Lg Electronics Inc.

Seongho Hong

Eunjun Cho

Jungmin Park

Yejin Kim

Pilhyun Yoon

Hojin Seo

Donghyuk Lee

Chisuk Kang

A heat pump including a housing configured to be disposed outdoors; a compressor that compresses a refrigerant; a fluid refrigerant heat exchanger configured to perform heat exchange between the refrigerant and a fluid; an outdoor heat exchanger configured to perform heat exchange between the refrigerant and outdoor air; a pressure sensor configured to detect a pressure of the refrigerant flowing between the compressor and the fluid refrigerant heat exchanger; a first shut-off valve disposed in a pipe connected to a discharge of the compressor; a second shut-off valve disposed between the outdoor heat exchanger and the compressor; and a controller configured to: determine whether the refrigerant leaks, control the first shut-off valve to be closed, when the refrigerant leaks, and control the second shutoff valve to be closed, when the pressure sensed by the pressure sensor is less than a predetermined reference pressure.

Heat pump and method for operating a heat pump

An air conditioner may include a compressor that compresses refrigerant; a condenser that condenses the refrigerant; at least one expansion valve that expands the refrigerant; a gas-liquid separator that separates and discharges the refrigerant into gas refrigerant and liquid refrigerant; an evaporator that evaporates the liquid refrigerant discharged from the gas-liquid separator; a refrigerant inflow pipe that connects the expansion valve and the gas-liquid separator; a bypass pipe that connects the gas-liquid separator and the compressor; and a refrigerant discharge pipe that connects the gas-liquid separator and the evaporator. The gas-liquid separator may include a housing in which a portion of the refrigerant inflow pipe, the bypass pipe, and the refrigerant discharge pipe may be disposed, and first and second partition walls disposed in the housing.

Air conditioner

An air conditioner may include a compressor that compresses a refrigerant; a condenser that condenses the refrigerant discharged from the compressor; at least one expansion valve that expands the refrigerant passed through the condenser; at least one gas-liquid separation pipe through which the refrigerant passed through the at least one expansion valve flows; a gas-liquid separator, into which the refrigerant passed through the at least one gas-liquid separation pipe is introduced, that separates and discharges the refrigerant introduced into the gas-liquid separator into gas refrigerant and liquid refrigerant; and an evaporator that evaporates the liquid refrigerant discharged from the gas-liquid separator. The gas refrigerant discharged from the gas-liquid separator and the refrigerant passed through the evaporator may be provided to the compressor.

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Seoul, South Korea

Seongho Hong