JPS63251763A - Air conditioner - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a so-called multi-type air conditioner configured by connecting a plurality of indoor units to one outdoor unit.

(Prior Art) A conventional example of the multi-type air conditioner as described above is described in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 161371/1983. FIG. 2 shows a schematic diagram of the refrigerant circuit in the device. In the figure, 31 is a compressor placed in the outdoor unit X, and the discharge pipe 32 and suction pipe 33 of this compressor 31 are It is connected to the four-way switching valve 34. 20 The four-way switching valve 34 has a first gas pipe 35 and a second gas pipe 36.
The first gas pipe 35 is further connected to an outdoor heat exchanger 37 and a liquid pipe 40 in which an electric expansion valve 38 and a liquid receiver 39 are interposed. and the second gas pipe 36, each indoor unit A, B, C
indoor heat exchangers 41, 42, and 43 are connected in parallel with each other.

In the above configuration, the refrigerant discharged from the compressor 31 is divided and supplied to each of the indoor heat exchangers 41, 42, and 43, and then circulated to the outdoor heat exchanger 37, thereby allowing simultaneous heating operation of multiple rooms. Also, by switching the four-way switching valve 34 and circulating the air from the outdoor heat exchanger 37 to each of the indoor heat exchangers 41, 42, and 43, simultaneous cooling operation of multiple rooms is performed.

(Problem to be solved by the invention) Air conditioners such as those described above are usually left unused during the intermediate seasons of spring and autumn. Depending on location conditions, insulation structure, etc., even though the room temperature in some rooms requires heating, for example, in rooms facing south and receiving direct sunlight, the room temperature may be high and require air conditioning. . Furthermore, when a room with a controlled temperature different from the comfortable temperature for people is installed, such as when a home garden room is set up, and multi-room air conditioning operation including this room is performed, cooling and heating may be performed at the same time. Driving may be required.

However, with the above-mentioned conventional devices, it is not possible to perform such simultaneous cooling and heating operations, and therefore, in rooms that require different operating modes, the operation must be stopped, making it impossible to obtain air conditioning comfort. Otherwise, it becomes necessary to install an air conditioner in each room individually.

The present invention has been made in view of the above, and an object thereof is to provide an air conditioner that enables simultaneous cooling and heating operation, and as a result, improves air conditioning comfort in, for example, multiple rooms.

(Means for Solving the Problem) Therefore, the air conditioner of the present invention includes one outdoor unit X having a compressor 1 and an outdoor heat exchanger 18, and a plurality of indoor heat exchangers 26 and 27 each having indoor unit)A,
B is an air conditioner in which a plurality of four-way switching valves SV are connected between the discharge pipe 2 and the suction pipe 4 of the compressor 1.
a, SVb are connected in parallel to each other, and one of the connection ports of these four-way switching valves Sva, SVb is connected to a first gas branch pipe 12.15, and the other is connected to a second gas branch pipe 13.16, respectively. A reversible electromagnetic on-off valve vaSv is connected to each of the first gas branch pipes 12.15.
b, and the confluence of the first gas branch pipes 12.15 is connected to the outdoor heat exchanger 18 by the first gas pipe 17, and the liquid pipe 21 is connected to the outdoor heat exchanger 18, A plurality of liquid branch pipes 22.23 branched from the tip of this liquid pipe 21, and each of the second gas branch pipes 13.16.
A plurality of indoor heat exchangers 26 and 27 are connected in parallel between the two.

(Function) In the air conditioner having the above configuration, to explain the two-room air conditioning operation of room A and room B as an example, each of the four-way switching valves SVa and SVb is set to a different internal communication switching position. For example, the indoor heat exchanger 26 in room A is connected to the compressor 1 through the second gas branch pipes 13 and 16, respectively.
On the other hand, the indoor heat exchanger 27 in the B room can be communicated with the discharge pipe 2 of the compressor 1 and the suction pipe 4 of the compressor 1, respectively. By closing the electromagnetic on-off valves νa and Vb installed in each of the first gas branch pipes 12.15, the refrigerant discharged from the compressor 1 is transferred from the A room side four-way switching valve SVa. Liquid pipe 21 via A outdoor heat exchanger 26
distributed to. The liquid pipe 21 is then connected to the compressor 1 via the B outdoor heat exchanger 27 and the B room side four-way switching valve svb.
It can be a refrigerant circulation cycle in which the refrigerant is returned to 1. In a cycle like 2, indoor heat exchanger 2 in room A
6 acts as a condenser, and the heat exchanger 27 in chamber B acts as an evaporator. That is, room A is heated, while room B is cooled.

