Air-conditioner and air-conditioning system
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing air-conditioning systems face challenges in being compact, light, and silent due to the large and noisy refrigerant compressor, making them difficult to design, install, and maintain, especially in quiet environments.
Innovation Solution
The air-conditioning system comprises a plurality of air-conditioners with a compressor unit outside the housing, featuring a pipe connecting mechanism that connects the air-conditioners to a refrigerant compressor, allowing for a compact, light, and silent design by separating the compressor from the air-conditioners and using a switching mechanism to switch between cooling and heating modes without the need for a compressor on each unit.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If the refrigerant compressor is integrated into the air-conditioner housing, then the system is easy to design and install, but the unit becomes large and heavy
Solution Approach 1:
The system is divided into separate functional units: air-conditioner units (containing heat exchangers, fans, and control systems) and a centralized compressor unit. This segmentation allows the air-conditioner units to be compact and lightweight while the compressor is housed separately, resolving the contradiction between ease of installation and unit size.
Solution Approach 2:
The centralized compressor unit serves multiple air-conditioner units simultaneously through a shared refrigerant distribution system. This multi-functionality approach allows one compressor to support several air-conditioner units, reducing overall system weight and complexity while maintaining ease of installation.
2Ease of repair
If the refrigerant compressor is integrated into the air-conditioner housing, then the system is easy to maintain, but the unit emits loud sound
Solution Approach 1:
The noisy compressor is extracted from the air-conditioner housing and placed in a separate centralized unit. This extraction removes the primary noise source from the air-conditioner units, allowing them to operate quietly while maintaining ease of maintenance through the shared system architecture.
Solution Approach 2:
A centralized compressor unit acts as an intermediary between the power source and multiple air-conditioner units. This intermediary structure consolidates noise-generating components in one location while distributing cooling/heating functions to multiple quiet units, resolving the noise-maintenance contradiction.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple air-conditioners each have their own refrigerant compressor, then each unit is independent, but the system becomes large and heavy
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple compressors are merged into a single centralized compressor unit that serves all air-conditioner units through a shared refrigerant distribution system. This merging reduces the total weight and number of components while maintaining system versatility through modular air-conditioner units that can be independently controlled.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This configuration reduces installation costs, improves heat exchange efficiency, and allows for both cooling and heating operations while minimizing noise and size, making the system easier to design, install, and maintain.
Implementation Method 1
a first heat exchanger disposed in the first main air channel to cause a heat-exchange between refrigerant flowing therein and air passing therethrough
Implementation Method 2
cause a heat-exchange between refrigerant flowing therein and air passing therethrough
Implementation Method 3
air passing therethrough
Implementation Method 4
a refrigerant compressor, wherein: each of the high-pressure gas refrigerant pipe and the low-pressure gas refrigerant pipe is connected to both the refrigerant compressor
Implementation Method 5
a sub-cooling heat exchanger fluidly connected to the liquid refrigerant pipe and configured to cool down the refrigerant flowing in the liquid refrigerant pipe
Implementation Method 6
configured to cool down the refrigerant flowing in the liquid refrigerant pipe
Data Source
Figure 1
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Figure 3
AI summary
Provided is an air-conditioner (300), comprising: a first main air channel (331) with a first heat exchanger (341); a second main air channel (332) with a second heat exchanger (342, 343); a housing accommodating at least the first main air channel and the second main air channel; and a pipe connecting mechanism (370). The pipe connecting mechanism is configured to connect each of the first heat exchanger and the second heat exchanger to a refrigerant compressor (411) which is disposed outside the housing, via a high-pressure gas refrigerant pipe (430) and a low-pressure gas refrigerant pipe (440), such that the first heat exchanger, the second heat exchanger and the refrigerant compressor form a heat pump circuit.