Outdoor unit of air conditioner

Abstract

An outdoor unit includes a fan, a heat exchanger, a vapor pipe, a liquid pipe, and a refrigerant flowing through these pipes, in which the heat exchanger is a parallel flow heat exchanger divided into a plurality and connected in parallel between the vapor pipe and the liquid pipe. The heat exchanger is connected from the vapor pipe via a vapor branch pipe, and the heat exchanger is connected from the vapor pipe via the vapor branch pipe. In addition, the liquid pipe is connected from the heat exchanger via the liquid branch pipe, and the liquid pipe is connected from the heat exchanger via the liquid branch pipe.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An outdoor unit comprising a fan, a heat exchanger, a vapor pipe, a liquid pipe, and a refrigerant flowing through these pipes, wherein the refrigerant is a low-pressure refrigerant, and the heat exchanger is a parallel flow heat exchanger divided into a plurality and connected in parallel between the vapor pipe and the liquid pipe. 
     
     
         2 . The outdoor unit according to  claim 1 , wherein the number of divisions of the heat exchanger and the flow path length of the refrigerant flow path in the heat exchanger are determined so that the pressure loss of the refrigerant flow path in the heat exchanger is 1 kPa or less. 
     
     
         3 . The outdoor unit according to  claim 1 , wherein the heat exchanger is divided in the wind direction. 
     
     
         4 . The outdoor unit according to  claim 1 , further provided with a mechanism for adjusting the flow rate of the refrigerant to be distributed to the plurality of heat exchangers connected in parallel according to the amount of heat dissipated from each of the heat exchangers. 
     
     
         5 . The outdoor unit according to  claim 3 , comprising:
 a plurality of heat exchangers that perform heat exchange on supplied refrigerant with air to be cooled and discharge the refrigerant;   a supply header pipe that supplies the refrigerant to each of these heat exchangers;   a discharge header pipe that collects the refrigerant discharged from each of these heat exchangers;   a supply branch pipe that connects the supply header pipe and each of the plurality of heat exchangers;   a discharge branch pipe that connects the discharge header pipe and each of the plurality of heat exchangers; and   with respect to the flow path resistance from the supply header pipe to the exhaust header pipe of a heat exchanger on the upstream side in the flow direction of the air to be cooled, a flow path adjusting unit that performs adjustment so that the flow path resistance from the supply header pipe to the discharge header pipe of a heat exchanger on the downstream side increases.   
     
     
         6 . The outdoor unit according to  claim 3 , comprising:
 a plurality of heat exchangers that perform heat exchange on supplied refrigerant with air to be cooled and discharge the refrigerant;   a supply header pipe that supplies the refrigerant to each of these heat exchangers;   a discharge header pipe that collects the refrigerant discharged from each of these heat exchangers;   a supply branch pipe that connects the supply header pipe and each of the plurality of heat exchangers;   a discharge branch pipe that connects the discharge header pipe and each of the plurality of heat exchangers; and   with respect to the flow path resistance from the supply header pipe to the exhaust header pipe of a heat exchanger on the upstream side in the flow direction of the air to be cooled, a flow path adjusting unit that performs adjustment so that the flow path resistance from the supply header pipe to the discharge header pipe of a heat exchanger on the downstream side increases.   
     
     
         7 . The outdoor unit according to  claim 5 , wherein a plurality of fans are arranged along a surface intersecting the passing direction of the air to be cooled in the heat exchanger.