Distribution Device and Heat Pump Including the Same

This application is a continuation application, claiming priority under 35 U.S.C. § 365(c), of an International application No. PCT/KR2025/002749, filed on Feb. 27, 2025, which is based on and claims the benefit of a Korean patent application number 10-2024-0055026, filed on Apr. 24, 2024, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, and of a Korean patent application number 10-2024-0099784, filed on Jul. 26, 2024, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of each of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

The disclosure relates to a distribution device having a controller detachably assembled to a front cabinet and a heat pump including the same.

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 medium or from a high-temperature heat source to a low-temperature medium using heat generation or condensation heat of a refrigerant.

The heat pump may include an outdoor unit having a compressor, an expansion valve, a heat exchanger, and the like. 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. The heating water heated by the refrigerant may be used for space heating or hot water supply.

The heat pump may include a distribution device 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 device supplied with heating water from the outdoor unit may supply the heating water to the heating spaces or hot water supply spaces through pipes.

The distribution device may include a cabinet that forms the external appearance of the distribution device. The cabinet may include a front cabinet that forms the front of the external appearance. A controller for controlling the distribution device may be assembled to a front surface of the front cabinet.

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 distribution device having a controller detachably assembled to a front cabinet, and a heat pump including the same.

Another aspect of the disclosure is to provide a distribution device having a controller that is detachably assembled to a front cabinet and is used as a remote control when separated from the front cabinet, and a heat pump including the same.

Another aspect of the disclosure is to provide a distribution device having a controller detachably assembled to a rear surface of a front cabinet, and a heat pump including the same.

Another aspect of the disclosure is to provide a distribution device capable of simplifying the front design of a front cabinet, and a heat pump including the same.

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 distribution device is provided. The distribution device includes a cabinet including a front cabinet, a front cover attached to a rear surface of the front cabinet, a controller detachably mounted on the front cover, the controller having a front surface thereof exposed on a front side of the front cabinet and used as a remote control when separated from the front cabinet, a separation preventing bracket assembled to the rear surface of the front cabinet and configured to prevent the front cover from being separated, and a rear cover assembled to an edge on one side of the front cover and then rotated to be assembled to an edge on another side of the front cover, and configured to cover a rear surface of the controller.

In accordance with another aspect of the disclosure, a heat pump is provided. The heat pump includes an outdoor unit disposed outdoors to heat heating water, and a distribution device installed indoors to receive the heated heating water from the outdoor unit and configured to distribute the received heating water to heating units, wherein the distribution device includes a cabinet including a front cabinet, a front cover attached to a rear surface of the front cabinet, a controller detachably mounted on the front cover and having a front surface thereof exposed to a front surface of the front cabinet and used as a remote control when separated from the front cabinet, a separation preventing bracket assembled to the rear surface of the front cabinet and configured to prevent separation of the front cover, and a rear cover assembled to one side edge of the front cover and then rotated to be assembled to the other side edge of the front cover, the rear cover configured to cover the rear surface of the controller.

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.

The same reference numerals are used to represent the same elements throughout the drawings.

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 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.

In this document, phrases, such as “A or B”, “at least one of A and B”, “at least one of A or B,” “A, B or C,” “at least one of A, B and C,” and “at least one of A, B, or C”, may include any one or all possible combinations of items listed together in the corresponding phrase among the phrases.

As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of associated listed components.

It may be understood that, although the terms first, second, or the like, may be used herein to describe various elements, but elements are not limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another element. For example, without departing from the scope of the disclosure, a first element may be termed as a second element, and a second element may be termed as a first element. The term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of associated listed items.

In addition, the meaning of “identical” or “same” in the disclosure may include having similar properties or similarity within a certain range. In addition, “identical” or “same” refers to “substantially identical”. It should be understood that the meaning of “substantially identical” refers to a value that falls within an error range in manufacturing or a value having a difference within a range that does not have significance with respect to a reference value.

The terms, such as “˜ part”, “˜device”, “˜block”, “˜member”, “˜ module”, and the like may refer to a unit for processing at least one function or act. For example, the terms may refer to at least process processed by at least one hardware, such as a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) and/or application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), software stored in memories, or processors.

In the following description, the terms “front,” “rear,” “left,” and “right,” are defined based on the directions illustrated in the drawings, but the terms need not restrict the shape and position of the respective components.

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 computer-executable 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 graphical processing unit (GPU), a neural processing unit (NPU) (e.g., an artificial intelligence (AI) chip), a wireless-fidelity (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 drive 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, embodiments according to the disclosure will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

A heat pump may perform indoor cooling/heating, indoor floor heating, and hot water supply through heat exchange between air and a refrigerant, heat exchange between a refrigerant and a refrigerant, or heat exchange between a refrigerant and water.

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

Referring to, a heat pumpmay include an outdoor unitincluding a compressor, an expansion valve, and a heat exchanger. The heat pumpmay include an indoor device connected to the outdoor unitthrough at least one pipe. The number of outdoor unitsand indoor devices may not be limited to that shown in.

