JPH07180927A - Multi-chamber type cooling and heating device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a multi-chamber type cooling and heating device matching with the mode of a recent intelligent building by a method wherein simultaneous cooling and heating (mixed cooling and heating) operation is permitted by one set of device while an indoor unit exclusive for cooling, an indoor unit exclusive for heating and a hot-water supplying unit are added to the device. CONSTITUTION:In order to permit mixed cooling and heating operation, in which one indoor unit among a plurality of indoor units 5a, 5b connected to one outdoor unit 1 effects cooling and the other indoor unit effects heating, a pipeline 10 between units, which connects both of the indoor unit and outdoor unit, is formed of a high-pressure gas tube 11, a low-pressure gas tube 12 and a liquid tube 13 while the liquid tube 13 and the low-pressure gas tube 12 are connected to an indoor unit 30c exclusive for cooling.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention comprises one outdoor unit and a plurality of indoor units, and cools or heats all of the plurality of rooms at the same time, and cools any room at the same time and heats the other room. The present invention relates to a multi-room air conditioner.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A multi-room type air conditioner capable of cooling or heating all of a plurality of rooms at the same time, and simultaneously cooling one room of a plurality of rooms and heating another room is disclosed in Japanese Examined Patent Publication Nos. 52-24710 and 52-2471. Japanese Patent Publication No. 54-3020.

[0003]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION Problems to be Solved by the Invention
The devices disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 4710 and Japanese Patent Publication No. 52-24711 require four-way switching valves and outdoor heat exchangers for the number of indoor units, which complicates the piping circuit configuration and increases the manufacturing cost. 2 for each indoor unit
Since the inter-unit piping of the book has to be pulled out from the outdoor unit, there is a drawback that the number of inter-unit piping is large and the piping work is troublesome. Moreover, during the cooling / heating operation in which one room is cooled and the other room is heated at the same time, the outdoor heat exchangers corresponding to each indoor unit act as a condenser and an evaporator, respectively, dissipating heat to the outside, which is a difficulty in recovering heat. there were.

Further, in the device disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 54-3020, the combination of a room that can be cooled and a room that can be heated is determined during the heating / cooling operation in which a plurality of rooms are simultaneously cooled and the other room is heated. However, it is impossible to freely select and perform the heating / cooling operation in each room, and there is a drawback in that it is not convenient to use. On the other hand, in an intelligent building in recent years, there is a room (computer room, annual cooling room) that requires cooling even in the winter because the computer is always installed. Also, heating (heating) throughout the year in hot water supply rooms, etc.
May be required.

Based on the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a multi-room type cooling and heating apparatus that matches the style of buildings in recent years.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, one of the plurality of indoor units connected to one outdoor unit is capable of cooling / heating mixed operation, such as cooling in one indoor unit and heating in the other indoor unit. The unit-to-unit piping that connects both the indoor and outdoor units consists of a high-pressure gas pipe, a low-pressure gas pipe, and a liquid pipe, and an indoor unit dedicated to cooling is connected to this liquid pipe and the low-pressure gas pipe. Is.

A second aspect of the invention is to provide both indoor and outdoor units so that a mixed cooling / heating operation can be performed, such as one indoor unit of a plurality of indoor units connected to one outdoor unit for cooling and the other indoor unit for heating. The unit-to-unit piping that connects the two is composed of a high-pressure gas pipe, a low-pressure gas pipe, and a liquid pipe, and an indoor unit dedicated to heating and / or a hot water supply unit is connected to this liquid pipe and the high-pressure gas pipe. is there.

[0008]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, in each indoor unit capable of cooling and heating, when the cooling is required, the switching valve on the low-pressure gas pipe side is opened so that the liquid refrigerant can be transferred to the indoor unit. Will be introduced to. On the other hand, when heating is required, the high-pressure gas refrigerant is introduced into this indoor unit by opening the switching valve on the high-pressure gas pipe side. Moreover, the liquid refrigerant is introduced into the indoor unit dedicated to cooling even during such a cooling / heating mixed operation.

