JPH0621725B2 - Heat pump device - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention uses a non-azeotropic mixed refrigerant and a refrigerant rectification tower to
The present invention relates to a heat pump device capable of changing a composition of a refrigerant flowing in a main circuit and constantly generating a capacity adapted to a load.

Configuration of Conventional Example and Problems Thereof FIG. 1 shows that a refrigerant rich in low-boiling components and a refrigerant rich in high-boiling components separated by a refrigerant rectification column using a non-azeotropic mixed refrigerant are selectively used in a refrigeration cycle. By flowing into the main circuit,
It is a block diagram of the conventional heat pump apparatus which controls the cooling / heating capacity by changing the composition of the refrigerant circulating in the main circuit. In FIG. 1, 1 is a compressor, 2 is a four-way valve for switching between hot and cold switching, 3 is a load side heat exchanger, 4, 5, 6 and 7 are throttle devices,
8 is a heat source side heat exchanger, 9 is a three-way valve, 10 is a refrigerant rectification column,
11 is a cooling unit, 12 is a heating unit, 13 and 14 are stop valves, and 15 and 16 are check valves. The operation of the heat pump device configured as described above will be described. During heating, the refrigerant vapor compressed by the compressor 1 passes through the four-way valve 2, flows in the direction of the solid arrow, is condensed and liquefied by the load side heat exchanger 3, and enters the expansion device 4. During normal operation, the three-way valve 9 is first
The refrigerant that has been opened in the direction shown in the figure and has come out of the expansion device 4 is
After passing through the expansion device 5 and entering the heat source side heat exchanger 8, it is evaporated and vaporized, and then returns to the compressor 1. When changing the refrigerant composition of the main circuit, the three-way valve 9 is rotated 90 ° to the right, and the refrigerant discharged from the expansion device 4 is introduced into the refrigerant rectification column 10 via the three-way valve 9. The liquid component of the refrigerant introduced in the refrigerant rectification column 10 flows downward, is heated by the heating unit 12 and boils, and the generated gas component rises in the refrigerant rectification column 10. On the other hand, the gas component of the introduced refrigerant flows upward, is cooled and condensed by the cooling unit 11, and the liquefied refrigerant descends through the refrigerant rectification column 10 while the gas component newly generated from the heating unit 12 is generated. Makes gas-liquid contact with. Due to this rectification action, a liquid rich in higher boiling point components is stored in the heating unit 12, and a liquid rich in lower boiling point components is stored in the cooling unit 11. Therefore, in order to make the composition of the refrigerant in the main circuit richer in the low boiling point component, the stop valve 13 is opened,
By closing the stop valve 14, the liquid richer in the low boiling point component is supplied from the cooling unit 11 to the stop valve 1.
3, the expansion device 7, the check valve 16 and the heat source side heat exchanger 8
Flow into. On the contrary, in order to make the composition rich in high boiling point components, the stop valve 13 is closed and the stop valve 1 is closed.
By opening No. 4, the liquid rich in high boiling point components flows into the heat source side heat exchanger 8 from the heating unit 12 through the stop valve 12, the expansion device 7, and the check valve 16. Therefore, by operating the three-way valve 9 and the stop valves 13 and 14, the composition of the refrigerant flowing through the main circuit is changed.

Even during cooling, the flow of the refrigerant is as shown by the dotted arrow, and the operation is the same, so the description thereof will be omitted.

In the heat pump device configured as described above, the position where the refrigerant is introduced into the refrigerant rectification column 10 is approximately one position near the center thereof, and by doing so, the heating section 12 below the refrigerant rectification column has , Which is richer in the higher boiling point component than the introduced refrigerant composition, is stored in the cooling part in the upper part of the refrigerant rectification column which is richer in the lower boiling point component than the introduced refrigerant composition However, from the introduced position, the cooling unit 1
The length up to 1 is about half of that of the refrigerant rectification column, that is, the introduced refrigerant gradually becomes rich in low-boiling point components due to heat and mass exchange with the refrigerant liquid from the cooling section 11, and becomes a cooling section. Since the length of the so-called rectification action of being stored in the refrigerant is about half that of the refrigerant rectification column 10, the action is not sufficiently performed, and the introduced refrigerant composition and the refrigerant composition stored in the cooling unit 11 are stored. I couldn't make a big difference. In addition, the heating unit 1 is also introduced from the same position.
Since the length up to 2 is almost half that of the refrigerant rectification column 10, the difference with the refrigerant composition stored in the heating section 12 could not be taken so much. Therefore, the change width of the refrigerant composition flowing through the main circuit becomes small, and there is a problem that the refrigerant composition corresponding to the load cannot be obtained satisfactorily. Conversely, in order to circulate the desired refrigerant composition, There is also a drawback that the amount of refrigerant to be increased increases and the container required for that increases.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION The object of the present invention is to reduce the amount of refrigerant stored in the refrigerant rectification column and to greatly change the composition of the refrigerant flowing in the main circuit of the refrigeration cycle, so as to always obtain a suitable refrigerant composition according to the load. It is to provide a heat pump device capable of performing.

