JP2003269752A - Air conditioner - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an air conditioner wherein the amenity of air-conditioning operation and the operation of a compressor are improved, and the wasteful use of heat storage is suppressed, by enlarging a heat storage utilization range in cooling operation, and reducing the on-off frequency of the compressor. <P>SOLUTION: Sub-cooling control is performed on the basis of the temperature difference between a temperature signal from an indoor temperature sensor 28 and an indoor target temperature set to an indoor control part 30, and a temperature signal from a refrigerant temperature sensor 29, and in the case of still resulting in excessive cooling capacity to indoor air-conditioning load, a heat storage motor-operated valve 19 is put in a totally closed state, a thawing valve 20 and a sub-cooling valve 22 are turned off (closed), and a liquid pipe valve 21 is turned on (opened) to shut off a refrigerant circulating to an indoor unit through a heat storage coil 17. Heat storage non-use operation can thereby be performed to enlarge the utilization range of heat storage from zero and to reduce the stop frequency of the compressor. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an air conditioner that has a heat storage tank and stores cold heat or warm heat in the heat storage tank to perform air conditioning operation.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventional heat storage type air conditioners are constructed by connecting an outdoor unit containing a constant-speed compressor, a heat storage tank, and an indoor unit with unit piping and communication wiring. At night, the heat storage tank and the compressor perform heat storage operation, and the heat storage operation is used for cooling operation and heating operation in the daytime to perform economical and comfortable air conditioning operation.

Further, since the heat storage is used to perform the daytime cooling operation or the heating operation, it is possible to perform an operation with reduced power consumption during the daytime. Operation control was performed with an emphasis on all operations.

[0004]

However, as described above, the compressor is operated by using a constant speed compressor, or
It has a two-way control to stop it.
As a characteristic of the refrigerant control valve, since the flow path resistance when the motor-operated valve is fully opened is larger than the flow path resistance when the solenoid valve is turned on (open), the air conditioning load from the indoor unit Even in a cooling operation in which the signal is light and ice condensation in the heat storage tank is not required, as described above, the control means for controlling the refrigerant amount of the refrigerant flowing through the heat storage coil only by the heat storage electric valve. Then, some of the refrigerant flows through the heat storage coil, the cooling operation using the ice condensation is performed, and the thermocycle operation of turning on and off the compressor is frequently performed. It was

Further, when the compressor is in the cooling operation, the refrigerant is evaporated in the indoor heat exchanger even if the cooling capacity of the refrigerant circulating to the indoor unit is reduced. Since the indoor heat exchanger is cooled,
Moisture contained in the indoor air is condensed on the surface of the indoor heat exchanger, is separated from the indoor air, it was possible to provide a comfortable indoor air conditioning with little humidity, when the compressor is stopped, Naturally, since the refrigerant evaporation in the indoor heat exchanger is not performed and the temperature of this indoor heat exchanger rises, the moisture condensed on the surface of the indoor heat exchanger is:
It started to evaporate again and returned to the indoor air passing through this indoor heat exchanger, increasing the humidity, which is one of the factors that make people uncomfortable. This is the so-called moisture return phenomenon.

Therefore, in order to maintain comfortable indoor air conditioning, it is necessary to continue the operation without stopping the compressor as much as possible. For this purpose, from the heat storage tank depending on the indoor air conditioning load. It was required to reduce the heat storage utilization operation of (1) to as close to zero as possible.

Further, the time zone in which the heat storage operation is performed is
Since it is limited to the time period when night power can be used, in the unlikely event that the heat storage operation using the night power is not normally performed, the heat storage amount left in the cooling operation on the previous day, The heat storage amount of the heat stored the night before becomes the available heat storage amount, resulting in that most of the daytime cooling operation depends on the cooling of the refrigerant by the outside air in the outdoor heat exchange.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to improve the comfort of air conditioning operation and improve the operation of the compressor by expanding the heat storage utilization range in the cooling operation and reducing the number of times the compressor is stopped. It is an object of the present invention to provide an air conditioner characterized by suppressing wasteful use of heat, and enabling economical heat storage operation and heat storage utilization operation.

