KR100382477B1 - Device for defrosting in air conditioner and method for controlling the same - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a defrosting apparatus of an air conditioner and a control method thereof, wherein the refrigerant passing through the expansion mechanism (50) during defrosting operation is supplied to the compressor (10) without passing through the indoor heat exchanger (60). A bypass pipe (90) connecting the flow path between the apparatus (50) and the indoor heat exchanger (60) and the flow path between the indoor heat exchanger (60) and the compressor (10); Flow path switching means for selectively supplying the refrigerant supplied from the expansion mechanism (50) to the indoor heat exchanger (60) or the bypass pipe (90); It comprises an evaporation means for evaporating the refrigerant returned to the compressor 10 through the bypass pipe 90, the refrigerant supplied from the expansion mechanism 50 during the defrosting operation via the indoor heat exchanger (60). If the heating operation is started after the completion of defrosting without lowering the room temperature during defrosting operation by directly supplying the compressor to the compressor 10 side, the warm air is immediately discharged to improve the feeling of heating.

Description

Defroster and method for controlling air conditioner {Device for defrosting in air conditioner and method for controlling the same}

The present invention relates to an air conditioner, and more particularly, a defrosting of an air conditioner, which does not lower an indoor temperature during a defrosting operation of an air conditioner for both cooling and heating, and quickly supplies warm air to a room after a defrosting operation is completed. An apparatus and a control method thereof are provided.

In general, an air conditioner is a cooling and heating device that is used in combination with a cooling operation that cools indoor hot air in summer and a heating operation that heats cold air in winter.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a refrigerant cycle of an air conditioner capable of performing a conventional air conditioner. Referring to FIG. 1, cooling and heating operations of a conventional air conditioner will be described below.

The air conditioner for cooling and heating combines a compressor 10 for compressing a low-temperature, low-pressure gas refrigerant into a high-temperature, high-pressure gas refrigerant, and an outdoor heat exchanger 30 or a refrigerant supplied from the compressor 10 under the control of the microcomputer. Four-way valve 20 to selectively supply to the indoor heat exchanger (60), and the outdoor heat exchanger (30) for condensing the refrigerant by converting the high-temperature, high-pressure gas refrigerant to the outside air to convert the liquid refrigerant to high-temperature, high pressure and An expansion mechanism (50) for expanding the high temperature and high pressure liquid refrigerant into a low temperature and low pressure liquid refrigerant state, and the low temperature and low pressure liquid refrigerant converted by the expansion mechanism (50) to exchange heat with indoor air for low temperature, It consists of an indoor heat exchanger (60) for evaporating a low pressure gas refrigerant.

Referring to the cooling and heating operation cycle of the conventional air conditioner having such a configuration as follows.

At the time of heating operation (solid arrow display), the low-temperature and low-pressure gas refrigerant is compressed by the compressor 10 into the high-temperature and high-pressure gas refrigerant, and the compressed refrigerant is compressed by the four-way valve 20 to the indoor heat exchanger 60. Is supplied to the side and heat exchange with the indoor air passes through the indoor heat exchanger 60 in a high temperature, high pressure state.

At this time, as the indoor fan 70 installed on one side of the indoor heat exchanger 60 rotates and flows air, cold air in the room is supplied to the indoor heat exchanger 60 and the inside of the indoor heat exchanger 60. As the heat exchanges with the high-temperature, high-pressure liquid refrigerant flowing into the hot air, the converted hot air is discharged into the room according to the continuous rotation of the indoor fan 70 and eventually the room is heated.

In addition, the refrigerant in the supercooled liquid state passing through the indoor heat exchanger (60) drops rapidly under pressure and temperature while passing through the expansion mechanism (50), and then changes to a refrigerant in a low-temperature, low-pressure gas-liquid mixed state, and then the outdoor heat exchanger (30) ) And the refrigerant introduced into the outdoor heat exchanger (30) absorbs the surrounding heat while passing through the outdoor heat exchanger (30) to change to a low-temperature, low-pressure gas state.

