JP2013160391A - Air conditioner - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an air conditioner capable of improving cooling capability by making the best use of cold of drain water without altering structures of an indoor unit and an outdoor unit.SOLUTION: In an air conditioner 1 such that an indoor unit 2 installed indoors and an outdoor unit 3 installed outdoors are connected to each other through a refrigerant liquid pipe 13 and a refrigerant gas pipe 14 as a crossover pipe, at least a part of a crossover pipe portion of the refrigerant liquid pipe 13 is composed of a double-pipe heat exchanger 18, and drain water generated on the side of an outer pipe 19 thereof by an indoor heat exchanger 5 of the indoor unit 2 and gathered by a drain pan 8 is introduced to be circulated.

Description

  The present invention relates to an air conditioner capable of supercooling a refrigerant using drain water generated in an indoor heat exchanger during cooling.

  During cooling, moisture in the air condenses on the surface of the indoor heat exchanger that functions as an evaporator, and drain water is generated. Attempts have been made to improve the performance of air conditioners by effectively using this drain water. For example, in Patent Documents 1 and 2, the drain water generated in the indoor unit is guided to the outdoor unit side by a drain hose, and water is sprayed to the outdoor heat exchanger via the sprinkling means disposed on the upper part of the outdoor heat exchanger. However, it is known to reduce the power on the outdoor unit side by improving the condensation performance.

  Patent Document 3 also provides a liquid / gas heat exchanger for exchanging heat between the inlet side liquid refrigerant and the outlet side gas refrigerant of the indoor heat exchanger in the indoor unit. A double spiral heat exchanger is constructed by sprinkling the drain water generated by the indoor heat exchanger or by wrapping a drain pipe around the outer periphery of the liquid / gas heat exchanger. There is provided a system in which the cooling capacity is improved by cooling the refrigerant flowing into the exchanger and applying supercooling.

JP-A-8-313007 JP 2001-201082 A Japanese Patent No. 3948475

  However, as shown in Patent Documents 1 and 2, in the case where the drain water is sprinkled with respect to the outdoor heat exchanger, there is a heat exchange loss in the fins, and the cold heat of the drain water is sufficiently recovered. However, the improvement in performance is at most about 0.3 to 0.9%. Also, with this method, it is indispensable to add water spraying means for uniformly spraying drain water to the top of the outdoor unit or outdoor heat exchanger, so that structural changes and enlargement of the outdoor unit and outdoor heat exchanger can be avoided. There is no problem.

  On the other hand, in the thing shown by patent document 3, since the liquid / gas heat exchanger is arrange | positioned in an indoor unit, when the installation space is considered, the volume expansion of a heat exchange part has a limit naturally, Not only can the cold heat be recovered sufficiently, but there is a problem that the structural change and increase in size of the indoor unit are inevitable. In addition, when using a liquid / gas heat exchanger, the heat of the high-temperature refrigerant gas discharged from the compressor in the liquid / gas heat exchanger is partially dissipated during heating. Have the problem of

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and there is no need to change the structure of the indoor unit and the outdoor unit, and it is possible to improve the cooling capacity by making maximum use of the cooling water of the drain water. It aims at providing the air conditioner which can be performed.

In order to solve the above-described problems, the air conditioner of the present invention employs the following means.
That is, the air conditioner according to the present invention is an air conditioner in which an indoor unit installed indoors and an outdoor unit installed outdoors are connected via a refrigerant liquid pipe and a refrigerant gas pipe which are transition pipes. In the machine, at least a part of the transition pipe portion of the refrigerant liquid pipe is constituted by a double pipe heat exchanger, and is generated on the outer pipe side by the indoor heat exchanger of the indoor unit and collected by a drain pan. Drain water is introduced and can be distributed.

  According to the present invention, at least a part of the transition pipe portion of the refrigerant liquid pipe connecting the indoor unit and the outdoor unit is configured by the double pipe heat exchanger, and the indoor unit is disposed on the outer pipe side. Since the drain water generated in the indoor heat exchanger and collected by the drain pan is introduced and can be circulated, it is condensed on the outdoor unit side and circulated to the indoor unit side through the refrigerant liquid pipe which is a transition pipe. The high-pressure liquid refrigerant can be supercooled by exchanging heat with the drain water that is generated in the indoor heat exchanger and introduced and circulated to the outer pipe side of the double pipe heat exchanger. Therefore, the cooling capacity can be improved by the amount equivalent to the supercooling with drain water, and the liquid refrigerant can be supercooled at the transition pipe portion of the refrigerant liquid pipe, so that the structure of the indoor unit and the outdoor unit can be changed, There is no need to increase the size, and it can be implemented relatively easily and at low cost. Moreover, even if it applies to the heat pump machine which can be heated, a heat radiation loss does not arise.

