Thermal management systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11639818-B2
Application number	US-202217849378-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 24, 2022
Priority date	Jun 24, 2021
Publication date	May 2, 2023
Grant date	May 2, 2023

Abstract

A thermal management system includes a receiver configured to store a refrigerant fluid; a refrigeration system having a refrigerant fluid path that includes the receiver, and at least one evaporator disposed in the refrigerant fluid path. The refrigeration system is configured to receive the refrigerant fluid from the receiver through the refrigerant fluid path. The at least one evaporator is configured to receive the refrigerant fluid and to extract heat from at least one heat load having a specified thermal inertia that is in at least one of thermal conductive or convective contact with the at least one evaporator.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A thermal management system, comprising:
a receiver configured to store a refrigerant fluid;
a refrigeration system comprising a refrigerant fluid path that comprises the receiver, with the refrigeration system configured to receive the refrigerant fluid from the receiver through the refrigerant fluid path;
at least one first evaporator disposed in the refrigerant fluid path and configured to receive the refrigerant fluid and to extract heat from at least one heat load having a specified thermal inertia that is in at least one of thermal conductive or convective contact with the at least one first evaporator;
a suction accumulator comprising a suction accumulator inlet and a vapor-side outlet, the suction accumulator inlet coupled to an outlet of the at least one first evaporator and the vapor-side outlet coupled to a compressor inlet of a compressor;
a hot vapor circuit disposed to bypass a portion of the refrigeration system, the hot vapor circuit comprising:
a solenoid valve comprising an inlet and an outlet,
a first junction, and
a second junction, with the first junction and the second junction coupling the solenoid valve into the refrigeration system;

a first expansion valve comprising an inlet and an outlet, with the inlet coupled to the outlet of the solenoid valve; and
at least one additional evaporator comprising an inlet and an outlet, with the inlet of the at least one additional evaporator coupled to the outlet of the first expansion valve and the outlet of the at least one additional evaporator coupled to the suction accumulator inlet.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the refrigerant fluid path further comprises:
the compressor comprising the compressor inlet and a compressor outlet;
the first junction comprising an inlet coupled to the compressor outlet, and further comprising first and second outlets; and
a condenser comprising a condenser inlet coupled to the first outlet of the first junction, and having a condenser outlet coupled to an inlet of the receiver, the condenser configured to condense a superheated vapor at the condenser inlet by removing heat from the condensed, superheated vapor, and is bypass-able by operation of the hot vapor circuit.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the solenoid valve is coupled to the second outlet of the first junction.

4. The system of claim 2 , wherein the suction accumulator is configured to receive the refrigerant fluid as a saturated or superheated vapor from the at least one first evaporator.

5. The system of claim 1 , further comprising at least one flow control device comprising an inlet coupled to an outlet of the receiver and an outlet coupled to transport refrigerant fluid from the outlet of the receiver to an inlet of the at least one first evaporator.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the flow control device is the first expansion valve configured to cause an adiabatic flash evaporation of a part of the refrigerant fluid received from the receiver.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the second junction comprises an outlet coupled to the inlet of the at least one first evaporator, a first inlet coupled to the outlet of the first expansion valve and a second inlet coupled to the outlet of the solenoid valve.

8. The system of claim 6 , wherein the second junction comprises an outlet coupled to the inlet of the first expansion valve, a first inlet coupled to the outlet of the receiver and a second inlet coupled to the outlet of the solenoid valve.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the hot vapor circuit is configured to operate to supply heat to a heat load thermally coupled to or in proximity to the at least one first evaporator.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the refrigeration system is configured to operate in at least one of three modes.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein a first mode is a heating mode, a second mode is a cooling mode, and a third mode is a combination of heating and cooling.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the refrigeration system is configured to further operate in a fourth mode that is a standby mode and a fifth mode that is a pump down mode.

13. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first expansion valve is one of a plurality of expansion valves comprising inlets coupled to a receiver outlet and outlets coupled to the inlets of the at least one first evaporator and the at least one additional evaporator, with the plurality of expansion valves configured to cause adiabatic flash evaporation of the refrigerant fluid received from the receiver.

14. The system of claim 2 , wherein the section accumulator is a liquid separator comprising an inlet, a liquid-side outlet, and a vapor-side outlet.

15. The system of claim 14 , further comprising an ejector comprising an ejector inlet, a secondary inlet, and an ejector outlet.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the first expansion valve is coupled between an outlet of the receiver and the inlet of the ejector and configured to control a flow of the refrigerant fluid from the receiver to the ejector and to cause an adiabatic flash evaporation of a part of the refrigerant fluid received from the receiver.

17. The system of claim 14 , wherein an inlet of the at least one first evaporator is coupled to the liquid-side outlet and an outlet of the at least one first evaporator is coupled to the secondary inlet of the ejector.

18. The system of claim 14 , wherein an inlet of the at least one first evaporator is coupled to the ejector outlet and an outlet of the at least one first evaporator is coupled to the liquid-side outlet of the liquid separator.

19. The system of claim 14 , further comprising a pump comprising a pump inlet and a pump outlet.

20. The system of claim 19 , wherein the first expansion valve is coupled between an outlet of the receiver and the inlet of the liquid separator and configured to control a flow of the refrigerant fluid from the receiver to the liquid separator and to cause an adiabatic flash evaporation of a part of the refrigerant fluid received from the receiver.

21. The system of claim 20 , wherein the pump inlet is coupled to the liquid-side outlet and the pump outlet is coupled to an inlet of the at least one first evaporator.

22. The system of claim 20 , wherein an inlet of the at least one first evaporator is coupled to the pump outlet and an outlet of the at least one evaporator is coupled to the inlet of the liquid separator.

23. The system of claim 22 , further comprising a third junction to couple the inlet of the at least one first evaporator to the pump outlet and the outlet of the at least one first evaporator to the inlet of the liquid separator.

24. The system of claim 19 , wherein the inlet of the first expansion valve is coupled to an outlet of the receiver and the outlet of the first expansion valve is coupled to an inlet of the at least one first evaporator, the first expansion valve configured to control a flow of the refrigerant fluid from the receiver to the at least one first evaporator and to cause an adiabatic flash evaporation of a part of the refrigerant fluid received from the receiver.

25. The system of claim 24 , wherein the expansion valve is a first expansion valve, and the hot vapor circuit further comprises:
a second expansion valve comprising an inlet coupled to the outlet of the solenoid valve and an outlet coupled to the inlet of the at least one first evaporator, the second expansion val

Assignees

• Booz Allen Hamilton Inc

Inventors

• Vaisman Igor
• Peters Joshua
• Mcmurray Kevin
• Salopek Max
• Swain Jacob

Classifications

• F25B2400/16

  Receivers · CPC title

• F25B2341/0011

  Ejectors with the cooled primary flow at reduced or low pressure · CPC title

• F25B49/02 Primary

  for compression type machines, plants or systems · CPC title

• F25B2400/0411

  for expansion valves or capillary tubes · CPC title

• F25B2400/19

  Pumping down refrigerant from one part of the cycle to another part of the cycle, e.g. when the cycle is changed from cooling to heating, or before a defrost cycle is started · CPC title