On the other hand, during the cooling operation (dashed arrow display), the refrigerant is compressed by the compressor 10, and the compressed refrigerant is compressed by the four-way valve 20 to the outdoor heat exchanger 30, the expansion mechanism 50, and the indoor heat exchanger. After going through 60 in sequence, the cycle that is introduced into the compressor 10 and compressed again is repeated. The cooling cycle proceeds as opposed to the above-described heating cycle to cool the room, and a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

On the other hand, during the heating operation of the air conditioner as described above is formed on the surface of the outdoor heat exchanger 30, which causes a sharp drop in the heat exchange performance, and also lowers the temperature of the air discharged into the room to feel the heating Lowers.

In this case, the defrosting operation for removing frost is performed under the control of the microcomputer. The defrosting operation is generally performed by the same operation as the cooling operation by switching the four-way valve 20. That is, during the cooling operation, the frost formed on the outer surface of the outdoor heat exchanger 30 may be melted due to the passage of hot refrigerant into the outdoor heat exchanger 30.

However, the defrosting operation of such a conventional air conditioner has the following problems.

First, a low temperature refrigerant is sucked into the indoor heat exchanger 60 during the defrosting operation. The low temperature refrigerant is heat-exchanged with the indoor air by the indoor heat exchanger 60 to lower the indoor temperature.

Second, since the temperature of the indoor heat exchanger 60 is much lowered during the defrosting operation time (approximately 12 minutes), even if the heating operation is started after the completion of the defrosting, cold air is discharged in the early stage, so the feeling of heating is lowered and the defrosting operation is completed. Even after starting the heating operation, it takes a lot of time until the warm air is discharged.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above problems, the present invention does not lower the room temperature during the defrost operation of the air conditioner combined with cooling and heating so that the hot air can be quickly supplied to the room after the defrost operation is completed It is an object of the present invention to provide a defrosting device for an air conditioner and a control method thereof.

1 is a schematic diagram showing a refrigerant cycle of an air conditioner capable of conventional heating and cooling operation,

2 is a schematic diagram showing a refrigerant cycle during heating and defrosting operation of an air conditioner according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 3 is a schematic diagram showing a refrigerant cycle during the heating and defrosting operation of the air conditioner according to another embodiment of the present invention.

* Description of the symbols for the main parts of the drawings *

10: compressor, 20: four-way valve,

30: outdoor heat exchanger, 40: outdoor fan,

50: expansion mechanism, 60: indoor heat exchanger,

70: indoor fan, 80: three-way valve,

90: bypass tube.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a flow path between the expansion mechanism and the indoor heat exchanger and a flow path between the indoor heat exchanger and the compressor so that the refrigerant passing through the expansion mechanism during the defrosting operation is supplied to the compressor without passing through the indoor heat exchanger. Bypass pipe for connecting; Flow path switching means for selectively supplying the refrigerant supplied from the expansion mechanism to the indoor heat exchanger or the bypass pipe; It provides a defrosting device of an air conditioner comprising an evaporation means for evaporating the refrigerant returned to the compressor through the bypass pipe.

And defrosting the refrigerant supplied from the expansion mechanism directly to the compressor side without passing through the indoor heat exchanger. Preferably, the refrigerant supplied to the compressor side is evaporated by heat dissipation of the compressor. Provide a defrost control method.

Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of a defrosting apparatus and a defrosting control method of an air conditioner according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

Figure 2 is a schematic diagram showing the refrigerant cycle during the heating and defrosting operation of the air conditioner according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The same components as in the prior art designate the same reference numerals and description thereof will be omitted.

In the defrosting apparatus of an air conditioner according to an embodiment of the present invention, unlike the conventional method, the defrosting apparatus directly supplies the refrigerant supplied from the expansion mechanism 50 to the compressor 10 without passing through the indoor heat exchanger 60. It is characterized in that the pass pipe 90 is installed and the refrigerant flowing from the expansion mechanism 50 can be selectively supplied to the indoor heat exchanger 60 or the compressor 10 by the flow path switching means.

More detailed description is as follows.

As shown in FIG. 2, the compressor 10, the four-way valve 20, the outdoor heat exchanger 30, the expansion mechanism 50, and the indoor heat exchanger 60 are sequentially connected by the refrigerant passage as in the prior art. .