  Furthermore, the air conditioner of the present invention is the air conditioner described above, wherein the drain water generated in the indoor unit includes the indoor unit installed indoors and the outdoor unit installed outdoors. It is introduced into the outer tube side of the double tube heat exchanger by utilizing the head difference between them, and can be circulated.

  According to the present invention, the drain water generated in the indoor unit is obtained by using the head difference between the indoor unit installed indoors and the outdoor unit installed outdoors. Since it is introduced to the outer pipe side and can be circulated, the drain water generated in the indoor unit is transferred to the outer pipe side of the double pipe heat exchanger using the head difference between the indoor unit and the outdoor unit. By introducing and circulating, heat exchange with the liquid refrigerant can be performed while ensuring a constant flow rate without power. Therefore, without consuming extra power, the heat transfer rate in the double-tube heat exchanger can be increased, the supercooling can be maximized, and the cooling capacity can be improved.

  Furthermore, the air conditioner of the present invention is the above air conditioner, wherein the indoor unit includes a drain pump that lifts the drain water collected by the drain pan to a predetermined height position. The discharge pipe is connected to the outer pipe side of the double pipe heat exchanger.

  In indoor units of the type installed on indoor ceilings, etc., usually drain water collected by a drain pan is lifted to a predetermined height by a drain pump, and the head difference is secured and discharged to the outdoor side. Yes. According to the present invention, in the indoor unit configured as described above, since the discharge pipe of the drain pump is connected to the outer pipe side of the double pipe heat exchanger, the double pipe using the existing drain pump is used. By introducing and circulating drain water on the outer tube side of the heat exchanger, heat exchange with the liquid refrigerant can be achieved while ensuring a constant flow rate. Therefore, the existing drain pump can be used effectively, and without increasing the power consumption, while ensuring the drain water flow rate, the heat transfer rate in the double pipe heat exchanger is increased, and the supercooling is maximized for cooling. Ability can be improved.

  Furthermore, the air conditioner of the present invention is the above air conditioner, wherein the discharge pipe of the drain pump is connected to the outer pipe side of the double pipe heat exchanger on the downstream side of the maximum head height position. It is characterized by that.

  According to the present invention, since the discharge pipe of the drain pump is connected to the outer pipe side of the double pipe heat exchanger at the downstream side of the maximum head height position, it reaches the maximum head height position via the drain pump. The lifted drain water can be introduced and circulated on the outer tube side of the double tube heat exchanger using the head difference, and heat exchange with the liquid refrigerant can be performed. Therefore, the drain water can be heat exchanged with the liquid refrigerant while maintaining a constant flow rate without affecting the drain discharge function. By increasing the heat transfer coefficient in the double pipe heat exchanger, Can be maximized to improve the cooling capacity.

  According to the present invention, the high-pressure liquid refrigerant that is condensed on the outdoor unit side and distributed to the indoor unit side via the refrigerant liquid pipe that is a transition pipe is generated in the indoor heat exchanger, and the outside of the double pipe heat exchanger. Since it can be supercooled by exchanging heat with the drain water introduced and circulated on the pipe side, the cooling capacity can be improved by an amount equivalent to the supercooling by the drain water, and the liquid can be added at the transition pipe portion of the refrigerant liquid pipe. Since the refrigerant can be supercooled, the structure of the indoor unit and the outdoor unit does not need to be changed or increased in size, and can be implemented relatively easily and at low cost. Moreover, even if it applies to the heat pump machine which can be heated, a heat radiation loss does not arise.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an air conditioner according to a first embodiment of the present invention. It is a schematic block diagram of the refrigerant | coolant liquid pipe | tube part by which a part of air conditioner shown in FIG. 1 was used as the double pipe | tube heat exchanger. It is a Mollier diagram in the air conditioner shown in FIG. It is a schematic block diagram of the air conditioner which concerns on 2nd Embodiment of this invention.

