An outdoor unit of the heat pump includes a compressor, an oil separator provided in a discharge path of the compressor, an outdoor-unit connecting pipe connecting an intake path of the compressor and an outdoor unit of an another heat pump for supplying a refrigerant to the outdoor unit of the another heat pump, an oil supply pipe extending from a predetermined position of the oil separator and connecting to the outdoor-unit connecting pipe, an on-off valve provided on the oil supply pipe, an expansion valve provided in a portion of the outdoor-unit connecting pipe between a connecting part connected to the intake path and a connecting part connected to the oil supply pipe, and a refrigerant filling port provided in a portion of the outdoor-unit connecting pipe between the connecting part and the expansion valve.

An air conditioner may include a plurality of indoor units and a plurality of outdoor units connected to the plurality of indoor units. Each of the plurality of outdoor units may include a plurality of outdoor heat exchangers. Each of the outdoor heat exchangers may include a plurality of heat exchanger parts. When a defrosting operation condition is satisfied during a heating operation, indicating that a defrosting operation should be performed the plurality of heat exchanger parts of the plurality of outdoor heat exchangers may successively perform the defrosting operation.

A heat-recovery-type refrigerating apparatus includes a compressor, a heat-source-side heat exchanger, and a plurality of usage-side heat exchangers, and refrigerant is sent from the usage-side heat exchanger functioning as a refrigerant radiator to the usage-side heat exchanger functioning as a refrigerant evaporator, whereby heat can be recovered between the usage-side heat exchangers. Here, a portion of the heat-source-side heat exchanger is configured as a precooling heat exchanger for always circulating high-pressure vapor refrigerant discharged from the compressor, and a refrigerant cooler for cooling an electrical equipment item is connected to a downstream side of the precooling heat exchanger.

An air-conditioning apparatus includes a refrigerant circuit in which a compressor, an indoor heat exchanger, a first expansion device, an outdoor heat exchanger, and a flow switching device are sequentially connected to each other; a hot gas bypass pipe coupling a discharge port of the compressor and the flow switching device to each other; and a controller. The outdoor heat exchanger includes an upper heat exchanger and a lower heat exchanger having passages in parallel with each other. The outdoor heat exchanger includes a plurality of hairpin pipes, which are part of a heat transfer pipe. When the upper heat exchanger is defrosted, all hairpin pipes that are located at a lowermost step of the upper heat exchanger are used as refrigerant inlets. When the lower heat exchanger is defrosted, all hairpin pipes that are located at an uppermost step of the lower heat exchanger are used as refrigerant inlets.

Embodiments as disclosed herein are directed to a heat pump that employs at least two different refrigerants, each of which is optimized for either a cooling operation mode or a heating operation mode. The embodiments as disclosed herein can help increase the capacity and/or efficiency of a heat pump in both the cooling operation mode and the heating operation mode. In addition, the embodiments as disclosed herein may also eliminate the need for a ground source in a relatively low ambient temperature environment.

An ejector for a sealed system includes a motive liquid passage with a converging section, a throat and a diverging section. The throat of the motive liquid passage is disposed between the converging section of the motive liquid passage and the diverging section of the motive liquid passage. The ejector also includes a plurality of nucleation sites at the converging section of the motive liquid passage.

When the temperatures of outdoor heat exchangers 23a and 23b detected by outdoor heat exchanger temperature sensors 57a and 57b become equal to or higher than 5 degrees C. and the sucking superheating degrees of compressors 21a and 21b become equal to or lower than 0 degrees C. while an air conditioning apparatus 1 is performing the reverse defrosting operation, the reverse defrosting operation is stopped and the heating dominant operation is resumed. At this time, the total operating times of the compressors 21a and 21b are reset. The sucking superheating degrees of the compressors 21a and 21b are obtained by subtracting the low pressure saturation temperatures calculated from the sucking pressures of the compressors 21a and 21b, from the temperatures of the refrigerants sucked into the compressors 21a and 21b which temperatures are detected by the sucking temperature sensors 54a and 54b.

An HVAC system includes an outdoor heat exchanger. A first indoor heat exchanger is fluidly coupled to the outdoor heat exchanger and disposed in a first zone. A second indoor heat exchanger is fluidly coupled to the outdoor heat exchanger and disposed in a second zone. A compressor is fluidly coupled to the outdoor heat exchanger, the first indoor heat exchanger, and the second indoor heat exchanger. A first circulation fan is positioned to circulate air around the first indoor heat exchanger and a second circulation fan is positioned to circulate air around the second indoor heat exchanger. A first zone controller is electrically coupled to the first indoor heat exchanger. The first zone controller is configured to measure a temperature in the first zone, compare the measured temperature to a setpoint temperature of the first zone, and responsive to a difference between the measured temperature and the setpoint temperature, adjust a speed of the first circulation fan independent of the speed of the second circulation fan.

Disclosed are a method and a device for controlling refrigerant in an air conditioning system. The method includes: S1: comparing a superheat degree of each outdoor unit with an average superheat degree; S2: if the superheat degree of a present outdoor unit is higher than the average superheat degree, and a first different between the superheat degree of the present outdoor unit and the average superheat degree is greater than a present value, increasing a refrigerant amount entered into the present outdoor unit; and S3: if the superheat degree of the present outdoor unit is lower than the average superheat degree, and a second different between the average superheat degree and the superheat degree of the present outdoor unit is greater than the present value, decreasing the refrigerant amount entered into the present outdoor unit. Therefore, the refrigerant amount entered into each outdoor unit is adjusted from systemic overall perspective.

An air conditioner including a hot gas line for receiving a portion of refrigerant compressed in a compressor, an indoor heat exchanger, an outdoor expansion device for expanding the refrigerant having exchanged heat in the indoor heat exchanger, an outdoor heat exchanger functioning as a condenser in a cooling mode while functioning as an evaporator in a heating mode, and a 4-way valve for receiving a remaining portion of the compressed refrigerant, to guide the refrigerant emerging from the compressor to the outdoor heat exchanger in the cooling mode and to the indoor heat exchanger in the heating mode. The outdoor heat exchanger includes a main heat exchanger section functioning as a condenser in the cooling mode while functioning as an evaporator in the heating mode, and an auxiliary heat exchanger for receiving the refrigerant from the hot gas line in a frosting prevention mode.