KR100337918B1 - Air conditioner and method for controlling dehumidifying operation - Google Patents

Abstract

An air conditioner having a refrigeration cycle in which a compressor, an outdoor heat exchanger, a capillary tube, and an indoor heat exchanger are sequentially connected by a refrigerant pipe, and a dehumidification operation control method thereof are disclosed. The present invention is provided with a bypass tube for branching the refrigerant flowing out of the outdoor heat exchanger and flowing into the capillary tube through the indoor heat exchanger, and an opening / closing valve capable of opening and closing the refrigerant passage of the bypass tube to sense humidity in the room. Then, when the sensed humidity of the room exceeds a predetermined predetermined comfort humidity, the on-off valve is opened until the humidity of the room becomes less than or equal to the predetermined comfort humidity. Thereby, the dehumidification operation can be performed efficiently without excessively lowering the room temperature.

Description

Air conditioner and method for controlling dehumidifying operation

The present invention relates to an air conditioner and a method for controlling the dehumidification operation thereof, and more particularly, to an air conditioner and a method for controlling the dehumidification operation capable of performing the dehumidification operation efficiently without excessively lowering the indoor temperature.

The air conditioner generally performs cooling or heating of a room using a refrigeration cycle. Normally, the liquid has a property of evaporating when the pressure is kept constant and the temperature is raised, and the vaporized gas is liquefied when the pressure is kept constant and the temperature is decreased. Therefore, in the air conditioner, the heat is absorbed by the surroundings when the liquid vaporizes and the heat is released when the liquid is liquefied.

Such an air conditioner performs a dehumidification function in addition to the cooling or heating functions described above, and in this case, a dehumidifying function typically uses a cooling dehumidifying method of cooling indoor air. That is, by cooling the indoor air below the saturation temperature, water vapor in the air is converted into liquid (dew) and removed from the air.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a conventional air conditioner having a dehumidification function. As can be seen in the drawing, the conventional air conditioner 1 includes an outdoor unit 3 and an indoor unit 5, and has a refrigeration cycle for circulating these outdoor units 3 and 5. The outdoor unit 3 includes a compressor 11 for compressing a refrigerant at high temperature and high pressure, and an outdoor heat exchanger 12 for dissipating the high temperature / high pressure heat introduced from the compressor 11 to the outside to condense the liquid refrigerant at room temperature / high pressure. ). The outdoor heat exchanger 12 is cooled by the outdoor fan 13 provided adjacently. It further includes a capillary tube 14 for reducing the liquid refrigerant flowing out from the outdoor heat exchanger 12 to a low temperature / low pressure state.

On the other hand, the indoor unit 5 allows the indoor heat exchanger 22 to absorb ambient heat while the liquid refrigerant introduced from the outdoor capillary tube 14 evaporates, and blows cool air formed around the indoor heat exchanger 22 to the interior. The indoor fan 23 is comprised. A control unit 31 for controlling the drive of the compressor 11, the outdoor fan 12, and the indoor fan 22 is provided, and an operation unit 33 for applying a user's key input to the control unit 31. The operation unit 33 includes a mode selection unit capable of selecting an operation mode, for example, a cooling mode, a heating mode, or a dehumidification mode. The indoor unit 5 further includes a temperature sensor 35 for detecting the temperature of the room and applying it to the control unit 31.

The cooling operation and the dehumidification action of the conventional air conditioner 1 configured as described above will be described. When the user inputs various operation commands such as temperature setting and operation start through the operation unit 33, the control unit 31 detects this and drives the compressor 11. At this time, the refrigerant in the compressor 11 is compressed to high temperature and high pressure and then flows out, whereby the refrigerant is circulated through the refrigeration cycle.

The refrigerant flowing out of the compressor 11 is circulated to the outdoor heat exchanger 12 to condense into a liquid refrigerant at room temperature. At this time, when the outdoor fan 13 is driven, the warm air formed around the outdoor heat exchanger 12 is released to the outside, and the outdoor heat exchanger 12 is cooled. Meanwhile, the outdoor heat exchanger 12 is cooled. The refrigerant condensed through is introduced into the capillary tube 14, and is reduced in pressure through the capillary tube 14 and converted into a refrigerant having a low temperature and low pressure.

