US20120324921A1 - Method for recovering refrigerant from a refrigeration equipment - Google Patents

Method for recovering refrigerant from a refrigeration equipment Download PDF

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Publication number
US20120324921A1
US20120324921A1 US13/581,165 US201113581165A US2012324921A1 US 20120324921 A1 US20120324921 A1 US 20120324921A1 US 201113581165 A US201113581165 A US 201113581165A US 2012324921 A1 US2012324921 A1 US 2012324921A1
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US
United States
Prior art keywords
refrigerant
refrigeration equipment
recovering
compressor
recharge
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Abandoned
Application number
US13/581,165
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English (en)
Inventor
G. K. Venkatesh
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Robert Bosch GmbH
Mahle Aftermarket Inc
Original Assignee
Individual
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Individual filed Critical Individual
Assigned to ROBERT BOSCH GMBH reassignment ROBERT BOSCH GMBH ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: VENKATESH, G. K.
Publication of US20120324921A1 publication Critical patent/US20120324921A1/en
Assigned to MAHLE CLEVITE INC. reassignment MAHLE CLEVITE INC. ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: BOSCH LIMITED
Abandoned legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F25—REFRIGERATION OR COOLING; COMBINED HEATING AND REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS; HEAT PUMP SYSTEMS; MANUFACTURE OR STORAGE OF ICE; LIQUEFACTION SOLIDIFICATION OF GASES
    • F25B—REFRIGERATION MACHINES, PLANTS OR SYSTEMS; COMBINED HEATING AND REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS; HEAT PUMP SYSTEMS
    • F25B45/00—Arrangements for charging or discharging refrigerant
    • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F25—REFRIGERATION OR COOLING; COMBINED HEATING AND REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS; HEAT PUMP SYSTEMS; MANUFACTURE OR STORAGE OF ICE; LIQUEFACTION SOLIDIFICATION OF GASES
    • F25B—REFRIGERATION MACHINES, PLANTS OR SYSTEMS; COMBINED HEATING AND REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS; HEAT PUMP SYSTEMS
    • F25B2345/00—Details for charging or discharging refrigerants; Service stations therefor
    • F25B2345/001—Charging refrigerant to a cycle
    • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F25—REFRIGERATION OR COOLING; COMBINED HEATING AND REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS; HEAT PUMP SYSTEMS; MANUFACTURE OR STORAGE OF ICE; LIQUEFACTION SOLIDIFICATION OF GASES
    • F25B—REFRIGERATION MACHINES, PLANTS OR SYSTEMS; COMBINED HEATING AND REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS; HEAT PUMP SYSTEMS
    • F25B2345/00—Details for charging or discharging refrigerants; Service stations therefor
    • F25B2345/002—Collecting refrigerant from a cycle
    • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F25—REFRIGERATION OR COOLING; COMBINED HEATING AND REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS; HEAT PUMP SYSTEMS; MANUFACTURE OR STORAGE OF ICE; LIQUEFACTION SOLIDIFICATION OF GASES
    • F25B—REFRIGERATION MACHINES, PLANTS OR SYSTEMS; COMBINED HEATING AND REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS; HEAT PUMP SYSTEMS
    • F25B2345/00—Details for charging or discharging refrigerants; Service stations therefor
    • F25B2345/006—Details for charging or discharging refrigerants; Service stations therefor characterised by charging or discharging valves