[0009]

The invention according to claim 1 is an air conditioner comprising an outdoor unit, an indoor unit, and a heat storage tank, wherein cold heat or warm heat is stored in the heat storage tank. It is characterized in that heat storage non-use operation means for bypassing the heat storage tank is provided.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the heat storage non-use operating means is a temperature signal from a refrigerant temperature sensor provided in the indoor unit, and a temperature from the indoor temperature sensor. It is characterized in that the control means is configured to perform in response to at least one of a signal and a temperature signal of the indoor target temperature.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in addition to the first or second aspect, the heat storage non-use operating means is:
It is characterized in that a refrigerant control valve is provided on the way and a refrigerant circuit that bypasses the heat storage tank is provided.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3.

First, the first embodiment will be explained. As shown in FIG. 1, a heat storage bypass pipe 35 having a heat storage bypass valve 34 is provided so as to bypass the heat storage section 4, and the heat storage air conditioner 101 is provided. Then, during the cooling operation, when there is no need to condense the refrigerant to be circulated to the indoor unit 2 with ice by the above-described serve-cool control, the heat storage electric valve 19 is fully closed, and the deicing valve 20 and the liquid pipe valve 21 are turned off. As (closed), the heat storage bypass valve 34 is turned on (opened), the refrigerant is circulated as shown by the solid arrow in FIG. 1, and the heat storage non-use operation is performed.

As shown in the flow chart of FIG. 2, the control means for carrying out this heat storage non-use operation confirms in step 1 whether or not a predetermined time has elapsed since the compressor 10 started operation. If it has passed, the process proceeds to step 3, and if it has not passed, the target SC value is set to a constant value a (S2), and the process proceeds to step 3.

In step 3, the temperature signal from the indoor temperature sensor 28 is below the temperature signal of the indoor target temperature, or the temperature signal from the refrigerant temperature sensor 29 has dropped below a certain temperature. Judge whether or not.

Here, if the temperature signal from the indoor temperature sensor 28 is equal to or lower than the temperature signal of the indoor target temperature, or the temperature signal from the refrigerant temperature sensor 29 is:
When it is determined that the temperature is lower than the certain temperature, it is determined whether or not the heat storage motor-operated valve 19 is in the fully open state (S4). If the heat storage motor-operated valve 19 is in the fully open state, the process proceeds to step 16, If it is not in the fully open state, the value of ΔSC is set to -1 (S5) and the process proceeds to step 10.

In step 3, the temperature signal from the indoor temperature sensor 28 is not lower than the temperature signal of the indoor target temperature, or the temperature signal from the refrigerant temperature sensor 29 is not lower than the predetermined temperature. Is judged,
It is confirmed whether or not the flag b indicating that the heat storage non-use operation is being set (S6). If the flag b is set, the process proceeds to step 22, and if the flag b is not set. , Go to step 7.

In step 7, the temperature signal from the indoor temperature sensor 28 is equal to or higher than the temperature signal of the indoor target temperature, or the temperature signal from the refrigerant temperature sensor 29 is
If it is determined that the temperature is equal to or higher than the certain temperature, the value of ΔSC is set to +1 (S8) and the process proceeds to step 10. If not, the value of ΔSC is set to 0 (S9) and the process proceeds to step 10. move on.

At step 10, the target SC is calculated from the value stored in the memory SCold at the time of the previous sub-cool control and the value of ΔSC set at any one of step 5, step 8 and step 9. Then, the obtained value of the target SC is stored in the memory SCold (S11), and the value of the target SC, the value of the temperature signal from the outdoor liquid temperature sensor, and the heat storage E2 temperature sensor 32 are calculated. The number DP of pulses for opening and closing the heat storage motor-operated valve 19 is calculated by the value of the temperature signal of (S12).

In step 13, it is judged whether or not the value of ΔSC is a value of 0 or more, and if it is a negative value less than 0, the pulse of the regenerative electric valve 19 calculated in step 12 is calculated. After opening for several DP (S14), this flow chart is ended, and if the value is 0 or more, the heat storage motor-operated valve 19 is closed for the number of pulses DP calculated in step 12 (S).
15).

