Patent ID: 8820106

Claim:
An air conditioning apparatus comprising: a heat source-side refrigerant circuit, the heat source-side refrigerant circuit including: an outdoor heat exchanger connected at one end thereof to an end of a compressor; a first refrigerant branch portion connected to the other end of said compressor; a second refrigerant branch portion and a third refrigerant branch portion connected to the other end of said outdoor heat exchanger via branch piping; a first refrigerant flow rate control device configured to control the flow rate of a heat source-side refrigerant flowing in said second refrigerant branch portion; a plurality of intermediate heat exchangers each connected at one end thereof to said first refrigerant branch portion and said third refrigerant branch portion via a first refrigerant flow channel switching device, and connected at the other end thereof to said second refrigerant branch portion; and a plurality of second refrigerant flow rate control devices configured to control the flow rate of said heat source-side refrigerant flowing between the respective intermediate heat exchangers and said second refrigerant branch portion; and a plurality of user-side refrigerant circuits each including: a circulating device connected at one end of a user-side circuit configured to perform heat exchange with said heat source-side refrigerant circuit of one of said intermediate heat exchangers; and at least one indoor heat exchanger connected at one end thereof to said circulating device and connected at the other end thereof to the other end of said user-side circuit of said one of said intermediate heat exchangers, wherein said compressor and said outdoor heat exchanger are provided in an outdoor unit, said first refrigerant branch portion, said branch piping, said second refrigerant branch portion, said third refrigerant branch portion, said first refrigerant flow rate control device, said intermediate heat exchanger, said first refrigerant flow channel switching device, said second refrigerant flow rate control device, and said circulating device are provided in a relay unit, said indoor heat exchanger is provided in an indoor unit; and at least one of water and an antifreeze solution as the user-side refrigerant circulates in at least one of said plurality of user-side refrigerant circuits, wherein each of said user-side refrigerant circuits includes a user-side refrigerant flow path portion installed between said plurality of indoor heat exchangers and said plurality of intermediate heat exchangers, wherein said user-side refrigerant flow path portion includes a fluid flow switch that switches the connection of the intermediate heat exchangers to said plurality of indoor heat exchangers so as to fluidically connect said intermediate heat exchangers with at least any of said plurality of indoor heat exchangers.