Leak detection for deactivated climate control system
AssigneeThermo King Corporation
InventorsShane Heavey, Wayne Donnellan, Michael Henry Greene, Stephen Coates
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An embodiment of detecting a refrigerant leak in a climate control system includes (a) determining that the climate control system is in a deactivated and equalized state. In addition, the method includes (b) comparing an average pressure of a refrigerant of the climate control system to a saturated vapor pressure of the refrigerant at an average temperature within the climate control system, in response to (a). Further, the method includes (c) detecting a refrigerant leak based at least in part on (b).
Claims23
A method of detecting a refrigerant leak in a climate control system, the method comprising:
- (a) determining that the climate control system is in a deactivated and equalized state;
- (b) comparing an average pressure of a refrigerant of the climate control system to a saturated vapor pressure of the refrigerant at an average temperature within the climate control system, in response to (a);
- and
- (c) detecting a refrigerant leak based at least in part on (b).
A climate control system comprising:
- a refrigerant circuit;
- a compressor configured to circulate a refrigerant through the refrigerant circuit;
- a plurality of sensors distributed through the refrigerant circuit that are configured to detect pressures and temperatures of a refrigerant in the refrigerant circuit;
- and
- a controller communicatively coupled to the plurality of sensors and configured to:
- determine that the climate control system is in a deactivated and equalized state via the plurality of sensors;
- compare an average pressure of the refrigerant to a saturated vapor pressure of the refrigerant at an average temperature within the refrigerant circuit;
- and
- detect a refrigerant leak based at least in part on the comparison between the average pressure and the saturated vapor pressure.
A non-transitory, machine-readable medium including instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:
- (a) determine that a climate control system is in a deactivated and equalized state;
- (b) compare an average pressure of a refrigerant of the climate control system to a saturated vapor pressure of the refrigerant at an average temperature within the climate control system, in response to (a);
- and
- (c) detect a refrigerant leak based at least in part on (b).
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.