Outdoor unit of air conditioner and air conditioner

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9909784-B2
Application number	US-201514681299-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 8, 2015
Priority date	Sep 18, 2014
Publication date	Mar 6, 2018
Grant date	Mar 6, 2018

Abstract

An outdoor unit of an air conditioner coupled to an indoor unit by a liquid pipe and a gas pipe, includes: a compressor; an outdoor heat exchanger; a discharge pipe coupled to a refrigerant discharge side of the compressor; an intake pipe coupled to a refrigerant intake side of the compressor; an outdoor-unit high-pressure gas pipe coupled to the discharge pipe; an outdoor-unit low-pressure gas pipe coupled to the intake pipe; an outdoor-unit liquid pipe that couples a first refrigerant entry/exit opening of the outdoor heat exchanger and the liquid pipe together; a bypass pipe coupled to the outdoor-unit liquid pipe; a first flow-passage switcher coupled to a second refrigerant entry/exit opening of the outdoor heat exchanger, the discharge pipe, the intake pipe, and the bypass pipe; and a second flow-passage switcher coupled to the gas pipe, the outdoor-unit high-pressure gas pipe, and the outdoor-unit low-pressure gas pipe.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An outdoor unit of an air conditioner coupled to an indoor unit by a liquid pipe and a gas pipe, comprising:
a compressor;
an outdoor heat exchanger;
a discharge pipe coupled to a refrigerant discharge side of the compressor; an intake pipe coupled to a refrigerant intake side of the compressor;
an outdoor-unit high-pressure gas pipe coupled to the discharge pipe;
an outdoor-unit low-pressure gas pipe coupled to the intake pipe;
an outdoor-unit liquid pipe that couples a first refrigerant entry/exit opening of the outdoor heat exchanger and the liquid pipe together;
a bypass pipe coupled to the outdoor-unit liquid pipe;
a first flow-passage switcher coupled to a second refrigerant entry/exit opening of the outdoor heat exchanger, the discharge pipe, the intake pipe, and the bypass pipe;
a second flow-passage switcher coupled to the gas pipe, the outdoor-unit high-pressure gas pipe, and the outdoor-unit low-pressure gas pipe,
wherein the second flow-passage switcher comprises: a fifth port coupling to the outdoor-unit high-pressure gas pipe; a sixth port coupling to the gas pipe; and seventh and eighth ports coupling to the outdoor-unit low-pressure gas pipe; and
wherein during heating operation, the first flow-passage switcher couples the second refrigerant entry/exit opening of the outdoor heat exchanger and the intake pipe together, and couples the discharge pipe and the bypass pipe together, and the second flow-passage switcher couples the gas pipe and the outdoor-unit high-pressure gas pipe together.

2. The outdoor unit of the air conditioner according to claim 1 , further comprising a valve provided at the bypass pipe, the valve being for causing passage of a refrigerant from the first flow-passage switcher to the outdoor-unit liquid pipe and cutting off a refrigerant from the outdoor-unit liquid pipe toward the first flow-passage switcher.

3. The outdoor unit of the air conditioner according to claim 2 , wherein the valve is one of a solenoid valve and a check valve.

4. The outdoor unit of the air conditioner according to claim 1 , wherein
during cooling operation, the first flow-passage switcher couples the second refrigerant entry/exit opening of the outdoor heat exchanger and the discharge pipe together, and couples the intake pipe and the bypass pipe together, and
the second flow-passage switcher couples the outdoor-unit low-pressure gas pipe and the gas pipe together.

5. An air conditioner, comprising:
a plurality of the outdoor units according to claim 1 ;
the indoor unit; and
the liquid pipe and the gas pipe that couple the outdoor units and the indoor unit together.

6. The outdoor unit of the air conditioner according to claim 1 , wherein the first flow-passage switcher comprises a first port coupled to the second refrigerant entry/exit opening of the outdoor heat exchanger, a second port coupled to the discharge pipe, a third port coupled to the intake pipe, and a fourth port coupled to the bypass pipe,
the outdoor-unit liquid pipe and the first flow-passage switcher are connected with each other by the bypass pipe, and
the outdoor unit further comprises a valve provided at the bypass pipe, the valve being for causing passage of a refrigerant from the first flow-passage switcher to the outdoor-unit liquid pipe and cutting off a refrigerant from the outdoor-unit liquid pipe toward the first flow-passage switcher.

