Refrigerant cycle apparatus

• US 20050072173A1
• Filed: 06/03/2004
• Published: 04/07/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 06/10/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sanyo Electric Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sanyo Electric Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Yamanaka, Masaji, Yamaguchi, Kentaro, Yamasaki, Haruhisa, Matsumoto, Kenzo, Ishigaki, Shigeya
• Granted Patent: US 7,086,244 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 62/196.200
• CPC Class Codes: F04C 18/3564 the surfaces of the inner and outer member, forming the working space, being surfaces of revolution
• CPC Class Codes: F04C 23/001 of similar working principle
• CPC Class Codes: F04C 23/008 Hermetic pumps
• CPC Class Codes: F25B 1/10 with multi-stage compression with cascade operation F25B7/00
• CPC Class Codes: F25B 2309/061 with cycle highest pressure above the supercritical pressure
• CPC Class Codes: F25B 2500/26 characterised by the startup of the refrigeration cycle
• CPC Class Codes: F25B 2500/27 characterised by the stop of the refrigeration cycle
• CPC Class Codes: F25B 2600/0261 external to the compressor
• CPC Class Codes: F25B 41/20 Disposition of valves, e.g. of on-off valves or flow control valves expansion valves F25B41/31
• CPC Class Codes: F25B 49/022 Compressor control arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: F25B 9/008 the refrigerant being carbon dioxide

Abstract

An object of the present invention is to provide a refrigerant cycle apparatus which can reduce a production cost while hastening equalization of pressure in a refrigerant circuit after a compressor is stopped, the apparatus comprises a bypass circuit which causes an intermediate-pressure area to communicate with a low-pressure side of a refrigerant circuit, a valve device provided to this bypass circuit and a control device which controls opening/closing of this valve device, and the control device constantly closes the valve device but opens it in order to release a flow path of the bypass circuit concurrently with the stop of the compressor.

Claims

1. A refrigerant cycle apparatus in which a refrigerant circuit is constituted by sequentially connecting a compressor, a gas cooler, throttling means and an evaporator, the compressor including first and second compression elements which are driven by a drive element, sucking a refrigerant into the first compression element from a low-pressure side of the refrigerant circuit and compressing it, discharging it into a sealed container, sucking the refrigerant with an intermediate pressure in the sealed container into the second compression element, compressing it and discharging it to a high-pressure side of the refrigerant circuit,

the refrigerant cycle apparatus comprising:

a bypass circuit which causes an intermediate-pressure area to communicate with a low-pressure side of the refrigerant circuit or causes a high-pressure side to communicate with the intermediate-pressure area;

a valve device provided to the bypass circuit; and

a control device which controls opening/closing of the valve device,

wherein the control device constantly closes the valve device but opens it in order to release a flow path of the bypass circuit when the compressor stops.

2. The refrigerant cycle apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control device opens the valve device concurrently with the stop of the compressor.

3. The refrigerant cycle apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control device opens the valve device in a period immediately before the stop of the compressor and after the stop of the same.

4. The refrigerant cycle apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control device opens the valve device after a predetermined period from the stop of the compressor.

5. The refrigerant cycle apparatus according to claim 1, claim 2, claim 3 or claim 4, wherein carbon dioxide is used as the refrigerant.