Then, in step 4, the heat storage motor operated valve 19
When it is determined that is in the fully open state, it is confirmed whether or not the flag b indicating that the heat storage non-use operation is being set (S16). If the flag b is set, the compressor is 10 is stopped, the outdoor unit 1 is thermo-off (S17), this flowchart is ended, and if the flag b is not set, this flag b is set (S18) and the heat storage bypass valve 34 is turned on (open). As a result (S19), the thaw valve 20 and the subcool valve 22 are turned off (closed) (S20), the heat storage motor-operated valve 19 is fully closed (S21), and this flowchart is ended.

If the flag b is set in step 6, this flag b is reset (S2
2) The heat storage motor operated valve 19 is fully opened (S23), and the thaw valve 20 and the subcool valve 22 are turned on (open) (S2).
4), the heat storage bypass valve 34 is turned off (closed) (S2
5) The flow chart ends.

As described above, even when the heat storage motor-operated valve 19 is fully opened, the refrigerant flowing through the heat storage coil 17, condensed with ice and circulated to the indoor unit 2 is shut off, and all the refrigerant discharged from the compressor 10 is shut off. The refrigerant is circulated in the heat storage bypass pipe 35 by turning on (opening) the heat storage bypass valve 34 to perform the heat storage non-use operation, so that the compressor is operated even when the air conditioning load of the indoor unit 2 is an extremely light load. It is possible to cope with the operation of the compressor 10 while operating, and the operation of the compressor 10 can be improved, and since the heat storage of the heat storage tank 16 is also used from zero, the utilization range of the heat storage can be expanded.

As another embodiment, the second,
It is also possible to use the third embodiment.

In the second embodiment, the heat storage bypass valve 34 and the heat storage bypass pipe 3 described in the first embodiment are used.
5 is not provided, the refrigerant that flows through the heat storage coil 17 and is condensed by ice is shut off, and the heat storage non-use operation is performed.

The second embodiment will be described.
As shown in FIG. 3, in the refrigerant circuit, the heat storage type air conditioner 100 is used as it is, the heat storage electric valve 19 is fully opened, and the deicing valve 20 and the liquid pipe valve 21 are turned off (closed). The refrigerant is circulated as indicated by the solid line arrow to perform the heat storage non-use operation.

The control means for performing this heat storage non-use operation is as shown in the flow chart of FIG.

Since steps 1 to 15 in the flow chart of FIG. 4 are the same as those shown in the flow chart of FIG. 2, description thereof will be omitted.

The flag b used in the flow chart is also a flag indicating that the heat storage non-use operation described in the flow chart of FIG. 2 is being performed.

In the flowchart of FIG. 4, in step 3, the temperature signal from the indoor temperature sensor 28 is equal to or lower than the temperature signal of the indoor target temperature, or the temperature signal from the refrigerant temperature sensor 29 is constant. When it is determined that the temperature is lower than the temperature, and it is determined in step 4 that the heat storage motor-operated valve 19 is in the fully open state, it is confirmed whether or not the flag b is set (S16), and the flag b is set. If is set, the compressor 10 is stopped, the outdoor unit 1 is thermo-off (S17) and this flow chart is ended. If the flag b is not set, this flag b is set (S18), Ice valve 20 off (closed)
(S19) This flowchart ends.

In step 3, the room temperature sensor 28
It is determined that the temperature signal from the temperature target signal is less than the temperature signal of the indoor target temperature, or the temperature signal from the refrigerant temperature sensor 29 has not dropped below the certain temperature. If it has been set, this flag b is reset (S20), and the deicing valve 20
Is turned on (open) (S21), and this flowchart ends.

As described above, by turning off (closing) the thaw valve 20, the refrigerant flowing to the heat storage coil 17 can be shut off, so that as shown in FIG.
4 or without providing the heat storage bypass pipe 35, the heat storage tank 16 can be bypassed and the refrigerant can be circulated to the indoor unit 2, and the heat storage non-use operation can be performed.

