Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
BACKGROUND OF THIS INVENTION 2 0 2 3 4 8 3
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
Thi~ invention relates to a ~eparate type air-conditioner
having indoor and outdoor unit~, and more particularly, to such
an air-conditioner having air venting, refrigerant recovery and
normal operation modes.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
Ordinarily, a separate type air-conditioner i8 taken out of a
manufactory with an outdoor unit charged with a large portion
of the refrigerant and an indoor unit in which only a little
refrigerant is charged for anti-corrosion. The indoor and
outdoor units are set up at appropriate places and connected
by conduits to each other.
After setting up again the air-conditioner the trapped air
should be removed from the refrigerant flow paths, since the
humidity contained in the trapped air is frozen and thereby
causes the flow paths to be blocked or prevents the air-
conditioner from smoothly operating.
Also, in the case of conveying the alr-conditioner in sections,
the refrigerant should be recovered and stored in the outdoor
unit before di~assembling the air-conditioner 80 as to prevent
the refrigerant from flowing out exce~sively and to readily
vent the trapped air from the refrigerant paths in future.
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Conventionally, the operations for ~ecovering the refrigerant
and for venting trapped air as well as reestablishment of the
air-conditioner should be carried out by an operator skilled
in thi~ art. Otherwise, such operations may be carried out by
using such automatic apparatus as disclosed in the U.S. Patent
No. 4,285,206, issued to Richard Koser, which is an additional
burden to the user.
SUMMARY OF T~E INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a separate
type air-conditioner which is selectively operable in the air
venting, refrigerant recovery or normal operation mode by an
unskilled user.
In accordance with the aforesaid object, the present invention
provides, in a separate type air-conditioner including an
outdoor unit having elements such as a compressor, a condenser
and a fan motor, an indoor unit with heat exchange means and
conduit means for refrigerant supply and return arranged
between the outdoor and indoor units, the improvement which
comprises a switch, including a plurality o~ terminals for air
venting, refrigerant recovery and normal operation modes of the
air-conditioner, for electrically connecting at least one
terminal to a source of power according to the selection of
mode by a user; refrigerant flow control valve means provided
in the conduits for selectively opening and closing the flow
paths between said units, said control valve means being
electrically connected to said terminals; and relay means,
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electrically connected to said terminal~, for controlling the
current flow through at lea~t one seleeted terminal to said
element~ and control valve means connected thereto, thereby to
operate them.
DESCRIPTION OF ~HE DRAWING
Other objects and advantages will beeome apparent from the
following deseription and appended elaims eonsidered together
with the aceompanying drawings, in which:
Fig. 1 is a schematie view illu~trating an air-eonditioner in
accordance with the present invention; and
Fig. 2 is a sehematic view lllustrating an eleetrie eireuit for
the air-conditioner having modes of air venting, refrigerant
reeovering and normal operation in aeeordanee with the present
invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Referring to Fig. 1, there are shown an outdoor unit 1
including a eompressor le, a fan motor ld, a eonden~er le and
a eapillary tube lf and an indoor unit Z ineluding heat
exehange means sueh as eoil whieh is not shown. Conduits 3a,
3b are eoupled to the outdoor and indoor units 1, 2 by means
of the eonneetor 7 to form a elosed refrigerant flow eireuit.
Conventionally, the air-eonditioner i8 taken out of a
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manufactory with the outdoor unit 1 charged with most of the
refrigerant. As is well known, the liquid refrigerant i8
discharged from the outdoor unit 1 through the refrigerant
supply conduit 3a to the heat exchange means of the indoor unit
2 in which the liquid refrigerant absorbs heat from the ambient
indoor air as the refrigerant vaporizes. The resulting cooled
air may be then distributed to the space to be cooled. The
vaporized refrigerant from the indoor unit 2 returns to the
compressor lc via the refrigerant conduit 3b. In the
compressor lc the vaporized refrigerant i8 further heated by
work of compression and the resulting heated vaporized
refrigerant i3 condensed into liquid in the condenser le by the
ambient outdoor air blown by the fan. The condensed liquid
refrigerant inltiates another cycle of the cooling mode for the
air-conditioner.
