Patent Application
20250180238
This application claims priority to Chinese Application No. 202311636338.1 filed on Nov. 30, 2023, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The present application relates to, but is not limited to, the technical field of air conditioning, and specifically refers to a control method, a control device, and an air conditioning system.
At present, low GWP (Global Warming Potential) refrigerants (such as R32, R454B, etc.) are increasingly used in air-conditioning products. However, refrigerants such as R32 and R454B are flammable. Safety risks, such as possible fire or explosion, exists once the refrigerant leaks.
A technical problem to be solved by the present application is to provide a control method, a control device, and an air conditioning system capable of promptly taking countermeasures when refrigerant leakage occurs, so as to reduce safety risks caused by refrigerant leakage.
Therefore, an embodiment of the present application provides a control method for an air conditioning system including an actuator, and the control method includes: determining that refrigerant leakage occurs in the air conditioning system, and controlling the actuator to perform a routine protection operation; and controlling the actuator to perform a backup protection operation in response to an abnormality occurring in the routine protection operation.
According to the control method provided by the embodiment of the present application, when refrigerant leakage occurs in the air conditioning system, the actuator is firstly controlled to perform the routine protection operation, so as to reduce safety risks caused by refrigerant leakage. When the abnormality occurs in the routine protection operation, for example, when the routine protection operation is not effective or not fully effective, the actuator can also be controlled to perform the backup protection operation to reduce the safety risk caused by refrigerant leakage. In this way, when refrigerant leakage occurs, the air conditioning system has dual countermeasures and can achieve dual protection, thus effectively reducing safety risks such as fire and explosion caused by refrigerant leakage.
An embodiment of the present application further provides a control device including a processor and a memory storing a computer program, and the processor is configured to perform the steps of the control method described in any one of the above embodiments when executing the computer program.
An embodiment of the present application also provides an air conditioning system including the control device described in the above embodiment.
In the drawings, components represented by reference signs are listed as follows:
1 compressor, 2 outdoor heat exchanger, 3 throttle device, 4 indoor heat exchanger, 51 first electronic control valve, 52 second electronic control valve, 53 third electronic control valve, 54 fourth electronic control valve, 55 thermal fuse, 56 pressure switch; 71 indoor-side flow path, 72 outdoor-side flow path, 73 high-pressure side pipeline, 74 low-pressure side pipeline, and 75 refrigerant discharge flow path.
The principles and features of the present application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings, and the examples are given only for explaining the present application, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present application.
An embodiment of the present application provides a control method for an air conditioning system. The air conditioning system includes an actuator. As shown in
When the refrigerant circulation loop is operating, a discharge port of the compressor 1 outputs high-temperature and high-pressure refrigerant, which flows through a condenser, the throttle device 3 and an evaporator in sequence, and then returns to a suction port of the compressor 1. When the air conditioning system is in cooling operation (i.e., the refrigerant circulation loop works in cooling mode), the outdoor heat exchanger 2 is a condenser, and the indoor heat exchanger 4 is an evaporator. When the air conditioning system is in heating operation (that is, the refrigerant circulation loop is operating in heating mode), the outdoor heat exchanger 2 is an evaporator, and the indoor heat exchanger 4 is a condenser.
The air conditioning system may be a split air conditioner or an integrated air conditioner. A split air conditioner (such as a wall-mounted air conditioner, a cabinet air conditioner, etc.) includes an outdoor unit (including the above-mentioned external unit components) and an indoor unit (including the above-mentioned internal unit components) independent of each other, the outdoor unit is installed on the outdoor-side, the indoor unit is installed on the indoor-side, and the outdoor unit and the indoor unit are connected to each other by pipelines. The outdoor unit and indoor unit of the integrated air conditioner are integrated, such as window air conditioner, roof air conditioner, etc.
The air conditioning system may further include a refrigerant detection sensor for detecting a refrigerant concentration and determining whether the refrigerant leaks according to the detected refrigerant concentration result (the refrigerant detection sensor may determine the refrigerant leakage and then send the refrigerant leakage to a control device of the air conditioning system, or the control device may determine that the refrigerant leakage occurs according to the detection result of the refrigerant detection sensor). The refrigerant detection sensor may be an external unit component, or an internal unit component, or both the external unit components and the internal unit components may include a refrigerant detection sensor.
As shown in
Based on the normalized routine protection operation, the air conditioning system can just wait for maintenance.
According to the control method provided by the embodiment of the present application, when refrigerant leakage occurs in the air conditioning system, the actuator is firstly controlled to perform the routine protection operation, so as to reduce safety risks caused by refrigerant leakage. When the abnormality occurs in the routine protection operation, for example, when the routine protection operation is not effective or not fully effective, the actuator can also be controlled to perform the backup protection operation to reduce the safety risk caused by refrigerant leakage. In this way, when refrigerant leakage occurs, the air conditioning system has dual countermeasures and can achieve dual protection, thus effectively reducing safety risks such as fire and explosion caused by refrigerant leakage.
