REMOTE REFIGERATION DISPLAY CASE SYSTEM
Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to a remote refrigeration display case system, which is used in the field of commercial cooling systems to display and preserve refrigerated foodstuff or the like.
Background Art
Usually, a refrigeration display case system is equipped in the supermarket and convenient stores to present fresh food or drinks to the customers. All refrigeration display case systems include at least the following components: a compressor, a condenser, at least one evaporator associated with a display case, an expansion/throttle device such as expansion valve, and appropriate refrigerant pipes connecting these devices. The expansion valve is disposed in the pipe upstream with respect to refrigerant flow of the inlet to the evaporator for expanding liquid refrigerant. The expansion valve functions to expand the liquid refrigerant to a desired lower pressure, selected for the particular refrigerant, prior to entering the evaporator. As a result of this expansion, the temperature of the liquid refrigerant also falls down significantly. The low pressure, low temperature liquid evaporates as it absorbs heat in passing through the evaporator tubes from the air passing over the surface of the evaporator. Typically, supermarket and convenient store refrigeration systems include multiple evaporators disposed in multiple display cases, an assembly of a plurality of compressors, termed a compressor rack, and one or more condensers.
In the existing display case system, an operation evaporating temperature of the condenser and compressor is about -15°C, and the evaporating temperature of the commonly adopted evaporator is about -10°C to -8 "CAs all known, the performance of the condenser and compressor varies as the evaporating temperature and the condensing temperature, wherein particularly the refrigeration efficiency falls as the evaporating temperature drops. In this regard, to obtain higher refrigeration efficiency, the evaporating temperature should be kept as high as possible.
Hence, increasing the evaporating temperature of the evaporator disposed in the refrigeration display case system so as to reduce the compressing ratio can not only decrease the power consumption, depress the noise level, but also reduce the cost while obtaining high reliability. An evaporator described in US patent 6460372Bl, is introduced in preferred embodiment of this invention to reach the object of the present invention. Meanwhile, the disclosure of US patent 6460372Bl is incorporated herein by reference.
Summary of the Invention
An object of the present application is to provide a remote refrigeration display case system including a display case comprising a product display area and at least one compartment separated from the display area, air flow passages for connecting the air between the display area and the compartments, and a refrigeration system including a air condition duty compressor, a condenser, an expansion/throttle device, a evaporator, and pipes connecting these components, wherein the air condition duty compressor and the condenser are installed remotely, and the saturated evaporating temperature of the evaporator is -4 to 2°C.
Description of Figures
After reading the specific embodiments in the invention together with the figures, the skilled in the art could understand more clearly the respective aspects of the invention, wherein:
Fig. 1 shows a schematic block diagram of a refrigeration display case system with a condensing unit(CDU) according to one or more aspects of the invention; and
Fig. 2 shows an elevation view of representative layout of the remote refrigeration display system shown schematically in FIG. 1.
Wherein the meanings of the references in the figures of the description are listed as follows:
010 condensing unit (CDU)
01 1 compressor
012 condenser
020 expansion/throttle device 030 evaporator
040 pressure balance device
041 capillary tube
042 solenoid valve
100 refrigeration display case
110 cabinet
1 1 1 open-fronted door
1 12 air flow passages 1 14 air flow passages 1 16 air flow passages 1 18 air flow passages 120 compartment 130 fan
140 product display area
150 shelves
Preferred Embodiments of the Invention
The embodiments of the invention will be described by referring to the figures as follows. Wherein the refrigeration system illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 is depicted as having a single evaporator associated with a refrigeration display case, a single condenser, and a single compressor. It is to be understood that the refrigeration display case may be used in various embodiments of commercial refrigeration systems having single or multiple display cases, with one or more evaporators per case , single or multiple condensers and/or single or multiple compressor arrangements.
Fig. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a refrigeration display case system with a condensing unit (CDU) according to one or more aspects of the invention.
