JPH02230070A - Air conditioner - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an optional selection of a simultaneous cooling, a simultaneous heating and a simultaneous cooling and heating of a plurality of user's units by a method wherein a gas-liquid separator and a refrigerant pressure regulator are arranged in one piping of inter-unit for use in connecting a heating source unit and a user's unit. CONSTITUTION:In case that optional three rooms are cooled simultaneously and one room is heated, a cooling or heating passage changing-over valve 3 is set to a cooling state, one of the changing-over valves 20a to 20c of user's units 10a to 10c to be cooled are closed, the other changing-over valves 21a to 21c are opened, one changing-over valve 20d of the user's unit 10d to be heated is opened and the other changing-over valve 21d is closed, thereby the refrigerant discharged from a compressor 9 flows through a changing-over valve 3, a heating source heat exchanger 4 and a gas-liquid separator 16, the gas refrigerant separated by a separator 15 passes through the changing-over valve 20s and through the heat exchanger 11d and then the gas refrigerant is liquefied. After the liquid refrigerant and another liquid refrigerant passed separated by the separator 13 and passed through the refrigerant pressure regulatar 25 are merged, the refrigeratn may flow through each of refrigerant pressure reducers 12a to 12c, heat exchangers 11a to 11c and the changing-over valves 21a to 21c and then the refrigerant is absorbed into the compressor 2 through the changing-over valve 3.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention (a) Industrial Application Field The present invention is composed of a heat source side unit and a plurality of user side units, and is capable of cooling or heating all of a plurality of rooms at the same time, and cooling one room at the same time. The present invention relates to a multi-room air conditioner that heats other rooms.

(Example) Conventional technology A multi-room air conditioner that can cool or heat all of multiple rooms at the same time, and can cool one room and heat the other rooms at the same time, is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 52-24710. 52-2
This method is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 4711, Japanese Patent Publication No. 52-27459, and Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 3020-1983.

Problems to be solved by the Kubaru invention
The device presented in Publication No. 24711 requires as many cooling/heating flow switching valves and heat source side heat exchangers as the number of user-side units, which complicates the piping circuit configuration and increases manufacturing costs. Since the two inter-unit pipes must be drawn out from the heat source side unit, the number of inter-unit pipes increases, resulting in troublesome piping work. Moreover, during air-conditioning operation that cools one room and heats another room at the same time, the heat source heat exchanger corresponding to each user unit acts as a condenser and an evaporator, respectively, and discards heat outdoors, making it impossible to recover heat. There was a problem.

In addition, the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Publication No. 52-27459 and Utility Model Publication No. 5
In the device presented in Publication No. 4-3020, during air-conditioning operation that simultaneously cools one room of multiple rooms and heats others, the combination of rooms that can be cooled and rooms that can be heated is determined, and the air-conditioning operation is This has the disadvantage that it is not easy to use because it cannot be freely selected in each room.

The present invention provides an air conditioner that solves the above problems.

(2) Means for Solving the Problems The present invention comprises a heat source side unit having a compressor, a cooling/heating flow path switching valve, and a heat R side heat exchanger, and a plurality of user side units each having a user side heat exchanger. In an air conditioner that is connected by inter-unit piping, a gas-liquid separator is installed in one of the inter-unit piping connected to the heat source side heat exchanger, and the gas pipe led out from the top of this gas-liquid separator connects to the other unit. The gas branch pipes are branched according to the number of usage-side units, and these gas branch pipes are connected to one end of each usage-side heat exchanger via a switching valve. The pipes are branched according to the number of units on the user side, and refrigerant pressure reducers are provided in these liquid branch pipes, and a refrigerant pressure regulator is provided in the liquid pipes.

(E) Effect When cooling all rooms at the same time, set the cooling/heating flow path switching valve to the cooling state, close one switching valve, and open the other switching valve, so that the refrigerant discharged from the compressor can be cooled or heated. A flow path switching valve - a heat source side heat exchanger - a gas-liquid separator - a refrigerant pressure regulator - each refrigerant pressure reducer - each user side heat exchanger - the other switching valve - suctioned into a compressor through a cooling/heating flow path switching valve, All rooms are cooled by each user-side heat exchanger acting as an evaporator.

In addition, when heating all rooms at the same time, by setting the heating and cooling flow path switching valve to the heating state and opening one of the switching valves, the refrigerant discharged from the compressor is transferred between the heating and cooling flow path switching valve and the other switching valve. 1) Each user side heat exchanger 1) Refrigerant pressure regulator 1) Gas-liquid separator 1) Heat source side heat exchanger 1) Suction into the compressor via the cooling/heating flow path switching valve, and each user side heat exchanger acting as a condenser for all rooms is heated.

