JP2002156149A - Air conditioner - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an air conditioner wherein a heat exchange amount upon heating operation can be increased by providing an auxiliary outdoor heat exchanger in series to an outdoor heat exchanger, and heating the auxiliary outdoor heat exchanger by making use of waste heat of an inverter control device. SOLUTION: An air conditioner is provided, adapted such that compressor 1, a four way valve 2, an outdoor heat exchanger 3, an expansion valve 4, and an indoor heat exchanger 5 are coupled in succession to construct a freezing cycle, and there are provided in an outdoor unit for containing the compressor 1 and the outdoor heat exchanger 3, etc., a power module 12 that produces heat upon actuation and a heat sink 13 thermally coupled with the power module 12. In the air conditioner, an auxiliary outdoor heat exchanger 6 and a first opening/closing valve 7 are connected in series between the outdoor heat exchanger 3 and the expansion valve 4, and a bypass 9 is connected to between the outdoor heat exchanger 3 and the auxiliary outdoor heat exchanger 6 and between the first opening/closing valve 4 through a second opening/closing valve 8, while the heat sink 13 is thermally coupled with the auxiliary outdoor heat exchanger 6 whereby upon heating operation the first opening/ closing valve 7 is opened and the second opening/closing valve 8 is closed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to an auxiliary outdoor heat exchanger provided in an outdoor unit, which is heated by utilizing the exhaust heat of a heat sink of an inverter control circuit to increase the amount of heat exchange during a heating operation. On air conditioners that can be used.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional air conditioner, for example, as shown in FIG. 4, a compressor 1, a four-way valve 2, an outdoor heat exchanger 3 ', an expansion valve 4, and an indoor heat exchanger 5' are sequentially connected. A refrigeration cycle is configured. With the above configuration, in FIG. 4, the solid arrow indicates the flow direction of the refrigerant during the heating operation, and the broken arrow indicates the flow direction of the refrigerant during the cooling operation. In the above air conditioner, during the heating operation, the high-temperature and high-pressure gas refrigerant discharged from the compressor 1 in the outdoor unit passes through the four-way valve 2,
By exchanging heat with the indoor air while flowing through the indoor heat exchanger 5 ', it is condensed and liquefied, and releases heat into the room to condense. The condensed and liquefied liquid refrigerant is decompressed through the expansion valve 4 and becomes a low-temperature and low-pressure gas-liquid two-phase. It becomes a refrigerant and is returned from the four-way valve 2 to the compressor 1. During the cooling operation, the operation is the same as that of the heating except that the operation of the outdoor and indoor heat exchangers 3 'and 5' is reversed by switching the four-way valve 2.

However, in the above configuration, during the heating operation, the evaporating action of the refrigerant flowing through the outdoor heat exchanger 3 'is performed only by convection with the outdoor air, so that the amount of heat exchange in the outdoor unit is increased. It was difficult to make it.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has an auxiliary outdoor heat exchanger provided in series with an outdoor heat exchanger. This auxiliary outdoor heat exchanger is connected to a heat sink of an inverter control circuit. It is an object of the present invention to provide an air conditioner capable of heating using exhaust heat of the air conditioner and increasing the heat exchange amount during a heating operation.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and sequentially connects a compressor, a four-way valve, an outdoor heat exchanger, an expansion valve, and an indoor heat exchanger. A power module that constitutes a refrigeration cycle and includes an inverter control circuit that controls the driving of the compressor in an outdoor unit that houses the compressor, the outdoor heat exchanger, and the like; In an air conditioner consisting of a heat sink thermally coupled to a power module,
An auxiliary outdoor heat exchanger and a first on-off valve are connected in series between the outdoor heat exchanger and the expansion valve, and the first outdoor valve and the first outdoor valve are connected between the outdoor heat exchanger and the auxiliary outdoor heat exchanger. A bypass is connected between the on-off valve and the expansion valve via a second on-off valve, and the heat sink is thermally coupled to the auxiliary outdoor heat exchanger. A valve is opened, the second on-off valve is closed, and during cooling operation, the first on-off valve is closed and the second on-off valve is opened.

Further, the heat sink is thermally coupled to a radiating fin of the auxiliary outdoor heat exchanger.

The heat exchange capacity of the auxiliary outdoor heat exchanger is less than half that of the outdoor heat exchanger.

[0008] Further, a check valve or a solenoid valve is used for each of the on-off valves.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. 1, 2 and 3, 1 is a compressor, 2 is a four-way valve for switching the flow of refrigerant discharged from the compressor 1 in accordance with heating operation, cooling operation, etc., 3 is an outdoor heat exchanger, 4 is expansion The valve 5 is an indoor heat exchanger and these are sequentially connected to form a refrigeration cycle.

An outdoor unit 10 containing the compressor 1 and the outdoor heat exchanger 3 is provided with an outdoor blower 11 and an inverter control circuit 14 for controlling the driving of the compressor 1. The outdoor unit 10 is constituted by the power module 12 and the heat sink 13 thermally coupled to the power module 12.

