Air-conditioning apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9791180-B2
Application number	US-201114347820-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 30, 2011
Priority date	Nov 30, 2011
Publication date	Oct 17, 2017
Grant date	Oct 17, 2017

Abstract

An air-conditioning apparatus includes a temperature sensor for detecting a temperature of the heat medium sent from each of the intermediate heat exchangers to each of the use-side heat exchangers, and a temperature of the heat medium that has exited each of the use-side heat exchangers, an opening degree controller for regulating a flow rate of the heat medium through each of the heat medium flow control devices, and a computing unit for computing a usage capacity of each of the indoor units from a rotation speed of the pump, an opening degree of each of the heat medium flow control devices, temperatures detected by the temperature sensors, and power consumption of each of the indoor units, and proportionally dividing the power consumption for a common portion among each of the indoor units based on the computed usage capacity and the power consumption of the common portion.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An air-conditioning apparatus comprising:
a refrigerant circuit configured to circulate a heat source-side refrigerant, the refrigerant circuit being a refrigerant-side flow path formed by connecting, with refrigerant pipes, a compressor, a refrigerant flow switching device, a heat source-side heat exchanger, a plurality of expansion devices, and a plurality of intermediate heat exchangers that exchange heat between the heat source-side refrigerant and a heat medium different from the refrigerant;
a heat medium circuit configured to circulate the heat medium, the heat medium circuit being a heat medium-side flow path formed by connecting, with heat medium pipes, a pump, a plurality of heat medium flow switching devices, a plurality of use-side heat exchangers that act as indoor units, a plurality of heat medium flow control devices, and the intermediate heat exchangers;
a heat medium relay unit that accommodates the plurality of intermediate heat exchangers, the pump and the plurality of heat medium flow switching devices;
temperature sensors configured to detect a temperature of the heat medium sent from each of the intermediate heat exchangers to each of the use-side heat exchangers, and a temperature of the heat medium that has exited each of the use-side heat exchangers; and
a controller configured to
control an opening degree of each of the heat medium flow control devices,
determine a correction value for each of the heat medium flow control devices to correct a variation in the opening degree of each of the heat medium flow control devices caused by a difference in pipe length between each of the intermediate heat exchangers and each of the indoor units,
compute a usage capacity of each of the indoor units from a rotation speed of the pump, a corrected opening degree of each of the heat medium flow control devices, the temperatures detected by the temperature sensors, and a power consumption of each of the indoor units, the corrected opening degree being obtained by correcting the opening degree of each of the heat medium flow control devices by the correction value,
compute a power consumption for a common portion that is common to each of the indoor units, and
compute a divided power consumption for the common portion for each of the indoor units by dividing the power consumption for the common portion among each of the indoor units proportionally to the computed usage capacity of each of the indoor units.

2. The air-conditioning apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the power consumption for the common portion includes a power consumption of an outdoor unit including the compressor, and a power consumption of a portion between the outdoor unit and each of the indoor units.

3. The air-conditioning apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to compute the power consumption of each of the indoor units from a rotation speed of a fan provided in association with each of the use-side heat exchangers of the indoor units.

4. The air-conditioning apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the controller is configured to compute the power consumption of the outdoor unit from a rotation speed of the compressor, and pressures on upstream and downstream sides of the compressor.

5. The air-conditioning apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to compute a total power consumption for each of the indoor units by adding the power consumption of each of the indoor units to the divided power consumption for the common portion of each of the indoor units.

6. The air-conditioning apparatus of claim 1 , wherein
the correction value determined for each of the heat medium flow control devices is determined on a basis of a difference between
a reference opening degree being predetermined based on a suction air temperature of each of the indoor units, a temperature of the heat medium at an inlet of the pump, and a capacity of each of the indoor units, and
a measurement opening degree that is obtained by measurement of the opening degree of each of the heat medium flow control devices in a trial operation.

7. The air-conditioning apparatus of claim 1 , wherein pressure sensors are attached at opposite ends of a pipe that connects each of the indoor units and the heat medium relay unit, and the correction value is determined from a difference between values detected by the pressure sensors.

8. The air-conditioning apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the common portion includes at least the refrigerant circuit, the pump of the heat medium circuit, and the intermediate heat exchangers of the heat medium circuit.

9. The air-conditioning apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the common portion includes at least the refrigerant circuit and the heat medium relay unit.

10. The air-conditioning apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the heat medium relay unit connects the refrigerant circuit to the heat medium circuit.

Assignees

• Shimamoto Daisuke
• Morimoto Osamu
• Honda Takayoshi
• Azuma Koji
• Nishioka Koji
• Mitsubishi Electric Corp

Inventors

• Shimamoto Daisuke
• Morimoto Osamu
• Honda Takayoshi
• Azuma Koji
• Nishioka Koji

Classifications

• F25B2600/2513

  Expansion valves · CPC title

• F25B13/00 Primary

  Compression machines, plants or systems, with reversible cycle (defrosting cycles F25B47/02) · CPC title

• F25B2313/0314

  Temperature sensors near the indoor heat exchanger · CPC title

• F25B2313/003

  Indoor unit with water as a heat sink or heat source · CPC title

• F25B2500/26

  characterised by the startup of the refrigeration cycle · CPC title