Disclosure of Invention
The application aims to provide a refrigerant regulating system for an air conditioner and the air conditioner, so as to overcome the defects that the response flow of a refrigerant regulating process to a currently running refrigerating/heating mode is unreasonable, the response efficiency is low and the like in the prior art, and further solve the problems that the refrigerant perfusion amount required by the optimal performance point of a heat pump air conditioner is inconsistent in the refrigerating and heating modes and the like.
To this end, according to a first aspect of the present application, there is provided a refrigerant conditioning method for use in a cooling or heating mode of an air conditioner, the air conditioner including a refrigerant storage tank (1), the refrigerant storage tank (1) being controllably connected to a refrigerant circulation path of the air conditioner; characterized in that the method comprises:
judging whether the last operation mode of the air conditioner is a refrigeration or heating mode;
judging whether the current operation mode of the air conditioner is a refrigeration or heating mode;
when the storage tank operates at the current time, if the current operation mode is consistent with the last operation mode, the connection between the storage tank and the circulation path is closed; and if the current operation mode is not consistent with the previous operation mode, the storage tank is communicated with the circulation passage, so that the storage tank can participate in the recovery or release of the refrigerant in the circulation passage.
Therefore, the method and the device can determine whether the operation needs to start the refrigerant regulation or not based on the consistency judgment of the operation mode at this time and the operation mode at the last time, avoid the redundant action of the refrigerant regulation return to zero, and improve the response efficiency of the refrigerant regulation to the cooling/heating mode.
Further, the determining that the last operation mode of the air conditioner is the cooling or heating mode includes:
when the air conditioner leaves a factory, the amounts of the refrigerant in the storage tank and the circulation passage are configured to be the configured amount of the air conditioner in a cooling or heating mode;
and when the air conditioner operates for the first time, the last operation mode is judged to be the refrigerating or heating mode corresponding to the factory-time refrigerant configuration amount.
Therefore, the configuration quantity of the refrigerant in the storage tank and the passage when the air conditioner leaves the factory is the configuration quantity when the air conditioner is in the refrigeration or heating mode, the problem that the condition of the last operation mode is lacked when the air conditioner is operated for the first time is solved, and the air conditioner can be seamlessly connected with the flow of adopting the corresponding refrigerant adjusting strategy based on mode judgment from the first operation.
Further, when the air conditioner is shipped from a factory, configuring the amounts of the refrigerant in the storage tank and the circulation passage as configuration amounts for the air conditioner to operate in a cooling or heating mode includes:
when the configuration amount of the air conditioner is in the refrigeration mode, the configuration amount of the refrigerant in the circulation passage is m 1;
when the configuration amount of the air conditioner in the heating mode is configured, the configuration amount of the refrigerant in the circulation passage is m 2;
wherein m1 is the optimal refrigerant cycle mass required in the cooling mode of air conditioner operation, and m2 is the optimal refrigerant cycle mass required in the heating mode of air conditioner operation.
Therefore, the refrigerant quality meeting the optimal value required by the cooling or heating mode can be configured when the air conditioner is shipped from a factory, so that the flow of adopting the corresponding refrigerant adjusting strategy based on mode judgment can take the optimal value as a starting point, and the refrigerant quality actually participating in circulation when the air conditioner performs cooling or heating is always adjusted to the optimal value in the circulation process of the subsequent adjusting strategy.
Further, when the air conditioner is shipped, the amount of the refrigerant in the storage tank and the circulation passage is configured to be the configured amount when the air conditioner is operated in the cooling mode, the configured amount of the refrigerant in the circulation passage is m1, the configured amount of the refrigerant in the storage tank is m 3-m 2-m1+ mx, wherein mx is a value greater than zero, and when the air conditioner is operated in the cooling or heating mode, the pressure in the storage tank is respectively higher or lower than the condensation pressure of the refrigerant.
