JP4442237B2 - Air conditioner - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an air conditioner, and more particularly to an air conditioner using carbon dioxide as a refrigerant.

In consideration of problems such as global warming, flammability, toxicity, and the like, air conditioners using oxygen dioxide as a refrigerant have been proposed for air conditioners using HFC refrigerants and HC refrigerants. However, an air conditioner using carbon dioxide as a refrigerant has a problem that its performance is lower than that of a fluorocarbon refrigerant.
In order to improve the performance of the refrigeration cycle in an air conditioner using carbon dioxide as a refrigerant, a compressor, a radiator, a flow rate control means, and an evaporator are connected in order through a refrigerant pipe, and a radiator outlet is connected by an internal heat exchanger. The refrigerant at the outlet of the evaporator and the refrigerant at the outlet of the evaporator are subjected to heat exchange, and the refrigerant at the outlet of the radiator is cooled to improve the performance of the refrigeration cycle (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
In addition, the compressor, the condenser (radiator), the first decompressor, the gas-liquid separator, the second decompressor, and the evaporator are connected in order by refrigerant piping, and one is connected to the gas-liquid separator and the other is A bypass pipe connected in the middle of the compression stroke of the compressor is provided, and an internal heat exchanger is provided in the bypass pipe. In the internal heat exchanger, the refrigerant vapor separated by the gas-liquid separator and the condenser (radiator) outlet There is one that improves the refrigeration performance by exchanging heat with the refrigerant and promoting gasification of the gas refrigerant led from the gas-liquid separator to the compressor (see, for example, Patent Document 2).

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-351680 (page 3-4, FIG. 1) Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-45007 (page 2-3, FIG. 1)

  The conventional air conditioner using carbon dioxide as a refrigerant is configured as described above, and in the one disclosed in Patent Document 1, the refrigerant at the radiator outlet is cooled by the low-temperature refrigerant at the evaporator outlet, Although the enthalpy at the evaporator inlet is reduced, there has been a problem that the performance of the evaporator is lowered by the cooling capacity in the internal heat exchanger. Furthermore, in order to cool the refrigerant at the radiator outlet with a low-temperature refrigerant similar to the refrigerant flowing through the evaporator, the refrigerant used for the cooling also needs to be boosted from the evaporation pressure to the refrigerant pressure in the radiator by the compressor. There is a problem that efficiency decreases.

  Moreover, although what was disclosed by patent document 2 can prevent that the refrigerant | coolant liquid which flowed out into bypass piping with the refrigerant | coolant vapor | steam isolate | separated with the gas-liquid separator flows in into the compressor inside from the injection port of a compressor. However, the refrigerant liquid with a small amount of refrigerant liquid and a small specific heat has a problem that the ability to cool the refrigerant at the outlet of the radiator is extremely small and the efficiency is low. In particular, in an air conditioner that uses carbon dioxide that operates in a supercritical state as the refrigerant, the efficiency is greatly improved by cooling the refrigerant at the outlet of the radiator. There is a problem that the performance cannot be sufficiently improved.

  The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and can efficiently cool the refrigerant at the outlet of the radiator without degrading the performance of the evaporator. The purpose is to greatly improve the efficiency of the air conditioner used.

An air conditioner according to the present invention is an air conditioner in which a compressor, a radiator, a first flow rate control means, and an evaporator are connected in order by a refrigerant pipe, and carbon dioxide is used as a refrigerant. A bypass pipe connected between the first flow rate control means and the other end connected in the middle of the compression stroke of the refrigerant in the compressor is provided, and a second flow rate for depressurizing the refrigerant in the middle of the bypass pipe An internal heat exchanger for exchanging heat between the control means and the refrigerant depressurized by the second flow rate control means and the refrigerant flowing out of the radiator , and between the other end of the bypass pipe and the internal heat exchanger And a second bypass pipe having one end connected to the gas-liquid separator and the other end connected between the first flow control means and the evaporator. Depressurize the refrigerant in the middle of the bypass piping. It is provided with a third flow control means.

  According to the air conditioning apparatus of the present invention, the temperature of the refrigerant at the outlet of the radiator can be lowered, and the refrigerant used for cooling is injected in the middle of the compression stroke of the compressor, so that the power of the compressor can be reduced. Furthermore, the temperature of the refrigerant in the middle of the compression stroke in the compressor can be lowered, and the compressor power required for the subsequent compression stroke can be reduced. As a result, the efficiency of the air conditioner can be greatly improved.