Embodiments according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
[First Embodiment]
Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3.
FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration diagram of an air conditioner according to the first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 shows a schematic configuration of a refrigerant liquid pipe portion, a part of which is a double pipe heat exchanger. The figure is shown.
The air conditioner 1 includes an indoor unit 2 installed indoors and an outdoor unit 3 installed outdoors. The indoor unit 2 is configured such that an indoor heat exchanger 5, an expansion valve 6, an indoor blower 7, a drain pan 8, and the like are disposed in the unit body 4. This indoor unit 2 may be a known one. The outdoor unit 3 is configured such that a compressor 10, an outdoor heat exchanger 11, an outdoor blower 12, and the like are disposed in the unit body 9. This outdoor unit 3 may be a known one.

  The indoor unit 2 is installed in an upper part such as a wall surface in the room, while the outdoor unit 3 is installed in an appropriate place such as an outdoor ground or a veranda. The indoor unit 2 and the outdoor unit 3 are configured to be installed and installed by being connected via a refrigerant liquid pipe 13 and a refrigerant gas pipe 14 which are transition pipes. The compressor 10, the outdoor heat exchanger 11, the expansion valve 6, the indoor heat exchanger 5 and the like provided in the indoor unit 2 and the outdoor unit 3 are in this order a refrigerant pipe 15, a refrigerant liquid pipe 13, and a refrigerant gas pipe. 14, a closed cycle refrigerant circuit 16 is configured.

  In the above air conditioner 1, the high-temperature and high-pressure refrigerant gas compressed by the compressor 10 is supplied to the outdoor heat exchanger 11 through the refrigerant pipe 15, and the outside air blown through the outdoor fan 12 here Heat exchanged and condensed. This liquid refrigerant is supplied to the indoor unit 2 side through the refrigerant liquid pipe 13, is adiabatically expanded by the expansion valve 6, and is then supplied to the indoor heat exchanger 5. The refrigerant supplied to the indoor heat exchanger 5 is heat-exchanged with indoor air circulated through the indoor blower 7, and absorbs heat from the indoor air to be evaporated. The air cooled by the indoor heat exchanger 5 is blown into the room through the indoor blower 7 to be used for indoor cooling. On the other hand, the evaporated gas refrigerant is circulated to the outdoor unit 3 side through the refrigerant gas pipe 14, and is sucked into the compressor 10 and compressed again. The cooling operation is performed by repeating this cycle.

FIG. 3 is a Mollier diagram showing this cycle.
During the cooling operation by the above cycle, moisture in the air is condensed on the fin surface of the indoor heat exchanger 5 functioning as an evaporator. The condensed water becomes drain water, flows down the fin surface of the indoor heat exchanger 5 and is collected in the drain pan 8 installed in the lower part thereof, and then the room installed in the upper part of the room. Due to the head difference from the machine 2, it is led to the outdoor side via a drain pipe (drain hose) 17.

  In the present embodiment, the refrigerant liquid pipe that is a transition pipe is used to provide supercooling to the high-pressure liquid refrigerant that is condensed on the outdoor unit 3 side and supplied to the indoor unit 2 side by using the cold heat of the drain water. At least a part of 13 is a double pipe heat exchanger 18, and a drain pipe (drain hose) 17 from the drain pan 8 is connected to an outer pipe 19 of the double pipe heat exchanger 18. As a result, the drain water collected in the drain pan 8 and introduced into the outer pipe 19 via the drain pipe 17 passes through the interior of the refrigerant liquid pipe 13 while maintaining a constant flow rate due to the head difference. Heat exchange is performed with the high-pressure liquid refrigerant flowing on the inner pipe 20 side, and the high-pressure liquid refrigerant is supercooled as shown in FIG.

  In this refrigerant liquid pipe 13, the double pipe heat exchanger 18 is connected to the double pipe portion 18A and the refrigerant liquid pipe 13 as shown in FIG. Hose) 17 is connected, and is composed of socket portions 18B and 18C for connecting them to the double pipe portion 18A. The double pipe portion 18A can be a general double pipe heat exchanger that exchanges heat between the drain water flowing on the outer pipe 19 side and the refrigerant flowing on the inner pipe 20 side.

