Patents by Inventor Naofumi Takenaka

Naofumi Takenaka has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 10808976
    Abstract: An air-conditioning apparatus includes: a first defrosting pipe branching from a main circuit to supply a portion of refrigerant discharged from a compressor to one of plural parallel heat exchangers to be defrosted; a second defrosting pipe which returns, to the main circuit, the refrigerant supplied through the first defrosting pipe to the one parallel heat exchanger; a first expansion device provided on the first defrosting pipe; a second expansion device provided on the second defrosting pipe to adjust a pressure of the refrigerant in the one parallel heat exchanger; and a third expansion device provided between a connection point between an outlet of the second defrosting pipe and the main circuit and one of plural indoor heat exchangers functioning as an evaporator, to adjust a pressure of the refrigerant in the one of the indoor heat exchangers; and a controller that controls the second and third expansion devices individually.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 16, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 20, 2020
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kazuya Watanabe, Shinichi Wakamoto, Naofumi Takenaka, Naomichi Tamura, Tadashi Ariyama
  • Patent number: 10775060
    Abstract: An air-conditioning apparatus is capable of performing a heating-defrosting operation where a specific one of a plurality of parallel heat exchangers is a heat exchanger to be defrosted and serves as a condenser while at least one parallel heat exchanger other than the heat exchanger to be defrosted serves as an evaporator. The air-conditioning apparatus includes a liquid refrigerant transporting unit for transferring liquid refrigerant from an accumulator to the heat exchanger to be defrosted. To perform the heating-defrosting operation, the air-conditioning apparatus supplies, to the heat exchanger to be defrosted, the liquid refrigerant transferred by the liquid refrigerant transporting unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 1, 2014
    Date of Patent: September 15, 2020
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Naofumi Takenaka, Shinichi Wakamoto, Kazuya Watanabe, Koji Yamashita, Takeshi Hatomura
  • Publication number: 20200284476
    Abstract: A compressor of an air-conditioning device includes a scroll mechanism unit having a fixed scroll and an orbiting scroll that cooperates with the fixed scroll to compress refrigerant; an electric motion unit that provides revolution movement to the orbiting scroll; a first space portion provided between the scroll mechanism unit and the electric motion unit; an annular second space portion provided in a circumference of the scroll mechanism unit in a radial direction; a suction pipe connected to the first space portion, from which the refrigerant is sucked into the compressor; a communication path provided between the first space portion and the second space portion, to guide, to the second space portion, the refrigerant sucked from the suction pipe to the first space portion; and a discharge pipe that discharges, to outside of the compressor, the refrigerant that flows from the second space portion into the scroll mechanism unit and is compressed, and a part of the refrigerant between the first expansion val
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 24, 2017
    Publication date: September 10, 2020
    Applicant: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Jun NISHIO, Naofumi TAKENAKA, Soshi IKEDA, Raito KAWAMURA, Hideto NAKAO, Katsuhiro ISHIMURA
  • Publication number: 20200256589
    Abstract: An air-conditioning system includes a heat source side refrigerant circuit in which a heat source side heat exchanger is provided, a load side heat medium circuit in which a load side heat exchanger is provided, an intermediate heat exchanger, and a heat medium sealing. The heat medium sealing mechanism includes a supply port through which the heat medium and gas flow, the gas being more soluble in the heat medium than air, a discharge port through which the gas pushed by the heat medium is discharged, and a flow straightener that is connected to the load side heat medium circuit in such a manner that, when the gas is supplied, the gas flows from the supply port to the discharge port, and when the heat medium is supplied, the heat medium flows from the supply port to the discharge port.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 27, 2017
    Publication date: August 13, 2020
    Inventors: Naofumi TAKENAKA, Yuji MOTOMURA, Osamu MORIMOTO
  • Patent number: 10724776
    Abstract: An exhaust heat recovery type of air-conditioning apparatus includes: an air-conditioning-side refrigerant circuit including a first flow switching device, a second flow switching device, and an exhaust-heat recovery heat exchanger connected in parallel to an outdoor heat exchanger and an indoor heat exchanger; and a refrigeration-side refrigerant circuit. The first flow switching device causes the outdoor heat exchanger to communicate with one of a discharge side and a suction side of a first compressor through a pipe. The second flow switching device causes the indoor heat exchanger to communicate with one of the discharge and suction sides of the first compressor through a pipe. The exhaust-heat recovery heat exchanger is connected to the suction side of the first compressor through a pipe, and causes heat exchange between refrigerants. Because of the above configuration, the exhaust heat recovery type of air-conditioning apparatus can use exhaust heat in any of operation modes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 21, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 28, 2020