As for the abnormality of routine protection operation, there are various reasons, which may be the failure or even damage of some elements, or may be the low anti-interference ability and the interference of other components, or other reasons. The inventors of the present application realize that various abnormalities may occur in the routine protection operation and the routine protection operation cannot be fully effective, so they have thought of adding a backup protection operation program in addition to the routine protection operation to implement emergency protection in an emergency circumstance and reduce the safety risks caused by refrigerant leakage as much as possible.
In some exemplary embodiments, the actuator includes a compressor 1 and an indoor fan (not shown in the figure).
Controlling the actuator to perform the routine protection operation includes: controlling the compressor 1 to be turned off and controlling the indoor fan to operate.
In some embodiments, the actuator may further include a fuel gas system (not shown in the figure) that may be used to achieve a heating function by fuel gas heating. In this way, when the outdoor temperature is extremely low, the heating function can also be realized through the fuel gas system to make up for the lack of heating capacity of the refrigerant circulation loop. The fuel gas system and refrigerant circulation loop can be placed together or separately. The fuel gas system may include a fuel gas flow path and a fuel gas valve, and the fuel gas valve may be used to control opening and closing of the fuel gas flow path, so that the opening and closing of the fuel gas system can be controlled by controlling the opening and closing of the fuel gas valve. The fuel gas valve may be an on-off valve, and may also have a function of regulating the fuel gas flow rate.
The actuator may further include an electric auxiliary heating device (not shown in the figure) for realizing the heating function by electric heating. In this way, when the outdoor temperature is extremely low, the heating function can be assisted by the electric auxiliary heating device to compensate for the lack of heating capacity of the refrigerant circulation loop.
Controlling the actuator to perform the routine protection operation may further include controlling the electric auxiliary heating device and the fuel gas system to be turned off.
Controlling the compressor 1 to be turned off refers to: turning off the compressor 1 when the compressor 1 is in an operating state, and when the compressor 1 is in a turned-off state, maintaining the turned-off state.
Similarly, controlling the electric auxiliary heating device to be turned off refers to: turning off the electric auxiliary heating device when the electric auxiliary heating device is in an operating state, and when the electric auxiliary heating device is in a turned-off state, maintaining the turned-off state.
Controlling the fuel gas system to be turned off refers to: turning off the fuel gas system when the fuel gas system is in an operating state, and when the fuel gas system is in a turned-off state, maintaining the turned-off state.
Controlling the indoor fan to operate refers to: when the indoor fan is in an operating state, maintaining the operating state, and starting the indoor fan when the indoor fan is in a turned-off state.
Turning off the compressor 1 is beneficial to avoiding continuous leakage of refrigerant. Turning off the electric auxiliary heating device and fuel gas system is beneficial to avoiding safety accidents such as fire or explosion caused by refrigerant leakage. Controlling the indoor fan to operate is beneficial to blowing away the refrigerant leaked to the indoor side and avoiding safety accidents caused by excessive local refrigerant concentration.
In some exemplary embodiments, the control method further includes: acquiring a state of the actuator, and determining whether the routine protection operation is abnormal according to the state of the actuator. The routine protection operation is normal when the state of all actuating components of the actuator (i.e., the components that act based on the routine protection operation) conforms to the state set by the routine protection operation. The routine protection operation is abnormal when the state of at least one actuating component of the actuator does not conform to the state set by the routine protection operation.
For example, when the actuator includes a compressor and an indoor fan: determining that the routine protection operation is abnormal in response to satisfying at least one of the following conditions: the compressor is not shut down and the indoor fan is not operating; and determining that the routine protection operation is normal based on the fact that the compressor is shut down and the indoor fan is operating.
When the actuator further includes an electric auxiliary heating device and a fuel gas system: determining that the routine protection operation is abnormal in response to satisfying at least one of the following conditions: the compressor is not shut down, the indoor fan is not operating, the electric auxiliary heating device is not turned-off, and the fuel gas system is not turned-off; and determining that the routine protection operation is normal based on the fact that the compressor is shut down, the indoor fan is operating, the electric auxiliary heating device is turned off, and the fuel gas system is turned off.
In some exemplary embodiments, the actuator includes a refrigerant circulation loop and a refrigerant discharge flow path 75 that is able to be opened and closed, as shown in
Controlling actuator to perform the backup protection operation includes: opening the refrigerant discharge flow path 75 to discharge the refrigerant in the refrigerant circulation loop into the outdoor environment.
The refrigerant circulation loop corresponds to the units of the air conditioning system, including a compressor 1, a condenser, a throttle device 3, an evaporator and other structures. Refrigerant circulates in the refrigerant circulation loop, which is used to realize the cooling/heating function of the air conditioning system. The refrigerant discharge flow path 75 is in a closed state under normal circumstances, and is only opened under emergency circumstances (i.e., refrigerant leakage occurs and the routine protection operation is abnormal), so that the refrigerant in the refrigerant circulation loop can be discharged to the outdoor environment, and safety risks such as fire and explosion caused by high indoor refrigerant concentration due to continuous leakage of refrigerant into the indoor are avoided.
