US2051664A - Refrigerating system - Google Patents

Description

.A 1936. F. R. WEST 2,051,664

REFRIGERATING S'YSTEM Original Filed Nov. 15, 1929 INVENTOR. /:/9/l /f f? hKiJT A TTORNE Y.

Patented Aug. 18, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE REFBIGERATING SYSTEM tion of Michigan Application November 15, 1929, Serial No. 407,306 Renewed July 6, 1934,

28 Claims.

This invention relates to a refrigerating system, and has to do particularly with. a novel method and structure for controlling the flow of refrigerant through the system and especially from the condenser to the evaporator or cooling unit.

Heretofore, commercial refrigerating systems have employed some means between the high side and low side of the system'in an attempt to maintain a certain relationship between the high pressure liquid and the low pressure liquid or gaseous refrigerant. This means has been embodied in two somewhat distinct structures; one, the so-called expansion valve, and the other the float valve. Expansion valves require very sensitive metering through a small opening which is very susceptible to plugging with small pieces of dirt and is also subject to wear due to this constant wearing action of the fine grit and dirt which exists in all refrigerating systems in practical commercial use. Systems using the float valve are also subject to stopping and wear because of dirt in the system. Furthermore, both systems, in addition to being subject to stoppage because of the freezing of water moisture, are also relatively expensive to build and require a large proportion of the service attention given to the system. It is also known that both of the above systems are frequently subjected to frosting back.

It is the object of the present invention to eliminate all metering of the refrigerant in its transfer from the condenser-to the evaporator. The structure and method of operation is such that all small holes and orifices and the necessity of maintaining delicate adjustments are completely eliminated.

More specifically, I have provided what might be termed an impulse system which consists broadly in the provision of an auxiliary container for receiving refrigerant from the condenser during the non-running period and means for conducting the liquid in such auxiliary container en masse to the cooling unit during the initial part of the actual running period. Other novel steps and features will be brought out in the appended claims.

The drawing is a diagrammatic illustration of a refrigerating system embodying the present invention.

The application of my present system to commercial structures may obviously vary so widely that I have merely shown the same diagrammatically, but it will be obvious to those skilled in the 4 55 art how such system may-be modified or adapted to meet the particular requirements of any desired installation.

The refrigerating or cooling unit is generally designated as at I, the main control valve for controlling the flow of refrigerant from the main 5 to the auxiliary receiver and to the cooling unit is generally designated 2, and a control device is diagrammatically shown at 3 which is so set as to operate the system to run when the pressure and temperature in the cooling unit gets above a certain point and, which of course, is also. set to stop the system when the pressure and temperature runs below a certain point. Such control 3 may be operated by means of the pressure in the cooling unit or by means of the temperature created by the cooling unit, the particular form of such control being immaterial to the present invention and any standard type of apparatus may be used.

A standard compressor is indicated as at 4, condenser coils as at 5, and the main receiver for the refrigerant condensed in the condenser as at I. The refrigerant from the condenser coils may be conducted to the receiver 1 by means of a suitable conduit 6. An auxiliary receiver 8 is so positioned or arranged as to receive refrigerant from the main receiver 1, and in the drawing I have shown such two receivers as connected by means of conduits 9 and I0 both of which lead to the control valve 2.

This control valve is designed to be in turn controlled or actuated by means of a main control 3 as by the connections shown, and it will be obvious that such control valve 2 may be connected into the system in a manner so as to move to one position when the system is operated and to return to normal position when the system stops. I prefer to connect up the operation of the valve 2 with the operation of the control 8, such as, for instance, operating the valve 2 by a solenoid, the electric circuits for which may be made and broken by the control 3.

