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US 2022/0009641 A1Published application
Vehicle and method of cooling a compartment of said vehicle
AssigneeLeonardo S.P.A.
InventorLuca Patricelli
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An aerial, marine or land vehicle comprising: a compartment to be cooled; a first circuit through which can pass and, in turn, comprising, a heat exchanger that can be fed with the coolant and is designed to enable the coolant to release heat; a second circuit that can be fed with a second flow of a heat-carrying fluid and is thermally coupled to the heat exchanger; and supply means for supplying a mixture comprising water, inside the second flow in a position upstream of the heat exchanger and spaced from the heat exchanger, proceeding along the feed direction of the second flow along the second circuit, so as to cause evaporation of the mixture and cool the second flow in the heat exchanger.
Claims10
An aerial, marine or land vehicle (1), comprising:
- a compartment (6) to be cooled;
- and
- a first circuit (20) through which a coolant can pass;
- said first circuit (20), in turn, comprising:
- a heat exchanger (22), which can be fed with said coolant and is adapted to enable said coolant to release heat;
- a second circuit (60), which can be fed with a second flow of a heat-carrying fluid and is thermally coupled to said heat exchanger (22);
- and
- supply means (61) for supplying a mixture comprising water inside said second flow in a position upstream of said heat exchanger (22) and spaced from said heat exchanger (22), proceeding along the feed direction of said second flow along said second circuit (60), so as to cause evaporation of said mixture and cool said second flow in said heat exchanger (22);
- said first circuit (20) being closed, and a coolant capable of changing phase passing through it;
- said coolant performing, in use, a thermodynamic vapour compression cycle inside said first circuit (20);
- said first circuit (20) comprising, in sequence:
- compressor means (21), which can be fed with said coolant in the vapour phase (V) and can be activated to raise the pressure of said coolant in the vapour phase (V);
- a condenser (22) defining said heat exchanger (22), arranged downstream of said compressor means (21), with reference to the feed direction of said coolant in said first circuit (20), and which can be fed with said coolant in the vapour phase (V) and is adapted to cause the transition of said coolant from the vapour phase (V) to the liquid phase (L);
- thermal expansion means (23) arranged downstream of said condenser (22) with reference to said feed direction, which can be fed with said coolant in the liquid phase (L) and are adapted to cause the transition of said coolant to a two-phase condition (L+V) formed by a mixture of a liquid phase (L) and a vapour phase (V);
- and
- an evaporator (24) arranged downstream of said thermal expansion means (23) and upstream of said compressor means (21), with reference to said feed direction, and adapted to cause the transition of said coolant from said two-phase condition (L+V) to the vapour phase (V);
- said vehicle (1) further comprising:
- a third circuit (70) adapted to feed said mixture to said supply means (61);
- and
- a fourth circuit (50), which can be fluidically connected to said compartment (6);
- said fourth circuit (50) comprising:
- an inlet (51), which can be fluidically connected to said compartment (6) and which can be fed with a first flow of air to be cooled;
- and
- an outlet (52) which can be fluidically connected to said compartment (6) and through which the cooled said first flow of air can pass;
- said evaporator (24) being interposed along said fourth circuit (50) between said inlet (51) and said outlet (52), and being thermally coupled to said fourth circuit (50) so as to cool said first flow of air;
- characterized by comprising a first tank (71) of said mixture fluidically connected to said third circuit (70);
- and/or said third circuit (70) being fluidically connectable to a second tank (72) arranged outside said vehicle (1).
24 more elements
A method of cooling a compartment (6) of an aerial, marine or land vehicle (1), comprising the steps of:
- i) feeding a coolant along a first circuit (20);
- said step i) comprising the step ii) of absorbing heat from said coolant in a heat exchanger (22);
- iii) lapping said heat exchanger (22) with a second flow of a heat-carrying fluid;
- iv) supplying, through supply means (61), a mixture containing water inside said second flow in a position upstream of said heat exchanger (22) and spaced from said heat exchanger (22), proceeding along the feed direction of said second flow;
- v) evaporating at least part of the fluid of said mixture during said step iv), so as to cool said second flow in said heat exchanger (22);
- said first circuit (20) being closed and passed through by a coolant capable of changing phase passing through it;
- said coolant performing a thermodynamic vapour compression cycle inside said first circuit (20);
- said step i) comprising the steps of:
- vi) fluidically connecting a second circuit (50) to said compartment (6);
- vii) raising the pressure of said coolant in the vapour phase (V);
- viii) condensing said coolant from said vapour phase (V) to a liquid phase (L), inside a condenser (22) defining said heat exchanger (22);
- ix) thermally expanding said coolant in the liquid phase so as to cause the transition of said coolant to a two-phase condition (L+V) formed by a mixture of liquid (L) and vapour (V);
- and
- x) evaporating said coolant in an evaporator (24), so as to cause the transition of said two-phase condition (L+V) to the vapour phase (V);
- said step vi) comprising the steps of:
- xi) creating circulation of a first airflow to be cooled from said compartment (6) through said evaporator (24), so as to release heat to said coolant inside said evaporator (24) and cool the first airflow;
- and
- xii) feeding the cooled said first airflow from said evaporator (24) to said compartment (6), to cool the latter;
- characterized in that said step iv) comprising the step xiii) of fluidically connecting a first tank (70) of said mixture arranged on board said vehicle (1) to said supply means (61);
- and/or
- characterized in that said step iv) comprises the step xiv) of fluidically connecting a second tank of said mixture arranged outside said vehicle (1) to said supply means (61).
18 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.