Also, if you want to cool three arbitrary rooms and heat one room at the same time,
Set the cooling and heating flow path switching valves to the cooling state, close one switching valve and open the other switching valve of the cooling user unit, and open one switching valve of the heating user unit and switch the other switching valve to the cooling state. By closing the switching valve, the refrigerant discharged from the compressor flows sequentially to the cooling/heating flow path switching valve, the heat source side heat exchanger, and the gas-liquid separator, and the gas refrigerant separated by the gas-liquid separator is used for heating. It flows through the user-side heat exchanger of this unit via one switching valve of the user-side unit and is liquefied. After this liquid refrigerant and the liquid refrigerant that has been separated by the gas-liquid separator and passed through the refrigerant pressure regulator are combined, each refrigerant pressure reducer of the user-side unit for cooling, each user-side heat exchanger, and each switching valve of the other side are combined. The air then flows through the heating and cooling flow path switching valve and is sucked into the compressor. In this way, one room is heated by the user-side heat exchanger that acts as a condenser, and three rooms are cooled by the user-side heat exchanger that acts as an evaporator.

In addition, when simultaneously cooling two arbitrary rooms and heating two rooms, the cooling/heating flow path switching valve is set to the cooling state, and one switching valve of the cooling user unit is closed and the other switching valve is opened, and Open one switching valve of the heating user unit and switch the other. By closing the switching valve, the refrigerant discharged from the compressor flows through the cooling and heating flow path switching valve - the heat source side heat exchanger - the gas-liquid separator - one switching valve of the heating user side unit - the user side of the heating user unit. The refrigerant is sucked into the compressor through the heat exchanger, the refrigerant pressure reducer of the cooling user unit, the user heat exchanger of the cooling user unit, the switching valve on the other side, and the cooling/heating flow path switching valve. In this way, the user-side heat exchanger that functions as a condenser heats the two rooms, and the user-side heat exchanger that functions as an evaporator cools the two rooms.

In addition, if you want to cool one room and heat three rooms at the same time, set the cooling/heating flow switching valve to the heating state, open one switching valve of the cooling user unit, close the other switching valve, and then turn on the heating/cooling flow path switching valve. By closing one switching valve and opening the other switching valve of the user-side unit used for heating, the refrigerant discharged from the compressor passes through the cooling/heating flow path switching valve and the other switching valve of the heating user-side unit. After flowing to the user-side heat exchanger and being condensed and liquefied, a part of this liquid refrigerant passes through a refrigerant pressure regulator to a gas-liquid separator, and the rest of the liquid refrigerant is sent to the refrigerant pressure reducer of the user-side unit for cooling, and the user-side unit. The gas flows through the heat exchanger and one of the switching valves to the gas-liquid separator, where they join together, and is then sucked into the compressor through the heat source side heat exchanger and the cooling/heating flow path switching valve.

In this way, three rooms are heated by the user-side heat exchanger that acts as a condenser, and one room is cooled by the user-side heat exchanger that acts as an evaporator.

(f) Example One example of the present invention will be explained based on FIG.
》 is a compressor (2), a heating/cooling flow path switching valve (3), a heat source side heat exchanger (4), a low pressure gas-liquid separator (5), an on-off valve (6), an auxiliary refrigerant pressure reducer (7》) Check valve (8) and bypass valve (9)
), and these devices are connected as shown in the figure to a heat source side unit, (10a) (10b) (10c) (1
0d) is the user side heat exchanger (lla) (llb) (ll
c) (lid) and refrigerant pressure reducer (12a) (12b) (
12c) (12d) and check valves (13a) (13b)
(13c) and (13d), and these devices are connected as shown in the figure to the user side unit, and the auxiliary refrigerant pressure reducer
A high-pressure gas-liquid separator (15) is installed in one of the inter-unit piping (14) connected to the heat source side heat exchanger (4) through the tube(
16〉 and the other inter-unit piping 17) respectively on the user side units (10a) (10b) (10c) (10d
) are branched according to the number of gas branch pipes (18a).
(18b>(18c)(18d),(19a)(19b
) (19c) (19d) to each user side heat exchanger (1la)
<llb) (lie) (lid) and one end of the switching valve (
20a) (20b) (20c) (20d), (21a>
(2lb> (21c) (21d), while the liquid pipe (22) led out from the lower part of the gas-liquid separator (15)
The user unit (10a) (10b) (10c)
(10d) are branched at the liquid receiver (23) and these liquid branch pipes (24a) (24b) < 24c) (24
d) the above-mentioned refrigerant pressure reducers (12a) (12b) (12c
) (12d) and a refrigerant pressure regulator (25) in the liquid pipe (22).
) and user-side units (10a) (10b) (10c)
<10d) Equipment not built into the branch unit (26)
It's built in.

