US3779029A

US3779029A - Refrigeration booster

Info

Publication number: US3779029A
Application number: US00263456A
Authority: US
Inventors: R Larriva
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1972-06-16
Filing date: 1972-06-16
Publication date: 1973-12-18
Anticipated expiration: 1990-12-18

Abstract

An auxiliary refrigeration unit cooling coil is immersed in water which also surrounds a second coil. The latter contains water which, after pre-cooling, feeds an ice-making machine, thus increasing the thermal effectiveness of the latter. A third coil, also immersed in the water, contains refrigerant and is connected between the ice maker compressor and its condenser, thus again increasing the thermal effectiveness of the ice maker. In one embodiment the first and second coils are in a lower tank while the third coil is in an upper tank, with water circulation between the two tanks. In a second embodiment all three coils are in one tank.

Description

United States Patent [1 1 Larriva 1 REFRIGERATION BOOSTER Raoul M. Larriva, 5020 E. First St., Tucson, Ariz. 85711 [22] Filed: June 16, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 263,456

[76] Inventor:

[52] US. Cl 62/138, 62/333, 62/348 [51] Int. Cl. F251: 1/12 [58] Field of Search 62/348, 435, 333, 62/138 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,267,795 5/1918 Ophuls 62/348 X Primary Examiner-William E. Wayner Atmrney-lames A. Eyster [4511 Dec. 18,1973

[ 5 7 ABSTRACT An auxiliary refrigeration unit cooling coil is immersed in water which also surrounds a second coil. The latter contains water which, after pre-cooling, feeds an ice-making machine, thus increasing the thermal effectiveness of the latter. A third coil, also immersed in the water, contains refrigerant and is connected between the ice maker compressor and its condenser, thus again increasing the thermal effectiveness of the ice maker.

In one embodiment the first and second coils are in a lower tank while the third coil is in an upper tank, with water circulation between the two tanks.

In a second embodiment all three coils are in one tank.

8 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures REFRIGERATION BOOSTER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to mechanical compressortype refrigerating units for all purposes and in all sizes, and especially to cascade systems comprising a plurality of refrigerating units.

Cascade refrigerating systems consist of two conventional, mechanical, compression-type refrigerating units in tandem, series or cascade. Such systems are well known and are described in textbooks. In such a system a heat exchanger couples the two units, and contains the cooling coil of unit 1 and the condenser of unit 2. The advantage of such a system is that it enables the cooling coil of unit 2 to attain much lower temperatures than it is able to by itself. One disadvantage of such a unit is that neither unit can be uncoupled and used by itself when a lesser cooling effect is sufficient.

One place in which such a cascade unit might be used is in an ice-cube-making machine such as is often found in motels. The effectiveness of such a machine is greatly affected by the ambient temperature so that, for example, in winter the ice maker will be twice as effective as in summer. In order to bring the summer icecube-making ability up to a required level, the cascade principle might be used, preceeding the ice cube maker with a suitable unit coupled by a heat exchanger as above described. This, however, has the disadvantage that it will, in winter, produce many more ice cubes than are required, and will take correspondingly more power.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention comprises two mechanical compression-type refrigerating units coupled together by a booster unit. One of the refrigerating units should be of the high back pressure type and may be termed the auxiliary unit. The other refrigerating unit should be of the low back pressure type and may be termed the ice maker.

The booster unit consists, in one embodiment, of two separate components, termed a lower tank and an upper tank. The lower tank contains the cooling coil of the auxiliary refrigerating unit and the upper tank contains a coil in series with the input of the condenser of the ice maker. The lower tank also contains a coil for precooling the water used by the ice maker. The upper and lower tanks are coupled, thermally, by water pumped from the lower tank to the upper tank and returned by gravity. Controls are so arranged that, during the ice-making part of the ice maker cycle, cold water is pumped to the upper tank, and during the harvesting or defrost part of the ice-making cycle the pumping stops and water drains back into the lower tank.

Thus heat is abstracted from the upper tank coil by the water, which is thereby heated. and this warmer water, draining into the lower tank, is again cooled by the cooling coil of the auxiliary unit.

