Multiroom air conditioner and driving method therefor

Abstract: In a multiroom air conditioner and a method of driving a multiroom air conditioner containing plural outdoor side units (1a,1b) each containing a compressor (2a,2b), an outdoor fan (31a,31b), an outdoor heat exchanger (3a,3b) and a refrigerant path change-over valve, plural indoor side units (5a,5b,5c) each containing an indoor heat exchanger (6a,6b,6c), and an inter-unit pipe comprising a high-pressure gas pipe (12), a low-pressure gas pipe (13) and a liquid pipe (14) through which the plural outdoor side units (1a,1b) are connected to the indoor side units (5a,5b,5c) to thereby form a refrigerant cycle, and in which each individual indoor side unit (5a,5b,5c) independently and selectively performs a room cooling operation or a room heating operation for an individual room, when a stop signal is output to some outdoor side unit (1a,1b) in accordance with an indoor load during a room cooling or heating operation, the refrigerant path change-over valve of the outdoor unit (1a,1b) is switched and the outdoor fan (31a,31b) thereof is driven so that the driving of the compressor (2a,2b) of the outdoor side unit (1a,1b) is stopped, but refrigerant is allowed to flow into the outdoor heat exchanger (3a,3b) of the outdoor side unit (1a,1b).

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to a multiroom air conditioner comprising plural outdoor side units each of which contains a compressor, an outdoor heat exchanger, etc., plural indoor side units each of which contains an indoor heat exchanger and an inter-unit pipe for connecting the plural outdoor side units and the plural indoor side units, which is capable of simultaneously cooling or heating all plural rooms, or simultaneously cooling some rooms and heating the other rooms through an individual control operation for each individual room. 2. Description of Related Art There has been known a multiroom air conditioner in which plural outdoor side units each containing a compressor, an outdoor heat exchanger, etc. are connected to plural indoor side units each containing an indoor heat exchanger through an inter-unit pipe each comprising a high-pressure gas pipe, a low-pressure gas pipe and a liquid pipe to simultaneously cooling or heating rooms (as disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 4,878,357). In this type of multiroom air conditioner, the number of outdoor side units to be operated is adjusted in accordance with an indoor load. On the other hand, in a conventional air-conditional operation mode, when a stop signal is output from a controller to some outdoor side unit, a compressor, an outdoor heat exchanger, an outdoor fan and a refrigerant path change-over valve which are built in the outdoor side unit are simultaneously stopped every outdoor side unit. If this operation mode is applied to the multiroom air conditioner, it is not necessarily preferable for the multiroom air conditioner that all the equipments in the outdoor side unit are simultaneously stopped, and in some cases it is more preferable to control each of the equipments individually rather than the simultaneous control (stopping) operation. Specifically, it has been hitherto adopted that the driving of a compressor and the operation of an outdoor heat exchanger are controlled simultaneously with each other. Therefore, it has been hitherto impossible to satisfy such a requirement that only the power (capacity) of the outdoor heat exchanger is increased during a driving time of the multiroom air conditioner to heighten the driving efficiency (output/input) of the air conditioner itself, and such a control device for meeting this requirement has not been proposed. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a multiroom air conditioner which is capable of individually controlling each of equipments built in plural outdoor side units. In order to attain the above object the multiroom air conditioner shows the features of claim 1. Advantageous embodiments of this air conditioner are shown in claims 2 and 3. Furthermore these objects are solved by the features of the method claim 4. Advantageous features with respect to the gas lack detection sensor are provided in claim 5. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is a refrigerant circuit diagram for a multiroom air conditioner of an embodiment of the present invention; and Fig. 2 is a refrigerant circuit diagram for the multiroom air conditioner in a cooling and heating operation. