Systems and methods for charging refrigerant into a climate control system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12264859-B2
Application number	US-202218047222-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 17, 2022
Priority date	Feb 28, 2020
Publication date	Apr 1, 2025
Grant date	Apr 1, 2025

Abstract

Methods and related systems for charging a refrigerant into a climate control system. In an embodiment, the method includes (a) coupling a storage tank to a refrigerant loop of the climate control system through a charging valve; (b) opening and closing the charging valve in a plurality of cycles; and (c) flowing refrigerant from the storage tank to the refrigerant loop through the charging valve when the charging valve is open, during (b). In addition, the method includes (d) determining a detected saturated temperature of the refrigerant within the refrigerant loop after each cycle of the plurality of cycles; and (e) adjusting an amount of time that the charging valve is open during each cycle of the plurality of cycles during (b) as a function of the detected saturated temperature from a previous cycle of the plurality of cycles.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A climate control system comprising:
a refrigerant loop for circulating refrigerant within the climate control system;
a connection associated with the refrigerant loop, the connection configured to couple to a charging valve to supply refrigerant into the refrigerant loop; and
a controller configured to:
cause the charging valve to open and close in a plurality of cycles when the charging valve is coupled to the connection;
determine a detected saturated temperature of the refrigerant within the refrigerant loop after each cycle of the plurality of cycles; and
adjust an amount of time that the charging valve is open during each cycle of the plurality of cycles as a function of the detected saturated temperature from a previous cycle of the plurality of cycles.

2. The climate control system of claim 1 , wherein the connection includes a releasable connection.

3. The climate control system of claim 1 , wherein the controller configured to adjust the amount of time that the charging valve is open during each cycle is further configured to adjust the amount of time as a function of a difference between a target saturated temperature and the detected saturated temperature from the previous cycle of the plurality of cycles.

4. The climate control system of claim 1 , further comprising a pressure sensor coupled to the refrigerant loop at a discharge side of a heat exchanger of an outdoor unit, and
wherein the controller configured to determine the detected saturated temperature is further configured to determine the detected saturated temperature based on the pressure.

5. The climate control system of claim 1 , wherein the controller configured to determine the detected saturated temperature is further configured to determine a target saturated temperature based on a predetermined relationship between the detected saturated temperature and a liquid temperature of the refrigerant loop, wherein the liquid temperature of the refrigerant loop is determined at a discharge side of a heat exchanger of an outdoor unit of the climate control system.

6. The climate control system of claim 5 , wherein the predetermined relationship is derived based on a full charge of refrigerant within the refrigerant loop.

7. The climate control system of claim 1 , wherein the controller configured to adjust the amount of time that the charging valve is open during each cycle is further configured to adjust the amount of time that the charging valve is open during each cycle as a function of difference between a target saturated temperature and the detected saturated temperature, and a time derivative of the difference.

8. The climate control system of claim 1 , wherein the controller configured to adjust the amount of time that the charging valve is open during each cycle is further configured to adjust the amount of time that the charging valve is open by adjusting a duty cycle of the charging valve during each cycle according to the following expression:

Duty
⁢

Cycle

=

(

D
⁢

C

n
⁢
o
⁢
m

)

⁢

(

K
P

)

⁢

(

Δ
⁢

T
SAT

)

+

(

K
D

)

⁢

(

d
⁡
(

Δ
⁢

T

S
⁢
A
⁢
T

)

d
⁢
t

)

,

wherein DC nom comprises a nominal duty cycle value, ΔT SAT comprises a difference between a target saturated temperature and the detected saturated temperature,

d
⁡
(

Δ
⁢

T

S
⁢
A
⁢
T

)

d
⁢
t

comprises a time derivative of ΔT SAT , and K P and K D comprise constant values.

9. The climate control system of claim 8 , wherein the controller configured to adjust the amount of time that the charging valve is open during each cycle is further configured to limit the duty cycle of the charging valve during each cycle to a predetermined amount of time that is less than a total time of each cycle.

10. The climate control system of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of cycles has a fixed duration.

11. The climate control system of claim 1 , wherein the controller configured to determine the detected saturated temperature is further configured to determine a target saturated temperature based on at least one of:
a length of a fluid flow line of the climate control system; or
a difference in elevation between an outdoor unit and an indoor unit of the climate control system.

12. A controller for directing a charging of refrigerant into a refrigerant loop of a climate control system, the controller comprising:
a memory configured to store computer-readable program code including a refrigerant charging-related software application; and
a processor configured to access the memory, and execute the computer-readable program code including the refrigerant charging-related software appli

Assignees

• Trane Int Inc

Inventors

• Rite Raymond Walter
• Whitehurst Drew
• Smith Nathan

Classifications

• F25B2345/001

  Charging refrigerant to a cycle · CPC title

• F25B2345/003

  Control issues for charging or collecting refrigerant to or from a cycle · CPC title

• F25B2700/195

  of the condenser · CPC title

• F25B2700/21163

  of the refrigerant at the outlet of the condenser · CPC title

• F25B45/00 Primary

  Arrangements for charging or discharging refrigerant · CPC title