JPH07225063A - Cooling and heating apparatus with bathtub heating function - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enhance energy conservation and to decrease a cost by heating bathtub water without providing a thermal storage tank. CONSTITUTION:The cooling and heating apparatus comprises a cooling and heating circuit in which a compressor 21, an outdoor heat exchanger 24, motor operated expansion valves 25, 31 and an indoor heat exchanger 32 are sequentially connected. Further, the apparatus comprises a bathtub drying circuit 50 in which one end is connected to a discharge side of the compressor 21 and the other end is connected to a high-pressure liquid line of the cooling and heating circuit and which has a bathtub heat exchanger 52 to heat the air in a bathtub. In addition, the apparatus comprises a bathtub heat exchanger 60 which is connected in parallel with the exchanger 52 of the circuit 50 via a refrigerant tube 61 and in which water in the bathtub is heat exchanged with discharge refrigerant from the compressor 21 to heat the bathtub water. Further, the apparatus comprises air supply means for supplying the air to the bathtub water near the exchanger 60 by opening the other end of an air supply tube connected at one end to a discharge side of a blower 71 near the exchanger 60.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cooling / heating apparatus capable of drying the inside of a bathroom and having a bathtub heating function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-223463, a cooling and heating apparatus capable of hot water supply operation includes a compressor, a four-way switching valve, an outdoor heat exchanger, and an expansion valve. An indoor heat exchanger is connected in sequence and a cooling / heating circuit capable of reversible operation of the refrigerant in a cooling cycle and a heating cycle, and one end of the hot water supply heat exchanger arranged in the heat storage tank is connected via a three-way valve to the compressor. On the discharge side, the other end is connected to both sides of the expansion valve via an on-off valve. Then, the high-pressure refrigerant discharged from the compressor is condensed in the hot water supply heat exchanger to heat the water in the heat storage tank, while the condensed liquid refrigerant is evaporated in the outdoor heat exchanger or the indoor heat exchanger to compress the compressor. The hot water is stored in the heat storage tank.

[0003]

In the above-described cooling and heating apparatus, since the waste heat during the cooling operation in which the refrigerant condensed in the hot water supply heat exchanger is evaporated in the indoor heat exchanger is used for hot water supply, energy saving is achieved. It has the advantage of being expensive. However, since it always stores heat at a high temperature, it is necessary to incorporate a heat storage tank, and as a result, the heat storage tank must be installed, resulting in a large installation volume and a problem that the installation location is limited. However, there is a problem that the initial cost becomes higher. Therefore, the advent of a new air-conditioning system that is highly energy-saving and inexpensive is desired.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to make it possible to heat water in a bath without providing a heat storage tank, thereby achieving high energy saving and low cost. It is a thing.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the means taken by the present invention is to provide a bathtub heat exchanger in parallel with a bathroom heat exchanger. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 3, the means taken by the invention according to claim 1 is as follows. First, the compressor (21), the heat source side heat exchanger (24), the expansion mechanism (25, 31) and the use side. A cooling / heating circuit (11) capable of reversibly operating the refrigerant is provided by being sequentially connected to the heat exchanger (32).
Further, one end is connected to the discharge side of the compressor (21), and the other end is connected to the high pressure liquid line of the cooling and heating circuit (11) via the refrigerant pipes (41), respectively, and the bathroom heat exchanger (52) And a bathroom drying circuit (50) for heating the air in the bathroom by exchanging heat between the air in the bathroom and the refrigerant discharged from the compressor (21). In addition, it is connected in parallel with the bathroom heat exchanger (52) in the bathroom drying circuit (50) through the refrigerant pipe (61), and the bathtub (6
A bath heat exchanger (60) for heating the bath water by exchanging heat between the bath water in a) and the refrigerant discharged from the compressor (21) is provided. Further, the means taken by the invention according to claim 2 is that in the invention according to claim 1, one end has a blower (71).
The other end of the air supply pipe (72) connected to the discharge side of the opening opens near the bath heat exchanger (60) to supply air to the bath water near the bath heat exchanger (60). It is configured to include the air means (70). The means taken by the invention according to claim 3 is the bathroom refrigerant in which the bathroom drying circuit (50), the bath heat exchanger (60) and the air supply means (70) are one in the invention of claim 2 above. It is composed of units (40). Further, the means taken by the invention according to claim 4 is the supply of the refrigerant pipe (61) and the air supply means (70) connected to the bath heat exchanger (60) according to the invention of claim 2 or 3. The trachea (72) is made of a flexible pipe.