In some embodiments, as shown in
In other embodiments, as shown in
By controlling the opening/closing of the first electronic control valve 51, the opening/closing control of the refrigerant discharge flow path 75 can be realized, and the structure is simple and easy to control.
Alternatively, the first electronic control valve 51 may be replaced by the thermal fuse 55. In a normal circumstance, the thermal fuse 55 blocks the refrigerant discharge flow path 75 and realize the closing of the refrigerant discharge flow path 75. In an emergency case, the thermal fuse 55 can actively operate, and be thermally fused and disconnected by heat generation, so that the blocked refrigerant discharge flow path 75 can be opened. The scheme also has the advantages of simple structure and easy control.
In the above-described embodiment, the actuator may further include a power module (not shown in the figure). The power module is used to control the power-on and power-off of the air conditioning system.
As shown in
When the refrigerant discharge flow path 75 is opened, the refrigerant in the refrigerant circulation loop is gradually released to the outdoor environment, so that the safety risk caused by refrigerant leakage is greatly reduced. At this time, when the first power-off condition is satisfied, the power module can be controlled to be powered off, and the whole air conditioning system is powered off, waiting for maintenance personnel to repair.
In some examples, the first power-off condition includes: a decrease in a pressure P of the refrigerant circulation loop to within a first set range. The first set range may be denoted as: P<P1. The pressure P of the refrigerant circulation loop may be the refrigerant pressure of the indoor-side flow path 71, which is beneficial to ensuring that the indoor-side flow path 71 does not continue to leak refrigerant into the indoor, and is beneficial to improving safety.
When the pressure of the refrigerant circulation loop decreases to within the first set range, it indicates that the refrigerant in the refrigerant circulation loop has been substantially emptied, which will not lead to safety risks such as fire and explosion, so the air conditioning system can be powered off and wait for maintenance.
P1 cannot be too large so as to avoid excessive refrigerant residue in the air conditioning system, and P1 cannot be too small so as to avoid the outer environmental air being sucked backwards into the compressor 1, causing the compressor 1 to compress air and causing damage to the compressor 1. It may be 0 bar<P1≤1 bar, such as 0.1 bar, 0.2 bar, 0.4 bar, 0.5 bar, 0.6 bar, 0.8 bar, 1 bar, etc.
Obviously, the first power-off condition is not limited to the above. For example, the first power-off condition may be: the refrigerant discharge flow path 75 being opened for a set duration, or the refrigerant concentration in the refrigerant discharge flow path 75 being lower than a set value, or the refrigerant concentration at an outlet of the refrigerant discharge flow path 75 being lower than a set value. All these conditions can indicate that the refrigerant in the refrigerant circulation loop has been substantially emptied, so they can be used as the basis for power-off of the whole air conditioning system.
In still other embodiments, as shown in
As shown in
Controlling the compressor 1 to operate refers to: when the compressor 1 is in an operation state, continuing to maintain the operation state, and when the compressor 1 is in a turned-off state, starting the compressor 1 to cause compressor 1 to be in the operating state. These two circumstances depend on the degree of abnormality of the routine protection operation. When the routine protection operation is abnormal and the compressor 1 is not shut down normally, the compressor 1 may continue to maintain in the operating state in the backup protection operation. When the routine protection operation is abnormal and the compressor 1 is shut down, it is necessary to restart the compressor 1 in the backup protection operation to maintain the operating state of the compressor 1 to supply power to the refrigerant, so that the refrigerant in the indoor-side flow path 71 can flow back to the compressor 1 and be discharged to the outdoor environment through the refrigerant discharge flow path 75. When the backup protection operation is performed, the states of the indoor fan, the electric auxiliary heating device, and the fuel gas system are not limited, and they may or may not be actuated adequately in the routine protection operation.
In other words, opening the refrigerant discharge flow path 75 includes: based on the fact that the compressor 1 is not shut down, closing the second electronic control valve 52, and controlling the compressor 1 to operate so as to increase the pressure of the high-pressure side pipeline 73 to open the pressure switch 56; based on the fact that the compressor 1 is shut down, closing the second electronic control valve 52, and starting the compressor 1 so as to increase the pressure of the high-pressure side pipeline 73 to open the pressure switch 56; and the refrigerant pressure in the high-pressure side pipeline 73 is relatively high, and the refrigerant pressure in the low-pressure side pipeline 74 is relatively low. The refrigerant discharge flow path 75 is connected to the high-pressure side pipeline 73, and the refrigerant discharge flow path 75 is provided with a pressure switch 56. The pressure switch 56 is in a closed state when the pressure is below its set threshold. The pressure switch 56 is in an open state when the pressure is greater than or equal to its set threshold.
Under normal circumstances, the second electronic control valve 52 is in an open state to ensure that the refrigerant circulation loop can operate normally. When the pressure switch 56 is in the closed state, the refrigerant discharge flow path 75 is in a closed state. In an emergency circumstance (that is, refrigerant leakage occurs and the routine protection operation is abnormal), the second electronic control valve 52 is closed so that the refrigerant in the high-pressure side pipeline 73 cannot flow to the low-pressure side pipeline 74, and when the compressor 1 continues to operate, the high-pressure refrigerant is continuously discharged into the high-pressure side pipeline 73, so that the refrigerant pressure in the high-pressure side pipeline 73 becomes higher and higher. When the refrigerant pressure reaches the set threshold of the pressure switch 56, the pressure switch 56 is operated and opened to open the refrigerant discharge flow path 75.
