Separate-type air conditioner

• US 20020170306A1
• Filed: 07/17/2002
• Published: 11/21/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 06/19/1998
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Tabata, Daisuke, Takeda, Yuji, Nishizuka, Toshiharu
• Granted Patent: US 6,601,400 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 62/230
• CPC Class Codes: F04B 2203/0202 Voltage
• CPC Class Codes: F04B 2203/0402 Voltage
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 1/06 Separate outdoor units, e.g. outdoor unit to be linked to a separate room comprising a compressor and a heat exchanger
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 1/40 Vibration or noise prevention at outdoor units for outdoor units compressors F24F1/12
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/46 Improving electric energy efficiency or saving

Abstract

A separate-type air conditioner that can reduce the effect of voltage fluctuations in a commercial power supply (12) on a compressor (11), reduce material costs while maintaining vibrations of an outdoor unit (2) at low levels, and improve working efficiency during an assembly operation. The outdoor unit (2) includes a voltage correction circuit (14) to keep an output voltage to the compressor (11) constant (optimum) irrespective of the voltage fluctuations in the commercial power supply (12).

Claims

1. A separate-type air conditioner comprising an indoor unit (1) and an outdoor unit (2) connected to each other electrically by means of an indoor-outdoor connector cable (3), the outdoor unit (2) including a compressor (11) and a voltage correction circuit (14) for output voltage to the compressor (11), wherein the output voltage to the compressor (11) is maintained constant by correcting voltage fluctuations in a commercial power supply (12) by means of the voltage correction circuit (14).

2. The separate-type air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the voltage correction circuit (14) comprises voltage detection means (16) for detecting input voltage, reception means (17) for receiving an input voltage signal outputted from the voltage detection means (16), a timer (18) and an arithmetic circuit (20) for averaging the input voltage signal received by the reception means (17) within a specified time period, and determination means (19) and the arithmetic circuit (20) for voltage correction control in order for correcting and determining the output voltage to the compressor (11).

3. The separate-type air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the voltage correction circuit (14) comprises voltage detection means (16) for detecting input voltage, reception means (17) for receiving an input voltage signal outputted from the voltage detection means (16), and determination means (19) for voltage correction control in order for correcting and determining the output voltage to the compressor (11) by means of the input voltage signal and a data table.

4. The separate-type air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the voltage correction circuit (14) comprises voltage detection means (16) for detecting input voltage, and determination means (19) and an arithmetic circuit (20) for voltage correction control in order for correcting and determining the output voltage to the compressor (11) by making corrections equivalent to the load according to an outside air temperature detection signal outputted by outside air temperature detection means (15) installed in the outdoor unit (2) and a room air temperature detection signal outputted by room air temperature detection means (13) installed in the indoor unit (1).

5. An operation control method of an air conditioner wherein a compressor (11) for a refrigerating cycle is operated by the steps of:

controlling duty of a commercial power supply (12);

converting the duty into a power supply signal according to a voltage value of the commercial power supply (12); and

applying a resulting power supply signal to a power supply circuit of said compressor (11).

6. An air conditioner which is operated by the steps of controlling duty of a commercial power supply (12), converting the duty into a power supply signal according to a voltage value of the commercial power supply (12), and applying a resulting power supply signal to a power supply circuit of a compressor (11), wherein

a voltage correction controller is provided in order for correcting and determining an optimum output voltage to said compressor (11) by allocating a duty data for determination of the output voltage to said compressor (11) to one of high-voltage, rated-voltage and low-voltage region tables or to one of high-voltage and low-voltage region tables according to input voltage.

7. The air conditioner according to claim 6, wherein detection means (26, 27) are provided in order for detecting load conditions and the voltage correction controller is configured to correct and determine the optimum output voltage to the compressor (11) by modifying the duty data based on said load conditions.

8. The air conditioner according to claim 6, wherein voltage/current detection means is provided in order for detecting the output voltage and output current to the compressor (11) and the voltage correction controller is configured to correct and determine the optimum output voltage to said compressor (11) by modifying the duty data based on the output voltage and output current detected by said voltage/current detection means.

9. A start control method of an air conditioners wherein a compressor (11) for a refrigerating cycle is started by the step of:

applying to a power supply circuit of said compressor (11) a power supply signal which is set according to a voltage value of a commercial power supply (12) at a start-up time and corrected based on a suspension period of said compressor (11).

10. An air conditioner which is started by applying to a power supply circuit of a compressor (11) a power supply signal which is set according to a voltage value of a commercial power supply (12) at a start-up time, wherein

a voltage correction controller is provided in order for correcting said power supply signal and determining an optimum output voltage to said compressor (11) based on a suspension period of said compressor (11).

11. The air conditioner according to claim 10, wherein shell temperature detection means (38) is provided in order for detecting a shell temperature of the compressor (11) and the voltage correction controller is configured to correct and determine the optimum output voltage to the compressor (11) based on a detection signal from said shell temperature detection means (38).

12. The air conditioner according to claim 10, wherein the voltage correction controller is configured to correct and determine the optimum output voltage to the compressor (11) based on a room air temperature detection signal from room air temperature detection means (39) and an outside air temperature detection signal from outside air temperature detection means (40).

13. A start control method of an air conditioner wherein a compressor (11) for a refrigerating cycle is started by the steps of:

controlling duty of a commercial power supply (12);

converting said duty into a power supply signal according to a voltage value of the commercial power supply (12) at a start-up time; and

applying to a power supply circuit of said compressor (11) a resulting power supply signal with said duty corrected according to a suspension period of said compressor (11).