JPH0772655B2 - Air conditioner - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a so-called multi-type air conditioner including an outdoor unit and a plurality of indoor units.

(Prior Art) An example of a conventional air conditioner of this type is shown in FIG.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 1 is an outdoor unit, which is a compressor 11, an outdoor heat exchanger 12, an outdoor fan 13, a throttle mechanism 14, and a four-way switching valve 1.
5 、 Outdoor air inlet 16 etc. 2a to 2h are indoor units, which include an indoor heat exchanger 21, an indoor fan 22, an indoor air suction port 23, a conditioned air outlet 24, etc., and these indoor units 2a to 2h are constituted by a refrigerant liquid pipe 3 and a refrigerant gas pipe 4. It is connected in parallel to the outdoor unit 1.

During the cooling operation, the refrigerant gas discharged from the compressor 11 of the outdoor unit 1 enters the outdoor heat exchanger 12 via the four-way switching valve 15,
Here, heat is exchanged with the outside air sent by the outdoor fan 13 to condense and liquefy. This refrigerant liquid is adiabatically expanded by being decompressed by the expansion mechanism 14, then passes through the refrigerant liquid pipe 3 and enters the indoor heat exchangers 21 of the plurality of indoor units 2a to 2h, where the indoor fan 22 sends the indoor heat. Evaporates and vaporizes by exchanging heat with air. The indoor air is sucked by the indoor fan 22, enters the indoor unit from the indoor air suction port 23, and is cooled in the process of passing through the indoor heat exchanger 21 to become conditioned air, and is conditioned air again from the conditioned air outlet 24 into the room. Blown out. The refrigerant gas evaporated and vaporized in the indoor heat exchanger 21 returns to the outdoor unit 1 through the refrigerant gas pipe 4, and is sucked into the compressor 11 via the four-way switching valve 15.

Since the four-way switching valve 15 is switched during heating operation,
The refrigerant gas discharged from the compressor 11 enters the indoor units 2a to 2h through the four-way switching valve 15 and the refrigerant gas pipe 4, is condensed in the indoor heat exchanger 21, and returns to the outdoor unit via the refrigerant liquid pipe 3. Then, it is sucked into the compressor 11 through the throttle mechanism 14, the outdoor heat exchanger 12, and the four-way switching valve 15.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) When installing the above-described conventional air conditioner in an intelligent building or the like, it is necessary to finely air-condition the inside of one floor, and therefore a large number of indoor units 2 having a small capacity are provided within one floor. Is installed. As a result, the refrigerant liquid pipes 3 and the refrigerant gas pipes 4 become long, the flow resistance of the refrigerant flowing in the refrigerant liquid pipes 3 and the refrigerant gas pipes 4 increases, and the capacity of the air conditioner decreases and the load of the air conditioner decreases. There was a problem that the responsiveness to fluctuations was poor.

(Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention has been invented to solve the above problems, and its gist is to provide a plurality of indoor units with a closed loop liquid pipe and a closed loop via branch pipes. An air conditioner is characterized in that it is connected to a gas pipe and a plurality of outdoor units are connected to the closed loop liquid pipe and the closed loop gas pipe via a branch pipe at intervals.

The closed loop liquid pipe and the closed loop gas pipe can be short-circuited by a bypass pipe.

(Operation) In the present invention, since the above configuration is provided, the refrigerant liquid flowing out from the plurality of outdoor units during the cooling operation enters the closed loop liquid pipe through the branch pipe, and then the plurality of refrigerant liquids pass through the branch pipe. Flows into the indoor unit of the table. And
The refrigerant gas flowing out from the plurality of indoor units enters the closed loop gas pipe through the branch pipe, and then circulates through the branch pipe to the plurality of outdoor units. In heating operation, the refrigerant circulates in the opposite manner.

(Embodiment) One embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG.

In FIG. 1, 1A and 1B are outdoor units, and 2a to 2h are indoor units, which have the same configurations as conventional ones. The indoor units 2a to 2d are installed in the air conditioning zone A, and the indoor units 2e to 2h are installed in the air conditioning zone B.

30 is a closed loop liquid pipe, 40 is a closed loop gas pipe, each indoor unit 2a to 2h is connected to the closed loop liquid pipe 30 and the closed loop gas pipe 40 via branch pipes 31 and 41, and the outdoor units 1A and 1B are It is connected to the closed loop liquid pipe 30 and the closed loop gas pipe 40 via the branch pipes 32 and 42 between the air conditioning zones A and B at a distance from each other.

