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Multi-type air conditioner for simultaneous heating and cooling use and method for withdrawing refrigerant therefromRelated Patent Categories: Refrigeration, Automatic Control, Withdrawing Or Adding Refrigerant From Or To Normally Closed SystemMulti-type air conditioner for simultaneous heating and cooling use and method for withdrawing refrigerant therefrom description/claimsThe Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20060162353, Multi-type air conditioner for simultaneous heating and cooling use and method for withdrawing refrigerant therefrom. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a multi-type air conditioner for simultaneous heating and cooling use, and more particularly, to a multi-type air conditioner for simultaneous heating and cooling use in which refrigerant in a malfunctioning outdoor unit of plural outdoor units is withdrawn to other outdoor units such that the other outdoor units work normally, whereby a compressor can be replaced and/or the malfunctioning outdoor unit can be repaired without stopping heating and cooling operations. [0003] 2. Description of the Related Art [0004] Generally, an air conditioner is a device for cooling or heating in order to provide a comfortable indoor climate, which sucks indoor air, heats or cools the sucked indoor air, and discharges the heated or cooled air to a confined space. [0005] Recently, in order to attain a heating or cooling capacity corresponding to the number of operating indoor units, multi-type air conditioners, including a plurality of compressors or a plurality of outdoor units connected to each other in parallel, are used. [0006] A conventional multi-type air conditioner includes a plurality of compressors, a plurality of indoor units, and refrigerant tubes for connecting the outdoor units to the indoor units. [0007] Each of the plural outdoor units includes a compressor for compressing low-temperature-and-low-pressure gas refrigerant into high-pressure gas refrigerant, an outdoor heat exchanger for performing heat exchange between circulated refrigerant and outdoor air, and a four-way valve for switching the direction of the refrigerant flow according to the heating mode and the cooling mode. [0008] Each of the indoor units includes an expansion device and an indoor heat exchanger for performing heat exchange between the circulated refrigerant and indoor air. [0009] In the conventional air conditioner as described above, the refrigerant compressed by the compressor is fed to the outdoor units by the four-way valve in the cooling mode, and the refrigerant passing through the outdoor heat exchangers is condensed due to heat exchange between the refrigerant and ambient air and is fed to the expansion device. [0010] The refrigerant expanded by the expansion device enters the indoor units and is evaporated by absorbing heat of indoor air, thereby cooling the indoor air. [0011] Meanwhile, in the heating mode, the four-way valve switches the refrigerant passage so that the refrigerant discharged from the compressor passes through the four-way valve, the indoor units, the expansion device, the outdoor units, and the four-way valve to heat a confined space. [0012] However, in the conventional multi-type air conditioner, when any one of the compressors respectively installed in the plural outdoor units malfunctions, since, in order to replace the malfunctioning compressor with a new compressor, the conventional multi-type air conditioner can be re-operated only after all of the refrigerant circulating through the multi-type air conditioner has been discharged, the malfunctioning compressor is replaced, vacuum is applied to the multi-type air conditioner, and the multi-type air conditioner is refilled with refrigerant, all heating and cooling operations must be stopped and replacement of the malfunctioning compressor is considerably time consuming and expensive. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0013] Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above and/or other problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a multi-type air conditioner for simultaneous heating and cooling use in which a compressor can be replaced without stopping heating and cooling operations when the compressor malfunctions so that it is convenient to use and costs can be reduce, and a method for withdrawing refrigerant therefrom. [0014] In accordance with the present invention, the above and other aspects can be accomplished by the provision of a multi-type air conditioner for simultaneous heating and cooling use including: a plurality of outdoor units respectively including a compressor unit, a four-way valve, and an outdoor heat exchanger; a plurality of indoor units respectively including an indoor heat exchanger and an electronic expansion valve; a distributor installed between the plural outdoor units and the plural indoor units to selectively guide refrigerant