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(11) | EP 1 512 924 A3 |
| (12) | EUROPEAN PATENT APPLICATION |
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| (54) | Air conditioner comprising heat exchanger and means for switching cooling cycle |
| (57) The present invention relates to an air conditioner capable of performing heat exchange
of refrigerant and cooling and heating operations. According to the invention, a dual-tube
heat exchanger is disposed at the entrance of a compressor and a means for switching
a cooling cycle is installed between an outdoor heat exchanger including a condenser
and an indoor heat exchanger including an evaporator so that in an air conditioning
mode, heat change between mid-temperature, high-pressure liquid refrigerant at the
exit of the condenser and low-temperature, low-pressure superheated refrigerant at
the exit of the evaporator is performed more effectively and as a result of this,
super heating of the liquid refrigerant at the exit of the condenser is increased,
refrigerant flow characteristics of an expansion unit are improved, and enthalpy at
the entrance side of the evaporator is reduced, causing a greater enthalpy difference
at the entrance and exit of the evaporator and improving air conditioning capacity
overall. Moreover, the heat exchanger of the present invention has a dual tube structure
and uses a counter flow or parallel flow for performing heat exchange. In the dual
tube structure, a tube and a core of the heat exchanger form a line or surface contact
and heating capacity is therefore enhanced.
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