Hitachi-johnson Controls Air Conditioning, Inc.

Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd.

Kyoto University

Mitsubishi Pharma Corporation

Johnson Controls-hitachi Air Conditioning Technology (hong Kong) Limited

Koji Naito

Kazumoto Urata

Kazuhiko Tani

Yasutaka Yoshida

Hiroaki Kaneko

Kenji Matsumura

Mikihito Tokudi

Hayato Mori

Gen Yasuda

Katsuaki Nagahashi

Robert D Turney

Masayoshi Murofushi

Atsuhiko Yokozeki

Shuuhei Tada

Jun Xue

Kazunori Fukuda

Michael J Wenzel

Mohammad N ElBsat

Yoshiyuki Akiyama

Liming Yang

Ryo Ota

Hiroyuki Akata

Kazuhiro Tsuchihashi

Kazuhito Sekiba

Rei Kasahara

Naoyuki Fushimi

Takumi Kamiaka

Shoutaro Yamamoto

Shusei Uno

Hideyuki Ueda

Masami Inaba

Masaki Uno

Hiroyuki Kawaguchi

Yuki Furuta

Minako Hoshi

Natsuko Suzuki

Shouji Ideno

Eiji Asakura

Shinichiro Nagamatsu

Ryou Oota

Tatsuya Mochida

Yutaro Miyata

Masahiro Nishide

Kazunoto Urata

Junichiro Tezuka

To predict and detect a failure in a compressor provided in an air conditioner, the air conditioner is provided with: a heat exchanger; the compressor; piping connecting the heat exchanger and the compressor with each other; and a control unit controlling the compressor and having a compressor failure predicting and detecting means, and in this air conditioner, the compressor failure predicting and detecting means of the control unit includes: a current detecting part detecting a driving current driving the compressor; a pulsation detecting part detecting pulsation in a driving current detected by the current detecting part; and an anomaly determining part predicting or detecting any failure in the compressor based on a magnitude and a duration of pulsation in a driving current detected by the pulsation detecting part.

Air conditioner provided with means for predicting and detecting failure in compressor and method for predicting and detecting the failure

To achieve higher efficiency at a low-load region and to enable power saving throughout a year. The refrigeration cycle apparatusincludes a compressorthat has a flow in/out portthrough which a refrigerant is capable of flowing out and flowing in, in fluid communication with a compression room; pipesdisposed at a suction side of the compressor; a pipeconnected to the flow in/out portof the compressor; a pipethat has one end connected to the pipeand an opposite end connected to the pipe; and a second solenoid valvefor opening and closing a fluid passage of the pipe

Refrigeration cycle apparatus

An air conditionerincludes: an outdoor heat exchanger; an outdoor fanfor blowing air to the outdoor heat exchanger; an outdoor fan motorthat drives the outdoor fan; an outdoor fan inverterthat drives the outdoor fan motor; and a control unitthat generates a rotation-speed command voltage for controlling the rotation number of the outdoor fan motor. In addition, the control unit starts a defrost operation of the outdoor heat exchanger, based on the rotation-speed command voltage. In this manner, it is possible to achieve an outdoor device of an air conditioner in which there is no need to provide a current detecting sensor, and it is possible to detect frost formation over the heat exchanger during a heating operation and to perform a defrost operation at low costs.

Air conditioner

A refrigeration cycle, an air conditioning system, and a method for controlling a refrigeration cycle are provided. The refrigeration cycle includes an outdoor unit, an indoor unit, a controller, and an inverter. The controller controls a compressor and an outdoor fan of the air conditioning system so as to minimize a total electric power consumption of the air conditioning system. The inverter controls the outdoor fan in a rotation state predicted from a capacity demand in an air conditioning space depending on an operation mode and sensor values. The controller predicts the capacity demand and controls a rotation rate of the outdoor fan based on a prediction of the capacity demand.

Predictive refrigeration cycle

An air conditioner controller for an air conditioner is configured to obtain a first value of a performance value from a predetermined component of the air conditioner, and estimate a total cost. The controller is configured to estimate the total cost including an operation cost and a renewal cost of the air conditioner based on the first value of the performance variable obtained from the predetermined component of the air conditioner and a second value of the performance variable estimated by an operational model of the air conditioner. The total cost is a total cost of operating and renewing the air conditioner for a time period after a time at which the first value of the performance variable is obtained. The controller is configured to output the total cost via a user interface.

Air condition management apparatus, system, and method

A heat exchanger includes: a gas-side port connected to piping for a gaseous refrigerant; a liquid-side port connected to piping for a liquid refrigerant; a refrigerant path that links the gas-side port to the liquid-side port; at least four heat exchange part regions that perform heat exchange between air and the refrigerant flowing through the refrigerant path; and a branching and merging part that branches and merges the refrigerant path to connect the heat exchange part regions in series between the gas-side port and the liquid-side port through the refrigerant path. The heat exchange part regions are connected to each other through the branching and merging part so as to allow the number of refrigerant paths provided in the heat exchange part region near the gas-side port to be greater than the number of refrigerant paths provided in the heat exchange part region near the liquid-side port.

Heat exchanger

An air conditioner is provided, which is capable of accurately determining appropriateness of a refrigerant amount in a refrigerating cycle. A control apparatus is configured to: stop a cooling operation; set an expansion valve to a fully-closed state and, at the same time, switch the selector valve to change the direction, in which a refrigerant flows, to an opposite direction; operate a compressor to perform a refrigerant recovery operation, in which a refrigerant contained in an outdoor heat exchanger is recovered by an indoor heat exchanger; and determine the appropriateness of a refrigerant amount in a refrigerating cycle, based on at least one of a time required for recovering the refrigerant, a pressure change in a refrigerant suctioned by the compressor, and temperature of the refrigerant discharged from the compressor during the refrigerant recovery operation.