According to the second aspect of the invention, the high-pressure gas refrigerant is introduced into the indoor unit dedicated to heating and / or the hot water supply unit even during the above-described mixed cooling / heating operation of the indoor unit.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 shows a multi-room type cooling and heating apparatus which is the basis of the present invention. Reference numeral 1 is an outdoor unit having a compressor 2, an outdoor heat exchanger 3, and a gas-liquid separator 4, 5a, 5b, 5
Reference numeral c denotes an indoor unit having indoor heat exchangers 6a, 6b, 6c, and one of which branches the outdoor heat exchanger 3 to the refrigerant discharge pipe 7 and the refrigerant suction pipe 8 of the compressor 2 through the switching valves 9a, 9b. A high-pressure gas pipe 11 branch-connected to the refrigerant discharge pipe 7 and a low-pressure gas pipe 12 branch-connected to the refrigerant discharge pipe 7; and an inter-unit pipe 10 connecting the outdoor unit 1 and the indoor units 5a, 5b, 5c. , The outdoor heat exchanger 3 and the liquid pipe 13 connected to each of the indoor heat exchangers 6a, 6b, 6c.
The high-pressure gas pipe 11 and the low-pressure gas pipe 12 respectively have a switching valve 1
4a, 15a, 14b, 15b, 14c and 15c are branched and connected to the liquid pipe 13 via refrigerant decompressors 16a, 16b and 16c such as electric expansion valves.

Reference numeral 17 denotes a bypass pipe connecting the high pressure gas pipe 11 and the low pressure gas pipe 12, and a capillary 18 has a refrigerant throttling resistance. Reference numeral 19 is an evaporation pressure adjusting valve interposed in the low pressure gas pipe 12, and 20 is an auxiliary refrigerant pressure reducer such as an electric expansion valve interposed in the liquid pipe 13. Next, the driving operation will be described.
When cooling all the rooms at the same time, one switching valve 9a of the outdoor heat exchanger 3 is opened and the other switching valve 9b is closed, and one switching valve 14a of the indoor heat exchangers 6a, 6b, 6c,
14b, 14c are closed and the other switching valve 15a, 1
By opening 5b and 16c, the refrigerant discharged from the compressor 2 sequentially flows through the discharge pipe 7, the switching valve 9a, and the outdoor heat exchanger 3 to be condensed and liquefied therein, and then through the liquid pipe 13 to each indoor unit 5a. , 5b, 5c refrigerant decompressors 16a, 16b,
16c, where the pressure is reduced. After that, after evaporating and vaporizing in the indoor heat exchangers 6a, 6b, 6c, the switching valves 15a, 15b, 15c, the low-pressure gas pipe 12, the suction pipe 8, and the gas-liquid separator 4 are sequentially passed to the compressor 2 respectively. Inhaled. In this way, the indoor heat exchangers 6a, 6 functioning as evaporators
In b and 6c, all rooms are cooled at the same time.

During the simultaneous cooling operation, the refrigerant discharged from the compressor 2 is guided from the high-pressure gas pipe 11 to the low-pressure gas pipe 12 through the bypass pipe 17, so that the high-pressure gas pipe 11 does not accumulate the refrigerant. Conversely, when heating all the rooms at the same time, one switching valve 9a of the outdoor heat exchanger 3 is closed and the other switching valve 9b is opened, and the indoor heat exchangers 6a, 6 are
By opening one switching valve 14a, 14b, 14c of b, 6c and closing the other switching valve 15a, 15b, 15c, the refrigerant discharged from the compressor 2 sequentially passes through the discharge pipe 7 and the high pressure gas pipe 11. Switching valves 14a, 14b, 14
c, the indoor heat exchangers 6a, 6b, 6c, and the refrigerant decompressors 16a, 16b,
It is decompressed by 16c and joined by the liquid pipe 13, and after that, after evaporating and vaporizing in the outdoor heat exchanger 3, the switching valve 9b, the suction pipe 8,
It is sucked into the compressor 2 through the gas-liquid separator 4 in sequence. In this way, each indoor heat exchanger 6a, 6b, which acts as a condenser,
At 6c, all rooms are heated at the same time.