Unlike the related art, a bypass pipe 90 is installed to connect the refrigerant passage between the expansion mechanism 50 and the indoor heat exchanger 60 and the refrigerant passage between the indoor heat exchanger 60 and the compressor 10. . In addition, a three-way valve 80 is installed at a portion where one end of the bypass pipe 90 is connected to the refrigerant passage between the expansion mechanism 50 and the indoor heat exchanger 60. This is to selectively guide the refrigerant supplied from the expansion mechanism 50 to the bypass pipe 90 side during the defrosting operation under the control of the microcomputer (not shown). The reason for this is to guide the refrigerant supplied from the expansion mechanism 50 during the defrosting operation to the compressor 10 directly without passing through the indoor heat exchanger 60 to prevent the temperature of the indoor heat exchanger 60 from being lowered. Because it can.

On the other hand, the refrigerant passage in the section in which the refrigerant flows into the compressor 10 from the four-way valve 20 is installed adjacent to the surface of the compressor 10. The reason for this is that since the refrigerant supplied to the four-way valve 20 through the bypass pipe 90 and introduced into the compressor 10 from the four-way valve 20 during the defrosting operation does not pass through the indoor heat exchanger 60. It requires a separate amount of heat to evaporate to gaseous state. Therefore, in order to supply a separate amount of heat for evaporation of the refrigerant, the refrigerant flow path of the section in which the refrigerant flows from the four-way valve 20 into the compressor 10 is installed to be adjacent to the surface of the compressor 10. From this point of view, in order to supply sufficient amount of heat to the refrigerant passage section, it is preferable to install the refrigerant passage adjacent to the head side of the compressor 10 maintaining a relatively high temperature state. At this time, the distance between the compressor 10 and the refrigerant passage or the length of the refrigerant passage section may be appropriately adjusted according to the amount of heat required for evaporation of the refrigerant.

Referring to the operation of the air conditioner and the defrost control method according to an embodiment of the present invention made of such a configuration as follows.

First, during the heating operation (solid arrow display), the refrigerant supplied from the compressor 10 is supplied to the indoor heat exchanger 60 by the switching operation of the four-way valve 20 under the control of the microcomputer, and the indoor heat exchanger 60 After passing through), the three-way valve 80 is switched to supply the expansion mechanism 50 by the control of the microcomputer. After passing through the outdoor heat exchanger (30), the four-way valve (20) passes through the compressor (50). In this case, inside the indoor heat exchanger (60), a refrigerant having a high temperature passes therethrough, and indoor air and the indoor heat exchanger (60) exchange heat with each other by the operation of an indoor fan (70) to bring high temperature air into the room. By supplying the indoor heat, the low temperature state of refrigerant passes through the inside of the outdoor heat exchanger 30, and the surface temperature of the outdoor heat exchanger 30 is lowered by the operation of the outdoor fan 40.

If frost is formed on the surface of the outdoor heat exchanger 30 during the heating operation and the microcomputer detects this, the defrosting operation is performed under the control of the microcomputer. When the defrosting operation (dashed arrow display) is performed, the refrigerant supplied from the compressor 10 is supplied to the outdoor heat exchanger 30 by the switching operation of the four-way valve 20 under the control of the microcomputer, and the outdoor heat exchanger ( The refrigerant passing through 30 is supplied to the expansion mechanism 50 side. Under the control of the microcomputer, the three-way valve 80 is switched to supply the refrigerant supplied from the expansion mechanism 50 to the bypass pipe 90. The refrigerant passing through the bypass pipe 90 is introduced into the compressor 10 through the four-way valve 20.

In this case, since the refrigerant in the high temperature state passes and the outdoor fan 40 does not operate inside the outdoor heat exchanger 30, frost formed on the surface of the outdoor heat exchanger 30 is melted. In addition, after passing through the expansion mechanism 50, the refrigerant, which has become a low temperature state, is not supplied to the indoor heat exchanger 60 by the three-way valve 80, but is supplied to the compressor 10 through the bypass pipe 90. By doing so, the indoor heat exchanger 70 maintains the temperature state at the time of almost heating operation.

Meanwhile, the refrigerant passing through the refrigerant passage between the four-way valve 20 and the compressor 10 is introduced into the compressor 10 while being evaporated by heat dissipation of the compressor 10.

