US3059446A - Moisture vaporizer system - Google Patents

Description

Oct. 23, 1962 Filed ma a, 1961 A. R. CONSTANTINI ETAL MOISTURE VAPORIZER SYSTEM 2 Sheets-Sheet l United StatesPatent Ofilice 3,059,446 Patented Oct. 23, 1962 3,059,446 MOISTURE VAPORIZER SYSTEM Anthony R. Costantini, Philadelphia, and Anthony Di Augelus, Manoa, Pa., assignors to Victory Metal Manufacturing Company, doing business as Victory Metal Manufacturing Corporation, Plymouth Meeting, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed May 8, 1961, Ser. No. 108,453 3 Claims. (Cl. 62150) This invention relates generally to moisture vaporizing apparatus, and more particularly relates to apparatus for vaporizing moisture accumulated by the action of cooling coils employed in refrigeration devices, to thereby dispose of condensed water vapor by passing the same back into the atmosphere exterior to the refrigerating device andhence eliminate the need for providing a waste water drain normally employed to carry off the condensate into a plumbing system.

A primary object of this invention is to provide a novel moisture vaporizing apparatus adapted for use with a refrigerating device which materially simplifies the installation of the latter by making it unnecessary. to provide a water run-off drainage system normally employed to carry off water vapor condensed by the refrigerating device during operation thereof.

Another object of this invention is to provide a novel moisture vaporizing apparatus which may be installed directly in a refrigerating apparatus, during construction thereof or subsequent thereto, which includes a heatable water receiver from which vaporization of collected water takes place directly, and in which the means for heating the water receiver is automatically activated and deactivated according to the receiver temperature.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a novel moisture vaporizing apparatus as aforesaid which is so installed within a refrigerating device that while water collected in the heatable receiver is vaporized and removed from the refrigerating device, heat generated by the vaporizing apparatus is prevented from entering the refrigerated areas of the refrigerating device.

The foregoing and other objects of the invention will become apparent from a reading of the following specification in conjunction with an examination of the appended drawings, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a typical refrigerator device of the center mullion cooling type having in corporated thereinto the moisture vaporizing apparatus according to the invention, portions of the refrigerator being sectioned away to reveal the general organization of parts;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged perspective view of the moisture vaporizing device according to the invention shown in smaller form in the illustration of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a bottom view of the moisture vaporizing device of FiGURE 2 with a portion of the bottom cover sectioned away to disclose the heater and thermostat arrangement which operates to heat the above-lying condensate water receiver and maintain the temperature of the receiver within certain predetermined limits;

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged front elevation of the moisture vaporizing device of FiGURE 2 illustrated with the bottom cover displaced downward to further illustrate the heater and thermostat structure shown in FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is a representational showing of a resistance wire type of pancake heater such as that illustrated in FIGURES 3 and 4.

In the several figures, like elements are denoted by like reference characters.

Referring first to FIGURE 1 for a general understanding of the organization of the moisture vaporizing apparatus with a refrigerating device, there will be seen a refrigerator 10 having two refrigerating compartments accessible respectively through the left-hand door 11 and righthand door 12, and a compressor compartment concealed by the lower left-hand panel 13 within which is disposed all of the refrigeration apparatus with the exception of the cooling coils 14, which latter are disposed between the refrigeration compartments extending from front to rear of the box behind the center mullion 15. The refrigeration apparatus compartment is suitably-apertured at the bottom and rear, for example, to provide good circulation therethrough of the air external to the refrigerator 10, and this compartment is also suitably insulated from the refrigerating compartments by insulation disposed beneath the floor of the left-hand compartment and between the walls 16 and 17 of the center partition of the v refrigerator.

