Heat pump apparatus
AssigneePanasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.
InventorsNaoki Sakamoto, Yu Haraki
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A heat pump apparatus (100) includes an evaporator (10), an electrochemical compressor (11), a condenser (16), a refrigerant delivery path (18), and a non-condensable gas return path (28). The non-condensable gas return path (28) is provided separately from the refrigerant delivery path (18), and is configured to communicate a discharge-side high-pressure space of the electrochemical compressor (11) with a suction-side low-pressure space of the electrochemical compressor (11) so as to return a non-condensable gas from the high-pressure space to the low-pressure space. The non-condensable gas is, for example, hydrogen gas.
Claims16
A heat pump apparatus comprising:
- an evaporator that evaporates a refrigerant;
- an electrochemical compressor that compresses the refrigerant evaporated in the evaporator by use of an electrochemically active, non-condensable gas;
- a condenser that condenses the refrigerant compressed by the electrochemical compressor;
- a refrigerant delivery path for delivering the refrigerant from the condenser to the evaporator;
- and
- a non-condensable gas return path provided separately from the refrigerant delivery path, the non-condensable gas return path being configured to communicate a discharge-side high-pressure space of the electrochemical compressor with a suction-side low-pressure space of the electrochemical compressor so as to return the non-condensable gas from the high-pressure space to the low-pressure space.
A heat pump apparatus comprising:
- an evaporator that evaporates a refrigerant;
- an electrochemical compressor that compresses the refrigerant evaporated in the evaporator by use of an electrochemically active, non-condensable gas, the electrochemical compressor comprising an electrolyte membrane, a molecule-permeable first electrode disposed on a side of a first principal surface of the electrolyte membrane, and a molecule-permeable second electrode disposed on a side of a second principal surface of the electrolyte membrane;
- a condenser that condenses the refrigerant compressed by the electrochemical compressor;
- a power supply controller that switches between a first operation mode in which a potential of the first electrode is higher than a potential of the second electrode and a second operation mode in which the potential of the second electrode is higher than the potential of the first electrode;
- a refrigerant delivery path for delivering the refrigerant from the condenser to the evaporator;
- and
- a non-condensable gas return path provided separately from the refrigerant delivery path, the non-condensable gas return path being configured to communicate a discharge-side high-pressure space of the electrochemical compressor with a suction-side low-pressure space of the electrochemical compressor so as to return the non-condensable gas from the high-pressure space to the low-pressure space.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.