port setting part has a pipe connection port connected to the heat sink and is connected to the heat sink.
5. The piping structure according to claim 4, wherein a passage branching point from which the pipe connection ports disposed on the controller mounting side and the pipe connection port disposed on the heat exchanger side diverge is formed inside the pipe connection port setting part.
6. A structure of a cabinet in which a piping structure for circulating a refrigerant used to cool a heat sink of an inverter is disposed, the piping structure comprising:
- pipe connection ports disposed individually so as to extend on a controller mounting side of the cabinet and a heat exchanger side opposite the controller mounting side; and
- a pipe for the refrigerant, selectively connected to either the pipe connection port disposed on the controller mounting side or the pipe connection port disposed on the heat exchanger side,
- the cabinet having an inverter housing mounting surface provided with a panel cut which allows the pipe disposed on the heat exchanger side to be connected from the controller mounting side, the panel cut being configured to be closed after the pipe connection.
Type: Application
Filed: May 23, 2008
Publication Date: Dec 25, 2008
Applicant: FANUC LTD (Minamitsuru-gun)
Inventors: Yuuichi YAMADA (Minamitsuru-gun), Makoto TAKESHITA (Minamitsuru-gun), Kazuhiro YAMAMOTO (Minamitsuru-gun)
Application Number: 12/125,989
International Classification: F25D 19/00 (20060101);