The heat pump device of the present invention constitutes a main circuit of a refrigeration cycle in which a compressor, a load side heat exchanger, a throttle device, and a heat source side heat exchanger are connected to circulate a non-azeotropic mixed refrigerant. A non-azeotropic mixed refrigerant in the main circuit is introduced and rectified, and a rectified non-azeotropic mixed refrigerant is provided to the main circuit, and a refrigerant rectification tower is provided. A refrigerant introduction part for selectively introducing the non-azeotropic mixed refrigerant is provided at the tower top and the tower bottom.

Description of Embodiment An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the heat pump device according to the present invention. In FIG. 2, the same components as those in FIG. 1 are designated by the same reference numerals. Reference numerals 17 and 18 are stop valves.

The operation of the heat pump device configured as described above will be described below. During heating, the refrigerant vapor compressed by the compressor 1 passes through the four-way valve 2 in the direction of the solid arrow, is condensed and liquefied by the load side heat exchanger 3, and enters the expansion device 4. During normal operation, the three-way valve 9 is open in the direction shown in FIG. 2, and the refrigerant that has exited the expansion device 4 passes through the expansion device 5 and enters the heat source side heat exchanger 8 where it is evaporated and vaporized, Return to compressor 1. Next, when changing the refrigerant composition of the main circuit, the three-way valve 9 is rotated 90 ° to the right and the refrigerant discharged from the expansion device 4 is introduced into the refrigerant rectification column 10 through the three-way valve 9, but the main circuit is In order to enrich the low boiling point components, the stop valves 14, 18
Is closed and 13 and 17 are opened. That is, the refrigerant that has passed through the stop valve 17 is the top 10a of the refrigerant rectification tower 10.
Is introduced into the refrigerant rectification column 10, and the refrigerant liquid thereof flows downward through the refrigerant rectification column 10, is heated in the heating section 12 and boils, and the generated gas component rises in the refrigerant rectification column 10. It comes into gas-liquid contact with the refrigerant liquid that is introduced and descends.

In this case, the refrigerant introduced into the tower top portion 10a of the refrigerant rectification column 10 exchanges heat and substance with the gas generated from the heating section 12 to gradually vaporize the low boiling point component and gradually enrich the higher boiling point component. A space where a so-called rectification action is performed, in which the composition is stored in the heating unit 12, is a space from the tower top 10a to the tower bottom 10a.
Since it is up to b and it extends over almost the entire length of the refrigerant rectification tower 10,
When the rectification action in which the refrigerant introduced into the refrigerant rectification column 10 becomes a higher boiling point component is performed in a half-length section from the center to the bottom of the refrigerant rectification column 10 as in the conventional case In comparison, the rectification action is further promoted, and the refrigerant having a composition rich in a very high boiling point component is stored in the heating section 12.

The remaining refrigerant in the cooling unit 11 passes through the stop valve 13,
It flows through the expansion device 7 and the check valve 16 into the heat source side heat exchanger 8, where it is vaporized and evaporated and is again sucked into the compressor 1, but its refrigerant composition is rich in high-boiling components in the heating part 12. As the refrigerant is stored, the three-way valve 9 is turned in the direction of 90 °, then gradually becomes rich in low-boiling components, and if this state is continued, the refrigerant composition of the refrigeration cycle main circuit becomes The composition can be very rich in low-boiling components.

