JP4611682B2 - Immersion cooling system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an immersion type cooling apparatus that cools an article by immersing it in a refrigerant.

Conventionally, for example, when cooling a workpiece in the middle of a production line for manufacturing machine parts, the workpiece may be immersed in a cooling tank storing a refrigerant, for example.
As a conventional immersion type cooling device, for example, there is one disclosed in Patent Document 1. The immersion type cooling device disclosed in this patent document is a cooling tank that stores a refrigerant composed of liquid nitrogen, and a rotary movement that moves an object to be cooled from the inlet side to the outlet side of the cooling tank in the cooling tank. It has members. In this immersion type cooling apparatus, the object to be cooled supplied into the cooling tank from the carry-in port is cooled by moving liquid nitrogen to the discharge port side, and is discharged from the discharge port after cooling.
In addition, the applicant could not find any prior art documents closely related to the present invention by the time of filing other than the prior art documents specified by the prior art document information described in the present specification. .
JP-A-6-273026 (FIG. 1)

Since the conventional immersion type cooling device configured as described above has a carry-in port and a discharge port formed in the cooling tank, a large amount of nitrogen gas is released into the atmosphere through these two openings. and will, consumption of liquid nitrogen (the amount of evaporation) there has been a problem that you have and the more. Moreover, in this immersion type cooling device, the fact that the liquid nitrogen is agitated by the movement of the object to be cooled in the cooling tank is one of the reasons that the consumption amount of liquid nitrogen increases.

  The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and provides an immersion type cooling device capable of sufficiently cooling a workpiece in a cooling tank while suppressing the consumption of refrigerant as much as possible. Objective.

In order to achieve this object, an immersion type cooling device according to the present invention is formed in a bottomed cylindrical shape that opens upward, and stores a refrigerant inside, and is fixed to the inside of the cooling tank body. A holder for detachably holding the workpiece, a lid having a workpiece inlet / outlet formed above the holder and covering the opening of the upper end of the cooling bath body from above, and the cooling bath body rotating about an axis in the vertical direction A rotation drive device for supporting and supporting member for supporting the lid body in a state of being spaced apart from the cooling tank main body and being stationary, and a plurality of the holders are provided along a direction in which the cooling tank main body rotates, The rotary drive device is provided with positioning means for positioning the holder below the workpiece entrance / exit of the lid .

The immersion type cooling device according to the invention described in claim 2 is the immersion type cooling device according to the invention described in claim 1, comprising an elevating device for moving the cooling tank body in the vertical direction .

An immersion type cooling device according to a third aspect of the present invention is the immersion type cooling device according to the first or second aspect of the present invention , wherein the refrigerant is liquid nitrogen, and the workpiece made of the connecting rod for the engine is vertically moved. The holder is formed so that it can be loaded in a long state.

  The immersion cooling apparatus according to the present invention starts cooling the workpiece by inserting the workpiece into the cooling tank main body through the workpiece inlet / outlet of the lid, and immersing the workpiece in the coolant and holding the workpiece in the holder. Furthermore, this immersion type cooling device can cool the workpiece to a predetermined temperature by rotating the cooling bath body one or more times with the workpiece held by the holder as described above. The cooled workpiece is carried out of the cooling tank body through the workpiece inlet / outlet.

Therefore, the immersion type cooling device according to the present invention allows the refrigerant in the cooling tank body to be discharged into the atmosphere from one workpiece inlet / outlet, and therefore, compared with a conventional cooling device having a workpiece inlet and a workpiece outlet. Refrigerant consumption (evaporation) can be reduced.
Moreover, since the workpiece | work and a refrigerant | coolant rotate integrally by the cooling tank main body rotating in the immersion type cooling device which concerns on this invention, a refrigerant | coolant is not stirred unnecessarily during cooling. For this reason, the evaporation amount of the refrigerant can be further reduced.
Moreover, the immersion type cooling device according to the present invention can cool the workpiece while feeding it intermittently. For this reason, by incorporating this immersion type cooling device into the production line, the productivity of the production line in the middle of the cooling process can be improved.

  According to invention of Claim 2, the opening of the upper end part of a cooling tub main body is widely open | released to the circumference below a cover body by lowering a cooling tub main body with a raising / lowering apparatus. For this reason, since the operation | work which replaces | exchanges the kind of workpiece | work which can be loaded with the workpiece | work holding holder in a cooling tank main body can be performed easily, the immersion type cooling device with easy maintenance can be provided.

