Internal clearing function for a refrigerant recovery/recharge machine
AssigneeBosch Automotive Service Solutions Inc.
InventorsWilliam Brown, Gary Murray
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus and method providing a refrigeration servicing system that comprises a clean refrigerant source, a recovery circuit and a flushing circuit. The recovery circuit can be configured to recover refrigerant from a cooling system. After recovery cycle is completed, the flushing circuit that is coupled to the recovery circuit can flush clean refrigerant through the recovery circuit. A housing can be provided and configured to house the refrigerant source, the recovery circuit and the flushing circuit.
Claims19
A refrigerant servicing device comprising:
- an inlet for receiving refrigerant from a system to be serviced;
- an oil separator configured to separate oil out of the refrigerant;
- a holding tank configured to hold the refrigerant;
- a clean refrigerant tank configured to contain clean refrigerant to add to the refrigerant to be serviced;
- an outlet configured to provide an outlet for serviced refrigerant to be returned to the system to be serviced;
- and
- a controller configured to:
- control the inlet, and the outlet;
- move clean refrigerant to remove the refrigerant from the system to be serviced;
- separate oil from the refrigerant;
- add clean refrigerant to the refrigerant being serviced to achieve a desired total amount of refrigerant and return the refrigerant to the system being serviced;
- detect when connecting hoses connecting the refrigerant servicing device to the system to be serviced are connected to the system to be serviced;
- forwarding an alert to disconnect the pair of hoses from the system being serviced when the hoses are connected to the system being serviced;
- and
- flush the refrigerant servicing device with clean refrigerant after the refrigerant service device has serviced refrigerant.
A refrigerant servicing device comprising:
- means for inletting for receiving refrigerant from a system to be serviced;
- means for separating oil from refrigerant configured to separate oil out of the refrigerant;
- first means for containing a fluid configured to hold the refrigerant;
- second means for containing a fluid configured to contain clean refrigerant to add to the refrigerant to be serviced;
- means for outletting configured to provide an outlet for serviced refrigerant to be returned to the system to be serviced;
- and
- means for controlling configured to:
- control the means for inletting, and the means for outletting;
- move the clean refrigerant to remove the refrigerant from the system to be serviced;
- separate oil from the refrigerant;
- add clean refrigerant to the refrigerant being serviced to achieve a desired total amount of refrigerant and return the refrigerant to the system being serviced;
- detect when a pair of hoses connecting the refrigerant servicing device to the system to be serviced are connected to the system to be serviced;
- forwarding an alert to disconnect the pair of hoses from the system being serviced when the hoses are connected to the system being serviced;
- and
- flush the refrigerant servicing device with clean refrigerant after the refrigerant service device has serviced refrigerant.
A method of cleaning a refrigerant servicing device comprising:
- detecting when a pair of hoses connecting the refrigerant servicing device to a system to be serviced are connected to the system to be serviced;
- forwarding an alert to disconnect the pair of hoses from the system being serviced when the hoses are connected to the system being serviced;
- and
- detecting that the pair of hoses are not connected to system;
- and then circulating clean refrigerant through the device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.