Heat pump system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2024247850-A1
Application number	US-202118559986-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jul 8, 2021
Priority date	Jul 8, 2021
Publication date	Jul 25, 2024
Grant date	—

Abstract

A heat pump system regulates, by use of a heat medium, a temperature of an object and includes a flow-rate acquisition device acquiring a flow rate of the heat medium. A heat source apparatus regulates a temperature of the heat medium and includes a compressor, a heat medium heat exchanger, and a controller including adjustment calculation circuitry, and control calculation circuitry. The adjustment calculation circuitry calculates, when a first condition is met, an amount of adjustment by use of an operating frequency of the compressor. The amount of adjustment is used to adjust a first flow rate of the heat medium that is based on a measurement result acquired from the flow-rate acquisition device. The control calculation circuitry adjusts, by use of the amount of adjustment, the first flow rate.

First claim

1 . A heat pump system configured to, by use of a heat medium, regulate a temperature of an object to be temperature-regulated, the heat pump system comprising:
a heat source apparatus configured to regulate a temperature of the heat medium; a load apparatus connected to the heat source apparatus via a heat medium pipe to form a heat medium circuit together with the heat source apparatus, the load apparatus being configured to regulate the temperature of the object by use of the heat medium temperature-regulated in the heat source apparatus; and a flow-rate acquisition device configured to measure a flow rate of the heat medium, or a physical quantity for calculating the flow rate of the heat medium, the heat source apparatus including
a compressor configured to compress refrigerant,
a heat medium heat exchanger connected to the load apparatus via the heat medium pipe, and connected to the compressor via a refrigerant pipe, the heat medium heat exchanger being configured to exchange heat between the refrigerant and the heat medium, and
a controller configured to control the heat source apparatus,
the controller including
adjustment calculation circuitry configured to, when a first condition, which is predetermined, is met, calculate an amount of adjustment by use of an operating frequency of the compressor, the amount of adjustment being an amount of adjustment for adjusting a first flow rate of the heat medium, the first flow rate being based on a measurement result acquired from the flow-rate acquisition device, and
control calculation circuitry configured to, by use of the amount of adjustment, adjust the first flow rate of the heat medium that is based on the measurement result acquired from the flow-rate acquisition device, to an adjusted first flow rate.

2 . The heat pump system of claim 1 ,
wherein the first condition is one of a plurality of conditions, the plurality of conditions including
a condition that a current point in time is not within an execution time during which a temperature regulation operation is executed, the temperature regulation operation being an operation executed by the heat pump system to regulate the temperature of the object,
a condition that the current point in time is within a first time, the first time being a predetermined time within a time other than the execution time, and
a condition that the heat pump system is operated at a load less than a predetermined threshold load.

3 . The heat pump system of claim 2 ,
wherein the controller includes
storage circuitry configured to store at least one of the execution time, and the time other than the execution time, and
timing circuitry configured to measure time, and
wherein the adjustment calculation circuitry is configured to
based on the at least one of the execution time and the time other than the execution time stored in the storage circuitry, and on the time measured by the timing circuitry, determine whether the first condition that the current point in time is not within the execution time is met.

4 . The heat pump system of claim 2 ,
wherein the controller includes
storage circuitry configured to store the first time, and
timing circuitry configured to measure time, and
wherein the adjustment calculation circuitry is configured to
based on the first time stored in the storage circuitry, and on the time measured by the timing circuitry, determine whether the first condition that the current point in time is within the first time is met.

5 . The heat pump system of claim 1 ,
wherein the flow-rate acquisition device includes
a refrigerant pressure measurement device configured to measure a pressure of the refrigerant in a suction portion of the compressor, and a pressure of the refrigerant in a discharge portion of the compressor,
a refrigerant temperature measurement device configured to measure a temperature of the refrigerant in an inlet of the heat medium heat exchanger, and a temperature of the refrigerant in an outlet of the heat medium heat exchanger, and
a heat-medium temperature measurement device configured to measure a temperature of the heat medium in the inlet of the heat medium heat exchanger, and a temperature of the heat medium in the outlet of the heat medium heat exchanger,
wherein the refrigerant is a zeotropic refrigerant, and wherein the adjustment calculation circuitry is configured to
calculate a first capacity corresponding to an amount of heat given by the refrigerant to the heat medium, the first capacity being based on a measurement result acquired from the refrigerant pressure measurement device and on a measurement result acquired from the refrigerant temperature measurement device,
based on a measurement result acquired from the heat-medium temperature measurement device, and on the first capacity, calculate the first flow rate,
calculate a second capacity corresponding to an amount of heat given by the refrigerant to the heat medium, the second capacity being based on the operating frequency, and
make a comparison between a second flow rate and the first flow rate, and based on a result of the comparison, calculate the amount of adjustment, the second flow rate being a flow rate of the heat medium based on the second capacity.

6 . The heat pump system of claim 1 ,
wherein the flow-rate acquisition device includes
a refrigerant pressure measurement device configured to measure a pressure of the refrigerant in a suction portion of the compressor, and a pressure of the refrigerant in a discharge portion of the compressor,
a refrigerant temperature measurement device configured to measure a temperature of the refrigerant in an inlet of the heat medium heat exchanger, and a temperature of the refrigerant in an outlet of the heat medium heat exchanger, and
a heat-medium temperature measurement device configured to measure a temperature of the heat medium in the inlet of the heat medium heat exchanger, and a temperature of the heat medium in the outlet of the heat medium heat exchanger,
wherein the refrigerant is a zeotropic refrigerant, and wherein the adjustment calculation circuitry is configured to
calculate a first capacity corresponding to an amount of heat given by the refrigerant to the heat medium, the first capacity being based on a measurement result acquired from the refrigerant pressure measurement device and on a measurement result acquired from the refrigerant temperature measurement device,
calculate a second capacity corresponding to an amount of heat given by the refrigerant to the heat medium, the second capacity being based on the operating frequency, and
make a comparison between the first capacity and the second capacity, and calculate the amount of adjustment based on a result of the comparison and on a measurement result acquired from the heat-medium temperature measurement device.

7 . The heat pump system of claim 5 ,
wherein the flow-rate acquisition device further includes
a heat-medium pressure measurement device configured to measure a pressure of the heat medium in the inlet of the heat medium heat exchanger, and a pressure of the heat medium in the outlet of the heat medium heat exchanger,
wherein the adjustment calculation circuitry is configured to,
when a second condition, which is predetermined, is met, and when the first condition is met, calculate the first flow rate based on a measurement result acquired from the heat-medium pressure measurement device, instead of based on the measurement result acquired from the refrigerant pressure measurement device, the measurement result acquired from the refrigerant temperature measurement device, and the measurement result acquired from the heat-medium temperature measurement device,
make a comparison between th

Assignees

• Mitsubishi Electric Corp

Inventors

• Kadowaki Kimitaka
• Ito Masahiro
• Gyotoku Shunya
• Ito Takuya

Classifications

• F25B30/02

  of the compression type · CPC title

• F25B2600/01

  Timing · CPC title

• F25B49/02 Primary

  for compression type machines, plants or systems · CPC title

• F25B2700/21175

  of the refrigerant at the outlet of the evaporator · CPC title

• F25B2700/21174

  of the refrigerant at the inlet of the evaporator · CPC title