Air conditioner

An air conditioner having a refrigerant circuit comprising:

• a compressor;
• a four-way switching valve;
• an outdoor-side heat exchanger and an indoor-side heat exchanger which are selectively switched and connected to the high-pressure refrigerant discharge side and the low-pressure refrigerant suction side of said compressor via said four-way switching valve;
• and
• an expansion valve connected between said outdoor-side heat exchanger and said indoor-side heat exchanger, characterized in that
• said compressor has an enclosed vessel, said enclosed vessel contains a refrigerant compressing section having a suction port and a discharge port and an electric motor for driving said refrigerant compressing section, and the interior of said enclosed vessel is divided airtightly into two chambers, an electric motor chamber containing said electric motor and a refrigerant discharge chamber on the side of the discharge port of said refrigerant compressing section, by said refrigerant compressing section serving as partitioning means;
• said refrigerant discharge chamber is connected with a high-pressure refrigerant discharge pipe, said electric motor chamber is connected with a low-pressure refrigerant suction pipe at a position between said electric motor and said refrigerant compressing section, and a low-pressure refrigerant flow path pipe for causing said electric motor chamber and the suction port of said refrigerant compressing section to communicate with each other at a position on the side opposite to the refrigerant discharge chamber of said electric motor chamber;
• and
• said high-pressure refrigerant discharge pipe and said low-pressure refrigerant suction pipe are connected to said refrigerant circuit via said four-way switching valve, whereby said compressor is operated as an internal low pressure type.

An air conditioner having a refrigerant circuit comprising:

• a compressor;
• a four-way switching valve;
• an outdoor-side heat exchanger and an indoor-side heat exchanger which are selectively switched and connected to the high-pressure refrigerant discharge side and the low-pressure refrigerant suction side of said compressor via said four-way switching valve;
• and
• an expansion valve connected between said outdoor-side heat exchanger and said indoor-side heat exchanger, characterized in that
• said compressor has an enclosed vessel, said enclosed vessel contains a refrigerant compressing section having a suction port and a discharge port and an electric motor for driving said refrigerant compressing section, and the interior of said enclosed vessel is divided airtightly into two chambers, an electric motor chamber containing said electric motor and a refrigerant discharge chamber on the side of the discharge port of said refrigerant compressing section, by said refrigerant compressing section serving as partitioning means;
• the suction port of said refrigerant compressing section is connected with a low-pressure refrigerant suction pipe, said refrigerant compressing section and said electric motor chamber are caused to communicate with each other by a high-pressure refrigerant flow path pipe, said electric motor chamber is connected with a high-pressure refrigerant discharge pipe, and said low-pressure refrigerant suction pipe and said high-pressure refrigerant discharge pipe are connected to said refrigerant circuit via said four-way switching valve, whereby said compressor is operated as an internal high pressure type.