In this way, the mass mx of the refrigerant remaining in the accumulator in the heating mode is configured, which helps to ensure that the pressure in the accumulator is higher or lower than the condensing pressure of the refrigerant when the air conditioner operates in the cooling or heating mode, respectively, thereby ensuring smooth progress of the refrigerant recovery and release processes. In addition, because mx can be configured according to the situation by meeting the above conditions, the perfusion volume is not unique, more scenes can be suitable, and the project development period is shortened; and a certain amount of refrigerant is stored in the tank, so that the problems of refrigerant leakage and the like after long-time operation can be overcome to a certain extent, and the problem of after-sales filling is avoided to a certain extent, so that the air conditioner is in the optimal refrigerant amount state for a longer time.
Further, the making a connection between the storage tank and the circulation path conductive so that the storage tank may participate in recovery or release of refrigerant in the circulation path includes:
monitoring a refrigerant recovery inflow amount of the accumulator from the circulation path when the air conditioner is operated in a cooling mode to close a connection between the accumulator and the circulation path when a refrigerant mass remaining in the circulation path is an optimum refrigerant circulation mass required in the cooling mode;
when the air conditioner operates in a heating mode, the outflow amount of the refrigerant discharged from the storage tank to the circulation passage is monitored, so that when the mass of the refrigerant left in the circulation passage is the optimal refrigerant circulation mass required in the heating mode, the connection between the storage tank and the circulation passage is closed.
Therefore, the problem that the refrigerant perfusion amount required by the optimal performance point of the heat pump air-conditioning system is inconsistent in the refrigerating and heating modes is solved, and the performance of the air-conditioning system can be optimized in both refrigerating and heating; the mass of the refrigerant actually participating in the circulation of the air conditioner during the refrigeration and heating is changed, so that the mass of the refrigerant actually participating in the circulation of the air conditioner during the refrigeration and heating is in an optimal value.
Further, the method further comprises:
when the air conditioner operates in a cooling mode, the refrigerant storage tank (1) is positioned on the high-pressure side of the circulation path;
when the air conditioner is operated in a heating mode, the refrigerant storage tank (1) is located on the low-pressure side of the circulation passage.
In this way, the refrigerant storage tank is located on the high-pressure side or the low-pressure side in the cooling or heating mode, so that the pressure in the storage tank is respectively higher or lower than the condensing pressure of the refrigerant when the air conditioner operates in the cooling or heating mode, and the smooth progress of the refrigerant recovery and release process is ensured.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a refrigerant conditioning system for an air conditioner, the conditioning system applying the above-mentioned conditioning method, characterized in that: the regulating system comprises the refrigerant storage tank (1), a connecting pipe and an electromagnetic valve device, wherein the electromagnetic valve device is arranged in the connecting pipe, and the refrigerant storage tank (1) is connected with the electromagnetic valve device in a controlled and open-close mode through the connecting pipe and the circulating passage.
Further, the air conditioner comprises an outdoor unit heat exchanger (3), and the storage tank is respectively connected with two sides of the outdoor unit heat exchanger (3) through the connecting pipe; the electromagnetic valve device comprises a normally closed electromagnetic valve A, B and is respectively arranged in the connecting pipes connected with the two sides;
when the normally closed solenoid valves A, B are both closed, the connection between the reservoir and the circulation passage is closed; when at least one of the normally closed solenoid valves A, B is turned on, the reservoir is connected to the circulation path.
Therefore, the refrigerant storage tank and the heat exchanger of the outdoor unit of the air conditioner are simply arranged in parallel, so that the refrigerant can be recycled and released by utilizing the difference between the pressure of the outdoor heat exchanger and the pressure of the connecting pipelines at two ends of the outdoor heat exchanger during the refrigeration and heating of the air conditioner and the pressure in the storage tank, and the refrigerant storage tank has the advantages of simple structure and control logic, high working stability and reliability and the like.
Further, of the normally closed solenoid valves A, B, the solenoid valve located upstream of the refrigerant circulation flow is turned on, and the solenoid valve located downstream of the refrigerant circulation flow is turned off, so that the connection between the accumulator and the circulation passage is turned on.
Therefore, the problem of system refrigeration efficiency reduction caused by the fact that the refrigerant passes through the outdoor unit heat exchanger or does not pass through the outdoor unit heat exchanger before or after flowing into or out of the storage tank in the cooling or heating mode can be solved.
