Air conditioner with cross-over refrigerant flow
AssigneeHaier US Appliance Solutions, Inc.
InventorsTimothy Scott Shaffer, Joshua Longenecker
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An air conditioner unit comprises a sealed cooling system including an outdoor heat exchanger and an indoor heat exchanger. The sealed cooling system includes multiple refrigerant circuits. Each refrigerant circuit of the multiple refrigerant circuits includes an expansion device. A cross-over flow connection extends between and provides fluid communication between each of the multiple refrigerant circuits. The cross-over flow connection is adjacent the expansion device of each refrigerant circuit.
Claims17
An air conditioner unit, comprising:
- an outdoor heat exchanger;
- an indoor heat exchanger;
- a sealed cooling system including the indoor heat exchanger and the outdoor heat exchanger, the sealed cooling system comprising multiple refrigerant circuits, wherein each refrigerant circuit of the multiple refrigerant circuits comprises an expansion device;
- and
- a cross-over flow connection extending between and providing fluid communication between each of the multiple refrigerant circuits, wherein the cross-over flow connection is adjacent the expansion device of each refrigerant circuit.
A method of operating an air conditioner unit, the air conditioner unit comprising an outdoor heat exchanger, an indoor heat exchanger, a sealed cooling system including the indoor heat exchanger and the outdoor heat exchanger, the sealed cooling system comprising multiple refrigerant circuits, and a cross-over flow connection extending between and providing fluid communication between each of the multiple refrigerant circuits, the method comprising:
- measuring a superheat in the sealed cooling system;
- comparing the measured superheat to a predetermined threshold;
- and
- fully closing at least one electronic expansion valve in one of the multiple refrigerant circuits in response to the measured superheat greater than the predetermined threshold.
An air conditioner unit, comprising:
- an outdoor heat exchanger;
- an indoor heat exchanger;
- a sealed cooling system including the indoor heat exchanger and the outdoor heat exchanger, the sealed cooling system comprising multiple refrigerant circuits;
- a cross-over flow connection extending between and providing fluid communication between each of the multiple refrigerant circuits;
- and
- a controller, the controller configured for:
- measuring a superheat in the sealed cooling system;
- comparing the measured superheat to a predetermined threshold;
- and
- fully closing at least one valve in one of the multiple refrigerant circuits in response to the measured superheat greater than the predetermined threshold.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.