AIR-CONDITIONING APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING AIR-CONDITIONING APPARATUS

• US 20160245539A1
• Filed: 12/19/2013
• Published: 08/25/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
• Original Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
• Inventors: MOTOMURA, Yuji, TAKENAKA, Naofumi, WAKAMOTO, Shinichi, KOGE, Hirofumi, MORIMOTO, Osamu
• Granted Patent: US 9,829,210 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 1/0007 Indoor units, e.g. fan coil units self-contained units F24F1/02
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 1/0059 characterised by heat exchangers
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/61 using timers
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/63 Electronic processing
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/83 by controlling the supply of heat-exchange fluids to heat-exchangers
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/84 using valves
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/85 using variable-flow pumps
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 13/30 Arrangement or mounting of heat-exchangers
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 3/06 characterised by the arrangements for the supply of heat-exchange fluid for the subsequent treatment of primary air in the room units
• CPC Class Codes: F25B 13/00 Compression machines, plants or systems, with reversible cycle defrosting cycles F25B47/02
• CPC Class Codes: F25B 2313/003 Indoor unit with water as a heat sink or heat source
• CPC Class Codes: F25B 2313/006 two pipes connecting the outdoor side to the indoor side with multiple indoor units
• CPC Class Codes: F25B 2313/0231 with simultaneous cooling and heating
• CPC Class Codes: F25B 2313/0233 in parallel arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: F25B 2313/0272 using bridge circuits of one-way valves
• CPC Class Codes: F25B 2313/02741 using one four-way valve
• CPC Class Codes: F25B 2313/0292 related to reversing valves
• CPC Class Codes: F25B 2313/0314 Temperature sensors near the indoor heat exchanger
• CPC Class Codes: F25B 25/005 using primary and secondary systems
• CPC Class Codes: F25B 2500/19 Calculation of parameters
• CPC Class Codes: F25B 2600/2513 : Expansion valves
• CPC Class Codes: F25B 43/006 : Accumulators
• CPC Class Codes: F25B 49/02 : for compression type machines, plants or systems
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/042 : using digital processors G05B19/05 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2614 : HVAC, heating, ventillation, climate control

Abstract

An air-conditioning apparatus includes a refrigerant circuit formed by connecting, with pipes, a compressor, a first refrigerant flow switching device, a heat-source-side heat exchanger, an expansion device, and a plurality of intermediate heat exchangers. A heat medium circuit is formed by connecting, with pipes, a plurality of pumps configured to pressurize and circulate the heat medium subjected to heat exchange in the plurality of intermediate heat exchangers, a plurality of use-side heat exchangers each configured to exchange heat between the heat medium and air in an air-conditioned space, and a heat-medium flow switching/control device configured to switch which of the heat medium is to be allowed to flow into and out of each of the use-side heat exchangers; and a controller configured to perform processing for controlling the switching performed by the heat-medium flow switching/control device, in accordance with a capacity of each of the use-side heat exchangers.

Claims

1. An air-conditioning apparatus comprising:

a refrigerant circuit formed by connecting, with pipes, a compressor configured to compress heat-source-side refrigerant, a refrigerant flow switching device configured to switch a circulation path of the heat-source-side refrigerant, a heat-source-side heat exchanger configured to cause the heat-source-side refrigerant to exchange heat, an expansion device configured to regulate a pressure of the heat-source-side refrigerant, and a plurality of intermediate heat exchangers each configured to exchange heat between the heat-source-side refrigerant and a heat medium different from the heat-source-side refrigerant;

a heat medium circuit formed by connecting, with pipes, a plurality of pumps configured to pressurize and circulate the heat medium subjected to heat exchange in the plurality of intermediate heat exchangers, a plurality of use-side heat exchangers each configured to exchange heat between the heat medium and air in an air-conditioned space, and a flow switching device configured to switch which of the heat medium subjected to heat exchange in the plurality of intermediate heat exchangers is to be allowed to flow into and out of each of the use-side heat exchangers; and

a controller configured to perform processing for controlling switching performed by the flow switching device, in accordance with a capacity of each of the use-side heat exchangers.

2. The air-conditioning apparatus of claim 1, wherein the controller controls the switching by the flow switching device to equalize amounts of heat supplied by the intermediate heat exchangers to the heat medium, in accordance with the capacity of each of the use-side heat exchangers.

3. The air-conditioning apparatus of claim 2, wherein the controller ranks the capacities of the corresponding use-side heat exchangers in descending order, distributes values of the capacities between or among the intermediate heat exchangers, adds up the distributed values for each of the intermediate heat exchangers, and equalizes the resulting sums of the capacities between or among the intermediate heat exchangers.

4. The air-conditioning apparatus of claim 1, wherein the air-conditioning apparatus causes the plurality of use-side heat exchangers to operate a heating only operation mode where all of the plurality of use-side heat exchangers in operation perform heating, a cooling only operation mode where all of the plurality of use-side heat exchangers in operation perform cooling, and a cooling and heating mixed operation mode where some of the plurality of use-side heat exchangers in operation perform heating and other of the plurality of use-side heat exchangers perform cooling, and

the controller performs the processing in the cooling only operation mode and the heating only operation mode.

5. The air-conditioning apparatus of claim 1, wherein when one of the use-side heat exchangers starts to operate, the controller performs the processing when a first predetermined time period elapses after a thermo-OFF mode has been entered or a second predetermined time period elapses after the operation has stopped.

6. The air-conditioning apparatus of claim 1, wherein the flow switching device is capable of not only switching the heat medium, but also controlling a flow rate of the heat medium allowed to flow into and out of the use-side heat exchanger, and

the switching of the heat medium and the control of the flow rate are performed by driving a drive unit.

7. A method for controlling an air-conditioning apparatus including

a heat medium circuit formed by connecting, with pipes, a plurality of heating and cooling devices each configured to heat or cool a heat medium, a plurality of pumps each configured to pressurize and circulate the heat medium, a plurality of use-side heat exchangers each configured to exchange heat between the heat medium and air in an air-conditioned space, and a flow switching device configured to switch which of the heat medium heated or cooled by the plurality of heating and cooling devices is to be allowed to flow into and out of each of the use-side heat exchangers, and

a controller configured to perform processing for controlling switching performed by the flow switching device, in accordance with a capacity of each of the use-side heat exchangers,

the method for controlling the air-conditioning apparatus comprising:

ranking the capacities of the corresponding use-side heat exchangers in descending order by the controller;

distributing values of the capacities between or among intermediate heat exchangers, adding up the distributed values for each of the intermediate heat exchangers, and equalizing the resulting sums of the capacities between or among the intermediate heat exchangers by the controller; and

controlling the switching performed by the flow switching device in accordance with the distribution by the controller.