Hot water supply apparatus associated with heat pump

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9416990-B2
Application number	US-201113077022-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 31, 2011
Priority date	May 20, 2010
Publication date	Aug 16, 2016
Grant date	Aug 16, 2016

Abstract

A hot water supply apparatus associated with a heat pump is provided. The hot water supply apparatus performs a hot water supply operation using a high temperature refrigerant that has been discharged from a compressor, and simultaneously performs an indoor heating operation using a two-stage refrigerant cycle. This allows the apparatus to supply hot water while simultaneously providing heating/cooling to an indoor space.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A hot water supply apparatus associated with a heat pump, comprising:
a first refrigerant circuit that circulates a first refrigerant, the first refrigerant circuit comprising a first compressor that compresses the first refrigerant, a hot water supply heat exchanger that generates hot water for a hot water supply operation using the first refrigerant and an outdoor heat exchanger that performs heat exchange between the first refrigerant and outdoor air;
a second refrigerant circuit that circulates a second refrigerant, the second refrigerant circuit comprising a second compressor that compresses the second refrigerant and an indoor heat exchanger that performs at least one of a heating operation or a cooling operation using the second refrigerant; and
a cascade heat exchanger operably coupled to each of the first and second refrigerant circuits so as to perform heat exchange between the first and second refrigerants, and wherein, in the heating operation, the hot water supply heat exchanger is a primary condenser that performs primary condensing of the first refrigerant received from the first compressor, and the cascade heat exchanger is a secondary condenser that performs secondary condensing of the first refrigerant received from the hot water supply heat exchanger, and the outdoor heat exchanger is an evaporator that performs evaporating of the first refrigerant, and
wherein the first refrigerant circuit includes:
a first pipe that extends from an outlet of the first compressor towards the hot water supply heat exchanger;
a bypass pipe that extends from a spot of the first pipe towards an inlet of the cascade heat exchanger via a first flow switch, which is installed at an outlet of the outdoor heat exchanger to guide a flow of the first refrigerant to the first compressor;
a first flow adjustment part installed at the spot of the first pipe, to selectively guide refrigerant to the hot water supply heat exchanger or the bypass pipe;
an auxiliary flow adjustment part including a first port coupled to the inlet of the cascade heat exchanger and a second port coupled to the bypass pipe;
an auxiliary pipe that extends from a spot of the bypass pipe towards a third port of the auxiliary flow adjustment part;
a connection pipe extended from an outlet of the cascade heat exchanger to an inlet of the outdoor heat exchanger,
a first expander installed at the connection pipe to decompress the first refrigerant passing through the cascade heat exchanger; and
a second expander and an auxiliary heat exchanger installed at the auxiliary pipe.

2. The hot water supply apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first flow switch selectively switches a flow direction of the first refrigerant to perform the cooling operation or the heating operation, and wherein the hot water supply heat exchanger is positioned between the first compressor and the first flow switch in the first refrigerant circuit so as to continuously perform the hot water supply operation while the cooling operation or the heating operation is performed.

3. The hot water supply apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the hot water supply operation is performed using water that has undergone heat exchange with the first refrigerant in the hot water supply heat exchanger.

4. The hot water supply apparatus of claim 1 , wherein, in a defrosting operation, the hot water supply operation is performed using the second refrigerant as a flow of the first refrigerant toward the hot water supply heat exchanger is intercepted.

5. The hot water supply apparatus of claim 4 , further comprising an auxiliary hot water supply pipe connecting the first refrigerant circuit and the second refrigerant circuit to allow the refrigerant flowing into the hot water supply heat exchanger to be compressed by the second compressor, and wherein, in a defrosting operation, the bypass pipe and the auxiliary hot water supply pipe are opened.

6. The hot water supply apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
a hot water supply device to generate hot water using heat of the first refrigerant flowing into the hot water supply heat exchanger; and
a heating device to perform the heating operation using heat of the second refrigerant flowing into the indoor heat exchanger, wherein, in a defrosting operation, the second refrigerant sequentially undergoes heat-exchange in the hot water supply device and the heating device as a flow of the first refrigerant toward the hot water supply heat exchanger is intercepted.

Assignees

• Sim Jieseop
• Lg Electronics Inc

Inventors

• Sim Jieseop

Classifications

• F24D17/02

  using heat pumps · CPC title

• F24H4/02 Primary

  Water heaters · CPC title

• F24D11/0214 Primary

  water heating system · CPC title

• Y02B30/126

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• Y02B30/12

  Hot water central heating systems using heat pumps · CPC title