Embodiment 1 FIG.
Hereinafter, an air-conditioning apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an air conditioner according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. In FIG. 1, a compressor 2, a radiator 3, a first flow control valve (first flow control means) 4, and an evaporator 5 are sequentially connected by a refrigerant pipe 6 so that carbon dioxide is circulated. Yes. Moreover, the air conditioning apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1 includes a bypass pipe 11, one end of the bypass pipe 11 is connected between the radiator 3 and the first flow control valve 4, and the other end is the compressor 2. Is connected to an injection port 10 provided in the middle of the refrigerant compression stroke. Further, the bypass pipe 11 is provided with a second flow control valve 12 for reducing the pressure of the refrigerant, and the refrigerant and the radiator 3 after the pressure is reduced by the second flow control valve (second flow control means) 12. An internal heat exchanger 13 for exchanging heat with the refrigerant at the outlet is provided.

  Next, the flow of the refrigerant will be described with reference to the drawings. First, the low-temperature and low-pressure refrigerant vapor in the refrigerant pipe on the suction side of the compressor 2 is compressed by the compressor 2 and discharged as a high-temperature and high-pressure supercritical fluid. This refrigerant is sent to the radiator 3 where heat is exchanged with air or the like to lower the temperature and become a high-pressure supercritical fluid. This refrigerant is cooled by the internal heat exchanger 13 and the temperature is lowered. Then, the refrigerant flows into the first flow control valve 4 and is depressurized (for example, 5.3 MPa when the pressure at the outlet of the radiator 3 is 10 MPa). It changes to a low-pressure gas-liquid two-phase state and is sent to the evaporator 5. The evaporator 5 evaporates by exchanging heat with air or the like, becomes low-temperature and low-pressure refrigerant vapor, and returns to the compressor 2. On the other hand, the high-pressure supercritical fluid at the outlet of the radiator 3 that has flowed into the bypass pipe 11 is decompressed by the second flow control valve 12 and is higher than the refrigerant pressure in the evaporator 5 and higher than the refrigerant pressure in the radiator. The pressure becomes low (for example, 7.0 MPa), and the temperature decreases. When this refrigerant passes through the internal heat exchanger 13, it cools the refrigerant at the outlet of the radiator 3, becomes low-temperature and low-pressure refrigerant vapor, and is injected during the compressor stroke in the compressor 2.

FIG. 2 is a pressure-enthalpy diagram of carbon dioxide. In the figure, point A represents the state of the refrigerant at the radiator inlet, point B represents the state of the refrigerant at the radiator outlet, and point C represents the state of the refrigerant at the inlets of the first and second flow rate control means. When carbon dioxide is used as the refrigerant of the air conditioner and radiates heat above the critical point, the efficiency is improved by exchanging heat in a region where the specific heat near the critical point is extremely large (region D surrounded by a bold line in the figure). Can be greatly improved. For example, the dry bulb temperature of the outside air in the cooling rated condition of the air conditioner is 35 ° C., and the wet bulb temperature is 24 ° C. Therefore, the temperature of the refrigerant at the outlet of the radiator (point B in the figure) never falls below 35 ° C. On the other hand, in the air conditioning apparatus of the present embodiment, a part of the refrigerant at the radiator outlet flows through the bypass pipe, and a part of this refrigerant is higher than the evaporation pressure by the second flow rate control means, and the refrigerant in the radiator Since the pressure is reduced to a pressure lower than the pressure, the refrigerant contains a low-temperature refrigerant liquid. Since the low-temperature refrigerant containing the refrigerant liquid efficiently cools the refrigerant flowing from the radiator to the first flow rate control unit, the temperature of the refrigerant flowing into the first flow rate control unit is set to a region where the specific heat is extremely large ( The temperature can be lowered to a temperature (for example, point C in the figure) lower than the temperature of carbon dioxide in the region D) surrounded by a thick line in the figure. Thereby, the area | region where specific heat is very large in the supercritical area | region of a carbon dioxide can be utilized effectively.
Furthermore, the refrigerant after flowing through the bypass pipe and exchanging heat with the internal heat exchanger becomes refrigerant vapor and is injected in the middle of the compression stroke in the compressor. Thus, the refrigerant at the outlet of the radiator can be cooled, and the refrigerant used for boosting the refrigerant can be reduced because the refrigerant used for cooling is injected in the middle of the compression stroke of the compressor. Furthermore, this injection can lower the temperature of the refrigerant during the compression stroke in the compressor, and the compressor power required for the subsequent compression stroke can be reduced. As a result, the efficiency of the air conditioner can be greatly improved.

