Capacity-Increasing Device For Four-Way Valve In Air Conditioning System And The Air Conditioning System
A capacity-increasing device for a four-way valve, the four-way valve has a first port, a second port, a third port and a fourth port, wherein first port is connected with an output end of a compressor via a first line, second port is connected with an input end of the compressor via a second line, third port is connected with a first heat exchanger via a third line, and fourth port is connected with a second heat exchanger via a fourth line, the capacity-increasing device includes a first bypass line and a first valve, the first bypass line connected between third line and second line, the first valve in the first bypass line, a second bypass line and a second valve, the second bypass line connected between fourth line and second line, the second valve in the second bypass line.
The utility model relates to the air conditioning system field, and more particularly, to a capacity-increasing device for a four-way valve in an air conditioning system and the air conditioning system that is equipped with the capacity-increasing device.
BACKGROUNDThe air conditioning system plays an extremely important role in our modern life and various air conditioning systems are disposed in many environments such as factories, offices and bedrooms. However, with the progress of present age and the development of science and technology, and especially the scale of promotion in such aspects as people's living consumption, commercial activities and manufacturing, many application environments with high standards, high power and high heat density loads emerge, thus raising a higher requirement for the refrigeration capacity of the existing air conditioning system.
As for the existing air conditioning system, the above-mentioned problems especially exist in situations where the capacity of the four-way valve in the air conditioning system is restricted during practical use, which may cause many inconveniences. For example, as for a certain air conditioning system using a refrigerant R134a, the maximum capacity of a high-capacity four-way valve that is available in the market commercially is only 140 tons; and when it is required to develop an air conditioning system with capacity exceeding the maximum capacity, a new matched four-way valve must be redesigned and manufactured. However, if the new four-way valve is to be successfully applied, a series of processes such as design, test, authentication and manufacturing are required, which is both time-consuming and labor-intensive and needs significant input costs. In addition, since it is often difficult to effectively control the maturity of the new product, there will be many problems during the later installing and maintaining services.
In PRC Application No. CN 101,236,027A, a multifunctional wind cooling cold and hot water unit is disclosed, wherein a four-way change-over valve (2) is connected with the inlet port and the outlet port of the compressor (1). In addition, in PRC Application No. CN 101,055,116A, a composite condensing/evaporating four-functional hot water air conditioning system air conditioner device including a four-way valve (3) is also disclosed. However, the problems mentioned above still cannot be solved by using the four-way reversing valve or the four-way valve that are involved in these patent applications.
SUMMARY OF THE UTILITY MODELAccording to one aspect of the utility model, a capacity-increasing device for a four-way valve in an air conditioning system is provided, thereby effectively solving the above-mentioned as well as other problems in the prior art. In the air conditioning system, the four-way valve has a first port, a second port, a third port and a fourth port. The first port is connected with an output end of a compressor in the air conditioning system via a first line. The second port is connected with an input end of the compressor via a second line. The third port is connected with a first heat exchanger in the air conditioning system via a third line. The fourth port is connected with a second heat exchanger in the air conditioning system via a fourth line. The capacity-increasing device comprises:
a first bypass line and a first valve, wherein the first bypass line is connected between the third line and the second line, the first valve is arranged in the first bypass line and has an on position and an off position, a refrigerant in the air conditioning system runs through the first bypass line at the on position of the first valve when the air conditioning system is in a refrigeration mode, and the refrigerant is prevented from running through the first bypass line at the off position of the first valve when the air conditioning system is in a heating mode; and/or
a second bypass line and a second valve, wherein the second bypass line is connected between the fourth line and the second line, the second valve is arranged in the second bypass line and has an on position and an off position, the refrigerant in the air conditioning system runs through the second bypass line at the on position of the second valve when the air conditioning system is in the heating mode, and the refrigerant is prevented from running through the second bypass line at the off position of the second valve when the air conditioning system is in the refrigeration mode.
In an embodiment of the capacity-increasing device of the utility model, optionally, the first valve is an electromagnetic valve or an electric ball valve.
In an embodiment of the capacity-increasing device of the utility model, optionally, the second valve is an electromagnetic valve or an electric ball valve.
In an embodiment of the capacity-increasing device of the utility model, optionally, the first heat exchanger is a shell-tube type heat exchanger, a sleeve type heat exchanger or a plate type heat exchanger.
