Patent ID: 8567203

Claim:
An air conditioner comprising: a compressor to compress refrigerant; a hot gas pipe that receives a part of the refrigerant compressed in the compressor; a 4-way valve that receives the remaining refrigerant compressed in the compressor; an indoor heat exchanger that receives the refrigerant from the 4-way valve and that exchanges heat with indoor air; and a plurality of outdoor heat exchangers, some of which implement a heating operation as the heat-exchanged refrigerant is received from the indoor heat exchanger and passes therethrough while others implement a defrosting operation as the refrigerant is received from the hot gas pipe, wherein the hot gas pipe includes: a main pipe with one end connected between the compressor and the 4-way valve; a plurality of connecting pipes to connect the main pipe and the plurality of outdoor heat exchangers to each other; and a plurality of defrosting valves installed on each of the plurality of connecting pipes.