Further, the regulating system further comprises a flow meter disposed in the storage tank or in a flow path through which the refrigerant enters and exits the storage tank, so that:
when the air conditioner operates in a cooling mode, the flow meter monitors that the refrigerant recovery inflow amount Δ m of the storage tank from the circulation passage is m2-m1, and closes the connection between the storage tank and the circulation passage;
when the air conditioner is in the heating mode, monitoring the discharge quantity delta m' of the refrigerant discharged from the storage tank to the circulation passage, namely m2-m1, and closing the connection between the storage tank and the circulation passage;
wherein m1 is the optimal refrigerant cycle mass required in the cooling mode of air conditioner operation, and m2 is the optimal refrigerant cycle mass required in the heating mode of air conditioner operation.
Therefore, the method and the device can accurately control the adjustment condition of the refrigerant, and make the refrigerant quality actually participating in the circulation of the air conditioner in the processes of cooling and heating be in an optimal value by changing the mass of the refrigerant actually participating in the circulation of the air conditioner in the processes of cooling and heating.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an air conditioner characterized in that the air conditioner is a heat pump type air conditioner employing compression steam type refrigeration, and the air conditioner has the refrigerant conditioning system as described above.
Therefore, when the refrigerant regulating system of the application is applied to the air conditioner, the quality of the refrigerant participating in the refrigeration cycle is reduced, under the same working condition of the same refrigeration capacity, the evaporation pressure of the refrigerant in the heat exchanger of the indoor unit is unchanged, the condensation pressure of the refrigerant in the heat exchanger of the outdoor unit is reduced (corresponding adjustment of throttling devices such as shortening of a refrigeration capillary tube, increasing of the opening degree of an electronic expansion valve and the like are needed), namely the discharge pressure of the compressor is reduced, the suction pressure is unchanged, and the compression ratio is reduced. The suction pressure of the compressor is unchanged, the exhaust temperature is reduced when the compression ratio is reduced, and the power and the current of the compressor are reduced. The exhaust temperature is reduced, and the compressor can enter overload protection when the current value is reduced at higher outdoor environment temperature, namely, the trip temperature is higher, so that the reliability of the air conditioner is improved.
Detailed Description
In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present application clearer, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present application, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are some embodiments of the present application, but not all embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present application.
The terminology used in the embodiments of the present application is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the application. As used in the embodiments of the present application, the singular forms "a", "an", and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.
The words "if", as used herein, may be interpreted as "at … …" or "at … …" or "in response to a determination" or "in response to a detection", depending on the context. Similarly, the phrases "if determined" or "if detected (a stated condition or event)" may be interpreted as "when determined" or "in response to a determination" or "when detected (a stated condition or event)" or "in response to a detection (a stated condition or event)", depending on the context.
It is also noted that the terms "comprises," "comprising," or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a good or system that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such good or system. Without further limitation, an element defined by the phrase "comprising an … …" does not exclude the presence of other like elements in a commodity or system that includes the element.
Referring to fig. 1 and 2, a flow chart and a refrigerant conditioning system architecture of one non-limiting embodiment of the refrigerant conditioning method for the air conditioning cooling or heating mode of the present application are respectively indicated. The air conditioner comprises a refrigerant storage tank 1, wherein the refrigerant storage tank 1 is connected to a refrigerant circulation passage of the air conditioner in a controllable and opening-closing mode.
Referring to fig. 1, the refrigerant conditioning method of the present application includes:
judging whether the last operation mode of the air conditioner is a refrigeration or heating mode;
judging whether the current operation mode of the air conditioner is a refrigeration or heating mode;
when the storage tank operates at the current time, if the operation mode of the storage tank is consistent with the operation mode of the last time, the storage tank and the circulation passage are closed; if the current operation mode is not consistent with the previous operation mode, the storage tank is connected and communicated with the circulation passage, so that the storage tank can participate in the recovery or release of the refrigerant in the circulation passage.
Therefore, the method and the device can determine whether the operation needs to start the refrigerant regulation or not based on the consistency judgment of the operation mode at this time and the operation mode at the last time, avoid the redundant action of the refrigerant regulation return to zero, and improve the response efficiency of the refrigerant regulation to the cooling/heating mode.