Closing the top of the refrigerator center partition and disposed immediately below the cooling coils 14 is a drip pan 18 which captures the water condensate dripping downward from the outer surfaces of the cooling coils 14, the condensation of course occuring as the air in the refrigeration compartments passes around the coils and is cooled by the cold refrigerant flowing through the coils 14. The water collected in the drip pan 18 passes downward through a drain pipe 19 into the vaporizer 2i) which is located in the compressor compartment. The drain pipe 19 passes first down into the center partition between the walls :16 and 17 and into a trap 21 before turning laterally and passing through the center partition wall 16 into the compressor compartment. The trap 21 will always contain water and will therefore prevent the transmission of heat upward from the vaporizer 2i through the drain pipe 19 and into the refrigerated compartments of the refrigerator 16. Thus, water accumulating in the drip pan 18 flows downward into the vaporizer 20 where it is transformed from a liquid phase to a vapor phase and carried out of the refrigerator by the normal air circulation through the compressor compartment within which the vaporizer 20 is located.

As best seen in FIGURES 2, 3 and 4, the vaporizer 20 itself includes a shallow rectangular pan 22 to one wall of which is secured a mounting bracket 23 and from the undersurface of which pan downwardly project a pair of angle brackets 24 positioned proximate the opposite ends of the pan 22, a pancake heater 25, thermostat assembly 26 and a ventilating cover 27 which encloses the heater and thermostat.

As best seen in FIGURES 3, 4 and 5, the pancake ty-pe heater 25 is of a generally flattened circular disc form and is secured fiatwise in broad surface contact with the un-dersurface of the pan 2-2 so that efficient heat transfer between the heater and the pan is obtained, the heater being physically secured by means of the nut 28 and threaded stud 29 which latter projects downward from the pan undersurf'ace through a central hole passing through the heater. The heater 25 contains an internal spiralled resistance wire heating element 30 spiralled generally as shown in FIGURE 5. The ends 31 and 32 and tapping point 33 of the resistance wire element 30 are brought through the bottom of the-case 34 0f the heater 25 through insulating bushings 3'5 and terminate in threaded studs 36 adapted to thread-edly receive 33 or the terminal pair 3133, and the minimum resistance condition will occur when the terminals 31 and 32 are strapped together as a common terminal and the terminal 33 used as the other point of electrical input. Since the current flowing through the resistance wire of the heater is linearly proportional to the amount of resistance placed in the circuit, and since the heat generated is proportional to the square of the current flowing, then, as would be expected, maximum heat generation will occur with minimum effective resistance and minimum heat will be generated when the maximum resistance is employed.

Disposed immediately to the left of the heater 25 is the thermostat assembly 26 which comprises a metal base 38 having a pair of opposite side flanges 39 disposed fiatwise against the undersurface of the pan 22 and secured thereto as, for example, by a pair of spot welds 4ft so that a good surface contact between the thermostat metal base 38 and the pan 22 results. The thermostat itself is contained within the plastic body 41 and includes an internal heat transferring connection to the metal base 38 so that the temperature of the pan 22 is transmitted through the thermostat base 38 to the temperature sensitive element contained within the body 41. Also contained within the thermostat body 41, but not visible, is a switch responsive to the condition of the thermostatic element and which switch has terminals 42 brought out to the surface of the thermostat for connection into the electrical circuit which controls the energization of the heater. As shown, 'a jumper link 43 connects one of the thermostat switch terminals 42 to the threaded stud 36 which terminates the resistance wire end '31 of the heater 25, while the other thermostat switch terminal 42 has secured thereto one conductor 44 of a three wire cable 47, a second conductor 45 of which cable connects to a jumper strap 48 also secured to the threaded stud 38 terminating the end 32 of the heater resistance wire. The third wire 46 of the cable 47 grounds the metal vaporizer apparatus to the ground point of the electrical system by virtue of its connection to the grounding stud 49. The entire cable 47 is projected through and physically secured to one of the angle brackets 24 by means of the strain relief 50, and the thermostat and heater units are protected by the enclosing ventilating cover 27, the ends of which are secured to the angle brackets 24 by a plurality of self tapping screws 51.

