KR100698221B1 - Air conditioner and Controlling method for the same - Google Patents

Abstract

A compressor oil recovery device of an air conditioner is provided to prevent layer separation between a refrigerant and oil in a compressor by forming a layer separation preventing part, thereby preventing erroneous operation and damage of the compressor. A compressor oil recovery device includes at least one compressor(150) installed at an outdoor unit, having a pressure sensor(153) and a temperature sensor(151), an oil separator(310) connected with the compressor for separating oil from a discharged refrigerant, and a capillary tube(312) having one end connected with the oil separator and the other end connected with an oil recovery pipe(630) for providing oil separated from the oil separator to the compressor. When an amount of refrigerant is excessively increased in the compressor, a layer separation preventing part prevents layer separation between the refrigerant and oil by providing oil to the compressor, to be in proportion to the increased refrigerant amount.

Description

Air conditioner and control method {Air conditioner and Controlling method for the same}

1 is a schematic view showing the structure of a conventional air conditioner

2 is a graph showing a combination curve for a conventional pressure-temperature-refrigerant amount

3 is a schematic view showing a problem of a conventional air conditioner

Figure 4 is a schematic view showing the structure of an air conditioner according to an embodiment of the present invention

Figure 5 is a block diagram showing a state in which the supply of insufficient oil in the compressor according to an embodiment of the present invention.

** Explanation of symbols for main parts of drawings **

100: outdoor unit 150: compressor

151: temperature sensor 153: pressure sensor

200: indoor unit 310: oil separator

311: refrigerant discharge pipe 312: capillary tube

610: oil tank 611: connector

630: oil return pipe 650: solenoid valve

670: strainer

The present invention relates to an air conditioner, and more particularly to a compressor oil recovery apparatus of an air conditioner.

In general, an air conditioner is a device for cooling or / and heating an indoor space by performing a process of compressing, condensing, expanding, and evaporating a refrigerant. Such an air conditioner is classified into a cooling air conditioner that supplies cool air to a room by operating a refrigerant cycle in only one direction, and an air conditioner for cooling and heating that supplies cold or warm air to a room by selectively operating a refrigerant cycle in both directions. .

In addition, it is divided into a general air conditioner connected to one indoor unit in one outdoor unit, and a multi-type air conditioner connected to a plurality of indoor units in one outdoor unit. On the other hand, the multi-type air conditioner may be configured as an air conditioner having at least one outdoor unit.

Referring to Figure 1 schematically shows a structure of a conventional air conditioner.

As shown in FIG. 1, a conventional air conditioner includes at least one outdoor unit 100 that is provided outdoors, an indoor unit 200 that is connected to the outdoor unit 100, and an indoor unit 200 provided indoors to correspond to a load of the indoor unit 200. It comprises a compressor 150 and the oil separator 310 is connected to the refrigerant discharge pipe 311 of the compressor 150 to separate the oil contained in the refrigerant discharged from each compressor 150.

At this time, the outdoor unit 100 includes an outdoor blower 110 for sucking outdoor air into the outside and then discharging the outdoor air back to the outside, and an outdoor heat exchanger for exchanging heat sucked by the outdoor blower 110 with a refrigerant ( 130).

In addition, the indoor unit 200 sucks the indoor air into the indoor unit 200 and then discharges it back into the room, and the air sucked into the indoor unit 210 is exchanged with a refrigerant to cool or heat. It consists of an indoor heat exchanger 230.

On the other hand, the compressor 150 is a device for sucking the gas refrigerant of low temperature and low pressure, and compresses the sucked refrigerant to discharge the gas refrigerant converted into high temperature and high pressure. When the compressor 150 discharges the high temperature and high pressure gas refrigerant, the oil inside the compressor 150 is discharged together with the refrigerant. The oil contained in the refrigerant discharged from the compressor 150 is separated from the oil separator 310 and re-introduced into the compressor 150 again through the capillary tube 312, and the refrigerant circulates in a cycle.

However, conventional air conditioners have the following problems.

2 shows a combination curve for the amount of temperature-pressure-refrigerant, in which the inner region of the parabola shows a region where delamination occurs between the refrigerant and the oil inside the compressor, and the outer region shows a region where the delamination does not occur. It is shown.

That is, as shown in Figure 2, during the heating operation of the conventional air conditioner, when the outdoor temperature is very low, for example, -10 ℃ or less when excessively increased with the refrigerant inside the compressor and the pressure inside the compressor When the amount of the refrigerant decreases instantaneously to increase the amount of the refrigerant in the compressor 150, it belongs to the layer separation region such as (c) in the non-layer separation region such as (a) and (b).

 At this time, as shown in FIG. 3, the phenomenon in which the oil and the refrigerant are separated into layers occurs in the compressor 150, and oil is not smoothly supplied to the compressor 150 due to the layer separation phenomenon. 150) there was a problem of malfunction and breakage.

