Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Hironao Numoto

Akira Fujitaka

Yukio Watanabe

Yoshinori Kobayashi

Kanji Haneda

Yuichi Yakumaru

Atsushi Nishino

Yukiyoshi Ono

Shigehiro Sato

Tetsuo Terashima

Yasuhiro Takeuchi

Shinji Watanabe

Narito Yamaguchi

Hisao Wakabayashi

Kunio Kimura

Jiro Suzuki

Kiyoshi Sawai

Kenichi Nakamura

Hitoshi Motegi

Toru Yasuda

Tetuo Terashima

Hiroshi Namura

In an apparatus having a refrigeration cycle, the refrigeration cycle is formed by annularly connecting a compressor, a condenser, an expansion device and an evaporator with one another, the apparatus uses propane, isobutane or ethane as a refrigerant, and uses refrigerating machine oil having less mutual solubility with the refrigerant, and a dryer is provided in the refrigeration cycle for absorbing water. In stead of the dryer, an additive which reacts with water may be included in said refrigerating machine oil. With this arrangement, the amount of the refrigerant can be reduced, and the long term reliability of the apparatus can be obtained.

Apparatus having refrigeration cycle

A method for taking custody of, transporting and installing an air conditioner having an outdoor unit which uses a flammable refrigerant and includes a refrigeration cycle comprising a compressor, an expansion device and an outdoor heat exchanger which are connected to one another through pipes, wherein the outdoor unit is shipped from a factory while the refrigeration cycle is evacuated to produce a vacuum, the outdoor unit is kept in custody and transported in a state in which the vacuum in the refrigeration cycle is maintained, and when the outdoor unit is installed, the flammable refrigerant is charged into the refrigeration cycle. With this structure, it is possible to provide a method for taking custody of, transporting and installing an apparatus having a refrigeration cycle in which safety is assured when the apparatus having the refrigeration cycle is being transported or kept in custody, the efficiency of the disposing operation is enhanced, and a problem such as deterioration of performance is not generated.

Method for taking custody of, transporting and installing air conditioner

In a compressor of a refrigeration cycle using an HC-based refrigerant and a lubricant having specific gravity greater than that of the HC-based refrigerant and having no or no or less mutual solubility with the HC-based refrigerant, an oil reservoir is formed on a bottom of the compressor, the oil reservoir is provided at its portion with a recess, a suction port of a lubricant suction pipe for supplying the lubricant to a compressor mechanism is provided in the recess. With this feature, it is possible to sufficiently supply the lubricant to the compressor even when the lubricant has no or less mutual solubility, so that even if the amount of the lubricant is reduced, the lubricant can be sufficiently sucked from an inlet port of a lubricant pumping pipe and supplied to the compressor mechanism.

Compressor for refrigeration cycle

A manufacturing method for an air conditioner including the steps of: (a) assembling a refrigeration cycle by connecting an outdoor unit, which has a compressor containing a refrigerant and an outdoor heat exchanger to a dummy indoor unit, and a part including a moisture adsorbent, using connection piping; (b) operating the refrigeration cycle by either an intermittent heating operation or switching between cooling and heating operations to adsorb moisture contained in the refrigeration cycle using a moisture adsorbent; (c) disconnecting the part including the moisture adsorbent after adsorbing moisture from the refrigeration cycle, and (d) measuring the water content contained in the moisture adsorbent, to control the water contained in the outdoor unit.

Manufacturing method of an air conditioner

In a refrigeration cycle using a flammable refrigerant as a refrigerant and comprising an indoor heat exchanger, an outdoor heat exchanger, a compressor and an expansion device which are annularly connected to one another through pipes, the refrigeration cycle is provided with a gas sensor and a refrigerant discharge portion, the gas sensor monitors leakage of the refrigerant from the refrigeration cycle to outside, and after the leakage is detected by the gas sensor, the discharge portion is opened to discharge the refrigerant to outside. At that time, the gas sensor is disposed inside a room, and the discharge portion is disposed outside the room. Further, the discharge portion is provided with a fan to facilitate the dispersion of the refrigerant. Further, the discharge portion is provided with a burner portion to discharge out the refrigerant while burning the refrigerant. With the above structure, the leakage of a flammable refrigerant is monitored, and after the leakage is detected, the refrigerant is positively discharged to the safe atmosphere, e.g., to the side of an outdoor unit, and even if the refrigerant is leaked at the side of an indoor unit, it is possible to suppress the leakage to a certain level.

Air conditioner

An apparatus having a refrigeration cycle using a flammable refrigerant, comprises an oil-free compressor, a condenser, an expansion device and an evaporator, wherein an amount of lubricant in the oil-free compressor is equal to or smaller than 3 cc. With this structure, the charging amount of the flammable refrigerant into the refrigeration cycle can be reduced, and the safety of the apparatus having a refrigeration cycle can be enhanced.