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment according to the present invention will be described hereunder with reference to the accompanying drawings. Fig. 1 is a refrigerant circuit diagram for a multiroom air conditioner of the present invention. In Fig. 1, reference numerals 1a and 1b represent outdoor side units. Each outdoor side unit 1a (1b) is provided with a compressor 2a (2b), an outdoor heat exchanger 3a (3b), an outdoor fan 31a (31b) and a accumulator 4a (4b). Reference numerals 5a, 5b and 5c represent indoor units, and each indoor unit 5a (5b, 5c) is provided with an indoor heat exchanger 6a (6b, 6c). The outdoor side units 1a and 1b are connected to the indoor side units 5a, 5b and 5c through an inter-unit pipe 11. The inter-unit pipe 11 comprises a high-pressure gas pipe 12, a low-pressure gas pipe 13 and a liquid pipe 14, and the respective indoor side units 5a, 5b and 5c, the respective outdoor side units 1a and 1b and the inter-unit pipe 11 constitute a refrigerant cycle. The high-pressure gas pipe 12 is connected to the compressors 2a and 2b through refrigerant discharge pipes 7a and 7b respectively, connected to the outdoor heat exchanger 3a and 3b through change-over valves 9a and 9b respectively, and further connected to the indoor heat exchanger 6a, 6b and 6c through change-over valves 15a, 15b and 15c respectively as shown in Fig. 1. The low-pressure gas pipe 13 is connected to the accumulator 4a and 4b through refrigerant suction pipes 8a and 8b respectively, connected to the outdoor heat exchanger 3a and 3b through change-over valves 10a and 10b, and further connected to the indoor heat exchanger 6a, 6b and 6c through change-over valves 16a, 16b and 16c. The liquid pipe 14 is connected to the outdoor heat exchanger 3a and 3b through auxiliary refrigerant pressure reducers 18a and 18b such as electric expansion valves or the like, and connected to the indoor heat exchanger 6a, 6b and 6c through refrigerant pressure reducers 17a, 17b and 17c of electric expansion valves or the like. The valve opening degree of the auxiliary refrigerant pressure reducers 18a and 18b are adjusted when each of the outdoor heat exchanger 3a and 3b acts as a evaporator, and are set to a substantially full open value when each of the outdoor heat exchanger 3a and 3b acts as a condenser. On the other hand, the valve opening degree of the refrigerant pressure reducers 17a, 17b and 17c are set to a substantially full open value when each of the indoor heat exchanger 6a, 6b and 6c acts as a vaporizer, and it is adjusted when each of the indoor heat exchanger acts as a condenser. Each outdoor side unit 1a (1b) is provided with a controller (hereinafter referred to as "outdoor controller") 100a (100b) for controlling the compressor 2a (2b), the outdoor heat exchanger 3a (3b), the change-over valves 9a and 10a (9b, 10b), the auxiliary refrigerant pressure reducer 18a (18b), the outdoor fan 31a (31b), etc. which are built in the outdoor side unit 1a (1b). On the other hand, each indoor side unit 5a (5b,5c) is provided with a controller (hereinafter referred to as "indoor controller") 101a (101b, 101c) for controlling the indoor heat exchanger 6a (6b, 6c), the change-over valves 15a and 16a (15b and 16b, 15c and 16c) and the refrigerant pressure reducer 17a (17b, 17c). Each indoor controller 101a (101b, 101c) is designed to receive a signal from a sensor (not shown) for detecting an air conditioning load in a room and output the signal to a general controller 200. These outdoor and indoor controllers 100a, 100b, 101a, 101b and 101c are connected to the general controller 200 for collectively control these controllers. The general controller 200 receives a demand load signal (air conditioning load signal) transmitted from each of the indoor controllers 101a, 101b and 101c and outputs a driving control signal to the outdoor controllers 100a and 100b in accordance with the received signal. When supplied with the demand load signal from the indoor controllers 101a, 101b and 101c, the general controller 200 controls the outdoor controllers 100a and 100b to drive the compressors 2a and 2b, the outdoor fans 31a and 31b and the respective change-over valves of the refrigerant path simultaneously