Furthermore, in the above case, when the electromagnetic on-off valve Va interposed in the first gas branch pipe 12 on the A room side is opened, the refrigerant after flowing through the indoor heat exchanger 26 in the A room enters the liquid pipe 21. The flow is divided into the indoor heat exchanger 27 and the outdoor heat exchanger 1 in room B.
8 and returns to the compressor 1. At this time, room A is heated by the indoor waste heat during cooling room B and the amount of heat absorbed from the outdoor atmosphere. Although the above explanation is for two-room operation, simultaneous cooling and heating operation is possible even in multi-room operation with two or more rooms by selecting the appropriate switching between the four-way switching valve and the electromagnetic on-off valve. It is.

(Embodiments) Next, specific embodiments of the air conditioner of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a refrigerant in an air conditioner according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which two indoor units l-A and B are connected to one outdoor unit A circuit diagram is shown. As shown in the figure, outdoor unit
A compressor 1 is disposed in , and a discharge pipe 2 connected to the compressor 1 and a suction pipe 4 in which an accumulator 3 is interposed have their tips connected to the first and second discharge pipes, respectively. The first discharge pipe 5 and the first suction pipe 7 are branched into a first suction pipe 5.6 and a first suction pipe 7.8.
The four-way switching valve (hereinafter referred to as the A-room side four-way valve) SVa, and the second discharge pipe 6 and the second suction pipe 8 are connected to the second four-way switching valve (hereinafter referred to as the B-room side four-way valve). (referred to as valves) are connected to svb respectively. And the A chamber side four-way valve SVa
, the first solenoid on-off valve (hereinafter referred to as the A-room side solenoid valve)
A first gas branch pipe 12 on the A room side in which νa is interposed is connected to a second gas branch pipe 13 on the A room side, and a second electromagnetic on-off valve ( A first gas branch pipe 15 on the B-chamber side in which a B-chamber side solenoid valve (hereinafter referred to as a B-chamber side solenoid valve) is interposed is connected to a B-chamber side second gas branch pipe 16. Each of the above-mentioned solenoid valves Va and Vb is a reversible solenoid on-off valve that allows refrigerant to flow in both directions. The first gas branch pipe 12 on the side of room A and the first gas branch pipe 15 on the side of room B are joined at their respective tips and connected to a first gas pipe 17, and this first gas pipe 17 is connected to an outdoor fan (not shown). ) is connected to the outdoor heat exchanger 18.

Furthermore, a liquid pipe 21 in which a first electric expansion valve (hereinafter referred to as the first electric valve) EVO and a liquid receiver 20 are interposed is connected to the outdoor heat exchanger 18 . The tip of this liquid tube 21 is branched into an A-chamber side branch tube 22 and a B-chamber side branch tube 23,
Each of these liquid branch pipes 22 and 23 has a second electric expansion valve on the A chamber side (hereinafter referred to as the A chamber side electric valve) EVa,
Second electric expansion valve on the B chamber side (hereinafter referred to as the B chamber side electric valve)
EVb is provided. And the above-mentioned chamber A side branch pipe 22
The A-classroom heat exchanger 26 in the indoor unit A is connected between the B-room side branch pipe 23 and the B-room side second gas branch pipe 16. , B outdoor heat exchanger 27 in indoor unit B is connected. Each of the indoor units A and B is composed of the indoor heat exchangers 26 and 27 and an indoor fan (not shown) attached thereto.

In the device with the above configuration, each of the four-way valves SVa described above
, SVb switching control, opening/closing control of each electromagnetic valve Va, Vb, and each electric valve EVa, f! Vb,
By controlling the opening degree of EVO in combination as shown in Table 1 on the next page, the operating modes shown in Table 2 are obtained.

Table 1 Table 2 In Table 1, ON in the column for each four-way valve SVa, SVb indicates switching to the communication position given by the solid line in the four-way valve symbol in FIG. On the other hand O
FF indicates switching to the communication position given by the dashed line. In addition, SH in the column of each electric valve EVa, EVb, and EVO indicates that the opening degree of each electric valve is controlled so as to control the degree of superheating of the evaporative refrigerant in the corresponding heat exchanger, and SC indicates that This indicates that the opening degree is controlled to control the degree of subcooling of the refrigerant. Further, in Table 2, the arrows in the heat exchanger column through which the refrigerant flows indicate the flow direction of the refrigerant, indicating that the front side acts as a condenser and the rear side acts as an evaporator.