Definitions

  • This invention relates to a method for recovering refrigerant of an external refrigeration equipment.
  • U.S. Pat. No. 5,720,184 discloses a low pressure refrigerant recovery recycle machine.
  • the machine comprises a compressor and a refrigerant pump.
  • the refrigerant pump connected to the refrigeration unit to recover the refrigerant and the compressor compresses the refrigerant that is recovered by the refrigerant pump.
  • the method of recovering refrigerant from a refrigeration equipment introduces a small amount of the high temperature high pressure refrigerant into the refrigeration equipment. This increases the temperature and pressure inside the refrigeration equipment. This also changes the state of the refrigerant inside the refrigeration equipment. This allows the compressor to recover additional refrigerant from the refrigeration equipment. Thus lesser amount of refrigerant is released into the atmosphere. This would reduce the pollutant released into the atmosphere, thereby reducing pollution considerably. This increases the working efficiency of the refrigerant recovery device.
  • the change in state of the refrigerant in the refrigeration equipment enables easier recovery of the refrigerant.
  • the compressor has to be switched on for a shorter period for recovering the same amount of refrigerant. This reduces the power consumption. This in turn reduces the operating cost of the using the refrigerant recovery device.
  • FIG. 1 illustrates a refrigerant recovery comprising various components and connection between the various components.
  • FIG. 1 illustrates a refrigerant recovery device 10 .
  • the refrigerant recovery device 10 is connected to an external refrigeration equipment 12 through a valve block 14 .
  • the valve block 14 comprises valves, which are adapted to establish a connection between the various components of the refrigerant recovery device 10 and refrigeration equipment 12 .
  • the valves in the valve block 14 are switched from a closed to an open position so as to establish a connection between a compressor 16 and a refrigerant tank 18 of the refrigeration equipment 12 .
  • the refrigerant recovery device 10 is used to recover refrigerant as well as to recharge refrigerant into the refrigeration equipment 12 .
  • the recovery of refrigerant from the refrigeration equipment 12 and storing of refrigerant by the refrigerant recovery device 12 is done through a refrigerant recovery path 20 .
  • the recharging of refrigerant from the refrigerant recovery device 12 to refrigeration equipment is done through a refrigerant recharge path 22 .
  • the refrigerant flows from the refrigerant tank 18 is heated by the heating element 24 and recharged to the refrigeration equipment 12 .
  • Refrigeration equipments 12 are widely used in many applications including air conditioning systems, refrigerators and the like. These refrigeration equipments 12 use a refrigerant which provide cooling to an area or room in which they are fitted. The working principle of the refrigerant in the refrigeration equipment is that it absorbs heat while passing through various components of the refrigeration equipment. This cools the air around the refrigeration equipment and the cool air is then blown to the area or room where the refrigeration equipment is installed.
  • the refrigerant recovery device 10 is usually a stand alone device which is connected to the refrigeration equipment 12 while the refrigeration equipment 12 is being serviced.
  • the refrigerant recovery device 10 comprises at least, a valve block 14 , a compressor 16 and a refrigerant tank 18 .
  • the valve block 14 comprises valves, which are usually solenoid valves. The valves of the valve block 14 can be switched from a closed position to an open position, thereby establishing connection between the various components of the refrigerant recovery device 10 .
  • the valves in the valve block 14 can be switched from a closed position to an open position to establish a connection between the refrigerant recovery device 10 and the refrigeration equipment 12 .
  • the compressor 16 is a device which is capable of receiving fluid or gas at a particular pressure and increases the pressure of the fluid or gas that is received.
  • a heating element 24 may be a electric heating coil wound around the tube through which the refrigerant is recharged to the refrigeration equipment 12 .
  • the heating element 24 increases the temperature of the refrigerant and the state of the refrigerant changes from liquid to gas. Due to the change of state of the refrigerant the pressure of the refrigerant that is recharged to the refrigeration equipment 12 also increases.
  • the refrigerant tank 18 is a tank where the recovered refrigerant is store. The stored refrigerant is reused by recharging the refrigerant to the refrigeration equipment 12 .
  • While servicing refrigeration equipment 12 three particular tasks are involved viz (i) recovery of the refrigerant from the refrigeration equipment 12 , (ii) evacuation of air and moisture from the refrigeration equipment 12 and (iii) refilling or recharging the refrigeration equipment 12 with clean refrigerant.
  • the method used by a conventional refrigerant recovery device in the three tasks can be explained as follows.
  • the valve block 14 establishes a connection between the refrigerant recovery device 10 and the refrigeration equipment 12 .
  • the compressor 16 is able to recover the refrigerant from the refrigeration device 12 .
  • the recovered refrigerant is stored in the refrigerant tank 18 .
  • a vacuum pump 16 is used to evacuate the refrigeration device 10 .
  • the refrigeration equipment 12 is evacuated the air and moisture and remaining recovered refrigerant is released to the atmosphere. After the evacuation the refrigeration equipment 12 is recharged with refrigerant from the refrigerant tank 18 .
