Transportation refrigeration unit with adaptive defrost
AssigneeCarrier Corporation
InventorsMichael Thomas Swab, David C. Brondum
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A transport refrigeration unit (TRU) is provided. The TRU includes a housing defining a flow path from an intake to an outlet, a blower to drive air along the flow path from the intake to the outlet, coils disposed in the flow path between the intake and the outlet and over which the air driven by the blower flows, a defrost element to execute a defrost action with respect to the coils, sensing elements at the intake and the outlet to sense pressures of the air at the intake and the outlet and a controller. The controller is configured to control at least one of the blower and the defrost element in accordance with readings of the sensing elements.
Claims20
A transport refrigeration unit (TRU), comprising:
- a housing defining a flow path from an intake to an outlet;
- a blower to drive air along the flow path from the intake to the outlet;
- coils disposed in the flow path between the intake and the outlet and over which the air driven by the blower flows;
- a defrost element to execute a defrost action with respect to the coils;
- sensing elements at the intake and the outlet to sense pressures of the air at the intake and the outlet;
- and
- a controller configured to control at least one of the blower and the defrost element in accordance with readings of the sensing elements.
A method of operating a transport refrigeration unit (TRU) comprising coils, a blower to drive air over the coils and a defrost element to defrost the coils, the method comprising:
- establishing baseline pressure information for the TRU with known blockage conditions;
- gathering current pressure information for the TRU during operational conditions;
- comparing the current pressure information with the baseline pressure information;
- and
- controlling operations of at least one of the blower and the defrost element in accordance with results of the comparing.
A method of operating a transport refrigeration unit (TRU) comprising coils, a blower to drive air over the coils and a defrost element to defrost the coils, the method comprising:
- establishing baseline pressure information for the TRU with known blockage conditions;
- controlling the blower and the coils to execute TRU cooling cycles for cooling the air driven by the blower;
- gathering current pressure information for the TRU during the TRU cooling cycles and following execution of each TRU cycle being completed;
- comparing the current pressure information with the baseline pressure information following each execution of each TRU cycle being completed;
- and
- controlling the defrost element to execute partial or full defrost modes in accordance with the results of the comparing following each execution of each TRU cycle being completed indicating slightly or substantially changed pressures, respectively.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.