In Table 1 above, for example, to explain the operating state in the operation mode Nα4, the refrigerant discharged from the compressor 1 is branched from the discharge pipe 2, flows through each of the four-way valves SVa and SVb in parallel, and flows through the A and B chambers. Flows into the imperial heat exchanger 26.27. The refrigerant condensed in each of the indoor heat exchangers 26 and 27 joins in the liquid pipe 21, but at this time, the electric valves EVa and EVb installed in each liquid branch pipe 22 and 23 In other words, each indoor heat exchanger 2
The flow rate of each indoor heat exchanger 26 and 27 is controlled so that the degree of subcooling of the condensed refrigerant after passing through 6.27 is approximately the same temperature. From the liquid pipe 21, it flows into the outdoor heat exchanger 18,
Here, it is evaporated and returned to the compressor 1 via the first gas line 17 and the respective first gas branch lines 12,15. At this time, the flow rate of the outdoor heat exchanger 18 is controlled by the first electric valve EVO so that the degree of superheat of the evaporative refrigerant after passing through the outdoor heat exchanger 18 becomes a predetermined degree of superheat. Simultaneous heating operation of room A and room B is performed by the above refrigerant circulation cycle. Note that operation modes No. 1 and 3 indicate cooling and heating operation for room A alone, but by switching the control contents for room A and room B in Table 1, it is possible to achieve independent operation for room B. It is clear that this will happen. In each of the above operation modes Nα1 and Nα3, by fully closing the electric valve EVb on the stop side in Table 1, that is, on the B room side, no refrigerant flow occurs in the B imperial heat exchanger 27. Become,
This means that room B is in a stopped state, but at this time B
By setting the indoor four-way valve svb to the ON switching position, B
The imperial heat exchanger 27 communicates with the suction side of the compressor 1, thereby preventing liquid accumulation in the stopped heat exchanger. Furthermore, the refrigerant flow direction in the electromagnetic valves Va and Vb provided in each of the first gas branch pipes 12.15 is different from that in the double room cooling operation in the operation mode Nα2 in Table 1, for example.
Since the directions are opposite to each other during the compartment heating operation of α4, it is necessary to configure these electromagnetic valves Va and Vb with reversible electromagnetic on-off valves.

In the above device, the operation mode Nα in each of the above tables is further set.
As shown in Fig. 5, simultaneous operation is possible in which room A is cooled and room B is heated. In other words, the four-way valve SVa of each chamber
By setting SVb to different communication switching positions, in the above case, the A-house heat exchanger 26 is connected to the compressor 1.
The B indoor heat exchanger 27 is connected to the suction side, and the B indoor heat exchanger 27 is connected to the discharge side. And each electric valve EVa,
By controlling the opening of EVb and communicating the above-mentioned indoor heat exchangers 26 and 27 also on the liquid pipe side, the A-house heat exchanger 2
This makes it possible to circulate the refrigerant using 6 as an evaporator and the B imperial heat exchanger 27 as a condenser. At this time, in the switching state of each of the four-way valves SVa to 5SVb as described above, the discharge side and suction side of the compressor 1 are in direct communication through each of the first gas branch pipes 12.15. Solenoid valves Va and Vb installed in the first gas branch pipe 12.15
It is necessary to close either one of the valves. The action of the outdoor heat exchanger 18 will differ depending on which valve is closed, as will be described later. First, the A room side solenoid valve Va
The operation when the valve is in the closed state will be explained next.
It flows into the B imperial heat exchanger 27 through B and is condensed. Then, via the B-chamber side branch pipe 23, the liquid pipe 21 and the A-chamber side branch pipe 2.
The condensed refrigerant that has reached the connection point with 2 is divided here, and one side flows into the A-house heat exchanger 26 from the A-room side branch pipe 22, where it evaporates and flows into the A-room side second gas branch pipe 13, A room side four-way valve S
It is returned to the compressor 1 via Va. On the other hand, the other branched refrigerant flows into the outdoor heat exchanger 18 from the liquid pipe 21, evaporates, and is compressed via the first gas pipe 17, the first gas branch pipe 15 on the B room side, and the four-way valve svb on the B room side. The flow is returned to machine 1. In this way, while the B indoor heat exchanger acts as a condenser,
A refrigerant circulation cycle can be formed in which the internal heat exchanger 26 acts as an evaporator, and cooling in room A and heating in room B can be operated simultaneously. In the refrigerant circulation cycle described above, room B is heated by the cooling waste heat in room A and the amount of heat absorbed from the outside air by the outdoor heat exchanger 18, but for example, the heating load is higher than the cooling load. If also small, each solenoid valve νa, Vb in the above
By reversing the opening/closing state of , opening the solenoid valve Va on the A room side and closing the solenoid valve Vb on the B room side, the discharge gas from the compressor 1 is diverted to the outside together with the B soke internal heat exchanger 27. It is also possible to supply the liquid to the heat exchanger 18, and then merge the liquid at the A-room side liquid branch pipe 22 and circulate it to the A-house heat exchanger 26. In the second case, the A-house internal heat exchanger 26 acts as an evaporator, and the B-house internal heat exchanger 27 and the outdoor heat exchanger 18 act as condensers, forming a refrigerant circulation system.