  FIG. 3 shows the coefficient of performance when a double-pipe heat exchanger is used as the internal heat exchanger 13 and the high-pressure side tube diameter φ is 6.35 mm and the low-pressure side tube diameter φ is 9.52. In FIG. 3, the results for each of the case where there is no internal heat exchanger, the case where the length of the double pipe heat exchanger is 2 m, and the case where the length of the double pipe heat exchanger is 4 m are shown. Show. In addition, each coefficient of performance is a value when the case where there is no internal heat exchanger is set to 100%. FIG. 3 shows that when an internal heat exchanger having a length of 4 m is used, the coefficient of performance can be improved by 11% as compared with an air conditioner without an internal heat exchanger.

Embodiment 2. FIG.
FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an air conditioner according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. The air conditioner according to Embodiment 2 includes a superheat degree measuring means 30 that measures the superheat degree of the refrigerant at the inlet of the injection port in addition to the configuration of FIG. The superheat degree measuring means 30 is composed of, for example, a pressure sensor, a temperature sensor, and an arithmetic means. The superheat degree measuring means 30 obtains the saturated vapor temperature of the refrigerant at the measured pressure, and obtains a value obtained by subtracting the saturated vapor temperature from the measured temperature. Calculate as Other configurations are the same as those in the first embodiment.

Next, the flow of the refrigerant will be described with reference to FIG. The low-temperature and low-pressure refrigerant vapor in the refrigerant pipe on the suction side of the compressor 2 is compressed by the compressor 2 and discharged as a high-temperature and high-pressure supercritical fluid. This refrigerant is sent to the radiator 3 where heat is exchanged with air or the like to lower the temperature and become a high-pressure supercritical fluid. This refrigerant is cooled by the internal heat exchanger 13 and the temperature is lowered. The refrigerant flows into the first flow control valve 4 and is reduced to a pressure lower than the evaporation pressure of the refrigerant, and changes to a low-temperature and low-pressure gas-liquid two-phase state. To the evaporator 5. The evaporator 5 evaporates by exchanging heat with air or the like, becomes low-temperature and low-pressure refrigerant vapor, and returns to the compressor 2. On the other hand, the high-pressure supercritical fluid at the outlet of the radiator 3 flowing into the bypass pipe 11 is depressurized by the second flow control valve 12, and becomes higher than the evaporation pressure of the refrigerant and lower than the pressure of the refrigerant in the radiator. , The temperature goes down. When this refrigerant passes through the internal heat exchanger 13, it cools the refrigerant at the outlet of the radiator 3, becomes low-temperature and low-pressure refrigerant vapor, and is injected during the compressor stroke in the compressor 2.
In the superheat degree measuring means 30, the superheat degree is measured as described above, and the flow rate of the refrigerant flowing into the bypass pipe 11 is controlled by the second flow rate control valve 12, whereby the superheat degree of the refrigerant at the injection port inlet is determined. Try to be 0 or more.

  According to the configuration of the second embodiment, in addition to the effects of the first embodiment, the flow rate to be bypassed can be minimized, and only the refrigerant vapor can be injected into the compressor. As a result, the latent heat of vaporization of the refrigerant that bypasses the evaporator can be used to the maximum, and only the refrigerant vapor can be injected into the compressor, thereby improving the reliability of the compressor.

  In the above embodiment, a pressure sensor and a temperature sensor are used as the superheat degree measuring means 30, and the superheat degree is obtained by measuring the pressure and temperature of the refrigerant at the inlet of the injection port. Since this corresponds to the temperature of the refrigerant in the phase state, the degree of superheat is estimated by measuring the temperature of the outlet of the internal heat exchanger 13 and the temperature of the inlet of the refrigerant flowing through the bypass pipe 11 and obtaining the difference between them. Also good. That is, the flow rate of the refrigerant flowing into the bypass pipe 11 is controlled by the second flow rate control valve 12 so that the value obtained by subtracting the inlet temperature from the outlet temperature becomes 0 or more.

Embodiment 3 FIG.
FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an air conditioner according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention. The air conditioner according to Embodiment 3 includes a gas-liquid separator 40 between the injection port 10 of the bypass pipe (first bypass pipe) 11 and the internal heat exchanger 13 in addition to the configuration of FIG. The second bypass pipe 41, one of which is connected to the gas-liquid separator 40 and the other is connected to the pipe from the first flow control valve 4 to the evaporator 5, and the second bypass pipe 42 is installed. And a third flow rate control valve (third flow rate control means) 42. Further, a temperature sensor 43 is installed in the vicinity of the radiator 3 to control the second flow control valve 12 according to the temperature of the heated medium at the outlet of the radiator 3. Other configurations are the same as those in the first embodiment.