In another embodiment the booster unit has only one water-filled tank containing all three coils, which are connected as in the first embodiment and have the same functions. 7

Although in the detaileddescription of these embodiments the refrigeration booster, consisting of a booster unit and an auxiliary unit, have been shown as physically separate from the ice maker, all elements may instead be contained within the ice making machine case,

and connected as described, thus constituting an ice maker unit which provides a larger, or wintertime, icemaking capacity the year round. 7

One advantage of the booster unit of this invention over the simple heat exchanger of the conventional cascade machine is that, simply by stopping the auxiliary unit manually, the cascade or tandem unit is transformed into a single-unit icemaking machine. This is not possible in the conventional cascade unit.

Another advantage is that the heat exchange action of the booster unit,'in operation, may be considered to proceed continuously, in the sense that heat is continuously given by the water to the auxiliary cooling coil during both parts of the cycle of the ice maker.

One object of this invention is to provide a tandem refrigeration assembly in which the operation can easily be changed from tandem to single-unit operation.

Another object of this invention is to provide a tandem refrigeration assembly in which two refrigeration units are coupled by a booster unit which continuously loses heat to the preceding refrigeration unit throughout the entire cycle of the succeeding refrigeration unit.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a refrigeration booster unit for use with any ice-making machine which will, in favorable circumstances, substantially double the ice-making capacity, thus neutralizing the approximately 50% loss of capacity suffered be the ice maker in summer.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 diagrammatically depicts one embodiment of a refrigeration booster.

FIG. 2 diagrammatically depicts an ice-making machine together with its connections to a regrigeration booster.

FIG. 3 depicts another embodiment of a refrigeration booster. t

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring now to FIG. 1, one embodiment of a refrigeration booster consists of a booster unit 11 and an auxiliary refrigeration unit 12. The booster unit 11 comprises an upper tank I3 and a lower tank 14. Tanks l3 and 14 are both filled with a heat-conducting liquid such as, for example, water.

The auxiliary refrigeration unit 12 comprises a highback-pressure refrigeration unit similar to a compressor unit such as may be installed in a dwelling room window. However, the cooling coil 15 of the unit, instead of cooling a stream of air as in a room air cooler, is immersed in the water contained in the lower tank 14 of the booster unit 11. The cooling coil 15, although diagrammatically shown as'occupying only a part of tank 14, may be of any desired size.

The thermostatic expansion valve 16 of unit 12 is located at the input pipe of cooling coil 15, with its heatsensing bulb, 17, adjacent to the output pipe, 18, of the coil 15. Of course, in place of the thermostatic valve, any other type of refrigeration control may be employed.

The tank 14 is maintained at a temperature between 34 and 40 F. by a thermostatic switch 19 having its sensing bulb 21 immersed in the water filling tank 14 and with its switch contacts 22 controlling the compressor of the auxiliary unit 12.

The auxiliary refrigeration unit 12 is otherwise substantially conventional, comprising a compressor 23, a compressor motor 24, a condenser 26 cooled by a motor-driven fan 27, to which water cooling may sometimes be added, with a refrigerant receiver tank 28 and filter/drier 29 at the input of the evaporator. The compressor motor is provided with a manual on-off switch 31.

The lower tank 14 of the booster unit also contains a second pipe coil 32 connected to an ice-making machine, as will be described. This coil, shown diagrammatically, may be of any desired size. The tank 14 is provided with a float valve 33 for make-up water, connected to the city water supply. This supply is also connected to the input terminal of coil 32.

The upper tank, 13, of the booster unit contains a pipe coil 34 connected to theice-making machine, as will be described.

The lower tank 14 contains a water-circulating pump 36 driven by an electric motor 37, this motor-driven pump unit being preferably of the immersion type. The pump 36 draws water from the lower tank 14, near its bottom, and forces the water up a pipe 38 to discharge into the upper tank 13. Two overflow pipes, 39 and 41, discharge into the lower tank and thus limit the maximum water level attainable in the upper tank. These pipes also are perforated with small holes so that, if pump 36 stops, the water in the upper tank will drain by gravity back into the lower tank through pipes 39 and 41, and also to some extent through pipe 38.