7. The outdoor unit of the air conditioner according to claim 2 , further comprising a capillary tube provided at the bypass pipe at a position between the first flow-passage switcher and the valve, the capillary tube being configured to decompress the refrigerant from the first flow-passage switcher.

8. The outdoor unit of the air conditioner according to claim 1 , wherein the second flow-passage switcher is connected with a branch pipe of the outdoor-unit low-pressure gas pipe, the branch pipe comprising a capillary tube.

9. The air conditioner according to claim 5 , being a double-pipe conditioner.

10. The outdoor unit of the air conditioner according to claim 1 , wherein the first flow-passage switcher comprises:
a first port coupling to the discharge pipe;
a second port coupling to a coupling pipe which couples to the second refrigerant entry/exit opening of the outdoor heat exchanger;
a third port coupling to the intake pipe; and
a fourth port coupling to the bypass pipe, and
during heating operation, the first port communicates with the fourth port to couple the discharge pipe and the bypass pipe together, and the second port communicates with the third port to couple the second refrigerant entry/exit opening of the outdoor heat exchanger and the intake pipe together.

11. The air conditioner according to claim 5 , wherein when at least one of the plurality of the outdoor units is stopped during the heating operation, a refrigerant that has flowed in the stopped outdoor unit from the gas pipe flows out to the liquid pipe via the bypass pipe, and the refrigerant is prevented or inhibited from accumulating in the stopped outdoor unit.

12. The air conditioner according to claim 5 , wherein when at least one of the plurality of the outdoor units is stopped during the heating operation, a refrigerant that has flowed in the stopped outdoor unit from the gas pipe flows out to the liquid pipe via the bypass pipe without flowing into the compressor and the outdoor heat exchanger.

13. The air conditioner according to claim 12 , wherein the outdoor unit further comprises an outdoor expansion valve disposed at the outdoor-unit liquid pipe, and the outdoor expansion valve is fully closed in the stopped outdoor unit.

14. The outdoor unit of the air conditioner according to claim 10 , wherein during cooling operation, a refrigerant flowed from the gas pipe flows into the outdoor-unit low-pressure gas pipe via the second flow-passage switcher and then flows into the compressor through the intake pipe, and
the refrigerant discharged from the compressor flows in the first port to the second port of the first flow-passage switcher, then flows into the outdoor heat exchanger via the coupling pipe, and then flows to the liquid pipe through the outdoor-unit liquid pipe.

15. The outdoor unit of the air conditioner according to claim 10 , wherein during the heating operation, a refrigerant flowed from the liquid pipe via the outdoor-unit liquid pipe flows into the outdoor heat exchanger, then flows into the intake pipe via the second port to the third port of the first flow-passage switcher, and then flows into the compressor, and
the refrigerant discharged from the compressor flows through the discharge pipe to the outdoor-unit high-pressure gas pipe, and then flows into the gas pipe via the second flow-passage switcher.

16. An outdoor unit of an air conditioner coupled to an indoor unit by a liquid pipe and a gas pipe, comprising:
a compressor;
an outdoor heat exchanger;
a discharge pipe coupled to a refrigerant discharge side of the compressor;
an intake pipe coupled to a refrigerant intake side of the compressor;
an outdoor-unit high-pressure gas pipe coupled to the discharge pipe;
an outdoor-unit low-pressure gas pipe coupled to the intake pipe;
an outdoor-unit liquid pipe that couples a first refrigerant entry/exit opening of the outdoor heat exchanger and the liquid pipe together;
a bypass pipe coupled to the outdoor-unit liquid pipe;
a first flow-passage switcher coupled to a second refrigerant entry/exit opening of the outdoor heat exchanger, the discharge pipe, the intake pipe, and the bypass pipe; and
a second flo

Assignees

• Fujitsu General Ltd

Inventors

• Toya Kotaro
• Shimotani Makoto
• Tamura Hideya
• Matsunaga Takahiro
• Watanabe Shinju
• Ogata Koji
• Arai Masaki
• Oka Yasuhiro
• Nakashima Ken
• Takahashi Toshihiro
• Sato Masakazu

Classifications

• F25B2313/029

  Control issues · CPC title

• F25B2313/0253

  in parallel arrangements · CPC title

• F25B2313/02742

  using two four-way valves · CPC title

• F25B13/00 Primary

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

• F25B2313/0233

  in parallel arrangements · CPC title