According to invention of Claim 3 , many connecting rods can be loaded in a cooling tank main body, aiming at size reduction of a cooling tank main body. For this reason, the immersion type cooling device which can cool the connecting rod for engines by what is called a flow operation | work can be formed compactly.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of an immersion type cooling apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 are front views showing the main part of the immersion type cooling apparatus according to the present invention in a broken state. FIG. 1 shows a cooling state, and FIG. 2 shows a state where the cooling tank body is lowered. 3 is a plan view of the cooling tank, FIG. 4 is a plan view of the cooling tank main body, FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the cooling tank in FIG. 3 taken along line VV, and FIG. FIG. 5A is a cross-sectional view of the connecting rod viewed from the axial direction of the crank pin hole, and FIG. 5B is a cross-sectional view taken along the line BB in FIG.

In these drawings, what is indicated by reference numeral 1 indicates an immersion cooling device according to this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the immersion cooling device 1 includes a cooling tank body 2 formed in a bottomed cylindrical shape that opens upward, and a lid that closes the opening at the upper end of the cooling tank body 2. 3 is provided.
The cooling tank body 2 stores liquefied nitrogen 5 as a refrigerant, and is formed so that the bottom wall 2a and the peripheral wall 2b have a heat insulating structure, and is supported by a rotation driving device 6 and a lifting device 7 described later. Has been. Although not shown, the bottom wall 2a and the peripheral wall 2b adopting the heat insulation structure are each formed to be a double wall, and a vacuum heat insulation space is formed between the outer wall and the inner wall of the double wall. It has been done.

A plurality of holders 9 for holding connecting rods 8 as workpieces are provided in the cooling tank body 2 at equal intervals in the circumferential direction of the cooling tank body 2. The connecting rod 8 is used in a motorcycle engine (not shown). After being cooled by the immersion cooling device 1 according to this embodiment, the connecting rod large end portion 8a is divided into two parts by breaking.
As shown in FIG. 6, each holder 9 is provided with positioning pins 12 that are inserted into bolt insertion holes 11 formed at two locations of the connecting rod large end portion 8 a so as to protrude upward. , 12 position and hold the connecting rod 8. The connecting rod 8 is held in the cooling bath main body 2 by the holder 9 so as to be elongated in the vertical direction.

  As shown in FIGS. 1, 2, and 5, the holder 9 is attached to a support disk 14 supported by two leg members 13 on the inner bottom portion of the cooling bath body 2. As shown in FIG. 4, the holder 9 according to this embodiment is provided on the disc 14 so that the connecting rods 8 are arranged along the inner peripheral surface of the cooling bath body 2. The disc 14 is detachably attached to the column 13 so that it can be exchanged for another disc holder that holds different types of connecting rods.

  As shown in FIGS. 1, 2, and 5, the bottom wall 2 a of the cooling tank body 2 is detachably attached to a rotating plate 16 having a dish-like tray 15, and is driven to rotate through the rotating plate 16. It is connected to the device 6. The cooling tank body 2 is detached alone from the rotating plate 16 in order to quickly discharge the liquid nitrogen 5 remaining at the bottom when the liquid nitrogen 5 is discharged to perform internal maintenance. At this time, the grip 17 provided on the outer peripheral portion of the cooling bath body 2 is gripped to lift the cooling bath body 2.

The rotary plate 16 is formed in a disc shape, and the cooling tank body 2 is detachably attached to the upper surface, and the rotary shaft 6a of the rotary drive device 6 is fixed to the lower central portion.
The rotary drive device 6 is configured to rotate the rotary shaft 6a about an axis in the vertical direction, and is supported by a base (not shown) via an elevating device 7. The rotation drive device 6 is connected to a control device denoted by reference numeral 21 in FIGS. 1 and 2, and the rotation operation is controlled by the control device 21 so that the rotation shaft 6a rotates intermittently. Is done. The rotation angle when the rotation shaft 6a rotates intermittently is set corresponding to the interval between the plurality of holders 9 arranged side by side. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 3, the immersion type cooling apparatus 1 is configured such that the holders 9 are sequentially positioned below the workpiece entrance 22 formed in the lid 3 to be described later. The control device 21 constitutes a positioning means referred to in the invention described in claim 1 .

