Air-conditioning and ventilation apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10203122-B2
Application number	US-201415316054-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 4, 2014
Priority date	Jul 4, 2014
Publication date	Feb 12, 2019
Grant date	Feb 12, 2019

Abstract

An air-conditioning and ventilation apparatus includes an air-conditioning coil that is installed on a downstream side of a heat exchanger in a supply air trunk and changes cooling capacity with respect to heat-exchanged outdoor air in multiple stages; an outdoor-air temperature and humidity sensor that detects temperature and relative humidity of the outdoor air; and a control unit that stores therein reference data in which the cooling capacity is set for each combination of temperature and relative humidity of the outdoor air such that absolute humidity of supply air becomes equal to or lower than indoor target absolute humidity on the basis of a dehumidification load corresponding to an absolute humidity difference between indoors and outdoors, and determines a cooling capacity value of the air-conditioning coil on the basis of detection results during a cooling operation by the outdoor-air temperature and humidity sensor and the reference data.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An air-conditioning and ventilation apparatus that exhausts indoor air to outdoors, regulates outdoor air to a pre-set indoor target temperature and a pre-set indoor target absolute humidity, and supplies the regulated outside air to a room, the air-conditioning and ventilation apparatus comprising:
a casing having
a supply air trunk that connects an outdoor side inlet with an indoor side outlet and
an exhaust air trunk that connects an indoor side inlet with an outdoor side outlet;
a supply air fan that is provided on the supply air trunk to draw in the outdoor air from the outdoor side inlet and to supply the outdoor air into the room from the indoor side outlet;
an exhaust air fan that is provided on the exhaust air trunk to draw in the indoor air from the indoor side inlet and to supply the indoor air to outdoors from the outdoor side outlet;

a heat exchanger that is provided between the supply air trunk and the exhaust air trunk to perform heat exchange between the supply air and the exhaust air;
an air-conditioning coil that is provided on a downstream side of the heat exchanger in the supply air trunk and that changes a cooling capacity to the outdoor air after heat exchange has been performed, the changes in the cooling capacity being in multiple stages;
an outdoor-air temperature and humidity sensor that detects a temperature and relative humidity of the outdoor air; and
a control unit that stores therein reference data in which, on the basis of a dehumidification load corresponding to an absolute humidity difference between indoors and outdoors, the cooling capacity is determined for each combination of temperature and relative humidity of the outdoor air such that absolute humidity of the supply air becomes equal to or lower than the indoor target absolute humidity, and
sets a cooling capacity value of the air-conditioning coil on the basis of the reference data and detection results during a cooling operation by the outdoor-air temperature and humidity sensor.

2. The air-conditioning and ventilation apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the indoor target temperature and the indoor target absolute humidity are selected from a plurality of combinations to be set, and
the control unit holds the reference data for each combination of the indoor target temperature and the indoor target absolute humidity.

3. The air-conditioning and ventilation apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a refrigerant flow-rate regulation unit that regulates a flow rate of a refrigerant flowing to the air-conditioning coil, and
a refrigerant temperature sensor that detects a temperature of the refrigerant flowing to the air-conditioning coil, wherein
the control unit calculates an actual degree of superheat of the refrigerant on the basis of a detection result of the refrigerant temperature sensor, and
the control unit controls the refrigerant flow-rate regulation unit such that the actual degree of superheat of the refrigerant becomes a target degree of superheat corresponding to the cooling capacity determined on the basis of the reference data.

4. The air-conditioning and ventilation apparatus according to claim 3 , further comprising:
a bypass air trunk that guides the indoor air from the indoor side inlet to the outdoor side outlet without passing through the heat exchanger; and
a damper that switches between the exhaust air trunk and the bypass air trunk, wherein
the control unit stores therein a first humidity correction value, a second humidity correction value smaller than the first humidity correction value, a third humidity correction value smaller than the second humidity correction value, and a temperature correction value, and
when absolute humidity of outdoor air heat-exchanged by the heat exchanger is higher than the indoor target absolute humidity by the first humidity correction value or more, the control unit sets the target degree of superheat as a first target degree of superheat,
when absolute humidity of outdoor air after heat exchange has been performed by the heat exchanger is higher than the indoor target absolute humidity by an amount equal to the second humidity correction value or more, the control unit sets the target degree of superheat as a second target degree of superheat larger than the first target degree of superheat,
when absolute humidity of outdoor air after heat exchange has been performed by the heat exchanger is higher than the indoor target absolute humidity by the third humidity correction value or more, the control unit sets the target degree of superheat as a third target degree of superheat larger than the second target degree of superheat,
when absolute humidity of outdoor air after heat exchange has been performed by the heat exchanger is lower than the indoor target absolute humidity, and temperature of the outdoor air is lower than the indoor target temperature by an amount equal to the temperature correction value or more, the control unit turns off the air-conditioning coil with a thermostat and controls the damper such that the indoor air passes through the bypass air trunk, and
when absolute humidity of outdoor air after heat exchange has been performed by the heat exchanger is lower than the indoor target absolute humidity, and temperature of the outdoor air is higher than the indoor target temperature by an amount less than the temperature correction value, the control unit turns off the air-conditioning coil with a thermostat and controls the damper such that the indoor air passes through the exhaust air trunk.

5. The air-conditioning and ventilation apparatus according to claim 4 , further comprising an indoor temperature and humidity sensor that detects temperature and relative humidity of the indoor air, wherein
the control unit determines a temperature of the supply air on the basis of a temperature and absolute humidity of outdoor air detected by the outdoor-air temperature and humidity sensor, temperature and relative humidity of indoor air detected by the indoor temperature and humidity sensor, and temperature of the refrigerant detected by the refrigerant temperature sensor, and
when a determined value of a temperature of the supply air is lower than the indoor target temperature, the control unit stops cooling with the air-conditioning coil and performs an air blasting operation, and
when, after cooling by the air-conditioning coil has been stopped and a preset time has passed, the determined value of a temperature of the supply air becomes equal to or higher than a threshold temperature, the control unit cancels the cooling stop by the air-conditioning coil.

6. The air-conditioning and ventilation apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the indoor target temperature is a dew-point temperature in a room.

7. The air-conditioning and ventilation apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein
it can be set whether or not to perform a comparison between the indoor target temperature and the determined value of temperature of the supply air, and
if it is set not to perform the comparison, a dehumidifying operation by the air-conditioning coil is continued until humidity of the indoor air detected by the indoor temperature and humidity sensor becomes the indoor target absolute humidity.

Assignees

• Mitsubishi Electric Corp

Inventors

• Hasegawa Masahiro
• Yasuda Masami
• Arai Hidemoto

Classifications

• F24F2110/12

  of the outside air · CPC title

• F24F3/147 Primary

  with both heat and humidity transfer between supplied and exhausted air · CPC title

• Y02B30/52

  Heat recovery pumps, i.e. heat pump based systems or units able to transfer the thermal energy from one area of the premises or part of the facilities to a different one, improving the overall efficiency · CPC title

• F24F2110/22

  of the outside air · CPC title

• F24F7/08

  with separate ducts for supplied and exhausted air {with provisions for reversal of the input and output systems} · CPC title