Variable-capacity compressor, two-stage compression system and control method thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10247449-B2
Application number	US-201815991553-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 29, 2018
Priority date	Dec 28, 2015
Publication date	Apr 2, 2019
Grant date	Apr 2, 2019

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a variable-capacity compressor, a variable-capacity two-stage compression system and a control method thereof. The compression system includes a compressor, wherein the compressor includes a low pressure cylinder and a high pressure cylinder connected in series, wherein the low pressure cylinder includes at least two cylinders connected in parallel. The compression system further includes a control mechanism that can control at least one of the at least two cylinders connected in parallel to perform full-load and/or no-load operation.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A variable-capacity two-stage compression system, comprising:
a variable-capacity compressor, comprising a low pressure cylinder comprising at least two cylinders connected in parallel and a high pressure cylinder in serial connection with the low pressure cylinder; and
a control mechanism configured to control at least one of the at least two cylinders connected in parallel to operate in full-load or no-load operation, wherein the control mechanism comprises a first solenoid valve and a second solenoid valve, in the case where the system needs to operate in two-cylinder mode, the first solenoid valve is opened and the second solenoid valve is closed, so that the first cylinder of the compressor operates in no-load and the compression system enters the two-cylinder operation mode.

2. The variable-capacity two-stage compression system of claim 1 , wherein the control mechanism comprises:
a pipeline structure communicating with a suction port of the low pressure cylinder.

3. The variable-capacity two-stage compression system of claim 2 , wherein when the low pressure cylinder comprises a first cylinder and a second cylinder, the pipeline structure comprises a first pipeline that communicates with a suction port of the first cylinder, and a second pipeline that communicates with a suction port of the second cylinder.

4. The variable-capacity two-stage compression system of claim 3 , wherein:
the first solenoid valve is disposed on the first pipeline; and
the second solenoid valve is disposed on the second pipeline.

5. A variable-capacity two-stage compression control method, comprising: performing variable-capacity two-stage compression control and adjustment to the variable-capacity two-stage compression system of claim 1 by means of a control mechanism thereof.

6. The variable-capacity two-stage compression control method of claim 5 , wherein in the case where the system needs to operate in three-cylinder mode, the second solenoid valve is opened and the first solenoid valve is closed, so that the first cylinder of the compressor operates in full-load and the compression system enters the three-cylinder operation mode.

7. The variable-capacity two-stage compression control method of claim 5 , wherein the opening and/or closing of at least one of the first solenoid valve or the second solenoid valve is controlled according to conditions of unit load and indoor and outdoor ambient temperature.

8. The variable-capacity two-stage compression control method of claim 7 , comprising when the system is in refrigerating operation:
determining the outdoor ambient temperature and an indoor unit load rate;
opening the first solenoid valve and closing the second solenoid valve if the outdoor ambient temperature and the indoor unit load are relatively low, so that the compressor operates in the two-cylinder mode;
opening the second solenoid valve and closing the first solenoid valve if the outdoor ambient temperature and the indoor unit load are relatively high, so that the compressor operates in a three-cylinder mode.

9. The variable-capacity two-stage compression control method of claim 7 , comprising when the system is in heating operation:
determining the outdoor ambient temperature and an indoor unit load rate;
opening the first solenoid valve and closing the second solenoid valve if the outdoor ambient temperature is relatively high and the indoor unit load rate is relatively low, the first solenoid valve is opened and the second solenoid valve is closed, so that the compressor operates in the two-cylinder mode;
opening the second solenoid valve and closing the first solenoid valve if the outdoor ambient temperature is relatively low and the indoor unit load rate is relatively high, so that the compressor operates in a three-cylinder mode.

10. A variable-capacity two-stage compression system, comprising:
a variable-capacity compressor, comprising a low pressure cylinder comprising at least two cylinders connected in parallel and a high pressure cylinder in serial connection with the low pressure cylinder; and
a control mechanism configured to control at least one of the at least two cylinders connected in parallel to operate in full-load or no-load operation, in the case where the system needs to operate in a three-cylinder mode, a second solenoid valve is opened and a first solenoid valve is closed, so that the first cylinder of the compressor operates in full-load and the compression system enters the three-cylinder mode.

11. The variable-capacity two-stage compression system of claim 10 , wherein in the case where the system needs to operate in two-cylinder mode, the first solenoid valve is opened and the second solenoid valve is closed, so that the first cylinder of the compressor operates in no-load and the compression system enters the two-cylinder mode.

12. A variable-capacity two-stage compression control method, comprising: performing variable-capacity two-stage compression control and adjustment to the variable-capacity two-stage compression system of claim 10 by means of a control mechanism thereof.

Assignees

• Gree Electric Appliances Inc Zhuhai

Inventors

• Zhao Huan
• Shen Jun
• Tan Feng
• Liang Youxuan
• Li Pengfei

Classifications

• F25B2400/13

  Economisers · CPC title

• F25B1/10 Primary

  with multi-stage compression (with cascade operation F25B7/00) · CPC title

• F25B2400/075

  with parallel compressors · CPC title

• F24F2221/54

  Heating and cooling, simultaneously or alternatively · CPC title

• F25B49/022

  Compressor control arrangements · CPC title