Air conditioner
AssigneeLG Electronics Inc.
InventorsJungmin Park, Eunjun Cho
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Provided is an air conditioner including a connection pipe connected to a refrigerant pipe disposed inside an outdoor heat exchanger that operates as a condenser during a cooling operation and as an evaporator during a heating operation, a header connected to the connection pipe, wherein a refrigerant separated from a two-phase refrigerant flowing through the refrigerant pipe flows through the header, a bypass pipe connected to the header to guide a flow of the refrigerant to a compressor, a flow rate control valve installed at the bypass pipe to control a flow velocity of the refrigerant, a subcooler configured to superheat the refrigerant flowing through the bypass pipe, and a controller configured to control an opening degree of the flow rate control valve.
Claims17
An air conditioner, comprising:
- a compressor;
- a first heat exchanger connected to the compressor and configured to operate as a condenser during a cooling operation and to operate as an evaporator during a heating operation;
- a refrigerant pipe disposed inside the first heat exchanger and configured to carry a two-phase refrigerant;
- a connection pipe connected to the refrigerant pipe;
- a header connected to the connection pipe and configured to receive a refrigerant separated from the two-phase refrigerant in the refrigerant pipe;
- a bypass pipe connected to the header and configured to guide the refrigerant to the compressor;
- a flow rate control valve installed at the bypass pipe and configured to control a flow rate of the refrigerant;
- a subcooler configured to superheat the refrigerant flowing through the bypass pipe;
- and
- a controller configured to control an opening degree of the flow rate control valve,
- wherein the controller is configured to control the opening degree of the flow rate control valve based on a comparison between a refrigerant flow velocity of the two-phase refrigerant in the refrigerant pipe and a reference flow velocity.
An air conditioner, comprising:
- a compressor;
- a condenser and an evaporator that are connected to the compressor;
- a refrigerant pipe disposed inside the evaporator and configured to carry a two-phase refrigerant;
- a connection pipe connected to the refrigerant pipe;
- a header connected to the connection pipe and configured to receive a refrigerant separated from the two-phase refrigerant in the refrigerant pipe;
- a bypass pipe connected to the header and configured to guide the refrigerant to the compressor;
- a flow rate control valve installed at the bypass pipe and configured to control a flow rate of the refrigerant;
- a subcooler disposed at the bypass pipe and configured to superheat the refrigerant flowing through the bypass pipe;
- and
- a controller configured to control the flow rate control valve,
- wherein the controller is configured to control the flow rate control valve based on a comparison between a refrigerant flow velocity of the two-phase refrigerant in the refrigerant pipe and a reference flow velocity.
An air conditioner, comprising:
- a compressor;
- a first heat exchanger connected to the compressor and configured to operate as a condenser during a cooling operation and to operate as an evaporator during a heating operation;
- a refrigerant pipe disposed inside the first heat exchanger and configured to carry a two-phase refrigerant;
- a connection pipe connected to the refrigerant pipe;
- a header connected to the connection pipe and configured to receive a refrigerant separated from the two-phase refrigerant in the refrigerant pipe;
- a bypass pipe connected to the header and configured to guide the refrigerant to the compressor;
- a flow rate control valve installed at the bypass pipe and configured to control a flow rate of the refrigerant;
- a subcooler configured to superheat the refrigerant flowing through the bypass pipe;
- a first temperature sensor configured to measure a first temperature of the refrigerant introduced into the subcooler;
- a second temperature sensor configured to measure a second temperature of the refrigerant discharged from the subcooler;
- and
- a controller configured to control an opening degree of the flow rate control valve,
- wherein the controller is configured to:
- based on a difference between the first temperature and the second temperature being greater than or equal to a reference value, increase the opening degree of the flow rate control valve;
- and
- based on the difference between the first temperature and the second temperature being less than the reference value, decrease the opening degree of the flow rate control valve.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.