JP2002089891A - Ice storage air conditioner - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To efficiently transfer heat from ice to a refrigerant by agitating water obtained by melting ice as soon as ice starts to be melted. SOLUTION: An air box 37 for storing air is provided at the lower end of a coil 35, at the same time the coil 35 is fixed to the air box 37, and a bubble hole 39 where air gets out as air bubbles is formed near the fixed location. Then, when cold is to be stored, air is sent from an air pump 36 to the air box 37, and the air bubbles get out into the water from the bubble hole 39 for preventing the bubble hole 39 from being blocked by ice. When the cold that has been stored is to be taken out, air is sent from the air pump 36 to the air box 37, and bubbles are blown from the bubble hole 39 to water obtained by melting ice around the coil 3, thus agitating the water obtained by melting ice and hence efficiently transferring heat to the refrigerant.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ice storage air conditioner for making ice using electric power at midnight or the like and performing cooling or the like using the ice as a cold heat source.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art At present, an ice storage air conditioner has been proposed in which ice is produced using electric power at midnight and the like is used as a cold heat source for cooling in daytime or the like.

[0003] Such an ice heat storage air conditioner has an ice heat storage tank in which water is stored, and is provided so as to be immersed in the water of the ice heat storage tank, and has a coil and the like in which a refrigerant circulates.

[0004] Then, heat is exchanged with water in an ice heat storage tank by circulating and evaporating a refrigerant through a coil, thereby cooling the water to make ice.

When cooling is performed by extracting the heat of ice, the cooling is performed by circulating a refrigerant through a coil, cooling the refrigerant with ice, and exchanging the refrigerant with indoor air.

At this time, since the ice making and the melting ice spread from the surface of the coil to the periphery, a layer having a cylindrical temperature distribution is formed so as to surround the coil at the time of melting the ice, so that the layer is efficiently formed. There is a problem that it is difficult to transfer the heat of ice to the refrigerant.

To solve such a problem, an ice-melting tube is provided below the coil so as to intersect with the coil, and an ice-melting hole is formed at a position close to the coil surface so that air is removed from the ice-melting hole. A configuration is conceivable in which the melted ice is agitated by blowing water to promote heat transfer.

[0008]

However, in such a configuration in which air is blown out from the ice-melt hole, it is required that at least the ice-melt hole is not closed with ice, and the stirring is performed until then. There is a problem that the function cannot work.

Accordingly, the present invention provides an ice storage air conditioner which is capable of efficiently transferring heat from ice to a refrigerant by stirring the melted water at the same time as the start of melting ice. The purpose is to do.

[0010]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a coil for circulating a refrigerant in an ice heat storage tank in which water is stored, so that the refrigerant is cooled when storing cold heat. When the water is frozen by the heat of evaporation and the cooling is performed by the stored cold heat, the refrigerant is cooled by ice, and the refrigerant exchanges heat with the indoor air in the indoor heat exchanger. When an air box for storing air is provided at the lower end of the coil, and the coil is fixed to the air box, and a bubble hole through which air is extracted as air bubbles is formed in the vicinity of the fixed portion to store cold heat. In order to remove air bubbles from the air holes, to prevent the air holes from being clogged with ice, and to extract the stored cold heat, air bubbles should be extracted from the air holes, and from the ice to the refrigerant. The feature is that the heat transfer of That.

[0011]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an ice heat storage air conditioner according to the present invention. The ice heat storage air conditioner mainly includes a heat generation unit 10, a heat utilization unit 20, and a cold heat storage unit 30.

The heat generating section 10 includes a compressor 1 for compressing a refrigerant.
1, an outdoor heat exchanger 12 for exchanging heat between refrigerant and outside air, a four-way valve 13 for switching the circulation path of the refrigerant, etc., and a heat utilization unit 20 is an indoor decompression device 21 for decompressing or restricting the refrigerant, a refrigerant and indoor air And an indoor heat exchanger 22 for exchanging heat.

On the other hand, the cold heat storage section 30 has an ice heat storage tank 31 for storing water, a heat storage decompression device 32 for decompressing or reducing the refrigerant, a refrigerant pump 34 for circulating the liquid refrigerant, and the like.

