US2089428A - Conditioning air in railway cars - Google Patents

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Aug. 110, 1937. J. o. ROSS ET AL CONDITIONING AIR IN RAILWAY CARS Filed Oct. 12, 1933 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTRS 2 41 0. /?u

.s BYCLZW 6M ATTORNEY Aug, 30, m7; 0, R955 ET AL 2,089,428

CONDITIONING AIR IN RAILWAY CARS Filed 001;. 12, 1933 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 5 L 14' M23 M y 15' M M 51 i I (y/l/ 25 4 Z'L w ATTORNEY Patented Aug. 10, 1937 UNITED STATES YCONDITIONING AIR 1N amwar cans John 0. Ross, New York, N. Y., and Clarence C. Hunicke, Palisade, N. J.

Application October 12, 1933, Serial No. 693,306

3 Claims.

This invention relates to the conditioning of air in railway cars, vehicles, buildings and the like.

In providing for the comfort of passengers in 5 railway cars, busses and the like, certain difficulties are encountered which hinder the adoption of the usual air conditioning systems.- In the first place there is very little free space that can be utilized for the necessary cooling towers, spray 10 chambers and refrigeration apparatus. In the second place the addition of a cooling system to each car means the addition of more weight and considerable additional cost of installation. The three principal elements for comfort in connec- 15 tion with atmosphere surrounding a human being are temperature of the air, movement of the air with respect to the human being and relative humidity. As the passengers in a railway car are the greater part of the time seated relative go humidity is of'lesser importance than temperature. Ventilators and fans may accomplish movement of the air within the car so that the necessary element that requires control is temperature. In the railway cars of today means.

5 are provided for the heating of the cars but with few exceptions no means are provided for the cooling of the cars. Only a small proportion of the days of a year necessitate cooling of the car atmosphere for the comfort of the passengers.

Hence, it is not desirable for the balance of the year to haul apparatus installed in-the car that is not required as such weight increases the haulage cost.

One of the objects of this invention is to pro- 35 vide means for. the cooling of a railway car, bus or other'vehicle or human habitation.

' A further object of the invention is to provide replaceable means in the form of a gas or liquid which will cool the atmosphere in a railway car,

40 bus or vehicle or habitation.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a cooling system for human beings which will be cheap to install and will occupy relatively small space.

Referring to the drawings:

Figure 1 is a view partly diagrammatic, partly perspective and with parts broken out showing a device embodying the principles of our invention.

50 Figure 2 is a detail view in section of the liquid air expansion cones.

Figure 3 is a detail horizontal sectional view of a modified form of device wherein a liquefied gas is used for cooling which is not discharged 55 into the human enclosure.

Figure 4 is a diagrammatic view showing the cooling circuit.

In carrying out our invention we propose to utilize liquid air, solid carbon dioxide or other refrigerants that become a gas upon the ab- 5 sorption of heat units. We prefer liquid air since this can be allowed to escape into the car without danger to the passengers. We propose to provide racks under the car to hold a plurality of liquid air bottles I connected up to a header 2, each having separate valves 3, 3. In the line at another convenient place we provide a reducing valve 4. A conduit 5 from the reducing valve leads to a discharge station consisting of a container 6 in the ceiling in the interior of the car. A valve 1 thermostatically controlled permits the escape of the liquid air into the outlet devices. Beyond valve 1 the conduit is formed into coils 8, 8', and terminates in a nozzle 9. A series of expanding cones l0 extend from nozzle 9 within container 6. The expanding cold air draws air from the hot upper atmosphere of the car into the container 6 to cause intermingling and the subsequent discharge of the liquid air gas intermingled with the atmospheric air. A drain ll and drain pipe I! are provided at the bottom of the container to remove the moisture given off by the cooled atmospheric air. The use of the expanding cones with the outer shell, commingles the return air and the expanded liquid air, prevents the formation of frost or snow on the outer shell and reduces noise. The air blown out of the container being colder than the at-- mospheric air in the train has a tendency to fall somewhat similar to the fall of rain within the car. The distributing units instead of being one central unit may be multiplied so that three or four units lengthwise of the car may be used.

Or as shown the unit discharges in both directions lengthwise of the car.

It is of course possible to maintain any desired temperature during the summer but it is only proposed to maintain the 'temperature within a car ten degrees cooler than the outside air, since the physical shock to passengers entering the train and leaving the train is too great if the temperature difference is much over ten degrees. Liquid air provides a supply of veryi dry air. The relative humidity of the recirculated atmospheric air of the car will be mate- I rially effected as well as the temperature. Both temperature and relative humidity will be reduced within the discharge unit and therefore in the car. The drain II extending lengthwise of container 6 prevents the re-evaporation of 5 in use.

the moisture from the recirculated atmospheric air, the bottom of chamber .6 sloping to the drama The discharge conduits I3, I4, divide the discharged air and conduct it in both directions lengthwise of the car by means of the wall common to both conduits forming a separating baflle adjacent the mouth of the cones in.

