The pressure reducing device (4) for a cooling system according to the present invention is equipped with: a pressure reducing valve (5) that is disposed in a stage subsequent to a condenser for a refrigerant (40); and a microscopic bubble formation unit (20) that is disposed within the flow path for the refrigerant from the condenser to a heat exchanger so as to form the vapor phase (41) of the refrigerant (40) into microscopic bubbles (41a) and disperse the microscopic bubbles into the liquid phase (42) of the refrigerant.

A refrigerator and a method for controlling the same are disclosed. A refrigerator includes a timer for measuring an interval of one hour after power is supplied to the refrigerator, a door opening/closing sensor for sensing opening and closing of a door, a storage unit for storing information whether door is opened in a sector defined as one hour by the timer and at least 7 sector units each having 24 consecutive sectors, and a control unit for predicting a refrigerator use pattern in 24 sectors by overlapping 7 sector units, performing a normal operation mode to maintain a storage compartment at a first desired temperature in a sector in which door opening is predicted, and performing a power-saving operation mode to maintain the storage compartment at a second desired temperature higher than the first desired temperature in a sector in which door opening is not predicted.

An air-conditioning apparatus includes a refrigeration cycle and an internal heat exchanger. With the refrigeration cycle, both a cooling operation and a heating operation can be performed. The internal heat exchanger includes a first flow passage guiding refrigerant flowing between an evaporator and a compressor, a second flow passage guiding the refrigerant flowing between an outdoor heat exchanger and an expansion device, a third flow passage guiding the refrigerant flowing between the expansion device and an indoor heat exchanger. The internal heat exchanger is configured to exchange heat between the refrigerant flowing through the first flow passage and the refrigerant flowing through the second flow passage in the cooling operation, and exchange heat between the refrigerant flowing through the first flow passage and the refrigerant flowing through the third flow passage in the heating operation.

An air conditioner 1 includes: an outdoor heat exchanger 14; an outdoor fan 12 for blowing air to the outdoor heat exchanger; an outdoor fan motor 20 that drives the outdoor fan; an outdoor fan inverter 21 that drives the outdoor fan motor; and a control unit 31 that generates a rotation-speed command voltage for controlling the rotation number of the outdoor fan motor. In addition, the control unit starts a defrost operation of the outdoor heat exchanger, based on the rotation-speed command voltage. In this manner, it is possible to achieve an outdoor device of an air conditioner in which there is no need to provide a current detecting sensor, and it is possible to detect frost formation over the heat exchanger during a heating operation and to perform a defrost operation at low costs.

A cooling device includes a first evaporation unit, a second evaporation unit, a first condensation unit, a second condensation unit, common piping, a compressor, an expansion valve, a first valve, and a second valve. The common piping combines liquid-phase refrigerant flowing from the first condensation unit and liquid-phase refrigerant flowing from the second condensation unit. The first valve adjusts the liquid-phase refrigerant amount flowing into the first evaporation unit. The second valve adjusts the liquid-phase refrigerant amount flowing into the second evaporation unit. In addition, the pressure inside the common pipe is greater than the respective pressures inside the first evaporation unit and the second evaporation unit.

The present invention relates to an air conditioner. A first invention according to the present embodiment is an air conditioner which has a refrigeration capacity of 16 kW to 28 kW, inclusive, and uses a mixed refrigerant R134a as a refrigerant, and in which a refrigerant pipe includes a ductile stainless steel pipe having 1% or less of a delta-ferrite matrix structure with respect to the grain size area thereof.

A cooling system is designed to operate in two different modes. Generally, in the first mode, when parallel compression is needed, certain valves are controlled to direct gaseous refrigerant from a tank to a compressor in the system and to direct refrigerant from low side heat exchangers towards other compressors. In this manner, a compressor in the system is transitioned to be generally a parallel compressor. In the second mode, when parallel compression is not needed, the valves are controlled to return the refrigerant flow back to normal.

An air conditioner comprises a compressor configured to have an inlet, through which a refrigerant is sucked in, the sucked refrigerant being compressed by the compressor, and an outlet, through which the compressed refrigerant is discharged, a four-way valve configured to switch flow paths in cooling and heating operations, the four-way valve having a valve body, a D port protruding from the valve body in a first direction to be connected to the outlet, and an S port 26 protruding from the valve body in a second direction, which is opposite to the first direction, to be connected to the inlet, and a compressor pipe having a discharging pipe to connect the outlet and the D port and a sucking pipe to connect the inlet and the S port, one of the discharging pipe and the sucking pipe has two curved portions and the other has one curved portion.

An air conditioning system includes a control unit, a circulation system, an AC-to-DC conversion unit, and a fan module. The control unit detects an area temperature, controls the compressor unit being in operation or not in operation according to the area temperature and a setting temperature set by the control unit, and control a rotation speed of the condensing fan according to a temperature difference between the area temperature and the setting temperature. When the area temperature is greater than the setting temperature, the control unit controls the compressor unit being in operation and control the condensing fan being in full-speed operation.

A reversible thermal management device for a motor vehicle includes a refrigerant fluid circuit containing a main loop which has, successively, a compressor, an internal condenser, a first expansion device and an external evaporator/condenser, a first, second, and third bypass branch, the third branch having at least one heat exchanger, a device for redirecting the refrigerant fluid coming from the internal condenser towards the first expansion device or the first bypass branch, a stop valve for the refrigerant fluid, arranged on the main loop, a first check valve arranged on the second bypass branch to block the refrigerant fluid coming from the internal condenser, a second check valve arranged on the main loop to block the refrigerant fluid coming from the evaporator/condenser, and a device for redirecting the refrigerant fluid coming from the first expansion device towards the at least one heat exchanger of the third bypass branch or the evaporator/condenser.