[0006]

With the above structure, in the inventions according to claims 1 and 3, first, during the cooling cycle, the refrigerant discharged from the compressor (21) exchanges heat with the heat source side heat exchanger (24). After being condensed and decompressed by the expansion mechanism (25, 31), it is evaporated in the utilization side heat exchanger (32) and returned to the compressor (21), and during the heating cycle, the compressor (21) The refrigerant discharged from
The user side heat exchanger (32) exchanges heat and condenses, and the expansion mechanism (25,
After the pressure is reduced in 31), it is evaporated in the heat source side heat exchanger (24) and returned to the compressor (21). On the other hand, when hot water is supplied, the refrigerant discharged from the compressor (21) is used as a heat exchanger for the bathroom.
(52) and the bath heat exchanger (60), which exchanges heat with the air and bath water in the bathroom to condense, and after being decompressed by the expansion mechanism (25, 31), the use side heat exchanger (32) Then, the water is evaporated to return to the compressor (21), and at the same time as the cooling operation, the bathroom is heated and the bath water is heated. The refrigerant condensed in the bathroom heat exchanger (52) and the bath heat exchanger (60) is decompressed by the expansion mechanism (25, 31) and then evaporated and compressed by the heat source side heat exchanger (24). By returning to the machine (21), only the heating of the bathroom and the heating of the bathtub water will be performed. Further, in this state, in the invention according to claim 2, by supplying air to the bath water by the air supply means (70), forced convection is generated in the bath water to accelerate heating. Moreover, the heating is further promoted by utilizing the compressed air having a high pressure and exhibiting the jet pump effect. Also, by condensing the refrigerant only in the bathroom heat exchanger (52),
The bathroom will be used as a dryer or the bathroom will be dehumidified. Further, only the bath water is heated by condensing the refrigerant only in the bath heat exchanger (60). In the invention according to claim 4, since the refrigerant pipe (61) of the heat exchanger (60) for bathtub is a flexible pipe, the heat exchanger (60) for bathtub is stored in the upper space of the bathroom or the like. Will be done.

[0007]

Therefore, according to the invention of claim 1,
While connecting the bathroom drying circuit (50) to the heating and cooling circuit (11),
Since the bath heat exchanger (60) is connected to the bathroom drying circuit (50), the bath water can be directly heated by the bath heat exchanger (60). Since it is not necessary to incorporate a heat storage tank into the heat storage tank and the installation space for this heat storage tank can be omitted, the range of use of the apparatus itself can be expanded. Moreover, since the conventional heat storage tank can be omitted, the apparatus itself can be made inexpensive. Further, the waste heat in the cooling cycle can be used for heating the bath water, and since it is not necessary to store heat in the heat storage tank as in the conventional case, energy saving can be promoted. According to the invention of claim 2, the air supply means (70)
Since the bath water is supplied to the bath water by the air supply, the bath water can be disturbed by the air supply and forced convection can be generated, so that the heating of the bath water can be promoted.
Further, according to the invention of claim 3, the bathroom drying circuit is provided.
Since the (50), the heat exchanger for bath tub (60) and the air supply means (70) are configured as one bathroom refrigerant unit (40), the mounting can be facilitated. According to the invention of claim 4, the refrigerant pipe (61) of the bath heat exchanger (60).
Since the air supply pipe (72) of the air supply means (70) is formed of a flexible pipe, the bath heat exchanger (60) can be stored in the upper space of the bathroom, etc. Can be facilitated.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, reference numeral (10) is an air conditioner, which has a bathroom heating dehumidifying / drying function and a bathtub heating function. The air conditioner (10) is an outdoor unit (20)
An air conditioning and heating circuit (11) having an indoor unit (30) and a bathtub refrigerant unit connected to the air conditioning and heating circuit (11),
As shown in FIG. 3, the heating / cooling circuit (11) includes a plurality of indoor units (30, 30), for example, two indoor units (30, 30).
30), and is configured to allow reversible operation of the refrigerant in the cooling cycle and the heating cycle. Outdoor unit above (20)
Is an outdoor heat exchanger (24) having a compressor (21), a four-way switching valve (22), an outdoor fan (23), an outdoor electric expansion valve (25), and a liquid receiver (2
6) and are connected in sequence by the refrigerant pipe (12),
The compressor (21), the outdoor heat exchanger (24), etc. are the outdoor casing.
It is stored in (2a). An outdoor solenoid valve (27) is provided between the discharge side of the compressor (21) and the four-way switching valve (22), and the suction side of the compressor (21) and the four-way switching valve (22). The accumulators (28) are connected between them, and the outdoor heat exchanger is
(24) constitutes a condenser during the cooling cycle, a heat source side heat exchanger that becomes an evaporator during the heating cycle, the outdoor electric expansion valve (25) adjusts the refrigerant flow rate during the cooling cycle, and the refrigerant during the heating cycle. It constitutes an expansion mechanism to reduce the pressure. Further, the indoor unit (30) is configured by connecting the indoor electric expansion valve (31) and the indoor heat exchanger (32) via the refrigerant pipe (12), the indoor heat exchanger (32) and the like. It is stored in the indoor casing (3a). The indoor electric expansion valve (31) constitutes an expansion mechanism that adjusts the refrigerant flow rate during the heating cycle and decompresses the refrigerant during the cooling cycle.
The (24) has an indoor fan (33) and constitutes a utilization side heat exchanger that serves as a condenser during a cooling cycle and an evaporator during a heating cycle.