or individually. Next, a driving operation of the multiroom air conditioner as described above will be described. When all the rooms are cooled at the same time, the change-over valves 9a and 9b of the outdoor heat exchanger 3a and 3b are opened while the other change-over valves 10a and 10b are closed. In addition, the change-over valves 15a, 15b and 15c of the indoor heat exchanger 6a, 6b and 6c are closed while the other change-over valves 16a, 16b and 16c are opened. The valve opening degree of the auxiliary refrigerant pressure reducers 18a and 18b is set to a substantially full open value. The opening degree of each refrigerant pressure reducer 17a, 17b, 17c is adjusted in accordance with the cooling load of each indoor side unit 5a, 5b, 5c. Through this operation, the high-pressure gas refrigerant discharged from the compressors 2a,2b flows through the discharge pipes 7a,7b, the high-pressure gas pipe 12, the change-over valves 9a,9b and the outdoor heat exchanger 3a,3b in this order to be condensed and liquefied. The liquefied high-pressure refrigerant flows through the auxiliary refrigerant pressure reducers 18a,18b which are substantially fully opened in the valve opening degree and the liquid pipe 14, and distributed to the refrigerant pressure reducers 17a,17b,17c of the respective indoor units 5a,5b,5c. The distributed refrigerant is reduced in pressure, and changed to low-pressure refrigerant in the refrigerant pressure reducers. The low-pressure liquefied refrigerant is vaporized in the respective indoor heat exchanger 6a,6b,6c, and flows through the change-over valves 16a,16b,16c, the low-pressure gas pipe 13, the suction pipes 8a,8b and the gas-liquid separators 4a,4b in this order into the compressors 2a,2b. With this arrangement, each of the indoor heat exchanger 6a,6b,6c serves as a evaporator, and thus all the rooms are simultaneously cooled. Conversely, in the case where all the rooms are simultaneously heated, the change-over valves 9a,9b of the outdoor heat exchanger 3a,3b are closed and the other change-over valves 10a, 10b thereof are opened. In addition, the change-over valves 15a,15b,15c of the indoor heat exchanger 6a,6b,6c are opened and the other change-over valves 16a,16b,16c thereof are closed. The opening degrees of each of the auxiliary refrigerant pressure reducers 18a,18b is adjusted in accordance with the driving load of the outdoor side units 1a,1b, and the opening degree of each of the refrigerant pressure reducers 17a,17b,17c is set to a substantially full state value. Through this operation, the high-pressure gas refrigerant discharged from the compressors 2a,2b flows through the discharge pipes 7a,7b and the high-pressure gas pipe 12 in this order, and distributed to the change-over valves 15a,15b,15c and the indoor heat exchanger 6a,6b,6c, so that the refrigerant are condensed and liquefied. Thereafter, the high-pressure liquefied refrigerant is reduced in pressure by each of the refrigerant pressure reducers 17a,17b,17c, and joins together in the liquid pipe 14. Thereafter, the joined liquefied refrigerant is vaporized in the outdoor heat exchanger 3a,3b, and flows through change-over valves 10a, 10b, the suction pipes 8a,8b and the gas-liquid separators 4a,4b in this order into the compressors 2a,2b. With this arrangement, each of the indoor heat exchanger serves as a condenser, and thus all the rooms are simultaneously heated. In the case where any two rooms are cooled and one room is heated at the same time, the one change-over valve 9a of the outdoor heat exchanger 3a is opened, and the other change-over valve 10a of outdoor heat exchanger 3a and the change-over valves 9b and 10b of the outdoor heat exchanger 3b are closed. In addition, the change-over valves 15a,15c of the indoor side units 5a, 5c for the cooling operation are closed, and the other change-over valves 16a,16c thereof are opened. In addition, the change-over valve 15b of the indoor side unit 5b for the heating operation is opened, and the other change-over valve 16b is closed. Through this operation, a part of the refrigerant discharged from the compressors 2a,2b flows through the discharge pipe 7a and the change-over valve 9a in this order into the outdoor heat exchanger 3a. The residual refrigerant flows through the high-pressure gas pipe 12 into the change-over valve 15b of the indoor side unit 5b for