Next, in order to enrich the inside of the main circuit with a higher boiling point component, the stop valves 13 and 17 are closed and the stop valves 14 and 18 are opened. That is, the refrigerant that has passed through the stop valve 18 is introduced into the tower bottom portion 10b of the refrigerant rectification tower 10 and introduced into the heating unit 1
Heated at 2 and boiled, the generated gas component is the refrigerant rectification tower 1
It rises in 0 and is cooled and liquefied in the cooling unit 11. This liquefied refrigerant further descends in the refrigerant rectification column 10 and exchanges heat and substance with the gas newly generated from the heating section 12 to vaporize the low boiling point component of the gas and store it in the cooling section 11. The so-called rectification action is performed. Since the section where this action is performed is from the tower bottom 10b to the tower top 10a and covers almost the entire length of the refrigerant rectification column 10, as in the conventional case, the length from the center of the refrigerant rectification column 10 to the top is half. The rectification action is further promoted as compared with the case where the rectification action is performed in the section, and the refrigerant liquid having a very low boiling point component is stored in the cooling section 11. The remaining refrigerant liquid in the heating unit 12 flows into the heat source side heat exchanger 8 through the stop valve 13, the expansion device 7, and the check valve 16.
The refrigerant composition is sucked into the compressor 1 again, but the refrigerant composition is gradually increased after the three-way valve 9 is turned 90 ° to the right because the refrigerant rich in low boiling point components is accumulated in the cooling section 11. It becomes rich in boiling components, and finally, it becomes possible to obtain a composition rich in extremely high boiling components.

Therefore, the three-way valve 9 and the stop valves 13, 1
By operating 4, 17, and 18, the composition of the refrigerant flowing through the main circuit can be changed in a wide range from those rich in very high boiling components to those rich in low boiling components, and it is always suitable depending on the load. It becomes possible to obtain the following refrigerant composition.

Even during cooling, the flow of the refrigerant is as shown by the dotted arrow, and the operation is the same, so the description thereof will be omitted.

Further, the heating section 12 or the cooling section 11 can store a refrigerant liquid rich in a very high-boiling point component or a low-boiling point component, so that it is possible to change the refrigerant composition in the refrigeration cycle main circuit to a desired one. The amount of the refrigerant liquid rich in the high-boiling point component or the low-boiling point component to be stored can be reduced, so that the storage container of the heating unit 12 and the cooling unit 11 can be downsized.

It should be noted that although the heat source and the cooling source of the heating unit and the cooling unit of the present embodiment are not described, the heat source is an electric heater, a compressor discharge refrigerant, etc., and the cooling source is water cooling, a throttle device outlet refrigerant, etc. Are considered to be included in the present invention.

Further, the present embodiment is an example in which the refrigerant rectification column 10 operates at an intermediate pressure between the load side heat exchanger internal pressure and the heat source side heat exchanger internal pressure, but the load side heat exchanger internal pressure, or The heat source side heat exchanger may be operated at the internal pressure or the like, which are included in the present invention.

As described above, according to the present invention, in the heat pump device, the position at which the non-azeotropic mixed refrigerant is introduced into the refrigerant rectification column is connected to the top or the bottom of the column so that the stop valve can be opened and closed. Since it is possible to store a refrigerant rich in very high boiling point components or rich in low boiling point components in the heating section or cooling section of the refrigerant rectification column, the variable range of the refrigerant composition flowing through the refrigeration cycle main circuit can be increased. Therefore, during cooling / heating operation, there is an effect that a suitable refrigerant composition corresponding to the load can always be obtained, and the container for storing can be made small.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a heat pump device using a conventional refrigerant rectification column, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a heat pump device of the present invention. 1 ... Compressor, 3 ... Load side heat exchanger, 8 ... Heat source side heat exchanger, 9 ... Three-way valve, 10 ... Refrigerant rectification column, 10a ...
… Tower top, 10b …… Tower bottom, 11 …… Cooling part, 12…
... Heating part, 13, 14, 17, 18 ... Stop valve.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A main circuit of a refrigeration cycle in which a non-azeotropic mixed refrigerant is circulated by connecting a compressor, a four-way valve, a load side heat exchanger, a throttle device and a heat source side heat exchanger. While rectifying by introducing the non-azeotropic mixed refrigerant, a refrigerant rectifying tower for supplying the rectified non-azeotropic mixed refrigerant to the main circuit is provided, and the tower top and tower bottom of this refrigerant rectifying tower are provided. Providing a refrigerant introduction portion into which the non-azeotropic mixed refrigerant in the main circuit is introduced via valves, respectively, the refrigerant rectified through the valves at the tower top and the tower bottom is selectively introduced into the main circuit. A heat pump device, characterized in that it is provided with a refrigerant lead-out portion for introduction.