Patent ID: 7124595

Claim:
A multi-type air conditioner comprising: an outdoor unit installed outdoors and including a compressor, a refrigerant flow controlling part connected to a discharge end of the compressor and configured to guide the refrigerant proper to operation conditions selectively, and an outdoor heat exchanger connected to the refrigerant flow controlling part; a plurality of indoor units each installed in a room and having an indoor heat exchanger and an electronic expansion valve having one end connected to one end of the indoor heat exchanger; at least two distributors between the outdoor unit and the plurality of indoor units for improving installation freedom of the plurality of indoor units, and configured to selectively guide refrigerant from the outdoor unit to the plurality of indoor units proper to operation conditions, and to guide the refrigerant passed through the indoor units to the outdoor unit again, each of the distributors further configured to distribute the refrigerant to at least two of the plurality of indoor units; and a shut-off device configured to selectively shut off introduction of the refrigerant into each distributor, wherein the shut-off device shuts off the refrigerant into the each distributor when all of the indoor units connected to each distributor are inoperative.