Heat Pump

This application is a continuation application, claiming priority under 35 U.S.C. § 365 (c), of an International application No. PCT/KR2025/002750, filed on Feb. 27, 2025 which is based on and claims the benefit of a Korean patent application number 10-2024-0039105, filed on Mar. 21, 2024, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

The disclosure relates to a heat pump including a distribution unit provided to distribute heating water.

In general, a heat pump refers to a heating and cooling device that transfers heat from a low-temperature heat source to a high temperature source or from a high-temperature heat source to a low temperature heat source using heat generation or condensation heat of a refrigerant.

A heat pump may include an outdoor unit having a compressor, an expansion valve, and a heat exchanger. The outdoor unit may be provided to heat a refrigerant, and the heated refrigerant may be provided to heat heating water by heat exchange with the heating water. In other words, the heating water heated by the refrigerant may be used for heating or hot water supply, serving as an alternative to fossil fuels.

A heat pump may include a distribution unit that is installed indoors and receives the heated heating water and distributes the heating water to a plurality of heating spaces or hot water supply spaces.

The distribution unit supplied with heating water from the outdoor unit may supply the heating water to the heating spaces or hot water supply spaces through pipes connected to each heating space.

The above information is presented as background information only to assist with an understanding of the disclosure. No determination has been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the above might be applicable as prior art with regard to the disclosure.

Aspects of the disclosure are to address at least the above-mentioned problems and/or disadvantages and to provide at least the advantages described below. Accordingly, an aspect of the disclosure is to provide a heat pump including a distribution unit with a structure that increases spatial utilization.

An aspect of the disclosure is to provide a heat pump including a distribution unit that may be disposed even in indoor spaces with a low ceiling height.

An aspect of the disclosure is to provide a heat pump including a distribution unit with a structure that allows easy management of water pipes connected to the distribution unit.

Additional aspects will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the presented embodiments.

In accordance with an aspect of the disclosure, a heat pump is provided. The heat pump includes an outdoor unit including a heat exchanger and configured to heat heating water through the heat exchanger, and a distribution unit connected to the outdoor unit through a water pipe and configured to receive the heating water and distribute the received heating water to heating units. The distribution unit includes a cabinet forming a machine room therein, a first cover including a cover portion installed on an upper side of the cabinet and configured to cover a part of the machine room, and a second cover connected to the water pipe, the second cover including a second cover body configured to cover another part of the machine room. The second cover is configured to be connected to the first cover such that the second cover body is positioned lower than the cover portion.

In accordance with another aspect of the disclosure, a heat pump is provided. The heat pump includes an outdoor unit including a heat exchanger and configured to heat heating water through the heat exchanger, a distribution unit configured to receive the heating water and distribute the received heating water to heating units, a first water pipe configured to supply heating water from the outdoor unit to the distribution unit, a second water pipe configured to supply heating water from the distribution unit to the heating units. The distribution unit includes a cabinet forming a machine room therein, a first cover including a cover portion installed on an upper side of the cabinet and configured to cover a part of the machine room, and a second cover configured to be connected to the first cover and including a second cover body installed on an upper rear side of the cabinet and disposed lower than the cover portion to cover another part of the machine room, and through holes provided to allow the first water pipe and the second water pipe to pass therethrough.

In accordance with another aspect of the disclosure, a heat pump is provided. The heat pump includes an outdoor unit including a heat exchanger and configured to heat heating water through the heat exchanger, a distribution unit connected to the outdoor unit through a water pipe and configured to receive the heating water and distribute the received heating water to heating units. The distribution unit includes a cabinet including side panels and forming a machine room, a tank disposed in the machine room and connected to the water pipe to store the heating water, a first cover including a cover portion configured to cover a part of the machine room and an extension portion bent downward from the cover portion, and a second cover including a second cover body configured to be connected to the extension portion to cover another part of the machine room and disposed lower than the cover portion. The heat pump includes a piping space formed by the extension portion, the side panels, and the second cover, and through which the water pipe passes, the piping space being formed to be disposed inside the cabinet.

