Patent ID: 11867423
Assignee: LG ELECTRONICS INC.
Field: Thermal processes and apparatus (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC F | IPC F

Claim 9:
10. A method for operating a heat pump including an outdoor unit, a hybrid unit, and a plurality of indoor units, the method comprising:
calculating operation loads of the plurality of indoor units;
calculating an amount of change in a total operation load of the plurality of indoor units based on a difference between previously calculated operation loads of the plurality of indoor units and the calculated operation loads of the plurality of indoor units;
when an operation mode of the plurality of indoor units connected to at least one fluid-refrigerant heat exchanger that exchanges heat between a refrigerant and a fluid is a cooling mode, determining an opening degree of at least one refrigerant control valve of the hybrid unit according to a first value obtained by multiplying the amount of change in the total operation load by a first ratio, wherein the at least one refrigerant control valve controls an amount of the refrigerant flowing through the at least one fluid-refrigerant heat exchanger;
when the operation mode is a heating mode, determining the opening degree of the at least one refrigerant control valve according to a second value obtained by multiplying the amount of change in the total operation load by a second ratio that is smaller than the first ratio; and
controlling the at least one refrigerant control valve based on the determined opening degree of the at least one refrigerant control valve, wherein the opening degree of the at least one refrigerant control valve increases as the amount of change in the total operation load increases.