Then, the low temperature / low pressure refrigerant passing through the capillary tube 13 flows into the indoor heat exchanger 22. At this time, the indoor air blown by the drive of the indoor fan 23 exchanges heat with the low / low pressure refrigerant circulating therein while passing through the indoor heat exchanger 22. Through the heat exchange process, the room is cooled to a predetermined temperature by cold air blown into the room. On the other hand, the refrigerant changed into a gas state of low temperature and low pressure in the indoor heat exchanger 22 flows into the compressor 11 and becomes a gas state of high temperature and high pressure.

During the operation of such a refrigeration cycle, the control unit 31 detects the room temperature through the temperature sensor 35 and compares / determines whether the present room temperature has fallen below a preset input temperature. Thus, when the room temperature does not reach the set temperature, the cooling operation is continued. However, when the room temperature reaches the set temperature, that is, when the room temperature is lower than the set temperature, the cooling operation is stopped by turning off the compressor 11, the indoor fan 22, the outdoor fan 12, and the like.

On the other hand, when performing the dehumidification function, the above-described cooling function is intermittently performed for a predetermined time to cool the indoor air below the saturation temperature. That is, while the low-temperature low-pressure refrigerant flowing through the indoor heat exchanger 22 evaporates and exchanges heat with the surrounding air, water vapor in the air is converted into a liquid (dew) and formed on the surface of the indoor heat exchanger 22. . As a result, the humidity contained in the indoor air is removed, thereby reducing the humidity in the room.

By the way, in the conventional air conditioner 1, since water vapor in the air is converted into dew and discharged during the dehumidification mode, it is possible to lower the absolute humidity in the air and maintain a comfortable indoor environment. , When the humidity in the room is excessive, in particular, during the rainy season, such as during the rainy season, if the dehumidification function is performed for a long time in order to lower the humidity of the room there is a problem that the room temperature is lowered by relatively lower the room temperature.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention, in consideration of such a conventional problem, an air conditioner and a method for controlling the dehumidification operation so as to perform a dehumidification operation efficiently without excessively lowering the room temperature, so as to always maintain a comfortable indoor humidity. To provide.

1 is a block diagram of an air conditioner having a conventional dehumidification function,

Figure 2 is a block diagram showing a preferred embodiment of the air conditioner having a dehumidification function according to the present invention,

3 is a schematic partial exploded view of the indoor heat exchanger of FIG. 2;

4 is a flowchart illustrating a dehumidification operation control method of an air conditioner according to the present invention.

Explanation of symbols on the main parts of the drawings

3: outdoor unit 5: indoor unit

11: compressor 12: outdoor heat exchanger

13: outdoor fan 14: capillary tube

31: control unit 23: indoor fan

53: indoor heat exchanger 58: refrigerant flow pipe

65: bypass pipe 67: on-off valve

According to the present invention, an air conditioner having a refrigeration cycle in which a compressor, an outdoor heat exchanger, a capillary tube, and an indoor heat exchanger is sequentially connected by a refrigerant pipe, wherein the refrigerant flowing out of the outdoor heat exchanger is branched. A bypass tube flowing into the capillary tube through the indoor heat exchanger; An opening / closing valve disposed in the bypass inlet area of the bypass pipe to open / close the refrigerant flow path of the bypass pipe; And it is achieved by an air conditioner comprising a control unit for controlling the opening and closing operation of the on-off valve.

The indoor heat exchanger may include a plurality of heat exchanger fins parallel to each other and a refrigerant flow tube having a zig-zag shape through the plurality of heat exchanger fins in an orthogonal direction; The bypass tube may be configured to pass through the plurality of heat exchange fins in a zigzag form parallel to the refrigerant flow tube and to be disposed indoors with respect to the refrigerant flow tube.

More preferably, further comprising a humidity sensing unit for sensing the humidity of the room; The controller may open the on / off valve when the indoor humidity detected by the humidity detecting unit is equal to or greater than a predetermined comfort humidity.

On the other hand, according to another field of the present invention, the object is, in the dehumidification operation control method of the air conditioner having a refrigeration cycle in which the compressor, the outdoor heat exchanger, the capillary tube and the indoor heat exchanger are sequentially connected by a refrigerant pipe, Providing an on / off valve for branching the refrigerant flowing out of an outdoor heat exchanger to open and close the flow path of the bypass pipe to a bypass pipe through the indoor heat exchanger and into the capillary tube and a coolant inlet region of the bypass pipe; Sensing humidity in the room; And when the detected indoor humidity is equal to or greater than a predetermined predetermined comfort humidity, opening and closing the on / off valve until the indoor humidity becomes equal to or less than the predetermined comfort humidity. It is achieved by the operation control method.