Specifically, in this embodiment, the adjusting method of the present application at least includes: three cases of "the last operation mode is heating", "the last operation mode is cooling", and "the last operation is the first operation of the air conditioner" (see fig. 1).
(1) Last run mode being heating
When the last operation mode is judged to be heating, further judging whether the current air conditioner operation mode is refrigerating or heating;
if the current air conditioner operation mode is heating, the connection between the storage tank and the circulation passage is closed (for example, the normally closed electromagnetic valves A, B in the attached drawing 2 are all closed), and the air conditioner normally operates in the heating mode. At this time, since the connection between the storage tank and the circulation path is kept closed (after the heating mode is operated last time, the connection between the storage tank and the circulation path is closed), the amount of the refrigerant in the storage tank and in the circulation path is equal to that in the heating mode operated last time when the heating mode is operated normally this time, and therefore, no extra refrigerant adjusting action is needed, thereby avoiding the redundant action of refrigerant adjustment return to zero and improving the response efficiency of the refrigerant adjustment to the cooling/heating mode.
If it is determined that the air conditioner is performing cooling in the current air conditioner operation mode, since the air conditioner needs to perform a refrigerant adjustment operation in the cooling and heating modes according to different optimal demands for the refrigerant participating in the circulation, the storage tank and the circulation path are connected and conducted (for example, any one of the normally closed solenoid valves A, B in fig. 2 is conducted), so that the storage tank can recover the refrigerant in the circulation path.
(2) Last operation mode being cooling
When the last operation mode is judged to be refrigeration, further judging whether the current air conditioner operation mode is refrigeration or heating;
if the current air conditioner operation mode is refrigeration, the connection between the storage tank and the circulation passage is closed (for example, the normally closed electromagnetic valves A, B in the attached drawing 2 are all closed), and the air conditioner normally operates the refrigeration mode. At this time, since the connection between the storage tank and the circulation path is kept closed (after the refrigeration mode is operated last time, the connection between the storage tank and the circulation path is closed), the amount of the refrigerant in the storage tank and in the circulation path is equal to the amount of the refrigerant in the refrigeration mode operated last time when the refrigeration mode is operated normally this time, and therefore, no extra refrigerant adjusting action is needed, thereby avoiding the redundant action of refrigerant adjustment return to zero, and improving the response efficiency of refrigerant adjustment to the refrigeration/heating mode.
If it is determined that the air conditioner is heating in the current air conditioner operation mode, since the air conditioner needs to perform a refrigerant adjustment operation in the cooling and heating modes because the optimal demand amounts for the refrigerant participating in the circulation are different, the storage tank and the circulation path are connected and conducted (for example, any one of the normally closed solenoid valves A, B in fig. 2 is conducted), so that the storage tank can release the refrigerant to the circulation path.
(3) The last operation being the first operation of the air conditioner
When the air conditioner leaves a factory, the amount of the refrigerant in the storage tank and the circulation passage is configured as the configured amount of the air conditioner in a cooling or heating mode;
and when the air conditioner operates for the first time, the last operation mode is judged to be a refrigerating or heating mode corresponding to the configuration amount of the refrigerant when the air conditioner leaves a factory.
As a non-limiting example, as shown in fig. 1, the previous operation mode may be determined as the cooling mode corresponding to the factory-installed refrigerant allocation amount. In addition, the amounts of the refrigerant in the accumulator and the circulation passage may be set to the amounts set in the heating mode of the air conditioner operation at the time of shipment of the air conditioner. However, the more preferred way of this application is: in a hot season (such as summer, or in the last spring and the first autumn when the temperature is high), the amount of the refrigerant in the ex-factory storage tank and the circulation passage is configured to be the configuration amount when the air conditioner operates in the cooling mode, and in a cold season (such as winter, or in the first spring and the last autumn when the temperature is low), the amount of the refrigerant in the ex-factory storage tank and the circulation passage is configured to be the configuration amount when the air conditioner operates in the heating mode. Therefore, the user can directly enter the corresponding normal operation of refrigeration or heating without additionally adjusting the refrigerant when the air conditioner is started and operated for the first time, the waiting time of the user is reduced, and the use experience of the user is improved.
