JPH0739889B2 - Heat pump device - Google Patents

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an improvement in a heat pump device that uses a non-azeotropic mixed refrigerant and stores a high boiling point refrigerant by composition separation to change the composition.

2. Description of the Related Art We have proposed a device as shown in FIG. 2 as a heat pump device that uses a non-azeotropic mixed refrigerant and stores a high boiling point refrigerant by composition separation to change the composition. In FIG. 2, 1 is a compressor, 2 is a condenser, 3 is a heater, 4 is a first expansion device, and 5 is an evaporator, and these are connected by piping to form a main circuit. 6 is a rectification separator filled with a packing material, the upper part of which is connected to a pipe between the condenser 2 and the heater 3 via a second expansion device 7, and the upper part of the rectification separator is also connected to the evaporator 5 by a pipe 8. And the compressor 1 are connected to a pipe. Further, a reservoir 9 having a built-in heater 3 is arranged below the rectification separator 6, and the lower portion of the reservoir 9 is connected to the evaporator 5 and the first expansion device 4 via an opening / closing valve 10. It is connected to the pipe between.

A method of enclosing a non-azeotropic mixed refrigerant in such a heat pump device and varying the composition will be described. First, in the non-separation mode, by opening the on-off valve 10, a part of the liquid refrigerant condensed in the condenser 2 is depressurized to a low pressure by the second expansion device 7, and the rectification separator 6 is operated in a gas-liquid two-phase state. A part of the refrigerant enters the reservoir 9 via the reservoir 9 and is stored there as an excess refrigerant, and the rest flows into the evaporator 5 via the on-off valve 10. The rest of the liquid refrigerant flowing out of the condenser 2 passes through the heater 3 and the first expansion device 4, merges with the refrigerant flowing out of the on-off valve 10, and flows into the evaporator 5. Further, the gas generated by being decompressed by the second expansion device 7 is sucked into the compressor 1 through the pipe 8, and the main circuit is operated with the composition of the mixed refrigerant rich in the high boiling point refrigerant in the sealed state. .

Next, in the separation mode, the low-boiling-point refrigerant in the refrigerant inside the reservoir 9 is mainly vaporized by using the high-temperature liquid refrigerant flowing in the heater 3 as a heating source by closing the on-off valve 10, and the rectification separator 6 Rise inside. At this time, a part of the liquid refrigerant condensed in the condenser 2 is decompressed to a low pressure by the second expansion device 7 to be in a gas-liquid two-phase state and supplied to the upper part of the rectification separator 6, where the liquid refrigerant is refined. A rectification action occurs by contacting the rising low boiling point refrigerant gas with the rising low boiling point refrigerant gas inside the rectification separator 6, and the rising gas increases the concentration of the low boiling point refrigerant, and conversely moves down. The concentration of the high-boiling-point refrigerant in the liquid is increased, and the high-boiling-point refrigerant is stored in the reservoir 9 as a condensed liquid. On the other hand, the gas rich in the low boiling point refrigerant that has risen is sucked into the compressor 1 through the pipe 8 together with the gas that is decompressed by the second expansion device 7 and generated. By doing so, the main circuit can be operated with the composition of the mixed refrigerant rich in the low boiling point refrigerant.

To restore the composition of the main circuit, open the on-off valve 10 to mix the high boiling point refrigerant in the reservoir 9 into the main circuit, and the main circuit is filled with the high boiling point refrigerant-rich mixed refrigerant. It becomes the composition of.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, in the heat pump device as described above, the amount of refrigerant in the main circuit greatly changes in the mode with separation and the mode without separation, and it is difficult to maintain a high coefficient of performance due to overfilling or lack of refrigerant. there were.

In other words, when operating in the mode with separation with a proper amount of refrigerant having a high coefficient of performance and then switching to the mode without separation, the gas-liquid flowing through the main circuit in the reservoir filled with the saturated liquid of the high boiling point refrigerant. Since the low-boiling-point refrigerant in the two-phase state flows in, the inside of the reservoir is in a gas-liquid mixed state, and the amount of refrigerant that can be stored in the reservoir is greatly reduced. Therefore, there has been a problem that the amount of refrigerant on the main circuit side of the refrigeration cycle increases, overfilling occurs, the high pressure increases, the compressor input increases, and the coefficient of performance decreases.

On the contrary, when the mode was switched to the mode with separation after operating with an appropriate amount of refrigerant in the mode without separation, the main circuit side became out of refrigerant this time, causing problems such as deterioration of heating capacity and decrease of coefficient of performance. .