In some embodiments, the control method further includes shielding a high-pressure protection mode of the air conditioning system in response to an abnormality occurring in the routine protection operation.
The high-pressure protection mode of the air conditioning system is a protection mechanism used to avoid damage to the air conditioning system due to high-pressure operation. When the pressure in the refrigerant circulation loop of the air conditioning system exceeds the set safe range, the high-pressure protection mode is automatically triggered. The high-pressure protection mode usually occurs when the compressor 1 is overloaded, the refrigerant is clogged or overheated, and the like. However, the refrigerant did not leak. The set pressure threshold of the high-pressure protection mode is smaller than the set pressure threshold of the pressure switch 56 described above.
In this way, when no refrigerant leakage occurs, the high-pressure protection mode can be activated without erroneously opening the pressure switch 56 and causing the refrigerant to be discharged into the outside environment upon the pressure in the refrigerant circulation loop rises to the set pressure threshold of the high-pressure protection mode. When the refrigerant leakage occurs, the pressure in the high-pressure side pipeline 73 rises to the set pressure threshold of the pressure switch 56. Although the set pressure threshold of the high-pressure protection mode will be undergone in the process of pressure rise, the high-pressure protection mode will not be started but will be shielded, and the backup protection operation will be performed, and the pressure in the refrigerant circulation loop will be discharged to the outdoor environment through the refrigerant discharge flow path 75 to avoid safety accidents caused by refrigerant leakage.
In some embodiments, controlling the actuator to perform the backup protection operation further includes: determining whether or not the refrigerant circulation loop is operating in the cooling mode before opening the refrigerant discharge flow path 75; performing the step of opening the refrigerant discharge flow path 75 based on the fact that the refrigerant circulation loop is operating in the cooling mode; and controlling the refrigerant circulation loop to switch to the cooling mode first based on the fact that the refrigerant circulation loop is not operating in the cooling mode, and then performing the step of opening the refrigerant discharge flow path 75.
In this way, it is ensured that, after the refrigerant discharge flow path 75 is opened, a refrigerant flow direction in the refrigerant circulation loop is a refrigerant flow direction in the cooling mode, that is, the refrigerant output from the compressor 1 first flows to the outdoor heat exchanger 2 and then to the indoor heat exchanger 4, and the refrigerant in the indoor heat exchanger 4 flows to the intake port of the compressor 1. In this way, it is ensured that, the refrigerant in the indoor heat exchanger 4 is sucked back into the compressor 1 while the refrigerant on the outdoor-side cannot flow to the indoor-side heat exchanger due to the closing of the second electronic control valve 52 in the process of discharging the refrigerant through the refrigerant discharge flow path 75, so that the refrigerant in the indoor-side flow path 71 can be emptied as quickly as possible to prevent the refrigerant from leaking greatly into the indoor space.
Therefore, before the refrigerant discharge flow path 75 is opened, it is determined whether or not the refrigerant circulation loop is operating in the cooling mode. If so, the refrigerant discharge flow path 75 can be opened. If not, for example, the refrigerant circulation loop is in the heating mode, the refrigerant discharge flow path 75 is switched back to the cooling mode, and then the refrigerant discharge flow path 75 is opened.
Obviously, in the sole-cooling air conditioner, since the refrigerant circulation loop will not operate in the heating mode, it is not required to determine whether or not the refrigerant circulation loop is operating in the cooling mode.
In the above-described embodiment, the actuator may further include a power module. Controlling the actuator to perform the backup protection operation, as shown in
After the refrigerant discharge flow path 75 is opened, the refrigerant in the refrigerant circulation loop is gradually released to the outdoor environment, so that the safety risk caused by refrigerant leakage is greatly reduced. At this time, when the second power-off condition is satisfied, the compressor 1 can be controlled to shut down, and the power module can be controlled to be powered off, and the whole air conditioning system is powered off, waiting for maintenance personnel to repair.
In some examples, the second power-off condition includes: a decrease in the pressure P of the refrigerant circulation loop to within a second set range. The second set range may be denoted as: P<P2. The pressure P of the refrigerant circulation loop may be the refrigerant pressure of the indoor-side flow path 71, which is beneficial to ensuring that the indoor-side flow path 71 does not continue to leak refrigerant into the indoor, and is beneficial to improving safety.
When the pressure of the refrigerant circulation loop decreases to within the second set range, it indicates that the refrigerant in the refrigerant circulation loop has been substantially emptied, which will not lead to safety risks such as fire and explosion, so the air conditioning system can be powered off and wait for maintenance.