the heating operation and the indoor heat exchanger 6b, so that the refrigerant is condensed and liquefied by the indoor heat exchanger 6b and the outdoor heat exchanger 3a. The refrigerant which is condensed and liquefied in the heat exchanger 6b and 3a flows through the liquid pipe 14, and then reduced in pressure in the refrigerant pressure reducers 17a,17c of the indoor side units 5a and 5c. Thereafter, the refrigerant is vaporized in each of the indoor heat exchanger 6a and 6c, flows through each of the change-over valves 16a,16c and then joins together in the low-pressure gas pipe 13. Thereafter, the joined refrigerant flows through the suction pipes 8a,8b and the gas-liquid separators 4a,4b into the compressor 2. Through this operation, the indoor heat exchanger 6b serves as a condenser, so that the one room is heated. On the other hand, the other indoor heat exchanger 6a,6c serve as a evaporator, so that the other two rooms are cooled. For an operation of cooling one room while heating two rooms, this operation can be performed by actuating the auxiliary refrigerant pressure reducer 18a. For example in the case where the cooling operation is performed by the indoor side unit 5b while the heating operation is performed by the indoor side units 5a and 5c, the change-over valve 10a of the outdoor heat exchanger 3a is opened, and the change-over valves 9a, 9b and 9c are closed. In addition, the change-over valve 15b of the indoor side unit 5b for the cooling operation is closed, and the other change-over valve 16b thereof is opened. In addition, the change-over valves 15a, 15c of the indoor side units 5a, 5c for the heating operation are opened, and the other change-over valves 16a,16c thereof are closed. Through this operation, the refrigerant discharged from the compressors 2a,2b flows through the discharge pipes 7a,7b and the high-pressure gas pipe 12 in this order and distributed to the change-over valves 15a,15c. Each distributed refrigerant is condensed and liquefied in each of the indoor heat exchanger 6a,6c. The liquefied refrigerant is supercooled by the refrigerant pressure reducers 17a,17b, and the flows into the liquid pipe 14. A part of the liquefied refrigerant in the liquid pipe is reduced in pressure in the refrigerant pressure reducer 17b, and then vaporized in the indoor heat exchanger 6b. The residual liquefied refrigerant is reduced in pressure in the auxiliary refrigerant pressure reducer 18a, and then vaporized in the outdoor heat exchanger 3a, thereafter flowing through the suction pipes 8a,8b and the gas-liquid separators 4a,4b in this order into the compressor 2. With this arrangement, each of the indoor heat exchanger 6a,6c serves as a condenser, so that the two rooms are heated. On the other hand, the other indoor heat exchanger 6b serves as a evaporator, so that the residual one room is cooled. In a case where the outdoor heat exchanger 3a and 3b each serving as the evaporator are frosted, a defrosting operation is carried out. In this case, the change-over valve 9a is opened, and the other change-over valve 10a is closed to guide a part of high-temperature discharged refrigerant from the discharge pipe 7 to the outdoor heat exchanger 3a and defrost the outdoor heat exchanger 3a. Thereafter, the change-over valve 9a is closed and the other change-over valve 10a is opened, so that the outdoor heat exchanger 3a serves as a evaporator again. In addition, the change-over valve 9b is opened and the other change-over valve 10b is closed to guide a part of the high-pressure discharged refrigerant from the discharge pipe 7 to the other outdoor heat exchanger 3b and defrost the outdoor heat exchanger 3b. Through this operation, the heating operation for all the rooms can be continuously performed while alternately defrosting the outdoor heat exchanger 3a and 3b. Next, the features of the embodiment as described will be described. According to the embodiment as described above, when the heat exchanger of some outdoor side units of plural outdoor side units are required to be defrosted, the defrost operation can be performed without stopping the driving of the outdoor heat exchanger of the other outdoor side units. In a case where any one of the outdoor side units is required to be stopped due to reduction of the indoor load in the cooling operation, it has been hitherto adopted in the prior art that