Air-conditioning apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11435117-B2
Application number	US-201716637864-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 10, 2017
Priority date	Oct 10, 2017
Publication date	Sep 6, 2022
Grant date	Sep 6, 2022

Abstract

An air-conditioning apparatus includes a refrigerant circuit in which a compressor, a flow passage switching device, an outdoor heat exchanger, an indoor heat exchanger, a refrigerant container, a first expansion device and a second expansion device connected by pipes, wherein the indoor heat exchanger and the outdoor heat exchanger have inner volumes satisfying a relationship of an inner volume of the indoor heat exchanger<an inner volume of the outdoor heat exchanger, and a controller which, performs control so as to allow the flow passage switching device to switch the flow passage to the heating flow passage and allow an opening degree of the second expansion device to be larger than that of the first expansion device, starts the compressor, performs control so as to allow the opening degrees of the first expansion device and the second expansion device to be initial opening degrees for the cooling operation.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An air-conditioning apparatus comprising a refrigerant circuit in which a compressor, a flow passage switching device, an outdoor heat exchanger, an indoor heat exchanger, a refrigerant container, a first expansion device and a second expansion device are connected by pipes;
the compressor compressing and discharging sucked refrigerant,
the flow passage switching device switching a flow passage to a cooling flow passage during cooling operation and to a heating flow passage during heating operation,
the outdoor heat exchanger being located outside of a room and causing heat exchange to be performed with refrigerant,
the indoor heat exchanger being located inside of a room and causing heat exchange to be performed between air in an air-conditioned space and the refrigerant,
the refrigerant container storing excessive refrigerant,
the first expansion device depressurizing the refrigerant between the outdoor heat exchanger and the refrigerant container, and
the second expansion device depressurizing the refrigerant between the indoor heat exchanger and the refrigerant container,
wherein the indoor heat exchanger and the outdoor heat exchanger have inner volumes satisfying a relationship of an inner volume of the indoor heat exchanger<an inner volume of the outdoor heat exchanger, and
the air-conditioning apparatus further comprises a controller which is configured to, when performing cooling operation, perform control so as to allow the flow passage switching device to switch the flow passage to the heating flow passage and allow an opening degree of the second expansion device to be larger than an opening degree of the first expansion device, and start the compressor, and when a judgment is made that a set time that is set in advance has elapsed from the start of the compressor, perform control so as to allow the opening degree of the first expansion device and the opening degree of the second expansion device to be initial opening degrees for the cooling operation.

2. The air-conditioning apparatus of claim 1 , wherein, when performing heating operation, the controller performs control so as to allow the opening degree of the second expansion device to be larger than the opening degree of the first expansion device, and starts the compressor, and when a judgment is made that the set time has elapsed from the start of the compressor, performs control so as to allow the opening degrees of the second expansion device and the first expansion device to be initial opening degrees for the heating operation.

3. An air-conditioning apparatus comprising a refrigerant circuit in which a compressor, a flow passage switching device, an outdoor heat exchanger, an indoor heat exchanger, a refrigerant container, a first expansion device and a second expansion device are connected by pipes;
the compressor compressing and discharging sucked refrigerant,
the flow passage switching device switching a flow passage to a cooling flow passage during cooling operation and a heating flow passage during heating operation,
the outdoor heat exchanger being located outside of a room and causing heat exchange to be performed with refrigerant,
the indoor heat exchanger being located inside of a room and causing heat exchange to be performed between air in an air-conditioned space and the refrigerant,
the refrigerant container storing excessive refrigerant,
the first expansion device depressurizing the refrigerant between the outdoor heat exchanger and the refrigerant container, and
the second expansion device depressurizing the refrigerant between the indoor heat exchanger and the refrigerant container,
wherein the indoor heat exchanger and the outdoor heat exchanger have inner volumes satisfying a relationship of an inner volume of the indoor heat exchanger>an inner volume of the outdoor heat exchanger, and
the air-conditioning apparatus further comprises a controller which is configured to, when performing heating operation, perform control so as to allow the flow passage switching device to switch the flow passage to the cooling flow passage and allow an opening degree of the first expansion device to be larger than an opening degree of the second expansion device, and start the compressor, and when a judgment is made that a set time that is set in advance has elapsed from the start of the compressor, perform control so as to allow the flow passage switching device to switch the flow passage to the heating flow passage and an opening degree of the first expansion device and an opening degree of the second expansion device to be initial opening degrees for the heating operation.

4. The air-conditioning apparatus of claim 3 , wherein, when performing cooling operation, the controller performs control so as to allow the opening degree of the first expansion device to be larger than the opening degree of the second expansion device, and starts the compressor, and when a judgement is made that the set time has elapsed from the start of the compressor, performs control so as to allow the opening degree of the first expansion device and the opening degree of the second expansion device to be initial opening degrees for the cooling operation.

5. The air-conditioning apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the set time is set to a time period that is equal to or shorter than a time period during which a discharge pressure of the refrigerant discharged from the compressor reaches a design pressure that is designed in the refrigerant circuit.

6. The air-conditioning apparatus of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the indoor heat exchanger and the outdoor heat exchanger is a heat exchanger having multi-hole flat tubes.

Assignees

• Mitsubishi Electric Corp

Inventors

• Tanda Tsubasa

Classifications

• F25B41/24

  Arrangement of shut-off valves for disconnecting a part of the refrigerant cycle, e.g. an outdoor part · CPC title

• F25B41/34

  with the valve member being actuated by electric means, e.g. by piezoelectric actuators · CPC title

• F25B30/02

  of the compression type · CPC title

• Y02B30/70

  Efficient control or regulation technologies, e.g. for control of refrigerant flow, motor or heating · CPC title

• F24F11/30

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