P2 cannot be too large so as to avoid excessive refrigerant residue in the air conditioning system, and P2 cannot be too small so as to avoid the outer environmental air being sucked backwards into the compressor 1, causing the compressor 1 to compress air and causing damage to the compressor 1. It may be 0 bar<P2≤1 bar, such as 0.1 bar, 0.2 bar, 0.4 bar, 0.5 bar, 0.6 bar, 0.8 bar, 1 bar, etc.
Obviously, the second power-off condition is not limited to the above. For example, the second power-off condition may be: the refrigerant discharge flow path 75 being opened for a set duration, or the refrigerant concentration in the refrigerant discharge flow path 75 being lower than a set value, or the refrigerant concentration at an outlet of the refrigerant discharge flow path 75 being lower than a set value. All these conditions can indicate that the refrigerant in the refrigerant circulation loop has been substantially emptied, so they can be used as the basis for power-off of the whole air conditioning system.
In other exemplary embodiments, as shown in
Controlling the actuator to perform a backup protection operation includes: recycling the refrigerant in the indoor-side flow path 71 to the outdoor-side flow path 72.
When the refrigerant leaks, because the indoor has limited space and there are many factors that are easy to cause fire or explosion, the safety risks caused by the refrigerant leakage can be reduced by avoiding the continuous leakage of the refrigerant into the indoor space. Therefore, in the present scheme, the refrigerant in the indoor-side flow path 71 is reduced and the refrigerant in the indoor-side flow path 71 is recycled to the outdoor-side flow path 72, so as to prevent the continuous leakage of the refrigerant into the indoor space, thereby reducing the safety risk caused by the leakage of the refrigerant.
Compared with discharging the refrigerant into the outdoor environment through the refrigerant discharge flow path 75, the present scheme can realize the recycling of the refrigerant, which is conducive to reducing the amount of refrigerant charged in the maintenance process, and conforms to the concept of green energy saving and environmental protection.
In some embodiments, as shown in
In the cooling mode, the third electronic control valve 53 is a refrigerant output valve, and the fourth electronic control valve 54 is a refrigerant input valve. The refrigerant input valve is configured to control the opening and closing between an output end of the indoor-side flow path 71 and an input end of the outdoor-side flow path 72. The refrigerant output valve is configured to control the opening and closing between an output end of the outdoor-side flow path 72 and an input end of the indoor-side flow path 71.
As shown in
Controlling the compressor 1 to operate refers to: when the compressor 1 is in an operation state, continuing to maintain the operation state; and when the compressor 1 is in a turned-off state, starting the compressor 1 to cause compressor 1 to be in the operating state. These two circumstances depend on the degree of abnormality of the routine protection operation. When the routine protection operation is abnormal and the compressor 1 is not shut down normally, the compressor 1 may continue to maintain in the operating state in the backup protection operation. When the routine protection operation is abnormal and the compressor 1 is shut down, it is necessary to restart the compressor 1 in the backup protection operation to maintain the operating state of the compressor 1 to supply power to the refrigerant, so that the refrigerant in the indoor-side flow path 71 can flow back to the compressor 1 and be discharged to the outdoor environment through the refrigerant discharge flow path 75. When the backup protection operation is performed, the states of the indoor fan, the electric auxiliary heating device, and the fuel gas system are not limited, and they may or may not be actuated adequately in the routine protection operation.
In other words, recycling the refrigerant in the refrigerant circulation loop to the outdoor-side flow path 72 includes: closing the third electronic control valve 53 based on the fact that the compressor 1 is not shut down, and closing the fourth electronic control valve 54 and the compressor 1 after the set condition is satisfied, so as to recycle the refrigerant in the indoor-side flow path 71 to the outdoor-side flow path 72; and closing the third electronic control valve 53 and starting the compressor 1 based on the fact that the compressor 1 is shut down, and closing the fourth electronic control valve 54 and the compressor 1 after the set condition is satisfied, so as to recycle the refrigerant in the indoor-side flow path 71 to the outdoor-side flow path 72.
Under normal circumstances, the third electronic control valve 53 and the fourth electronic control valve 54 are both in an opening state to ensure that the refrigerant circulation loop can operate normally. In an emergency circumstance (i.e., refrigerant leakage occurs and the routine protection operation is abnormal), when the compressor 1 is not shut down, the third electronic control valve 53 is closed first, while the fourth electronic control valve 54 is kept open continuously, so that the refrigerant in the outdoor-side flow path 72 cannot flow to the indoor-side flow path 71, and the refrigerant in the indoor-side flow path 71 can continue to flow to the outdoor-side flow path 72 under the drive of the compressor 1. When the set condition is satisfied, it indicates that the refrigerant in the indoor-side flow path 71 has been substantially emptied and is recycled to the outdoor-side flow path 72, so that the fourth electronic control valve 54 and the compressor 1 are closed, and the refrigerant in the indoor-side flow path 71 is recycled to the outdoor-side flow path 72.