An auxiliary outdoor heat exchanger 6 and a first on-off valve 7 are connected in series between the outdoor heat exchanger 3 and the expansion valve 4, and the outdoor heat exchanger 3 and the auxiliary outdoor heat exchanger are connected. 6, and between the first on-off valve 7 and the expansion valve 4, a bypass 9 is connected via a second on-off valve 8, while the heat sink 13 is connected to the auxiliary outdoor heat exchanger 6. The heat radiation fins 6a (6b are heat transfer tubes) are thermally coupled. Further, the heat exchange capacity of the auxiliary outdoor heat exchanger 6 is set to a small capacity of １ ／ to の of the outdoor heat exchanger 3. It should be noted that a check valve or a solenoid valve is used for each of the on-off valves 7 and 8.

In the above configuration, during the heating operation, the first opening / closing valve 7 is opened and the second opening / closing valve 8 is closed, and the refrigerant flows as indicated by the solid arrow. After passing through the four-way valve 2, the high-temperature and high-pressure gas refrigerant discharged from the compressor 1 exchanges heat with indoor air while flowing through the indoor heat exchanger 5,
The liquid refrigerant is condensed and liquefied to become a liquid refrigerant, which is expanded by an expansion valve 4, passed through a first on-off valve 7, sent to the auxiliary outdoor heat exchanger 6 and the outdoor heat exchanger 3, and absorbs heat from outdoor air. Evaporates and becomes a gas refrigerant and is returned from the four-way valve 2 to the compressor 1. At this time, in the auxiliary outdoor heat exchanger 6, the refrigerant is heated by the exhaust heat from the heat sink 13 thermally coupled to the power module 12, and the heat exchange is increased.

During the cooling operation, the first on-off valve 7 is closed,
The second on-off valve 8 is opened, the refrigerant flows on the side of the bypass 9 as shown by the dashed arrow, and the operation of the outdoor heat exchanger 3 and the indoor heat exchanger 5 is reversed by switching the four-way valve 2. Other than that, it is the same as in the heating operation.

As described above, the outdoor heat exchanger 3
The auxiliary outdoor heat exchanger 6 and the first opening / closing valve 7 are connected in series between the first and second expansion valves 4, and the first outdoor opening and closing valve 7 are connected in series between the outdoor heat exchanger 3 and the auxiliary outdoor heat exchanger 6. A bypass 9 is connected between the on-off valve 7 and the expansion valve 4 via a second on-off valve 8, while the heat sink 13 is thermally coupled to a radiating fin 6 a of the auxiliary outdoor heat exchanger 6. With the configuration using the exhaust heat, the air conditioner can increase the amount of heat exchange during the heating operation.

[0015]

As described above, according to the present invention, an auxiliary outdoor heat exchanger is provided in series with an outdoor heat exchanger, and this auxiliary outdoor heat exchanger is thermally coupled to a heat sink for radiating heat generated from the power module. , By utilizing this waste heat,
The air conditioner can increase the amount of heat exchange during the heating operation.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a refrigeration cycle of an air conditioner according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic sectional view of an outdoor unit according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged perspective view of a main part showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of a refrigeration cycle of a conventional air conditioner.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Compressor 2 Four-way valve 3 Outdoor heat exchanger 4 Expansion valve 5 Indoor heat exchanger 6 Auxiliary outdoor heat exchanger 7 1st on-off valve (check valve or solenoid valve) 8 2nd on-off valve (check valve or solenoid valve) 9) Bypass path 10 Outdoor unit 12 Power module 13 Heat sink 14 Inverter control circuit

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A compressor, a four-way valve, an outdoor heat exchanger,
An expansion valve and an indoor heat exchanger are sequentially connected to form a refrigeration cycle, and an outdoor control unit that controls the driving of the compressor is provided in an outdoor unit that houses the compressor and the outdoor heat exchanger. In an air conditioner comprising a power module constituting the inverter control circuit and a heat sink thermally coupled to the power module, an auxiliary outdoor heat exchanger and a first switch are provided between the outdoor heat exchanger and the expansion valve. A valve is connected in series, and a bypass is connected between the outdoor heat exchanger and the auxiliary outdoor heat exchanger and between the first on-off valve and the expansion valve via a second on-off valve. On the other hand, the heat sink is configured to be thermally coupled to the auxiliary outdoor heat exchanger. During the heating operation, the first on-off valve is opened, the second on-off valve is closed, and during the cooling operation, the first on-off valve is closed. , Said An air conditioner characterized by controlling to open a second on-off valve. 2. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the heat sink is thermally coupled to a radiation fin of the auxiliary outdoor heat exchanger. 3. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the heat exchange capacity of the auxiliary outdoor heat exchanger is less than half of the outdoor heat exchanger. 4. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein a check valve or a solenoid valve is used for each of said on-off valves.