When storing cold heat using midnight power or the like, the refrigerant is transferred to the compressor 11 according to the solid arrows in FIG.
The four-way valve 13, the outdoor heat exchanger 12, the first three-way valve 14, the surge tank 15, the second three-way valve 16, the heat storage pressure reducing device 32, the distributor 33, the ice heat storage tank 31, and the third three-way valve 17 are sequentially circulated. Then, the refrigerant from the heat generating unit 10 is supplied to the cold heat storage unit 30 and is evaporated by the cold heat storage unit 30 to make ice.

When cooling is performed using cold heat stored in the daytime or the like as a heat source, the refrigerant is supplied to the ice heat storage tank 31, the distributor 33, the heat storage decompression device 32, the second three-way valve 16, and the refrigerant pump 34 in accordance with the dotted arrows. The refrigerant is sequentially circulated through the surge tank 15, the first three-way valve 14, the indoor decompression device 21, the indoor heat exchanger 22, and the third three-way valve 17, and the refrigerant is cooled by ice in the cold heat storage unit 30, and this refrigerant is used for heat. Cooling is performed by supplying the heat to the heat utilization unit 20 and evaporating the heat.

The surge tank 15 is provided to adjust the required amount of refrigerant when storing heat and when extracting the stored heat. The distributor 33 is provided in the ice heat storage tank 31. When a plurality of coils 35 are provided, the coils 35 are provided so that the refrigerant is evenly supplied to the coils 35.

As will be described later, it is also possible to perform cooling and heating by directly supplying a refrigerant from the heat generation unit 10 to the heat utilization unit 20.

The ice heat storage tank 31 is provided so as to be immersed in the water stored in the ice heat storage tank 31 and has a coil 35 for circulating a refrigerant and exchanging heat between the refrigerant and the water. An air pump 36 for sending air to the lower end of the air pump 36, an air box 37 for receiving air from the air pump 36 and blowing it out as a bubble to a position near the coil 35 are provided.

FIGS. 2 and 3 are partial perspective views showing a schematic configuration of the air box 37 and the coil 35. The air box 37 formed in a skewered shape is a box body having an open lower surface, and a coil on the side. 35 is fixed.

An opening of the air box 37 is provided so that a nozzle 38 of an air pump 36 is located, and a bubble hole 39 is provided in the vicinity where the coil 35 is fixed.

Thus, the air sent from the air pump 36 is blown out of the nozzle 38 into water, received by the air box 37 and stored.

The air stored in the air box 37 is
The air bubbles are blown out of water as bubbles from 9 and rise to the surface of the water.

With reference to FIG. 4, a procedure for storing cold heat and cooling using the heat will be described.

First, as described above, when storing cold heat using midnight power or the like, the four-way valve 13 and the first three-way valve 1 are used.
4. The second three-way valve 16 and the third three-way valve 17 are switched to allow the refrigerant to circulate according to the solid arrow shown in FIG. At this time, the refrigerant is decompressed or throttled by the heat storage decompression device 32.

As a result, the refrigerant compressed by the compressor 11 exchanges heat with the outside air in the outdoor heat exchanger 12 to be condensed, and is decompressed or throttled by the heat storage decompression device 32 and supplied to the coil 35.

The refrigerant supplied to the coil 35 exchanges heat with the water stored in the ice heat storage tank 31 in the coil 35 to evaporate and return to the compressor 11. On the other hand, the water in the ice heat storage tank 31 loses the heat of evaporation, and is thereby cooled and frozen.

During this time, the air pump 36 is operating,
Air is sent from the nozzle 38 to the air box 37 (FIG. 4).
(A)).

As the ice making progresses, the periphery of the bubble hole 39 freezes, and the air pump 36 is stopped when the air is no longer extracted from the air box 37 and becomes full (see FIG. 4 (b)). The operation ends (see FIG. 4C).

Since the air pump 36 is operated until the periphery of the bubble hole 39 freezes as described above, water does not enter the air box 37 from the bubble hole 39, and therefore, the bubble hole 3
9 will not be blocked by ice.

When utilizing the thus stored cold heat, the refrigerant is circulated according to the dotted arrows as shown in FIG.

Thus, the refrigerant is cooled by the ice in the coil 35 and condensed. The refrigerant is pumped by the refrigerant pump 34 and decompressed or throttled by the indoor decompression device 21.

At this time, since the refrigerant liquid pump 34 pumps the liquid refrigerant, even a small pump can circulate a sufficient amount of the refrigerant, and the required refrigerant can be circulated with low power.