An air conditioner comprises a refrigeration cycle consisting of a compressor, a heat exchanger, a throttling device, a dryer provided with an adsorbent, a connection piping and a refrigerant. The refrigerant contains a hydrofluorocarbon refrigerant, the adsorbent contains a plurality of bulk particles, and the dryer includes a container, wherein the adsorbent is located within the container, having a pressing means for holding the adsorbent by pressing it. The load of the pressing means is within a range of about 0.5 kg/cm.sup.2 to about 3 kg/cm.sup.2. The container is of a cylindrical shape having a sectional area of 'A', the refrigerant is at a circulation rate of 'B', and the value of B/A is within a range of about 100 g/min cm.sup.2 to about 400 g/min cm.sup.2. The pressing means has a punching baffle formed with a plurality of through-holes, each one of the plurality of bulk particles has a mean diameter of 'D', each one of the plurality of through-holes has a diameter of 'C', and the value of D/C is at least about 2. The dryer removes water in the refrigeration cycle by allowing the adsorbent to adsorb water contained in the refrigerant.

A refrigeration cycle that controls the deposit of foreign matter at inlet or outlet of a capillary tube, which forms an expansion device in the refrigeration, regardless of changeover from a cooling operation to a heating operation. In particular, in a refrigeration cycle using an alternative refrigerant, a junction is provided for joining an end of a capillary tube forming an expansion device to the piping through which the refrigerant flows. The junction has a slope defined by the inside diameter thereof, which gradually decreases from the side of the junction that joins the piping to the side of the junction that joined the capillary tube. An end portion of the capillary tube projects into the junction at the piping side. The projecting end of the capillary tube is opened obliquely to the axial line of the capillary tube. A hole is formed in the peripheral wall of the projecting end of the capillary tube. According to such an arrangement, foreign matter in the refrigerant is forced to be deposited in portions of the refrigerant cycle other than the capillary tube and prevented from clogging the capillary tube.

Refrigeration cycle

A catalyst device is used for a combustion apparatus. The catalyst device is provided with multiple gas flow channels. The gas flow channels are formed by corrugated sheets and flat sheets which are alternatively laminated. One of the sheets is a paper sheet mainly composed of inorganic heat-resistant fibers carrying catalyst metal dispersed thereon, and the other sheet is provided with a thin metal plate. Therefore, the combustion apparatus provided with the catalyst device has a shortened preheating time, produces a reaction heat which is uniform over all the catalyst layers and maintains the stabilized performance for a long time.

Catalyst device and combustion apparatus provided therewith

To present a ceramic sheet with catalyst high in porosity, excellent in combustion efficiency, and easy to process into any desired shape, an inorganic oxide 4 carrying a noble metal catalyst 5 is dispersed and mixed together with ceramic fibers 1 and an inorganic binder 2, and an inorganic flocculant and an organic binder 3 possessing the flocculating effect are added to form flocs, a sheet is formed by a paper making method, and it is heated at 950.degree. C. or less, thereby obtaining a ceramic sheet carrying the noble metal catalyst in a state of being uniformly dispersed in the entire inner parts.

Ceramic sheet with catalyst and its manufacturing method

A process for producing a catalyst element including fixing a ceramic sheet to a jig or mold having a predetermined configuration, and thereafter, impregnating the ceramic sheet with a catalyst solution, drying and calcining to allow a catalyst element to retain the predetermined configuration or the catalyst element to be fixed in the mold. The catalyst element may be produced by fixing the ceramic sheet to a metallic thin plate, followed by processing into a predetermined configuration.

Process for producing a catalyst element

A method for producing a honeycomb shaped ceramic having a predetermined shape made of a flat honeycomb molding formed from a composition containing a heat-resistant inorganic material is disclosed. This method comprises the steps of: forming a honeycomb molding from a composition containing heat-resistant inorganic materials, a binder which is gelled when coming in contact with hot water, and a plasticizer; providing the honeycomb molding with flexibility by immersing the honeycomb molding in hot water at a temperature high enough to gel the binder; and sintering the honeycomb molding.

Method for producing a honeycomb shaped ceramic

A catalytic burning apparatus includes a mixed gas generator, a air blow fan, a subsidiary catalyst layer, a main catalyst layer, and exhaust openings. The main catalyst layer has a larger thermal capacity than that of the subsidiary catalyst layer and the mixed gas generator, the main catalyst layer, and the exhaust openings are disposed along the flow of premixed gas.

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Shiga, Japan

Hironao Numoto