Here, the operation mode selection unit further comprises; When selecting a cooling mode, it is preferable to further include the step of performing the cooling mode for a predetermined time, before the step of sensing the humidity of the room.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings, it will be described in detail a preferred embodiment of the present invention. At this time, the same code | symbol is used about the same structure and name as mentioned above.

Figure 2 is a block diagram showing a preferred embodiment of the air conditioner having a dehumidification function according to the present invention. The air conditioner 51 is provided with the outdoor unit 3 and the indoor unit 5 as described with reference to FIG. 1 of the related art, and has a refrigeration cycle for circulating the outdoor unit 3 and the indoor unit 5. . Therefore, the detailed description of such a configuration is replaced by the above. However, it is further provided with a humidity sensor 55 for sensing the humidity of the room to apply to the control unit 31.

On the other hand, between the outdoor heat exchanger (12) and the capillary tube (14), branched from the refrigerant outlet pipe (61) of the outdoor heat exchanger (12) through the indoor heat exchanger (22), the refrigerant inlet pipe (63) of the capillary tube (14). The bypass pipe 65 which flows in into () is provided. In the coolant inlet region of the bypass pipe 65, an opening / closing valve 67 for opening and closing the flow path of the bypass pipe 65 is provided. The on-off valve 67 opens and closes the flow path of the bypass pipe 65 based on the control signal of the control part 31.

As shown in FIG. 3, the indoor heat exchanger 22 has a plurality of heat exchange fins 57 arranged in parallel with each other and a plurality of heat exchange fins 57 in an orthogonal direction to have a zigzag shape as a whole. It consists of the refrigerant flow pipe (58). Here, the bypass pipe 65 has a zigzag shape through the plurality of heat exchange fins 57 in the orthogonal direction, and is configured to be parallel to the refrigerant flow pipe 58. This indoor heat exchanger 22 is further provided in the indoor unit 5 such that the bypass pipe 65 faces the indoor side with respect to the refrigerant flow pipe 58.

With this configuration, Figure 4 is a flow chart for explaining the dehumidification operation control method of the air conditioner according to the present invention. First, the control part 31 stores the data regarding the comfort level with respect to temperature. When the user selects the operation mode through the mode selection unit (not shown) (T1), the controller 31 checks whether the dehumidification mode is selected (S1). At this time, when the dehumidification mode is selected, the control unit 31 detects the current humidity of the room based on the humidity signal applied from the humidity sensor 55 (S2). Then, the detected current humidity value is compared with the comfort humidity value that can comfortably maintain the room stored in the memory (S3).

At this time, when the detected current humidity value exceeds the comfortable humidity value, the on / off valve 67 is opened to ON (S5) to perform a dehumidification operation (S6). At this time, the dehumidification operation performed by the air conditioner 51 according to the present invention is performed by driving the compressor 11 to circulate the refrigeration cycle, as in the normal cooling operation performed by a general air conditioner or air conditioner. . During the dehumidification operation, a portion of the room temperature and high pressure liquid refrigerant flowing out of the outdoor heat exchanger 12 and flowing into the capillary tube 14 flows along the upstream flow passage 65a of the bypass pipe 65 to allow the indoor heat exchanger 22 to flow. Flows into). The coolant of normal temperature and high pressure which flows into the indoor heat exchanger 22 performs heat exchange with the surrounding air. On the other hand, in the refrigerant flow tube 58 of the indoor heat exchanger 22, heat exchange of the low temperature and low pressure liquid refrigerant passing through the capillary tube 14 is performed.

As such, when the refrigerant flowing in the bypass tube 65 and the refrigerant flowing in the refrigerant flow tube 58 perform heat exchange with the air around the indoor heat exchanger 22, the surface of the indoor heat exchanger 22 is placed in air. Vapor is converted into liquid, that is, dew. Therefore, moisture contained in the air in the room is removed, and the humidity in the room is lowered.