In the cooling operation of the embodiment according to the present invention, the refrigerant supplied from the expansion mechanism 50 does not pass through the bypass pipe 90 by the switching operation of the three-way valve 80 under the control of the microcomputer, without passing through the indoor heat exchanger ( Only after being evaporated while passing through 60) is introduced into the compressor 10, and the rest is the same as the operation operation during defrosting operation, detailed description thereof will be omitted.

3 is a schematic view showing a refrigerant cycle during heating and defrosting operation of an air conditioner according to another embodiment of the present invention. The heating and defrosting operation will be described with reference to the drawings.

The defrosting apparatus of the air conditioner according to another embodiment of the present invention bypasses the refrigerant passage between the expansion mechanism 50 and the indoor heat exchanger 60 and the refrigerant passage between the indoor heat exchanger 60 and the compressor 10. Connected to the pipe (90), on the bypass pipe (90) is installed on / off valve (95) that is opened and closed under the control of the microcomputer.

The defrosting device having such a configuration has the same heating as the conventional defrosting device by closing the on / off valve 95 and blocking the passage of the refrigerant to the bypass pipe 90 at the time of heating (solid arrow display) and cooling operation. And cooling operation.

However, during the defrosting operation (dashed arrow display), the on / off valve 95 is opened to allow the refrigerant supplied from the expansion valve 50 to pass through the bypass pipe 90 without passing through the indoor heat exchanger 60. It is to be supplied directly to the (10) side. At this time, a part of the refrigerant supplied from the expansion mechanism 50 may be introduced into the indoor heat exchanger 60 side, but only a very small amount of refrigerant flows into the indoor heat exchanger 60, so that the indoor heat exchanger 60 Does not significantly affect the temperature drop. Preferably, an auxiliary on / off valve may be installed on an adjacent side of the indoor heat exchanger 60 so that even a small amount of the refrigerant supplied from the expansion mechanism 50 does not flow into the indoor heat exchanger 60.

As described in detail above, the defrosting apparatus and control method of the air conditioner of the present invention have the following effects.

First, since the low-temperature refrigerant does not flow into the indoor heat exchanger during the defrosting operation, the indoor heat exchanger maintains the high temperature state during the heating operation and thus does not lower the indoor temperature.

Second, when the heating operation is started after the completion of defrosting, since the warm air is immediately discharged by the indoor heat exchanger maintaining a high temperature state, the user can improve the heating feeling.

Claims (8)

delete delete delete delete A compressor for compressing a refrigerant, an outdoor heat exchanger for exchanging heat between the refrigerant and the outside air, an expansion mechanism for expanding the refrigerant, an indoor heat exchanger for exchanging heat between the refrigerant and indoor air, and a refrigerant supplied from the compressor Four-way valve to selectively supply to the indoor heat exchanger, and the flow path between the expansion mechanism and the indoor heat exchanger and the indoor heat exchanger and the compressor so that the refrigerant passing through the expansion mechanism during the defrosting operation is supplied to the compressor side without passing through the indoor heat exchanger. A bypass pipe connecting the flow path between the flow path, flow path switching means for selectively supplying the refrigerant supplied from the expansion mechanism to the indoor heat exchanger or the bypass pipe, and a refrigerant returned to the compressor through the bypass pipe. In the configuration comprising evaporation means for evaporation, The defrosting apparatus of the air conditioner is characterized in that the evaporation means is provided on the adjacent side of the compressor passage section for the refrigerant flows into the compressor from the four-way valve. delete delete It consists of a compressor that compresses the refrigerant, an outdoor heat exchanger that exchanges heat between the refrigerant and the outside air, an expansion mechanism that expands the refrigerant, and an indoor heat exchanger that exchanges heat between the refrigerant and the indoor air. In the defrosting control method of the air conditioner, in the defrosting operation of the air conditioner controllable by the air conditioner, the refrigerant supplied from the expansion mechanism is directly supplied to the compressor without passing through the indoor heat exchanger A defrost control method of an air conditioner, characterized in that the refrigerant supplied to the compressor side is evaporated by heat radiation of the compressor.