Other aspects, advantages, and salient features of the disclosure will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, which, taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings, discloses various embodiments of the disclosure.

Throughout the drawings, it should be noted that like reference numbers

are used to depict the same or similar elements, features, and structures.

The following description with reference to the accompanying drawings is provided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of various embodiments of the disclosure as defined by the claims and their equivalents. It includes various specific details to assist in that understanding but these are to be regarded as merely exemplary. Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that various changes and modifications of the various embodiments described herein can be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the disclosure. In addition, descriptions of well-known functions and constructions may be omitted for clarity and conciseness.

The terms and words used in the following description and claims are not limited to the bibliographical meanings, but, are merely used by the inventor to enable a clear and consistent understanding of the disclosure. Accordingly, it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the following description of various embodiments of the disclosure is provided for illustration purpose only and not for the purpose of limiting the disclosure as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

It is to be understood that the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Thus, for example, reference to “a component surface” includes reference to one or more of such surfaces.

In the description of the drawings, like numbers refer to like elements throughout the description of the drawings.

In addition, the terms “comprises,” “includes,” and “has” are intended to indicate that there are features, numbers, steps, operations, elements, parts, or combinations thereof described in the disclosure, and do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, numbers, steps, operations, elements, parts, or combinations thereof.

It will be understood that, although the terms first, second, etc. used in the disclosure may be used herein to describe various components, these components should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one component from another. For example, a first element could be termed a second element, and similarly, a second element could be termed a first element without departing from the scope of the disclosure. The term “and/or” includes combinations of one or all of a plurality of associated listed items.

The terms “front,” “rear,” “upper,” “lower,” “top,” and “bottom” as herein used are defined with respect to the drawings, but the terms may not restrict the shape and position of the respective components.

It will be understood that when a certain component is referred to as being “connected to,” “coupled to,” “supported by,” or “in contact with” another component, it may be directly or indirectly connected to, coupled to, supported by, or in contact with the other component. When a component is indirectly connected to, coupled to, supported by, or in contact with another component, it may be connected to, coupled to, supported by, or in contact with the other component through a third component.

It will also be understood that when a component is referred to as being “on” another component, it may be directly on the other component or intervening components may also be present.

When referring to the direction of rotation, the clockwise direction may be expressed as the first direction, and the counterclockwise direction, which is the opposite direction of the first direction, may be expressed as the second direction. Such expressions may be commonly used to describe specific details for implementing the disclosure, but the rotational direction of the components of the disclosure is not limited by these terms.

It should be appreciated that the blocks in each flowchart and combinations of the flowcharts may be performed by one or more computer programs which include instructions. The entirety of the one or more computer programs may be stored in a single memory device or the one or more computer programs may be divided with different portions stored in different multiple memory devices.

Any of the functions or operations described herein can be processed by one processor or a combination of processors. The one processor or the combination of processors is circuitry performing processing and includes circuitry like an application processor (AP, e.g. a central processing unit (CPU)), a communication processor (CP, e.g., a modem), a graphics processing unit (GPU), a neural processing unit (NPU) (e.g., an artificial intelligence (AI) chip), a Wi-Fi chip, a Bluetooth® chip, a global positioning system (GPS) chip, a near field communication (NFC) chip, connectivity chips, a sensor controller, a touch controller, a finger-print sensor controller, a display driver integrated circuit (IC), an audio CODEC chip, a universal serial bus (USB) controller, a camera controller, an image processing IC, a microprocessor unit (MPU), a system on chip (SoC), an IC, or the like.

Hereinafter, an embodiment will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

is a schematic drawing illustrating a heat pump according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

Referring to, as an example, a heat pumpmay include an outdoor unitincluding a compressor, an expansion valve, and a heat exchanger. The heat pumpmay include an indoor unitconnected to the outdoor unitthrough a refrigerant pipe.

In the outdoor unit, a refrigerant provided to be heated by passing through the compressor, the expansion valve, and the heat exchanger may flow. As an example, the outdoor unitmay be provided to be disposed outdoors and exchange heat with outdoor air.

