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US 10,508,847 B2Granted
Refrigeration apparatus
AssigneeDaikin Industries, Ltd.
InventorsRyuzaburo Yajima, Toshiyuki Kurihara
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An air conditioner includes a refrigerant circuit which connects an outdoor circuit and a plurality of indoor circuits connected in parallel. The air conditioner includes a leak detection section which detects leak of a refrigerant from the indoor circuits, and a control section which circulates the refrigerant to perform a refrigeration cycle when the leak detection section detects leak of the refrigerant such that the refrigerant in the indoor circuits of the refrigerant circuit is at a low pressure. Providing the control section in the air conditioner can reduce the leak of the refrigerant from the indoor circuit at low cost.
Claims20
A refrigeration apparatus comprising:
- a refrigerant circuit which provides refrigerant piping running through a compressor, a heat source-side heat exchanger, and a heat-source side expansion valve of a heat source-side circuit and a utilization-side heat exchanger of each of one or more utilization-side circuits, and performs a refrigeration cycle by reversibly circulating a refrigerant in the refrigerant piping, a gas end of each of the one or more utilization-side circuits communicating with the compressor at all times, wherein
- the utilization-side heat exchanger of each of the one or more utilization-side circuits exchanges heat between indoor air and the refrigerant in the refrigerant circuit,
- the refrigeration apparatus further comprises a controller configured to:
- receive a detection output from a sensor in each of the one or more utilization side circuits, and detect a leak of the refrigerant from the one or more utilization-side circuits based on the received detection output, and
- in response to detecting the leak of the refrigerant, set a flow passage for the refrigerant through the refrigerant piping in the refrigerant circuit to perform the refrigeration cycle in which the refrigerant flows into the utilization-side heat exchanger of each of the one or more utilization-side circuits, the refrigerant flows out of each of the one or more utilization-side circuits, a discharge and suction side of the compressor communicate with the utilization-side heat exchanger of each of the one or more utilization-side circuits via the refrigerant piping without being blocked by a valve, the refrigerant circulates through the refrigerant circuit such that the refrigerant discharged from the compressor is sucked again into the compressor, and the utilization-side heat exchanger of each of the one or more utilization-side circuits functions as an evaporator.
2 more elements
A refrigeration apparatus comprising:
- a refrigerant circuit which provides refrigerant piping running through a compressor, a heat source-side heat exchanger, and a heat-source side expansion valve of a heat source-side circuit and a utilization-side heat exchanger of each of a plurality of utilization-side circuits for air-conditioning utilization-side space, the refrigerant circuit being configured such that the utilization-side heat exchangers of the respective plurality of utilization-side circuits independently perform a cooling operation and a heating operation, and a high pressure gaseous refrigerant discharged from the compressor entirely flows into the heat source-side heat exchanger when all the utilization-side heat exchangers of the plurality of utilization-side circuits perform the cooling operation, wherein
- the utilization-side heat exchanger of each of the plurality of utilization-side circuits exchanges heat between the indoor air and the refrigerant in the refrigerant circuit,
- the refrigeration apparatus further comprises a controller configured to
- receive a detection output from a sensor in each of the plurality of utilization side circuits, and detect a leak of the refrigerant from the refrigerant circuit into the utilization-side space based on the received detection output, and
- in response to detecting the leak of the refrigerant, set a flow passage for the refrigerant in the refrigerant circuit to perform a refrigeration cycle in which the refrigerant flows into the utilization-side heat exchanger of each of the plurality of the utilization-side circuits, the refrigerant flows out of each of the plurality of the utilization-side circuits, a discharge side and suction side of the compressor communicate with the utilization-side heat exchanger of each of the plurality of utilization-side circuits via the refrigerant piping without being blocked by a valve, the refrigerant circulates through the refrigerant circuit such that the refrigerant discharged from the compressor is sucked again into the compressor, and the utilization-side heat exchangers of the plurality of utilization-side circuits function as evaporators.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.