  • One disadvantage of this method of recovery and recharge is that the remaining refrigerant which is removed from the refrigeration equipment using the vacuum pump is released to the atmosphere. The release of these refrigerants to the atmosphere is harmful. It is necessary that the amount of refrigerant released in the atmosphere should be minimized.
  • the refrigerant recovery device 10 is able to recover additional residual refrigerant which may be stuck in the refrigeration equipment 12 . This reduces the amount of refrigerant that is released to the atmosphere.
  • the method of recovering refrigerant in accordance with this invention can be explained as follows.
  • a connection is established between the refrigerant recovery device 10 and the refrigeration equipment 12 through the valve block 14 for performing a main recovering process. At least one valve in the valve block is switched to an open position for this purpose.
  • recovery of the refrigerant from the refrigeration equipment is initiated through the refrigerant recovery path 20 by switching on the compressor.
  • the refrigerant recovery path 20 the refrigerant flows from the refrigeration equipment 12 through the valve block 14 to the compressor 16 and is stored in the refrigerant tank 18 .
  • the compressor 16 is switched on the pressure in the inlet path of the compressor 16 is lower that the pressure in the refrigeration equipment 12 .
  • the refrigerant flows from the high pressure refrigeration equipment 12 to the low pressure inlet path of the compressor.
  • the compressor 16 increases the pressure of the refrigerant and is stored in the refrigerant tank 18 .
  • a temporary refrigerant recharge process takes place in which a small amount of heated refrigerant from the refrigerant tank 18 is recharged into the refrigeration equipment 12 .
  • a connection is established between the refrigerant tank 18 and the refrigeration equipment 12 through the refrigerant recharge path 22 .
  • the refrigerant flows from the refrigerant tank 18 through the heating element 24 , valve block 14 to the refrigeration equipment 12 .
  • the small amount of heated refrigerant at the temporary refrigerant recharge process represents less than 20% of the whole capacity of the refrigerant inside of the refrigeration equipment 12 , especially less than 10% of the whole capacity of the refrigerant inside of the refrigeration equipment 12 .
  • the small amount of heated refrigerant is introduced into the refrigeration equipment 12 in more than one pulse, for example in three pulses.
  • the temperature and pressure of the refrigerant is higher than temperature and pressure of the refrigerant during a conventional recharge operation.
  • the increased pressure and temperature of the recharged refrigerant ensures that the refrigerant is quickly recharged to the refrigeration equipment. Further due the high temperature and pressure the state of the refrigerant recharged into the refrigeration equipment changes from liquid to gaseous.
  • the refrigerant When the refrigerant enters the refrigeration equipment 12 it changes the state of the residual refrigerant that is present in the refrigeration equipment to gaseous state. This happens due to the increase in temperature and consequent increase in pressure of the refrigerant inside the refrigeration equipment 12 . Due to change in state of the residual refrigerant the high temperature and high pressure refrigerant from the refrigeration equipment can be easily recovered from the refrigeration equipment 12 . Introducing high pressure and high temperature refrigerant into the refrigeration equipment 12 increases the pressure and temperature inside the refrigeration equipment 12 . This makes recovery of refrigerant from the refrigeration equipment 12 easier.
  • an additional recovering process is performing for additionally emptying of a residual refrigerant from the refrigeration equipment ( 12 ).
  • For recovering the residual refrigerant in the additional recovering process at least one valve in the valve block is switched to an open position for this purpose.
  • An advantage of introducing refrigerant that is heated using the heating element is that it increases the temperature of the refrigerant being recharged into the refrigeration equipment 12 consequently pressure also increases. This leads to change in state of the refrigerant in the refrigeration equipment 12 from liquid state to gaseous state. It is easier to recover refrigerant which is in gaseous state. As pressure and temperature inside the refrigeration equipment 12 is higher than usual. Hence, the compressor 12 can easily and quickly recover refrigerant. The compressor 16 will have to be switched on for a shorter period of time to recover additional refrigerant from the refrigeration equipment 12 . Also due to high temperature and pressure the liquid refrigerant that may be stuck in various parts of the refrigeration equipment is converted to gaseous state and are easily recovered.
  • This method of recovering additional refrigerant ensures more than 95% refrigerant of the refrigerant from the refrigeration equipment 12 .
  • Another advantage of this method is that since additional refrigerant is recovered during the recovery process the total amount of refrigerant released into the atmosphere is reduced.
US13/581,165 2010-02-26 2011-02-25 Method for recovering refrigerant from a refrigeration equipment Abandoned US20120324921A1 (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
IN512/CHE/2010 2010-02-26
IN512CH2010 2010-02-26
PCT/EP2011/052782 WO2011104323A2 (en) 2010-02-26 2011-02-25 Method for recovering refrigerant of a refrieration equipment

