Method for determining if refrigerant charge is sufficient and charging refrigerant
AssigneeLG Electronics Inc.
InventorsSeung Yong Chang, Chang Min Choi
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An air-conditioner and the refrigerant charging method of the air-conditioner are disclosed. When a refrigerant amount determining mode is requested to be performed, whether or not the refrigerant amount in the air-conditioner is proper is automatically determined and a shortage amount of refrigerant can be charged. Thus, a user can easily check whether or not the refrigerant charged in the air-conditioner is sufficient or insufficient, and if the refrigerant is not sufficient, the user can automatically charge the refrigerant without having to entirely remove the refrigerant from the air-conditioner, thus increasing the user convenience and reducing time and costs.
Claims8
A method for determining if refrigerant charge is sufficient and charging an air-conditioner with refrigerant, comprising:
- receiving, at a controller of the air-conditioner, an instruction to evaluate a sufficiency of a charge of refrigerant in the air-conditioner, and in response thereto:
- operating the air-conditioner in a first operation mode, wherein in the first operation mode is a mode in which the air-conditioner is operated in an all-room blowing mode, in which indoor air blowers of all indoor units of the air-conditioner are operated for blowing but indoor expansion valves and outdoor expansion valves are closed such that the refrigerant is not introduced into all the indoor units;
- changing the operation of the air-conditioner to a second operation mode when an operation time of the all-room blowing mode is greater than or equal to a pre-set time, and an indoor temperature detected by an indoor temperature sensor and an outdoor temperature detected by an outdoor temperature sensor are within respective pre-set temperature ranges, wherein the second operation mode is an all-room cooling or heating operation mode, in which all the indoor units of the air-conditioner are operated for cooling or heating;
- detecting a temperature of a liquid pipe that connects an outdoor heat exchanger and an indoor heat exchanger of the air-conditioner;
- determining that the charge of refrigerant in the air-conditioner is not sufficient if the detected temperature of the liquid pipe is higher than a pre-set liquid pipe temperature;
- calculating a shortage amount of refrigerant according to a difference between the detected liquid pipe temperature and the pre-set liquid temperature;
- and
- adding the calculated shortage amount of refrigerant to the air-conditioner.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.