Air conditioner and method of controlling the same

An air conditioner comprising:

• a variable capacity compressor;
• an expansion valve to adjust a flow rate of a refrigerant discharged from the compressor;
• an outdoor temperature detector to detect a temperature of an outdoor space;
• an indoor temperature detector to detect a temperature of an indoor space;
• an indoor heat exchanger comprising a first cooling panel, and a second cooling panel disposed parallel with the first cooling panel and connected to a refrigerant outflow port of the first cooling panel to receive a refrigerant supplied from the first cooling panel;
• a plurality of indoor fans disposed adjacent to the first cooling panel of the indoor heat exchanger and arranged at different positions;
• and
• a controller to determine an operation frequency of the compressor and a degree of opening of the expansion valve based on an outdoor load corresponding to the temperature of the outdoor space and an indoor load corresponding to the temperature of the indoor space and to independently control a rate of rotation of each indoor fan among the plurality of indoor fans based on the operation frequency of the compressor and the degree of opening of the expansion valve.

A method of controlling an air conditioner including a compressor, an outdoor heat exchanger, an expansion valve and an indoor unit, the method comprising:

• detecting an indoor temperature and an outdoor temperature and checking an indoor load and an outdoor load when an operation command is input;
• determining an operation frequency of the compressor and a degree of opening of the expansion valve based on the checked indoor load and the outdoor load;
• driving the compressor at the determined operation frequency and opening the expansion valve to the determined degree of opening, thereby supplying a refrigerant to an indoor heat exchanger having a first cooling panel and a second cooling panel disposed parallel to each other;
• and
• controlling a respective rate of rotation of each indoor fan among a plurality of indoor fans based on the operation frequency of the compressor and the degree of opening of the expansion valve.

A method of controlling an air conditioner including a compressor, an expansion valve and an indoor unit, the method comprising:

• detecting checking an indoor load and an outdoor load when an operation command is input;
• determining an operation frequency of the compressor and a degree of opening of the expansion valve based on the checked indoor load and the outdoor load;
• driving the compressor at the determined operation frequency and opening the expansion valve to the determined degree of opening, thereby supplying a refrigerant to an indoor heat exchanger having a first cooling panel and a second cooling panel disposed parallel to each other;
• and
• controlling a respective rate of rotation of each indoor fan among a plurality of indoor fans based on the operation frequency of the compressor and the degree of opening of the expansion valve.