The outdoor unitmay be disposed outdoors to perform heat exchange between a refrigerant and outdoor air. The refrigerant may be provided to flow in the compressor, the expansion valve, and the heat exchanger of the outdoor unitsuch that heat exchange between the refrigerant and outdoor air may be performed. The outdoor unitmay perform heat exchange between the refrigerant and the outdoor air by utilizing the phase change of the refrigerant (e.g., evaporation or condensation). For example, the outdoor unitmay release heat to the outdoor air by utilizing the condensation of the refrigerant. In addition, the outdoor unitmay absorb heat of the outdoor air by utilizing the evaporation of the refrigerant.

The heat pumpmay include an indoor unit. The indoor device may include the indoor unit. The indoor unitmay be disposed indoors. The outdoor unitand the indoor unitmay be connected through a refrigerant supply pipeand a refrigerant return pipe. The outdoor unitmay supply refrigerant to the indoor unitthrough the refrigerant supply pipe. The refrigerant supply pipemay include an indoor unit valve. The indoor unit valveis provided to be openable and closeable, and may control the flow of refrigerant flowing in the refrigerant supply pipe. The outdoor unitmay recover refrigerant from the indoor unitthrough the refrigerant return pipe. The indoor unitmay include a heat exchanger. The indoor unitmay perform heat exchange between the refrigerant and indoor air by utilizing phase change of the refrigerant (e.g., evaporation or condensation). For example, the indoor unitmay absorb heat of the indoor air into the refrigerant by utilizing evaporation of the refrigerant. In addition, the indoor unitmay release heat of the refrigerant to the indoor air by utilizing condensation of the refrigerant. The indoor unitmay be referred to as an indoor unitor a heating and cooling device.

The heat pumpmay include a distribution device. The indoor device may include the distribution device. The distribution devicemay be disposed indoors. The outdoor unitand the distribution devicemay be connected via a heating water supply pipeand a heating water return pipe. The outdoor unitmay supply heating water to the distribution devicevia the heating water supply pipe. The outdoor unitmay recover heating water from the distribution devicevia the heating water return pipe. The distribution devicemay be provided to distribute heating water to a heating unit,,that heats heating locations requiring heating. The heating water may be water used for heating.

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 a refrigerant via a heat exchanger of the outdoor unit.

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

The heat pumpmay include heating units,, and/or. The indoor device may include heating units,, and/or. The heating units,, and/ormay be disposed indoors.

The heat pumpmay include a first heating unit. The distribution deviceand the first heating unitmay be connected via a first supply pipeand a first return pipe. The distribution devicemay supply heating water to the first heating unitthrough the first supply pipe. The distribution devicemay recover heating water from the first heating unitthrough the first return pipe.

The first heating unit may include a hot water supply unit. The hot water supply unitmay be provided to directly provide heated heating water to the user according to a user's request.

The first heating unitmay include a first heating valve. The first heating valvemay be provided to open and close the first supply pipe. The first heating valvemay open and close the first supply pipeor control the flow rate of the heating water flowing in the first supply pipe. The disclosure is not limited thereto, and the first heating valvemay be provided in plural.

The heat pumpmay include a second heating unit. The heating unit,,may include a second heating unit. The distribution deviceand the second heating unitmay be connected via a second supply pipeand a second return pipe. The distribution devicemay supply heating water to the second heating unitvia the second supply pipe. The distribution devicemay recover heating water from the second heating unitvia the second return pipe.

The second heating unitmay include a radiator. The radiatormay be provided to heat the indoor air by heat exchange with the indoor air.

The second heating unitmay include a second heating valve. The second heating valvemay be provided to open and close the second supply pipe. The second heating valvemay open and close the second supply pipeor control the flow rate of the heating water flowing in the second supply pipe. The disclosure is not limited thereto, and the second heating valvemay be provided in plural.

The second heating unitmay include a second heating unit regulator. The second heating unit regulatormay regulate the second heating valve. The second heating unit regulatormay be provided to control the operation of the radiator.

The heat pumpmay include a third heating unit. The heating unit,,may include a third heating unit. The distribution deviceand the third heating unitmay be connected via a third supply pipeand a third return pipe. The distribution devicemay supply heating water to the third heating unitvia the third supply pipe. The distribution devicemay recover heating water from the third heating unitvia the third return pipe.

The third heating unitmay include an underfloor heater. The underfloor heatermay be provided to heat the floor. For example, the third heating unitmay be provided to heat the floor on which the underfloor heateris installed via the heat of the heating water.

The third heating unitmay include a third heating valve. The third heating valvemay be provided to open and close the third supply pipe. The third heating valvemay open and close the third supply pipeor control the flow rate of heating water flowing in the third heating valve. The disclosure is not limited thereto, and the third heating valvemay be provided in plural.

The third heating unitmay include a third heating unit regulator. The third heating unit regulatormay regulate the third heating valve. The third heating unit regulatormay be provided to control the operation of the underfloor heater.

The types of the heating units,and/orand the methods of supplying heat energy to the heating locations described above are merely examples, and it should be understood that the heating units,and/ormay be installed and operated in various locations requiring heating and hot water supply.