Refrigeration – With means for charging closed refrigeration producing system
Patent
1992-11-20
1995-01-03
Sollecito, John M.
Refrigeration
With means for charging closed refrigeration producing system
62475, 62470, 62472, 55421, 55426, F25B 4500
Patent
active
053775015
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to apparatus for processing or treating or handling fluids, particularly refrigerant gas.
In a normal refrigerant utilising system, e.g. a refrigeration plant or air conditioning system, using CFC's as the refrigerant, the filter and accumulator are provided at separate locations in the system. Therefore they have always been manufactured and installed as separate items and oil collection may need to be carried out at both locations.
Also, in a normal refrigerant utilising system using common refrigerants, the compressor lubricating oil is carried in the system with the refrigerant and eventually returns to the compressor. The amount of oil in a system varies depending on the length and diameter of plumbing and other variables and is calculated to effectively lubricate the compressor.
In certain systems, it has been found that oil tended to build up at particular spots and impair the performance of the system and also reduce the oil available for lubricating the compressor. For these applications, an oil separator was developed in which oil was caused to settle out from the refrigerant by means of baffles and/or screens and when sufficient oil has built up, a float would cause a valve to open and the oil would be forced under pressure back to an oil reservoir or compressor crankcase.
The oil separators are usually placed in the high pressure outlet line of the compressor and are usually only found on systems of one horsepower or larger due to their high cost.
In the use of "Refrigerant Recovery Equipment" (RRE), a continual closed refrigerant circuit is not used because the compressor is used to pump refrigerant from an external refrigeration or air conditioning system into a storage cylinder. On certain types of RRE, the compressor is used to pump refrigerant from the storage cylinder, through a purification system and back into the cylinder.
Because in RRE oil is collected from the refrigerant before it enters the compressor and is disposed of in other ways, any oil leaving the compressor with the refrigerant will not be returned to the compressor unless an oil separator is used.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a refrigerant gas conditioner enabling a reduction in space requirements for a system utilising the gas conditioner and savings in components to be achieved.
It is a further and preferred object according to the invention to enable lubricant collection to be carried out at a reduced number of locations.
According to the present invention there is provided a refrigerant gas conditioner for conditioning refrigerant gas upstream of an associated compressor, the conditioner being characterised by: a housing, an inlet in the housing for admitting refrigerant including refrigerant in liquid phase, an accumulator section in the housing for receiving refrigerant from the inlet and for collecting a volume of refrigerant in the liquid phase together with oil and allowing the refrigerant to separate from the oil by vaporisation, a vapour outlet in the housing through which refrigerant in vapour phase from the accumulator section passes out of the housing, a filter element through which refrigerant entering the inlet must pass before reaching the vapour outlet, the filter element being arranged within the housing and located above the accumulator section so as to drain any oil separated by the filter into the accumulator section of the housing by gravity, and an oil port in the accumulator section through which oil passes from the accumulator section out of the housing.
Preferably there is provided a heating pipe in the accumulator section, the heating pipe being arranged to receive superheated high pressure refrigerant from the associated compressor so that the compressed refrigerant from the high pressure side of the compressor passes through the heating pipe and the superheat is yielded to the liquid phase refrigerant in the accumulator section without condensation of the superheated refrigerant occurring.
In a first possible embodiment, the filter element is loca
REFERENCES:
patent: 2749723 (1956-06-01), Webber
patent: 3324680 (1967-06-01), Cremer
patent: 3520149 (1970-07-01), Uratani
patent: 4476688 (1984-10-01), Goddard
Environmental Products Amalgamated Pty Ltd
Sollecito John M.
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