Next, the driving operation will be explained. When cooling all rooms at the same time, set the cooling/heating flow path switching valve (3) to the solid line state, and also set the bypass valve (9) and one of the switching valves (20a) (20b) (
20c) (20d) and open the on-off valve (6) and the other switching valve (21a) (2lb) (21c)<21d), the refrigerant discharged from the compressor (2) is switched between the cooling and heating channels. Valve (3) One open/close valve (6) One heat source side heat exchanger (4) One check valve (8) - Inter-unit piping (14) One gas-liquid separator (
15) One refrigerant pressure regulator (25) One liquid receiver (23) One liquid branch pipe (24a) < 24b) (24e) (24d) One refrigerant pressure reducer (12a) (12b) < 12c) (12d)
One-use side heat exchanger (ILa) (llb) (lie) <L
id) Full changeover valve (21a) (2lb) <21c) (2f
d) Piping between one unit (17) One cooling/heating flow path switching valve 3
〉The gas is sucked into the compressor (2) (through the gas-liquid separator (5》), and the heat exchanger <ILa) on the user side, which acts as an evaporator, (l
All rooms are cooled with lb (llc>(lid)).

In addition, if you want to heat all rooms at the same time, use the cooling/heating flow path switching valve (3
) is set to the broken line state, and the other valves are set to the same state as in the above-mentioned all-room cooling operation, so that the refrigerant discharged from the compressor (2) is routed through the cooling/heating flow path switching valve (3) one unit. Interval piping (17) All switching valve (21a>(2lb>
(21c) (21d) One-use side heat exchanger (lla) (l
lb) (llc) (lid) - check valve (13a) (13
b> (13e) (13d) - Liquid receiver (23) - Refrigerant pressure regulator (25) - Gas-liquid separator (15) - inter-unit piping (14) - Auxiliary refrigerant pressure reducer (7) - Heat source side heat exchange Vessel (4
) one on-off valve (6) one cooling/heating flow path switching valve (3) one gas-liquid separator (5), and is sucked into the compressor (2), and the user-side heat exchanger (lla) (llb) acts as a condenser. (llc)
(lid) heats all rooms.

Also, if you want to cool three arbitrary rooms and heat one room at the same time,
A user unit (10a) that cools the air while setting the heating/cooling flow path switching valve (3) to the solid line state and opening the on-off valve (6).
(10b) (10c) One switching valve (20a) (20
b) Close (20c) and close the other switching valve (21a) (21
b) User-side unit that opens and heats (21e)}
- By opening one switching valve (<20d) of (10d) and closing the other switching valve (21d), the refrigerant discharged from the compressor (2) is transferred to the cooling and heating flow path switching valve (3), which is opened and closed. Valve (6
) One heat source side heat exchanger (4) One check valve (8) One unit pipe (14) - The gas flows sequentially to the gas-liquid separator (15), and the gas is separated by this gas-liquid separator (15). The refrigerant (27) is supplied to one switching valve (20) of the heating user unit (10d).
d), flows through the utilization side heat exchanger (lld) of this unit, and is liquefied.

On the other hand, since the pressure and flow rate of the liquid refrigerant separated by the gas-liquid separator (15) are restricted by the refrigerant pressure regulator (25), the liquid receiver (23) has a lower pressure than the gas-liquid separator (15). The pressure has decreased, so the refrigerant liquefied in the heat exchanger (lld) on the user side does not accumulate in this heat exchanger (lld) but is guided to the liquid receiver (23) and transferred to the gas-liquid separator. After combining with the liquid refrigerant from (15), the user side unit (10
a) (10b) (LOc) each refrigerant pressure reducer (12a)
(12b) (12c) One-use side heat exchanger (ila) (L
lb) (llc) One switching valve (21a) (2lb)
(21c) - :L The air is sucked into the compressor (2) through the inter-knit piping (17) the cooling/heating flow path switching valve (3) the gas-liquid separator (5). In this way, a room is heated by the user-side heat exchanger (lid) that acts as a condenser, and the user-side heat exchanger (lla) (llb) (lie) that acts as an evaporator.
The three rooms are cooled.

In addition, during such operation, the user unit (10d)
When the heating load is large, the bypass valve (9) is opened to allow the refrigerant to flow in parallel with the heat source side heat exchanger (4).
The amount of heat radiated from the heat source side heat exchanger (4) decreases, and the amount of heat radiated from the user side heat exchanger (lid) increases.