In an embodiment of the capacity-increasing device of the utility model, optionally, the second heat exchanger is a fin heat exchanger or a micro passage heat exchanger.
In an embodiment of the capacity-increasing device of the utility model, optionally, the compressor is a screw compressor, a turbine compressor, a reciprocating compressor or a rotor compressor.
Further, according to another aspect of the utility model, an air conditioning system is further provided, and the air conditioning system is equipped with the capacity-increasing device for a four-way valve in the air conditioning system as mentioned above.
An air conditioning system is provided, and the air conditioning system is equipped with the capacity-increasing device for a four-way valve in the air conditioning system as mentioned above.
In an embodiment of the air conditioning system of the utility model, optionally, the air conditioning system further comprises an oil separator disposed in the first line.
In an embodiment of the air conditioning system of the utility model, optionally, the air conditioning system further comprises a gas-liquid separator disposed in the second line.
In an embodiment of the air conditioning system of the utility model, optionally, the air conditioning system further comprises a reservoir disposed between the first heat exchanger and the second heat exchanger.
In an embodiment of the air conditioning system of the utility model, optionally, the air conditioning system further comprises a dry filter disposed between the first heat exchanger and the second heat exchanger.
In an embodiment of the air conditioning system of the utility model, optionally, the air conditioning system further comprises an economizer disposed between the first heat exchanger and the second heat exchanger, and the economizer is connected with a central air supply port on the compressor.
In contrast with the prior art, the capacity-increasing device for a four-way valve in an air conditioning system is used, which can effectively break the inherent capacity limit of the four-way valve, and directly apply the existing four-way valve to occasions that require larger capacity than its maximum and have higher requirements for the flow capacity, without a need of specially developing and manufacturing a new four-way valve satisfying the requirements of higher flow capacity. The capacity-increasing device has many advantages such as simple structure, flexible configuration, low manufacturing cost and easy installation. When the application requires, already quite matured four-way valve products and the existing matched manufacturing, installing and maintaining services in the prior art can be fully used by disposing the capacity-increasing device in an air conditioning system, and thereby being better for ensuring the long-term, stable and efficient operation of the air conditioning system.
The technical solution of the utility model will further be described in detail below with reference to the drawings and the embodiments.
First, it should be noted that, the design principles, features and advantages of an air conditioning system and a capacity-increasing device for a four-way valve in an air conditioning system will be described below in an exemplary way, however, all the descriptions are used for illustrations only, and should not be construed as any limitation to the utility model. In addition, any single technical feature described or implied in various embodiments mentioned herein, or any single technical feature shown or implied in the drawings can still be arbitrarily combined between these technical features (or equivalents thereof), thereby obtaining more embodiments of the utility model that may not be directly mentioned herein.
As shown in
In the air conditioning system, the four-way valve 4 is a key element configured to control and switch the circulation flow of a refrigerant (for example, by using R134a), and it has four connection ports, that is, a first port 41, a second port 42, a third port 43 and a fourth port 44 that are marked in
Corresponding to the first port 41, the second port 42 of the four-way valve 4 is a permanent output port (referring to the output direction of the refrigerant shown by arrow D in
In the embodiment shown in
In a four-way valve 4, its third port 43 and the fourth port 44 are not permanent uni-directional ports. According to different operating modes that the air conditioning system is in, the third port 43 may be used as an input port as well as an output port. Similarly, the fourth port 44 may also be used as an input port or an output port. During actual operation of the four-way valve 4, one of the third port 43 and the fourth port 44 is used as the input port and the other one is used as the output port by the inner switch, which is definitely illustrated in
In the above-mentioned embodiment, a first bypass line 51, a second bypass line 61, a first valve 52 and a second valve 62 are also disposed. As for the capacity-increasing device for a four-way valve in an air conditioning system of the utility model, the capacity-increasing device may only include the first bypass line 51 and the first valve 52; or may only include the second bypass line 61 and the second valve 62; and definitely may also be a combination of the two situations. No matter which configuration mode is adopted, the capacity-increasing device may be used to achieve the purpose of increasing the capacity of a four-way valve in an air conditioning system. Definitely, if the first bypass line 51, the first valve 52, the second bypass line 61 and the second valve 62 are disposed in the capacity-increasing device at the same time, better and more comprehensive technical effects can be achieved.
