Patent ID: 11959677
Assignee: MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATION
Field: Thermal processes and apparatus (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC F | IPC F

Claim 0:
1. A refrigeration apparatus that performs cooling using refrigerant, the refrigeration apparatus comprising:
a refrigerant circuit through which the refrigerant circulates;
a controller configured to execute refrigerant shortage sensing functions of sensing a shortage of an amount of the refrigerant; and
an input device through which an operation mode to be set is input into the controller, wherein
the controller is further configured to
set the operation mode, responsive to the input from the input device, to one of a first mode which is predetermined as having an emphasis placed on energy-saving performance, and a second mode which is predetermined as ensuring reliability,
in response to the operation mode being the first mode, sense a refrigerant shortage responsive to the amount of the refrigerant decreasing below a pre-set determination value that corresponds to a refrigerant shortage for efficient operation, and
in response to the operation mode being the second mode, perform refrigerant shortage sensing only after the amount of the refrigerant decreases below the determination value and at least one of (a) falls within a predetermined range corresponding to an uncooled state of the refrigerant apparatus and (b) falls outside a predetermined range corresponding to reliability of the refrigeration apparatus being ensured.