Air conditioning system and control method therof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11543148-B2
Application number	US-202016842255-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 7, 2020
Priority date	Apr 8, 2019
Publication date	Jan 3, 2023
Grant date	Jan 3, 2023

Abstract

An air conditioning system and a control method thereof. The air conditioning system includes: a plurality of indoor units connected in parallel; a plurality of outdoor units connected in parallel; and a coolant circulation circuit which circulates coolant through each of the indoor units connected in parallel and each of the outdoor units connected in parallel respectively, and which exchanges heat with each of the indoor units and each of the outdoor units; wherein the air conditioning system further includes a controller which, based on a number of actively operating indoor units, a total number of the indoor units and a total number of the outdoor units, defines an upper limit of a number of actively operating outdoor units, so that the flow rate of the coolant flowing through the actively operating outdoor units is not lower than a preset flow rate.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An air conditioning system, characterized in comprising:
a plurality of indoor units connected in parallel;
a plurality of outdoor units connected in parallel; and
a coolant circulation circuit which circulates a coolant through each of the indoor units connected in parallel and each of the outdoor units connected in parallel respectively, and which exchanges heat with each of the indoor units and each of the outdoor units;
wherein the air conditioning system further comprises a controller which, based on a number of actively operating indoor units, a total number of the indoor units and a total number of the outdoor units, defines an upper limit of a number of actively operating outdoor units, so that a flow rate of the coolant flowing through actively operating outdoor units is not lower than a preset flow rate.

2. The air conditioning system according to claim 1 , wherein the upper limit of the number of actively operating outdoor units is Nlimit=K*(Mrunning/Mtotal)*Ntotal; where K is a predetermined coefficient, Mrunning is the number of actively operating indoor units, Mtotal is the total number of the indoor units, and Ntotal is the total number of the outdoor units.

3. The air conditioning system according to claim 2 , wherein when Nlimit≤1, Nlimit is set to 1; and when the obtained Nlimit>1, Nlimit is rounded down to a nearest integer.

4. The air conditioning system according to claim 2 , wherein K=2.5.

5. The air conditioning system according to claim 1 , further comprising a temperature sensor disposed downstream of the indoor units in the coolant circulation circuit to sense a temperature of returned water; wherein the controller is further configured to, when the temperature of returned water is higher than a preset temperature, increase the number of actively operating outdoor units within the upper limit of the number of actively operating outdoor units, and/or increase the operating frequency of the actively operating outdoor units.

6. A control method of an air conditioning system, wherein the air conditioning system comprises:
a plurality of indoor units connected in parallel;
a plurality of outdoor units connected in parallel;
a coolant circulation circuit which circulates a coolant through each of the indoor units connected in parallel and each of the outdoor units connected in parallel respectively, and which exchanges heat with each of the indoor units and each of the outdoor units; and
a controller;
the control method comprises: based on a number of actively operating indoor units, a total number of the indoor units and a total number of the outdoor units, defining an upper limit of a number of actively operating outdoor units, so that a flow rate of the coolant flowing through actively operating outdoor units is not lower than a preset flow rate.

7. The control method according to claim 6 , wherein the upper limit of the number of actively operating outdoor units is Nlimit=K*(Mrunning/Mtotal)*Ntotal; where K is a predetermined set coefficient, Mrunning is the number of actively operating indoor units, Mtotal is the total number of the indoor units, and Ntotal is the total number of the outdoor units.

8. The control method according to claim 7 , wherein when Nlimit≤1, Nlimit is set to 1; and when Nlimit>1, Nlimit is rounded down to a nearest integer.

9. The control method according to claim 7 , wherein K=2.5.

10. The control method according to claim 6 , wherein a temperature of returned water after the coolant in the coolant circulation circuit flows out of the indoor units is obtained; when the temperature of returned water is higher than a preset temperature, the number of actively operating outdoor units is increased within the upper limit of the number of actively operating outdoor units, and/or the operating frequency of the actively operating outdoor units is increased.

Assignees

• Carrier Corp

Inventors

• Wang Xiaohong
• Zhai Hui
• Ni Jian
• Lu Qing
• Chang Liang
• Shen Guangyu

Classifications

• F24F11/70

  Control systems characterised by their outputs; Constructional details thereof · CPC title

• F24F11/83 Primary

  by controlling the supply of heat-exchange fluids to heat-exchangers · CPC title

• F24F2140/12

  Heat-exchange fluid pressure · CPC title

• F24F1/28

  for connecting several separate outdoor units · CPC title

• F24F11/86

  by controlling compressors within refrigeration or heat pump circuits · CPC title