A feature of the present invention is that the bathroom refrigerant unit (40) has a bath heat exchanger (60) connected to the bathroom drying circuit (50) and an air supply means (70). Is formed into a unit. The bathroom drying circuit (50) is a bathroom solenoid valve.
(51), a bathroom heat exchanger (52) and a check valve (53) are connected in order through a refrigerant pipe (41), and the bathroom heat exchanger is formed.
(52) etc. are accommodated in the bathroom casing (4a). One end of the bathroom drying circuit (50) on the bathroom solenoid valve (51) side is connected between the discharge side of the compressor (21) and the outdoor solenoid valve (27), while the check valve is connected. (53) is an outdoor unit (20)
And the one end on the side of the check valve (53) is connected to the cooling and heating circuit.
It is connected to the liquid receiver (26) which is the high pressure liquid line of (11). The bathroom heat exchanger (52) includes a cross-flow fan (54), and is configured to heat the air in the bathroom by exchanging heat between the air in the bathroom and the refrigerant from the compressor (21). ing.

The bath heat exchanger (60) is connected in parallel with the bathroom heat exchanger (52) through a refrigerant pipe (61), and one end of the bath heat exchanger (60) is connected through a bath solenoid valve (62). Is connected between the discharge side of the compressor (21) and the outdoor solenoid valve (27), while the other end is connected between the bathroom heat exchanger (52) and the check valve (53). Is configured. Then, as shown in FIG. 4, the bathtub heat exchanger (60) is immersed in bathtub water which is covered with a cover (63) and stored in the bathtub (6a), and the bathwater and the compressor (21). ) To heat the bath water by exchanging heat with the refrigerant from
The bathtub solenoid valve (62) is housed in the bathroom casing (4a). Further, the air supply means (70) is such that one end of the air supply pipe (72) is connected to the discharge side of the blower (71) and the air supply pipe (72)
The other end is introduced into the cover (63) of the bath heat exchanger (60). The blower (71) is a bubble pump that supplies air to the bath water near the bath heat exchanger (60), and is housed in the bathroom casing (4a). Further, the bathtub heat exchanger (60) is extended from the bathroom casing (4a), and the air supply pipe (72) is also attached to the bathroom casing (4a).
a), that is, the bathroom casing (4
(a) is installed, for example, in the ceiling of the bathroom, and the bath heat exchanger (60) and the air supply pipe (72) are extended from the ceiling of the bathroom into the bath (6a). The refrigerant pipe (61) and the air supply pipe (72) connected to the bath heat exchanger (60) are formed of a flexible pipe, and the bath heat exchanger (60) together with the air supply pipe (72). It is structured so that it can be hooked on the side wall of the bathroom and stored.

