Injection of refrigerant in system with expander
AssigneeCarrier Corporation
InventorsAlexander Lifson, Michael F. Taras
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A refrigerant system incorporates an expander. At least a portion of refrigerant bypasses an evaporator and is injected into the compression process to cool main refrigerant vapor flow and compressor elements. In disclosed embodiments, the injected refrigerant may be partially expanded in the expander and routed either into the compressor suction or to an intermediate point in the compression process. A valve may control the amount of the injected refrigerant to achieve desired operational characteristics for the refrigerant system.
Claims21
1-28. (canceled)
A refrigerant system comprising:
- a compressor operable to compress a refrigerant and deliver the refrigerant to a downstream first heat exchanger, refrigerant from said first heat exchanger passing through an expander at which it expands and drives an expander element, and mechanical motion of said expander element being utilized to at least partially drive at least one other component, refrigerant flowing downstream of said expander passing through a second heat exchanger, and from said second heat exchanger back to said compressor through a compressor suction line;
- and
- at least portion of refrigerant tapped from a location intermediate of said first and second heat exchangers, and downstream of said first heat exchanger, returned through a return line to a location downstream of said second heat exchanger and upstream of said first heat exchanger.
A method of operating a refrigerant system comprising the steps of:
- (1) providing a compressor compressing a refrigerant and delivering the refrigerant to a downstream first heat exchanger, refrigerant from said first heat exchanger passing through an expander at which it expands and drives an expander element, and mechanical motion of said expander element being utilized to at least partially drive at least one other component, refrigerant flowing downstream of said expander passing through a second heat exchanger, and from said second heat exchanger back to said compressor through a compressor suction line;
- and
- (2) tapping at least a portion refrigerant from a location intermediate of said first and second heat exchangers, and downstream of said first heat exchanger, returned through a return line to a location downstream of said second heat exchanger and upstream of said first heat exchanger.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.