Further, in the case of optionally cooling, for example, two chambers and heating one chamber, one switching valve 9a of the outdoor heat exchanger 3 is used.
Of the indoor units 5a, 5c for opening and closing the other switching valve 9b and for cooling.
Is closed and the other switching valves 15a and 15c are opened, and one switching valve 14b of the indoor unit 5b for heating is opened and the other switching valve 15b is closed, a part of the refrigerant discharged from the compressor 2 is discharged. The switching valve 14 of the indoor unit 5b that sequentially flows through the pipe 7 and the switching valve 9a to the outdoor heat exchanger 3 and the remaining refrigerant is heated via the high pressure gas pipe 11
b, it flows to the indoor heat exchanger 6b, and this indoor heat exchanger 6b
And the outdoor heat exchanger 3 condense and liquefy. The refrigerant condensed and liquefied in the heat exchangers 6b and 3 passes through the liquid pipe 13 and the refrigerant pressure reducers 16a and 16c of the indoor units 5a and 5c.
After being decompressed by, the respective indoor heat exchangers 6a and 6c are vaporized and vaporized, and then joined by the low pressure gas pipe 12 through the respective switching valves 15a and 15c, and the suction pipe 8 and the gas-liquid separator 4 are connected. After that, it is sequentially sucked into the compressor 2. In this way, one room is heated by the indoor heat exchanger 6b that functions as a condenser, and two rooms are cooled by the other indoor heat exchangers 6a and 6c that function as an evaporator.

During such simultaneous heating and cooling operation, the indoor unit 5
Although the refrigerant pressure reducer 16b of b is fully opened so that the refrigerant pressure loss does not occur, the pressure is adjusted by the auxiliary refrigerant pressure reducer 20 so that the liquid refrigerant pressure in the liquid pipe 13 does not become unbalanced. In addition, when such cooling / heating simultaneous operation is performed in the winter, the low-pressure refrigerant pressure depends on the outside air temperature, so that the indoor heat exchanger 6 of the indoor units 5a, 5c that are being cooled.
The pressure of the refrigerant in the a and 6c easily drops to 4 Kg / cm ² or less, but this pressure drop is prevented by the function of the evaporating pressure adjusting valve 19, and the indoor heat exchangers 6a and 6c are not frozen. Instead of providing the evaporation pressure adjusting valve 19 on the low pressure gas pipe 12, the evaporation pressure adjusting valve 19 may be provided on the pipes 21a, 21b, 21c between the switching valves 15a, 15b, 15c and the low pressure gas pipe 12, respectively. Further, instead of providing the evaporating pressure adjusting valve 19, when the refrigerant pressure in the indoor heat exchangers 6a, 6c drops to 4 Kg / cm ² or less, the refrigerant decompressors 16a, 16c are throttled to release the freezing. The opening degree of the refrigerant pressure reducers 16a and 16c may be returned to the original values.

Further, during such simultaneous heating and cooling operation, the rotation speed of the outdoor fan 22 for cooling the outdoor heat exchanger 3 is reduced to prevent the high pressure from decreasing, so that the heating capacity of the indoor unit 5b does not decrease. In this way, each indoor unit 5
a, 5b, 5c are the respective switching valves 14a, 15a, 14
By opening / closing b, 15b, 14c, 15c, it is possible to arbitrarily perform cooling / heating operation.

It is possible to cool one chamber and heat the two chambers by operating the auxiliary refrigerant decompressor 20.
For example, if the indoor unit 5b is used for cooling,
When heating with 5c, one switching valve 9 of the outdoor heat exchanger 3
a, the other switching valve 9b is opened, and the one switching valve 14b of the indoor unit 5b for cooling is closed, the other switching valve 15b is opened, and the one switching valve 14a of the indoor unit 5a, 5c for heating is closed. When 14c is opened and the other switching valves 15a and 15c are closed, the refrigerant discharged from the compressor 2 is distributed to the switching valves 14a and 14c through the discharge pipe 7 and the high pressure gas pipe 11 in order, and the respective indoor heat exchangers 6a. , 6c to be condensed and liquefied. Then, the liquefied refrigerant flows into the liquid pipe 13 through the fully opened refrigerant decompressors 16a and 16c, respectively, and a part of the liquid refrigerant in the liquid pipe is decompressed by the refrigerant decompressor 16b, and then the indoor heat exchanger 6b. And the remaining liquid refrigerant is decompressed by the auxiliary refrigerant decompressor 20 and then evaporated and vaporized by the outdoor heat exchanger 3, respectively, and the suction pipe 8 and the gas-liquid separator 4
Is sequentially sucked into the compressor 2. In this way, the two chambers are heated by the indoor heat exchangers 6a and 6c which act as condensers, and the one chamber is cooled by the other indoor heat exchanger 6b which acts as an evaporator.

