Air conditioner

Abstract

An air conditioner includes a pipe volume calculating section and a refrigerant circuit configured by the interconnection of a heat source unit and a utilization unit via a refrigerant communication pipe. The pipe volume calculating section calculates the volume of the refrigerant communication pipe based on an additional charging quantity which is a refrigerant quantity to be additionally charged after the refrigerant circuit is configured by interconnecting the heat source unit and the utilization unit via the refrigerant communication pipe.

1 . An air conditioner comprising:
 a refrigerant circuit including a refrigerant communication pipe interconnecting a heat source unit and a utilization unit; and   a pipe volume calculating section configured to calculate volume of the refrigerant communication pipe based on an additional charging quantity, the additional charging quantity being a refrigerant quantity additionally charged after interconnecting the refrigerant communication pipe to the heat source unit and the utilization unit.   
   
   
       2 . The air conditioner according to  claim 1 , further comprising
 a refrigerant quantity judging section configured to judge whether or not refrigerant quantity charged in the refrigerant circuit has reached a target charging quantity based on an operation state quantity of constituent equipment or refrigerant flowing in the refrigerant circuit in an automatic refrigerant charging operation in which refrigerant is additionally charged into the refrigerant circuit,   the additional charging quantity being the refrigerant quantity additionally charged into the refrigerant circuit in the automatic refrigerant charging operation.   
   
   
       3 . An air conditioner comprising:
 a refrigerant circuit including a refrigerant communication pipe interconnecting a heat source unit and a utilization unit; and   a pipe volume calculating section configured to calculate volume of the refrigerant communication pipe based on a communication pipe refrigerant quantity that is a refrigerant quantity in the refrigerant communication pipe,   the communication pipe refrigerant quantity being determined by subtracting an inside-unit refrigerant quantity from a total charged refrigerant quantity, and   the inside-unit refrigerant quantity being a refrigerant quantity in the refrigerant circuit excluding the refrigerant communication pipe, and the total charged refrigerant quantity being a refrigerant quantity in the entire refrigerant circuit after the refrigerant is additionally charged thereinto.   
   
   
       4 . The air conditioner according to  claim 2 , further comprising
 a refrigerant quantity calculating means section configured to calculate an inside-unit refrigerant quantity, the inside-unit refrigerant quantity a refrigerant quantity in the refrigerant circuit excluding the refrigerant pipe from an operation state quantity of constituent equipment or refrigerant flowing in the refrigerant circuit in the automatic refrigerant charging operation,   the pipe volume calculating section being further configured to determine a total charged refrigerant quantity, the total charged refrigerant being a refrigerant quantity in the entire refrigerant circuit immediately after the automatic refrigerant charging operation by adding the additional charging quantity to an initial charging quantity, and the initial charging quantity being a refrigerant quantity charged in the refrigerant circuit before the automatic refrigerant charging operation,   the pipe volume calculating section being further configured to determine a communication pipe refrigerant quantity, the communication pipe refrigerant quantity being a refrigerant quantity in the refrigerant communication pipe determined by subtracting the inside-unit refrigerant quantity from the total charged refrigerant quantity,   the pipe volume calculating section being further configured to calculate a density of the refrigerant flowing through the refrigerant communication pipe from the operation state quantity of constituent equipment or refrigerant flowing in the refrigerant circuit, and   the pipe volume calculating section being further configured to calculate the volume of the refrigerant communication pipe based on the communication pipe refrigerant quantity and the density.   
   
   
       5 . The air conditioner according to  claim 4 , wherein
 the refrigerant communication pipe includes a liquid refrigerant communication pipe and a gas refrigerant communication pipe,   the pipe volume calculating section is further configured to calculate a liquid refrigerant density and a gas refrigerant density, the liquid refrigerant density is a density of liquid refrigerant flowing through the liquid refrigerant communication pipe, and the gas refrigerant density is a density of gas refrigerant flowing through the gas refrigerant communication pipe, and   the pipe volume calculating section is further configured to calculate the volume of the liquid refrigerant communication pipe and the volume of the gas refrigerant communication pipe based on the communication pipe refrigerant quantity, a volume ratio between the liquid refrigerant communication pipe and the gas refrigerant communication pipe, the liquid refrigerant density, and the gas refrigerant density.   
   