The present invention is to solve the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a compressor oil recovery apparatus of the air conditioner to prevent the delamination between the refrigerant and oil generated inside the compressor of the air conditioner. It would be.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is installed in an outdoor unit, at least one compressor having a pressure sensor and a temperature sensor for measuring the pressure and temperature therein, and oil in the refrigerant discharged in connection with the compressor In the oil separator of the air conditioning compressor comprising a capillary for separating the oil separator, and one end is connected to the oil separator and the other end is connected to the oil recovery pipe to provide the oil separated from the oil separator to the compressor; When the refrigerant is excessively increased in the compressor, the compressor oil of the air conditioner further comprises a layer separation prevention for preventing the separation of the refrigerant and the oil layer by providing an oil to the compressor in proportion to the increased amount of refrigerant Provide a recovery device.

Here, the layer separation prevention unit is connected to the oil separator and the oil tank for storing the oil separated from the oil separator to selectively supply oil into the compressor, one end is connected to the oil tank and the other end is connected to the compressor And an oil recovery tube for guiding the oil stored in the oil tank to the inside of the compressor to prevent the refrigerant and the oil from being separated from the compressor, and to selectively control the oil provided on the oil recovery tube and discharged from the oil tank. It may comprise a solenoid valve.

On the other hand, the oil recovery pipe may be configured to further include a strainer for removing foreign matter contained in the oil flowing through the oil recovery pipe.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an increase in the amount of refrigerant when the outdoor temperature is drastically lowered during heating operation so that the liquid refrigerant is excessively introduced into the compressor or the internal pressure of the compressor is momentarily lowered so that the amount of the liquid refrigerant is excessively increased. It provides a compressor oil recovery method of the air conditioner characterized in that it is performed to prevent the separation of the refrigerant and the oil in the compressor by supplying the oil of the oil separator and the oil stored in the storage tank in proportion to the compressor.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention in which the above object can be specifically realized are described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In describing the embodiments, the same names and symbols are used for the same components, and additional description thereof will be omitted below.

4 is a configuration diagram schematically showing the structure of an air conditioner according to an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 5 is a configuration diagram showing a state in which oil flows to the compressor through the layer separation prevention unit according to an embodiment of the present invention. to be.

As shown in FIG. 4, the air conditioner according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes an outdoor unit 100, an indoor unit 200, an oil recovery device, and a layer separation prevention unit.

The outdoor unit 100 sucks the outdoor air therein and then discharges it to the outside, and the outdoor heat exchanger 130 for exchanging heat sucked by the outdoor blower 110 with the refrigerant. And a compressor 150 for compressing the refrigerant.

The indoor unit 200 is an indoor blower 210 that sucks indoor air into the indoor unit 200 and discharges it back into the room, and an indoor unit that cools or heats the air sucked into the indoor unit 210 by exchanging heat with a refrigerant. It comprises a heat exchanger (230).

In this case, the indoor unit 200, the outdoor unit 100, and the compressor 150 are connected through a refrigerant pipe, and the refrigerant discharged from the compressor 150 flows to the oil separator through the refrigerant discharge pipe 331.

Here, the refrigerant pipe may include a first refrigerant pipe 410 connecting the oil separator and the indoor unit, a second refrigerant pipe 430 connecting the indoor unit and the outdoor unit, and a third refrigerant connecting the outdoor unit and the compressor. It may include a pipe 450.

The multi-type air conditioner of the present invention is provided in the refrigerant pipe 430 between the outdoor heat exchanger 110 and the indoor heat exchanger 210 to cool the refrigerant passing through the outdoor heat exchanger 110 or the indoor heat exchanger 210 at low temperature. It further comprises an electronic expansion valve 470 for expanding at low pressure.

In addition, the oil recovery device is connected to the compressor 150 and the oil separator 310 for separating the oil from the refrigerant discharged, one end is connected to the oil separator 310 and the other end is connected to the lower portion of the compressor 150 And a capillary tube 312 for resupplying the oil separated from the oil separator 310 to the compressor 150.

In addition, the layer separation preventing unit according to the embodiment of the present invention is provided to prevent the phenomenon in which the refrigerant is excessively increased inside the compressor 150 and the refrigerant and the oil are separated from each other.

The layer separation prevention unit is connected to the oil separator 310, for example, an oil tank 610 for selectively supplying oil into the compressor 150 by storing a part of the oil separated from the oil separator; One end is connected to the oil tank 610, and the other end is connected to the capillary tube 312, an oil recovery pipe 630 for guiding oil stored in the oil tank 610 into the compressor 150, and the oil recovery pipe 630 And a solenoid valve 650 for selectively intermitting oil discharged from the oil tank 610.

Here, the part of the oil flowing through the oil separator 310 between the upper end of the capillary tube 312 for guiding the oil of the oil separator 310 to the compressor and the oil tank 610 to the oil tank 610. Connecting pipe 611 is installed.