Therefore, the configuration quantity of the refrigerant in the storage tank and the passage when the air conditioner leaves the factory is the configuration quantity when the air conditioner is in the refrigeration or heating mode, the problem that the condition of the last operation mode is lacked when the air conditioner is operated for the first time is solved, and the air conditioner can be seamlessly connected with the flow of adopting the corresponding refrigerant adjusting strategy based on mode judgment from the first operation.
Preferably, when the air conditioner is operating in the cooling mode, the refrigerant recovery inflow amount of the accumulator from the circulation path is monitored to close the connection between the accumulator and the circulation path when the refrigerant mass remaining in the circulation path is the optimum refrigerant circulation mass m1 required in the cooling mode;
when the air conditioner is operated in the heating mode, the refrigerant discharge outflow amount of the accumulator to the circulation passage is monitored to close the connection between the accumulator and the circulation passage when the refrigerant mass remaining in the circulation passage is the optimum refrigerant circulation mass m2 required in the heating mode.
It should be noted that, in the air conditioner development stage, the air conditioning system designer may determine the optimal refrigerant perfusion amounts m1 and m2 required for cooling and heating of the air conditioner through experiments or calculation methods.
Therefore, the problem that the refrigerant perfusion amount required by the optimal performance point of the heat pump air-conditioning system is inconsistent in the refrigerating and heating modes is solved, and the performance of the air-conditioning system can be optimized in both refrigerating and heating; the mass of the refrigerant actually participating in the circulation of the air conditioner during the refrigeration and heating is changed, so that the mass of the refrigerant actually participating in the circulation of the air conditioner during the refrigeration and heating is in an optimal value.
Further preferably, a flow meter (not shown in the figure) may be further provided in the storage tank or in the flow path through which the refrigerant enters or exits the storage tank, so that:
when the air conditioner operates in a cooling mode, the flow meter monitors the refrigerant recovery inflow amount delta m of the storage tank from the circulation passage to be m2-m1, and the connection between the storage tank and the circulation passage is closed;
when the air conditioner is operated in the heating mode, the connection between the accumulator and the circulation passage is closed when the discharge amount Δ m' of the refrigerant from the accumulator to the circulation passage is monitored to be m2-m 1;
therefore, the method and the device can accurately control the adjustment condition of the refrigerant, and make the refrigerant quality actually participating in the circulation of the air conditioner in the processes of cooling and heating be in an optimal value by changing the mass of the refrigerant actually participating in the circulation of the air conditioner in the processes of cooling and heating.
Further considering the initialization of the air conditioner when the air conditioner leaves the factory, when the amount of the refrigerant in the storage tank and the circulation passage is configured to the configured amount of the air conditioner in the cooling mode, the configured amount of the refrigerant in the circulation passage is m 1; when configured as the configuration amount in the heating mode of the air conditioner operation, the configuration amount of the refrigerant in the circulation passage is m 2.
Therefore, the refrigerant quality meeting the optimal value required by the cooling or heating mode can be configured when the air conditioner is shipped from a factory, so that the flow of adopting the corresponding refrigerant adjusting strategy based on mode judgment can take the optimal value as a starting point, and the refrigerant quality actually participating in circulation when the air conditioner performs cooling or heating is always adjusted to the optimal value in the circulation process of the subsequent adjusting strategy.
As a preferred embodiment of this embodiment, when the air conditioner is shipped, the amount of the refrigerant in the storage tank and the circulation path may be set to be set in the cooling mode of the air conditioner, the set amount of the refrigerant in the circulation path is m1, and the set amount of the refrigerant in the storage tank is m3 ═ m2-m1+ mx, where mx is greater than zero, and when the air conditioner is operated in the cooling or heating mode, the pressure in the storage tank is higher or lower than the condensation pressure of the refrigerant, respectively.
