Patent ID: 8459051

Claim:
An air conditioner comprising: a compressor; a first heat exchanger; a first pipe configured to allow refrigerant to flow from the first heat exchanger; a bypass pipe branched off from the first pipe and configured to expand refrigerant flowing through the bypass pipe; a second heat exchanger configured to allow the expanded refrigerant of the bypass pipe to heat-exchange with the refrigerant flowing along the first pipe; a second pipe that couples the second heat exchanger to the compressor so that the refrigerant expanded by the bypass pipe and heat-exchanged at the second heat exchanger can be introduced into the compressor; an adjusting valve is provided on the second pipe and is opened when a degree of discharge superheat of the expanded refrigerant introduced to the compressor is above a first predetermined valve; and an expansion valve is provided on the bypass pipe, wherein an opening of the expansion valve is adjusted to maintain the degree of discharge superheat above the first predetermined value, the air conditioner further comprising: a first temperature sensor measuring a temperature of the expanded refrigerant introduced to the compressor; and a second temperature sensor measuring a temperature of the refrigerant flowing into the second heat exchanger through the bypass pipe, wherein the opening of the expansion valve is adjusted such that a degree of superheat that corresponds to a difference value between the temperature measured by the first temperature sensor and the temperature measured by the second temperature sensor reaches a second predetermined value.