Air conditioning apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9335071-B2
Application number	US-201013256279-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 18, 2010
Priority date	Mar 19, 2009
Publication date	May 10, 2016
Grant date	May 10, 2016

Abstract

An air conditioning apparatus includes a compressor, indoor and outdoor heat exchangers, an indoor fan, an expansion valve, a refrigerant-pressure-perceiving part, which perceives a pressure of refrigerant sent from the compressor to the indoor heat exchanger, and a control part, which performs startup fan control in which the indoor fan remains stopped until the compressor goes from being at rest to starting up and the pressure perceived reaches a high-pressure threshold. The control part repeats an action of reducing a flow rate of the indoor fan or stopping driving of the indoor fan when the pressure perceived is equal to or less than a low-pressure lower than the high-pressure threshold, and an action of increasing the flow rate of the indoor fan or initiating driving of the indoor fan when the pressure perceived reaches or exceeds a pressure threshold which is higher than the low-pressure threshold.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An air conditioning apparatus comprising:
a compressor;
an indoor heat exchanger;
an indoor fan;
an expansion valve;
an outdoor heat exchanger;
a refrigerant-pressure-perceiving part arranged and configured to perceive pressure of refrigerant sent from the compressor to the indoor heat exchanger; and
a control part configured to perform startup fan control in which
the control part controls the indoor fan to remain stopped until the compressor goes from being at rest to starting up and the pressure perceived by the refrigerant-pressure-perceiving part reaches or exceeds a predetermined high-pressure threshold,
the control part thereafter drives the indoor fan when the pressure perceived by the refrigerant-pressure-perceiving part reaches or exceeds the predetermined high-pressure threshold, and
the control part thereafter repeats
an action of reducing a flow rate of the indoor fan or stopping driving of the indoor fan when the pressure perceived by the refrigerant-pressure-perceiving part is equal to or less than a predetermined low-pressure threshold which is a lower value than the predetermined high-pressure threshold, and
an action of increasing the flow rate of the indoor fan or initiating driving of the indoor fan when the pressure perceived by the refrigerant-pressure-perceiving part reaches or exceeds a predetermined pressure threshold which is a higher value than the predetermined low-pressure threshold and is a lower value than the predetermined high-pressure threshold.

2. The air conditioning apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising
an outdoor temperature detector arranged and configured to detect outdoor air temperature; and
an indoor temperature detector arranged and configured to detect indoor air temperature,
the control part being further configured to perform the startup fan control only when a predetermined surrounding temperature condition is satisfied by a relationship between the temperature detected by the outdoor temperature detector and the temperature detected by the indoor temperature detector.

3. The air conditioning apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein
a temperature range in which the predetermined surrounding temperature condition is satisfied is
a temperature range in which the temperature detected by the outdoor temperature detector is lower than the temperature detected by the indoor temperature detector, and
a temperature range that satisfies the temperature conditions of
being equal to or less than a predetermined limit indoor temperature, which is an indoor temperature within the range of the air-warming-operation-enabling temperature range, and
being equal to or less than a predetermined limit outdoor temperature, which is an outdoor temperature within the range of the air-war ing-operation-enabling temperature range.

4. The air conditioning apparatus according to claim 3 , further comprising
an indoor-refrigerant-temperature-perceiving part arranged and configured to perceive temperature of refrigerant passing through the indoor heat exchanger,
the control part being further configured to perform indoor heat exchange temperature control in which
the startup fan control is not performed when the air-warming-operation-enabling temperature range condition is satisfied but the predetermined surrounding temperature condition is not satisfied,
the indoor fan remains stopped until the compressor goes from being at rest to starting up and the temperature perceived by the indoor-refrigerant-temperature-perceiving part reaches or exceeds a predetermined indoor refrigerant temperature, and
the indoor fan is driven from the time that the temperature perceived by the indoor-refrigerant-temperature-perceiving part reaches or exceeds the predetermined indoor refrigerant temperature.

5. The air conditioning apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising
a supply air flow temperature detector arranged and configured to detect air temperature of an area into which air flow created by the indoor fan is to be supplied,
the control part being further configured to receive information pertaining to a temperature set by the user, and in a state in which either no refrigerant is flowing from the compressor to the indoor heat exchanger or the compressor is being driven at a predetermined minimum frequency, the control part performs thermo on control in order to create a flow of refrigerant from the compressor to the indoor heat exchanger when a difference between the temperature detected by the supply air flow temperature detector and the set temperature exceeds a predetermined value, and
the control part being further configured to not perform the startup fan control when the thermo on control is initiated.

6. The air conditioning apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising
a timer arranged and configured to perceive a time elapsed since a time point when the compressor began to be driven and a refrigerant flow was created,
the control part being further configured to begin to drive the indoor fan when the elapsed time perceived by the timer has reached a predetermined fixed startup time duration, even when the pressure perceived by the refrigerant-pressure-perceiving part has not reached or exceeded the predetermined high-pressure threshold.

7. The air conditioning apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising
a discharge temperature detector arranged and configured to detect a temperature of refrigerant discharged from the compressor,
the control part being further configured to initiate driving of the indoor fan when the temperature detected by the discharge temperature detector has reached or exceeded a predetermined discharge temperature, even when the pressure perceived by the refrigerant-pressure-perceiving part has not reached or exceeded the predetermined high-pressure threshold.

8. The air conditioning apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the compressor, is controllable by an inverter; and
the air conditioning apparatus further comprises
a current supply part arranged and configured to supply a current to the compressor; and
a compressor-current-value detector arranged and configured to detect a current value associated with the current supply part,
the control part being further configured to initiate driving of the indoor fan when the current value detected by the compressor-current-value detector has reached or exceeded a predetermined current value, even when the pressure perceived by the refrigerant-pressure-perceiving part has not reached or exceeded the predetermined high-pressure threshold.

9. The air conditioning apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising
a magnetic field generator being further configured to generate a magnetic field used for induction-heating a refrigerant tube on an intake side of the compressor, and/or a member in thermal contact with refrigerant flowing through the refrigerant tube,
the control part being further configured to perform the induction heating at least when the startup fan control is being performed.

Assignees

• Kinoshita Hidehiko
• Yamada Tsuyoshi
• Shimoda Junichi
• Fujiwara Kenta
• Daikin Ind Ltd

Inventors

• Kinoshita Hidehiko
• Yamada Tsuyoshi
• Shimoda Junichi
• Fujiwara Kenta

Classifications

• F25B2400/01

  Heaters · CPC title

• F25B2500/26

  characterised by the startup of the refrigeration cycle · CPC title

• F24F2110/12

  of the outside air · CPC title

• F25B2313/0314

  Temperature sensors near the indoor heat exchanger · CPC title

• F24F2110/10

  Temperature · CPC title