The present invention provides a heat exchanger having a heat exchanging portion HE including a plurality of paths through which a refrigerant flows and a plurality of columns of fin plate that exchange heat between the refrigerant and air, wherein, in a case where the heat exchanging portion functions as a condenser, the refrigerant is flown from a header into the heat exchanging portion HE via the plurality of paths, every two paths of the plurality of paths merge into one single path by branching/merging pipes after the refrigerant has flown through one fin plate, before the refrigerant flows through the other fin plate so as to flow out of the heat exchanging portion HE, wherein a difference in height between the highest path and the lowest path in a vertical direction is set equal to or less than half of a height of the heat exchanging portion HE.

An electric compressor is provided which has: in a sealed container, a compression mechanism to compress a refrigerant and an electric motor to drive the compression mechanism, wherein the refrigerant contains 20% by mass or more of hydrofluoroolefin, and a refrigerator oil stored in the sealed container contains; polyvinyl ether as a base oil; an alicyclic epoxy compound in an amount of 0.1% by mass or more and 2.0% by mass or less relative to the base oil; an aliphatic epoxy compound in an amount of 0.1% by mass or more and 2.0% by mass or less relative to the base oil; and tertiary phosphate in an amount of 0.1% by mass or more and 2.0% by mass or less relative to the base oil.

Electric compressor, and refrigeration air-conditioning apparatus

Provided is a refrigerant composition as a mixed refrigerant containing refrigerant components of difluoromethane (HFC32), pentafluoroethane (HFC125), and hexafluoropropene (FO1216). The makeup of the refrigerant components in the mixed refrigerant is configured such that a global warming potential (GWP) is 750 or less, a vapor pressure at 25&#xb0; C. is in a range of 1.4 to 1.8 MPa, and a flame retardant parameter Frepresented by formula (1) below is 0.46 or more.=&#x3a3;&#x2003;&#x2003;(1)Here, Findicates a flame retardant parameter of the refrigerant composition, Findicates a flame retardant parameter of each of the refrigerant components, and xindicates a molar fraction of each of the refrigerant components.

Refrigerant composition and refrigeration cycle apparatus including refrigerant composition

An collective device for switching refrigerant flow arranged between an indoor device and an outdoor device is provided; which includes multiple high-pressure valves; multiple low-pressure valves; a high-pressure header; a low-pressure header; a high-pressure gas pipe connecting each high-pressure valve and the high-pressure header; and a low-pressure gas pipe connecting each low-pressure valve and the low-pressure header, wherein the multiple high-pressure valves are arranged next to each other in a first direction perpendicular to a vertical direction, the multiple low-pressure valves are arranged next to each other in the first direction, and the low-pressure valves, the low-pressure header, and the low-pressure gas pipe are arranged on one side in a second direction perpendicular to the vertical direction and the first direction with respect to the high-pressure valves, the high-pressure header, and the high-pressure gas pipe.

Collective device for switching refrigerant flow

A cooling/heating switching unit includes first to third fittings, expansion valves and expansion-valve driving sections, a housing, a heat insulating material, and a refrigerant leak detection sensor. The first and second fittings respectively connect with a high/low-pressure-gas main pipe and a low-pressure-gas main pipe, which are linked to an outdoor unit. The third fitting connects with an indoor-unit connection pipe, which is linked to indoor units. The expansion valve for high/low-pressure-gas pipe, the expansion valve for low-pressure-gas pipe, and expansion-valve driving sections selectively connect the first or second fitting with the third fitting via a refrigerant pipe to control a flow direction of refrigerant. The housing houses the refrigerant pipe. The heat insulating material fills inside of the housing to insulate the refrigerant pipe arranged inside of the housing from heat. The refrigerant leak detection sensor is installed outside of the housing to detect leaked refrigerant.

Cooling/heating switching unit and air conditioner including the same

An air conditioner including an outdoor device that includes a bypass path connecting a discharge side of the compressor and a suction side of the compressor, an on-off valve configured to open/close the bypass path, and a control device configured to control the compressor, the decompression device, and the on-off valve. The control device opens the on-off valve in a state in which the compressor is stopped to execute such bypass opening that refrigerant circulates, through the bypass path, from the discharge side of the compressor in a refrigerant storage state in which refrigerant is stored to the suction side of the compressor in a substantially vacuum state, and evaluates a volume of the pipe.

Air conditioner having compressor bypass and evaluation of volume of connecting pipe

Provided is a air conditioner including high-and-low-pressure gas pipe expansion valves each of which is provided to a corresponding one of the cooling-heating switching units and adjusts feeding of high-temperature and high-pressure gas refrigerant to the corresponding indoor unit; and a refrigeration cycle controller which adjusts a valve opening degree of the high-and-low-pressure gas pipe expansion valve of the cooling-heating switching unit connected to one of the indoor units which is not in heating operation, in accordance with a determination result on excess or deficiency of refrigerant in a refrigeration cycle.

A hot gas bypass circuit that connects a discharge side of the compressor and a portion between the heat source side heat exchanger and the expansion valve, an on-off valve that opens and closes a channel of the hot gas bypass circuit, and a control device performing control to select one of hot gas bypass defrosting and reverse cycle defrosting according to a frosting amount on the heat source side heat exchanger and perform defrosting. The control device controls to open the on-off valve of the hot gas bypass circuit such that a part of a refrigerant discharged from the compressor is supplied to the heat source side heat exchanger via the hot gas bypass circuit and, the control device switches switch the four-way valve such that the refrigerant discharged from the compressor is supplied to the heat source side heat exchanger after passing through the four-way valve.

Air conditioner and defrosting operation method therefor

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Koji Naito