Evaporator generated foam control of compression systems
OwnerDavid N. Shawinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system for controlling the amount of foam ingested to a compressor of a cooling system is presented. The present invention utilizes a heated thermistor to control an electrically positioned expansion valve feeding liquid refrigerant to a system evaporator. The thermistor is controlled to be a few degrees warmer than the discharge saturation temperature of the refrigerant exiting the compressor. The saturation temperature corresponding to the compressor discharge pressure is calculated by a microprocessor and compared to the thermistor temperature. If the difference is greater or less than desired, the microprocessor will send the proper signals to the electrically positioned expansion valve thereby controlling the rate of foam ingested by the compressor.
Claims14
A cooling system comprising:
- an evaporator for partially evaporating a coolant;
- a compressor in communication with said evaporator for compressing partially-evaporated saturated coolant from said evaporator;
- a condenser in communication with said compressor for condensing compressed saturated coolant from said compressor;
- an expansion valve in communication with said condenser and said evaporator for expanding condensed coolant from said condenser and passing expanded condensed coolant to the evaporator;
- and
- a control system controlling the expansion valve such that the coolant exiting the compressor is in a saturated state and includes a mixture of liquid and gas phases of the coolant.
A method of controlling an expansion valve in a cooling system including
- an evaporator for partially evaporating a coolant;
- a compressor in communication with the evaporator for compressing partially-evaporated saturated coolant from the evaporator;
- a condenser in communication with the compressor for condensing compressed saturated coolant from the compressor;
- and
- an expansion valve in communication with the condenser and said evaporator for expanding condensed coolant from said condenser and passing expanded condensed coolant to the evaporator;
- the method comprising:
- controlling the expansion valve such that coolant exiting the compressor is in a saturated state and includes a mixture of liquid and gas phases of the coolant.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.