In this way, the mass mx of the refrigerant remaining in the accumulator in the heating mode is configured, which helps to ensure that the pressure in the accumulator is higher or lower than the condensing pressure of the refrigerant when the air conditioner operates in the cooling or heating mode, respectively, thereby ensuring smooth progress of the refrigerant recovery and release processes. In addition, because mx can be configured according to the situation by meeting the above conditions, the perfusion volume is not unique, more scenes can be suitable, and the project development period is shortened; and a certain amount of refrigerant is stored in the tank, so that the problems of refrigerant leakage and the like after long-time operation (such as the air conditioner is used for many years) can be overcome to a certain extent, and the problem of after-sales filling is avoided to a certain extent, so that the air conditioner is in the optimal refrigerant quantity state for a longer time.
As a preferable embodiment of the present embodiment, when the air conditioner operates in the cooling mode, the refrigerant storage tank 1 is located on the high-pressure side of the circulation passage; when the air conditioner is operating in the heating mode, the refrigerant storage tank 1 is positioned on the low-pressure side of the circulation passage.
Referring to fig. 2, one side of the outdoor heat exchanger 3 is connected to the four-way valve 5, and the other side is connected to one side of the indoor heat exchanger 4 through the throttling device 2 and the flow dividing device 8 in sequence. In the four-way valve 5, except that one path is connected with the outdoor heat exchanger 3, the other three paths are respectively connected with the compressor 6, the vapor-liquid separator 7 and the other side of the indoor heat exchanger 4.
When the air conditioner operates in a cooling mode or a heating mode, the four-way valve 5 is selectively opened and closed in different modes (see fig. 2, when the cooling mode is performed, the four-way valve 5 is not electrified, so that the AB is communicated with the CD and the AD is closed, and the refrigerant in the passage can flow in the direction of a solid arrow, and when the heating mode is performed, the four-way valve 5 is electrified, so that the AD is communicated with the BC and the AB is closed, and the refrigerant in the passage can flow in the direction of a hollow arrow). This is so that the refrigerant reservoir 1 is located on the high pressure side of the passage when the air conditioner is operating in the cooling mode (normally, when the air conditioner is operating in the cooling or heating mode, the portion of the refrigerant from the outlet of the air conditioner compressor to before the throttling means is the high pressure side, and the portion after passing through the throttling means to the inlet of the air conditioner compressor is the low pressure side); when the air conditioner operates in the heating mode, the refrigerant reservoir 1 is located on the low-pressure side of the passage.
In this way, the refrigerant storage tank is located on the high-pressure side or the low-pressure side in the cooling or heating mode, so that the pressure in the storage tank is respectively higher or lower than the condensing pressure of the refrigerant when the air conditioner operates in the cooling or heating mode, and the smooth progress of the refrigerant recovery and release process is ensured.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a refrigerant conditioning system for an air conditioner, the conditioning system applying the above-described conditioning method. The regulation system includes the refrigerant storage tank 1, a connection pipe, and a solenoid valve device (such as the normally closed solenoid valve A, B in fig. 2) provided in the connection pipe, the refrigerant storage tank 1 being controllably connected to the circulation passage via the connection pipe and the solenoid valve device.
Referring to fig. 2, it can be seen that: when the normally closed electromagnetic valves A, B are all closed, the connection between the storage tank and the circulation passage is closed; when at least one of the normally closed solenoid valves A, B is opened, the reservoir is connected to the circulation path.
Referring to fig. 2, the connection pipe may have two sections respectively connected to both sides of the accumulator, wherein one section of the connection pipe is connected to a pipe between the outdoor unit heat exchanger 3 and the throttling device 2, and the other end of the connection pipe is located on a pipe between the four-way valve 5 and the outdoor unit heat exchanger 3, thereby forming a parallel connection relationship between the refrigerant accumulator 1 and the outdoor unit heat exchanger 3. The refrigerant storage tank 1 is connected to the air conditioning system without influencing the air tightness of the air conditioning system. It should be noted that the above-mentioned parallel connection relationship is not the only implementation manner of the present application, for example, the storage tank may be connected to only one section of the connection pipe, and the connection pipe may be further branched into two ends to be connected to two sides of the outdoor heat exchanger 3.
Therefore, the refrigerant storage tank and the heat exchanger of the outdoor unit of the air conditioner are simply arranged in parallel, so that the refrigerant can be recycled and released by utilizing the difference between the pressure of the outdoor heat exchanger and the pressure of the connecting pipelines at two ends of the outdoor heat exchanger during the refrigeration and heating of the air conditioner and the pressure in the storage tank, and the refrigerant storage tank has the advantages of simple structure and control logic, high working stability and reliability and the like.
