JPS6249541B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a separate type air-conditioning/heating machine that can efficiently exhibit cooling and heating capabilities, and can be made into a simple structure and low-cost device.

A drawback of heat pump air conditioners is that during severe winter weather, the capacity of the air-side heat exchanger for exchanging heat with the outside air is extremely reduced, resulting in a lack of heating capacity.

Therefore, recently, air conditioners and heaters that combine cooling operation using a refrigeration cycle and heating operation using hot water obtained from combustion heat of kerosene gas, etc., have come into widespread use.

However, the following drawbacks of this type of air conditioner and heater still remain unsolved.

In other words, it is necessary to install two coils for the indoor coil, a hot water coil and an evaporator, which increases the size of the device, and requires four connecting pipes between the indoor and outdoor units, making the construction work cumbersome. However, since hot water is used, a circulation pump is required, which significantly increases costs, and there is a risk of indoor contamination due to accidents such as water leakage.

In view of the fact that conventional air conditioners and heaters have various problems, the present invention has been made. It is characterized by a structure in which the heating is performed by a natural circulation heating cycle using a refrigerant.

Below, the contents of the present invention will be explained in detail based on each example of the accompanying drawings.

As shown in the examples in FIGS. 1 to 3, the present invention has a separate structure consisting of an outdoor unit 1 and an indoor unit 2, and the outdoor unit 1 is equipped with a compressor 3 and an outdoor fan 9. The indoor unit 2 is equipped with an air-cooled condenser 4, a pressure reducer 5, and a refrigerant heating coil 6 installed to enable heat exchange with a heating device 7 such as a gas burner, and the indoor unit 2 is equipped with an indoor coil 8 and an indoor fan 10. ing.

The outdoor unit 1 is placed outdoors on the ground or on the floor of a machine room, while the indoor unit 2 is attached to the upper part of the wall inside the room. ，
The two refrigerant circuits are connected to each other by connecting pipes 17 and 18.

In the outdoor unit 1, the refrigerant heating coil 6 has a structure in which the refrigerant outlet 6b is located at a higher position than the refrigerant inlet 6a, for example, a vertical heat exchange coil,
The refrigerant inside the coil is heated from below by a heating device 7 that uses kerosene, gas, electricity, solar heat, etc. as a heat source, and maintains the refrigerant temperature at a predetermined value through air or hot water. Formed to obtain.

On the other hand, the compressor 3, condenser 4, and pressure reducer 5 are connected in series to form a series circuit, and this series circuit and the refrigerant heating coil 6 are connected in parallel to constitute the main refrigerant circuit of the outdoor unit 1. ing.

The indoor coil 8 in the indoor unit 2 has a structure in which a level difference exists between both ends of the coil, and connecting pipes 17 are connected to the high-position side pipe end 8a and the low-position side pipe end 8b, respectively. ,18
Preferably, the piping is configured to have a downward slope portion and a horizontal portion so that there is no upward slope in the piping where the longer length to the indoor unit 2 is higher than the shorter side, Contact outdoor unit 1.

Note that when connecting the outdoor and indoor units 1 and 2 with each other through the connecting pipes 17 and 18, the refrigerant outlet 6b and refrigerant inlet 6a of the refrigerant heating coil 6 are connected to the high-position side pipe end 8a of the indoor coil 8 and the low-position side pipe end 8a of the indoor coil 8. It is necessary to make connections that can communicate with the side tube ends 8b.

The air conditioner having the above-mentioned configuration is further provided with a refrigerant switching means in the refrigerant circuit of the outdoor unit 1, but this refrigerant switching means does not allow the refrigerant to flow to the refrigerant heating coil 6 during compression operation of the compressor 3. The refrigerant heating coil 6 has a function of suppressing the flow of refrigerant to the series circuit during heating operation of the refrigerant heating coil 6, and the example shown in FIG. An electromagnetic valve 11 is installed in the pipe connected to the refrigerant inlet 6a of the refrigerant heating coil 6 and opens in conjunction with the heating operation of the heating device 7. The refrigerant switching means is composed of the valve 12 and the check valve 13 which is interposed in the connecting pipe between the condenser 4 and the pressure reducer 5 and prevents the refrigerant from flowing back to the condenser 4 side.

