Air-conditioning apparatus having heating-defrosting operation mode

An air-conditioning apparatus comprising:

• a main circuit in which a compressor, a load side heat exchanger, a first pressure reducer, and a plurality of parallel heat exchangers connected in parallel with each other are connected by pipes and through which refrigerant circulates;
• a bypass pipe diverting a portion of refrigerant discharged by the compressor;
• a third pressure reducer provided at the bypass pipe and reducing a pressure of refrigerant flowing into the bypass pipe;
• a flow switcher connecting, from among the plurality of parallel heat exchangers, a parallel heat exchanger to be defrosted to the bypass pipe;
• a plurality of flow rate control valves connected to the plurality of parallel heat exchangers and controlling flow rates of refrigerant flowing through the plurality of parallel heat exchangers;
• and
• a controller being configured to control the flow switcher and the plurality of flow rate control valves,
• the air-conditioning apparatus being configured to operate in
• a heating operation mode for causing the plurality of parallel heat exchangers to function as an evaporator, and
• a heating-defrosting operation mode for causing one or more of the plurality of parallel heat exchangers to function as a target to be defrosted and for causing an other parallel heat exchanger to function as an evaporator,
• wherein
• the number of the plurality of flow rate control valves is smaller than the number of the plurality of parallel heat exchangers, and at least one of the flow rate control valves is connected to two or more of the parallel heat exchangers, and
• the controller is configured to control
• in the heating-defrosting operation mode or in the heating operation mode after execution of the heating-defrosting operation mode, the flow rate control valves to control, in accordance with a frost state of the parallel heat exchanger functioning as an evaporator from among the plurality of parallel heat exchangers, the flow rate of refrigerant flowing through the parallel heat exchanger.