  The elevating device 7 that supports the rotary drive device 6 is configured to raise and lower the rotary drive device 6 and the cooling tank body 2 between the raised position shown in FIG. 1 and the lowered position shown in FIG. It has been. The elevating device 7 holds the rotation drive device 6 and the cooling tank body 2 at the raised position during the cooling operation in which the connecting rod 8 is immersed in the cooling tank body 2 for cooling, and rotates the cooling tank body 2 after the cooling operation. The rotary drive device 6 and the cooling tank main body 2 are lowered to the lowered position when the drive device 6 is removed.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the lid body 3 that closes the opening at the upper end of the cooling tank body 2 is formed integrally with the main plate portion 23 formed in a disc shape and the main plate portion 23. It is composed of an outer cylinder 24 and an inner cylinder 25 protruding downward, and is moved with respect to a base (not shown) by a beam-like member and a support 27 shown by reference numeral 26 in FIGS. It is supported so that there is no (it keeps still state).

  The beam member 26 is fixed to the upper surface of the lid 3, and both ends are supported by the support column 27. The support column 27 is erected on the base so as to extend upward. The beam-like member 26 and the column 27 constitute a support member in the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the position where the lid 3 is supported by the beam-like member 26 and the support column 27 is spaced slightly above the cooling tank body 2 with the cooling tank body 2 moved to the raised position. Is positioned. In addition, the clearance gap between the cooling tank main body 2 and the cover body 3 spreads greatly when the cooling tank main body 2 moves to a lowered position, as shown in FIG. In this lowered state, the holder 9 can be replaced or the cooling tank 4 can be cleaned. Even when the cooling tank body 2 is detached from the rotating plate 16, the cooling tank body 2 is lowered as described above.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the main plate portion 23 and the beam-like member 26 of the lid 3 are formed with the workpiece inlet / outlet port 22 through which the connecting rod 8 is inserted and a through hole 28 for inserting a liquid level sensor. In addition, a supply pipe 29 for supplying the liquid nitrogen 5 into the cooling bath main body 2 is attached. As shown in FIG. 3, the downstream ends of the workpiece inlet / outlet port 22 and the supply pipe 29 are formed at positions that can be distributed to one side and the other side in the radial direction of the circular lid body 3 in plan view. The sensor insertion through hole 28 is formed in the axial center portion of the lid 3. A sensor holder 30 formed in a cylindrical shape is attached to the through hole 28 for inserting the liquid level sensor. As shown in FIG. 5, a liquid level detection sensor 31 for detecting the liquid level of the liquid nitrogen 5 is inserted into the holder 30.

The workpiece entrance / exit 22 is formed to have a minimum size that allows a transfer arm (not shown) that holds and moves the connecting rod 8 to pass therethrough. The transfer arm is configured to grip the connecting rod small end portion 8b with the connecting rod large end portion 8a positioned below.
As shown in FIG. 5, the supply pipe 29 has one end portion (downstream end portion) passing through one side portion of the lid 3 in the vertical direction and opened to the beam-like member 26 in a state of opening downward. It is held by a stay not shown. The other end of the supply pipe 29 is connected to a refrigerant supply device (not shown). The refrigerant supply device supplies the liquid nitrogen 5 from the supply pipe 29 into the cooling tank body 2 so that the liquid level of the liquid nitrogen 5 detected by the liquid level sensor 31 is constant. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 5, the level of the liquid nitrogen 5 is lower than the small end portion of the connecting rod 8 which is held by the holder 9 in the cooling bath body 2 and stands up, that is, the connecting rod small end. The transfer arm that grips the portion 8 b is set at a position where it is not immersed in the liquid nitrogen 5.

  The outer cylinder 24 projecting downward from the main plate portion 23 of the lid 3 is formed so as to surround the peripheral wall 2b of the cooling tank body 2 from the outside, and the inner cylinder 25 is formed inside the peripheral wall 2b. It is formed to face from above. Between the outer cylinder 24 and the outer peripheral surface of the peripheral wall 2b, between the inner cylinder 25 and the inner peripheral surface of the peripheral wall 2b, the lower surface of the main plate portion 23 of the lid 3, and the upper end surface of the peripheral wall 2b As shown in FIGS. 1 and 5, gaps S are formed in a state where the cooling tank body 2 is positioned at the raised position by the lifting device 7.