The valve 2 is shown diagrammatically as a three way valve and the third member for cooperating with this valve consists of a conduit ii which is shown diagrammatically as leading above and into the upper part of the drum it of the cooling unit. Completion ofthe system is by means of a conduit l2 which returns the expanded-for' evaporated refrigerant to the compressor, the compressor in turn being operated by means of a suitable source of power l4, controlled by the control unit, 8. a r

In theoperation of the system, let it be assumed that the system is in the refrigerating part of its cycle or, in other words, the compressor is being operated by the motor whereby it is drawing off gas from the top of the cooling unit and efiecting refrigeration at that point by reducing the pressure of the refrigerant liquid and causing it to boil and absorb heat from the media surrounding the cooling unit, I.

At the same time the compressed gas, drawn off from the cooling unit, is being condensed in the condenser in the ordinary manner and this liquefled refrigerant is stored into the main receiver '1. It will be seen that the liquid cannot escape from the receiver I because the by pass valve 2 is in operating position.

The refrigerating part of the cycle will continue as long as the gas is generated fast enough to keep up the proper pressure and temperature in the cooling unit. When the cooling unit becomes cold enough to shut the system down by means of the control 3, the valve 2 is designed to swing through an arc of from the position shown in the drawing, whereby two of the ports thereof will register with the conduits 9 and I0. Registration of such ports with the conduits 9 and ID will allow the liquid from the receiver 1 to flow into the auxiliary receiver 8. Inasmuch as the liquid in the upper chamber is under high condensing pressure it will be obvious that such liquid will readily move into the lower chamber 8' which is under a relatively low pressure due to its having been exposed to the low pressure of the cooling unit in the previous part of the cycle.

The upper chamber I is preferably of a size and capacity equal to the capicity of the cooling unit so that, if necessary, it could receive all of the liquid from the cooling unit, such as, for instance, if all of the liquid in the cooling unit should be gassed oif during an extreme condition of operation. Under normal conditions of operation, assuming the round drum of the cooling unit to be about 4 inches in diameter and say from 6 inches to 12 inches in length, the liquid level in the cooling unit would only be reduced from the maximum of say three quarters full by from approximately one half to one inch. This condition would, of course, depend upon-the particular conditions of operation.

A further important feature of the system is that the liquid refrigerant in the receivers is self balancing relative to the liquid in the cooling unit as the gas taken from the cooling unit is stored in the upper chamber during the running period,

transferred to the lower chamber during the nonrunning' period, and then when the system is started again by the control 3 this same liquid which was drawn ofi during the previous running cycle is now in the lowerchamber 8. If the bypass valve 2 is moved into the position shown in the drawing, because of the starting of the system, the liquid in the receiver will be under a relatively high pressure and will be rapidly conducted up through the conduit I I and into the top of the cooling unit. This impulse or injecting action of the refrigerant takes place immediately after the compressor is started and during the initial part of the running of the same. The conduit II is preferably positioned at the top of the cooling unit so that during the refrigerating part of the cycle, none of the liquid refrigerant from the cooling unit can run back into the valve unit 2 and lower chamber 8.

It will thus be seen thatI have completely eliminated all metering of the refrigerant and all expensive and complicated devices for accomplishing such metering and that the elimination of such metering has been accomplished merely by the insertion of an auxiliary receiver in the system, the refrigerant in such auxiliary chamber being substantially-all discharged into the cooling unit during the first part of each refrigerating cycle.

What I claim is:

1. In a refrigerating system of the closed type having cooling, compressing, and condensing units, a plurality of receiving chambers for the condensed refrigerant and means operating in synchronism with the starting and stopping of the compressor for controlling the transfer of refrigerant from one of said chambers to another.

2. In a refrigerating system of the closed type having cooling, compressing, and condensing units, a plurality of receiving chambers for the condensed refrigerant and means operating in synchronism with the starting and stopping of the compressor for controlling the transferof refrigerant from one of said chambers to another,

said means also controlling the flow of refrigerant from one of said chambers to the cooling unit.

3. In a refrigerating system of the closed type having cooling, compressing, and condensing units, a plurality of receiving chambers for the condensed refrigerant and means operating in synchronism with the starting and stopping of the compressor for controlling the transfer of refrigerant from one of said chambers to another, said means also controlling the flow ,of refrigerant from one of said chambers to the cooling unit and being operative to. control the flow of refrigerant to the cooling unit when the system is in opera tion.

