Air-conditioning apparatus and air-conditioning system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10345000-B2
Application number	US-201415307930-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 14, 2014
Priority date	May 14, 2014
Publication date	Jul 9, 2019
Grant date	Jul 9, 2019

Abstract

An air-conditioning apparatus includes an outside-air processing device including a total heat exchanger exchanging heat between outdoor air and return air, and blowing out the outdoor air from a supply-air outlet port into a room as supply air, an indoor unit including an indoor heat exchanger exchanging heat between the return air and refrigerant, and blowing out the return air from an indoor outlet port as indoor outlet air, a joining unit connecting the supply-air outlet port and the indoor outlet port to join the supply air and the indoor outlet air, an opening-closing unit arranged in the joining unit and opening and closing the joining unit, a supply-air temperature detecting unit detecting a supply-air temperature of the supply air, an indoor outlet temperature detecting unit detecting an indoor outlet temperature of the indoor outlet air, and a control unit controlling an operation of the opening-closing unit based on the supply-air temperature and the indoor outlet temperature.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An air-conditioning apparatus, comprising:
an outside-air processing device including a total heat exchanger configured to exchange heat between outdoor air and a first flow of return air, the outside-air processing device introducing the heat-exchanged outdoor air from a supply-air outlet port into a room as supply air;
an indoor unit including an indoor heat exchanger configured to exchange heat between a second flow of return air and refrigerant, the indoor unit introducing the heat-exchanged second flow of return air from an indoor outlet port as indoor outlet air;
a joining unit configured to connect the supply-air outlet port and the indoor outlet port to each other so that the supply air and the indoor outlet air are joined with each other at the joining unit;
an opening-closing unit arranged on a side of the indoor outlet port in the joining unit and configured to adjust a flowing amount of the indoor outlet air flowing through the joining unit;
a supply-air temperature detecting unit configured to detect a supply-air temperature of the supply air;
an indoor outlet temperature detecting unit configured to detect an indoor outlet temperature of the indoor outlet air; and
a control unit configured to control an operation of the opening-closing unit based on the supply-air temperature detected by the supply-air temperature detecting unit and the indoor outlet temperature detected by the indoor outlet temperature detecting unit.

2. The air-conditioning apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the control unit includes
a first determining unit configured to determine whether or not the indoor outlet temperature detected by the indoor outlet temperature detecting unit is higher than the supply-air temperature detected by the supply-air temperature detecting unit,
a second determining unit configured to, when the first determining unit determines that the indoor outlet temperature is higher than the supply-air temperature, determine whether or not the supply-air temperature is lower than a predetermined threshold outlet temperature, and
an opening degree control unit configured to control an opening degree of the opening-closing unit based on a determination result of the first determining unit and a determination result of the second determining unit.

3. The air-conditioning apparatus of claim 2 , wherein
the opening degree control unit is configured to, when the second determining unit determines that the supply-air temperature is lower than the predetermined threshold outlet temperature, control the opening-closing unit to open the joining unit.

4. The air-conditioning apparatus of claim 2 , wherein
the opening degree control unit is configured to, when the first determining unit determines that the indoor outlet temperature is equal to or lower than the supply-air temperature, control the opening-closing unit to close the joining unit.

5. The air-conditioning apparatus of claim 2 , wherein
the opening degree control unit is configured to, when the second determining unit determines that the supply-air temperature is equal to or higher than the predetermined threshold outlet temperature, control the opening-closing unit to close the joining unit.

6. The air-conditioning apparatus of claim 2 , wherein
the opening degree control unit is configured to control an opening degree of the opening-closing unit to adjust the flowing amount of the indoor outlet air flowing through the joining unit, based on a difference obtained by subtracting the supply-air temperature from the predetermined threshold outlet temperature.

7. The air-conditioning apparatus of claim 2 , wherein
the predetermined threshold outlet temperature is set to be decreased as a difference between a set outlet temperature or a set room temperature and an actual room temperature inside the room is increased.

8. The air-conditioning apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising
a human detecting unit configured to detect presence or absence of a human, the control unit further including
a human determining unit configured to determine whether or not a human is detected by the human detecting unit,
a human-related path closing unit configured to, when the human determining unit determines that no human is present, control the opening-closing unit to close the joining unit, and
a human-related path opening unit configured to, when the human determining unit determines that a human is present, control the opening-closing unit to open the joining unit.

9. The air-conditioning apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising
a mixing chamber arranged in the joining unit on a downstream side of the opening-closing unit, and configured to mix the supply air and the indoor outlet air with each other.

10. The air-conditioning apparatus of claim 1 , wherein
the outside-air processing device includes
an outside-air processing heat exchanger configured to exchange heat between refrigerant and inflow air being the outdoor air heat-exchanged by the total heat exchanger and caused to flow into the outside-air processing heat exchanger, and
an outside-air processing expansion unit configured to expand the refrigerant.

11. The air-conditioning apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising
a refrigerant circuit connecting, by a pipe, the outside-air processing device, a compressor, an outdoor heat exchanger, an expansion unit, and the indoor heat exchanger.

12. An air-conditioning system, comprising:
an air-conditioning apparatus; and
a control unit configured to control an operation of the air-conditioning apparatus,
the air-conditioning apparatus including
an outside-air processing device including a total heat exchanger configured to exchange heat between outdoor air and a first flow of return air, the outside-air processing device introducing the heat-exchanged outdoor air from a supply-air outlet port into a room as supply air,
an indoor unit including an indoor heat exchanger configured to exchange heat between a second flow of return air and refrigerant, and to introduce the indoor unit introducing the heat-exchanged the second flow of return air from an indoor outlet port as indoor outlet air,
a joining unit configured to connect the supply-air outlet port and the indoor outlet port to each other so that the supply air and the indoor outlet air are joined with each other at the joining unit,
an opening-closing unit arranged on a side of the indoor outlet port in the joining unit and configured to adjust a flowing amount of the indoor outlet air flowing through the joining unit,
a supply-air temperature detecting unit configured to detect a supply-air temperature of the supply air, and
an indoor outlet temperature detecting unit configured to detect an indoor outlet temperature of the indoor outlet air,

the control unit being configured to control an operation of the opening-closing unit based on the supply-air temperature detected by the supply-air temperature detecting unit and the indoor outlet temperature detected by the indoor outlet temperature detecting unit.

Assignees

• Mitsubishi Electric Corp

Inventors

• Horie Hayato
• Hamada Mamoru
• Toyoshima Masaki

Classifications

• F24F11/76 Primary

  by means responsive to temperature, e.g. bimetal springs · CPC title

• F24F2011/0006

  using low temperature external supply air to assist cooling · CPC title

• F24F11/30

  for purposes related to the operation of the system, e.g. for safety or monitoring · CPC title

• F24F2110/12

  of the outside air · CPC title

• F24F2110/10

  Temperature · CPC title