Refrigerant system and method for controlling the same

A refrigerant system, comprising:

• an outdoor heat exchanger disposed in an operating loop of the refrigerant system and configured to perform a heat exchange between outdoor air and a refrigerant;
• a compressor disposed in the operating loop and configured to compress the refrigerant;
• an indoor heat exchanger disposed in the operating loop and configured to perform a heat exchange between indoor air and the refrigerant;
• an expander disposed in the operating loop and configured to expand the refrigerant;
• a refrigerant storage connected to the operating loop and configured to receive and store the refrigerant from and discharge the refrigerant to the operating loop;
• an inflow controller configured to control an amount of refrigerant received by the refrigerant storage;
• a discharge controller configured to control an amount of refrigerant discharged from the refrigerant storage;
• and
• a refrigerant storage controller configured to control inflow controller and the discharge controller based on an indoor air conditioning load and an amount of the stored refrigerant, and
• wherein if the indoor air conditioning load is less than a reference load and if the amount of the stored refrigerant is greater than a first reference amount, then the refrigerant storage controller controls the discharge controller to be opened and controls the inflow controller to be closed.

A refrigerant system comprising:

• an outdoor heat exchanger disposed in an operating loop of the refrigerant system and configured to perform a heat exchange between outdoor air and a refrigerant;
• a compressor disposed in the operating loop and configured to compress the refrigerant;
• an indoor heat exchanger disposed in the operating loop and configured to perform a heat exchange between indoor air and the refrigerant;
• an expander disposed in the operating loop and configured to expand the refrigerant;
• a refrigerant storage connected to the operating loop and configured to receive the refrigerant from and discharge the refrigerant to the operating loop;
• a refrigerant sensor configured to sense an amount of refrigerant stored in the refrigerant storage;
• and
• a supercooling sensor configured to sense a supercooling amount of the refrigerant flowing from the outdoor heat exchanger, and
• wherein if the supercooling amount sensed by the supercooling sensor is less than a reference supercooling amount and if the amount of refrigerant sensed by the refrigerant sensor is greater than a first reference amount, then a total amount of refrigerant in the operating loop is increased.