Safety system and method for constructing air conditioning system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12474073-B2
Application number	US-202118021305-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 15, 2021
Priority date	Sep 15, 2020
Publication date	Nov 18, 2025
Grant date	Nov 18, 2025

Abstract

A safety system for a heat pump system includes a plurality of valve units each having refrigerant pipe portions with control valves, a refrigerant leakage detector, and a casing accommodating the valves and the refrigerant leakage detector and formed with first and second openings. The safety system further includes a connection structure connecting the internal spaces of the casings via the first and second openings, and a discharge structure connected to the connection structure or one of the casings and configured to discharge air from the internal space of the casing in which a refrigerant leakage has occurred. The casing has first and second lateral faces facing different directions, and the first opening is formed in the first lateral face and the second opening is formed in the second lateral face.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1 . A safety system comprising:
a plurality of valve units in a heat pump system, each of the valve units having
at least one liquid refrigerant pipe portion,
at least one gas refrigerant pipe portion,
at least one liquid control valve disposed in the liquid refrigerant pipe portion,
at least one gas control valve disposed in the gas refrigerant pipe portion,
a casing accommodating at least the liquid control valve and the gas control valve and formed with at least two openings, and
a refrigerant leakage sensor configured to detect an occurrence of a refrigerant leakage in an internal space of the casing;
a connection structure comprising a plurality of individual ducts connecting the internal spaces of the casings via the openings; and a discharge structure connected to the connection structure or one of the casings, and configured to discharge air from the internal space of the casing in which a refrigerant leakage has occurred, wherein
the casing of each valve units has first and second lateral faces facing different directions, and
in each of the valve units, a first opening as one of the openings is formed in the first lateral face and a second opening as another one of the openings is formed in the second lateral face.

2 . The safety system according to claim 1 , wherein
the casing of each valve units has a substantially box shape, and the first and second lateral faces are opposite faces of the casing.

3 . The safety system according to claim 2 , wherein,
when viewed from a direction substantially perpendicular to the first and second lateral faces, the first opening and the second opening at least partially overlap with each other.

4 . The safety system according to claim 1 , wherein:
the casing of each valve units has a bottom face perpendicular to the first and second lateral faces; and the casing is configured such that centers, the ends closer to the bottom face, and/or ends farther from the bottom face of the first and second openings are at the same distance from the bottom face.

5 . The safety system according to claim 4 , wherein
at least a first valve unit and a second valve unit which are two of the valve units are arranged next to each other such that the bottom faces of the first and second valve units are flush with each other.

6 . The safety system according to claim 1 , wherein:
the casing of each valve unit has a third lateral face perpendicular to the first and second lateral faces; and the casing is configured such that centers, ends closer to the third lateral face, and/or ends farther from the third lateral face of the first and second openings are at the same distance from the third lateral face.

7 . The safety system according to claim 6 , wherein
at least a first valve unit and a second valve unit which are two of the valve units are arranged next to each other such that the third faces of the first and second valve units are flush with each other.

8 . The safety system according to claim 1 , wherein:
each of the valve units further has a main liquid refrigerant pipe portion from which the liquid refrigerant pipe portion branches, and a main gas refrigerant pipe portion from which the gas refrigerant pipe portion branches; in each of the valve units, an end of the main liquid refrigerant pipe portion and an end of the main gas refrigerant pipe portion protrude from the first lateral face, and another end of the main liquid refrigerant pipe portion and another end of the main gas refrigerant pipe portion protrude from the second lateral face; and the safety system further comprises at least one liquid refrigerant connection pipe connecting the main liquid refrigerant pipe portion of a first valve unit and the main liquid refrigerant pipe portion of a second valve unit, the first and second valve units being two of the valve units, and at least one gas refrigerant connection pipe connecting the main gas refrigerant pipe portion of the first valve unit and the main gas refrigerant pipe portion of the second valve unit.

9 . The safety system according to claim 8 , wherein:
the casing of each valve unit has a pipe outlet face different from the first and second lateral faces; and an end of the liquid refrigerant pipe portion and an end of the gas refrigerant pipe portion protrude from the pipe outlet face.

10 . The safety system according to claim 1 , wherein:
the casing of each valve unit has a drain pan which is provided with a drain outlet protruding from an edge of the drain pan; and the casing is configured such that the drain pan is switchable between at least two states in which the drain outlet protrudes towards different directions.

11 . A safety system comprising:
a plurality of valve units in a heat pump system, each of the valve units having
at least one liquid refrigerant pipe portion,
at least one gas refrigerant pipe portion,
at least one liquid control valve disposed in the liquid refrigerant pipe portion,
at least one gas control valve disposed in the gas refrigerant pipe portion,
a casing accommodating at least the liquid control valve and the gas control valve and formed with at least two openings, and
a refrigerant leakage sensor configured to detect an occurrence of a refrigerant leakage in an internal space of the casing;
a connection structure comprising a plurality of individual ducts connecting the internal spaces of the casings via the openings; and a discharge structure connected to the connection structure or one of the casings, and configured to discharge air from the internal space of the casing in which a refrigerant leakage has occurred, wherein: the discharge structure includes
a shared duct connected to the connection structure or one of the casings, and
a ventilator disposed in or attached to the shared duct.

12 . The safety system according to claim 11 , wherein:
the shared duct has a first end and a second end; the ventilator is disposed in or attached to the shared duct at or close to the second end, and configured to draw air in the shared duct towards the second end; and the shared duct is connected to the connection structure or one of the casings on a side of the first end with respect to the ventilator.

13 . The safety system according to claim 12 , wherein:
the second end of the shared duct is open to an outdoor space.

14 . The safety system according to claim 11 , further including:
a first controller configured to control the ventilator to start operating when a refrigerant leakage in any one of the valve units has occurred.

15 . The safety system according to claim 14 , wherein:
each of the refrigerant leakage sensors are configured to output detection result information; and the first controller is configured to receive the detection result information outputted from any one of the refrigerant leakage sensors, and identify in which of the valve units a refrigerant leakage has occurred based on the received detection result information.

16 . The safety system according to claim 1 , wherein:
the plurality of individual ducts of the connection structure are connected to the second openings of the casings, respectively, and further connected to the shared duct.

17 . The safety system according to claim 14 , wherein:
each of the valve units further has
a damper configured to block air to pass through the first opening when the damper is closed, and allow air to pass through the first opening when the damper is open; and
the first controller is config

Assignees

• Daikin Ind Ltd
• Daikin Europe Nv

Inventors

• Steen David
• Cornelis Kevin
• Degrande Arne
• Nakagawa Yuusuke
• Tanwar Harshit

Classifications

• F24F1/0068

  characterised by the arrangement of refrigerant piping outside the heat exchanger within the unit casing · CPC title

• F24F11/84

  using valves · CPC title

• F24H15/12

  Preventing or detecting fluid leakage · CPC title

• F25B2500/222

  Detecting refrigerant leaks · CPC title

• F25B2313/007

  three pipes connecting the outdoor side to the indoor side with multiple indoor units · CPC title