4. In a refrigerating system of the type having cooling, compressing, and condensing units, the combination of a plurality of receiving chambers positioned between the condensing and cooling units, and means for controlling the flow of refrigerant from one chamber to another and from one chamber to the cooling unit.

5. In a refrigerating system of the type having cooling, compressing, and condensing units, a receiver for liquid refrigerant adapted to hold a supply of refrigerant during the normal inoperative period of the system, and an unrestricted relatively large conduit for conducting said refrigerant into the top part of the cooling unit.

6. In a mechanical refrigerating system of the type having cooling, compressing, and condensing units, the combination of means governed by the conditions of said cooling unit for simultaneously supplying an unrestricted flow of liquid refrigerant to, withdrawing vaporized refrigerant from the cooling unit, and storing the withdrawn condensed refrigerant, during the operation of the compressor.

7. In a refrigerating system of the closed type having cooling, compressing and condensing units, a receiving chamber other thanthe cooling unit for collecting refrigerant, means operative to close communication between said receiving chamber and the cooling unit during a portion of the operating cycle, and means operating in synchronism with the starting and stopping of the compressor for controlling the transfer of the stored refrigerant in the receiving chamber as a mass to the cooling unit and during a period timed in close sequence to the start of the compressor.

8. In a refrigerating system of the closed type having cooling, compressing and condensing units, storage means for the condensed refrigerant, a valve positioned between said storage means and the cooling unit, and means operating intermittently to open said valve at a period timed in close sequence to the starting of the compressor for supplying the refrigerant collected in the storage means as a mass to the cooling unit.

9. The method of controlling the flow of refrigerant in refrigerating systems having cooling, compressing and condensing units, which comprises accumulating liquid refrigerant dur-' ing operating period, storing liquid refrigerant.

and shutting off communication between the cooling unit and stored refrigerant during operating and non-operating periods of the system and then transferring stored refrigerant to the cooling unit during the first part of the next refrigerating cycle.

10. The method of controlling the flow of refrigerant in refrigerating systems having a closed cycle, which consists in accumulating liquid refrigerant during operating period, storing condensed refrigerant and shutting off communication between the cooling unit and stored refrigerant during a portion of both refrigerating and non-refrigerating cycles, and conducting accumulated refrigerant into the cooling unit as a relatively large mass at the start of each operating cycle.

11. The method of controlling the flow of. refrigerant in refrigerating systems having cooling, compressing and condensing units, which comprises accumulating liquid refrigerant during operating cycle, storing condensed refrigerant and shutting off communication between the cooling unit and stored refrigerant during both non-operating and operating cycles of the system, and conducting accumulated refrigerant to the cooling unit as a large mass during a period timed in close sequence to the start of the operating cycle.

12. The method of controlling the flow of refrigerant in refrigerating systems having cooling, compressing and condensing units, which comprises accumulating liquid refrigerant during operating cycle, storing condensed refrigerant and shutting off communication between the cooling unit and stored refrigerant during both non-operating and operating cycles of the system, and conducting stored refrigerant to the cooling unit as a mass during a period timed in close sequence to the first part of the operating cycle.

13. The method of controlling the flow of refrigerant in refrigerating systems having cooling, compressing and condensing units, which comprises accumulating and storing liquid refrigerant during the refrigerating cycle and transferring at least a-pertion of said liquid to another point of storage other than the cooling unit during the 03 period of the system.

14. The method of controlling the flow of refrigerant in refrigerating systems having cooling, compressing and condensing units, which comprises accumulating liquid refrigerant during operating period and storing liquid refrigerant during the operating and non-operating periods of the system other than in the cooling unit and then transferring substantially all of said stored refrigerant to the cooling unit during the first part of the next refrigerating cycle.

15. The method of controlling the flow of refrigerant in refrigerating systems having cooling, compressing and condensing units, which comprises withdrawing and condensing therefrigerant gas during the refrigerating and operating cycle, storing said condensed refrigerant other than in the cooling unit, and then conducting said stored condensed refrigerant into the cooling unit during the first part of the next refrigerating and operating cycle.