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Shingo Taninaka, Shigeo Takata, Naofumi Takenaka
  • Patent number: 10684043
    Abstract: An air-conditioning apparatus includes a heat source unit, a plurality of indoor units, and a relay unit. The heat source unit includes a heat-source-side flow control valve connected to a heat-source-side heat exchanger, a bypass pipe connected in parallel to the heat-source-side heat exchanger, a bypass flow control valve provided in the bypass pipe, and a gas-liquid separating unit configured to, when refrigerant flows out to the high-pressure pipe, mix refrigerant in a liquid state flowing through the heat-source-side heat exchanger and refrigerant in a gas state flowing through the bypass pipe and cause mixed refrigerant to flow out to the high-pressure pipe, and configured to, when refrigerant flows in from the low-pressure pipe, separate the refrigerant flowing in from the low-pressure pipe into refrigerant in a liquid state flowing into the heat-source-side heat exchanger and refrigerant in a gas state flowing into the bypass pipe.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 8, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 16, 2020
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Hiroyuki Okano, Naofumi Takenaka
  • Publication number: 20200182516
    Abstract: An air-conditioning apparatus that includes a compressor, a flow switching device, an outdoor heat exchange unit, an expansion section and an indoor heat exchanger, which are connected by pipes, in which the outdoor heat exchange unit includes a first outdoor heat exchanger, a first flow rate control device, a second outdoor heat exchanger, a second flow rate control device, a bypass pipe, the second outdoor heat exchanger, the second flow rate control device, a third flow rate control device, and a flow control device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 15, 2017
    Publication date: June 11, 2020
    Inventors: Hiroki MARUYAMA, Osamu MORIMOTO, Hiroyuki OKANO, Naofumi TAKENAKA
  • Patent number: 10520233
    Abstract: An air-conditioning apparatus is capable of efficiently performing defrosting operation without suspending a heating operation of an indoor unit. The air-conditioning apparatus includes a main circuit sequentially connecting, via a pipe, a compressor, indoor heat exchangers, first flow control devices, and a plurality of parallel heat exchangers connected in parallel to each other to allow refrigerant to circulate, first defrost pipes branching a part of the refrigerant discharged from the compressor and causing the part of the refrigerant to flow into one of the plurality of parallel heat exchangers to be defrosted, an interface heat exchanger located between the plurality of parallel heat exchangers, a first bypass pipe branching a part of the refrigerant discharged from the compressor and causing the part of the refrigerant to flow into the interface heat exchanger, and a second bypass pipe causing the part of the refrigerant flowing out of the interface heat exchanger to flow into the main circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 13, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2019
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Kazuya Watanabe, Shinichi Wakamoto, Naofumi Takenaka, Naomichi Tamura, Tadashi Ariyama, Koji Yamashita, Takeshi Hatomura
  • Patent number: 10508826
    Abstract: An air-conditioning apparatus includes a selection unit and a determination unit, the selection unit selecting a reverse-defrosting operation mode or a heating-defrosting simultaneous operation mode, the reverse-defrosting operation mode being a mode in which all of parallel heat exchangers are defrosted by stopping a heating operation, the heating-defrosting simultaneous operation mode being a mode in which each parallel heat exchanger is sequentially defrosted while continuing a heating operation, the determination unit determining whether or not a defrosting operation is to be started, in which the determination unit is configured to start the defrosting operation in a state where the amount of frost deposited on the parallel heat exchangers is smaller in a case where the heating-defrosting simultaneous operation mode is selected than in a case where the reverse-defrosting operation is selected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 13, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 17, 2019
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Naofumi Takenaka, Shinichi Wakamoto, Kazuya Watanabe, Naomichi Tamura, Tadashi Ariyama, Koji Yamashita, Takeshi Hatomura
  • Patent number: 10465968
    Abstract: An air-conditioning apparatus includes: a compressor allowing refrigerant injection thereto and compress and discharge the refrigerant at a high temperature; an indoor heat exchanger exchanging heat between air and refrigerant; a first flow rate control device adjusting and controlling a flow rate of refrigerant; and a plurality of outdoor heat exchangers being in parallel to exchange heat between outside air and refrigerant, a first defrosting pipe allowing a branched part of the refrigerant discharged from the compressor to pass and flow into the outdoor heat exchanger to be defrosted; a reducing device adjusting a pressure of refrigerant passing through the first defrosting pipe to a medium pressure; a second defrosting pipe from which the refrigerant having passed through the outdoor heat exchanger to be defrosted is injected into the compressor; and a reducing device adjusting a pressure of refrigerant passing through the second defrosting pipe to an injection pressure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 31, 2013