Any water overflowing the lower tank 14 is caught by a surrounding tank 42 and discharged to the sewer through pipe 43.

The entire booster unit is enclosed in insulation indicated at 44.

Referring to FIG. 2, a substantially conventional icemaking machine is diagrammatically depicted. It is of the type commonly installed in motels for making ice cubes. However. itis representative of any ice machine or ice plant of any size. The output of any such machine or plant can be increased by a refrigeration booster of this invention having suitable capacity.

The ice maker comprises two units, the mechanical unit comprises the usual low-back-pressure compressor 48, its motor 49, a condenser 51 with its fan 52, and a filter/drier 53.

The ice-making compartment 47 contains a water supply sump or reservoir 54 having its level maintained constant by a float valve 56 connected through pipe 57 to the output terminal of the coil 32, FIG. 1. The icemaking compartment 47 also contains an ice-cubeforming unit 58, diagrammatically shown, containing the cooling coil or pipes 59 of the ice maker. This cooling coil is provided with the usual thermostatic expansion valve 61, or equivalvent, at its input terminal with its sensing bulb, 62, positioned to sense the temperature at the output terminal of the cooling coil. The cooling coil input, through its expansion valve, is con nected to the filter-drier 53 and the cooling coil output terminal is connected to the input of compressor 48.

A motor-driven circulating pump 63 picks up water from the reservoir 54 and applies it through pipe 64 to the ice-cube-forming unit 58. The pump motor is connected through the wire-pair 66 in parallel with the motor 37, FIG. 1.

A thermostatic switch 67 has its sensing bulb 68 positioned at the ice-cube-making unit 58, with its contact arranged to control the circulating pump 63 and the circulating pump motor 37, FIG. 1. One switch terminal is connected to one wire of a source of electric power represented by pair 69. One wire of pair 66 is connected to the other power wire. The switch 67 is arranged to close its contacts, operating

motors

37 and 63, during the ice-making part of the cycle, and to open its contacts during the harvesting part of the cycle.

A conventional ice thickness harvest control, 71, is provided.

The output of compressor 48, instead of going directly to the input of its condenser or radiator, 51, as is conventional in ice making machines, is connected through a pipe 72 to the input of coil 34, FIG. 1. The output of this coil is connected through pipe 73 to the input of condenser 51.

A solenoid valve 74 takes its electrical input from the pair 66, thus putting its solenoid in parallel with

motors

37 and 63. Its valve is connected to the output of compressor 48 and through a bypass pipe 76 to the input of the ice-cube making unit 58. The solenoid valve is arranged to interrupt the pipe 76 bypass connection during the ice-making part of the cycle and to open pipe 76, joining the compressor output directly to the icecube-maker input during the harvesting part of the cycle.

In the operation of the refrigeration booster, manual switch 31 being closed, during the ice-making cycle the thermostatic switch 67 is closed, the circulating pumps 36 and 63 are in operation, and the bypass pipe 76 is interrupted. The cooling coil 15 lowers the temperature of the water in tank 14, cooling the coil 32, which precools make-up water to reservoir 54. Operation of pump 36 forces cooled water into tank 13, where it cools coil 34, precooling the hot gas output of compressor 48 on its way to the condenser 51..

Thus the operations of

coils

32 and 34 greatly enhance the ice-making capacity of the ice maker to a degree approaching, under some conditions, a doubling of its capacity.

When the ice maker, under operation of its selfcontained automatic controls, enters the harvesting part of its cycle, the thermostatic switch 67 opens, cutting off the operation of

pumps

36 and 63 and making the bypass connection through pipe 76 from the output of compressor 48 to the ice cube maker unit 58. When pump 36 stops, water drains from tank 13 into tank 14. Because the coil 15 remains in operation, heat is extracted by it from the water in 14, lowering the temperature so that during the next ice-making part of the cycle this refrigerating effect can be utilized.

If it is desired to remove the refrigeration booster from the ice-making operation, it is only necessary to open the manual switch 31. The ice maker of FIG. 2 will then operate alone, without any boost of its icemaking capacity and without any penalty incurred by reason of its connectionsto coils 32 and 34, FIG. 1.

