Compressor protection against liquid slug
AssigneeRheem Manufacturing Company
InventorSwapnil Khaire
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A liquid slug reduction and charge compensator device for use in air conditioning and heat pump systems includes a housing having a cavity. The housing includes an inlet port providing an entry path into the cavity and an outlet port providing an exit path from the cavity. The housing further includes a liquid line port providing a refrigerant pathway into and out of the cavity. The liquid slug reduction and charge compensator device further includes a flash tube extending through the cavity and providing a passageway through the cavity such that a hot gas refrigerant that enters the cavity through the inlet port causes a liquid refrigerant that enters the flash tube to evaporate.
Claims20
A liquid slug reduction device for use in air conditioning and heat pump systems, the device comprising:
- a housing having a cavity, the housing comprising:
- an inlet port providing an entry path into the cavity;
- an outlet port providing an exit path from the cavity;
- and
- a liquid line port providing a refrigerant pathway into and out of the cavity, wherein the liquid line port is configured to be coupled to a liquid line pipe of a heat pump system such that a refrigerant flows between the cavity and the liquid line pipe;
- a reversing valve;
- and
- a flash tube coupled to the reversing valve, the flash tube extending through the cavity and providing a passageway through the cavity such that a hot gas refrigerant that enters the cavity through the inlet port causes a liquid refrigerant that enters the flash tube to evaporate into a vapor that is directed to the reversing valve.
A slug reduction system for use in heat pump systems, the slug reduction system comprising:
- a slug reduction and charge compensator device, comprising:
- a housing having a cavity and a liquid line port providing a refrigerant pathway into and out of the cavity, wherein the liquid line port is configured to be coupled to a liquid line pipe of a heat pump system such that a refrigerant flows between the cavity and the liquid line pipe;
- a reversing valve;
- and
- a flash tube coupled to the reversing valve, the flash tube extending through the cavity and providing a passageway through the cavity for a suction line refrigerant to flow through the flash tube and to exit the flash tube to the reversing valve;
- and
- a valve assembly configured to control whether the cavity is fluidly coupled to a hot gas refrigerant pipe through an inlet port of the housing, wherein the hot gas refrigerant pipe is designed to carry a hot gas refrigerant from a compressor.
A heat pump system, comprising:
- a compressor;
- a slug reduction and charge compensator device comprising:
- a housing having a cavity and a liquid line port providing a refrigerant pathway into and out of the cavity, wherein the liquid line port is coupled to a liquid line pipe of a heat pump system such that a refrigerant flows between the cavity and the liquid line pipe;
- a reversing valve;
- and
- a flash tube coupled to the reversing valve, the flash tube extending through the cavity, wherein the flash tube provides a passageway through the cavity for a suction line refrigerant to flow through the flash tube and to exit the flash tube to the reversing valve;
- and
- a valve assembly configured to control whether the cavity is fluidly coupled to a discharge line outlet of a compressor through an inlet port of the housing to receive a hot gas refrigerant from the compressor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.