We'propose to provide direction louvres I 5 manually operated by lever [6 to control the direction of discharge. These louvres also function to control the volume. The usual gauge I! in line 5 from headers 2 is provided so that the porter of the car may know when a cylinder has become empty and may then close the valve 3 of the empty cylinder and open the valve 3 of the next filled cylinder by means of any well known mechanism such as flexible wire cables 22 connected to manually rotatable wheels l8, I9, 20, 2!. The gauge I1 and controls l8, I9, 20, 2i, may be located at any convenient place in the car. The cylinders l are preferably located beneath the car to permit easy replacement at any station when emptied. Valve l is controlled by the usual thermostatic control 23. The cones l provide for the expansion of the liquid air and intermixing with the recirculated air from the car and reducing thenoise. Coils 8, 8', with the warm air passing between the coils increases the velocity of the ejector eiTect and at the same time the recir culated air is cooled loosing some of its moisture content which is being continually drained oil to prevent re-evaporation. and also prevents freezing up of the discharge nozzle. The cooling effect of the liquid air is enhanced by a discharge through an orifice.

In the modified form shown in Figures 3 and 4, we propose to use any form of solid or liquefied gas-such as dry ice thatabsorbs heat upon changing to a gas As most of these gases Y that can be commercially liquefied are not benemanually rotatable wheels l8, I9. A gauge may are jointly operated and controlled by thermostat 23'. control of the temperature without the necessity of a complicated refrigeration machine. The cooling gas may be admitted to the lower coil or to the upper coil or to both and the rate of discharge determines the dehumidifying effect. In other words, the temperature of the cooling medium primarily determines the dehumidification. Also the'temperature of the coils determines the cooling effectl By the use of the by-pass independent control of the relative humidity and temperature can be accomplished.

The temperature of the coils may be sufliciently reduced to condense the moisture in the return air in any desired degree and the return air can be utilized through the by-passes 3| to heat the air to the desired temperature.

If conditions warrant in the preferred form the by-passes and the fan may be used in addi-' tion. V

In the preferred'form the liquefied air that is introduced into the enclosure is in a purer state with respect to germs and other impurities than would be the case in most instances with the introduction of fresh air. It is particularly true in the case of railway cars wherein the air surrounding the train is generally laden with -soot and carbon particles front the engine.

be used as shown in Figure 1 at H if desired.

The gas is led from the header 2' through pipe to coils 8" and 8' Thermostats 23', 23" in each branch line control the amount of cooling medium to the cooling surfaces. The return air from the enclosureis drawn through coils 8" and 8" by fan 25 driven by motor 26 and is discharged through conduits l3, l4. The same direction louvres may be utilized to direct the flow as desired and also function to cut down the now. Under certain conditions it may be desirable to by-pass a part of the return air around the cooling unit to raise the temperature of the treated air in order not to have too cold a mixture being discharged into the enclosure. sary at night time when the upper berths are Where a fan is used the condensation falling on the bottom of the container and into conduit I I may be picked up in water particles and hence we provide eliminator plates 21.

I The discharge pipe 28 for the coils 8" and 8" has a valve 29 which can be controlled either.

manually or thermostatically'by the joint action of thermostats 23', 23". The louvres 30 This might be particularly necesor solidified gas.

The device may also be used in homes and in industry wherever a supply of liquid air can be secured .and. wherever it is desired to reduce temperature and humidity.

method and apparatus for reducing the temperature of an enclosureyand its relative humidity bymeans of a very simple device using a source of supplyof air which will be practically germ free and which will be cheap to install without the expense of distribution fans, motors, compressors and other refrigerating machinery.

What we claim is:

1.'A method of controlling temperature and humidity of air for human comfort in an enclosure such as a railway car, vehicle, boat, building or the" like, comprising the steps of causing evaporation of liquid air while conducting the same through a predetermined path, discharging the evaporated air in the form of a jet and utilizing the energy of the discharging jet of air to draw air from the enclosure and over the path in heat exchange relation with the evaporating liquid air, and directing the jet to produce an intermingling with the air from the enclosure,

The modified form provides of a close emitting the intermingled air into the enclosure,

and controlling the quantity of liquid air evaporated, by the temperature conditions of the air of the enclosure.

2. A method of conditioning air for human comfort in an enclosure such as a railway car, vehicle, boat, building, or the like comprising the steps of causing the admission of a liquefied gas as a'cooling medium to a path that is surrounded by but separated from a moving current of atmospheric air, causing the evaporation of the liquefied gas, and the passage of the liquefied gas while evaporating and the resultant gas through said path in heat exchange relation with said current 40 It will thus be seen that we have invented a V aoeacaa of moving air, controlling the quantity of liquefied gas admitted to said path to control the temperature and humidity of said moving current of air, discharging the gas from said path into said moving current of air, utilizing the force of the discharging gas to motivate said moving current of air and to cause a mixture of the air of said current and the discharging gas and to direct said mixture in a predetermined direction into the enclosure.

3. A method of conditioning air for human comfort in an enclosure comprising the steps of supplying from replaceable portable supplies, liquid refrigerants which pass into the gaseous state when permitted to evaporate, causing evaporation of said liquid refrigerants at a point isolated from the supply, surrounding the liquid refrigerants while evaporating and the gases resulting from the evaporation with a current of atmospheric air to condition said atmospheric air, while maintaining the liquid and gaseous refrigerants in heat exchange relation with but preventing them from intermixing with said atmospheric air, then mixing the gaseous refrigerants and the conditioning atmospheric air, then discharging the mixture into said enclosure and causing the expansion of the refrigerants to motivate the gaseous refrigerants and the current of atmospheric air in the mixing process of said gaseous refrigerants and said atmospheric air.

JOHN O. ROSS.

CLARENCE C. HUNICKE.

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