  Thus, by separating the lid 3 from the cooling tank body 2 with the gap S, the cooling tank body 2 can be rotated without being regulated by the lid 3, and the lid 3 is a cooling tank. It will stand still in a state of being separated from the main body 2 upward. Further, since the outer wall 24 and the inner cylinder 25 sandwich the peripheral wall 2b of the cooling tank body 2 in a non-contact state, a labyrinth seal is substantially constituted by these members. Nitrogen gas that diffuses into the atmosphere through the gap S between the lid 3 and the lid 3 can be minimized.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the immersion type cooling apparatus 1 configured as described above stores the liquid nitrogen 5 in the cooling tank main body 2, and moves the cooling tank main body 2 to the raised position to It is used in a state where the opening is closed by the lid 3. The connecting rod 8 as a work is carried into the cooling tank main body 2 in the above-described state through the work inlet / outlet 22 by the transfer arm and descends in the cooling tank main body 2. When the connecting rod 8 is lowered to the bottom of the cooling bath main body 2, the positioning pins 12 of the holder 9 are fitted into the bolt insertion holes 11 of the connecting rod large end portion 8a. The connecting rod 8 is held in a state of being positioned on the holder 9 by the positioning pin 12 being fitted into the bolt insertion hole 11 in this manner.

  After the connecting rod 8 is held by the holder 9 in this way, the cooling bath body 2 is rotated by a predetermined angle by the rotation driving device 6 so that the holder 9 adjacent to the holder 9 is positioned below the workpiece entrance 22. Be made. Then, the next connecting rod 8 is held by the holder 9 as described above. The connecting rod loading operation including the intermittent rotation operation of the cooling bath main body 2 and the holding of the connecting rod 8 by the pins 12 is repeated until the connecting rods 8 are loaded in all the holders 9.

  After the connecting rods 8 are loaded in all the holders 9, the cooling bath body 2 rotates so that the first loaded connecting rod 8 is positioned below the workpiece inlet / outlet 22, and the transfer arm is cooled by itself from the workpiece inlet / outlet 22. It is inserted into the tank body 2 and descends, and the small end portion 8b of the connecting rod 8 loaded first is gripped. The transfer arm rises after gripping the connecting rod small end portion 8 b and carries the connecting rod 8 out of the cooling bath 4. After that, the connecting rod 8 is newly loaded into the holder 9 which has not been loaded, or the discharging operation is continued and the connecting rod 8 loaded into the adjacent holder 9 is carried out. For this reason, according to this immersion type cooling device 1, the connecting rod 8 can be sufficiently cooled so as to reach a predetermined temperature while the cooling tank body 2 rotates once. In the immersion type cooling apparatus 1 according to this embodiment, the connecting rod 8 of the motorcycle engine could be cooled to -80 ° C to -100 ° C in several minutes.

  In the immersion type cooling device 1 configured as described above, the liquid nitrogen 5 as a refrigerant evaporates and evaporates instead of cooling the connecting rod 8. In the submerged cooling device 1, the passage when the nitrogen gas formed by vaporizing the liquid nitrogen 5 leaks from the cooling bath 4 to the outside is mainly the work entrance 22. Therefore, since the liquid nitrogen 5 in the cooling tank body 2 is released into the atmosphere from one work inlet / outlet 22, the consumption amount of the liquid nitrogen 5 compared with the conventional cooling device having the work inlet and the work outlet. (Evaporation amount) can be reduced.

Further, in the immersion type cooling apparatus 1 according to this embodiment, the connecting rod 8 and the liquid nitrogen 5 rotate integrally as the cooling tank body 2 rotates, so that the liquid nitrogen 5 is unnecessarily stirred during cooling. There is nothing to do. For this reason, the evaporation amount of the liquid nitrogen 5 can be further reduced.
Furthermore, since the immersion type cooling device 1 according to this embodiment can be cooled while intermittently feeding the connecting rod 8, the immersion type cooling device 1 is manufactured in the middle of the cooling process by incorporating it into the production line. The line productivity can be improved.

  In addition, since the immersion type cooling apparatus 1 according to this embodiment holds a plurality of connecting rods 8 such that the longitudinal direction is the vertical direction and is aligned in the circumferential direction of the cooling tank body 2, the cooling tank body 2 can be downsized. As shown, many connecting rods 8 can be loaded into the cooling bath body 2. For this reason, the immersion type cooling device which cools the connecting rod 8 for engines by what is called flow work can be formed compactly.