  Next, the flow of the refrigerant will be described with reference to FIG. The low-temperature and low-pressure refrigerant vapor in the refrigerant pipe on the suction side of the compressor 2 is compressed by the compressor 2 and discharged as a high-temperature and high-pressure supercritical fluid. This refrigerant is sent to the radiator 3 where heat is exchanged with air or the like to lower the temperature and become a high-pressure supercritical fluid. This refrigerant is cooled by the internal heat exchanger 13 and the temperature is lowered. The refrigerant flows into the first flow control valve 4 and is reduced to a pressure lower than the evaporation pressure of the refrigerant, and changes to a low-temperature and low-pressure gas-liquid two-phase state. To the evaporator 5. The evaporator 5 evaporates by exchanging heat with air or the like, becomes low-temperature and low-pressure refrigerant vapor, and returns to the compressor 2. On the other hand, the high-pressure supercritical fluid at the outlet of the radiator 3 flowing into the bypass pipe 11 is depressurized by the second flow control valve 12, and becomes higher than the evaporation pressure of the refrigerant and lower than the pressure of the refrigerant in the radiator. , The temperature goes down. When this refrigerant passes through the internal heat exchanger 13, the refrigerant at the outlet of the radiator 3 is cooled to become a low-temperature and low-pressure refrigerant. This refrigerant flows into the gas-liquid separator 40 and is separated into refrigerant vapor and refrigerant liquid. The refrigerant vapor separated by the gas-liquid separator 40 passes through the bypass pipe 11 and is injected in the middle of the compressor stroke in the compressor 2. Therefore, only the refrigerant vapor is supplied to the compressor 2. The refrigerant liquid separated by the gas-liquid separator 40 passes through the second bypass pipe 41 and is further depressurized by the third flow control valve 42 to become low-pressure and low-temperature refrigerant vapor. This refrigerant vapor merges with the refrigerant at the outlet of the first flow control valve 4 and flows into the evaporator 5.

  Furthermore, the air conditioner of the present embodiment measures the temperature of a heated medium such as water or air at the outlet of the radiator 3 by the temperature sensor 43 installed in the vicinity of the radiator 3, and sets the measured temperature to this measured temperature. Accordingly, the opening degree of the second flow control valve 12 is controlled. For example, when the temperature is low, the refrigerant flow rate flowing into the bypass pipe 11 is reduced, and the temperature of the refrigerant discharged from the compressor 2 is increased. When the temperature is high, the refrigerant flow rate flowing into the bypass pipe 11 is increased. The temperature of the refrigerant discharged from the compressor 2 is lowered. By doing in this way, the injection amount to a compressor can be controlled according to the temperature of the heated medium at the radiator outlet, and the heated medium having a predetermined temperature can be obtained efficiently.

  In the above-described embodiment, as in the second embodiment, for example, the superheat degree measuring means 30 is provided in the vicinity of the injection port inlet, the superheat degree of the refrigerant flowing on the other end side of the bypass pipe 11 is measured, and the measured overheat is measured. The third flow control valve 42 may be controlled so that the degree becomes 0 or more. In this way, the latent heat of vaporization of the refrigerant bypassing the evaporator can be utilized to the maximum, and only the refrigerant vapor can be injected into the compressor, thereby improving the reliability of the compressor.

Embodiment 4 FIG.
FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an air conditioner according to Embodiment 4 of the present invention. The air conditioner according to Embodiment 4 includes a first four-way valve 50 and a second four-way valve 51 that switch the flow path between the cooling operation and the heating operation, in contrast to the configuration shown in FIG. Further, instead of the radiator 3 and the evaporator 5, an outdoor heat exchanger 7 and an indoor heat exchanger 8 are provided. The outdoor heat exchanger 7 functions as a radiator during cooling and as an evaporator during heating. . On the other hand, the indoor heat exchanger 8 functions as an evaporator during cooling and as a radiator during heating. Other configurations are the same as those in the first embodiment.