Preferably, the solenoid valve located upstream of the refrigerant circulation flow among the normally closed solenoid valves A, B is made conductive, and the solenoid valve located downstream of the refrigerant circulation flow is made closed, so that the connection between the accumulator and the circulation passage is made conductive. The following description is made in conjunction with fig. 2 for two cases, namely, a cooling mode and a heating mode:
(1) in the cooling mode of the air conditioner, referring to the refrigerant circulation flow direction indicated by the solid arrows in fig. 2, the normally closed solenoid valve B is located upstream of the flow direction, and the normally closed solenoid valve a is located downstream of the flow direction (the flow direction of the refrigerant is from upstream to downstream). The normally closed solenoid valve a is preferably kept closed and the normally closed solenoid valve B is opened. At this time, the refrigerant in the circulation path enters the tank due to the pressure difference, and when the refrigerant mass remaining in the circulation path is a predetermined value (e.g., the optimum refrigerant circulation mass m1 required in the cooling mode), the normally closed electromagnetic valve B is controlled to be closed.
It should be noted that if the valve a is opened (the switch a and the switch B are opened or the switch AB is opened), the accumulator 1 can also recover the refrigerant, but the refrigerant is first exchanged through the outdoor heat exchanger 3 (this operation is not actually required), thereby reducing the system refrigeration efficiency.
(2) When the air conditioner is operating in the heating mode, see the refrigerant circulation flow direction indicated by the hollow arrow in fig. 2, the normally closed solenoid valve a is located upstream in the flow direction, and the normally closed solenoid valve B is located downstream in the flow direction. The normally closed solenoid valve B is preferably kept closed, and the normally closed solenoid valve a is opened. At this time, the refrigerant in the storage tank enters the circulation path due to the pressure difference, and when the refrigerant mass remaining in the circulation path is a predetermined value (e.g., the optimum refrigerant circulation mass m2 required in the heating mode), the normally closed electromagnetic valve a is controlled to be closed.
When the valve B is opened (the switch B and the switch a or the switch AB are on), the accumulator 1 can release the refrigerant as well, but the heat exchange is not performed through the outdoor heat exchanger 3, thereby reducing the system cooling efficiency.
Therefore, the problem of system refrigeration efficiency reduction caused by the fact that the refrigerant passes through the outdoor unit heat exchanger or does not pass through the outdoor unit heat exchanger before or after flowing into or out of the storage tank in the cooling or heating mode can be solved.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an air conditioner characterized in that the air conditioner is a heat pump type air conditioner employing compression steam type refrigeration, and the air conditioner has the refrigerant conditioning system as above.
Therefore, when the refrigerant regulating system of the application is applied to the air conditioner, the quality of the refrigerant participating in the refrigeration cycle is reduced, under the same working condition of the same refrigeration capacity, the evaporation pressure of the refrigerant in the heat exchanger of the indoor unit is unchanged, the condensation pressure of the refrigerant in the heat exchanger of the outdoor unit is reduced, and a corresponding throttling device is required to be adjusted, such as shortening the refrigeration capillary tube, increasing the opening degree of an electronic expansion valve and the like, namely the discharge pressure of the compressor is reduced, the suction pressure is unchanged, and therefore the compression ratio is reduced. The suction pressure of the compressor is unchanged, the exhaust temperature is reduced when the compression ratio is reduced, and the power and the current of the compressor are reduced. The exhaust temperature is reduced, and the compressor can enter overload protection when the current value is reduced at higher outdoor environment temperature, namely, the trip temperature is higher, so that the reliability of the air conditioner is improved.
Finally, it should be noted that: the above embodiments are only used for illustrating the technical solutions of the present application, and not for limiting the same; although the present application has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, it should be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that: the technical solutions described in the foregoing embodiments may still be modified, or some or all of the technical features may be equivalently replaced; and the modifications or the substitutions do not make the essence of the corresponding technical solutions depart from the scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application.