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2019
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Naofumi Takenaka, Shinichi Wakamoto, Kazuya Watanabe, Koji Yamashita, Takeshi Hatomura
  • Patent number: 10451306
    Abstract: An air-conditioning apparatus, including an outdoor unit including a compressor and an outdoor heat exchanger, a plurality of indoor units each including an indoor heat exchanger, and a relay unit configured to distribute refrigerant supplied from the outdoor unit to the plurality of indoor units, the relay unit including a first branch unit in which liquid-side pipes connected to the plurality of indoor units join together, and a refrigerant shutoff valve, which is configured to control bidirectional flow of the refrigerant, and is provided to the first branch unit, the number of the refrigerant shut off valve being smaller than a number of the plurality of indoor units.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 28, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2019
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Naofumi Takenaka, Shinichi Wakamoto, Yuji Motomura, Osamu Morimoto, Hirofumi Koge, Koji Yamashita
  • Patent number: 10415861
    Abstract: A controller switches between and performs a first simultaneous heating and defrosting operation of supplying part of refrigerant discharged from a compressor is supplied to one or some parallel heat exchangers among a plurality of parallel heat exchangers through a defrosting circuit and allowing the other one or more parallel heat exchangers to operate as evaporators, and a second simultaneous heating and defrosting operation of, in one or some heat source units among a plurality of heat source units, supplying the refrigerant discharged from the compressor is supplied to all the plurality of parallel heat exchangers through the defrosting circuit, and in the other one or more heat source units, continuing heating by allowing all the plurality of parallel heat exchangers to operate as evaporators.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 17, 2019
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Naofumi Takenaka, Shinichi Wakamoto, Kazuya Watanabe, Naomichi Tamura, Tadashi Ariyama
  • Patent number: 10393419
    Abstract: A controller, at least during the heating operation, controls the opening degree of a second expansion device and/or a third expansion device based on a discharge refrigerant temperature detected by a discharge refrigerant temperature detector, or a value computed using the discharge refrigerant temperature, and causes refrigerant having a quality equal to or greater than 0.9 and less than or equal to 0.99 to be suctioned into a compressor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 21, 2012
    Date of Patent: August 27, 2019
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Katsuhiro Ishimura, Koji Yamashita, Shinichi Wakamoto, Naofumi Takenaka, Fumihiko Ishizono
  • Publication number: 20190154321
    Abstract: A controller switches between and performs a first simultaneous heating and defrosting operation of supplying part of refrigerant discharged from a compressor is supplied to one or some parallel heat exchangers among a plurality of parallel heat exchangers through a defrosting circuit and allowing the other one or more parallel heat exchangers to operate as evaporators, and a second simultaneous heating and defrosting operation of, in one or some heat source units among a plurality of heat source units, supplying the refrigerant discharged from the compressor is supplied to all the plurality of parallel heat exchangers through the defrosting circuit, and in the other one or more heat source units, continuing heating by allowing all the plurality of parallel heat exchangers to operate as evaporators.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 28, 2016
    Publication date: May 23, 2019
    Applicant: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Naofumi TAKENAKA, Shinichi WAKAMOTO, Kazuya WATANABE, Naomichi TAMURA, Tadashi ARIYAMA
  • Publication number: 20190154320
    Abstract: An exhaust heat recovery type of air-conditioning apparatus includes: an air-conditioning-side refrigerant circuit including a first flow switching device, a second flow switching device, and an exhaust-heat recovery heat exchanger connected in parallel to an outdoor heat exchanger and an indoor heat exchanger; and a refrigeration-side refrigerant circuit. The first flow switching device causes the outdoor heat exchanger to communicate with one of a discharge side and a suction side of a first compressor through a pipe. The second flow switching device causes the indoor heat exchanger to communicate with one of the discharge and suction sides of the first compressor through a pipe. The exhaust-heat recovery heat exchanger is connected to the suction side of the first compressor through a pipe, and causes heat exchange between refrigerants. Because of the above configuration, the exhaust heat recovery type of air-conditioning apparatus can use exhaust heat in any of operation modes.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 21, 2016
    Publication date: May 23, 2019
    Applicant: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Shingo TANINAKA, Shigeo TAKATA, Naofumi TAKENAKA
  • Publication number: 20190107314
