Refrigerant distribution unit for air-conditioners

An integrated refrigerant distribution unit for use with a multiplex air-conditioning system providing, through a multiplicity of refrigerant tubes connected therewith, refrigerant to a multiplicity of indoor units connected with a single outdoor unit, said refrigerant distribution unit comprising:

• means connected with one of said refrigerant tubes for receiving said refrigerant from said outdoor unit to distribute optimal flows of refrigerant to said connected multiple indoor units, wherein said means comprises;
• a flow control unit including
• a distributor connected with said one refrigerant tube extending from said outdoor unit for distributing said refrigerant to multiple channels;
• a multiplicity of branch tubes each connected at one end thereof with one of said channels of said distributor and connected at the other end thereof with one of said indoor units;
• and
• electric valves, provided one in each of said branch tubes, for controlling the flows of refrigerant that pass through said multiplicity of branch tubes, said control unit including
• a case for enclosing said flow control unit, and wherein
• said refrigeration distribution unit is adopted to be installed at a flat place inside a building.

In an integrated refrigerant distribution unit for use with a multiplex air-conditioning system capable of providing, through a multiplicity of refrigerant tubes connected therewith, refrigerant from a single outdoor unit to a multiplicity of indoor units, said refrigerant distribution unit including a flow control unit connected with one of said refrigerant tubes for receiving said refrigerant from said outdoor unit and for distributing optimal amounts of refrigerant to a multiplicity of branch tubes connected with said indoor units;

• and
• a case made up of two metallic members for enclosing a major portion of said flow control unit, a method of enclosing said major portion of said flow control unit in said case comprising the steps of:
• (a) setting up said flow control unit in an expansion jig having the same internal space as that of said case;
• (b) injecting a foamable resin in said expansion jig and expanding said resin to fill said space;
• (c) mounting, on one of said casing members independently of steps (a) and (b) above, necessary electric components for controlling said flow control units;
• and
• (d) mounting said one casing member obtained in step (c) and the other casing member on said major portion of said flow control unit fabricated in step (b).