Vapor compression systems using an accumulator to prevent over-pressurization
AssigneeCarrier Corporation
InventorsTobias H. Sienel, Yu Chen
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An accumulator acts as a buffer to prevent over-pressurization of the vapor compression system while inactive. By determining the maximum storage temperature and the maximum storage pressure a system will be subject to when inactive, a density of the refrigerant for the overall system can be calculated. Dividing the density by the mass of the refrigerant determines an optimal overall system volume. The volume of the components is subtracted from the overall system volume to calculate the optimal accumulator volume. The optimal accumulator volume is used to size the accumulator so that the accumulator has enough volume to prevent over-pressurization of the system when inactive.
Claims13
A vapor compression system comprising:
- at least one compression device to compress a refrigerant to a high pressure;
- at least one heat rejecting heat exchanger for cooling said refrigerant;
- at least one expansion device for reducing said refrigerant to a low pressure;
- at least one heat accepting heat exchanger for evaporating said refrigerant;
- and
- an accumulator having an optimal size, wherein said optimal size of said accumulator prevents over-pressurization of the system when said refrigerant is at a maximum refrigerant temperature and a maximum refrigerant pressure, wherein said maximum refrigerant temperature is the maximum temperature the refrigerant reaches when the system is inactive and the maximum refrigerant pressure is the maximum pressure the refrigerant reaches when the system is inactive.
The vapor compression system as recited in claim 6 wherein said maximum storage pressure is between 1000 and 2500 psi.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.