From the foregoing, it will be understood that the conductors 44 and 45 of the three wire cable 47 are connected to a suitable source of electrical current capable of energizing the heater when the thermostatically controlled switch in the thermostat assembly 26 closes, the heater 25 becoming deenergized when the thermostatically controlled switch opens to thereby break the electrical continuity between the conductor 44 and jumper strap 43. In a typical case, the heater 25 may be, for example, a Chromalox type HSP-3 l-3 and the thermostat may be a Klixon type 20400L29324. This particular type of thermostat is one wherein the switch contained therein is caused to close when the temperature of the metal base 38 drops below approximately 140 F. and opens when the temperature rises above approximately 200 F. It will thus be appreciated that vaporization of water which is collected in the pan 22 takes place by heat assisted evaporation rather than by any violent boiling action which would occur if the temperature of the pan were allowed to rise to water boiling temperature.

Operation of the vaporizing apparatus is carried out in the following manner. Assuming that suflicient water has been deposited in the drip pan 18 positioned beneath the cooling coils 14 of the refrigerating device, so that the water in the trap 21 rises to the point where water flow takes place through the pipe 19downward into the vaporizer pan 22, the temperature of the pan 22 will start to drop due to the temperature of the Water flowing thereonto. As soon as the pan temperature drops below approximately 'F. the thermostatically controlled switch in the thermostat assembly 26 is caused to close to thereby energize the heater 25. As the pan temperature rises, the energy level of the water molecules is raised and the high energy molecules overcome the Water surface tension and escape into the atmosphere. This process continues until all of the water in the pan 22 has been evaporated. Thereafter, the temperature of the pan 22 will begin a further rise which will continue until the thermostat senses a temperature of approximately 200 F. and as a consequence caused the contacts of the thermostatically controlled switch to open and thereby deenergize the heater 25. The pan 22 will of course begin to cool down and when the lower limit temperature of 140 F. is reached the heater will again be energized by the thermostat assembly and evaporation of subsequently collected water in the pan 22 will be initiated. The vaporizer apparatus operates continuously in this manner and continuously evaporates the condensate water as it is collected.

Having now described our invention in connection with a particularly illustrated embodiment thereof, it will be understood that variations and modifications thereof may occur from time to time to those persons normally skilled in the art without departing from the essential scope or spirit of our invention, and, accordingly, it is intended to claim the same broadly as well as specifically as indicated by the appended claims.

What we claim as new and useful is:

1. A refrigerating apparatus including a thermally insulated refrigerated compartment subdivided into three side by-side intercommunicating regions, a pair of sideby-side doors having a center mullion therebetween, said doors opening respectively into the outer ones of the three refrigerated compartment regions with the center region extending from front to rear of the compartment directly behind the center mullion, a cooling coil located completely within the center region of said refrigerated compartment for cooling the air in the entire compartment, a water collecting drip pan disposed completely within said refrigerated compartment center region and vertically beneath said cooling coil for catching the drippage of water which condenses on the coil outside surfaces and which has been extracted by the cooling coil from the air within said compartment, heat generating water evaporating means located externally to said refrigerated compartment and in communication with the atmosphere, and means for conduiting the condensed water from the drip pan to the evaporator means including heat blocking means effective to prevent transfer of heat from said heat generating evaporator means to said water collecting drip pan, said evaporating means comprising a moisture holding pan, a disc type electrically energizable heater device secured to the undersurface of said evaporator pan in broad area contact therewith, a thermostat assembly secured to the undersurface of said evaporator pan including a temperature sensitive element thermally coupled to said pan and an electrical switch openable under control of said temperature sensitive element when the latter senses a pan temperature higher than a first predetermined value and closable under control of said temperature sensitive element when the latter senses a pan temperature lower than a second predetermined value, and conductor means coupled to said heater and said thermostat assembly for energizing said heater from a source of electric current when said electrical switch closes.