On the other hand, in the example shown in FIG. 2, a refrigerant switching means is interposed in the middle of a pipe connected to the electromagnetic valve 11, the check valve 13, and the refrigerant outlet 6b of the refrigerant heating coil 6, and the refrigerant heating It consists of a check valve 14 that prevents the refrigerant from flowing back toward the coil 6 side.

Next, to explain the configuration and operating mode of the device shown in FIG. 6, the low-pressure side tube end and high-pressure side tube end of the series circuit are characterized in that they are connected in such a way that they communicate with the refrigerant outlet 6b and refrigerant inlet 6a of the refrigerant heating coil 6, respectively. First, in the case of cooling operation, the compressor 3, outdoor fan 9, and indoor fan 10 are operated and the solenoid valve 11 is opened, while the operation of the heating device 7 is stopped and the solenoid valve 12 is closed. By operating the compressor 3, the refrigerant flows as shown by the solid line arrow, and in the condenser 4, the high-pressure refrigerant gas releases heat of condensation to the outside air, and in the indoor coil 8, the low-pressure refrigerant liquid takes the heat of evaporation from the indoor air. Therefore, cooling operation is performed using a forced circulation cooling cycle.

Note that the compressor 3 and the outdoor fan 9 are automatically started and stopped by a temperature controller (not shown) provided on the indoor unit 2 side.

In this cooling operation, the refrigerant heating coil 6 has its refrigerant inlet 6a disconnected from the high pressure side by closing the solenoid valve 12, and the refrigerant outlet 6b communicates with the low pressure side. is not distributed, so there is no adverse effect on the refrigeration capacity. In addition, since the suction line of the compressor 3 is connected to the high-position pipe end of the indoor coil 8 via the connecting pipe 17, the refrigerant liquid accumulated in the indoor coil 8 can be sucked in when the compressor 3 is restarted. This prevents the liquid from returning to the compressor 3.

On the other hand, in the case of heating operation, the indoor fan 10 and heating device 7 are operated, the solenoid valve 12 is opened, and the compressor 3 and outdoor fan 9 are stopped.
When the solenoid valve 11 is closed, the high-temperature refrigerant gas evaporated by heating in the refrigerant heating coil 6 flows through the refrigerant outlet 6.
b. It reaches the high-position side pipe end 8a of the indoor coil 8 via the connecting pipe 17, and while flowing through the indoor coil 8, condensation heat is released into the indoor air and condensed and liquefied to heat the room.

This liquefied refrigerant flows down the connecting pipe 18 from the lower side pipe end 8b under its own weight, further passes through the electromagnetic valve 12, reaches the refrigerant inlet 6a of the refrigerant heating coil 6, and is heated again.

At this time, the refrigerant flow direction is as shown by the broken line arrow, and the refrigerant undergoes a gas/liquid phase change and repeats natural circulation due to the difference in specific gravity, so heating operation is performed using a natural circulation heating cycle that does not use any power. It will be carried out.

The above operation mode has been explained for the case where there is one indoor unit 2, but it is of course possible to connect one or more indoor units in parallel as shown by the dashed line. In the case of a multi-connection configuration, for a refrigerant circuit in which the series circuit and the refrigerant heating coil 6 are connected in parallel in the outdoor unit 1, a gas side branch pipe and a liquid side branch pipe branch from both ends of the circuit, respectively. Solenoid valve 1 on side branch pipe
_5-1 and _15-2 are interposed, respectively, and each indoor unit can be turned on and off by opening and closing the corresponding solenoid valves _15-1 and _15-2 using the temperature controller of the unit.

In addition, in the case of heating operation, the heating device 7 may be automatically controlled to operate when the refrigerant temperature at the refrigerant outlet 6b of the refrigerant heating coil 6 falls below a set value, and in the case of cooling operation, the compression Machine 3
It is only necessary to control the unit to operate as long as at least one indoor unit is operating.

However, the apparatus shown in FIG. 1 has the advantage that the refrigerant pipe 18 serves as a refrigerant liquid distribution pipe for both cooling and heating, so that the pipe diameter can be further reduced.

Next, the device shown in the second figure will be explained. This device consists of a series circuit consisting of a solenoid valve 11, a compressor 3, a condenser 4, a check valve 13, and a pressure reducer 5, and a refrigerant heating coil 6 connected in parallel. , the low-pressure side pipe end and the high-pressure side pipe end of the series circuit have a connection form such that they communicate with the refrigerant inlet 6a and refrigerant outlet 6b of the refrigerant heating coil 6, respectively, contrary to the device shown in the first figure, The operating mode is the same as the device shown in the first figure, and there is an advantage that the solenoid valve 12 for opening and closing operations can be omitted, but the refrigerant in both the connecting pipes 17 and 18 changes into liquid and gas during cooling and heating. Therefore, the pipe diameter must be the same.

