Oil recovery and lubrication system for screw compressor refrigeration machine
AssigneeCarrier Corporation
InventorsEdward A. Huenniger, Nadine Thompson, Joseph A. Catrambone
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A vaporizer for boiling off a liquid refrigerant from a combined liquid refrigerant/lubricant mixture tapped from an evaporator utilizes hot compressed gaseous refrigerant tapped from a location upstream of the condenser. In a preferred embodiment, the refrigerant is tapped from a compression chamber within the compressor. The hot refrigerant efficiently boils the liquid refrigerant out of the mixture, ensuring high viscosity lubricant. In further features, a return lubricant line from the compressor passes into a sump to further boil off liquid refrigerant.
Claims25
A refrigerant cycle comprising;
- a refrigerant compressor for receiving refrigerant from an evaporator, compressing the refrigerant, and passing the refrigerant to a condenser;
- a lubricant being supplied to said compressor;
- a passage for tapping a liquid refrigerant/lubricant mixture from said evaporator into a vaporizer;
- and
- a tap for tapping compressed refrigerant from a location upstream of said condenser into said vaporizer, said compressed refrigerant being maintained separate from said refrigerant/lubricant mixture and preventing from mixing with said refrigerant/lubricant mixer while in said vaporizor, and said compressed refrigerant heating said combined liquid refrigerant/lubricant mixture, and boiling liquid refrigerant out of said mixture.
A refrigerant cycle comprising:
- a compressor for compressing refrigerant and delivering a refrigerant to said condenser, said refrigerant passing from said condenser to an evaporator, and from said evaporator back to said compressor;
- a lubricant cycle for delivering lubricant from a sump through a pump and to said compressor;
- a passage for tapping a combined liquid refrigerant/lubricant mixture from said evaporator into a vaporizer, and tapping a compressed gaseous refrigerant into said vaporizer, said compressed refrigerant being maintained separate from said refrigerant/lubricant mixture and preventing from mixing with said refrigerant/lubricant mixer while in said vaporizor, and said tapped refrigerant causing said liquid refrigerant to boil out of said liquid refrigerant/lubricant mixture, said removed lubricant passing into said sump, and said boiled off liquid refrigerant being returned to a line leading to said compressor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.