With the configuration described above, according to the present embodiment, the following operational effects can be obtained.
During the cooling operation, the high-pressure liquid refrigerant condensed and liquefied by the outdoor heat exchanger 11 functioning as a condenser as described above is sent from the outdoor unit 3 to the indoor unit 2 side via the refrigerant liquid pipe 13. On the other hand, drain water generated on the fin surface of the indoor heat exchanger 5 functioning as an evaporator is collected by a drain pan 8 provided at the lower portion thereof and guided to the outdoor side via a drain pipe 17. This liquid refrigerant and drain water are heat-exchanged with each other while at least a part of the refrigerant liquid pipe 13 flows through the inner pipe 20 side and the outer pipe 19 side of the portion where the double pipe heat exchanger 18 is formed. As shown in FIG. 3, the liquid refrigerant is supercooled by the cold heat of the drain water.

  Here, when the suction temperature is 30 ° C., the condensation temperature is 45 ° C., the evaporation temperature is 15 ° C., and RH is 80%, the maximum cooling of 5 deg from h1 to h2 as shown in FIG. There is a possibility that supercooling can be secured (when the inner pipe of the double pipe is 4.0φ and the outer pipe is 12.7φ). In this case, it is possible to expect a performance improvement of about 6%.

In this way, the high-pressure liquid refrigerant condensed on the outdoor unit 3 side and distributed to the indoor unit 2 side via the refrigerant liquid pipe 13 serving as a transition pipe is generated in the indoor heat exchanger 5 and double-tube heat exchange is performed. Supercooling can be achieved by heat exchange with the drain water introduced and circulated on the outer tube 19 side of the vessel 18. For this reason, the cooling capacity can be improved by an amount equivalent to the supercooling of the liquid refrigerant by the drain water.
Further, since the liquid refrigerant can be supercooled at the transition pipe portion of the refrigerant liquid pipe 13, the indoor unit 2 and the outdoor unit 3 can be implemented relatively easily and at low cost without particularly changing the structure or increasing the size. can do.

  Furthermore, in this embodiment, the drain water generated in the indoor unit 2 is generated by utilizing the head difference between the indoor unit 2 installed indoors and the outdoor unit 3 installed outdoors. It is introduced into the outer pipe 19 side of the heavy pipe heat exchanger 18 and can be distributed. For this reason, the drain water generated in the indoor unit 2 using the head difference between the indoor unit 2 and the outdoor unit 3 is introduced and circulated into the outer tube 19 of the double-pipe heat exchanger 18, thereby eliminating the problem. Heat can be exchanged with the liquid refrigerant while ensuring a constant flow rate with power. Therefore, without consuming extra power, the heat transfer rate in the double pipe heat exchanger 18 can be increased, the supercooling can be maximized, and the cooling capacity can be improved.

  Further, as described above, at least a part of the refrigerant liquid pipe 13 which is a transition pipe has a double pipe structure employing the double pipe heat exchanger 18, so that the heat insulation on the side of the refrigerant liquid pipe 13 which has been insulated is performed. There is a possibility that the structure can be reduced or omitted, and the cost can be reduced by reducing the amount of heat insulating material used.

[Second Embodiment]
Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
This embodiment is different from the first embodiment described above in that the indoor unit is an indoor unit 22 of a type installed on an indoor ceiling or the like. Since other points are the same as those in the first embodiment, description thereof will be omitted.
In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, the indoor unit 22 includes an indoor heat exchanger 25, an expansion valve 26, an indoor blower 27, a drain pan 28, and the like in a unit main body 24 that is suspended from a ceiling or the like. It is set as the arrangement | positioning. Further, this type of indoor unit 22 includes a drain pump 29 that lifts drain water collected in the drain pan 28 to a predetermined height and discharges it to the outdoor side.

  As in the first embodiment, the indoor heat exchanger 25 is connected to the refrigerant liquid pipe 13 and the refrigerant gas pipe 14 which are transition pipes connecting the indoor unit 22 and the outdoor unit 3. At least a part of the transition pipe portion of the refrigerant liquid pipe 13 is a double pipe heat exchanger 18, and the discharge pipe 30 of the drain pump 29 is connected to the outer pipe 19 of the double pipe heat exchanger 18. Has been. The discharge pipe 30 of the drain pump 29 is connected to the outer pipe 19 of the double pipe heat exchanger 18 on the downstream side of the maximum head height position.