  The immersion type cooling device 1 according to this embodiment is configured so that the liquid level of the liquid nitrogen 5 is lower than the connecting rod small end portion 8b, and the connecting rod small end portion 8b is gripped by the transfer arm. The arm for use does not come into contact with the liquid nitrogen 5. For this reason, since the liquid nitrogen 5 does not unnecessarily evaporate when contacting the transfer arm, the consumption amount of the liquid nitrogen 5 can be further reduced. In addition, since the transfer arm is less likely to be cooled, frost is less likely to adhere when moving outside the cooling tank.

Since the cooling tank main body 2 according to this embodiment is formed in a bottomed cylindrical shape, the cooling tank main body 2 is not deformed despite the so-called evacuation in order to make the peripheral wall 2b a heat insulating structure. Moreover, since the trajectory during rotation is constant, it is easy to keep the airtightness with the lid 3 high.
In the immersion type cooling apparatus 1 according to this embodiment, since the liquid level detection sensor 31 is disposed at the rotation center of the cooling tank body 2, the liquid is applied to the connecting rod 8 loaded on the outer peripheral side in the cooling tank body 2. It is possible to reliably prevent the surface detection sensor 31 from coming into contact.

Since the immersion type cooling device 1 according to this embodiment uses the bolt insertion hole 11 formed in the connecting rod large end portion 8a for positioning, it is compared with a case where a hole for positioning is exclusively drilled. Thus, the manufacturing cost can be reduced.
In this embodiment, the connecting rod 8 is taken out after the connecting rod 8 is loaded into the cooling bath main body 2 and then the cooling bath main body 2 is rotated once, but the cooling bath main body loaded with the connecting rod 8 is used. The number of rotations of 2 can be changed as appropriate.

  In the above-described embodiment, the immersion type cooling device 1 using the connecting rod 8 for an engine as a workpiece has been shown. However, the immersion type cooling device according to the present invention may be any workpiece as long as it has a certain length. But it can be cooled. Another example of such a workpiece is an exhaust pipe for a motorcycle that is bent by a so-called cooling bending method. This cooling bending method is carried out by forming the exhaust pipe so as to have a double pipe structure composed of an outer pipe and an inner pipe and bending the exhaust pipe in a state where ice is filled between the outer pipe and the inner pipe. . In this case, an exhaust pipe having a double pipe structure in which water is filled between the outer pipe and the inner pipe is loaded into the immersion cooling device 1 according to the present invention as a work, and the water is iced and bent. An exhaust pipe before processing is formed.

It is a front view which fractures | ruptures and shows the principal part of the immersion type cooling device which concerns on this invention. It is a front view which fractures | ruptures and shows the principal part of the immersion type cooling device which concerns on this invention. It is a top view of a cooling tank. It is a top view of a cooling tank main body. It is the VV sectional view taken on the line of the cooling tank in FIG. It is sectional drawing which shows the state which held the connecting rod in the holder.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Submersible cooling device, 2 ... Cooling tank main body, 3 ... Cover body, 5 ... Liquid nitrogen, 6 ... Rotation drive device, 8 ... Connecting rod, 9 ... Holder, 22 ... Workpiece inlet / outlet, 26 ... Beam-like member, 27 ... Prop.

Claims (3)

A cooling tank body that is formed in a bottomed cylindrical shape that is open at the top and stores the refrigerant therein, a holder that is fixed inside the cooling tank body and holds the workpiece detachably, and a work inlet / outlet above the holder And a cover that covers the opening of the upper end of the cooling tank body from above, a rotation drive device that rotates the cooling tank body about an axis in the vertical direction, and the lid body from the cooling tank body upward A support member that is supported in a stationary state by being spaced apart ,
An immersion type cooling apparatus , wherein a plurality of the holders are provided along a direction in which the cooling tank main body rotates, and a positioning means for positioning the holders below the workpiece entrance / exit of the lid is provided in the rotation driving device.   2. The immersion type cooling apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an elevating device that moves the cooling tank body in the vertical direction. 3. The immersion type cooling apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the refrigerant is liquid nitrogen and a holder is formed so that a work made of an engine connecting rod can be loaded in a vertically long state.

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