On the other hand, during the dehumidification operation (S6), the cold air that is heat-exchanged on the bypass pipe 65 side and formed around the indoor side of the indoor heat exchanger 22 is heat-exchanged on the refrigerant flow pipe 58 side and is relatively on the rear side. The temperature is relatively high compared to the cold air formed. The cold air formed at the front side and the rear side of the indoor heat exchanger 22 to maintain a predetermined temperature difference is mixed with each other by the driving of the indoor fan 23 and discharged into the room. Therefore, the temperature of the room is not supercooled by the cold air which is mixed and discharged, whereby the temperature and humidity in a comfortable state can be maintained at all times.

In this way, while the on-off valve 67 is opened (S5) to perform the dehumidification operation (S6), the control unit 31 detects the current humidity of the room at predetermined time intervals (S7). Thus, the dehumidification operation is continuously performed while maintaining the open state of the on-off valve 67 until the indoor humidity becomes less than the stored comfort humidity. Then, when the humidity is less than or equal to the humidity, the on-off valve 67 is closed off (S4), and the operation mode state selected through the selection mode unit is reconfirmed (T1). Thus, if the operation mode is not selected, the operation of the device is terminated.

On the other hand, when the user selects, for example, the cooling mode through the mode selection unit and sets the target temperature of the room (U1), the control unit 31 performs the cooling operation to maintain the indoor temperature at the set target temperature. (U2). At this time, the cooling operation performed by the air conditioner 51 according to the present invention is the same as the conventional cooling operation performed in the conventional air conditioner or air conditioner described with reference to FIG. 1 (the detailed description of the See description with reference to FIG. 1).

In this way, while the cooling operation is in progress (U2), the control unit 31 detects the room temperature at predetermined time intervals (U3). Thus, the cooling operation is continuously performed until the indoor temperature is lower than the set target temperature (U2). Then, if the target temperature is less than, the current humidity of the room is detected (S2). Thus, the detected current humidity value of the room is compared with the comfort humidity value for the temperature stored in the memory (S3). At this time, when the current humidity value exceeds the comfortable humidity value, the on / off valve 67 is opened to perform the dehumidification operation as described above for lowering the indoor humidity (S6). Thus, when the humidity in the room becomes less than or equal to the comfortable humidity, the on-off valve 67 is closed off (S4). Then, the mode selection setting state is checked (T1), and the operation of the device is continuously performed in the selected operation mode.

Meanwhile, in the above-described and illustrated embodiments, for convenience of description, the air conditioner which performs only the dehumidification mode and the cooling mode has been described. However, in the winter or when the outside temperature is low, even when the air conditioner is operated in the heating mode, after the indoor temperature becomes higher than the set target temperature, the present humidity is detected and compared with the comfortable humidity, thereby achieving the above-mentioned object. Of course you can.

In the above-described and illustrated embodiments, the air conditioner in which the indoor unit and the outdoor unit are separated has been described. However, the method for controlling the dehumidification operation of the air conditioner according to the present invention also applies to an air conditioner in which the indoor unit and the outdoor unit are integrally formed, such as a window type air conditioner. Of course it can be applied.

As described above, according to the present invention, the dehumidification mode can be efficiently performed without excessively lowering the temperature of the room, so that the comfortable room humidity and temperature can be maintained at all times.

Claims (5)

An air conditioner having a refrigeration cycle in which an indoor heat exchanger having a compressor, an outdoor heat exchanger, a capillary tube, and a refrigerant flow tube arranged to pass through a plurality of heat exchange fins in a zigzag shape is connected by a refrigerant pipe, A bypass tube disposed through the plurality of heat exchange fins in parallel with the refrigerant flow tube in the indoor heat exchanger so that the refrigerant flowing out of the indoor heat exchanger flows into the capillary tube through the indoor heat exchanger; An opening / closing valve disposed in the bypass inlet area of the bypass pipe to open / close the refrigerant flow path of the bypass pipe; And In the dehumidification operation, the refrigerant flowing out of the outdoor heat exchanger is introduced into the capillary tube through the bypass pipe, and in the normal operation, the on / off operation of the on / off valve is performed so that the refrigerant flowing out of the outdoor heat exchanger is introduced into the capillary tube. An air conditioner comprising a; control unit for controlling the. The method of claim 1, And the bypass tube is disposed at an indoor side with respect to the refrigerant flow tube. The method of claim 1, Further comprising a humidity detecting unit for detecting the humidity of the room; The control unit, the air conditioner, characterized in that for opening the on-off valve when the humidity of the room detected by the humidity detection unit exceeds a predetermined comfort humidity. delete delete