The refrigerant from the indoor pressure reducing device 21 is supplied to the indoor heat exchanger 22 and exchanges heat with indoor air to evaporate and return to the coil 35, thereby cooling the room.

At this time, the ice in the ice heat storage tank 31 is
Gradually melts from the outer periphery of the coil, but in this state, a layer having a cylindrical temperature distribution surrounding the coil 35 is formed, and it is difficult to efficiently extract cold heat. .

Therefore, according to the present invention, the air pump 36 is driven at the same time as the start of the extraction of cold heat, and the air is supplied to the air box 3.
7

The bubble hole 39 is provided with the coil 35 as described above.
, And the bubble holes 39 are not closed by ice, so that even if the melting of the ice starts even a little, bubbles are blown out from the bubble holes 39 into the melted water near the coil 35. (See FIG. 4D).

When the bubbles rise to the surface of the water due to buoyancy, they agitate the water around the coil 35.
The heat of the ice can be efficiently transmitted to the refrigerant.

Next, a case where the refrigerant from the compressor 11 is directly supplied to the indoor heat exchanger 22 to perform cooling and heating will be described.

When performing cooling, the four-way valve 13 and the first three-way valve 14 are arranged so that the refrigerant from the compressor 11 circulates through the outdoor heat exchanger 12, the indoor pressure reducing device 21, and the indoor heat exchanger 22.
And the third three-way valve 17 is controlled.

The refrigerant compressed by the compressor 11 is condensed by exchanging heat with the outside air in the outdoor heat exchanger 12, decompressed or throttled by the indoor pressure reducing device 21, and supplied to the indoor heat exchanger 22.

Then, heat is exchanged with the indoor air in the indoor heat exchanger 22 to evaporate and return to the compressor 11. At this time, the indoor air is cooled by losing the heat of evaporation to perform cooling.

On the other hand, when heating is performed, the four-way valve 13 and the first heat exchanger 12 are arranged so that the refrigerant from the compressor 11 circulates sequentially through the indoor heat exchanger 22, the indoor pressure reducing device 21, and the outdoor heat exchanger 12.
The three-way valve 14 and the third three-way valve 17 are controlled.

Thus, the refrigerant from the compressor 11 exchanges heat with the indoor air in the indoor heat exchanger 22 and condenses. Since the condensation heat is given to the room air, the room is thereby heated.

The refrigerant is decompressed or throttled by the indoor pressure reducing device 21, exchanges heat with the outside air in the outdoor heat exchanger 12, evaporates, and returns to the compressor 11.

[0045]

As described above, according to the present invention, an air box for storing air is provided at the lower end of the coil, the coil is fixed to the air box, and air bubbles are generated near the fixed portion. When the cold heat is stored, the air bubbles are extracted from the air holes so that the air holes are not blocked by ice, and when the stored cold heat is taken out. Air bubbles are extracted from the air holes, so that the ice melted water around the coil can be stirred immediately after the start of using the stored heat, and the heat of the ice is efficiently transmitted to the refrigerant. Will be able to do it.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an ice storage air conditioner applied to the description of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partial perspective view showing a configuration of an air box and the like.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the operation of the air box.

FIG. 4 is a diagram applied to the description of a heat storage process and the like.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Heat generation part 20 Heat utilization part 30 Cold heat storage part 31 Ice heat storage tank 32 Heat storage decompression device 34 Refrigerant liquid pump 35 Coil 36 Air pump 37 Air box 38 Nozzle 39 Bubble hole

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A coil for circulating a refrigerant is disposed in an ice heat storage tank in which water is stored. When storing cold heat, the water is frozen by the heat of evaporation of the refrigerant, and cooling is performed by the stored cold heat. When performing the cooling of the refrigerant with ice, in the ice heat storage air conditioner by exchanging heat with the indoor air in the indoor heat exchanger, while providing an air box for storing air at the lower end of the coil, A coil is fixed to the air box, and a bubble hole through which air is extracted as a bubble is formed in the vicinity of the fixed portion, and the bubble is extracted from the bubble hole during cold heat storage, and the bubble hole is made of ice. An ice storage air conditioner wherein the ice around the coil is melted at the same time that the stored cold heat is taken out so as not to be blocked, and air bubbles are extracted from the air holes at the same time.