Laundry or tableware treating appliance having a heat pump system exploiting a reduced amount of refrigerant

摘要

Laundry or tableware treating appliance (1), having a heat pump system (5), the heat pump system having a refrigerant circuit, the appliance comprising: an articles treatment chamber (2) for treating articles using a medium; a first heat exchanger (6) for heating a refrigerant; a second heat exchanger (7) for cooling the refrigerant and heating the medium; a refrigerant expansion device (14) arranged in the refrigerant circuit between the second heat exchanger (7) and the first heat exchanger (6), and a compressor (8) arranged in the refrigerant circuit between the first heat exchanger (6) and the second heat exchanger (7). The first and second heat exchanges and the refrigerant expansion device are designed so that, during a relevant part of the articles treating cycle the thermodynamic quality of the refrigerant at the inlet of the refrigerant expansion device is between -0.03 and 0.3, wherein the thermodynamic quality is defined as ( h - h satL )/( h satV - h satL ), with: h being the actual refrigerant enthalpy; h SatL being the enthalpy of the refrigerant in saturated liquid condition (it is the enthalpy of the point that is on the saturated liquid curve and at the actual pressure of the refrigerant); h satV being the enthalpy of the refrigerant in saturated vapor condition.