Air conditioning pressure relief valve assembly

Details Air conditioning pressure relief valve assembly Air conditioning pressure relief valve assembly

2000-01-12

2001-10-30

Walberg, Teresa (Department: 3742)

Pumps

With condition responsive pumped fluid control

Pressure responsive relief or bypass valve

Reexamination Certificate

active

06309186

ABSTRACT:

TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates generally to air conditioning systems for vehicles and, more particularly, to a pressure relief valve assembly for an air conditioning system of a vehicle.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
It is known to provide an air conditioning system for a vehicle such as a pick-up truck. Typically, the air conditioning system includes a compressor, an evaporator, condenser and an accumulator or expansion valve. The air conditioning system may include an electric air conditioning compressor high pressure shut off switch or pressure transducer to control air conditioning pressures if pressure spikes occur during idle or drive-away conditions. However, these pressure spikes result in an identifiable interruption to the operator of the vehicle.
It is desirable to provide high pressure control of an air conditioning system for a vehicle. It is also desirable to eliminate air conditioning interruptions to the operator if air conditioning high pressure spikes occur during drive-away conditions. Therefore, there is a need in the art to provide a pressure relief valve assembly for an air conditioning system of a vehicle.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is, therefore, one object of the present invention to provide a pressure relief valve assembly for an air conditioning system of a vehicle.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a high pressure gas to low pressure gas relief valve assembly for an air conditioning system.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an internal high pressure relief for an air conditioning system without turning off a compressor of an air conditioning system.
To achieve the foregoing objects, the present invention is a pressure relief valve assembly for an air conditioning system of a vehicle. The pressure relief valve assembly includes a compressor hose block having an inlet port and an outlet port. The inlet port is for connection to a low pressure gas and the outlet port is for connection to high pressure gas of the air conditioning system. The compressor hose block also has a connecting port interconnecting the inlet port and the outlet port. The pressure relief valve assembly further includes a valve disposed in the connecting port to allow high pressure gas to pass from the outlet port to the inlet port when the pressure of the high pressure gas reaches a predetermined level.
One advantage of the present invention is that a pressure relief valve assembly is provided for an air conditioning system of a vehicle. Another advantage of the present invention is that pressure relief valve assembly provides internal air conditioning system high pressure relief without turning off the air conditioning compressor, resulting in little or no loss in air conditioning performance during pressure reduction. Yet another advantage of the present invention is that the pressure relief valve assembly improves overall air conditioning system performance by the use of a larger diameter air conditioning inlet line (less pressure drop). Still another advantage of the present invention is that the pressure relief valve assembly enhances air conditioning performance at idle and low speeds of the vehicle by increasing air conditioning compressor to engine crank pulley ratio. A further advantage of the present invention is that the pressure relief valve assembly provides no identifiable interruptions in the air conditioning system performance to the operator of the vehicle.
Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be readily appreciated, as the same becomes better understood after reading the subsequent description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.


REFERENCES:
patent: 3823568 (1974-07-01), Bijasiewicz et al.
patent: 5362210 (1994-11-01), Richardson
patent: 5800133 (1998-09-01), Ikeda et al.
patent: 5913664 (1999-06-01), Shimizu et al.
patent: 5984645 (1999-11-01), Cummings

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