Multi air-conditioning apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9459033-B2
Application number	US-201213565189-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 2, 2012
Priority date	Aug 2, 2012
Publication date	Oct 4, 2016
Grant date	Oct 4, 2016

Abstract

A correspondence determination operation is performed. The correspondence determination operation differs a direction of distribution or a flow rate of a refrigerant flowing in one or some of use units among a plurality of use units to that of the other use units and determines, on the basis of a refrigerant temperature of the use unit, a location of a non-correspondence between a branch port that is connected to the use unit with refrigerant pipes and a set branch port that is obtained in accordance with the wire connection.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A multi air-conditioning apparatus, comprising:
at least one heat source unit including a compressor and a heat source side heat exchanger;
a plurality of use units each including a use side heat exchanger, and use unit refrigerant temperature detection devices each configured to detect a use unit refrigerant temperature that is a temperature of a refrigerant in the use side heat exchanger;
a pipe branch unit connecting one of the at least one heat source unit to the plurality of use units by refrigerant pipes, the pipe branch unit including
a plurality of branch ports that divide a passage leading from the at least one heat source unit, the plurality of branch ports being connected to the plurality of use units, and
a plurality of flow control valves respectively connected to each of the plurality of branch ports, the plurality of flow control valves configured to control a direction of distribution or a flow rate of the refrigerant flowing in each of the plurality of use units;

a refrigerant saturation temperature detection device configured to detect a refrigerant saturation temperature of the at least one heat source unit or the plurality of use units; and
a unit controller connected to the at least one heat source unit and the plurality of use units, the unit controller including
a storage unit that stores capacity information of each of the plurality of use units and that stores information of a set branch port that indicates a correspondence of each branch port connected to the corresponding one of the plurality of use units,
a control unit that performs a correspondence determination operation, the correspondence determination operation operating at least one of the plurality of flow control valves and differentiating the direction of distribution or the flow rate of the refrigerant flowing from at least one of the plurality of use units to remaining ones of the plurality of use units, and
a determination unit that determines, based on the use unit refrigerant temperatures during performance of the correspondence determination operation, a location of a non-correspondence between each of the plurality of branch ports that is connected to the corresponding one of the plurality of use units and the set branch port, wherein

the control unit identifies the at least one of the plurality of flow control valves, operated in the correspondence determination operation, based on the capacity information of each of the plurality of use units, the refrigerant saturation temperature, and a use unit air temperature that is the temperature of the air that exchanges heat with the use side heat exchanger.

2. The multi air-conditioning apparatus of claim 1 , wherein
during the correspondence determination operation, the control unit
obtains an operation switching capacity of the plurality of use units based on the capacity of each of the plurality of use units, the refrigerant saturation temperature, and the use unit air temperature, and
controls at least one of the flow control valves among the plurality of flow control valves to operate such that a value of a total capacity of at least one of the plurality of use units in which the direction of distribution or the flow rate of the refrigerant is to be differentiated from the remaining ones of the plurality of use units does not exceed the operation switching capacity.

3. The multi air-conditioning apparatus of claim 1 , wherein
during the correspondence determination operation, when the flow control valves in plural numbers are to be operated, the control unit controls the flow control valves to operate in every other one of the arranged plurality of branch ports.

4. The multi air-conditioning apparatus of claim 1 , wherein
the plurality of branch ports are numbered in order of arrangement, and
the control unit,
extracts a first operation pattern that operates at least one of the flow control valves among the plurality of branch ports so as not to exceed the operation switching capacity,
extracts a second operation pattern that operates at least one of the flow control valves among the plurality of branch ports so as not to exceed the operation switching capacity, and,
during the correspondence determination operation, controls at least one of the flow control valves to operate based on the operation pattern that performs a fewest number of operation of at least one of the flow control valves among the first operation pattern and the second operation pattern.

5. The multi air-conditioning apparatus of claim 1 , wherein
at least one of the plurality of use units is connected to two or more branch ports by refrigerant pipes,
during the correspondence determination operation, the control unit controls at least one of the flow control valves of the two or more branch ports that are connected to a same single use unit of the at least one of the plurality of use units to simultaneously operate, and
the determination unit deems the two or more branch ports that are connected to the same single use unit of the at least one of the plurality of use units as a single branch port and determines the location of the non-correspondence between the single branch port and the set branch port.

6. The multi air-conditioning apparatus of claim 1 , wherein
at least one of the branch ports among the plurality of branch ports is connected to two or more use units by refrigerant pipes, and
the determination unit deems the two or more use units that are connected to a same single branch port of the at least one of the branch ports as a single use unit and determines the location of the non-correspondence between the single branch port and the set branch port.

7. The multi air-conditioning apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising an external controller that includes
an input unit configured to input a start command of the correspondence determination operation;
an external communication unit configured to communicate with the unit controller; and
a display unit configured to display the determination result of the determination unit of the unit controller.

8. The multi air-conditioning apparatus of claim 1 , wherein
the use unit refrigerant temperature detection devices detect the temperature of the refrigerant that is to flow into the use side heat exchanger, the temperature of the refrigerant that has flowed out from the use side heat exchanger, or a temperature of the refrigerant in the use side heat exchanger as the use unit refrigerant temperature, and
the determination unit determines, based on the temperature difference between the use unit refrigerant temperature during performance of the correspondence determination operation and the use unit air temperature, the location of the non-correspondence between each of the branch ports that is connected to the corresponding one of the plurality of use units by refrigerant pipes and the set branch port obtained in accordance with the wiring connection.

9. The multi air-conditioning apparatus of claim 1 , wherein
at least one of the use side heat exchangers is constituted by at least one water plate heat exchanger that exchanges heat between water and the refrigerant,
at least one of the plurality of use units that includes the water plate heat exchanger has a use side outlet water temperature detection device that detects an outlet water temperature that is a temperature of water that has flowed out from the water plate heat exchanger,
during the correspondence determination operation, the control unit controls the storage unit to store the outlet water temperature before the at least one of the flow control valves is operated and the outlet water temperature after the at least one of the flow control

Assignees

• Tamaki Shogo
• Unezaki Fumitake
• Kasai Tomohiko
• Mitsubishi Electric Corp

Inventors

• Tamaki Shogo
• Unezaki Fumitake
• Kasai Tomohiko

Classifications

• F25B2313/02331

  during cooling · CPC title

• F25B2313/006

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

• F25B49/005 Primary

  of safety devices (F25B49/02 and F25B49/04 take precedence) · CPC title

• F25B2313/0233

  in parallel arrangements · CPC title

• F25B2313/023

  using multiple indoor units · CPC title