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US 10,495,331 B2Granted
Air conditioner
AssigneeFujitsu General Limited
InventorsYasuhiro Oka, Takahiro Matsunaga, Takashi Kimura, Shigeaki Suyama, Kotaro Toya
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An air conditioner includes: an outdoor unit; a plurality of indoor units respectively including indoor heat exchangers; expansion valves respectively provided to the plurality of indoor units, the expansion valves being configured to adjust flow rates of a refrigerant in the indoor heat exchangers; and a controller for executing a refrigerant amount balance control for adjusting opening degrees of the expansion valves so that operation state amounts, with which the indoor heat exchangers exert heat exchange amounts, of the plurality of indoor units become equal to each other.
Claims10
An air conditioner comprising:
- an outdoor unit;
- a plurality of indoor units respectively including indoor heat exchangers;
- expansion valves respectively provided to the plurality of indoor units, the expansion valves being configured to adjust flow rates of a refrigerant in the indoor heat exchangers;
- and
- a controller for executing a refrigerant amount balance control for adjusting opening degrees of the expansion valves so that operation state amounts, with which the indoor heat exchangers exert heat exchange amounts, of the plurality of indoor units become equal to each other,
- wherein each of the plurality of indoor units further includes a gas-side temperature sensor which detects a temperature of the refrigerant flown from the respective indoor heat exchangers during a cooling operation,
- wherein, during the cooling operation, the controller calculates respective refrigerant superheating degrees in respective refrigerant exit openings of the respective indoor heat exchangers based on the respective temperatures detected by the respective gas-side temperature sensors, calculates an average refrigerant superheating degree which is an average value of a maximum value and a minimum value among the calculated refrigerant superheating degrees, and controls the opening degrees of the expansion valves so that the respective refrigerant superheating degrees reach the average refrigerant superheating degree,
- wherein each of the plurality of indoor units respectively further include a liquid-side temperature sensor which detects a temperature of the refrigerant flown from the respective indoor heat exchangers during a heating operation, and
- wherein, during the heating operation, the controller calculates respective refrigerant subcooling degrees in respective refrigerant exit openings of the respective indoor heat exchangers based on the respective temperatures detected by the respective liquid-side temperature sensors, calculates an average refrigerant subcooling degree which is an average value of a maximum value and a minimum value among the calculated refrigerant subcooling degrees, and controls the opening degrees of the expansion valves so that the respective refrigerant subcooling degrees reach the average refrigerant subcooling degree.
6 more elements
An air conditioner comprising:
- an outdoor unit;
- a plurality of indoor units respectively including indoor heat exchangers;
- expansion valves respectively provided to the plurality of indoor units, the expansion valves being configured to adjust flow rates of a refrigerant in the indoor heat exchangers;
- and
- a controller for executing a refrigerant amount balance control for adjusting opening degrees of the expansion valves so that operation state amounts, with which the indoor heat exchangers exert heat exchange amounts, of the plurality of indoor units become equal to each other,
- wherein each of the plurality of indoor units further includes a gas-side temperature sensor which detects a temperature of the refrigerant flown from the respective indoor heat exchangers during a cooling operation, and
- wherein, during the cooling operation, the controller calculates respective refrigerant superheating degrees in respective refrigerant exit openings of the respective indoor heat exchangers based on the respective temperatures detected by the respective gas-side temperature sensors, calculates an average refrigerant superheating degree which is an average value of a maximum value and a minimum value among the calculated refrigerant superheating degrees, and controls the opening degrees of the expansion valves so that the respective refrigerant superheating degrees reach the average refrigerant superheating degree.
4 more elements
An air conditioner comprising:
- an outdoor unit;
- a plurality of indoor units respectively including indoor heat exchangers;
- expansion valves respectively provided to the plurality of indoor units, the expansion valves being configured to adjust flow rates of a refrigerant in the indoor heat exchangers;
- and
- a controller for executing a refrigerant amount balance control for adjusting opening degrees of the expansion valves so that operation state amounts, with which the indoor heat exchangers exert heat exchange amounts, of the plurality of indoor units become equal to each other,
- wherein each of the plurality of indoor units respectively further include a liquid-side temperature sensor which detects a temperature of the refrigerant flown from the respective indoor heat exchangers during a heating operation, and
- wherein, during the heating operation, the controller calculates respective refrigerant subcooling degrees in respective refrigerant exit openings of the respective indoor heat exchangers based on the respective temperatures detected by the respective liquid-side temperature sensors, calculates an average refrigerant subcooling degree which is an average value of a maximum value and a minimum value among the calculated refrigerant subcooling degrees, and controls the opening degrees of the expansion valves so that the respective refrigerant subcooling degrees reach the average refrigerant subcooling degree.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.