Refrigeration storage in a refrigerant vapor compression system
AssigneeCarrier Corporation
InventorHans-Joachim Huff
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A refrigerant vapor compression system (10) includes a plurality of components, including a flash tank (70), connected in a refrigerant flow circuit by a plurality of refrigerant lines (2, 4, 6, 8). The system internal volume equals to the sum of the internal volumes of the plurality of components and the internal volume of the plurality of refrigerant lines. The internal volume of the flash tank ranges from at least 10% to about 30% of the total system internal volume.
Claims19
A refrigerant vapor compression system comprising a plurality of components connected in a refrigerant flow circuit by a plurality of refrigerant lines, said components including at least a compression device, a refrigerant heat rejection heat exchanger, a primary expansion device, a refrigerant heat absorption heat exchanger, and a flash tank;
- each of said components defining an internal volume and the plurality of refrigerant lines defining an internal volume, the system volume equal to the sum of the internal volumes of said component volumes and the internal volume of the plurality of refrigerant lines, and the internal volume of the flash tank ranging from at least 10% to about 30% of the system volume;
- wherein the flash tank is disposed in the refrigerant flow circuit between the refrigerant heat rejection heat exchanger and the refrigerant heat absorption heat exchanger.
A refrigerant vapor compression system for a transport refrigeration unit for conditioning a cargo space, comprising:
- a compression device;
- a refrigerant heat rejection heat exchanger;
- at least one expansion device;
- a refrigerant heat absorption heat exchanger;
- a flash tank defining a chamber having an internal volume;
- and
- a plurality of refrigerant lines connecting the compression device, the refrigerant heat rejection heat exchanger, the at least one expansion device, the refrigerant heat absorption heat exchanger and the flash tank in a refrigerant flow circuit;
- the internal volume of the flash tank having a volume between at least 10% up to 30% of a total system internal volume.
A method for designing a refrigerant vapor compression system for operation in a transcritical cycle, the refrigerant vapor compression system having a plurality of components including at least a compression device, a refrigerant heat rejection heat exchanger, at least one expansion device, and a refrigerant heat absorption heat exchanger connected in a refrigerant flow circuit by a plurality of refrigerant lines, comprising:
- providing a flash tank interdisposed in the refrigerant flow circuit intermediate the refrigerant heat rejection heat exchanger and the refrigerant heat absorption heat exchanger;
- and
- sizing an internal volume of the flash tank to provide sufficient volume that at the maximum volume of liquid refrigerant collecting within the flash tank during operation, adequate volume is provided above the maximum liquid level within the flash tank to ensure that the process of separation of the refrigerant vapor and refrigerant liquid will still occur unimpeded.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.