Heat pump with a reservoir storing higher pressure refrigerant of non-azeotropic mixture

摘要

@ Disclosed is a heat pump comprising a main circuit containing a mixture of non-azeotropic refrigerants, the main circuit including a compressor for pressurizing the mixture, a first heat exchanger operating as a heat sink, a second heat exchanger operating as a heat source, and an expansion device connected between the first and second heat exchangers. A portion of the mixture is supplied through a first feed fine from a first junction between the expansion valve and the first heat exchanger and vaporized before being fed to a rectifier where it coacts with liquid refrigerant to cause separation of higher pressure refrigerant of the mixture from the lower pressure refrigerant. The separated higher pressure refrigerant is stored in a reservoir in liquid phase and an overflowed portion of the liquid is returned to the rectifier as said coacting liquid. A second feed line couples a second junction between the expansion device and the second heat exchanger to a bottom portion of the rectifier to complete an auxiliary circuit. A bypass line is established from the bottom portion of reservoir to the second junction accordance with input power demand to control the operation of the rectifier.