   
       6 . The air conditioner according  claim 5 , wherein
 the refrigerant quantity calculating means section is configured to calculate a total calculated refrigerant quantity, the total calculated refrigerant quantity being a refrigerant quantity in the entire refrigerant circuit based on the volume of the refrigerant communication pipe calculated by the pipe volume calculating section and based on the operation state quantity of constituent equipment or refrigerant flowing in the refrigerant circuit in a refrigerant leak detection operation in which whether or not there is a refrigerant leak from the refrigerant circuit is judged, and   the refrigerant quantity judging section is further configured to judge whether or not there is a refrigerant leak from the refrigerant circuit by comparing the total calculated refrigerant quantity with a reference refrigerant quantity that serves as a reference for judging whether or not there is a refrigerant leak from the refrigerant circuit.   
   
   
       7 . The air conditioner according to  claim 2 , wherein
 the pipe volume calculating section is configured to calculate a density of the refrigerant flowing through the refrigerant communication pipe from the operation state quantity of constituent equipment or refrigerant flowing in the refrigerant circuit, and   the pipe volume calculating section is further configured to calculate the volume of the refrigerant communication pipe based on the additional charging quantity and the density.   
   
   
       8 . The air conditioner according to  claim 7 , wherein
 the refrigerant communication pipe includes a liquid refrigerant communication pipe and a gas refrigerant communication pipe, and   the pipe volume calculating section is configured to calculate a liquid refrigerant density and a gas refrigerant density, the liquid refrigerant density is a density of liquid refrigerant flowing through the liquid refrigerant communication pipe, and the gas refrigerant density is a density of gas refrigerant flowing through the gas refrigerant communication pipe, and   the pipe volume calculating section is further configured to calculate the volume of the liquid refrigerant communication pipe and the volume of the gas refrigerant communication pipe based on the additional charging quantity, a volume ratio between the liquid refrigerant communication pipe and the gas refrigerant communication pipe, the liquid refrigerant density, and the gas refrigerant density.   
   
   
       9 . The air conditioner according to  claim 8 , further comprising
 a refrigerant quantity calculating section configured to calculate a total calculated refrigerant quantity, the total calculated refrigerant quantity being a refrigerant quantity in the entire refrigerant circuit based on the volume of the refrigerant communication pipe calculated by the pipe volume calculating section and based on the operation state quantity of constituent equipment or refrigerant flowing in the refrigerant circuit in a refrigerant leak detection operation in which whether or not there is a refrigerant leak from the refrigerant circuit is judged,   the refrigerant quantity judging section being further configured to judge whether or not there is a refrigerant leak from the refrigerant circuit by comparing the total calculated refrigerant quantity with a reference refrigerant quantity that serves as a reference for judging whether or not there is a refrigerant leak from the refrigerant circuit.   
   
   
       10 . The air conditioner according to  claim 7 , further comprising
 a refrigerant quantity calculating section configured to calculate a total calculated refrigerant quantity, the total calculated refrigerant quantity being a refrigerant quantity in the entire refrigerant circuit based on the volume of the refrigerant communication pipe calculated by the pipe volume calculating section and based on the operation state quantity of constituent equipment or refrigerant flowing in the refrigerant circuit in a refrigerant leak detection operation in which whether or not there is a refrigerant leak from the refrigerant circuit is judged,   the refrigerant quantity judging section being further configured to judge whether or not there is a refrigerant leak from the refrigerant circuit by comparing the total calculated refrigerant quantity with a reference refrigerant quantity that serves as a reference for judging whether or not there is a refrigerant leak from the refrigerant circuit.   
   
   
       11 . The air conditioner according  claim 4 , wherein
 the refrigerant quantity calculating section is configured to calculate a total calculated refrigerant quantity, the total calculated refrigerant quantity being a refrigerant quantity in the entire refrigerant circuit based on the volume of the refrigerant communication pipe calculated by the pipe volume calculating section and based on the operation state quantity of constituent equipment or refrigerant flowing in the refrigerant circuit in a refrigerant leak detection operation in which whether or not there is a refrigerant leak from the refrigerant circuit is judged, and   the refrigerant quantity judging section is further configured to judge whether or not there is a refrigerant leak from the refrigerant circuit by comparing the total calculated refrigerant quantity with a reference refrigerant quantity that serves as a reference for judging whether or not there is a refrigerant leak from the refrigerant circuit.