Patent ID: 9459032
Filing Date: 2016-10-04
CPC Classification: F25B

Claim Text:
1. An air conditioning apparatus comprising: a refrigerant circuit having a controller configured to control the refrigerant circuit to perform liquefaction control, which causes refrigerant present inside the refrigerant circuit to be present in a liquid state in a liquid reserving portion located between the expansion mechanism and an end of the condenser on a side opposite the expansion mechanism; a liquid bypass circuit arranged and configured to interconnect the liquid reserving portion and the gas refrigerant pipe, the liquid bypass circuit including a liquid bypass expansion valve; and a refrigerant quantity detection unit arranged and configured to detect at least one of either a volume of liquid refrigerant in the liquid reserving portion or a physical quantity equivalent to the volume, the controller and the liquid bypass circuit being arranged and configured to, in the following order such that the compressor continues to compress the refrigerant present inside the refrigerant circuit prior to the beginning of the liquefaction control and throughout completion of the regulating of the amount of refrigerant passing through the liquid bypass circuit.