Specifically, referring to
As for the first bypass line 51, the first valve 52 is still needed to be disposed therein to perform on-off control on the line. Optionally, the first valve 52 may be an electromagnetic valve, an electric ball valve or any other proper on-off control elements. The first valve 52 itself has an on position and an off position, and in the on position and off position, the refrigerant is accordingly permitted to or prevented from running through the first bypass line 51 based on actual requirements of the air conditioning system.
For example, as shown in
In the above-mentioned flow processes, the dry filter 11 is used to collect and remove moisture and other solid impurities from the refrigerant fluid, thereby making the system clear, and ensuring that the whole air conditioning system runs normally and efficiently. In addition, a small part of the refrigerant is shunted (a secondary path) to be expanded and depressurized by the electronic expansion valve 13, and then the low pressure and low temperature refrigerant enters the economizer 10 and heat exchanges with the refrigerant that is in the main path and flows into the economizer 10 from the main path, so as to further improve the under-cooling of the liquid refrigerant that is in the main path and flows into the economizer 10, thereby helping to improve capacity and energy efficiency level of the air conditioning system (for example, the energy efficiency level may be adjusted to level 2 from level 3). In this way, the under-cooled refrigerant in the main path, which has been processed by the economizer and become stable, is expanded and depressurized by the electronic expansion valve 12; and the heat-exchanged gaseous refrigerant in the secondary path directly enters, via the line connected between the economizer 10 and a central air supply port 113 of the compressor 1, the compressor 1 to be recompressed. The flowing direction of the refrigerant is shown as the direction shown by an arrow H in
In a refrigeration mode, the first heat exchanger 7 is used as an evaporator to evaporate and heat exchange the inflowing refrigerant fluid. Optionally, the first heat exchanger 7 may be a shell-tube type heat exchanger, a sleeve type heat exchanger, a plate type heat exchanger or any other proper device. After that, a part of the evaporated low pressure refrigerant fluid enters the third port 43 of the four-way valve 4 via the third line 431 along the direction shown by the dashed arrow B, flows out of the second port 42 of the four-way valve 4, flows into the second line 421 along the direction shown by arrow D, flows into the gas-liquid separator 2 along the direction shown by arrow G to get the gas and liquid separated, and then backflows to the compressor 1 to accomplish the refrigerant operation circulation in the refrigeration mode. Another part of the evaporated low pressure refrigerant fluid enters the first bypass line 51, and the first valve 52 is in an on position in the current refrigeration mode. Thus, this part of the low pressure refrigerant fluid will run through the first bypass line 51 along the direction shown by arrow F, flow into the gas-liquid separator 2 along the direction shown by arrow G, and backflow to the compressor 1. Apparently, this part of the refrigerant fluid shunted through the first bypass line 51 and the first valve 52 does improve the overall redundancy ability of the air conditioning system, which is equivalent to improve the actual fluid capacity of the four-way valve 4, therefore, the existing four-way valve may be applied to occasions that require larger capacity than its maximum and have higher requirements for the flow capacity. When the air conditioning system is in the heating mode, since the first valve 52 is in an off position, the refrigerant is prevented from running through the first bypass line 51.
Referring to
The working processes of the second bypass line 61 and the second valve 62 in the air conditioning system will be further described below with reference to the directions shown by arrows in
When the air conditioning system is in a heating mode, the refrigerant fluid is first compressed in the compressor 1, and then input to the oil separator 3 to get the oil separated, and then flows into the first port 41 of the four-way valve 4 via the first line 411 along the direction shown by arrow C in
In the current heating mode, the second heat exchanger 8 is used as an evaporator, so as to evaporate and heat exchange the inflowing refrigerant fluid. A part of the evaporated low pressure refrigerant fluid enters the fourth port 44 of the four-way valve 4 via the fourth line 441 along the direction shown by the dashed arrow A, flows out of the second port 42, flows into the second line 421 along the direction shown by arrow D, flows into the gas-liquid separator 2 along the direction shown by arrow G and then backflows to the compressor 1 to accomplish the refrigerant operation circulation in the heating mode. In addition, since the second valve 62 is in an on position in the current heating mode, the other part of the evaporated low pressure refrigerant fluid will run through the second bypass line 61 along the direction shown by arrow E, flow into the gas-liquid separator 2 along the direction shown by arrow G, and backflow to the compressor 1. Thus, this part of the refrigerant fluid shunted through the second bypass line 61 and the second valve 62 can also improve the overall redundancy ability of the air conditioning system, so that these existing four-way valves may be used securely and reliably in occasions that require larger capacity than its maximum and require lager flow. Since the second valve 62 is in an off position when the air conditioning system is in a refrigeration mode, the refrigerant is prevented from running through the second bypass line 61.
