Surge protection for a multistage compressor
AssigneeCarrier Corporation
InventorsVishnu M. Sishtla, Lei Yu
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A coolant system includes a multistage compressor having a plurality of surge detection sensors. A condenser is connected to an outlet of the multistage compressor. An economizer is connected to an outlet of the condenser and has a gaseous coolant outlet and a liquid coolant outlet. The liquid coolant outlet is connected to a cooler and the gaseous coolant outlet is connected to a second or later stage of the multistage compressor via a controllable valve. A controller is communicatively coupled to the surge detection sensors and the controllable valve. The controller includes a non-transitory medium storing instructions for causing the controller to detect an occurrence of a surge and restricting a flow through the controllable valve until the surge has ceased.
Claims20
A coolant system comprising:
- a multistage compressor including a plurality of surge detection sensors;
- a condenser connected to an outlet of the multistage compressor;
- an economizer connected to an outlet of the condenser and having a gaseous coolant outlet and a liquid coolant outlet;
- the liquid coolant outlet being connected to a cooler and the gaseous coolant outlet being connected to a second or later stage of the multistage compressor via a controllable valve;
- and
- a controller including a non-transitory medium storing instructions for causing the controller to detect an occurrence of a surge based on an indication from at least one of the surge detection sensors, to restrict a flow through the controllable valve until the surge has ceased, and to open the flow through the controllable valve in response to detecting the surge ceasing.
A method for preventing surge in a multistage compressor based coolant system comprising:
- detecting an occurrence of a surge;
- restricting a flow through at least one valve connecting an economizer to a second or later stage of the multistage compressor until the surge has ceased;
- and
- opening the flow through the at least one valve in response to detecting that the surge has ceased.
A coolant system comprising:
- a multistage compressor including a plurality of surge detection sensors;
- a condenser connected to an outlet of the multistage compressor;
- an economizer connected to an outlet of the condenser and having a gaseous coolant outlet and a liquid coolant outlet;
- the liquid coolant outlet being connected to a cooler and the gaseous coolant outlet being connected to a second or later stage of the multistage compressor via a controllable valve;
- and
- a controller including a non-transitory medium storing instructions for causing the controller to detect an occurrence of a surge based on an indication from at least one of the surge detection sensors, to restrict a flow through the controllable valve until the surge has ceased, and to cause the controller to open the flow through the controllable valve after a predetermined time has elapsed since detection of the surge.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.