In addition, when cooling two arbitrary rooms and heating two rooms at the same time, set the cooling/heating flow path switching valve (3) to the solid line state, close the bypass valve (9) and the refrigerant pressure controller (25), and Close one switching valve (20a) (2Qb) of the cooling user unit (10a) (10b) and close the other switching valve (2Qb).
2la) (2lb) and one switching valve of the user-side unit (10c) (10d) that opens and heats <20c)<2
By opening 0d) and closing the other switching valves (21c and 21d), the refrigerant discharged from the compressor (2) is transferred to the cooling/heating flow path switching valve (3), the open/close valve (6), and the heat source side heat exchanger. vessel(
4) One check valve (8) One unit piping (14) One gas-liquid separator (15) One gas pipe (16) One switching valve (20c) of one heating user unit (10c) (10d) ( 2
0d) One-use side heat exchanger (lie) (ILd) check valve <
13c) (13d) - Receiver (23) - Refrigerant pressure reducer (1
2a) (12b) User-side unit for cooling (10a>
(10b), the heat exchanger (lla) (llb) on the other side, the switching valve (21a) (2lb) on the other side, and the piping between the units (1
7) The air is sucked into the compressor (2) through the cooling and heating flow path switching valve (3) and the gas-liquid separator (5).

In this way, the user side heat exchanger (l) acts as a condenser.
The two rooms are heated by lc) (lid), and the two rooms are cooled by the user-side heat exchanger (11a01lb), which acts as an evaporator.

In addition, during such operation, the user unit (10c
) (1 od) If the heating load is large, close the on-off valve (6) and open the bypass valve (9) to switch the refrigerant to bypass the heat source side heat exchanger (4). Heat is no longer dissipated in the heat exchanger (4), and the amount of heat dissipated in the heat exchanger (llc) (lid) on the user side increases.In addition, in this two-room cooling and two-room heating operation, the cooling and heating flow path switching valve (
3) is set to the broken line state, and the on-off valve (6> and refrigerant pressure regulator (25) are closed. At the same time, one of the switching valves (20a) (
20b), closes the other switching valve (21a) (2lb), and performs heating.
This can also be done by closing one of the switching valves (20e, 20d) and opening the other switching valve (21c, 21d) of the compressor (2).
) Piping between one unit (17) All switching valves. <2tc) (2
1d) One user side heat exchanger (lie) (11d) One check valve (13c) (13d) One liquid receiver (23) One refrigerant pressure reducer (
12a) (12b) One-use side heat exchanger (lla) (ll
b) All switching valves (20a) (20b) One gas pipe (16) One gas liquid separator (5》
and is sucked into the compressor (2).

In addition, if you want to cool one room and heat three rooms at the same time, set the cooling/heating flow path switching valve (3) to the broken line state, open the on-off valve (6), close the bypass valve (9), and One switching valve (20a) of the cooling user unit (10a)
), the other switching valve (21a) is closed, and the user side unit (10b) (10c) (10d) (
7) By closing one switching valve (20b) (20c) (20d) and opening the other switching valve (2lb) (21c) (21d), the refrigerant discharged from the compressor (2) is transferred to the cooling and heating flow path. Switching valve (3) - Piping between units (17) - Switching valve for heating user unit (10b) (10c) (IQd) (2lb>( 21c) (21d) - User side heat exchanger (1lb) (11c) ) (11d) where it is condensed and liquefied, a part of this liquid refrigerant passes from the liquid receiver (23) to the refrigerant pressure regulator (25) to the gas-liquid separator (15).
In addition, a refrigerant pressure reducer (12a) of a user-side unit (10a) that is cooled by liquid refrigerant from a liquid receiver (23), a user-side heat exchanger (11a), all switching valves (20a), one gas pipe (16), one gas-liquid separator (15), and after merging in this gas-liquid separator, the inter-unit piping (14) - auxiliary refrigerant pressure reducer (7)
) One heat source side heat exchanger (4) One opening/closing valve (6> One channel switching valve (3) One gas-liquid separator (5) and is sucked into the compressor (2). In this way, it acts as a condenser. Three rooms are heated by the use-side heat exchangers (1lb), (llc), and (lld), and one room is cooled by the use-side heat exchanger (lla), which acts as an evaporator.