to the plural indoor units according to operation conditions of a cooling mode, a heating mode, and a cooling and heating mode; and a refrigerant withdrawing device installed between the plural outdoor units to withdraw the refrigerant from a malfunctioning outdoor unit to the other outdoor units when a compressor unit in the malfunctioning outdoor unit among the plural outdoor units is replaced. [0015] Preferably, the refrigerant withdrawing device includes refrigerant withdrawing tubes for withdrawing the refrigerant discharged from the compressor unit of the malfunctioning outdoor unit among the plural outdoor units to the other outdoor unit, and opening and closing valves for opening and closing the refrigerant withdrawing tubes. [0016] The compressor unit includes one side to which a compressor suction tube, through which the refrigerant is sucked from the indoor units, is connected, and another side to which a bypass for bypassing the discharged refrigerant such that the refrigerant does not pass through the outdoor heat exchangers is connected. [0017] The refrigerant withdrawing tubes connect the bypass of the malfunctioning outdoor unit to the compressor suction tube of the other outdoor units. [0018] The distributor includes a high-pressure refrigerant tube for guiding high-pressure gas refrigerant discharged from the compressor unit to the indoor unit for performing the heating operation, a low-pressure refrigerant tube for guiding refrigerant passing through the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth indoor units to a suction port of the compressor, a liquid refrigerant tube for guiding liquid refrigerant discharged from the outdoor heat exchangers to the indoor units for performing cooling operation, and a valve device for selectively opening and closing the high-pressure refrigerant tube and the low-pressure refrigerant tub. [0019] The outdoor unit further includes outdoor discharge tube for guiding the liquid refrigerant discharged from the outdoor heat exchangers. [0020] The compressor suction tubes, the bypasses, and the outdoor heat exchanger discharge tubes are respectively connected to the low-pressure refrigerant tube, the high-pressure refrigerant tube, and the liquid refrigerant tube by service valves. [0021] In accordance with the present invention, the above and other aspects can be accomplished by the provision of a method for withdrawing refrigerant of a multi-type air conditioner for simultaneous heating and cooling use, including: a first step of blocking the refrigerant flow to indoor units by closing a service valve installed in a malfunctioning outdoor unit among a plurality of outdoor units when one of the plural outdoor units malfunctions; a second step of opening an opening and closing valve installed in a refrigerant withdrawing tube of the malfunctioned outdoor unit; a third step of operating compressor units of the other outdoor units to pump down to withdraw the refrigerant in the malfunctioning outdoor unit to the other outdoor units; a fourth step of closing the opening and closing valve once all of the refrigerant in the malfunctioning outdoor unit is withdrawn; and a fifth step of replacing a compressor unit of the malfunctioning outdoor unit and normally operating the other outdoor units. [0022] Preferably, the first step further comprises the sub-step of closing a service valve for connecting compressor suction tubes of the other outdoor units to the distributor. Continue reading about Multi-type air conditioner for simultaneous heating and cooling use and method for withdrawing refrigerant therefrom... Full patent description for Multi-type air conditioner for simultaneous heating and cooling use and method for withdrawing refrigerant therefrom Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this Multi-type air conditioner for simultaneous heating and cooling use and method for withdrawing refrigerant therefrom patent application. ###  How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents1. Sign up (takes 30 seconds). 2. Fill in the keywords to be monitored. 3. Each week you receive an email with patent applications related to your keywords. Start now! - Receive info on patent apps like Multi-type air conditioner for simultaneous heating and cooling use and method for withdrawing refrigerant therefrom or other areas of interest. ### Previous Patent Application: Method for energy management of air-conditioning units Next Patent Application: Heat transfer system and method Industry Class: Refrigeration ### FreshPatents.com Support Thank you for viewing the Multi-type air conditioner for simultaneous heating and cooling use and method for withdrawing refrigerant therefrom patent info. IP-related news and info Results in 0.14753 seconds Other interesting Feshpatents.com categories: Daimler Chrysler , DirecTV , Exxonmobil Chemical Company , Goodyear , Intel , Kyocera Wireless , 174 |
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