Next, the cooling / heating operation of the cooling / heating device (10) and the bathtub heating operation will be described. First, during the cooling cycle, the four-way switching valve (22) is switched to the solid line in FIG. 3, the outdoor solenoid valve (27) is opened, and the bathroom solenoid valve (51) and the bathtub solenoid valve (62) are closed. ing. In this state, as shown by the solid line in FIG. 3, the high-pressure refrigerant discharged from the compressor (21) exchanges heat with the outdoor air in the outdoor heat exchanger (24) to be condensed into a high-pressure liquid refrigerant. The high-pressure liquid refrigerant is decompressed by the indoor electric expansion valve (31), then exchanges heat with the indoor air in the indoor heat exchanger (32) to evaporate to become a low-pressure gas refrigerant, and this gas refrigerant is the compressor (21). The cycle will return to. Then, the interior of the room is cooled by the evaporation of the refrigerant in the indoor heat exchanger (32). Also, during the heating cycle, the four-way selector valve (2
2) is switched to the broken line in FIG. 3, and the outdoor solenoid valve (27) is opened and the bathroom solenoid valve (51) and the bathtub solenoid valve (62) are closed as in the cooling cycle. In this state, as indicated by the broken line in FIG. 3, the high pressure refrigerant discharged from the compressor (21) exchanges heat with the indoor air in the indoor heat exchanger (32) to condense into a high pressure liquid refrigerant. High-pressure liquid refrigerant is an outdoor electric expansion valve
After the pressure is reduced in (25), heat is exchanged with outdoor air in the outdoor heat exchanger (24) to evaporate to become a low pressure gas refrigerant, and this gas refrigerant is circulated to return to the compressor (21). Then, the interior of the room is heated by the condensation of the refrigerant in the indoor heat exchanger (32).

On the other hand, during the cooling hot water supply cycle, the four-way switching valve (22) is switched to the solid line in FIG.
(25) and the outdoor solenoid valve (27) are closed, and the bathroom solenoid valve (51) and the bathtub solenoid valve (62) are open. In this state, as shown by the alternate long and short dash line in FIG. 3, the high-pressure refrigerant discharged from the compressor (21) flows into the bathroom heat exchanger (52) and the bath heat exchanger (60), It exchanges heat with air and bath water to condense and become a high-pressure liquid refrigerant.
6) and then to the indoor unit (30, 30), the indoor electric expansion valve
After the pressure is reduced in (31), heat is exchanged with the indoor air in the indoor heat exchanger (32) to evaporate to become a low pressure gas refrigerant, and this gas refrigerant is circulated back to the compressor (21). Then, while the indoor is cooled by the evaporation of the refrigerant of the indoor heat exchanger (32),
Condensation of the refrigerant in the bathroom heat exchanger (52) and the bathtub heat exchanger (60) heats the inside of the bathroom, and at the same time, the bathwater is heated and the hot water is stored in the bathtub (6a). Also, during the hot water supply cycle in which only hot water is supplied, the four-way switching valve (22) is switched to the solid line in FIG. 3, the outdoor solenoid valve (27) is closed, and the bathroom solenoid valve (51 ) And bathtub solenoid valve
The indoor electric expansion valve (31) is closed while (62) is opened. In this state, as shown by the chain double-dashed line in FIG. 3, the high-pressure refrigerant discharged from the compressor (21) flows into the bathroom heat exchanger (52) and the bath heat exchanger (60), It condenses by exchanging heat with air and bath water to become a high-pressure liquid refrigerant, and this high-pressure liquid refrigerant flows through the liquid receiver (26) to the outdoor unit (20) and is decompressed by the outdoor electric expansion valve (25). After, outdoor heat exchanger
At (24), heat is exchanged with the outdoor air to evaporate to become a low-pressure gas refrigerant, and this gas refrigerant is circulated back to the compressor (21). Then, the interior of the bathroom is heated by the refrigerant condensation of the bathroom heat exchanger (52) and the bath heat exchanger (60), and at the same time, the bath water is heated and hot water is stored in the bath (6a). Become. Further, during the cooling hot water supply cycle and the hot water supply cycle, the blower (71) is driven and air is blown into the bath (6
a), that is, as shown in FIG. 4, bubbles are generated in the vicinity of the bath heat exchanger (60) to stir the bath water, and forced convection is generated to boil the boiling water. I am trying to promote it. Further, during the cooling hot water supply cycle and the hot water supply cycle, when the bathtub solenoid valve (62) is closed, the high pressure refrigerant from the compressor (21) is condensed only in the bathroom heat exchanger (52), This is a bathroom drying cycle in which the bathroom serves as a dryer, and a bathroom dehumidification cycle in which the bathroom is dehumidified. Further, by closing the bathroom solenoid valve (51), the refrigerant is condensed only in the bath heat exchanger (60) and only the bath water is heated.

