Refrigeration – Refrigeration producer – With lubricant handling means
Patent
1986-05-15
1987-10-27
Smith, Leonard E.
Refrigeration
Refrigeration producer
With lubricant handling means
62503, 184 58, F25B 4100
Patent
active
047020890
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to a device for returning oil to at least one compressor in a cooling or refrigerating system in which the compressor sucks oil from at least one oil collecting container through at least one suction conduit connected to the collecting container and having one or more gas or oil intakes situated above the oil level in the collecting container.
Devices of the type outlined above suffer from the drawback that large amounts of oil may collect in the collecting container so that the compressor crankcase may be emptied of oil. Owing to such lack of oil therein the compressor may seize. To remedy this drawback attempts have been made to provide a continuous return of oil from the collecting container to the compressor with the aid of various kinds of devices. However, with such prior-art devices the oil risks to be drawn into the compressor portion-wise, which is unsuitable as the compressor may thereby be damaged. Moreover, large amounts of refrigerant risk to be drawn into the compressor, which may also result in damage to the compressor.
GB patent specification No. 699,568 describes and shows an oil returning device which does not, however, permit returning the oil together with the refrigerant. For a rational function of the prior-art oil returning device a definite oil level must be maintained in the collecting pipe, which is difficult to realize in practice.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,581,519 and 3,792,594 describe and show oil returning devices which do not either permit returning the oil together with the refrigerant. In these previously known devices, oil return conduits extend from the bottom portions of the collecting containers in order to return separated oil. No return of oil together with refrigerant takes place in these devices either.
The object of the present invention is to provide a device which permits returning oil together with refrigerant and which ensures a continuous oil supply to the compressor when in operation irrespectively of whether there are small or large amounts of oil in the collecting pipe. This is achieved according to the invention substantially with the use of the characteristic features defined in the appendant claim 1.
Applying the features indicated in claim 1, it is realized that, after the foaming of the oil at the start of the compressor has produced an oil coating on the inside of the collecting pipe up to the gas and oil intake, the oil can be caused to creep continuously upward on the walls of the collecting container and continuously sucked into the suction pipe and via the latter continuously into the compressor.
The invention is elucidated more in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
FIG. 1 diagrammatically illustrates a freezing plant comprising a device according to the invention; and
FIG. 2 is a section on line II--II in FIG. 1, that is through a collecting container and a suction pipe of the freezing plant.
The freezing plant illustrated comprises three compressors 1 which are adapted to pump out hot gas through a hot gas conduit 2. At the discharge of the hot gas, large amounts of oil accompany the gas out of the compressors 1 and the major portion of this oil is separated from the hot gas in an oil separator 3 from which the oil is refluxed to the compressors 1 via a reflux pipe 4 which is provided with one oil level control 5 for each compressor 1. As no complete oil separation can be attained in the oil separator 3 some oil will accompany the hot gas through the conduit 6 to a condensor 7 and via the condensate therefrom through a conduit 8 to a refrigerant container 9. The oil then accompanies the refrigerant from the refrigerant container 9 through a conduit 10 to an evaporator 11 and the refrigerant vapour from said evaporator to a collecting container 13. The intention then is for the oil 16 collected in the collecting container 13 to be supplied to the compressors 1 continuously and as uniformly distributed as possible between said compressors through suction conduits 14 which are adapted to supply gas in
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patent: 3177680 (1965-04-01), Rasovich et al.
patent: 3563053 (1971-02-01), Bottum
patent: 3581519 (1971-06-01), Garrett
patent: 3792594 (1974-02-01), Kramer
patent: 4551990 (1985-11-01), Honoshowsky
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