Heat pump with refrigerant detection and temperature-based operation
AssigneeMitsubishi Electric US, Inc.
InventorDan MANOLE
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A device may include a furnace, a heat exchanger, a refrigerant sensor located proximate to the heat exchanger and configured to detect a presence of refrigerant in air adjacent to the refrigerant sensor, a first temperature switch located proximate to the refrigerant sensor and configured to open when a first temperature at the first temperature switch exceeds a first threshold temperature, and a latch circuit configured to close the first temperature switch upon execution of a human-initiated resume command. The first temperature switch may be further configured to prevent operation of the heat pump when the first temperature switch is open.
Claims20
A heat pump, comprising:
- a furnace;
- a heat exchanger;
- a refrigerant sensor located proximate to the heat exchanger and configured to detect a presence of refrigerant in air adjacent to the refrigerant sensor;
- a first temperature switch located proximate to the refrigerant sensor and configured to open when a first temperature at the first temperature switch exceeds a first threshold temperature;
- and
- a latch circuit configured to close the first temperature switch upon execution of a human-initiated resume command,
- wherein
- the first temperature switch is further configured to prevent operation of the heat pump when the first temperature switch is open.
A heat pump, comprising:
- a furnace;
- a heat exchanger;
- a refrigerant sensor located proximate to the heat exchanger and configured to detect a presence of refrigerant in air adjacent to the refrigerant sensor;
- a first temperature sensor located proximate to the refrigerant sensor and configured to detect a first temperature at the first temperature sensor;
- and
- a controller including
- a heat pump control circuit configured to stop operation of the furnace when the first temperature exceeds a first threshold temperature, and
- a latch circuit configured to restart the operation of the furnace upon execution of a human-initiated resume command.
A method of controlling an operation of a heat pump, comprising:
- detecting a temperature proximate to a refrigerant sensor;
- determining that the detected temperature is above a first threshold temperature;
- stopping the heating operation of a furnace associated with the heat pump in response to determining that the detected temperature is above the first threshold temperature
- receiving a human-initiated restart command;
- and
- restarting the operation of the furnace in response to the human-initiated restart command.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.