Invention Grant
- Patent Title: Cooling/heating switching unit and air conditioner including the same
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Application No.: US15618321Application Date: 2017-06-09
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Publication No.: US10557648B2Publication Date: 2020-02-11
- Inventor: Koji Naito , Naoyuki Fushimi , Kazumoto Urata , Gen Yasuda , Kazunori Fukuda
- Applicant: Hitachi-Johnson Controls Air Conditioning, Inc.
- Applicant Address: JP Tokyo
- Assignee: Hitachi-Johnson Controls Air Conditioning, Inc.
- Current Assignee: Hitachi-Johnson Controls Air Conditioning, Inc.
- Current Assignee Address: JP Tokyo
- Agency: Mattingly & Malur, PC
- Priority: JP2016-140742 20160715
- Main IPC: F25B13/00
- IPC: F25B13/00 ; F25B49/02

Abstract:
A cooling/heating switching unit includes first to third fittings, expansion valves and expansion-valve driving sections, a housing, a heat insulating material, and a refrigerant leak detection sensor. The first and second fittings respectively connect with a high/low-pressure-gas main pipe and a low-pressure-gas main pipe, which are linked to an outdoor unit. The third fitting connects with an indoor-unit connection pipe, which is linked to indoor units. The expansion valve for high/low-pressure-gas pipe, the expansion valve for low-pressure-gas pipe, and expansion-valve driving sections selectively connect the first or second fitting with the third fitting via a refrigerant pipe to control a flow direction of refrigerant. The housing houses the refrigerant pipe. The heat insulating material fills inside of the housing to insulate the refrigerant pipe arranged inside of the housing from heat. The refrigerant leak detection sensor is installed outside of the housing to detect leaked refrigerant.
Public/Granted literature
- US20180017293A1 COOLING/HEATING SWITCHING UNIT AND AIR CONDITIONER INCLUDING THE SAME Public/Granted day:2018-01-18
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