the outdoor controller 100a wholly stops the operation of all the equipments (for example, a compressor, an outdoor heat exchanger, etc.) of the outdoor side unit 1a on a outdoor side unit basis when a stop signal is output from the general controller 200 to the outdoor side unit 1a. In this case, the outdoor heat exchanger 3a of the outdoor side unit 1a which is stopped in the cooling operation cannot be effectively used. In order to avoid this disadvantage, according to the invention, the outdoor controller 100a performs the following control for the outdoor side unit la when the stop signal is output from the indoor controllers 101a, 101b, 101c through the general controller 200 due to reduction of the cooling load or the like. That is, the driving of the compressor 2a is stopped, but the change-over 9a and the refrigerant pressure reducer 18a are opened to drive the outdoor fan 31a. Through this operation, the total capacity (power) of the heat exchanger is increased by the amount corresponding to the power of the outdoor heat exchanger 3a, and thus the pressure of the high-pressure refrigerant can be reduced to a small value. Therefore, the system efficiency can be improved. For example, it is assumed that the pressure of the high-pressure refrigerant is about 18kg/cm 2 when the compressor 2b has 7.355 kW (10 horsepowers) and the outdoor heat exchanger 3b has 7.355 kW (10 horsepowers), and further it is assumed that the outdoor heat exchanger 3a (7.355 kW) is operated and the total power of the outdoor heat exchanger 3a,3b is set to 14.71 kW (20 horsepowers), the pressure of the high-pressure refrigerant can be reduced to about 13kg/cm 2 . Accordingly, the system efficiency can be improved by the amount corresponding to the reduced value. In this case, the power of the outdoor heat exchanger 3a is adjusted by adjusting the speed of the outdoor fan 31a or adjusting the opening degree of the refrigerant pressure reducer 18a. If the pressure of the high-pressure refrigerant is excessively reduced during the above control operation, a gas lack state may occur in the indoor side unit and/or in the refrigerant cycle because the refrigerant remains in the pipe path. The opening degree of the refrigerant pressure reducer 17a is set to a slightly open value if the difference between a detection value of an inlet side temperature sensor (gas lack sensor) 80a of the heat exchanger 6a in the indoor side unit 5a and a detection value of an outlet side temperature sensor (gas lack sensor) 81a in the cooling operation exceeds a predetermined value. In this case, the "gas lack state" corresponds to a state where the opening degree as described above exceeds the predetermined value. When there is a probability that the gas lack state occurs, the above control operation is not performed. When an outside temperature is extremely low in the cooling operation, the pressure of the high-pressure refrigerant hardly increases, and thus the gas lack state is liable to occur in the indoor side units. Accordingly to this embodiment, by individually controlling the outdoor heat exchanger to reduce the number of outdoor heat exchanger to be driven (lower the heat exchange power), the pressure of the high-pressure refrigerant is increased to push out the refrigerant trapped in the refrigerant circuit, so that the gas lack state can be repaired. If the gas lack state cannot be avoided even by the above operation, the driving of the outdoor side unit is stopped. When the stop signal of the outdoor side unit la is output from the indoor controllers 101a, 101b, 101c through the general controller 200 in the heating operation, the outdoor controller 100a performs the following control operation. That is, it stops the driving of the compressor la, but controls the change-over valve 9b and the refrigerant pressure reducer 18a to be opened to drive the outdoor fan 31a. Through this operation, the total power (capacity) of the heat exchanger is increased by the amount corresponding to the power of the outdoor heat exchanger 3a, so that the vaporizing temperature in the outdoor heat exchanger 3a,3b can be increased and the system efficiency can be improved. Next, the cooling and heating operation in which the cooling operation is performed by one indoor side unit while the heating operation is performed by the other indoor side unit will be described. Referring