    Abstract: An air-conditioning apparatus includes: a first defrosting pipe branching from a main circuit to supply a portion of refrigerant discharged from a compressor to one of plural parallel heat exchangers to be defrosted; a second defrosting pipe which returns, to the main circuit, the refrigerant supplied through the first defrosting pipe to the one parallel heat exchanger; a first expansion device provided on the first defrosting pipe; a second expansion device provided on the second defrosting pipe to adjust a pressure of the refrigerant in the one parallel heat exchanger; and a third expansion device provided between a connection point between an outlet of the second defrosting pipe and the main circuit and one of plural indoor heat exchangers functioning as an evaporator, to adjust a pressure of the refrigerant in the one of the indoor heat exchangers; and a controller that controls the second and third expansion devices individually.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 16, 2016
    Publication date: April 11, 2019
    Applicant: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Kazuya WATANABE, Shinichi WAKAMOTO, Naofumi TAKENAKA, Naomichi TAMURA, Tadashi ARIYAMA
  • Patent number: 10208987
    Abstract: An air-conditioning apparatus includes a bypass pipe that has one end connected to the discharge side of a compressor and through which refrigerant exiting the compressor flows, an auxiliary heat exchanger that is connected to the other end of the bypass pipe and the suction part of the compressor, and cools refrigerant flowing through the bypass pipe and supplies the cooled refrigerant to the suction part of the compressor, and a flow regulating unit that is provided on the refrigerant outlet side of the auxiliary heat exchanger, and regulates the flow rate of refrigerant routed into the suction part of the compressor from the auxiliary heat exchanger.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 16, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2019
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Soshi Ikeda, Shinichi Wakamoto, Naofumi Takenaka, Koji Yamashita, Takeshi Hatomura
  • Publication number: 20190049154
    Abstract: An air-conditioning apparatus includes a refrigerant circuit in which pipes sequentially connect a compressor, a flow switching device, a heat source side heat exchanger, an expansion device, a load side heat exchanger, and the flow switching device, and configured to perform a cooling operation and a heating operation switched by the flow switching device, an oil separator configured to separate refrigerating machine oil from refrigerant discharged from the compressor, a first bypass passage in which fluid flowing out of the oil separator flows, an auxiliary heat exchanger configured to cool the fluid, a first flow control device configured to control passing of the fluid, a second bypass passage in which liquid refrigerant or two-phase gas-liquid refrigerant flowing through one of the pipes connecting the heat source side heat exchanger and the expansion device flows, and a second flow control device configured to control passing of refrigerant.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 23, 2016
    Publication date: February 14, 2019
    Applicant: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Soshi IKEDA, Shinichi WAKAMOTO, Naofumi TAKENAKA, Takeshi HATOMURA
  • Publication number: 20180347868
    Abstract: An air-conditioning apparatus includes a heat source unit, a plurality of indoor units, and a relay unit. The heat source unit includes a heat-source-side flow control valve connected to a heat-source-side heat exchanger, a bypass pipe connected in parallel to the heat-source-side heat exchanger, a bypass flow control valve provided in the bypass pipe, and a gas-liquid separating unit configured to, when refrigerant flows out to the high-pressure pipe, mix refrigerant in a liquid state flowing through the heat-source-side heat exchanger and refrigerant in a gas state flowing through the bypass pipe and cause mixed refrigerant to flow out to the high-pressure pipe, and configured to, when refrigerant flows in from the low-pressure pipe, separate the refrigerant flowing in from the low-pressure pipe into refrigerant in a liquid state flowing into the heat-source-side heat exchanger and refrigerant in a gas state flowing into the bypass pipe.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 8, 2016
    Publication date: December 6, 2018
    Applicant: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Hiroyuki OKANO, Naofumi TAKENAKA
  • Patent number: 10107533
    Abstract: An air-conditioning apparatus includes a refrigerant circuit formed by connecting, with pipes, a compressor to compress refrigerant and discharge the compressed refrigerant, a first heat exchanger, a subcooling heat exchanger exchanges heat between a portion of the refrigerant flowing in a first flow passage and another portion of the refrigerant flowing in a second flow passage to subcool the portion of refrigerant flowing in the first flow passage, a first expansion device to decompress the refrigerant, a second heat exchanger, and an accumulator connected to a suction side of the compressor and configured to store excess refrigerant, so that the refrigerant is circulated through the refrigerant circuit. The air-conditioning apparatus is configured to prevent the discharge temperature of the compressor from being excessively increased irrespective of the operation mode and therefore prevent damage to the compressor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 18, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 23, 2018
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Koji Yamashita, Katsuhiro Ishimura, Takeshi Hatomura, Soshi Ikeda, Shinichi Wakamoto, Naofumi Takenaka