Patent ID: 7249467

Claim:
A gas-liquid separator for a refrigerant cycle system of a vehicle, the gas-liquid separator comprising: a gas-liquid separation portion disposed substantially vertically for separating refrigerant flowing therein into gas refrigerant and liquid refrigerant; a gas refrigerant outlet portion defining an opening for gas-refrigerant and an oil returning hole in the gas-liquid separation portion; and a liquid refrigerant storage portion which stores the liquid refrigerant separated by the gas-liquid separation portion, wherein the liquid refrigerant storage portion is disposed such that the liquid refrigerant is generally horizontally stored in the liquid refrigerant storage portion with respect to the gas-liquid separation portion disposed substantially vertically; wherein the gas-liquid separation portion is disposed at a suction side of a compressor of the refrigerant cycle system mounted on the vehicle; one end portion of the liquid refrigerant storage portion is integrally connected to a lower end portion of the gas-liquid separation portion in a manner that the gas-liquid separation portion defines a cup-shaped bottom end part extended below a connecting opening for the liquid refrigerant storage portion; and the oil returning hole is located in the cup-shaped bottom end part and opens below the connecting opening for the liquid refrigerant storage portion.