to Fig. 2, it is assumed that the indoor heat exchanger 6a (8.826 kW) carries out the heating operation and the indoor heat exchanger 6b (3.678 kW) and 6c (1.471 kW) carry out the cooling operation. In this case 8.826 kW, (12 horsepowers) are required for the driving of the compressors 2a, 2b. For example, the compressor 2a is driven at 7.355kW (10 horsepowers), and the compressor 2b is driven at 1.471 kW (2 horsepowers). However, with the arrangement as described above, the heat exchange operation of the outdoor side units as a whole may be sufficiently performed with the driving power corresponding to 3.678 kW (5 horsepowers) (=12 - (5+2)) because of the offsetting of the cooling and heating operations of the outdoor heat exchanger 3a,3b. In this case, both of the compressors 2a and 2b are driven, but only one of the outdoor heat exchanger (only the outdoor heat exchanger 3a) is operated. Specifically, the change-over valves 9b,10b,18b are fully closed so that no refrigerant flows into the other outdoor heat exchanger 3b, and the outdoor fan 31b is stopped. With this driving mode, the power (capacity) of the compressors can be beforehand set to a suitable value meeting a load while the power (capacity) of the outdoor heat exchanger is set to a small value in a case where the cooling and heating operation is required over a year. In short, according to the invention, various kinds of operations for improving the efficiency can be performed by providing the general controller for individually controlling the compressors of plural outdoor side units, the outdoor fans and the refrigerant path change-over valves. Furthermore, according to the invention, if a heat exchanger for water heating or a heat exchanger equipped with a boiler is connected to the system of these embodiments, the system efficiency can be heightened and the power demand can be reduced by switching to the heat exchanger for water heating at the peak time of power demand, or switching to the heat exchanger equipped with a boiler as an auxiliary equipment for winter. This invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications may be made without departing from the subject matter of this invention. For example, in the above embodiment, the compressor, the heat exchanger, etc. are provided every outdoor side unit (on an outdoor side unit basis). However, beyond the confines of the outdoor side unit basis, a compressor group for collectively controlling the driving of the compressors of the respective outdoor side units and a heat exchanger group for collectively controlling the driving of the heat exchanger of the respective outdoor side units may be set over the outdoor side units for the air conditioner. In order to perform such a group control, a signal for successively controlling the driving of the respective outdoor side units in accordance with the cooling or heating load of each room is output from the general controller and the outdoor controllers. In this case, the outdoor heat exchanger, each change-over valve, the outdoor fan and the pressure reducer of each outdoor side unit are successively controlled in accordance with the status of the refrigerant cycle. As described above, according to the present invention, since the multiroom air conditioner is provided with the general controller for individually controlling the compressor, the outdoor fan and the refrigerant path change-over valve of each of plural outdoor side units, even when the driving of some outdoor unit is stopped due to reduction of the indoor load in the cooling or heating operation, the refrigerant is allowed to flow through the outdoor heat exchanger of the outdoor side unit to be stopped although the driving of the compressor of the outdoor side unit is stopped. Therefore, the outdoor heat exchanger of the outdoor side unit to be stopped can be effectively used, so that the system efficiency can be heightened. Furthermore, when refrigerant lack occurs in an indoor side unit during the driving of the indoor side unit, the driving of the outdoor side unit to be stopped is perfectly stopped, so that no problem occurs due to the gas lack. Still furthermore, the refrigerant is prevented from flowing through the outdoor heat exchanger of some outdoor side units in the cooling and heating mixing operation, so that the air conditioner can be driven at high efficiency.