A second embodiment of the refrigeration booster, schematically depicted in FIG. 3, has many parts the same as parts shown in FIG. 1; these parts have the same reference characters.

The second embodiment differs from the first in having only one tank, 77, instead of the two tanks, 13 and 14, of FIG. 1. However, the three pipe coils in FIG. 1: 15, 32 and 34, are also employed in FIG. 3, having the same reference characters and performing the same functions. In FIG.3, the coil 15 is connected to the auxiliary refrigeration unit 12 and serves as its cooling coil. The coil 32 is connected to a water supply at one end and at the other end, 57, is connected to the pipe of the same reference character in the ice maker. The coil 34 has one terminal pipe, 78, connected to a check valve, 79, which permits refrigerant flow only in the direction marked by an arrow, away from coil 34. The check valve output pipe, 73, is connected to the ice-maker pipe 73, FIG. 2. The other coil 34 pipe terminal, 8], is connected to the ice maker pipe 72, FIG. 2. The solenoid of solenoid valve 82 isconnected to wire pair 66 in FIGS. 2 and 3, this being connected in parallel with pump motor 63 and under control of thermostatic switch 67.

An electric motor stirrer, 83, is submerged at the bottorn of tank 77. The tank 77 is filled with water, surrounding all three of the coils therein and circulated or agitated by the stirrer 83.

The operation of the embodiment of FIG. 3 is the same as that of FIG. 1, except that the water is not dis placed from one tank to the other, but is circulated within a single tank.

What is claimed is:

1. In combination with an ice-making machine, a refrigeration booster comprising an auxiliary refrigeration unit and a booster unit, said booster unit comprising:

a first pipe coil containing refrigerant, having both ends connected to said auxiliary unit;

a second pipe coil containing water, having one end connected to a water supply and the other end connected to supply said ice-making machine with water;

a third pipe coil containing refrigerant, having both ends connected to said ice-making machine;

means surrounding said first, second and third pipe coils with a heat-conducting liquid; and

means for circulating said heat-conducting liquid.

2. A refrigeration booster in accordance with claim 1 in which said means surrounding said pipe coils with a heat-conducting liquid consists of an upper and lower tank, and in which said means for circulating liquid comprises an electrically driven pump in the lower tank, and in which said heat conducting liquid is water, said pump forcing water from the lower tank into the upper tank, said upper tank being provided with at least one pipe positionedto drain water from the upper tank into the lower tank.

3. A refrigeration booster in accordance with claim 1 in which said means surrounding said pipe coils with a heat-conducting liquid consists ofa single water-filled tank equipped with an electric stirrer.

4. A refrigeration booster for increasing the icemaking capacity of a refrigeration machine containing an ice-making unit, a compressor and a condenser comprising:

a refrigeration unit including a cooling coil;

a first pipe coil connected at one end to a water supply and at the other end connected to said refrigeration machine whereby the ice-making unit of the latter is provided with a supply of water for use in making ice;

a second pipe coil having one end connected to said 5. A refrigeration booster in accordance with claim.

4 in which said heat-conducting liquid is water.

6. A refrigeration booster in accordance with claim 4 in which said means surrounding consists of an upper and lower tank connected by pipes and both containing said heat-conducting liquid, and in which said means circulating comprises a pump forcing the heatconducting liquid from the lower tank to the upper tank.

7. A refrigeration booster in accordance with claim 4 in which said means surrounding consists of a single tank containing said heat-conducting liquid, and in which said means circulating consists of an agitating means in the liquid in the tank.