In the above embodiment, the auxiliary refrigerant pressure reducer (7) and the check valve (8) may be omitted, and the pressure reduction action of the auxiliary refrigerant pressure reducer (7) may be performed by the refrigerant pressure regulator (25). In this case, an electric or thermoelectric electric expansion valve whose opening degree can be freely changed from fully closed to fully open is suitable as the refrigerant pressure IT device (25). In addition, a refrigerant pressure reducer (12a) (1
2b) (12c) < 12d) and check valve (13a) (
13b), (13c), and (13d) may be replaced with the above-mentioned electric expansion valve, or these devices may be built into the branch unit (26). Furthermore, a three-way valve may be used instead of each switching valve, such as one switching valve 20a) and the other switching valve (21a) being a three-way valve. Also, instead of the liquid receiver (23), a liquid branch pipe (24a) (
24b) (24c) (24d) A header or the like may be used to connect the two.

FIG. 2 shows another embodiment of the present invention, which differs from the above embodiment in that an auxiliary cooling/heating flow path switching valve (30) is provided in the heat source side unit <1) and an auxiliary cooling/heating flow path switching valve (30) is provided in the branch unit (26). Refrigerant pressure regulators (31) were added to each unit, and one inter-unit pipe (14) was designated as a high-pressure dedicated pipe through which high-pressure refrigerant passes, and the other inter-unit pipe (17) was designated as a low-pressure dedicated pipe through which low-pressure refrigerant passed. This allows the pipe diameter of one unit-to-unit pipe (14) to be smaller than the pipe diameter of the other unit pipe pipe (17), which reduces piping material costs and makes on-site pipe bending work easier. . Note that the heating and cooling operation is the same as that in the above embodiment, so the same reference numerals are given and the explanation of the operation will be omitted.

In addition, in each of the above embodiments, four user side units (10a) are used.
(10b), (10c), and (10d) were used, but even in the case of five or more user-side units with different capacities, gas branch pipes (18g) to (18d), (19a) to (19d) are used.
It is sufficient to simply increase the number of liquid branch pipes (24a) to (24d), and if the compressor (2) is a variable capacity compressor such as a frequency conversion type, pole number conversion type, or unloader type, it can be used as desired. It is possible to suspend operation of the user-side unit.

(G) Effects of the Invention According to the present invention, a gas-liquid separator and a refrigerant pressure regulator are provided in one of the inter-unit piping connecting the heat source side unit and the usage side unit, and the gas-liquid separator separates the heat source from the heat source. Simultaneous cooling S operation of multiple user units can be achieved by extracting the gas refrigerant and liquid refrigerant and guiding them to each user unit, and by introducing the return refrigerant from each user unit into this gas-liquid separator. Simultaneous heating operation as well as simultaneous cooling and heating operation can be freely selected and performed on any user unit.

Furthermore, during simultaneous heating and cooling operations, the user-side heat exchanger that functions as a condenser and the user-side heat exchanger that functions as an evaporator are connected in series, so that efficient operation can be achieved through heat recovery.

In addition, the user-side units only require two pipes between the units, and any number of units can be combined by simply branching and connecting the gas pipe and the liquid pipe.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a refrigerant circuit diagram of an air conditioner showing one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a refrigerant circuit diagram of an air conditioner showing another embodiment of the invention. (1)...Heat source side unit, 2)...Compressor,
(3)...Cooling/heating flow path switching valve, (4)...Heat source side heat exchanger, (10a) (10b) (10c) (10d)
-Using unit, (11a) (llb>(11cH
11d)=user side heat exchanger, (12a)(12b)(
12c) (12d)...refrigerant pressure reducer, (14)<1
7) -...: Piping between x units, (15》...gas-liquid separator, (16》...gas pipe, (18a) (18b)
(18c) (18d) , (19a) (19b) (1
9c) (19d)...Gas branch pipe, (20a) (2
0b) < 20c bar 20d), (21a) (2lb) (
21c) (21d) = switching valve, (22)--liquid pipe,
(24a) (24b) (24c) (24d)---Liquid branch pipe, (25)---Refrigerant pressure regulator.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) In an air conditioner in which a heat source side unit having a compressor, a cooling/heating flow path switching valve, and a heat source side heat exchanger, and a plurality of user side units each having a user side heat exchanger are connected by inter-unit piping. , a gas-liquid separator is installed in one inter-unit piping connected to the heat exchanger on the heat source side, and the gas pipe led out from the top of this gas-liquid separator and the other inter-unit piping are connected to the number of usage-side units, respectively. These gas branch pipes are connected to one end of each user-side heat exchanger via a switching valve, while the liquid pipes led out from the lower part of the gas-liquid separator are branched according to the number of user-side units. An air conditioner characterized in that these liquid branch pipes are provided with refrigerant pressure reducers, and the liquid pipes are provided with a refrigerant pressure regulator.