In an emergency circumstance (that is, refrigerant leakage occurs and the routine protection operation is abnormal), when the compressor 1 has been shut down, in order to recycle refrigerant to the outdoor-side flow path 72, it is necessary to start the compressor 1 to provide power for refrigerant flow, and close the third electronic control valve 53, while the fourth electronic control valve 54 is kept open continuously, so that the refrigerant in the outdoor-side flow path 72 cannot flow to the indoor-side flow path 71, and the refrigerant in the indoor-side flow path 71 continues to flow to the outdoor-side flow path 72 under the drive of the compressor 1. When the set condition is satisfied, it indicates that the refrigerant in the indoor-side flow path 71 has been substantially emptied and is recycled to the outdoor-side flow path 72, so that the fourth electronic control valve 54 and the compressor 1 are closed, and the refrigerant is recycled to the outdoor-side flow path 72.
In some examples, the set condition includes that a decrease in the pressure Pin of the indoor-side flow path 71 to within a third set range. The third set range may be denoted as: Pin<P3. P3 may be, but is not limited to, in a range of less than 1 bar, such as 0.1 bar, 0.2 bar, 0.4 bar, 0.5 bar, 0.6 bar, 0.8 bar, 0.9 bar, and the like.
When the pressure of the refrigerant circulation loop decreases to within the third set range, it indicates that the refrigerant in the refrigerant circulation loop has been substantially recycled into the outdoor-side flow path 72, and there is no safety risk such as fire or explosion, so that the refrigerant input valve and the compressor 1 can be closed.
Obviously, the set condition is not limited to the above. For example, the set condition may be: the refrigerant output valve being closed for a set duration, or a flow rate of the refrigerant input valve being lower than a set value, or a refrigerant concentration in the refrigerant input valve being lower than a set value. All of these conditions can indicate that the refrigerant in the indoor-side flow path 71 has been substantially recycled into the outdoor-side flow path 72, which all can be used as a basis for closing the refrigerant input valve and the compressor 1.
In some embodiments, controlling the actuator to perform a backup protection operation further includes: determining whether or not the refrigerant circulation loop is operating in the cooling mode before closing the third electronic control valve 53 and controlling the compressor 1 to operate; performing the step of closing the third electronic control valve 53 and controlling the compressor 1 to operate based on the fact that the refrigerant circulation loop is operating in the cooling mode; and controlling the refrigerant circulation loop to switch to the cooling mode first based on the fact that the refrigerant circulation loop is not operating in the cooling mode, and then performing the step of closing the third electronic control valve 53 and controlling the compressor 1 to operate.
In this way, it is ensured that, after the third electronic control valve 53 is closed and the compressor 1 is controlled to operate, a refrigerant flow direction in the refrigerant circulation loop is a refrigerant flow direction in the cooling mode, that is, the refrigerant output from the compressor 1 first flows to the outdoor heat exchanger 2 and then to the indoor heat exchanger 4, and the refrigerant in the indoor heat exchanger 4 flows to the intake port of the compressor 1. In this way, it is ensured that, in the process of recycling the refrigerant in the indoor-side flow path 71 to the outdoor-side flow path 72, the refrigerant in the indoor-side flow path 71 can flow to the outdoor-side flow path 72 since the fourth electronic control valve 54 is opened, while the refrigerant in the outdoor-side flow path 72 cannot flow to the indoor-side flow path 71 since the third electronic control valve 53 is closed. This is conductive to emptying the refrigerant in the indoor-side flow path 71 as soon as possible, so as to prevent the refrigerant from leaking into the indoor space greatly.
Therefore, it is determined whether or not the refrigerant circulation loop is operating in the cooling mode before closing the third electronic control valve 53 and controlling the compressor 1 to operate. If so, the third electronic control valve 53 can be closed and the compressor 1 can be controlled to operate. If not, for example, the refrigerant circulation loop is in the heating mode, the refrigerant circulation loop is switched back to the cooling mode first, and then the third electronic control valve 53 is closed, and the compressor 1 is controlled to operate.
Obviously, in the sole-cooling air conditioner, since the refrigerant circulation loop will not operate in the heating mode, it is not required to determine whether or not the refrigerant circulation loop is operating in the cooling mode.
In the above-described embodiment, as shown in
After the refrigerant in the indoor-side flow path 71 is recycled to the outdoor-side flow path 72, safety risks such as fire and explosion will not occur, and thus the air conditioning system can be powered off, waiting for maintenance.
An embodiment of the present application further provides a control device including a processor and a memory storing a computer program. The processor is configured to perform the steps of the control method as in any one of the above embodiments when executing the computer program, and thus all the above-described beneficial effects are obtained, which will not be repeatedly described herein.
The processor may be an integrated circuit chip that has the signal processing capability. The processor may be a general-purpose processor, including a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a Network Processor (NP), and the like. The processor may also be a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), and Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logic device, a discrete hardware component. The methods, steps, and logical block diagrams disclosed in the embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented or performed. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may be any conventional processor or the like.
An embodiment of the present application further provides an air conditioning system including the control device as in the above embodiment, and thus all the above-described beneficial effects are obtained, which will not be repeatedly described herein.
An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program. When the computer program is executed by a processor, the steps of the control method as in any one of the above embodiments are implemented, and thus all the above-described beneficial effects are obtained, which will not be repeatedly described herein.