Even during the simultaneous cooling and heating operation, the refrigerant discharged from the compressor 2 is guided from the high-pressure gas pipe 11 to the low-pressure gas pipe 12 via the bypass pipe 17, so that the refrigerant does not accumulate in the high-pressure gas pipe 11. . As described above, the number of rooms to be cooled (cooling capacity) is the number of rooms to be heated (heating capacity)
When the number is larger than that, the outdoor heat exchanger 3 is used as a condenser, and conversely, when the number of rooms to be heated (heating capacity) is smaller than the number of rooms to be cooled (cooling capacity), the outdoor heat exchanger 3 is used as an evaporator. By operating it, it is possible to freely cool and heat any room, and at the same time when performing this simultaneous cooling and heating operation, heat recovery is performed by the respective indoor heat exchangers that act as an evaporator and a condenser, which improves operation efficiency. it can.

Further, when, for example, only the indoor unit 5b is switched to the heating operation during the above-mentioned all-room cooling operation, the switching valve 14
When both b and 15b are closed and the refrigerant pressure reducer 16b is opened to increase the refrigerant pressure in the indoor heat exchanger 6b in advance and the switching valve 14b is opened, a refrigerant noise due to the refrigerant pressure difference is generated. To be prevented. Similarly, when only the indoor unit 5b is switched to the cooling operation during the heating operation of all rooms,
After closing one switching valve 14b and the refrigerant pressure reducer 16b and slightly opening the other switching valve 15b to forcibly reduce the refrigerant pressure in the indoor heat exchanger 6b, or this switching valve 15b.
If the switching valve 15b is opened after the pressure of the refrigerant in the indoor heat exchanger 6b naturally drops, the generation of the refrigerant noise due to the refrigerant pressure difference can be prevented.

In order to slightly open the switching valve 15b, an expensive electric valve whose opening degree can be adjusted is used as the switching valve 15b. Therefore, the switching valve 15b and the other switching valves 15a, 1
If a bypass capillary tube for pressure relief is provided in parallel with 5c, a simple on-off valve can be used as the switching valves 15a, 15b, 15c. FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of the first invention. Here, the difference from FIG. 1 is the indoor unit 5
This is a type of the indoor unit 30c close to b. That is, the indoor unit 30c is installed in an annual cooling room such as a computer room of a building or the like, and is an indoor unit dedicated to cooling. The indoor unit 30c has a built-in indoor heat exchanger 31c that functions as an evaporator. The inlet pipe (one end) 32c is connected to the liquid pipe 13 and the outlet pipe (other end) 33c is connected to the low pressure gas pipe 12. . A pressure reducer 34c is provided in the inlet pipe 32c. That is, as shown in FIG. 1, one end of the indoor heat exchanger 6c is not branched and connected directly to the low pressure gas pipe 12 and the high pressure gas pipe 11 via the two switching valves 14c and 15c, but directly to the inside of the room. The outlet pipe (other end) 33c of the heat exchanger 31c is connected to the low pressure gas pipe 12.

With such a configuration, the indoor unit 5
The liquid refrigerant from the liquid pipe 13 passes through the decompressor 34c through the pressure reducer 34c as shown in the solid line arrow, regardless of whether all the rooms a, 5b are in the room cooling, the room heating, and the simultaneous cooling and heating (mixed cooling and heating). It flows into the indoor heat exchanger 31c of the unit 30c. As a result, even in winter, the indoor unit 30c can cool an annual cooling room such as a computer room in the same manner as in summer.

FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of the second invention. Here, the difference from FIG. 1 is the form of the hot water supply unit 40c adjacent to the indoor unit 5b. That is, the hot water supply unit 40c is installed in a hot water supply room such as a building and requires a heating (heating) medium throughout the year. A heater 4 that acts as a condenser on the hot water supply unit 40c to heat water
1 c is built in, and an inlet pipe (one end) 42 c is connected to the high pressure gas pipe 11 and an outlet pipe (other end) 43 c is connected to the liquid pipe 13. A pressure reducer 44c is provided at the outlet pipe 43c. That is, as shown in FIG. 1, the two switching valves 1
One end of the heater 6c is connected to the low-pressure gas pipe 1 via 4c and 15c.
2 and the high pressure gas pipe 11 without branch connection,
The inlet pipe (one end) 42c of the heater 41c is directly connected to the high pressure gas pipe 11.

With such a configuration, the indoor unit 5
The high-temperature refrigerant from the high-pressure gas pipe 11 flows into the heater 41c as indicated by the solid arrow regardless of whether all of the rooms a, 5b are in the room cooling, the room heating, and the simultaneous heating / cooling (cooling / heating mixed).
As a result, the water introduced into the hot water supply unit 40c can be heated and supplied throughout the year. The hot water supply unit 40c may be an indoor unit dedicated to heating.

[0023]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, even when a plurality of indoor units are simultaneously cooled and heated (mixed cooling and heating), it is possible to cool the computer room and the like throughout the year. According to the second aspect of the present invention, hot water can be supplied throughout the year even when a plurality of indoor units are simultaneously cooled and heated (mixed cooling and heating). From this, it is possible to provide a multi-room air conditioner that matches the style of recent intelligent buildings and the like.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a refrigerant circuit diagram of a multi-room air conditioner that is the basis of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a refrigerant circuit diagram of the multi-room air conditioner according to the first invention.

FIG. 3 is a refrigerant circuit diagram of the multi-room air conditioner according to the second invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Outdoor Unit 2 Compressor 3 Outdoor Heat Exchanger 5a, 5b Indoor Unit 6a, 6b Indoor Heat Exchanger 7 Refrigerant Discharge Pipe 8 Refrigerant Suction Pipe 9a, 9b Switching Valve 10 Inter-Unit Pipe 11 High Pressure Gas Pipe 12 Low Pressure Gas Pipe 13 Liquid Pipes 15a, 14a, 15b, 14b Switching valves 16a, 16b Refrigerant pressure reducer 30c Cooling-only indoor unit 31c Indoor heat exchanger 40c Hot water supply unit 41c Heat exchanger (heater)

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An outdoor unit having a compressor and an outdoor heat exchanger, and a plurality of indoor units having an indoor heat exchanger for cooling and heating, wherein the outdoor heat exchanger is a refrigerant of the compressor. While branch-connecting to the discharge pipe and the refrigerant suction pipe via a switching valve, a high-pressure gas pipe branch-connected to the discharge pipe is an inter-unit pipe connecting these indoor and outdoor units.
A low pressure gas pipe branched and connected to the suction pipe, and a liquid pipe connected to an outdoor heat exchanger, each indoor heat exchanger through a switching valve between the high pressure gas pipe and the low pressure gas pipe. In the multi-chamber type cooling and heating apparatus connected to the liquid pipe via a refrigerant pressure reducer, an indoor unit dedicated to cooling is provided, and an indoor heat exchanger is built in the indoor unit dedicated to cooling, A multi-room type cooling and heating apparatus, wherein one end of the heat exchanger is connected to the liquid pipe and the other end is connected to the low pressure gas pipe. 2. An outdoor unit having a compressor and an outdoor heat exchanger, and a plurality of indoor units having an indoor heat exchanger capable of cooling and heating, wherein the outdoor heat exchanger is used as a compressor. A refrigerant discharge pipe and a refrigerant suction pipe are branched and connected via a switching valve, and a unit pipe connecting these indoor and outdoor units is branched and connected to the discharge pipe, and a high pressure gas pipe branched and connected to the suction pipe. A low pressure gas pipe and a liquid pipe connected to an outdoor heat exchanger, and each of the indoor heat exchangers is branched and connected to the high pressure gas pipe and the low pressure gas pipe through a switching valve and the liquid In the multi-chamber type heating and cooling apparatus connected to the pipe via the refrigerant pressure reducer, an indoor unit dedicated to heating and / or a hot water supply unit are provided, and a heat exchanger is built into both of these units, and one end of this heat exchanger is The other end of the liquid pipe A multi-room air conditioner that is connected to each compressed gas pipe.