A refrigerant circuit of a refrigeration apparatus performs a refrigeration cycle in which a high pressure is equal to or greater than the critical pressure of a refrigerant. The refrigeration apparatus performs at least a heat application operation in which an indoor heat exchanger of the refrigerant circuit functions as a radiator. A controller of the refrigeration apparatus controls the opening degree of the indoor expansion valve of the refrigerant circuit so that the temperature of the refrigerant at the outlet of the indoor heat exchanger reaches a predetermined reference temperature, in the heat application operation.

A valve mechanism (14a, 14b, 63a, 63b, 90) includes: a valve body (80, 95); a first flow path (81) located opposite a distal end (80a, 95b) of the valve body (80, 95); a driver (85) configured to move the valve body (80, 95) to a first position where the distal end (80a, 95b) of the valve body (80, 95) closes the first flow path (81) and a second position where the distal end (80a, 95b) of the valve body (80) opens the first flow path (81); and a second flow path (82) configured to communicate with the first flow path (81) when the valve body (80) is at the second position. The high-pressure flow path (I1, I2, O2, O3, 48) causes the high-pressure refrigerant to always flow through the second flow path (82) and first flow path (81) of the valve mechanism (14a, 14b, 63a, 63b, 90) in this order.

An air conditioner includes a heat source unit having a compressor, a first heat exchanger configured to cause heat exchange between a refrigerant and liquid fluid, a second heat exchanger configured to cause heat exchange between the refrigerant and air, and a valve configured to switch to supply or not to supply the second heat exchanger with the refrigerant, and a controller configured to control to operate the compressor and to open or close the valve. The controller opens the valve to supply the second heat exchanger with the refrigerant to cause the second heat exchanger to function as a heat absorber when assessing that the refrigerant sent to the utilization unit needs to be decreased in quantity during cooling operation in which the first heat exchanger functions as a radiator.

A chilling unit and a water circulation temperature control system includes a refrigerant circuit, a pipe through which a heat medium flows, a flow switching valve, a temperature sensor, a pressure sensor, and a controller. The refrigerant circuit includes a compressor, a pair of air-side heat exchangers, an expansion valve, and a heat-medium-side heat exchanger connected to each other by pipes. The flow switching valve switches between refrigerant-circulation routes. The controller controls the compressor in accordance with a target outlet temperature, the heat medium temperature detected by the temperature sensor, and a heat medium pressure difference detected by the pressure sensor. When a load on an air handler decreases to a low level and is equal to or less than the compressor's lowest capacity, the controller controls the flow switching valve so that one of the air-side heat exchangers and the heat-medium-side heat exchanger are connected in parallel.

In an air-conditioning system including a thermal storage heat exchanger, a refrigerant circuit is configured such that an indoor heat exchanger and a receiver communicate with the thermal storage heat exchanger when an operational mode of the refrigerant circuit is switched to a cooling operation in which the thermal storage heat exchanger serves as a radiator and the indoor heat exchanger serves as an evaporator.

A refrigeration system includes a rotary pressure exchanger fluidly coupled to a low pressure loop and a high pressure loop. The rotary pressure exchanger replaces a traditional bulk flow compressor. The rotary pressure exchanger is configured to receive the refrigerant at high pressure from the high pressure loop, to receive the refrigerant at low pressure from the low pressure loop, and to exchange pressure between the refrigerant at high pressure and the refrigerant at low pressure, and wherein a first exiting stream from the rotary pressure exchanger includes the refrigerant at high pressure in the supercritical state or the subcritical state and a second exiting stream from the rotary pressure exchanger includes the refrigerant at low pressure in the liquid state or the two-phase mixture of liquid and vapor.

A switching mechanism (TV1, TV2, TV3, TV4, FV) includes an electric motor (74), a flow path switching portion (71) to be driven by the electric motor (74), a first port (P1) connected to a high-pressure flow path (7, 24, 28b, 31, 32) of a refrigerant circuit (6), a second port (P2) connected to a low-pressure flow path (8, 25, 28a, 33, 34) of the refrigerant circuit (6), and a third port (P3) connected to a predetermined flow path of the refrigerant circuit (6). The switching mechanism (TV1, TV2, TV3, TV4, FV) is switched between a first state in which the first port (P1) communicates with the third port (P3) and a second state in which the second port (P2) communicates with the third port (P3) in such a manner that the electric motor (74) drives the flow path switching portion (71).

A heat pump system includes a compressor, a first heat exchanger, a second heat exchanger, a third heat exchanger, an intermediate heat exchanger, a first throttling element and a first valve member. The intermediate heat exchanger includes a first heat exchange portion and a second heat exchange portion that may carry out heat exchange. A first port of the first heat exchange portion communicates with an inlet of the compressor. A second port of the first heat exchange portion may communicate with at least one of an outlet of the second heat exchanger and a second port of the third heat exchanger. A first port of the second heat exchange portion may communicate with a first port of the third heat exchanger. The first heat exchanger and the second heat exchanger are indoor heat exchangers which are configured to be disposed in an air-conditioning cabinet.

A refrigeration cycle apparatus includes a first flow switch valve including first to fourth ports, a second flow switch valve and a third flow switch valve each including fifth to seventh ports, a compressor, a discharge pipe connecting a discharge port of the compressor and the first port, a first high pressure pipe connecting between the discharge pipe and the fifth ports, a bypass expansion valve provided at a part of the first high pressure pipe, the part extending, a first outdoor heat exchanger connected to the seventh port of the second flow switch valve, a second outdoor heat exchanger connected to the seventh port of the third flow switch valve, and a controller. The controller is configured to perform a differential pressure ensuring process, when switching the second flow switch valve or the third flow switch valve. In the differential pressure ensuring process, the controller is configured to set operation frequency of the compressor to a first frequency and set opening degree of the bypass expansion valve to a first degree if a first condition is not met, and set the operation frequency of the compressor to a second frequency which is higher than the first frequency or set the opening degree of the bypass expansion valve to a second degree which is larger than the first degree if the first condition is met.

A heat source controller performs a first operation when a compression element is in a stopped state and a pressure in a receiver exceeds a predetermined first pressure. The heat source controller allows an inlet of the compression element to communicate with the receiver, and drives the compression element in the first operation.