Four embodiments are described below.
The air conditioning system includes a refrigerant circulation loop, a refrigerant discharge flow path 75, a fuel gas system, an electric auxiliary heating device, an indoor fan, an outdoor fan, and the like. The refrigerant circulation loop includes a compressor 1, an outdoor heat exchanger 2, a throttle device 3, an indoor heat exchanger 4 and the like.
The fuel gas system includes a fuel gas on-off valve. The refrigerant discharge flow path 75 is provided with a first electronic control valve 51, and the first electronic control valve 51 is an electromagnetic on-off valve. A first end of the refrigerant discharge flow path 75 is communicated with the refrigerant circulation loop, and a second end of the refrigerant discharge flow path 75 is communicated with the external environment.
When the refrigerant leaks, the routine protection operation include: controlling the compressor 1 to shut down, controlling the electric auxiliary heating device to be closed, controlling the fuel gas on-off valve to be closed to shut down the fuel gas system, and controlling the indoor fan to operate.
When an abnormality occurs in the routine protection operation, such as at least one of the following circumstances occurs: the compressor 1 is not shut down, the electric auxiliary heating device is not shut down, the fuel gas is not stopped, and the indoor fan is not turned on, then the backup protection operation is performed.
The backup protection operation includes: opening the first electronic control valve 51 to discharge the refrigerant in the refrigerant circulation loop to the external environment, preventing more refrigerant from entering the indoor, and implementing emergency protection. When it is detected that the pressure of the indoor-side flow path 71 is decreased to within a first set range, the air conditioning system is automatically powered off, waiting for maintenance.
The difference from the embodiment 1 is that the first electronic control valve 51 is replaced with a thermal fuse 55.
The backup protection operation includes: controlling the thermal fuse 55 to be thermally fused and disconnected to open the refrigerant discharge flow path 75, so that the refrigerant in the refrigerant circulation loop is discharged to the external environment, so as to prevent the refrigerant from entering the indoor more and implement emergency protection. When it is detected that the pressure of the indoor-side flow path 71 is decreased to within a first set range, the air conditioning system is automatically powered off, waiting for maintenance.
The difference from the embodiment 1 is that the refrigerant circulation loop includes a compressor 1, a high-pressure side pipeline 73 connected to a discharge port of the compressor 1, a low-pressure side pipeline 74 connected to an intake port of the compressor 1, and a second electronic control valve 52 disposed in the high-pressure side pipeline 73. The refrigerant discharge flow path 75 is connected to the high-pressure side pipeline 73, and the refrigerant discharge flow path 75 is provided with a normally closed pressure switch 56. The second electronic control valve 52 may be integrated with the throttle device 3, or a second electronic control valve 52 may be additionally provided between an output end of the outdoor-side flow path 72 and an input end of the indoor-side flow path 71.
The backup protection operation includes determining whether or not the refrigerant circulation loop is operating in the cooling mode, and if not, switching to the cooling mode first. Based on the refrigerant circulation loop operating in the cooling mode: 1) if the compressor 1 is not shut down, the second electronic control valve 52 is closed, and the compressor 1 is controlled to operate so as to increase the pressure of the high-pressure side pipeline 73 to open the pressure switch 56; 2) If the compressor 1 is shut down, the second electronic control valve 52 is closed, and the compressor 1 is started to increase the pressure of the high-pressure side pipeline 73 to open the pressure switch 56. When it is detected that the pressure of the indoor-side flow path 71 is decreased to within a second set range, the compressor 1 is turned off, and the power is turned off, waiting for maintenance.
The difference from the embodiment 1 is that the refrigerant discharge flow path 75 is eliminated, and the third electronic control valve 53 and the fourth electronic control valve 54 are provided.
The backup protection operation includes determining whether or not the refrigerant circulation loop is operating in the cooling mode, and if not, switching to the cooling mode first. Based on the refrigerant circulation loop operating in the cooling mode: 1) if the compressor 1 is not shut down, the third electronic control valve 53 is closed, and the compressor 1 is controlled to operate so that the refrigerant in the indoor-side flow path 71 is recycled into the outdoor-side flow path 72; 2) if the compressor 1 is shut down, the third electronic control valve 53 is closed, the compressor 1 is started, so that the refrigerant in the indoor-side flow path 71 is recycled into the outdoor-side flow path 72. When it is detected that the pressure of the indoor-side flow path 71 is decreased to within a third set range, the fourth electronic control valve 54 and the compressor 1 are closed, and the power is turned off, waiting for maintenance.
In the description of the present disclosure, it is to be understood that orientation or positional relationships indicated by terms :center,: :longitudinal,: :transverse,: :length,: :width,: :thickness,: :upper,: :lower,: :front,: :r ear,: :left,: :right,: :vertical,: :horizontal,: :top,: :bottom,: :inner,: :outer,: :clockwise,: :counterclockwise,: :axial,: :radial,: :circumferential,: and the like are based on those shown in the drawings and are intended only for ease of description of the present application and simplification of the description, and are not intended to indicate or imply that the device or element referred must have a particular orientation, or is constructed and operated in a particular orientation and therefore cannot be construed as limitations on the present application.
