Air conditioning systems for at least two rooms using a single outdoor unit

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10180257-B2
Application number	US-201414266087-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 30, 2014
Priority date	Jul 26, 2013
Publication date	Jan 15, 2019
Grant date	Jan 15, 2019

Abstract

A high-efficiency air conditioning system for conditioning a plurality of rooms within an interior of a building, the air conditioning system including: two separate rooms within a building, a single outdoor unit a refrigerant flow pathway that includes a plurality of refrigerant conduits having a common refrigerant flow path portion and at least two divergent flow path portions, a first divergent flow path where the first evaporator and second evaporator are in parallel with one another; at least one throttling device and at least a first indoor air handling unit positioned within and providing cooling to the first room and a second indoor air handling unit positioned within and providing cooling to a second room. The compressor is incapable of simultaneously supplying both the first evaporator and the second evaporator at their full cooling capacity.

First claim

The disclosure claimed is:

1. An air conditioning system for conditioning a plurality of rooms within an interior of a building, the air conditioning system comprising:
a single outdoor unit comprising:
a compressor;
a condenser; and
a condenser fan associated with the condenser that moves air to cool the condenser;

a refrigerant flow pathway comprised of a plurality of refrigerant conduits having a common refrigerant flow path portion and at least two divergent flow path portions, a first divergent flow path portion that delivers refrigerant to a first evaporator configured to operate at a first evaporator pressure and a second divergent flow path portion that delivers refrigerant to a second evaporator such that the first evaporator and second evaporator are in parallel connection with one another;
at least one throttling device wherein a single throttling device is positioned along a common refrigerant flow path portion when a single throttling device is used and wherein a first throttling device is positioned along the first divergent flow path portion and a second throttling device is positioned along the second divergent flow path portion when two or more throttling devices are employed; and
at least a first indoor air handling unit providing cooling to a first room within the interior of the building and a second indoor air handling unit providing cooling to a second room within the interior of the building and wherein the first indoor air handling unit comprises the first evaporator and a first indoor air handling unit fan configured to deliver cooling to the first room and the second indoor air handling unit comprises the second evaporator and a second indoor air unit handling fan configured to deliver cooling to the second room; and
wherein the compressor provides all of a compression of the refrigerant used in the refrigerant flow pathway and the compressor is incapable of simultaneously supplying refrigerant to both the first evaporator and the second evaporator at their full cooling capacity while both the first and second evaporators are operating at the same time, and wherein the first room and second room are separate rooms.

2. The air conditioning system for conditioning a plurality of rooms within an interior of a building of claim 1 further comprising a portioning device configured to selectively and proportionately regulate the flow of the refrigerant fluid to the first evaporator and the second evaporator, respectively in sequential manner and wherein the single outdoor unit consists essentially of:
the compressor;
the condenser; and
the condenser fan associated with the condenser that moves air to cool the condenser.

3. The air conditioning system for conditioning a plurality of rooms within an interior of a building of claim 1 further comprising at least one humidity sensor and at least one temperature sensor each in signal communication with a controller and controlled by the controller to maximize the efficiency of the overall air conditioning system.

4. The air conditioning system for conditioning a plurality of rooms within an interior of a building of claim 1 , wherein air conditioning system is configured such that the condenser provides cooling capacity to either the first evaporator or the second evaporator but not both the first evaporator and second evaporator simultaneously.

5. The air conditioning system for conditioning a plurality of rooms within an interior of a building of claim 1 , wherein the compressor is a rotary compressor.

6. The air conditioning system of conditioning a plurality of rooms within an interior of a building of claim 5 , wherein the first divergent flow path portion and the second divergent flow path portion merge into the common refrigerant flow path portion within the compressor, which is a dual suction compressor.

7. The air conditioning system for conditioning a plurality of rooms within an interior of a building of claim 1 , wherein the compressor is a single speed compressor and the system further comprises at least one temperature sensor in communication with the a portioning device and a controller; wherein the plurality of refrigerant conduits are free of any check valves.

8. The air conditioning system for conditioning a plurality of rooms within an interior of a building of claim 5 , wherein a first evaporator circuit portion delivers refrigerant to the compressor, which is a dual suction compressor via a first intake port of the dual suction compressor and a second evaporator circuit portion delivers refrigerant to the dual suction compressor via a second intake port of the dual suction compressor and the dual suction compressor delivers the refrigerant to the common refrigerant flow path portion and the air conditioning system comprises a first throttling device where the first throttling device is positioned along the first divergent flow path portion and positioned to receive coolant from the condenser before the coolant is delivered to the first evaporator and a second throttling device wherein the second throttling device is positioned along the second divergent flow path portion and positioned to receive coolant from the condenser before the coolant is delivered to the second evaporator.

9. The air conditioning system for conditioning a plurality of rooms within an interior of a building of claim 8 , wherein the first and second throttling devices are each a capillary tube.

10. The air conditioning system for conditioning a plurality of rooms within an interior of a building of claim 5 , wherein the compressor is sized and configured to feed both the first indoor air handling unit and the second indoor air handling unit equally or proportionally based upon demand for a level of cooling in a given zone at two different suction pressures.

11. The air conditioning system for conditioning a plurality of rooms within an interior of a building of claim 10 wherein the compressor is a variable speed, dual suction compressor having a switching mechanism which allows suction port switching at a speed of 0.5 seconds or less.

12. The air conditioning system for conditioning a plurality of rooms within an interior of a building of claim 11 , wherein the first evaporator of the first indoor air handling unit is a disjointed evaporator and configured to regulate both temperature and humidity within a first zone and the second evaporator of the second indoor air handling unit is a disjointed evaporator and configured to regulate both temperature and humidity within a second zone.

13. The air conditioning system for conditioning a plurality of rooms within an interior of a building of claim 11 , wherein the first indoor air handling unit further comprises a third evaporator configured to operate at an evaporator pressure that is different than the first evaporator pressure wherein the third evaporator is engaged with the refrigerant flow pathway and receives refrigerant from the condenser of the single outdoor unit and wherein a single fan controls an airflow across both the first and third evaporator and wherein the first and third evaporator provide cooling to regulate the temperature and relative humidity of the first room.

14. The air conditioning system for conditioning a plurality of rooms within an interior of a building of claim 13 , wherein the second indoor air handling unit further comprises a fourth evaporator configured to operate at an evaporator pressure that is different than the second evaporator pressure of the second indoor air handling unit wherein the fourth evaporator is engaged with the refrigerant flow pathway and receives refrigerant from the condenser of

Assignees

• Whirlpool Co

Inventors

• Cur Nihat O
• Kee Timothy A
• Kuehl Steven J
• Wu Guolian

Classifications

• F25B2700/2115

  of a compressor or the drive means therefor · CPC title

• F24F3/065 Primary

  with a plurality of evaporators or condensers · CPC title

• F25B2600/2515

  Flow valves · CPC title

• F25B5/02

  arranged in parallel · CPC title

• F25B41/062

  Mechanical Engineering · mapped topic