Air conditioning apparatus
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing air conditioning apparatuses face limitations in heat exchange performance due to a fixed refrigerant flow path configuration, which affects both cooling and heating operations, leading to suboptimal condensation and evaporation efficiencies.
Innovation Solution
The air conditioning apparatus features a variable refrigerant flow path system that adjusts based on operation mode, allowing parallel connections during cooling to increase the number of paths and reduce path length for evaporators, and series connections during heating to increase path length and reduce the number of paths for condensers, enhancing performance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If the refrigerant flow path is fixed in the plate-type heat exchanger, then the device complexity is reduced, but the heat exchange performance deteriorates when the heat exchanger functions as either condenser or evaporator
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies the dynamics principle by making the refrigerant flow path configurable rather than fixed. The plate-type heat exchanger includes multiple refrigerant flow paths that can be selectively activated based on operational mode (cooling or heating). This allows the system to dynamically adjust the number and arrangement of active flow paths to optimize heat exchange performance for each specific function while maintaining a relatively simple overall structure.
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 adaptive flow path configuration improves heat exchange efficiency by preventing pressure loss during cooling and enhancing condensation performance during heating, leading to improved overall system performance and energy efficiency.
Implementation Method 1
a heat exchange device configured to connect the outdoor unit to the plurality of indoor units, the heat exchange device being configured to perform heat exchange between a refrigerant and water
Data Source
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AI summary
An air conditioning apparatus includes an outdoor unit through which a refrigerant circulates, an indoor unit through which water circulates, and a heat exchange device configured to connect the indoor unit to the outdoor unit, the heat exchange device being configured to perform heat exchange between the refrigerant and the water. The heat exchange device includes a first heat exchanger and a second heat exchanger, a first refrigerant pipe and a second refrigerant pipe, which are connected to the first heat exchanger and the second heat exchanger, respectively, an expansion valve provided in the second refrigerant pipe, a bypass pipe configured to connect the second refrigerant pipe of the first heat exchanger to the first refrigerant pipe of the second heat exchanger, and a bypass valve provided in the bypass pipe.