Air conditioner and method of controlling the same

Abstract

A method of controlling an air conditioner including activating a refrigeration cycle by driving an compressor; detecting a high pressure and a low pressure when the refrigeration cycle is activated; adjusting an operating frequency of the compressor based on the detected high pressure or low pressure of the refrigeration cycle; determining a current load of an inside space through a load detecting unit; determining a load level of the inside space by comparing the current load with a reference load; and determining the operating frequency of the compressor based on the determined load level.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of controlling an air conditioner, comprising:
 activating, by a controller, a refrigeration cycle by driving a compressor;   detecting, by a pressure sensor, a high pressure and a low pressure of the refrigeration cycle when the refrigeration cycle is activated;   adjusting, by the controller, an operating frequency of the compressor based on the detected high pressure or the detected low pressure of the refrigeration cycle;   determining, by a load detecting unit, a current load of an inside space, a load level of the inside space being determined by comparing the current load with a reference load; and   determining, by the load detecting unit, the operating frequency of the compressor based on the determined load level,   wherein the load detecting unit comprises:   a frequency detector to detect the operating frequency of the compressor, and   a power detector to detect current consumption and power consumption occurring upon the activation of the refrigeration cycle.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the load level comprises:
 a high load in which the current load is greater than or equal to the reference load; and   a low load in which the current load is less than the reference load.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the reference load is a load corresponding to when an increase rate of the operating frequency of the compressor is a first set increase rate, or a load corresponding to when an increase rate of the power consumption or current consumption is a second set increase rate. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the high pressure and the low pressure of the refrigeration cycle are detected when the refrigeration cycle is activated. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein, when it is determined that the increase rate of the operating frequency of the compressor is greater than the first set increase rate or when the increase rate of the power consumption or current consumption is greater than the second set increase rate, the current load is determined as the high load. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein, when the current load is determined as the high load, the operating frequency of the compressor is set to a first operating frequency based on information mapped to the operating frequency of the compressor. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the first operating frequency includes the maximum operating frequency of the compressor. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 5 , further comprising determining, by the controller, an opening degree of a main expansion device based on the determined load level,
 wherein, when the current load is determined as the high load, the opening degree of the main expansion device is set to a full opening degree.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 5 , further comprising determining a number of rotations of an outside fan based on the determined load level,
 wherein, when the current load is determined as the high load, the number of rotations of the outside fan is set to the maximum number of rotations.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising performing a temperature maintenance operation, by the controller, for maintaining the temperature of the inside space when the temperature of the inside space reaches a set temperature. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein, when the temperature maintenance operation is performed, the compressor is driven at an operating frequency that is lower than the determined operating frequency of the compressor. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the reference load comprises a first reference load and a second reference load; and
 wherein the load level comprises:   a high load in which the current load is greater than or equal to a first reference load,   a low load in which the current load is less than the second reference load, and   an intermediate load in which the current load is greater than or equal to the second reference load, and is less than the first reference load.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the operating frequency of the compressor is differently controlled according to whether the current load is the high load, the low load, or the intermediate load. 
     
     
         14 . An air conditioner comprising:
 a compressor with an adjustable operating frequency;   an outside heat exchanger that condenses refrigerant compressed by the compressor in an air cooling operation;   a main expansion device that decompresses the refrigerant condensed by the outside heat exchanger;   an inside heat exchanger that evaporates the refrigerant decompressed by the main expansion device and discharges air into an inside space;   a load detecting unit that detects a load of the inside space; and   a memory unit that stores information about the operating frequency of the compressor, the stored information being mapped with the load detected by the load detecting unit.   
     
     
         15 . The air conditioner of  claim 14 , wherein the load detecting unit comprises:
 a frequency detecting unit that detects a rate of change in the operating frequency of the compressor; and   a power detecting unit that detects current consumption and power consumption occurring upon an operation of the air conditioner.   
     
     
         16 . The air conditioner of  claim 15 , wherein the operating frequency of the compressor is set by a controller to a first operating frequency when the load detected by the load detecting unit is greater than or equal to a reference load, and
 the operating frequency of the compressor is set by the controller to a second operating frequency that is lower than the first operating frequency when the load detected by the load detecting unit is less than the reference load.   
     
     
         17 . A method of controlling an air conditioner, comprising:
 activating, by a controller, a refrigeration cycle by driving a compressor;   detecting, by a pressure sensor, a high pressure and a low pressure of the refrigeration cycle when the refrigeration cycle is activated;   adjusting, by the controller, an operating frequency of the compressor based on the detected high pressure or the detected low pressure;   determining, by a load detecting unit, a current load of an inside space, a load level of the inside space being determined by comparing the current load with a reference load;   determining, by the load detecting unit, the operating frequency of the compressor based on the determined load level,   wherein the reference load is a load corresponding to when an increase rate of the operating frequency of the compressor is a first set increase rate, and   when the increase rate of the operating frequency of the compressor is greater than the first set increase rate, the current load is determined as a high load, and when the increase rate of the operating frequency of the compressor is less than the first set increase rate or the operating frequency of the compressor remains the same or decreases, the current load is determined as a low load.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , further comprising setting, by the controller, the operating frequency of the compressor to the maximum operating frequency when the current load is determined as the high load. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 16 , further comprising setting, by the controller, an opening degree of the main expansion device to a full opening degree when the current load is determined as the high load. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 17 , further comprising setting, by the controller, a number of rotations of the outside fan to the maximum number of rotations when the current load is determined as the high load.