Abstract:
The present invention provides an air-condition heat pump capable of defrosting and air-conditioning at same time. The present invention utilizes at least two evaporators, which harvest the energy from one working evaporator to provide energy for defrost operation of another evaporator, thus the air-condition heat pump can defrost without additional energy. Under low temperature working condition, the present invention utilizes a suction pressure boost to increase efficiency.

Description:
FIELD  
       [0001]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0002]     The present invention relates to a wide-range air-condition heat pump, more particularly to a wide-range air-condition heat pump capable of uninterrupted operation while defrosting. The present invention can be applied on residential, agriculture ,and industrial purposes.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0003]     Current available heat pump has low efficiency under low temperature working condition. The current defrosting methods such as electrical defrost system and reverse-circulation defrost system require the heat pump to stop operation while defrosting. Therefore, it is the primary objective of the present invention to provide an air-condition heat pump capable of uninterrupted operation during defrosting.  
         [0004]     In general, current heat pump has very limited range of working temperatures due to operation efficiency. However, outdoor temperature may vary from negative 40 degree Celsius to 10 degree Celsius, therefore it is another objective of the present invention to provide a wide range air-condition heat pump capable of operating under wide range of working environment temperature at high efficiency.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0005]     1. It is a primary object of the present invention to provide an air-condition heat pump capable of uninterrupted operation while defrosting.  
         [0006]     2. It is a secondary object of the present invention to provide a wide range air-condition heat pump capable of operating under various range of temperature.  
         [0007]     3. It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an air-condition heat pump capable of defrosting without additional energy.  
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0008]      FIG. 1  is a illustrative diagram of the present invention with two defrost condensers.  
         [0009]      FIG. 2  is illustrative diagram of the present invention with secondary compressor and two defrost condenser.  
         [0010]      FIG. 3  is an exemplary defrosting procedure of the present invention.  
         [0011]      FIG. 4  is an illustrative diagram of the present invention with wide temperature range working capability.  
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0012]     Referring to  FIG. 1 , when the air-condition heat pump starts operating, compressor  101  pumps refrigerant into condenser  102 . After refrigerant has condensed, refrigerant flows through expansion valve  103  to solenoid valve  104  and solenoid valve  105 . At this time, both solenoid valve  104  and solenoid valve  105  are open. The refrigerant flows through solenoid valve  104  and solenoid valve  105  to evaporator  106  and evaporator  107  respectively. Then refrigerant in evaporator  106  and evaporator  107  return to compressor  101 . The pressure regulator  112  is used to control the refrigerant pressure of defrost condenser  109  and defrost condenser  111 .  
         [0013]     During defrosting process of evaporator  106 , solenoid valve  104  is closed and solenoid  108  is open. The compressor sends heated refrigerant to defrost condenser  109  through solenoid valve  108 . Then heat from the defrost condenser  109  is used to heat up evaporator  106  by heat conducting means such as fan or direct contact.  
         [0014]     During defrosting process of evaporator  107 , solenoid valve  105  is closed and solenoid  110  is open. The compressor sends heated refrigerant to defrost condenser  111  through solenoid valve  110 . Then heat from the defrost condenser is  111  used to heat up evaporator  107  by heat conducting means such as fan or direct contact.  
         [0015]     Referring to  FIG. 2 , an air-condition heat pump with secondary compressor is provided. When the primary heat pump starts operating, compressor  201  pumps refrigerant into condenser  202 . After refrigerant has condensed, refrigerant flows through expansion valve  203  to solenoid valve  204  and solenoid valve  205 . At this time, both solenoid valve  204  and solenoid valve  205  are open. The refrigerant flows through solenoid valve  204  and solenoid valve  205  to evaporator  206  and evaporator  207  respectively. Then refrigerant in evaporator  206  and evaporator  207  return to compressor  201 .  
         [0016]     During defrosting process of evaporator  206 , solenoid valve  204  is closed. ,solenoid valve  208  is open to provide passage for refrigerant. Then secondary compressor  214  starts operating and sending heated refrigerant to defrost condenser  209  through solenoid valve  208 . Then the heat from defrost condenser  209  is used to heat up evaporator  206  by heat conducting means such as fan or direct contact. The refrigerant in defrost condenser  209  flows through expansion valve  216 . Then the refrigerant from expansion valve  216  enters heat exchanger  215  to absorb heat from the refrigerant in primary heat pump. Then the refrigerant returns to secondary compressor  214 .  
         [0017]     During defrosting process of evaporator  207 , solenoid valve  205  is closed. Solenoid valve  210  is open to provide passage for refrigerant. Then secondary compressor  214  starts operating and sending heated refrigerant to defrost condenser  211  through solenoid valve  210 . Then the heat from defrost condenser  211  is used to heat up evaporator  207  by heat conducting means such as fan or direct contact. The refrigerant in defrost condenser  211  flows through expansion valve  216 . Then the refrigerant from expansion valve  216  enters heat exchanger  215  to absorb heat from the refrigerant in primary heat pump. Then the refrigerant returns to secondary compressor  214 .  
         [0018]      FIG. 3  is an exemplary working procedure table of the present invention as explained in  FIG. 1  when defrosting is required. When evaporator  107  requires defrosting, evaporator  107  stops operating, and evaporator  106  continues operating to provide heat energy that defrost condenser  111  required to defrost evaporator  107 . After a preset time has reached or if sensor (not shown) has detected no further defrosting is necessary, defrost condenser  111  stops defrosting and evaporator  107  starts working. When evaporator  106  requires defrosting, evaporator  106  stops operating, and evaporator  107  continues operating to provide heat energy that defrost condenser  109  required to defrost evaporator  106 . After a preset time has reached or if sensor has detected no further defrosting is necessary, defrost condenser  109  stops defrosting and evaporator  106  starts working. When both of evaporator  106  and evaporator  107  can operate without frosting, both of them can uninterruptedly operate.  
         [0019]     Under severe working condition, the working procedure could follow the exemplary working procedure table as in  FIG. 3 . Each of the evaporator operates for 20 minutes and defrosts for 10 minutes. Same concept and working procedure can be applied on all other embodiments of the present invention.  
         [0020]      FIG. 4  shows an illustrative diagram of a wide range air-condition heat pump. When the wide range air-condition heat pump starts operating in high temperature range working environment (approximately 0 degree to 10 degree° C.), compressor  401  pumps refrigerant into condenser  402 . After refrigerant has condensed, refrigerant flows through expansion valve  403  to evaporator  404 . Then refrigerant in evaporator  404  flows to pressure boosting jet pump  406 . At this time, solenoid valve  405  is closed, and the refrigerant flows through pressure boosting jet pump  406  to compressor  401  without being boosted in pressure. When the wide range air-condition heat pump operates in low temperature range working environment (below 0 degree ° C.), solenoid valve  405  is open and the pressure of the refrigerant is boosted by pressure boosting jet pump  406 , then the intake pressure of compressor  401  is higher than the pressure within evaporator  404 , thus the working efficiency is increased and the system can adapt to low temperature range working environment. Further embodiments of the present invention could include multiple set of jet pumps for operation under severe working environment. When the present invention operates with multiple set of pressure boosting jet pumps, a by-pass passage and one-way valve could used to control the intake pressure of compressor.