Furthermore, the terms: first,: :second,: and the like are used for descriptive purposes only and cannot be understood as indicating or implying relative importance or implying the number of technical features indicated. Thus, the features defined with :first: or :second: may explicitly or implicitly include at least one of the features. In the description of the present application, :multiple: means at least two, e.g. two, three, etc., unless expressly specified otherwise.
In the present application, unless otherwise expressly specified and limited, terms :mounted,: :connected,: :connection,: :fixed: and the like are understood in a broad sense and may be, for example, a fixed connection, a detachable connection, or an integrated structure. The connection may be a mechanical connection or an electrical connection, may be a direct connection or an indirect connection through an intermediate medium, or may be an internal connection between two elements or an interactive relationship between two elements, unless otherwise expressly defined. For those of ordinary skills in the art, the specific meanings of the above terms in the present application can be understood according to specific circumstances.
In the present application, the first feature being :above: or :below: the second feature may be a direct contact between the first feature and the second feature, or an indirect contact between the first feature and the second feature via an intermediate medium, unless otherwise expressly specified and defined. Moreover, the first feature being :above,: :on: and :over: the second feature may be the first feature being directly above or obliquely above the second feature, or simply indicate that a horizontal height of the first feature is greater than that of the second feature. The first feature being :below,: :under: and :underneath: the second feature may be the first feature being directly below or obliquely below the second feature, or simply mean that the horizontal height of the first feature is less than that of the second feature.
In the description of this specification, descriptions with reference to terms :one embodiment,: :some embodiments,: :example,: :specific example: or :some examples: and the like mean that specific features, structures, materials, or characteristics described in connection with the embodiment or example are included in at least one embodiment or example of the present application. In this specification, schematic description of the above terms needs not be directed to the same embodiments or examples. Further, the specific features, structures, materials or characteristics described may be combined in a suitable manner in any one or more embodiments or examples. Further, one skilled in the art may combine and integrate different embodiments or examples described in this specification and features of different embodiments or examples if there is no conflict.
Although the embodiments of the present application have been shown and described above, it should be understood that the above-described embodiments are exemplary and cannot be construed as limitations on the present application, and changes, modifications, substitutions and variants may be made to the above-described embodiments within the scope of the present application by those of ordinary skills in the art.
In any one or more of the exemplary embodiments described above, the functions described may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on or transmitted via a computer-readable medium as one or more instructions or code and executed by a hardware-based processing unit. The computer-readable medium may include a computer-readable storage medium corresponding to a tangible medium, such as a data storage medium, or a communication medium including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another, such as in accordance with a communication protocol. In this way, the computer-readable medium may generally correspond to a non-transitory tangible computer-readable storage medium or a communication medium such as a signal or carrier wave. The data storage medium may be any available medium accessible by one or more computers or one or more processors to retrieve instructions, code, and/or data structures for implementing the techniques described in the present disclosure. The computer program product may include a computer-readable medium.
For example but not for limitation, such computer-readable storage media may include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage device, magnetic disk storage device or other magnetic storage device, flash memory, or any other medium that can be used to store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer. Also, any connection may also be referred to as a computer-readable medium, for example, if instructions are transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio and microwave, then coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave are included in the definition of medium. However, it should be understood that computer-readable storage media and data storage media do not include connections, carrier waves, signals, or other transitory (transient) media, but are directed to non-transitory tangible storage media. As use herein, magnetic disk and optical disc include compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk or Blue-ray disc, and the like, where disks typically reproduce data magnetically, while optical discs use lasers to reproduce data optically. Combinations of the foregoing should also be included within the scope of a computer-readable medium.
For example, the instructions may be executed by one or more processors, such as one or more digital signal processors (DSP), general-purpose micro-processors, application specific integrated circuits (ASIC), field programmable logic arrays (FPGA), or other equivalent integrated or discrete logic circuits. Accordingly, the term :processor: as used herein may refer to any of the structures described above or any other structure suitable for implementing the techniques described herein. Additionally, in some aspects, the functionality described herein may be provided within dedicated hardware and/or software modules configured for encoding and decoding, or incorporated into a combined codec. Also, the techniques may be fully implemented in one or more circuits or logic elements.
The technical schemes of the embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in a wide variety of devices or apparatuses, including wireless handsets, integrated circuits (IC), or a set of ICs (e.g., chipset). Various components, modules, or units are described in embodiments of the present disclosure to emphasize functional aspects of a device configured to perform the described techniques, but do not necessarily need to be implemented by different hardware units. Instead, as described above, the various units may be combined in a codec hardware unit or provided by a collection of interoperable hardware units (including one or more processors as described above) in conjunction with suitable software and/or firmware.
From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that specific embodiments of the disclosure have been described herein for purposes of illustration, but that various modifications may be made without deviating from the scope of the disclosure. Accordingly, the invention is not limited except as by the appended claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 202311636338.1 | Nov 2023 | CN | national |