In accordance with the present invention, a first refrigerant
flow control valve 4 is provided at the outlet side of the
¦ outdoor unit 1 in the refrigerant supply conduit 3a and a
second refrigerant flow control valve 5 is also provided at the
inlet side of the outdoor unit 1 in the refrigerant return
conduit 3b 80 that the refrigerant flow between the outdoor and
indoor units 1, 2 may be controlled. In the refrigerant return
conduit 3b the branch conduit 3c is formed, having the outlet
communicating with atmosphere and is provided with a third flow
control valve 6. Said flow control valves 4, 5, 6 are
preferably solenoid valves.
Fig. 2 illustrates the electric circuit of the air-conditioner
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in accordance with the present invention. Terminals A, B, C
may be selectively connected or disconnected to one of the
poles of a source plug 10 by the switch 11, for example, a
matrix switch for ~election of the air-conditioner operation
mode.
Said first terminal A includes a relay RL1 of which one contact
is directly connected thereto and the other contact i8 commonly
connected to one end of each of the compressor lc and second
flow control valve 5. The second terminal B is connected to
one contact of the relay RL2 of which the other contact is
connected to the third flow control valve 6. Said third
terminal C is commonly connected to one end of the respective
fan motor ld and first flow control valve 4 to which one
contact of the third relay RL3 is commonly connected. The
other contact of the relay RL3 is also connected to the other
contact of the second relay RL2. The relays RL1, RL2, RL3 are
preferably normally open type relay~.
A description of the operation modes of the air-conditioner in
accordance with the present invention follows:
REFRIGERANT RECOVERY MODE
In the refrigerant recovery mode of the air-condltioner, the
selection switch 11 connects the first terminal A of the
electric circuit to the source of electric power via the plug
10. The coil of relay RLl is then activated, which closes the
contacts thereof to operate the compressor lc and open the
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second flow control valve 5. Thus, the refrigerant prevailing
in the indoor unit 2 and conduit 3A is forced to flow into the
outdoor unit 1 via the return conduit 3B 80 that the air-
conditioner may be di~assembled into section~ by releasing the
connectors 7 with a minimized loss of refrigerant.
AIR VENTING MODE
It is necessary to remove the air prevailing in the conduits
3A, 3B and indoor unit 2 after setting up again the air-
conditioner disassembled in sections. For this purpo~e, the
selection switch 11 i8 set in the mode of air venting operation
for the air-conditioner and thus the second terminal B is
connected to the power source.
In the air venting mode, on the one hand, the coil of relay RL2
is activated and closes the contacts thereof to open the third
flow control valve 6. On the other hand, the coil of relay RL3
is also activated and closes the contacts thereof to operate
the fan motor ld and open the first flow control valve 4. The
refrigerant stored under pressure in the outdoor unit 1 flows
by its pressure through the control valve 4, conduit 3A and
indoor unit 2 to the conduit 3B, urging the trapped air
therein. The urged air is vented through the outlet of branch
conduit 3c to the atmosphere.
When the air venting is completed, the vaporized refrigerant
begins to vent. At that time the air venting mode may be
switched into a normal operation mode by the user.
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Alternatively, the air venting may be sensed by the typical
sensor and automatically switched into a normal operation mode.
NORMAL OPERATION MODE
When the selection switch 11 is in the position of a normal
operation mode, the fir~t and third terminals A, C are commonly
connected to the power source. Accordingly, the flow control
valves 4, 5 are opened, the compressor lc and the fan motor ld
being operated whereby the refrigerant is normally circulated.
STOP MODE
In the stop mode, the selection switch does not connect any of
the terminals to the power source and thus the air-conditioner
remains in the stop mode.
In accordance with the novel construction of the present
invention, the disassembling of the air-conditioner into
sections and reestablishment thereof can be conducted by an
unskilled user without separate apparatus for the air venting
or refrigerant recovery.
It i8 further understood by those skilled in the art that the
foregoing description relates to a preferred embodiment of the
disclosed air-conditloner and that various change~ and
modifications may be made in the invention without departing
from the spirit and scope thereof.
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