As shown in Fig. 1, a preferred refrigeration display case consists of five basic components, a condensing unit 010 including a compressor 01 land a condenser 012 therein, an expansion/throttle device 020, an evaporator 030 associated with a refrigeration display case 100, and a pressure balance device 040 having a capillary tube 041 and a solenoid valve 042, as well as the pipes 050 used for connecting these components. It is to be understood, however, that the refrigeration system may include additional components, controls and accessories. The evaporating temperature of compressor 01 1 could be above -5°C. Although any particular form of conventional expansion device may be used, the expansion device 020 most advantageously comprises an expansion valve having a thermal sensing element, such as a sensing bulb mounted in thermal contact with suction line downstream of the outlet of the evaporator 030. The sensing bulb connects back to the thermostatic expansion valve 020 through a conventional capillary tube 041 and a solenoid valve 042, wherein the capillary tube 041 and solenoid valve 042 constitute a pressure balance device 040, which is added between the high and low pressure pipes in order to balance the pressure during the compressor stopping time. A high efficiency evaporator, mentioned the US patent 6460372B1, is employed as the evaporator in the present embodiment, the evaporating temperature of which is -4°C to 2°C. The refrigerant from the compressor 01 1 is transmitted into the condenser 012 and then cooled down therein. In this embodiment, compressor 011 and condenser 012 construct a condensing unit (CDU), which is installed remotely. After being processed in the CDU, the refrigerant is depressed by the expansion/throttle device 020 and flows into the evaporator. The evaporator functions to evaporate the refrigerant and to drop down the temperature to a desired level.
In comparison to conventional display case system, the saturated evaporating
temperature is increased to be higher than -5 "C, and the compressing ratio is reduced, as a result of which cost effective A.C. duty compressor can be employed.
Referring to FIG.2, the refrigeration display case 100 includes an upright, open-front, insulated cabinet 110 with a product display area 140 therein and a compartment 120. The evaporator 030, which is a fin and tube heat exchanger coil, is disposed within compartment 120 separate from and, in the depicted embodiment, beneath the product display area 140. The compartment 120 may, however, be disposed above or behind the product display area as desired. As in conventional practice, air is circulated by air circulation means, for example one or more fans 130, disposed in the compartment 120, through the air flow passages 112, 114 and 116 formed in the walls of the cabinet 110 into the product display area 140 to maintain products stored on the shelves 150 in the product display area 140 at a desired temperature. A portion of the refrigerated air passes out the airflow passage generally downwardly across the front of the display area 140 thereby forming an air curtain between the refrigerated product display area 140 and the ambient temperature in the region of the store near the display case lOO.The expansion/throttle device 020, which is generally located within the display case 100 close to the evaporator 030 , but may be mounted at any location in the pipes, serves to meter the correct amount of liquid refrigerant flow into the evaporator 030.
The evaporator pressure balance device 040, which may comprise a capillary tube 041 and a solenoid valve 042, operates to maintain the pressure in the evaporator at a preselected desired operating pressure by modulating the flow of refrigerant leaving the evaporate. By maintaining the operating pressure in the evaporator at that desired pressure, the temperature of the refrigerant expanding from a liquid to a vapor within the evaporator 030 will be maintained at a specific temperature associated with the particular refrigerant passing through the evaporator.
In comparison to conventional systems, the display case system adopting aforesaid technical solutions can reduce the power consumption by 20%, and can be produced with lower cost. Furthermore, the display case system according to the above embodiment operates with lower noise level and higher reliability.
It is understood that when one or more aspects of the invention is described in connection with the figures, the gamma correction, the reverse gamma correction and the matrix calculation or transformation therein are the public knowledge to those skilled in the art, thus, the description thereof will be omitted herein.
In the above, the specific embodiments of the invention have been described by referring to the figures. However, it is understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and substitutions of the specific embodiments of the invention can be made without deviating from the sprit and the scope of the invention. Those changes and substitutions fall within the scope as defined in the Claims of the invention.