Air-conditioning apparatus

An air-conditioning apparatus comprising:

• a heat source unit including a compressor, a flow switching valve, and a heat-source-side heat exchanger;
• an indoor unit including a load-side flow control valve and a load-side heat exchanger and configured to perform a cooling operation or a heating operation;
• a relay unit connected to the heat source unit by a low-pressure pipe and a high-pressure pipe, connected to the indoor unit via a gas branch pipe and a liquid branch pipe, and configured to supply refrigerant supplied from the heat source unit to the indoor unit;
• and
• a controller,
• wherein the relay unit includes a branch portion at which the gas branch pipe and the low-pressure pipe communicate with each other when the indoor unit performs the cooling operation, and at which the gas branch pipe and the high-pressure pipe communicate with each other when the indoor unit performs the heating operation,
• the branch portion includes an expansion valve that is connected to the gas branch pipe and the low-pressure pipe and whose opening degree is adjustable, and
• the controller is configured to, when the heat source unit is stopped, control the expansion valve to allow the gas branch pipe and the low-pressure pipe to communicate with each other.