Method for controlling air conditioner/heater by thermal storage

Abstract

A process for controlling an air conditioner/heater by thermal storage comprises the steps of sending ambient temperature of at least one enclosed space sensed by a plurality of sensors to CPU for comparison with a predetermined value; switching to operate in one of air conditioning, heating, and hot water supplying modes; and if switching to the air conditioning mode and the temperature of thermal storage is less than or equal to the predetermined value, a compressor is turned off, an outdoor fan motor is turned off, and a solenoid-controlled valve is turned on to cause the process to enter into a melting cycle. With this automatic switching, the operation is maintained at an optimum, resulting in an increase of thermal efficiency.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A process for controlling an air conditioner/heater by thermal storage, said process comprising the steps of: 
 1) sending ambient temperature of at least one enclosed space sensed by a plurality of sensors to a central processing unit (CPU) for comparison with a predetermined value;    2) switching to operate in one of air conditioning, heating, and hot water supplying modes; and    3) if switching to said air conditioning mode and said temperature of said thermal storage is less than or equal to said predetermined value, a compressor is turned off, an outdoor fan motor is turned off, and a solenoid-controlled valve is turned on to cause said process to enter into a melting cycle.    
     
     
         2 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein in said step 3) if switching to said air conditioning mode and said temperature of said thermal storage is less than said predetermined value minus a first predetermined offset, said solenoid-controlled valve is turned off to cause said process to enter into a ice forming cycle.  
     
     
         3 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein if coil temperature of an outdoor heat exchanger is less than said predetermined value minus a second predetermined offset, a defrost bypass valve is turned on to cause said process to enter into a defrost cycle.