In this case as well, if there are multiple indoor units, a solenoid valve _16-1 ,
The need to provide _16-2 is the same as in the device shown in the first figure.

As mentioned above, in the air conditioner and heater explained in FIGS. 1 and 2, there is a difference in the amount of refrigerant required for cooling operation and heating operation, so for example, the amount of refrigerant required for heating operation is charged into the refrigerant circuit. If this is the case, during cooling operation, excess refrigerant will accumulate in the coil of condenser 4, reducing its heat exchange capacity, resulting in a decrease in cooling capacity.On the other hand, during heating operation, excess refrigerant will accumulate in the coil of condenser 4. If the refrigerant that has already accumulated does not come out into the system, there is a risk of a shortage of refrigerant.

The feature of the second invention is that it has been made to solve these problems.
To explain this using the device shown in FIG. 3, the basic structure of the refrigerant circuit in the figure is the same as the device shown in FIG. The structure is as follows.

As shown in FIG. 4, the refrigerant regulator 19 has an inlet pipe 20 that penetrates the side wall of a closed container and opens upward in the upper part of the container, and an inlet pipe 20 that penetrates the bottom of the container and is erected and opens in the upper part of the container. The structure includes an outlet pipe 21 that opens upward at a position lower than the pipe 20, and an oil return hole 22 is opened at the bottom of the outlet pipe 21, and the inlet pipe 21 is connected to the high pressure side pipe of the series circuit. The end and the refrigerant outlet 6b of the refrigerant heating coil 6 are connected, and the outlet pipe 21 is connected to the high position side pipe end 8a of the indoor coil 8 via the connecting pipe 17.

The apparatus having the above configuration has the same cooling operation and heating operation as shown in FIG.
To explain the function of the refrigerant regulator 19 in this case, during cooling, a low-pressure gas-liquid mixed refrigerant enters from the inlet pipe 20, but the oil return hole 22 is small and the amount of refrigerant flowing out is extremely small. The liquid refrigerant begins to accumulate in the vessel and eventually rises to the liquid level position L in FIG. 4, where the liquid state is balanced.

In this equilibrium state, from the outlet pipe 21, the inlet pipe 2
It flows out with the same humidity (mixing ratio of liquid and gas) as it entered from zero. However, this is assuming that heat radiation from the vessel wall is ignored.

The amount of refrigerant accumulated at this time may be selected to correspond to the additional amount of refrigerant required during heating operation. In this way, the amount of refrigerant necessary for cooling is circulated in the refrigerant system, and there is no liquid remaining in the condenser 4, so that the heat exchange capacity is maximized and stable cooling operation is possible. becomes.

On the other hand, during heating, high-temperature gas refrigerant superheated by the refrigerant heating coil 6 flows from the inlet pipe 20, so no liquid accumulates in the refrigerant regulator 19, and on the other hand, no refrigerant accumulates in the condenser 4. Since there is no heat, the amount of refrigerant necessary for heating operation flows through the system, allowing stable heating operation with sufficient surplus power. In addition,
Refrigerating machine oil contained in the gas refrigerant, albeit in a small amount, may accumulate in the refrigerant regulator 19 over a long period of time, so the oil return hole 2
2 to the refrigerant circulation system, which can solve the problem of oil shortage.

The present invention has the structure and operation described in detail above, and the cooling operation is carried out by the normal cooling cycle by operating the compressor, while the heating operation is carried out between the refrigerant heating coil 6 and the indoor coil 8. Since the heating is performed using the natural circulation heating cycle, the indoor coil 81 on the indoor unit 2 side
The unit alone can be used as both an evaporator (for cooling) and a condenser (for heating), making the indoor unit smaller and more compact than conventional units that require an evaporator and hot water coil. can be formed into

Furthermore, the present invention eliminates the need for hot water circulation pumps and hot water piping, greatly simplifying the system.
Construction is also easy, as only two connecting pipes are required between the two units 1 and 2, similar to the conventional reversible heat pump machine.

Furthermore, since no water piping is required, there is no risk of water leakage or freezing, and there are advantages in that it is easy to handle.

