Claims
- 1. An air conditioner using a non-azeotropic refrigerant as a circulating refrigerant, comprising:
an outdoor unit including a compressor, a four-way valve, a heat exchanger on a side of a heat source and an electronic expansion valve; a plurality of indoor units; a liquid receiver provided between said heat exchanger on the heat source side and said electronic expansion valve, and having an upper portion storing a refrigerant vapor and a lower portion storing a liquid refrigerant; a second liquid receiver introducing the refrigerant vapor in said liquid receiver through a pipe so as to heat exchange with an ambient air and store as the liquid refrigerant; and a pipe connected to said liquid receiver from a lower portion of said second liquid receiver via a shut-off valve, wherein the air conditioner is operated by closing said shut-off valve at a time of a low load so as to store a low boiling point refrigerant in said second liquid receiver.
- 2. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein a rotational speed of said compressor is changed by an inverter.
- 3. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein said refrigerant vapor is caused to make heat exchange with a refrigerant on a suction side of said compressor to thereby be condensed.
- 4. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein said second liquid receiver is connected to the suction side of said compressor via a second shut-off valve and a pressure reducing mechanism.
- 5. The air conditioner according to claim 1, further comprising a heat exchanger for heat exchanging said refrigerant vapor with a refrigerant on the suction side of said compressor; and a check valve provided between said liquid receiver and said heat exchanger.
Priority Claims (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
Kind |
2000-278660 |
Sep 2000 |
JP |
|
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application is a divisional application of U.S. Ser. No. 09/855,676, filed May 16, 2001.
Divisions (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09855676 |
May 2001 |
US |
Child |
10183644 |
Jun 2002 |
US |