A heat pump apparatus for air renewal in rooms and, in particular, to an improved compact heat pump apparatus with components contained in a single casing to be mounted inside a room. Moreover, the invention is related to a method of operation of the apparatus inside a room able to activate a heat recovery action and/or renewal of stale air, heating, cooling or dehumidification.

A refrigeration cycle apparatus includes a refrigerant circuit in which a compressor, a first heat exchanger, an expansion mechanism, and a second heat exchanger are connected by pipes. The first heat exchanger includes a first refrigerant passage and a second refrigerant passage that share a plurality of fins with each other and provided in parallel in the refrigerant circuit. The apparatus further includes a high-and-low-pressure switching mechanism which is located on an inlet side of the second refrigerant passage of the first heat exchanger in flowing of refrigerant in an operation in which the first heat exchanger functions as a condenser, and which performs switching between flow directions of the refrigerant. The apparatus further includes a refrigerant blocking mechanism located on an outlet side of the second refrigerant passage of the first heat exchanger in the flowing of the refrigerant in the operation, and which blocks the flowing of the refrigerant.

A swimming pool or spa heat pump operable in cooling and heating modes, along with a method of operating same is disclosed. The heat pump includes a compressor, first and second heat exchangers, refrigerant charge compensator, and at least one means for lowering the pressure of refrigerant provided to the first and second heat exchangers. The first heat exchanger is configured to transfer thermal energy to and/or extract thermal energy from a first fluid, and the second heat exchanger is configured to transfer thermal energy to and/or extract thermal energy from pool or spa water. The refrigerant charge compensator is configured to reduce an amount of active refrigerant charge in circulation in the heat pump when the heat pump is operated in the cooling mode and increase the amount of active refrigerant charge in circulation when the heat pump is operated in the heating mode.

A container including a housing defining a product space and including a refrigeration system. The refrigeration system is coupled to the container and is in communication with the product space to condition the product space. The refrigeration system is operably connected to each other and selectively conditions the product space in a low temperature mode and a medium temperature mode.