Furthermore, although the explanation above has been made based on the operation in which room A is cooled and room B is heated, room A heating can be achieved by switching the control contents for room A and room B in operation mode No. 5 in Table 1. ,
Room B cooling will operate at the same time.

As explained above, in the air conditioner of the above embodiment, by providing a four-way switching valve and a reversible electromagnetic shut-off valve for each indoor heat exchanger, the air conditioner can be used for cooling as usual. In addition to simultaneous multi-room heating operation, it is also possible to operate cooling and heating at the same time, making it possible to operate indoors where there is a large temperature difference between rooms due to location conditions, insulation conditions, etc., or to maintain a comfortable temperature for people. It is possible to perform air conditioning operation with a single air conditioner as described above in a house having different temperature-controlled rooms, thereby increasing air conditioning comfort and reducing costs. In addition, as described above, for example, by using a configuration in which cooling waste heat is used to heat other rooms, it is possible to save costs and further utilize energy resources.

In addition, although the above example has been described as a two-room air conditioner for the purpose of explanation, it is also possible to add a gas side branch pipe having a four-way switching valve and a reversible solenoid valve to the outdoor unit, and a legal branch pipe in the same manner as above. By increasing the number of units in this configuration, it is possible to configure an air conditioner capable of simultaneous cooling and heating operation for three or more rooms.

(Effects of the Invention) As explained above, the air conditioner of the present invention has a refrigerant circuit configuration having a four-way switching valve and a reversible electromagnetic shut-off valve corresponding to each indoor unit, so that cooling and heating can be controlled. Therefore, it is possible to improve the comfort of air conditioning in multiple rooms, for example.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a refrigerant circuit diagram of an air conditioner according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a refrigerant circuit diagram of a conventional device. X...Outdoor unit, A, B...Indoor unit, ■
...Compressor, 2...Discharge piping, 4...Suction piping,
12.15...First gas branch pipe, 13.16...Second
Gas branch pipe, 17... First gas pipe, 18... Outdoor heat exchanger, 21... Liquid pipe, 22. 23... Liquid branch pipe, 26
．． 27... Indoor heat exchanger, SVa, SVb ・
...Four-way switching valve, Va, vb...Solenoid on-off valve. Patent applicant: Daikin Industries, Ltd. Representative: Masahiro Nishimori
・、、１． , ::. ,゛,,1

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. One outdoor unit (X) having a compressor (1) and an outdoor heat exchanger (18) is equipped with an indoor heat exchanger (
26) A plurality of indoor units (A) (B) having (27)
) is connected to the compressor (1).
) A plurality of four-way switching valves (SVa) (SVb) are connected in parallel between the discharge pipe (2) and the suction pipe (4), and these four-way switching valves (SVa) (SVb) are One of each connection port has a first gas branch pipe (12) (
15) and the second gas branch pipe (13) (1
6), and each of the first gas branch pipes (12) (15) is provided with a reversible electromagnetic on-off valve (Va) (Vb), and each of the first gas branch pipes (12) (15) is connected to The confluence point is connected to an outdoor heat exchanger (18) by a first gas pipe (17), and a liquid pipe (21) is connected to this outdoor heat exchanger (18).
At the same time, a plurality of chambers are connected between a plurality of liquid branch pipes (22) (23) branched from the tip of this liquid pipe (21) and each of the second gas branch pipes (13) (16). An air conditioner characterized in that heat exchangers (26) and (27) are connected in parallel.