Further, in the first embodiment, since the heat storage tank 16 is bypassed, the refrigerant is mainly circulated until then from the receiver tank 18, the heat storage electric valve 19, the subcool valve 22, the indoor electric valve. While the refrigerant path sequentially passing through to 23 is switched to the heat storage bypass pipe 35 to perform the heat storage non-use operation, in the second embodiment, the refrigerant so far is mainly circulated. Since the refrigerant path is not changed, there is no possibility that the refrigerant noise will be generated when shifting to the heat storage non-use operation.

Of course, the air conditioning load of the indoor unit 2 is
Even when the load is extremely light, it is possible to respond while the compressor 10 is operating, and the operation of the compressor 10 can be improved, and the heat storage in the heat storage tank 16 is also used from zero, so heat storage is possible. It is possible to expand the usage range of.

Next, the third embodiment will be described. As shown in FIG. 5, the refrigerant circuit is left as it is in the heat storage type air conditioner 100 so far, the heat storage motor operated valve 19 is fully closed, and the liquid is stored. The pipe valve 21 is turned on (open) and the thaw valve 20 is opened.
Then, the subcool valve 22 is turned off (closed), and the refrigerant is circulated as indicated by the solid line arrow to perform the heat storage non-use operation.

The control means for performing this heat storage non-use operation is as shown in the flow chart of FIG.

In the flowchart of FIG. 6, steps 1 to 15 are shown in the flowcharts of FIGS. 2 and 4 except that the flags to be confirmed in step 6 are b and c. The description is omitted because it is the same as the one described above.

The flag b used in the flow chart is a flag indicating that the heat storage non-use operation described in the flow charts of FIGS. 2 and 4 is being performed.
The flag c is a flag indicating whether or not the liquid pipe valve 21 is on (open).

In the flowchart of FIG. 6, in step 3, the temperature signal from the indoor temperature sensor 28 is equal to or lower than the temperature signal of the indoor target temperature, or the temperature signal from the refrigerant temperature sensor 29 is constant. When it is determined that the temperature is lower than the temperature, and it is determined in step 4 that the heat storage motor-operated valve 19 is in the fully open state, it is confirmed whether or not the flag b is set (S16), and the flag b is set. If is set, the compressor 10 is stopped, the outdoor unit 1 is thermo-off (S17), this flowchart is ended, and if the flag b is reset, the flag c is reset.
It is confirmed whether or not is set (S18).

If the flag c is set in step 18, the flag b is set (S19), and the thaw valve 20 is opened.
And the subcool valve 22 is turned off (closed) (S20),
If the heat storage solenoid valve 19 is fully closed (S21) and this flowchart is terminated and the flag c is reset,
The flag c is set (S22), the liquid pipe valve 21 is turned on (open) (S23), and this flowchart is ended.

In step 3, the indoor temperature sensor 28
Is determined not to be equal to or lower than the temperature signal of the indoor target temperature or the temperature signal from the refrigerant temperature sensor 29 has not decreased to the constant temperature or lower, and in step 6, the flag b, Alternatively, if any of the flags c is set, it is confirmed whether or not the flag c is set (S24), and if the flag c is set, the flag c is reset (S25), and the liquid is The pipe valve 21 is turned off (closed) (S26), this flow chart is ended, and if the flag c is reset, the flag b is reset (S27) and the heat storage motor operated valve 19 is fully opened (S28). The thaw valve 20 and the subcool valve 22 are turned on (open) (S29), and this flow chart ends.

In this manner, the heat storage motor-operated valve 19 is fully closed, the liquid pipe valve 21 is turned on (open), and the deicing valve 20 and the subcool valve 22 are turned off (closed). Since the refrigerant flowing to 17 can be blocked, as shown in FIG. 1 described above, the heat storage tank 16 is bypassed without supplying a new heat storage bypass valve 34 or new heat storage bypass pipe 35, and the refrigerant is transferred to the indoor unit. It becomes possible to circulate to 2.