Publications (1)

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US20120324921A1 true US20120324921A1 (en) 2012-12-27

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Family Applications (1)

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US13/581,165 Abandoned US20120324921A1 (en) 2010-02-26 2011-02-25 Method for recovering refrigerant from a refrigeration equipment

Country Status (4)

Country Link
US (1) US20120324921A1 (zh)
EP (1) EP2539646B1 (zh)
CN (1) CN102762936B (zh)
WO (1) WO2011104323A2 (zh)

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
CN107014121A (zh) * 2017-05-18 2017-08-04 绍兴西爱西尔数控科技有限公司 一种采用ptc加热的恒温循环装置

Families Citing this family (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
CN109595772B (zh) * 2018-11-30 2020-10-16 奥克斯空调股份有限公司 空调器的收氟控制方法及其控制装置

Citations (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4809515A (en) * 1988-04-04 1989-03-07 Houwink John B Open cycle cooled refrigerant recovery apparatus
US4972676A (en) * 1988-12-23 1990-11-27 Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba Refrigeration cycle apparatus having refrigerant separating system with pressure swing adsorption
US5910160A (en) * 1997-04-07 1999-06-08 York International Corporation Enhanced refrigerant recovery system
US20080022715A1 (en) * 2004-06-02 2008-01-31 Ekotez,Spol. S R. O., A Corporation Method for washing cooling or air conditioning circuits and device for carrying out said method
US20090282973A1 (en) * 2005-02-07 2009-11-19 Hideki Nakamura Fume Removal Method for a Reflow Furnace and a Reflow Furnace

Family Cites Families (10)

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Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3695055A (en) * 1970-07-15 1972-10-03 Ralph E Bruce Temperature compensating refrigerant charging device
US4796436A (en) * 1986-12-09 1989-01-10 Carrier Corporation Heat pump charging
US4887435A (en) * 1988-06-23 1989-12-19 Anderson Jr David W Refrigeration cleaning and flushing system
US5097667A (en) * 1990-09-07 1992-03-24 Asger Gramkow Apparatus and a method for emptying and recharging a refrigeration system
EP0580622A4 (en) * 1991-03-22 1994-08-24 Environmental Prod Amalgam Pty Apparatus for servicing refrigeration systems
US5377499A (en) * 1994-05-10 1995-01-03 Hudson Technologies, Inc. Method and apparatus for refrigerant reclamation
US5720184A (en) 1995-01-17 1998-02-24 Endeavor Enterprises, Inc. Low pressure refrigerant recovery recycle machine
JPH1183245A (ja) * 1997-09-12 1999-03-26 Daikin Ind Ltd 冷媒回収装置および冷媒回収方法
US7174742B2 (en) * 2005-07-05 2007-02-13 Honeywell International Inc. Combined method and apparatus for recovering and reclaiming refrigerant, solvent flushing, and refrigerant recharging
US20070084223A1 (en) * 2005-10-12 2007-04-19 Myron Stein Method of liberating and removing trapped refrigerant from the interior of an air conditioning system

Patent Citations (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4809515A (en) * 1988-04-04 1989-03-07 Houwink John B Open cycle cooled refrigerant recovery apparatus
US4972676A (en) * 1988-12-23 1990-11-27 Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba Refrigeration cycle apparatus having refrigerant separating system with pressure swing adsorption
US5910160A (en) * 1997-04-07 1999-06-08 York International Corporation Enhanced refrigerant recovery system
US20080022715A1 (en) * 2004-06-02 2008-01-31 Ekotez,Spol. S R. O., A Corporation Method for washing cooling or air conditioning circuits and device for carrying out said method
US20090282973A1 (en) * 2005-02-07 2009-11-19 Hideki Nakamura Fume Removal Method for a Reflow Furnace and a Reflow Furnace

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
CN107014121A (zh) * 2017-05-18 2017-08-04 绍兴西爱西尔数控科技有限公司 一种采用ptc加热的恒温循环装置

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
WO2011104323A3 (en) 2012-01-26
CN102762936A (zh) 2012-10-31
EP2539646A2 (en) 2013-01-02
WO2011104323A2 (en) 2011-09-01
CN102762936B (zh) 2015-10-21
EP2539646B1 (en) 2019-07-03

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Legal Events

Date Code Title Description
AS Assignment

Owner name: ROBERT BOSCH GMBH, GERMANY

Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNOR:VENKATESH, G. K.;REEL/FRAME:028846/0229

Effective date: 20120809

AS Assignment

Owner name: MAHLE CLEVITE INC., MICHIGAN

Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNOR:BOSCH LIMITED;REEL/FRAME:030119/0641

Effective date: 20121231

STCB Information on status: application discontinuation

Free format text: ABANDONED -- FAILURE TO RESPOND TO AN OFFICE ACTION