Reduction of power consumption in transport refrigeration unit
AssigneeCarrier Corporation
InventorSuzankumar Danaiah Gongate
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method for controlling power to a condenser fan of a transport refrigeration unit (TRU) includes disconnecting power to the condenser fan; detecting a fan voltage produced by back emf of the condenser fan; obtaining an input volume flow rate corresponding to airflow over a condenser in response to the fan voltage; comparing the input volume flow rate to a lower limit volume flow rate; disconnecting power to the condenser fan when the input volume flow rate is greater than the lower limit volume flow rate.
Claims11
A method for controlling power to a condenser fan of a transport refrigeration unit (TRU), the method comprising:
- disconnecting power to the condenser fan;
- detecting a fan voltage produced by back emf of the condenser fan;
- obtaining an input volume flow rate corresponding to airflow over a condenser in response to the fan voltage;
- comparing the input volume flow rate to a lower limit volume flow rate;
- maintaining disconnection of power to the condenser fan when the input volume flow rate is greater than the lower limit volume flow rate.
A system for controlling power to a condenser fan of a transport refrigeration unit (TRU), the system comprising:
- a condenser fan relay configured to supply power to the condenser fan;
- a switch in electrical series with the condenser fan relay and the condenser fan;
- a controller, the controller configured to perform operations including:
- disconnecting power to the condenser fan by opening the switch;
- detecting a fan voltage produced by back emf of the condenser fan;
- obtaining an input volume flow rate corresponding to airflow over a condenser in response to the fan voltage;
- comparing the input volume flow rate to a lower limit volume flow rate;
- maintaining disconnection of power to the condenser fan by maintaining the switch open when the input volume flow rate is greater than the lower limit volume flow rate.
A non-transitory computer program embodied on a computer-readable storage medium, the computer program including instructions for causing a processor to implement a process for controlling power to a condenser fan of a transport refrigeration unit (TRU), the process comprising:
- disconnecting power to the condenser fan;
- detecting a fan voltage produced by back emf of the condenser fan;
- obtaining an input volume flow rate corresponding to airflow over a condenser in response to the fan voltage;
- comparing the input volume flow rate to a lower limit volume flow rate;
- maintaining disconnection of power to the condenser fan when the input volume flow rate is greater than the lower limit volume flow rate.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.