Therefore, according to the above embodiment, the heating / cooling circuit (1
By connecting the bath drying circuit (50) to 1) and connecting the bath heat exchanger (60) to the bath drying circuit (50), the bath heat exchanger (60) is used. Since the bath water can be heated directly, there is no need to incorporate a heat storage tank as in the conventional case, and the installation space for this heat storage tank can be omitted, so the range of use of the device itself can be expanded. Moreover, since the conventional heat storage tank can be omitted, the apparatus itself can be made inexpensive. Further, the waste heat in the cooling cycle can be used for heating the bath water, and since it is not necessary to store heat in the heat storage tank as in the conventional case, energy saving can be promoted. Further, since the bath water is supplied by the air supply means (70), the air supply can disturb the bath water and cause forced convection, thus promoting the heating of the bath water. Can be made. Further, in addition to simply supplying air by the air supply means (70), by supplying compressed air with high pressure to the bath water, by exerting a jet pump effect,
Further heating will be accelerated. Further, the bathroom drying circuit (50), the bath heat exchanger (60) and the air supply means (70) are configured as one bathroom refrigerant unit (40).
The mounting can be facilitated. Further, the refrigerant pipe (61) of the bath heat exchanger (60) and the air supply pipe of the air supply means (70).
Since the (72) is formed of a flexible pipe, the bath heat exchanger (60) can be housed in the upper space of the bathroom or the like, so that the handling can be facilitated.

In this embodiment, the heating / cooling circuit (11)
Has two indoor units (30, 30),
The number of indoor units (30) may be one, or may be three or more. Further, the air supply means (70) is not necessarily provided in the invention according to claim 1, but is preferably provided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an air conditioner.

FIG. 2 is a refrigerant circuit diagram showing a schematic refrigerant circuit of an air conditioner.

FIG. 3 is a refrigerant circuit diagram showing a detailed refrigerant circuit of the cooling and heating device.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view showing a bath heat exchanger.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Air-conditioning system 11 Air-conditioning circuit 12,41,61 Refrigerant piping 20 Outdoor unit 21 Compressor 24 Outdoor heat exchanger (heat source side heat exchanger) 25 Outdoor electric expansion valve (expansion mechanism) 30 Indoor unit 31 Indoor electric expansion valve (expansion) 32) Indoor heat exchanger (use side heat exchanger) 40 Bathroom refrigerant unit 50 Bathroom drying circuit 52 Bathroom heat exchanger 60 Bath heat exchanger 6a Bath 70 Air supply means 71 Blower 72 Air supply pipe

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A cooling / heating circuit capable of reversibly operating a refrigerant by sequentially connecting a compressor (21), a heat source side heat exchanger (24), an expansion mechanism (25, 31) and a use side heat exchanger (32). (11), one end is on the discharge side of the compressor (21), and the other end is on the cooling / heating circuit (1
Each is connected to the high pressure liquid line of 1) via a refrigerant pipe (41) and has a bathroom heat exchanger (52) to exchange heat between the air in the bathroom and the refrigerant discharged from the compressor (21). Then, the bathroom drying circuit (50) for heating the air in the bathroom and the bathroom heat exchanger (52) in the bathroom drying circuit (50) are connected in parallel via the refrigerant pipe (61), and the bathtub (6a ) Is provided with a bath heat exchanger (60) that heats the bath water by exchanging heat between the bath water and the refrigerant discharged from the compressor (21). apparatus. 2. The air conditioner with a bathtub heating function according to claim 1, wherein one end of an air supply pipe (72) having one end connected to the discharge side of the blower (71) has the other end near the bath heat exchanger (60). An air supply means (70) which is opened to and supplies air to the bath water in the vicinity of the bath heat exchanger (60)
An air conditioner with a bathtub heating function, which is equipped with: 3. A cooling / heating apparatus with a bathtub heating function according to claim 2, wherein a bathroom drying circuit (50), a bathtub heat exchanger (60) and an air supply means (70).
And a single bathroom refrigeration unit (40). 4. The cooling / heating apparatus with a bathtub heating function according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the refrigerant pipe (61) connected to the bath heat exchanger (60) and the air supply pipe (72) of the air supply means (70). Is a cooling and heating device with a bathtub heating function, which is configured by a flexible pipe.