8. The combination of an ice-making machine including a lowback-pressure compressor, a condenser and an ice-making compartment, and a refrigeration booster comprising:

a high-back-pressure auxiliary refrigeration unit including an external cooling coil;

a first pipe coil connected at one: end to a water supply and at the other end connected to said icemaking machine, whereby the water supply of the ice-making compartment is furnished through the first pipe coil;

a second pipe coil having one end connected to the output terminal of said ice-making machine compressor and having the other end connected to the input terminal of said ice-making machine condenser;

means surrounding said cooling coil and first and second pipe coils with water;

a first pump circulating the water surrounding said cooling, first and second pipe coils around them;

a first electric motor driving said first pump;

an ice-making unit in said ice-making compartment of the ice-making machine;

a second pump in said ice-making compartment of the ice-making machine applying water to said icemaking unit for the production of ice therefrom;

a second electric motor driving said second pump;

a bypass pipe connected from the output terminal of said ice-making machine compressor to the input of said ice-making unit;

a solenoid valve in said bypass pipe;

an ice thickness harvest control in said ice-making machine; a

a thermostatic switch controlled by the temperature of said ice-making unit, in turn under control of said ice thickness harvest control; and

electric circuit means connecting said thermostatic switch to said first and second electric motors and said solenoid valve for control of the operations thereof.

Claims

1. In combination with an ice-making machine, a refrigeration booster comprising an auxiliary refrigeration unit and a booster unit, said booster unit comprising: a first pipe coil containing refrigerant, having both ends connected to said auxiliary unit; a second pipe coil containing water, having one end connected to a water supply and the other end connected to supply said icemaking machine with water; a third pipe coil containing refrigerant, having both ends connected to said ice-making machine; means surrounding said first, second and third pipe coils with a heat-conducting liquid; and means for circulating said heaT-conducting liquid.

2. A refrigeration booster in accordance with claim 1 in which said means surrounding said pipe coils with a heat-conducting liquid consists of an upper and lower tank, and in which said means for circulating liquid comprises an electrically driven pump in the lower tank, and in which said heat conducting liquid is water, said pump forcing water from the lower tank into the upper tank, said upper tank being provided with at least one pipe positioned to drain water from the upper tank into the lower tank.

3. A refrigeration booster in accordance with claim 1 in which said means surrounding said pipe coils with a heat-conducting liquid consists of a single water-filled tank equipped with an electric stirrer.

4. A refrigeration booster for increasing the ice-making capacity of a refrigeration machine containing an ice-making unit, a compressor and a condenser comprising: a refrigeration unit including a cooling coil; a first pipe coil connected at one end to a water supply and at the other end connected to said refrigeration machine whereby the ice-making unit of the latter is provided with a supply of water for use in making ice; a second pipe coil having one end connected to said refrigeration machine compressor output terminal and having the other end connected to said refrigeration machine condenser input terminal; means surrounding said cooling coil, first pipe coil and second pipe coil with a heat-conducting liquid; and means circulating said heat-conducting liquid around said cooling coil and first and second pipe coils.

5. A refrigeration booster in accordance with claim 4 in which said heat-conducting liquid is water.

6. A refrigeration booster in accordance with claim 4 in which said means surrounding consists of an upper and lower tank connected by pipes and both containing said heat-conducting liquid, and in which said means circulating comprises a pump forcing the heat-conducting liquid from the lower tank to the upper tank.

8. The combination of an ice-making machine including a low-back-pressure compressor, a condenser and an ice-making compartment, and a refrigeration booster comprising: a high-back-pressure auxiliary refrigeration unit including an external cooling coil; a first pipe coil connected at one end to a water supply and at the other end connected to said ice-making machine, whereby the water supply of the ice-making compartment is furnished through the first pipe coil; a second pipe coil having one end connected to the output terminal of said ice-making machine compressor and having the other end connected to the input terminal of said ice-making machine condenser; means surrounding said cooling coil and first and second pipe coils with water; a first pump circulating the water surrounding said cooling, first and second pipe coils around them; a first electric motor driving said first pump; an ice-making unit in said ice-making compartment of the ice-making machine; a second pump in said ice-making compartment of the ice-making machine applying water to said ice-making unit for the production of ice therefrom; a second electric motor driving said second pump; a bypass pipe connected from the output terminal of said ice-making machine compressor to the input of said ice-making unit; a solenoid valve in said bypass pipe; an ice thickness harvest control in said ice-making machine; a thermostatic switch controlled by the temperature of said ice-making unit, in turn under control of said ice thickness harvest control; and electric circuit means connecting said thermostatic switch to said first and second electric motors and said solenoid valve for control of the operations thereof.