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US 11,536,502 B2Granted
Refrigerant cycle apparatus
AssigneeDaikin Industries, Ltd.
InventorRyuuzaburou Yajima
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An air conditioner includes a use-side unit, a heat source-side unit, refrigerant connection pipes, cutoff valve provided in the refrigerant connection pipes, a refrigerant leakage detector, and a controller control. When the refrigerant leakage detector detects a refrigerant leakage, the controller performs pressure reduction control to lower the pressure of the refrigerant in the use-side unit, and thereafter puts the cutoff valves into a cutoff state.
Claims12
A refrigerant cycle apparatus comprising:
- a use-side unit;
- a heat source-side unit including a heat source-side expansion valve;
- refrigerant connection pipes connecting the use-side unit to the heat source-side unit;
- a cutoff valve assembly provided in the refrigerant connection pipes and configured to cut off inflow of a refrigerant into the use-side unit;
- a refrigerant leakage detector configured to detect leakage of the refrigerant from the use-side unit;
- and
- a controller configured to perform pressure reduction control, when the refrigerant leakage detector detects the leakage of the refrigerant, to lower pressure of the refrigerant in the use-side unit and thereafter put the cutoff valve assembly into a cutoff state,
- wherein in the pressure reduction control, the controller lowers the pressure of the refrigerant flowing from the heat source-side unit to the use-side unit by reducing an opening degree of the heat source-side expansion valve,
- after the pressure reduction control lowers the pressure of the refrigerant in the use-side unit and reduces a pressure difference between an installation space of the use-side unit and the pressure of the refrigerant in the use-side unit to thereby reduce a speed of the leakage of the refrigerant from the use-side unit, the controller puts the cutoff valve assembly into a cutoff state,
- the refrigerant connection pipes include a high pressure-side first refrigerant connection pipe and a low pressure-side second refrigerant connection pipe,
- the cutoff valve assembly includes a first cutoff valve provided in the first refrigerant connection pipe and a second cutoff valve provided in the second refrigerant connection pipe, and
- the controller is configured to put both of the first cutoff valve and second cutoff valve into the cutoff state after performance of the pressure reduction control.
9 more elements
A refrigerant cycle apparatus comprising:
- a use-side unit;
- a heat source-side unit;
- refrigerant connection pipes connecting the use-side unit to the heat source-side unit;
- a cutoff valve assembly provided in the refrigerant connection pipes and configured to cut off inflow of a refrigerant into the use-side unit;
- a refrigerant leakage detector configured to detect leakage of the refrigerant from the use-side unit;
- and
- a controller configured to perform pressure reduction control, when the refrigerant leakage detector detects the leakage of the refrigerant, to lower pressure of the refrigerant in the use-side unit and thereafter put the cutoff valve assembly into a cutoff state,
- wherein the heat source-side unit includes:
- a compressor;
- a heat source-side heat exchanger configured to radiate heat from the refrigerant discharged from the compressor;
- and
- a bypass route configured to return a part of the refrigerant discharged from the compressor and from which heat is radiated by the heat source-side heat exchanger to the compressor without going through the use-side unit,
- in the pressure reduction control, the controller reduces an amount of the refrigerant flowing from the heat source-side unit to the use-side unit by returning the refrigerant to the compressor by using the bypass route.
10 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.