2. A refrigerating apparatus including a thermally insulated refrigerated compartment subdivided into three side by-side intercommunicating regions, a pair of sideby-side doors having a center mullion therebetween, said doors opening respectively into the outer ones of the three refrigerated compartment regions with the center region extending from front to rear of the compartment directly behind the center mullion, a cooling coil located completely within the center region of said refrigerated compartment for cooling the air in the entire compartment, a water collecting drip pan disposed completely within said refrigerated compartment center region and vertically beneath said cooling coil for catching the drippage of water which condenses on the coil outside surfaces and which has been extracted by the cooling coil from the air within said compartment, heat generating water evaporating means located externally to said refrigerated compartment at a lower elevation than said drip pan and in communication within the atmosphere, and a water drain extending downward from said drip pan and through the thermal insulation of said refrigerated compartment to said evaporator means for conduiting the condensed water from the drip pan to the evaporator means, said water drain including a water trap therein effective to prevent transfer of heat from said heat generating evaporator means to said water collecting drip pan, said evaporating means comprising a moisture holding pan, a disc type electrically energizable heater device secured to the undersurface of said evaporator pan in broad area contact therewith, a thermostat assembly secured to the undersurface of said evaporator pan including a temperature sensitive element thermally coupled to said pan and an electrical switch openable under control of said temperature sensitive element when the latter senses a pan temperature higher than a first predetermined value and closable under control of said temperature sensitive element when the latter senses a pan temperature lower than a second predetermined value, and conductor means coupled to said heater and said thermostat assembly for energizing said heater from a source of electric current when said electrical switch closes.

3. A refrigerating apparatus including a thermally insulated refrigerated compartment subdivided into three side by-side intercommunicating regions, a pair of sideby-side doors having a center mullion therebetween, said doors opening respectively into the outer ones of the three refrigerated compartment regions with the center region extending from front to rear of the compartment directly behind the center mullion, a cooling coil located completely within the center region of said refrigerated compartment for cooling the air in the entire compartment, a water collecting drip pan disposed completely within said refrigerated compartment center region and vertically beneath said cooling coil for catching the drippage of water which condenses on the coil outside surfaces and which has been extracted by the cooling coil from the air within said compartment, heat generating water evaporating means located externally to said refrigerated compartment at a lower elevation than said drip pan and in communication with the atmosphere, and a water drain extending downward from said drip pan and through the thermal insulation of said refrigerated compartment to said evaporator means for conduiting the condensed water from the drip pan to the evaporator means, said water drain including a water trap therein effective to prevent transfer of heat from said heat generating evaporator means to said water collecting drip pan, said evaporating means comprising a shallow rectangular water receiving pan to one wall of which is secured a mounting bracket and from the underside of which pan downwardly project a pair of cover securing brackets positioned proximate the opposite ends of the water receiving pan, a disc type electrically energizable heater device secured to the undersurface of said water receiving pan in broad area contact therewith, a thermostat assembly secured to the undersurface of said water receiving pan including a temperature sensitive element thermally coupled to said water receiving pan and an electrical switch openable under control of said temperature sensitive element when the latter senses a pan temperature higher than a first predetermined value and closable under control of said temperature sensitive element when the latter senses a pan temperature lower than a second predetermined value, and conductor means coupled to said heater and said thermostat assembly for energizing said heater from a source of electric current when said electrical switch closes, said heater comprising a resistance wire heating element and including a plurality of terminals projecting externally of the heater casing which connect to selected points along the length of said resistance wire, said conductor means being adapted for coupling to selected ones of said plurality of terminals to thereby select a desired heat output from said heater, and a shallow rectangular ventilating cover removably secured beneath said water receiving pan to said pair of cover securing brackets and completely enclosing the heater device and thermostat.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,404,317 Pieper Jan. 24, 1922 1,590,286 Davis June 29, 1926 1,678,885 Thomas July 31, 1928 2,016,368 Gaugler Oct. 8, 1935 2,522,718 Huck Sept. 19, 1950

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