In particular, since the present invention has a separate structure, it is possible to have a sufficient head difference between the indoor coil 8 and the refrigerant heating coil 6, and the heating capacity by the natural circulation method can be increased in proportion to the load, thereby freeing up surplus power. Some heating can be done.

Furthermore, the second invention uses a refrigerant regulator to ensure the optimal amount of refrigerant in the system for both cooling and heating operations, so stable cooling and heating capabilities can be achieved. In addition, it has the added effect of preventing abnormally high pressure and excessive input during cooling, making it extremely suitable as a practical device.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1, 2, and 3 are device circuit diagrams relating to each example of the air conditioner/heater of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional structural diagram of the refrigerant regulator in FIG. 3. 1...Outdoor unit, 2...Indoor unit, 3...Compressor, 4...Condenser, 5...Reducer, 6...Refrigerant heating coil, 6a...Refrigerant inlet, 6b...Refrigerant outlet, 7...Heating device, 8...Indoor coil , 8a...High position side pipe end,
8b...Low position side pipe end, 9...Outdoor fan, 10...Indoor fan, 11, 12...Solenoid valve, 13, 14...Check valve, 15- ₁ , 15- ₂ , 16- ₁ , 16- ₂
...Branch solenoid valve, 17, 18...Connecting pipe, 19...Refrigerant regulator, 20...Inlet pipe, 21...Outlet pipe, 22...
Oil return hole.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A refrigerant heating coil 6 having a refrigerant outlet located at a higher position than the refrigerant inlet and provided to be able to exchange heat with the heating device 7, a compressor 3, a condenser 4, and a pressure reducer 5. The indoor unit consists of an outdoor unit 1 having a refrigerant circuit formed by connecting a series circuit in series with a refrigerant circuit in parallel; The refrigerant outlet and refrigerant inlet of the refrigerant heating coil 6 are connected to the height of the indoor coil 8 by connecting pipes 17 and 18 that connect both units 1 and 2 to each other. while communicating with the position side pipe end and the low position side pipe end, respectively, while suppressing the refrigerant flow to the refrigerant heating coil 6 during compression operation of the compressor 3,
During the heating operation of the refrigerant heating coil 6, a refrigerant switching means for suppressing the flow of refrigerant to the series circuit is provided in the refrigerant circuit of the outdoor unit 1, and the compressor 3, condenser 4, pressure reducer 5 and indoor coil 8 1. A separate type air-conditioning/heating machine, characterized in that it performs a cooling operation using a cooling cycle consisting of a refrigerant heating coil 6 and an indoor coil 8, and a heating operation using a natural circulation heating cycle consisting of a refrigerant heating coil 6 and an indoor coil 8. 2. A series circuit having a refrigerant heating coil 6 having a refrigerant outlet located at a higher position than the refrigerant inlet and provided to be able to exchange heat with the heating device 7, a compressor 3, a condenser 4, and a pressure reducer 5 in series. are connected in parallel so that the outlet side of the pressure reducer 5 and the refrigerant outlet of the refrigerant heating coil 6 merge, and this parallel circuit and the refrigerant regulator 19 are connected in series. 1 and an indoor unit 2 having an indoor coil 8 with a level difference between both pipe ends.The indoor unit 2 is disposed at a higher location than the outdoor unit 1, and both units 1 and 2 are connected to each other. The connecting pipes 17 and 18 connect the refrigerant outlet of the refrigerant heating coil 6 and the high-position pipe end of the indoor coil 8 via the refrigerant regulator 19, and connect the refrigerant inlet of the refrigerant heating coil 6 and the indoor While communicating with the lower side pipe end of the coil 8, the refrigerant flow to the refrigerant heating coil 6 is suppressed during the compression operation of the compressor 3, and the refrigerant flow to the series circuit is suppressed during the heating operation of the refrigerant heating coil 6. A refrigerant switching means for suppressing refrigerant switching is provided in the refrigerant circuit of the outdoor unit 1 to switch between cooling operation by a cooling cycle consisting of a compressor 3, a condenser 4, a pressure reducer 5, a refrigerant regulator 19, and an indoor coil 8, and refrigerant heating. A separate type air-conditioning/heating machine characterized in that heating operation is performed by a natural circulation heating cycle consisting of a coil 6, a refrigerant regulator 19, and an indoor coil 8.