Vapor compression system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017191718-A1
Application number	US-201715399604-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jan 5, 2017
Priority date	Jan 6, 2016
Publication date	Jul 6, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration (HVAC&R) system that includes a refrigerant loop, a compressor disposed along the refrigerant loop and configured to circulate refrigerant through the refrigerant loop, an evaporator disposed along the refrigerant loop and configured to evaporate the refrigerant into refrigerant vapor, a condenser disposed along the refrigerant loop and configured to condense the refrigerant vapor into liquid refrigerant, a first conduit fluidly coupling the evaporator and the condenser to one another, a first expansion valve disposed along the first conduit between the evaporator and the condenser, a second conduit fluidly coupling the evaporator and the condenser to one another, where the first conduit and the second conduit are separate from one another, and a second expansion valve disposed along the second conduit between the evaporator and the condenser.

First claim

1 . A heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration (HVAC&R) system, comprising:
a refrigerant loop; a compressor disposed along the refrigerant loop and configured to circulate refrigerant through the refrigerant loop; an evaporator disposed along the refrigerant loop and configured to evaporate the refrigerant into refrigerant vapor; a condenser disposed along the refrigerant loop and configured to condense the refrigerant vapor into liquid refrigerant; a first conduit fluidly coupling the evaporator and the condenser to one another; a first expansion valve disposed along the first conduit between the evaporator and the condenser; a second conduit fluidly coupling the evaporator and the condenser to one another, wherein the first conduit and the second conduit are separate from one another; and a second expansion valve disposed along the second conduit between the evaporator and the condenser.

2 . The HVAC&R system of claim 1 , comprising:
a third conduit fluidly coupling the evaporator and the condenser to one another, wherein the first conduit, the second conduit, and the third conduit are separate from one another; and a third expansion valve disposed along the third conduit between the evaporator and the condenser.

3 . The HVAC&R system of claim 2 , wherein the first conduit, the second conduit, and the third conduit are spaced equally from one another with respect to a first length of the evaporator, a second length of the condenser, or both the first length and the second length.

4 . The HVAC&R system of claim 2 , wherein the first expansion valve, the second expansion valve, and the third expansion valve are disposed along the first conduit, the second conduit, and the third conduit, respectively, at the same position between the condenser and the evaporator.

5 . The HVAC&R system of claim 1 , wherein the first expansion valve comprises a first size and the second expansion valve comprises a second size, and wherein the first size and the second size are different.

6 . The HVAC&R system of claim 1 , comprising one or more tangible, non-transitory machine-readable media comprising processor-executable instructions to:
receive feedback from a sensor indicative of a target heating or cooling capacity of the HVAC&R system; and selectively adjust the first expansion valve, the second expansion valve, or both based at least on the feedback to control a flow of the refrigerant between the evaporator and the condenser.

7 . The HVAC&R system of claim 1 , wherein the first expansion valve is a tunable expansion valve.

8 . The HVAC&R system of claim 7 , wherein the second expansion valve is an on/off expansion valve.

9 . The HVAC&R system of claim 1 , wherein the condenser comprises a subcooler configured to further cool the refrigerant before the refrigerant is directed to the first expansion valve, the second expansion valve, or both.

10 . The HVAC&R system of claim 1 , comprising the refrigerant, wherein the refrigerant is a low pressure refrigerant.

11 . A heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration (HVAC&R) system, comprising:
a refrigerant loop; a compressor disposed along the refrigerant loop and configured to circulate refrigerant through the refrigerant loop; an evaporator disposed along the refrigerant loop and configured to evaporate the refrigerant into refrigerant vapor; a condenser disposed along the refrigerant loop and configured to condense the refrigerant vapor into liquid refrigerant; a plurality of expansion valves disposed between the evaporator and the condenser, wherein each expansion valve of the plurality of expansion valves is in separate fluid communication with the evaporator and the condenser; a sensor disposed along the refrigerant loop and configured to measure an operating parameter of the HVAC&R system indicative of a target heating or cooling capacity of the HVAC&R system; and one or more tangible, non-transitory machine-readable media comprising processor-executable instructions to: receive feedback from the sensor indicative of the target heating or cooling capacity of the HVAC&R system; and adjust at least one of the expansion valves of the plurality of expansion valves based at least on the feedback to control a flow of the refrigerant between the evaporator and the condenser.

12 . The HVAC&R system of claim 11 , wherein the plurality of expansion valves comprises a first expansion valve, a second expansion valve, and a third expansion valve.

13 . The HVAC&R system of claim 12 , wherein the one or more tangible, non-transitory machine-readable media comprising processor-executable instructions is configured to adjust the first expansion valve, the second expansion valve, and the third expansion valve based at least on the feedback to control the flow of the refrigerant between the evaporator and the condenser.

14 . The HVAC&R system of claim 11 , wherein a first expansion valve of the plurality of expansion valves comprises a first size, a second expansion valve of the plurality of expansion valves comprises a second size, and wherein the first size and the second size are different from one another.

15 . The HVAC&R system of claim 11 , wherein the condenser comprises a subcooler configured to further cool the refrigerant before the refrigerant is directed to at least one expansion valve of the plurality of expansion valves.

16 . The HVAC&R system of claim 11 , wherein the sensor is a temperature sensor, a pressure sensor, a composition sensor, a flow meter, or any combination thereof.

17 . A method, comprising:
receiving feedback from a sensor of a heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration (HVAC&R) system, wherein the feedback is indicative of a target heating or cooling capacity of the HVAC&R system; and selectively adjusting a plurality of expansion valves based at least on the feedback to control a flow of refrigerant between an evaporator and a condenser of the HVAC&R system, wherein the plurality of expansion valves is disposed between the evaporator and the condenser of the HVAC&R system, and wherein each expansion valve of the plurality of expansion valves is in separate fluid communication with the evaporator and the condenser.

18 . The method of claim 17 , comprising:
receiving additional feedback from the sensor after selectively adjusting the plurality of expansion valves; determining a heating or cooling capacity of the HVAC&R system; comparing the heating or cooling capacity of the HVAC&R system with the target heating or cooling capacity of the HVAC&R system; and adjusting at least one expansion valve of the plurality of expansion valves based on a differential between the heating or cooling capacity of the HVAC&R system and the target heating or cooling capacity of the HVAC&R system.

19 . The method of claim 18 , comprising selectively adjusting a first expansion valve of the plurality of expansion valves and a second expansion valve of the plurality of expansion valves based on the differential between the heating or cooling capacity of the HVAC&R system and the target heating or cooling capacity of the HVAC&R system.

20 . The method of claim 17 , comprising measuring temperature of refrigerant within the condenser with the sensor.

Assignees

• Johnson Controls Tech Co

Inventors

• Kohler Jay A
• Marks Patrick Christian
• Casper Ian Michael
• Devlin Kurt

Classifications

• F25B2700/171

  of the compressor · CPC title

• F25B25/005

  using primary and secondary systems · CPC title

• F28F19/002

  by using inserts or attachments · CPC title

• F25B2400/13

  Economisers · CPC title

• F25B2339/0242

  having tubular elements · CPC title