Then, during the cooling operation, the refrigerant discharged from the compressor 11 of the outdoor units 1A, 1B enters the outdoor heat exchanger 12 via the four-way switching valve 15, where it is condensed and liquefied, and then adiabatically expanded by the expansion mechanism 14. . Then, through the branch pipe 32, the closed loop liquid pipe 30
to go into. Then, from here, it enters the indoor units 2a to 2h through the branch pipe 31, and is evaporated and vaporized in the indoor heat exchanger 22. Next, the gas enters the closed loop gas pipe 40 through the branch pipe 41, returns from the branch pipe 42 to the outdoor units 1A and 1B, and is sucked into the compressor 11 through the four-way switching valve 15.

During the heating operation, the refrigerant gas discharged from the compressor 11 of the outdoor units 1A and 1B enters the closed loop gas pipe 40 through the four-way switching valve 15 and the branch pipe 42, and then passes through the branch pipe 41 to the indoor units 2a to 2h. And enters the indoor heat exchanger 21 to be condensed and liquefied. This refrigerant liquid passes through the branch pipe 31 and the closed loop liquid pipe 30.
Enter the unit, and from here, through the branch pipe 32, the outdoor units 1A and 1B.
Return to the throttle mechanism 14, outdoor heat exchanger 12, four-way switching valve
Circulates to compressor 11 via 15.

When the load of the air conditioning zone A is larger than that of the air conditioning zone B, a large amount of the refrigerant from the outdoor units 1A and 1B flows into the indoor units 2a to 2d installed in the air conditioning zone A through the shortest route.

When the load of the air conditioning zone B becomes larger than that of the air conditioning zone A, a large amount of refrigerant is supplied to the indoor units 2e to 2h.

Then, as shown in FIG. 3, if the closed loop liquid pipe 30 and the closed loop gas pipe 40 in the air conditioning zone A are connected to each other via the bypass liquid pipe 33 and the bypass gas pipe 43, the load fluctuation of the air conditioning zone A or B By-pass liquid pipe 33 and bypass gas pipe
Since the refrigerant can be quickly supplied from the air conditioning zone B or A to the air conditioning zone A or B via 43, the responsiveness to a load change is improved.

In the above embodiment, the outdoor units 1A and 1B are operated at the same time, but it is also possible to operate only one when the load is low and to operate both when the load is high. In addition, one of the two outdoor units 1A and 1B has a large capacity,
It is also possible to set the other capacity to a small capacity and always operate only the large capacity outdoor unit, and to simultaneously operate the large capacity outdoor unit and the small capacity outdoor unit only when the load is high.

In the above embodiment, the outdoor units 1A and 1B are connected between the air conditioning zones A and B, respectively.
When there are three or more air conditioning zones, outdoor units can be connected between these air conditioning zones.
When a large number of indoor units are installed in the air conditioning zone, it is possible to connect a plurality of outdoor units in one air conditioning zone at intervals.

Further, in the above embodiment, the cooling operation and the heating operation are possible, but it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied to an air conditioner capable of performing only one of the cooling operation and the heating operation.

(Effect of the invention) In the present invention, a plurality of indoor units are connected to a closed loop liquid pipe and a closed loop gas pipe via a branch pipe, and a plurality of outdoor units are connected to the closed loop liquid pipe and a closed loop gas via a branch pipe. Since the pipes are connected to each other with a space therebetween, the refrigerant can be circulated through the shortest route from the outdoor unit connected to each indoor unit in the vicinity thereof.

Therefore, not only the responsiveness to the load fluctuation is improved, but also the adverse effect due to the pressure loss of the refrigerant can be prevented. In addition, the outdoor unit can be additionally installed according to the number and load of the indoor units connected to the closed loop liquid pipes and the closed loop gas pipes, so the capacity of the air conditioner can be arbitrarily changed and the models that compose it can be selected and The degree of freedom for remodeling, etc. is increased.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a refrigerant circuit diagram showing a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
FIG. 3 is a partial refrigerant circuit diagram showing a second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a refrigerant circuit diagram of a conventional air conditioner. Indoor unit …… 2a ~ 2h, Branch pipe …… 31, 41, Closed loop liquid pipe …… 30, Closed loop gas pipe …… 40, Outdoor unit ……
1A, 1B, branch pipe …… 32, 42, bypass pipe …… 33, 43

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of indoor units are connected to a closed loop liquid pipe and a closed loop gas pipe through a branch pipe, and a plurality of outdoor units are spaced from each other to the closed loop liquid pipe and a closed loop gas pipe through a branch pipe. An air conditioner characterized by being connected separately. 2. The air conditioner according to claim 1, further comprising a bypass pipe that short-circuits the closed loop liquid pipe and the closed loop gas pipe.