As an example, the outdoor unitmay perform heat exchange between the refrigerant and the outdoor air by utilizing a phase change (e.g., evaporation or condensation) of the refrigerant. For example, the outdoor unitmay absorb heat of the outdoor air into the refrigerant by utilizing evaporation of the refrigerant. In addition, the outdoor unitmay release the heat of the refrigerant to the outdoor air by utilizing the condensation of the refrigerant.

In, a single outdoor unit is illustrated, but the number of outdoor units is not limited to that shown in. For example, the heat pump may include a plurality of outdoor units.

The refrigerant may flow between the outdoor unitand the indoor unitthrough the refrigerant pipe. The refrigerant pipemay include a refrigerant supply pipeprovided to supply refrigerant from the outdoor unitto the indoor unit, and a refrigerant recovery pipeprovided to recover refrigerant from the indoor unitto the outdoor unit.

For example, the refrigerant heated in the outdoor unitmay flow to the indoor unitthrough the refrigerant supply pipe. Thereafter, the refrigerant may be cooled by exchanging heat with indoor air through a heat exchanger provided in the indoor unit. The refrigerant that has completed heat exchange with the indoor air may be recovered back to the outdoor unitalong the refrigerant recovery pipe.

The refrigerant supply pipemay be provided with an indoor unit valve. The indoor unit valvemay be provided to be openable and closeable, and may control the flow of refrigerant flowing in the refrigerant supply pipe. For example, when the indoor unitis operated and refrigerant needs to be supplied to the indoor unit, the indoor unit valvemay be opened, and the refrigerant may flow from the outdoor unitto the indoor unit.

Thereafter, when the operation of the indoor unitis stopped, the indoor unit valvemay be closed to block the supply of refrigerant from the outdoor unitto the indoor unit.

The heat pumpmay include a distribution unitconnected to the outdoor unitthrough a water pipe P. As to be described below, the distribution unitmay be provided to distribute heating water to heating units,, andthat heat heating locations requiring heating.

For example, the heating water may be provided to be heated in the outdoor unit. For example, the heating water may be heated by heat exchange with the refrigerant heated through the heat exchanger of the outdoor unit.

The above description is only one example of various methods in which heating water is heated, and it should be understood that the heating water may be heated through a separate heating device installed indoors. Hereinafter, a method in which heating water is heated through the outdoor unitwill be described as an example.

The water pipe P is provided to connect the outdoor unitand the distribution unitto each other, and may include a heating water pipethrough which heating water may flow.

The heating water pipemay include a heating water supply pipeprovided to supply heated heating water from the outdoor unitto the distribution unit, and a heating water recovery pipeprovided to recover heating water from the distribution unitto the outdoor unit. For example, the heating water supply pipeand the heating water recovery pipemay be connected to the distribution unitthrough an upper side of a cabinetforming the external appearance of the distribution unit. Details thereof will be described below.

For example, the distribution unitmay be disposed in an indoor space O. Accordingly, the heating water supply pipeand the heating water recovery pipemay be provided to connect the outdoor unitinstalled outdoors to the distribution unitinstalled indoors. In other words, a part of the heating water supply pipeand the heating water recovery pipemay be configured to extend to the outdoor space and another part may be configured to extend to the indoor space O.

For example, the heating units,, andmay be provided to supply thermal energy to a location requiring heating by utilizing heating water. In addition, the heating units,, andmay be provided to directly supply heating water to a location requiring hot water.

The heating units,, andmay include a first heating unit. For example, the first heating unitmay include a hot water supply unit. For example, the first heating unitmay be installed indoors.

The hot water supply unitmay be provided to directly provide heated heating water to a user according to a user's request.

The water pipe P may include a first water pipeprovided to connect the distribution unitand the first heating unitto each other, and through which heating water may flow. For example, a first supply pipeand a first recovery pipemay be connected to the distribution unitthrough the upper side of the cabinetforming the external appearance of the distribution unit. Details thereof will be described below.

The first water pipemay include the first supply pipeprovided to supply heating water from the distribution unitto the first heating unit, and the first recovery pipeprovided to recover heating water from the first heating unitto the distribution unit.