On the other hand, the oil recovery pipe 630 may be configured to further include a strainer 670 for removing the foreign matter contained in the oil flowing through the oil recovery pipe 630.

In addition, in the oil recovery method of the air conditioner according to the embodiment of the present invention, the outdoor temperature is drastically lowered during heating operation so that the liquid refrigerant is excessively introduced into the compressor, or the internal pressure of the compressor is momentarily lowered so that the amount of the liquid refrigerant is excessively increased. In this case, the oil stored in the oil separator and the storage tank are supplied to the compressor so as to be proportional to the increased amount of refrigerant to the compressor to prevent the refrigerant from being separated from the compressor.

The oil recovery method of the compressor 150 and the operation thereof according to the air conditioner configured as described above are as follows.

First, when the compressor 150 of the outdoor unit 100 is driven, the compressor 150 compresses the refrigerant to a high temperature and a high pressure and discharges the refrigerant to the refrigerant discharge pipe 311 together with the oil therein, and discharged refrigerant and oil. Is introduced into each oil separator (310).

Next, after the refrigerant and the oil introduced into each oil separator 310 are separated in the oil separator 310, the refrigerant is returned to the compressor 150 through the indoor heat exchanger 210 and the outdoor heat exchanger 110. Inflow, oil is partly re-introduced to the compressor 150 through the capillary tube 312, and part is stored in the oil tank (610).

On the other hand, the outdoor temperature is drastically lowered during the heating operation, and the liquid refrigerant is excessively increased into the compressor 150, or the pressure inside the compressor 150 is momentarily lowered, thereby excessively increasing the liquid refrigerant into the compressor 150. In this case, the phenomenon of layer separation between the oil and the refrigerant present in the lower part of the compressor 150 occurs.

At this time, when the temperature sensor 151 detects a state in which the outdoor temperature is suddenly lowered or the pressure sensor 153 detects a state in which the pressure of the compressor 150 is momentarily lowered, the temperature sensor 151 and the pressure The signal detected from the sensor 153 is transmitted to the microcomputer (not shown).

At this time, the microcomputer recognizes that the liquid refrigerant is excessively increased into the compressor 150 and opens the solenoid valve 650 installed on the oil recovery pipe 630.

Next, as shown in FIG. 5, the microcomputer compresses the oil stored in the oil tank 610 through the oil return pipe 630 so that the proportion of the refrigerant is excessively increased in the compressor 150. To increase the amount of oil.

Therefore, the oil may be supplied in proportion to the amount of the refrigerant increased in the compressor 150, thereby preventing the separation of the refrigerant and the oil in the compressor 150.

Although several embodiments have been described above, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention may be embodied in many other forms without departing from the spirit and scope thereof. Accordingly, the described embodiments are to be considered as illustrative and not restrictive, and all embodiments within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents are included within the scope of the present invention.

As described above, the air conditioner according to the present invention has the effect of preventing the separation of the refrigerant and the oil in the compressor by being provided with a layer separation prevention unit in the compressor oil recovery apparatus.

Therefore, the delamination is prevented, thereby preventing the compressor from malfunctioning and breaking.

Claims (6)

A compressor installed in the outdoor unit for compressing the refrigerant; A pressure sensor for measuring a pressure inside the compressor or a temperature sensor for measuring an outdoor temperature; An oil separator connected to the compressor to separate oil contained in the refrigerant discharged from the compressor; A capillary tube providing a portion of the oil separated from the oil separator to the compressor; And, An oil tank for storing a part of the oil separated from the oil separator and selectively supplying the oil to the compressor, and based on a signal detected by the pressure sensor or the temperature sensor, the oil tank to be proportional to the amount of refrigerant flowing into the compressor. An air conditioner comprising a layer separation prevention portion having a microcomputer for supplying stored oil to a compressor. The method of claim 1, The layer separation prevention part further includes an oil recovery pipe connected to the oil tank at one end thereof and connected to the compressor, and a solenoid valve installed on the oil recovery pipe to selectively control oil discharged from the oil tank. Air conditioner. The method of claim 2, Air conditioner further comprises a strainer installed on the oil return pipe, in order to remove the foreign matter contained in the oil. The method according to claim 2 or 3, One side of the capillary tube is connected to the connecting pipe connecting the oil separator and the oil tank, the other side of the capillary air conditioner, characterized in that connected to the oil return pipe. Measuring the outdoor temperature or measuring the internal pressure of the compressor; Recognizing an increase in refrigerant amount introduced into the compressor due to the outdoor temperature or the pressure change of the compressor; And, And selectively supplying oil stored in an oil tank to a compressor in proportion to the amount of refrigerant increase. The method of claim 5, And removing foreign matter contained in the oil before oil is supplied from the oil tank to the compressor.

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