COOLING/HEATING SWITCHING UNIT AND AIR CONDITIONER INCLUDING THE SAME

• Main Authors: FUKUDA KAZUNORI, FUSHIMI NAOYUKI, NAITO KOJI, URATA KAZUMIKI, YASUDA HAJIME
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; Japanese
• Published: 18.01.2018
• Subjects: AIR-CONDITIONING, AIR-HUMIDIFICATION, VENTILATION, USE OF AIRCURRENTS FOR SCREENING; BLASTING; COMBINED HEATING AND REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS; HEAT PUMP SYSTEMS; HEATING; LIGHTING; LIQUEFACTION SOLIDIFICATION OF GASES; MANUFACTURE OR STORAGE OF ICE; MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; RANGES; REFRIGERATION MACHINES, PLANTS OR SYSTEMS; REFRIGERATION OR COOLING; VENTILATING; WEAPONS

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a cooling/heating switching unit that can easily and reliably detect leakage of a refrigerant.SOLUTION: A cooling/heating switching unit comprises: a connection part 37 and a connection part 38 to which a high/low pressure gas main pipe 24 and a low pressure gas main pipe 27 connected to an outdoor unit 10 are connected respectively; a connection part 39 to which an indoor unit connection pipe 28 connected to each of a plurality of indoor units 40 is connected; a high/low pressure gas pipe expansion valve 31, a low pressure gas expansion valve 32, and expansion valve driving parts 33 and 34 that selectively connect the connection part 37 and the connection part 39 or the connection part 38 and the connection part 39 via a refrigerant pipe to control a flow direction of a refrigerant; a housing 50 that houses the refrigerant pipe; a thermal insulating material housed inside the housing 50 to thermally insulate the refrigerant pipe arranged inside the housing 50; and a refrigerant leakage detection sensor 81 provided outside the housing 50 to detect a leaked refrigerant.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 6 【課題】冷媒の漏洩を簡便かつ確実に検知することが可能な冷暖切替ユニットを提供する。【解決手段】室外機１０に繋がる高低圧ガス主管２４及び低圧ガス主管２７がそれぞれ接続される接続部３７及び接続部３８と、複数の室内機４０のそれぞれに繋がる室内機接続管２８が接続される接続部３９と、接続部３７と接続部３９と、又は、接続部３８と接続部３９とを、冷媒配管を介して選択的に接続し、冷媒の通流方向を制御する高低圧ガス管用膨張弁３１、低圧ガス管用膨張弁３２及び膨張弁駆動部３３，３４と、冷媒配管を収容する筐体５０と、筐体５０の内部に収容され、筐体５０の内部に配置された冷媒配管を断熱する断熱材と、筐体５０の外部に備えられ、漏洩した冷媒を検知する冷媒漏洩検知センサ８１と、を備える。【選択図】図６