16. In a refrigerating system of the type having cooling, compressing, and condensing units, storage means for receiving refrigerant during the operative and non-operative cycles of the compressor, and means connected with said storage means and cooling unit for conducting refrigerant to the cooling unit during the operation of the compressor, said conducting means for conducting the refrigerant from said last named means to the cooling unit being entirely unrestricted.

1'7. In a refrigerating system of the type having cooling, compressing, and condensing units, a receiver for a liquid refrigerant adapted to hold a supply of refrigerant during the normal inoperative period of the system, and an unrestricted relatively large conduit for conducting said refrigerant into the top part of the cooling unit from the receiver, said conduit extending above and then downwardly into the cooling unit.

18. In a refrigerating system of the type having cooling, compressing and condensing units, control means actuated by conditions in the cooling unit for starting and stopping the compressor, a storage tank between the compressor and cooling unit, a valve controlling communication between the tank and cooling unit and between tank and condenser, and means operating to open communication between the condenser and evaporator upon starting of the compressor and to close said communication when the compressor stops.

19. In a refrigerating system of the type having cooling, compressing and condensing units, the combination of a plurality of receivers for the condensed refrigerant, means controlled by the stopping of the system for transferring refrigerant from one receiver to another, and means controlled, by the starting of the system for conducting said transferred refrigerant to the cooling unit.

20. In a refrigerating system of the closed type having cooling, compressing and condensing units, storage means other than the cooling unit for storing condensed refrigerant during a portion of both the operating and non-operating periods of the compressor, a valve for closing communication between the storage means and the cooling unit during a portion of each non-operative cycle of the compressor, and means operating intermittently and in synchronism with each starting and stopping of the compressor for opening said valve and controlling the transfer of refrigerant as a mass from said storage means to the cooling unit.

21. The method of refrigeration with a compressor-condenser-expander type system which comprises vaporizing a volatile liquid refrigerant by reducing the pressure of the refrigerant by the compressor, compressing the vaporized refrigerant with the compressor, condensing the vaporized refrigerant, discharging at one time the previously condensed confined refrigerant to a point in the system at which it is available for revaporization by the compressor in response to a condi-- main storage receiver and said evaporator.

24. An automatic refrigerating system of the compressor-condenser-expander type comprising in combination, an evaporator, means including a compressor and a condenser connected with the evaporator for vaporizing liquid refrigerant in the evaporator and for condensing and storing the quantity of refrigerant vaporized in said evaporator, and means responsive to a condition of the system for discharging said quantity of refrigerant at one time from the first means to the evaporator.

25. An automatic refrigerating system of the compressor-condenser-expander type comprising in combination, an evaporator, means including a compressor and a condenser connected with the evaporator for vaporizing liquid refrigerant in the evaporator and for condensing the same, a receiver connected with the condenser for storing the said quantity of refrigerant vaporized in said. evaporator, means for rendering the compressor operative intermittently, and means responsive to temperature conditions for discharging said quantity of stored refrigerant from the receiver during the idle period of said compressor for use in the evaporator on the succeeding operation of the compressor.

26. An automatic refrigerating system of the compressor-condenser-expander type comprising in combination, an evaporator, means including a compressor and a condenser connected with the evaporator for vaporizing liquid refrigerant in the evaporator and for condensing and storing the quantity of refrigerant vaporized in said evaporator, means' for causing said quantity of refrigerant to discharge at one time from the first means to the evaporator, and means for rendering said first means alternatively operative.

27. In combination in a refrigerating system, a refrigerant evaporator, refrigerant condensing means connected thereto, a main storage receiver connected to the refrigerant condensing means, an auxiliary receiver, means responsive to a temperature condition of the system for connecting said auxiliary receiver alternatively with said main storage receiver and said evaporator.

28. In combination in a-refrigerating system, a

FRANK R. WEST.

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