The present invention provides a heat pump device that can make the amount of refrigerant stored in a reservoir substantially equal in each mode with and without separation, always keep the amount of refrigerant in the main circuit appropriate, and operate with a high coefficient of performance. .

Means for Solving the Problems A heat pump device of the present invention encloses a non-azeotropic mixed refrigerant, constitutes a main circuit from a compressor, a condenser, a first expansion device, and an evaporator, and has a heater and a reservoir at the bottom. Is connected to a pipe between the condenser and the first throttle device via a parallel circuit of a second throttle device and a first on-off valve, and the rectifier separator is also provided. Is connected to a pipe between the first expansion device and the evaporator or a pipe between the evaporator and the compressor via a second opening / closing valve, and further the reservoir is a check valve. Through a pipe to connect the condenser and the first expansion device to the downstream side of the connection portion of the parallel circuit to form a refrigeration cycle, and the rectification separation action is performed in the rectification separator. In the operation, the first on-off valve is closed and the second on-off valve is opened, and the rectification separation action is performed. In the operation in which the operation is not performed, the first opening / closing valve is opened and the second opening / closing valve is closed.

Action The present invention, with the above-described configuration, allows the reservoir to have a high pressure in the non-separation mode, and part of the high-temperature and high-pressure liquid refrigerant flows in from the main circuit and flows out into the main circuit while being stored in the reservoir as excess refrigerant. Therefore, both the main circuit and the reservoir are filled with a refrigerant composition rich in high boiling point. At this time, the reservoir is filled with the liquid. Moreover, in the separation mode, although the pressure of the reservoir becomes low, the rectification action by gas-liquid contact inside the rectification separator causes the reservoir to become a saturated liquid of the refrigerant with high boiling point. The reservoir is filled with liquid.

That is, in any of the modes, the reservoir can be filled with the refrigerant liquid, so that the amount of the refrigerant in the main circuit can always be maintained appropriately and the coefficient of performance can be maintained high.

Example Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a heat pump device according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which 11 is a compressor, 12 is a condenser, 13 is a heater, 14 is a first throttle device, and 15 is an evaporator. The main circuit is constructed by connecting the pipes. Reference numeral 16 is a rectification separator filled with a packing material, the upper part of which is connected to a pipe between the condenser 12 and the heater 13 through a parallel circuit of a second expansion device 17 and a first opening / closing valve 18. Similarly, the upper part is connected to the pipe between the first expansion device 14 and the evaporator 15 via the second opening / closing valve 19. Further, a reservoir 20 containing a heater 13 is arranged below the rectification separator 16, and a check valve 21 is provided below the reservoir 20.
Is connected to a pipe between the heater 13 and the first expansion device 14.

A method of enclosing a non-azeotropic mixed refrigerant in such a heat pump device and varying the composition will be described. First, in the non-separation mode, the first opening / closing valve 18 is opened and the second opening / closing valve 19 is closed. As a result, a part of the liquid refrigerant condensed in the condenser 12 is branched from the main circuit and enters the reservoir 20 via the first on-off valve 18 and the rectification separator 16 while maintaining a high pressure, and the inside of the reservoir is substantially closed. While filling with liquid, it flows into the main circuit via the check valve 21. The rest of the liquid refrigerant flowing out of the condenser 12 passes through the heater 13 and merges with the refrigerant flowing out of the check valve 21 to form the first expansion device 14
Flows into the main circuit. In this way, the main circuit is operated with the composition of the mixed refrigerant rich in the high boiling point refrigerant in the sealed state. Here, the refrigerant flowing through the heater 13 and the refrigerant in the reservoir 20 have the same temperature, the liquid refrigerant in the reservoir 20 does not change the state, and the reservoir 20 is always filled with the refrigerant liquid. ing.

