Gas heat-pump system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10352593-B2
Application number	US-201615234015-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 11, 2016
Priority date	Sep 30, 2015
Publication date	Jul 16, 2019
Grant date	Jul 16, 2019

Abstract

A gas heat-pump system is provided. The gas heat-pump system may include an air-conditioning system including at least one compressor, an outdoor heat exchanger, an expander, an indoor heat exchanger, and a refrigerant pipe; an engine configured to provide power for an operation of the at least one compressor, and in which a mixed fuel, in which a fuel and air are mixed, is burned; a cooling water pump which pumps a flow of cooling water that cools the engine; a cooling water pipe connected to the cooling water pump, and configured to guide the flow of the cooling water; an auxiliary heat exchanger in which heat exchange between the cooling water flowing through the cooling water pipe and a refrigerant flowing through the refrigerant pipe is performed; a hot water heat exchanger, in which heat exchange between the cooling water flowing through the cooling water pipe and a fluid supplied from a hot water supply tank is performed; and a plurality of flow switches installed at the cooling water pipe, and controlled so that the cooling water discharged from the engine is guided to the auxiliary heat exchanger or the hot water heat exchanger.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A gas heat-pump system, comprising:
an air-conditioning system including at least one compressor, an outdoor heat exchanger, an expander, an indoor heat exchanger, a four-way valve, a gas-liquid separator, an oil separator connected to a suction side of the at least one compressor, and a plurality of refrigerant pipes;
an engine configured to provide power for an operation of the at least one compressor, and in which a mixed fuel in which a fuel and air are mixed is burned;
a cooling water pump that pumps a flow of cooling water that cools the engine;
a cooling water pipe connected to the cooling water pump, and configured to guide the flow of the cooling water;
an auxiliary heat exchanger, in which heat exchange between the cooling water flowing through the cooling water pipe and a refrigerant flowing through the plurality of refrigerant pipes is performed;
a hot water heat exchanger, in which heat exchange between the cooling water flowing through the cooling water pipe and a fluid supplied from a hot water supply tank is performed; and
a plurality of flow switches installed at the cooling water pipe, the plurality of flow switches being configured to be controlled so that the cooling water discharged from the engine is guided to the auxiliary heat exchanger or the hot water heat exchanger, wherein the plurality of refrigerant pipes includes:
a first refrigerant pipe that extends from the four-way valve to the outdoor heat exchanger;
a second refrigerant pipe that extends from the four-way valve to the indoor heat exchanger;
a branch refrigerant pipe branched from the second refrigerant pipe, and that extends to the gas-liquid separator; and
a third refrigerant pipe that extends from the four-way valve to the branch refrigerant pipe, and wherein the auxiliary heat exchanger is installed on the third refrigerant pipe.

2. The gas heat-pump system according to claim 1 , further including a cooling water tank in which the cooling water is stored, wherein the cooling water pipe includes a first pipe that extends from the cooling water tank to the engine so that the cooling water is introduced into the engine.

3. The gas heat-pump system according to claim 2 , wherein the plurality of flow switches includes a first flow switch, wherein the cooling water pipe further includes a second pipe that extends from an outlet side of the engine to the first flow switch, and wherein the hot water heat exchanger is installed at the second pipe.

4. The gas heat-pump system according to claim 3 , wherein the plurality of flow switches includes a second flow switch, and the cooling water pipe further includes a third pipe, that extends from the first flow switch to the second flow switch.

5. The gas heat-pump system according to claim 4 , wherein the cooling water pipe further includes a fourth pipe, that extends from a first port of the second flow switch to the auxiliary heat exchanger.

6. The gas heat-pump system according to claim 5 , further including a radiator installed at one side of an outdoor fan provided at the air-conditioning system, wherein the cooling water pipe further includes a fifth pipe, that extends from a second port of the second flow switch to the radiator.

7. The gas heat-pump system according to claim 6 , further including a sixth pipe, that extends from the first flow switch to the first pipe and bypasses the cooling water heat-exchanged in the hot water heat exchanger to the engine.

8. The gas heat-pump system according to claim 7 , further including a cooling water temperature sensor that senses a temperature of the cooling water discharged from the engine, wherein, when a temperature value sensed by the cooling water temperature sensor is a predetermined temperature or less, the first flow switch is controlled so that the cooling water flows through the sixth pipe.

9. The gas heat-pump system according to claim 3 , wherein the second pipe further includes:
a first introduction pipe that guides the cooling water discharged from the engine to the hot water heat exchanger; and
a first discharge pipe that guides the cooling water heat-exchanged in the hot water heat exchanger to the first flow switch.

10. The gas heat-pump system according to claim 9 , further including a connection pipe that extends from one point of the first introduction pipe to one point of the first discharge pipe so that at least some of the cooling water discharged from the engine bypasses the hot water heat exchanger.

11. The gas heat-pump system according to claim 10 , further including a bypass valve installed at the connection pipe.

12. The gas heat-pump system according to claim 3 , further including a sixth pipe that extends from the first flow switch to the first pipe.

13. The gas heat-pump system according to claim 1 , further including:
an inlet path, that extends from the hot water supply tank to the hot water heat exchanger and guides the fluid to the hot water heat exchanger, and
an outlet path, that extends from the hot water heat exchanger to the hot water supply tank and guides the fluid heat-exchanged in the hot water heat exchanger to the hot water supply tank.

14. The gas heat-pump system according to claim 1 , wherein the hot water heat exchanger includes:
a cooling water pipe that guides the flow of the cooling water; and
a hot water pipe that guides a flow of the fluid supplied from the hot water supply tank.

15. The gas heat-pump system according to claim 1 , wherein at least one of the plurality of flow switches includes a 3-way valve.

16. The gas heat-pump system according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of refrigerant pipes further includes:
a fourth refrigerant pipe that extends from the four-way valve to the oil separator; and
an injection pipe branched from the fourth refrigerant pipe, and that extends to the branch refrigerant pipe.

17. The gas heat-pump system according to claim 1 , wherein the air-conditioning system further includes:
a subcooling heat exchanger provided at an outlet side of the expander; and
a subcooling path connected to the subcooling heat exchanger, and wherein the subcooling path extends to the branch refrigerant pipe.

18. The gas heat-pump system according to claim 2 , further including an exhaust gas heat exchanger installed at the first pipe, in which the cooling water in the first pipe heat exchanges with an exhaust gas of the engine generated after burning the mixed fuel in the engine.

19. The gas heat-pump system according to claim 13 , further including a first temperature sensor provided at the inlet path that senses a temperature of the fluid introduced into the hot water heat exchanger, and a second temperature sensor provided at the outlet path that senses a temperature of the fluid discharged from the hot water heat exchanger.

Assignees

• Lg Electronics Inc

Inventors

• Choi Minhwan

Classifications

• F25B2500/13

  Vibrations · CPC title

• Y02B30/12

  Hot water central heating systems using heat pumps · CPC title

• F24D2200/12

  Heat pump · CPC title

• F25B2313/02741

  using one four-way valve · CPC title

• F25B41/04

  Mechanical Engineering · mapped topic