Further, in the second embodiment described above, the refrigerant is mainly transferred to the heat storage non-use operation without changing the circulating refrigerant path, whereas in the third embodiment, it is so far. The heat storage motor-operated valve 19 through which the refrigerant is mainly distributed is changed to a liquid pipe valve 21.

Regarding this, as described in the second embodiment, when the refrigerant passage through which the refrigerant flows is changed, there is a concern that refrigerant noise will be generated. In order to avoid it and to provide an operating state of the cooling operation in which the ice condensation in the heat storage coil 17 is further reduced when shifting to the heat storage non-use operation, step 22, and
Step 23 is provided, and the thaw valve 20 and the subcool valve 2 are provided.
2 and 2 are turned on (open), the heat storage motor-operated valve 19 is fully opened, and the liquid pipe valve 21 is turned on (open).
The refrigerant can flow through both the refrigerant flow path indicated by the solid arrow in FIG. 5 and the refrigerant flow path indicated by the broken arrow.

Of course, the air conditioning load of the indoor unit 2 is
Even when the load is extremely light, it is possible to respond while the compressor 10 is operating, and the operation of the compressor 10 can be improved, and the heat storage in the heat storage tank 16 is also used from zero, so heat storage is possible. As in the first and second embodiments, it is possible to widen the range of use.

[0046]

According to the above description, a heat storage bypass pipe provided with a heat storage bypass valve for bypassing the heat storage tank is provided for control, or a heat storage motor-operated valve or a defrosting valve built in the heat storage section is controlled. By doing so, the use of the heat storage tank can be performed from zero, the heat storage use range is expanded, and it is possible to cope with an extremely light load of the indoor unit, thus reducing the number of stops due to thermo-off of the compressor, It is possible to improve the operation of the compressor, and the phenomenon of moisture return is less likely to occur, so that the comfort of air conditioning operation is also improved.

Further, by allowing the non-heat storage operation to be performed, wasteful use of the heat storage is suppressed, so that the heat storage operation time using the night power can be shortened, and the heat storage operation is economical. It is possible to perform the heat storage utilization operation.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a heat storage type air conditioner with a heat storage bypass pipe 35;
It is a schematic diagram showing that heat storage bypass valve 34 was provided and heat storage tank 16 was bypassed.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an operation of the control means of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing a control of a defrosting valve 20 of a heat storage type air conditioner,
It is the schematic which shows having bypassed the heat storage tank 16.

4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the control means of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing that the heat storage electric valve 19 and the liquid pipe valve 21 of the heat storage type air conditioner are controlled to bypass the heat storage tank 16.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of the control means in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 outdoor unit 2 Indoor unit 3 outside 4 Heat storage part Piping between 5 units 6 Communication wiring 10 compressor 11 four-way valve 12 outdoor heat exchanger 13 Outdoor electric valve 14 Accumulator 15 outdoor blowers 16 heat storage tank 17 Heat storage coil 18 receiver tank 19 Heat storage motor operated valve 20 thaw valve 21 Liquid pipe valve 22 Subcool valve 23 Indoor motor operated valve 24 two-way valve 25 Outdoor control unit 26 Indoor heat exchanger 27 Indoor blower 28 Indoor temperature sensor 29 Refrigerant temperature sensor 30 Indoor control unit 31 Outdoor liquid temperature sensor 32 Heat storage E2 temperature sensor 33 Heat storage sensor 50 housing (outdoor) 51 housing (indoor) 100 heat storage type air conditioner 101 Heat storage type air conditioner

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An air conditioner that includes an outdoor unit, an indoor unit, and a heat storage tank, and stores cold heat or warm heat in the heat storage tank, the heat storage non-utilizing operation means bypassing the heat storage tank. An air conditioner characterized by that. 2. The heat storage non-use operating means is at least one of a temperature signal from a refrigerant temperature sensor provided in the indoor unit, a temperature signal from an indoor temperature sensor, and a temperature signal of the indoor target temperature. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the air conditioner is control means for controlling the temperature signal. 3. The air according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the heat storage non-use operating means is a control means provided with a refrigerant control valve in the middle thereof to provide a refrigerant circuit bypassing the heat storage tank. Harmony device.