It should be understood that, the capacity-increasing device for a four-way valve in an air conditioning system and the air conditioning system are explained above with reference to
For example, although many elements such as the gas-liquid separator 2, the oil separator 3, the reservoir 9, the economizer 10, the dry filter 11, the electronic expansion valve 13, and the check valves 14, 15, 16 and 17 are disposed as shown in
For another example, in some embodiments not shown herein, some extra elements and devices may further be added to the air conditioning system based on customer requirements or on-site needs. For example, some element(s) or device(s) may be disposed in the first bypass line 51 and/or the second bypass line 61.
Further, the compressor 1 may be a screw compressor, a turbine compressor, a reciprocating compressor or a rotor compressor. In addition, the first valve 52 and the second valve 62 may be valves of the same or different models.
Some specific embodiments are provided above to explain the capacity-increasing device for a four-way valve in an air conditioning system and the air conditioning system disposed with the capacity-increasing device. These examples are only for illustrating the principles and embodiments of the utility model rather than limiting the utility model. Various variations and improvements can still be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and the spirit of the utility model. Therefore, all equivalent technical solutions belong to the scope of the utility model and should be defined by the appended claims of the utility model.
Claims
1. A capacity-increasing device for a four-way valve in an air conditioning system, the four-way valve has a first port, a second port, a third port and a fourth port, wherein the first port is connected with an output end of a compressor in the air conditioning system via a first line, the second port is connected with an input end of the compressor via a second line, the third port is connected with a first heat exchanger in the air conditioning system via a third line, and the fourth port is connected with a second heat exchanger in the air conditioning system via a fourth line, characterized in that, the capacity-increasing device comprises:
- a first bypass line and a first valve, wherein the first bypass line is connected between the third line and the second line, the first valve is arranged in the first bypass line and has an on position and an off position, a refrigerant in the air conditioning system runs through the first bypass line at the on position of the first valve when the air conditioning system is in a refrigeration mode, and the refrigerant is prevented from running through the first bypass line at the off position of the first valve when the air conditioning system is in a heating mode; and/or
- a second bypass line and a second valve, wherein the second bypass line is connected between the fourth line and the second line, the second valve is arranged in the second bypass line and has an on position and an off position, the refrigerant in the air conditioning system runs through the second bypass line at the on position of the second valve when the air conditioning system is in the heating mode, and the refrigerant is prevented from running through the second bypass line at the off position of the second valve when the air conditioning system is in the refrigeration mode.
2. The capacity-increasing device of claim 1, characterized in that, the first valve is an electromagnetic valve or an electric ball valve.
3. The capacity-increasing device of claim 1, characterized in that, the second valve is an electromagnetic valve or an electric ball valve.
4. The capacity-increasing device of claim 1, characterized in that, the first heat exchanger is a shell-tube type heat exchanger, a sleeve type heat exchanger or a plate type heat exchanger.
5. The capacity-increasing device of claim 1, characterized in that, the second heat exchanger is a fin heat exchanger or a micro passage heat exchanger.
6. The capacity-increasing device of claim 1, characterized in that, the compressor is a screw compressor, a turbine compressor, a reciprocating compressor or a rotor compressor.
7. An air conditioning system, characterized in that, the air conditioning system is equipped with a capacity-increasing device as that for a four-way valve in an air conditioning system in any of claim 1.
8. The air conditioning system of claim 7, characterized in that, the air conditioning system further comprises an oil separator disposed in the first line.
9. The air conditioning system of claim 7, characterized in that, the air conditioning system further comprises a gas-liquid separator disposed in the second line.
10. The air conditioning system of claim 7, characterized in that, the air conditioning system further comprises a reservoir disposed between the first heat exchanger and the second heat exchanger.
11. The air conditioning system of claim 7, characterized in that, the air conditioning system further comprises a dry filter disposed between the first heat exchanger and the second heat exchanger.
12. The air conditioning system of claim 7, characterized in that, the air conditioning system further comprises an economizer disposed between the first heat exchanger and the second heat exchanger, and the economizer is connected with a central air supply port on the compressor.
International Classification: F25B 43/02 (20060101); F25B 41/04 (20060101);