Claims: A multiroom air conditioner in which each individual indoor side unit (5a-c) independently and selectively performs a room cooling operation or a room heating operation for an individual room, and which includes: plural outdoor side units (1a,1b) each containing a compressor (2a,2b), an outdoor fan (31a,31b), an outdoor heat exchanger (3a,3b), and a refrigerant path change-over valve (9,10); plural indoor side units (5a-c) each containing an indoor heat exchanger (6a-c); and inter-unit pipe (11) comprising a high-pressure gas pipe (12), a low-pressure gas pipe (13) and a liquid pipe (14) through which said plural outdoor side units (1a,1b) are connected to said indoor side units (5a-c) to thereby form a refrigerant cycle, characterized in that a controller (100a,100b) for individually controlling each of said compressor (2a,2b), said outdoor fan (31a,31b), said outdoor heat exchanger (3a,3b) and said refrigerant path change-over valve (9,10) is provided, and when said controller is supplied with a signal for stopping some outdoor side unit (1a,1b) in accordance with an indoor load, said controller (100a, 100b) stops the driving of the compressor (2a,2b) of the outdoor side unit concerned, but drives the outdoor fan (31a,31b) of the outdoor side unit concerned and switches the refrigerant path change-over valve (9,10) of the outdoor side unit so that refrigerant is allowed to flow into the outdoor heat exchanger of the outdoor side unit concerned. The multiroom air conditioner as claimed in claim 1, wherein said controller (100a,100b) outputs a signal for successively controlling the driving of said compressors (2a,2b) of the respective outdoor side units (1a,1b) in accordance with the indoor load, and said outdoor heat exchanger and said refrigerant path change-over valve (9,10) of each outdoor side unit are controlled in accordance with a status of the refrigerant cycle. The multiroom air conditioner as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a gas-lack detection sensor (80a,80b) for detecting lack of the refrigerant which is provided in the refrigerant cycle, wherein when the gas lack is detected by said gas-lack detection sensor, said controller reduces a heat exchange power of an outdoor side unit (1a,1b) to which the stop signal is output, and if the gas-lack state is not repaired by reducing the heat exchange power, said controller stops the driving of said outdoor side unit completely. A method of driving a multiroom air conditioner which comprises plural outdoor side units (1a,1b) each containing a compressor (2a,2b), an outdoor fan (31a,31b),an outdoor heat exchanger (3a,3b) and a refrigerant path change-over valve (9,10), plural indoor side units (5a-c) each containing an indoor heat exchanger (6a-c), and an inter-unit pipe (11) comprising a high-pressure gas pipe (12), a low-pressure gas pipe (13) and a liquid pipe (14) through which said plural outdoor side units (1a,1b) are connected to the indoor side units (5a-c) to thereby form a refrigerant cycle, and in which each individual indoor side unit (5a-c) independently and selectively performs a room cooling operation or a room heating operation for an individual room, characterized in that when a stop signal is output to some outdoor side unit (1a,1b) in accordance with an indoor load, the driving of the compressor (2a,2b) of the outdoor side unit concerned is stopped, but the outdoor fan (31a,31b) of the outdoor side unit concerned is driven and the refrigerant path change-over valve (9,10) of the outdoor side unit concerned is switched so that refrigerant is allowed to flow into the outdoor heat exchanger (3a,3b) of the outdoor side unit concerned. The driving method for the air conditioner as claimed in claim 4, wherein a gas-lack detection sensor (80a,81a) for detecting lack of refrigerant of the indoor side unit (5a-c) under operation is provided in the refrigerant cycle, and wherein in the outdoor side unit (1a,1b) which is supplied with the stop signal on the basis of a signal from the gas-lack detection sensor (80a,81a), the driving of the compressor (2a,2b) of the outdoor side unit (1a,1b) is stopped, and the heat exchange power of the outdoor heat exchanger of the outdoor side unit is reduced, and if the gas-lack state is not repaired by reducing the heat exchange power, the driving of the outdoor side unit (1a,1b) is completely stopped.

Inventors: NAGAE KOUJI, SEKIGAMI KUNIE, SHIMOTANI MAKOTO, NAGAE, KOUJI, SEKIGAMI, KUNIE, SHIMOTANI, MAKOTO
Applicants: SANYO ELECTRIC CO, SANYO ELECTRIC CO. LTD
Application year: 1995
Main classification: F24F3
IPC codes: F25B29, F25B13, F24F11, F24F3