Air-conditioning apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10845087-B2
Application number	US-201616307387-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 22, 2016
Priority date	Aug 22, 2016
Publication date	Nov 24, 2020
Grant date	Nov 24, 2020

Abstract

An air-conditioning apparatus comprises an indoor unit including an indoor-side heat exchanger and an outdoor unit including a compressor, an outdoor-side heat exchanger and a flow switching device configured to switch a flow of refrigerant from the compressor to the indoor-side heat exchanger or the outdoor-side heat exchanger according to which of the heating operation and the defrosting operation is performed, the outdoor unit including a bypass connected to a heat transfer tube arranged at a lowermost stage of the outdoor-side heat exchanger and supplies the refrigerant from the compressor, and a drain pan arranged below the outdoor-side heat exchanger, the drain pan extending in a direction in which fins of the outdoor-side heat exchanger are stacked, and including a drain path inclined downward from one end to the other end in a longitudinal direction, and left and right side wall portions interposing the drain path therebetween.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An air-conditioning apparatus, comprising:
an indoor unit including an indoor-side heat exchanger that functions as a condenser in a heating operation and functions as an evaporator in a defrosting operation; and
an outdoor unit including a compressor that compresses and discharges refrigerant, an outdoor-side heat exchanger that functions as the evaporator in the heating operation and functions as the condenser in the defrosting operation, and a flow switching device configured to switch between flowing refrigerant from the compressor to the indoor-side heat exchanger or to the outdoor-side heat exchanger according to whether the heating operation is performed or the defrosting operation is performed, wherein
the outdoor unit includes
a bypass that is connected to a heat transfer tube arranged at a lowermost stage of the outdoor-side heat exchanger and supplies the refrigerant from the compressor, which is high-temperature and high-pressure refrigerant, and
a drain pan that is arranged below and spaced apart from the outdoor-side heat exchanger so that a gap is formed between the drain pan and the outdoor-side heat exchanger,

a first end of the bypass supplies the high-temperature and high-pressure refrigerant from the compressor,
a second end of the bypass is connected to a refrigerant pipe that is between the compressor and the flow switching device, and
low-temperature and low-pressure refrigerant that is drawn into the compressor flows in the refrigerant pipe that is connected to the second end of the bypass,
the drain pan extends in a direction in which fins of the outdoor-side heat exchanger are stacked and includes
a drain path that is inclined downward from one end to another end in a longitudinal direction thereof,
left and right side wall portions erected on both sides of the drain path, and
inclined portions that are inclined downward toward the drain path from the side wall portions.

2. The air-conditioning apparatus of claim 1 , wherein
the drain pan is arranged so that the side wall portions of the drain pan are erected to face bottom edge portions of both longitudinal sides of the outdoor-side heat exchanger so that a gap is formed between each of the side wall portions and the outdoor-side heat exchanger, and
the upper edge portions of the side wall portions are positioned below the heat transfer tube.

3. The air-conditioning apparatus of claim 1 , wherein
the outdoor-side heat exchanger is formed in an L-shape having a corner portion,
a corner drain pan is provided on which a corner portion of the outdoor-side heat exchanger is mounted,
each of opposite end portions of the corner drain pan is connected with the drain pan, and the corner drain pan includes a corner drain path communicating with the drain path of the drain pan and a corner inclined portion having the same shape as those of the inclined portions of the drain pan.

4. The air-conditioning apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the drain path is inclined toward one side in the longitudinal direction of the drain path.

5. The air-conditioning apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the outdoor-side heat exchanger is arranged so that the bottom edge portion of the outdoor-side heat exchanger is positioned above the inclined portion of the drain pan by 11 mm or more.

6. The air-conditioning apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the outdoor-side heat exchanger is arranged so that the bottom edge portion of the outdoor-side heat exchanger is positioned above the drain path by 90 mm or less.

Assignees

• Mitsubishi Electric Corp

Inventors

• Koda Misaki
• Aoyama Yutaka

Classifications

• F24F1/18

  characterised by their shape · CPC title

• F24F13/222 Primary

  for evacuating condensate · CPC title

• F24F1/36 Primary

  Drip trays for outdoor units · CPC title