  As a result, the drain water lifted to a predetermined height position via the drain pump 29 circulates in the outer pipe 19 while ensuring a constant flow rate due to the head difference. As shown in FIG. 3, the high-pressure liquid refrigerant can be supercooled by the cold heat of the drain water. Therefore, according to this embodiment, the same effect as that of the first embodiment can be obtained.

  Further, the discharge pipe 30 of the drain pump 29 is connected to the outer pipe 19 side of the double pipe heat exchanger 18. For this reason, heat is exchanged with the liquid refrigerant while ensuring a constant flow rate by introducing and circulating drain water to the outer pipe 19 side of the double pipe heat exchanger 18 using the existing drain pump 29. Can do. Therefore, the existing drain pump 29 is effectively used, and the heat transfer rate in the double pipe heat exchanger 18 is increased while ensuring the flow rate of the drain water without consuming additional power, and the supercooling is maximized. Cooling capacity can be improved.

  Further, the discharge pipe 30 of the drain pump 29 is connected to the outer pipe 19 side of the double pipe heat exchanger 18 on the downstream side of the maximum head height position. For this reason, the drain water lifted to the maximum lift height position via the drain pump 29 is introduced and circulated to the outer pipe 19 side of the double pipe heat exchanger 18 using the head difference, and the liquid refrigerant and heat Can be exchanged. Therefore, the drain water can be heat exchanged with the liquid refrigerant while maintaining a constant flow rate without affecting the drain discharge function, and by increasing the heat transfer coefficient in the double pipe heat exchanger 18, The cooling capacity can be maximized to improve the cooling capacity.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to the invention concerning the said embodiment, In the range which does not deviate from the summary, it can change suitably. For example, in the above-described embodiment, an example in which the refrigerant is circulated in one direction and applied to the air conditioner 1 capable of cooling operation has been described. However, the refrigerant circulation direction is switched between the discharge pipe and the suction pipe of the compressor 10. Needless to say, the present invention can also be applied to a heat pump machine that is provided with a four-way switching valve and can switch between cooling and heating. In this case, no heat radiation loss occurs in the double-pipe heat exchanger 18 even if heating operation is performed.

  Moreover, although the said embodiment demonstrated the example of the wall-mounted type indoor unit 2 and the ceiling-suspended type indoor unit 22, an indoor unit is installed in a high place and drain water is discharged | emitted only by the head difference to the outdoor side. The same applies to other types of indoor units that are configured to be configured, or other types of indoor units that are equipped with a drain pump and are configured to discharge drain water to a predetermined height and then discharge it to the outdoor side. Needless to say, this can be applied to.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Air conditioner 2,22 Indoor unit 3 Outdoor unit 5,25 Indoor heat exchanger 8,28 Drain pan 13 Refrigerant liquid pipe 14 Refrigerant gas pipe 18 Double pipe heat exchanger 19 Outer pipe 20 Inner pipe (refrigerant liquid pipe)
29 Drain pump 30 Drain pump discharge piping

Claims (4)

In an air conditioner in which an indoor unit installed indoors and an outdoor unit installed outdoors are connected via a refrigerant liquid pipe and a refrigerant gas pipe which are transition pipes,
At least a part of the transition pipe portion of the refrigerant liquid pipe is constituted by a double pipe heat exchanger, and drain water generated by the indoor heat exchanger of the indoor unit on the outer pipe side and collected by a drain pan. Is an air conditioner characterized in that it is introduced and can be distributed.   The drain water generated in the indoor unit is outside the double pipe heat exchanger by utilizing a head difference between the indoor unit installed indoors and the outdoor unit installed outdoors. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the air conditioner is introduced to the pipe side and can be distributed.   The indoor unit includes a drain pump that lifts drain water collected by the drain pan to a predetermined height position, and a discharge pipe of the drain pump is connected to an outer pipe side of the double pipe heat exchanger. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the air conditioner is provided. The air conditioner according to claim 3, wherein a discharge pipe of the drain pump is connected to an outer pipe side of the double pipe heat exchanger at a downstream side of a maximum head height position.

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