Next, in the separation mode, the first on-off valve 18 is closed and the second
The on-off valve 19 is opened. As a result, a part of the liquid refrigerant condensed in the condenser 12 is decompressed to a low pressure by the second expansion device 17 to be in a gas-liquid two-phase state and supplied to the upper portion of the rectification separator 16, where the liquid refrigerant is The rectification separator 16 is lowered. Here, the refrigerant in the rectification separator 16 and the reservoir 20 becomes low temperature and low pressure.
On the other hand, the rest of the liquid refrigerant condensed in the condenser 12 flows into the heater 13 and exchanges heat with the low-temperature low-pressure liquid refrigerant in the reservoir 20, mainly the low-boiling-point refrigerant is vaporized, and the rectification separator 16 Rising inside,
A rectification action occurs by gas-liquid contact with the descending high boiling point refrigerant. As a result, the rising gas has a higher concentration of the low-boiling-point refrigerant, while the descending liquid has a higher concentration of the high-boiling-point refrigerant, and the high-boiling-point refrigerant is stored in the reservoir 20 in a condensed state. The gas rich in the low-boiling-point refrigerant that has risen is decompressed by the second expansion device 17 and the second gas is generated together with the second gas.
It flows into the evaporator 15 through the on-off valve 19. By doing so, the main circuit can be operated with the composition of the mixed refrigerant rich in the low boiling point refrigerant.

Here, the inside of the reservoir 20 is at a low pressure in the refrigeration cycle, but since the high boiling point refrigerant has a high concentration, it is filled with the saturated liquid rich in the high boiling point refrigerant regardless of the dryness on the main circuit side. The storage amount at this time is not much different from that in the non-separation mode, therefore the refrigerant amount in the main circuit can be kept almost uniform in each mode, with and without separation, and there is no overfilling or insufficient refrigerant. Therefore, if the initial amount of refrigerant is appropriately determined, an appropriate amount of refrigerant can be always maintained in each mode, and operation with a high coefficient of performance can be performed.

In the non-separation mode, the rectification separator 16 and the reservoir
Since the refrigerant in 20 is at high temperature and high pressure, and the container and piping are relatively hot, when the mode with separation is switched, it is heated by the sensible heat and the initial gas generation is facilitated and separation occurs. The time required for can be shortened.

In order to restore the composition of the main circuit, the first opening / closing valve 18 is opened and the second opening / closing valve 19 is closed. The high boiling point refrigerant in the reservoir 20 is mixed into the main circuit, and the main circuit is sealed. In this state, the composition of the mixed refrigerant rich in the high boiling point refrigerant is obtained.

The present invention can be configured in various modes other than those shown in the above embodiments.

For example, in the above-described embodiment, the heater 13 is connected to the condenser 12 and the first
Although it is provided in the pipe between the expansion device 14, it is needless to say that the discharge pipe of the compressor 11 may be used. In this case, since the heating source temperature is high, the heater 13 is made very small. It is possible to obtain practical effects.

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION As is clear from the above description, the heat pump device of the present invention does not change much the refrigerant amount stored in the reservoir in the non-separation mode or in the separation mode, and always maintains the refrigerant amount in the main circuit. It can be appropriate and the coefficient of performance can be maintained high.

Further, in the non-separation mode, the rectification separator, the container of the reservoir, the piping, etc. are at a relatively high temperature. Gas generation becomes easier, and the time required for separation can be shortened.

In addition, when a discharge gas of a compressor having a high temperature is used as a heating source, the heater can be made extremely small, which is very effective in practice.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a heat pump device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a conventional heat pump device. 11 ... Compressor, 12 ... Condenser, 13 ... Heater, 14 ... First throttling device, 15 ... Evaporator, 16 ... Fractionation separator, 17 ...
2nd throttle device, 18 ... 1st on-off valve, 19 ... 2nd on-off valve,
20 …… reservoir, 21 …… check valve.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (72) Inventor Yuji Yoshida 1006 Kadoma, Kadoma City, Osaka Prefecture Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (56) Reference JP-A 63-6347 (JP, A)

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An upper part of a rectification separator in which a non-azeotropic mixed refrigerant is sealed, a main circuit is composed of a compressor, a condenser, a first expansion device and an evaporator, and a heater and a reservoir are provided in the lower part. Is connected to a pipe between the condenser and the first throttling device through a parallel circuit of a second throttling device and a first on-off valve, and the upper portion of the rectification separator is also passed through a second on-off valve. Is connected to a pipe between the first expansion device and the evaporator or a pipe between the evaporator and the compressor, and the reservoir is connected to the condenser and the first via a check valve. The first on-off valve in the operation of connecting the downstream side of the connection portion of the parallel circuit on the pipe between the first throttle device and the refrigeration cycle and performing the rectification separation action in the rectification separator. Close the second
A heat pump device characterized in that the first opening / closing valve is opened and the second opening / closing valve is closed in an operation in which the opening / closing valve is opened and the rectification separation action is not performed. 2. The heat pump device according to claim 1, wherein the heating source of the heater is a refrigerant at the outlet of the condenser.