  Next, the flow of the refrigerant will be described with reference to the drawings. First, the cooling operation will be described. The low-temperature and low-pressure refrigerant vapor in the refrigerant pipe on the suction side of the compressor 2 is compressed by the compressor 2 and discharged as a high-temperature and high-pressure supercritical fluid. This refrigerant passes through the first four-way valve 50 and is sent to the outdoor heat exchanger 7, where the heat is exchanged with air and the temperature is lowered. This refrigerant passes through the second four-way valve 51, flows into the internal heat exchanger 13, is cooled, and is then depressurized by the first flow control valve 4 to change into a low-temperature and low-pressure gas-liquid two-phase state. It is sent to the heat exchanger 8. The refrigerant sent to the indoor heat exchanger 8 evaporates by exchanging heat with air and the like, becomes low-temperature and low-pressure refrigerant vapor, passes through the first four-way valve 50, and returns to the compressor 2. On the other hand, the refrigerant flowing into the bypass pipe 11 is depressurized by the second flow control valve 12, and the internal heat exchanger 13 cools the refrigerant at the outlet of the outdoor heat exchanger 7 to change to low-temperature and low-pressure refrigerant vapor. This refrigerant vapor is injected from the injection port 10 during the compression stroke of the compressor.

  Next, the heating operation will be described. The low-temperature and low-pressure refrigerant vapor in the refrigerant pipe on the suction side of the compressor 2 is compressed by the compressor 2 and discharged as a high-temperature and high-pressure supercritical fluid. This refrigerant passes through the first four-way valve 50 and is sent to the indoor heat exchanger 8, where the heat is exchanged with air and the temperature is lowered. This refrigerant passes through the second four-way valve 51, flows into the internal heat exchanger 13, is cooled, and is then depressurized by the first flow control valve 4, and is changed to a low-temperature and low-pressure gas-liquid two-phase state. It is sent to the heat exchanger 7. The refrigerant sent to the outdoor heat exchanger 7 evaporates by exchanging heat with air and the like, becomes low-temperature and low-pressure refrigerant vapor, passes through the first four-way valve 51, and returns to the compressor 2. On the other hand, the refrigerant flowing into the bypass pipe 11 is decompressed by the second flow control valve 12, cools the refrigerant at the outlet of the indoor heat exchanger 7 by the internal heat exchanger 13, and changes to low-temperature and low-pressure refrigerant vapor. It is injected from the injection port 10 in the middle of the compression stroke of the compressor 2.

  By adopting such a configuration, the same effect as in the first embodiment can be obtained in the air conditioner that performs the cooling operation and the heating operation.

  In each of the above embodiments, the other end of the bypass pipe 11 is connected to the injection port 10 provided in the middle of the compression stroke of the refrigerant in the compressor 2, but the compressor is composed of two compressors. By connecting the other end of the bypass pipe 11 between the two compressors, the refrigerant vapor after heat exchange in the internal heat exchanger 13 is injected in the middle of the compression stroke in the compressor. May be.

It is a block diagram which shows the air conditioning apparatus by Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a pressure-enthalpy diagram of carbon dioxide. It is a figure which shows the effect by the presence or absence of the internal heat exchanger concerning Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the air conditioning apparatus by Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the air conditioning apparatus by Embodiment 3 of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the air conditioning apparatus by Embodiment 4 of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Air conditioning apparatus, 2 Compressor, 3 Heat radiator, 4 1st flow control valve, 5 Evaporator, 6 Refrigerant piping, 10 Injection port, 11 Bypass piping, 12 2nd flow control valve, 13 Internal heat exchanger , 30 Superheat measuring means, 40 Gas-liquid separator, 41 Second bypass pipe, 42 Third flow control valve, 43 Temperature sensor, 50 First four-way valve, 51 Second four-way valve

Claims (3)

In the air conditioner in which the compressor, the radiator, the first flow rate control means, and the evaporator are connected in order by refrigerant piping, and carbon dioxide is used as the refrigerant, one end of the radiator and the first flow rate control means A bypass pipe connected between the other ends and connected in the middle of the compression stroke of the refrigerant in the compressor; a second flow rate control means for depressurizing the refrigerant in the middle of the bypass pipe; and the second flow rate An internal heat exchanger for exchanging heat between the refrigerant decompressed by the control means and the refrigerant flowing out of the radiator is provided , and a gas-liquid separator is provided between the other end of the bypass pipe and the internal heat exchanger In addition, a second bypass pipe having one end connected to the gas-liquid separator and the other end connected between the first flow rate control means and the evaporator is provided in the middle of the second bypass pipe. , The third flow rate control to decompress the refrigerant An air conditioning apparatus, characterized in that a means. 2. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the third flow rate control means is controlled so that the degree of superheat of the refrigerant flowing through the other end of the bypass pipe becomes a predetermined value. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the second flow rate control means is controlled in accordance with the temperature of the heated medium at the radiator outlet.

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