Refrigeration – Automatic control – Of closed system sorbent type
Patent
1985-08-09
1986-06-17
King, Lloyd L.
Refrigeration
Automatic control
Of closed system sorbent type
623242, 62476, F25B 1500
Patent
active
045948577
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The invention relates to resorption-type thermal conversion apparatus, such as heat pumps, refrigeration machines or thermal transformers, which are operated with a binary working medium, especially a mixture of ammonia and water, for the purpose of raising thermal energy supplied from an external thermal energy source to a higher temperature level, the apparatus having two solvent circuits in which the liquid-phase working medium is brought from a lower to a higher pressure level and expanded again to the lower pressure level, and one interconnecting conduit exists between the two circuits on the low-pressure side and one on the high-pressure side in which working medium that is in the vapor phase passes over.
Such resorption-type thermal conversion apparatus operated with a mixture of ammonia and water as the working medium can be used, for example, as heat pumps with which thermal energy at a relatively low temperature level is withdrawn from the surrounding milieu, such as the ambient atmosphere, bodies of water or the earth, and is raised to a higher temperature level at which it is then available for heating purposes, such as the heating of utility water or the like.
If, on the other hand, thermal energy is already available at a higher temperature level, e.g., in manufacturing processes in the form of exhaust vapor or steam, this energy can be raised by so-called heat transformers to such a temperature level that it can be utilized again in the manufacturing process as processing heat.
The continuous operation of such apparatus requires that the volumetric difference in the vaporous working medium flowing on the high- and low-pressure side between the two circuits of the apparatus be compensated, also with regard to the individual components of the binary mixture. In the known apparatus (Handbuch der Kaeltetechnik, vol. 7, R. Plank, Verlag Springer, 1959, pp. 7-19) this problem is solved by the fact that the working medium is exchanged both on the high-pressure and on the low-pressure side in equal amounts and equal concentration, exclusively in vaporous form, the concentration matching requiring the use of a rectification column in the branch in which, without such rectification, as a result of the manner in which the circuit in question is operating, a vaporous binary mixture would be exchanged which has a higher content of the higher-boiling component than is found in the vaporous phase emerging from the other circuit. The need for the use of such a rectification column and the regulation of its operation so as to deliver continuously a vaporous binary mixture whose concentration and volume correspond precisely to the binary mixture flowing in the other branch leads to a high investment in the rectification column, thus elevating the overall investment cost of the known apparatus.
Consequently, the invention is addressed to the object of eliminating the expense involved in the rectification column required for the operation of the known resorption-type thermal conversion apparatus, and thus to reduce substantially the investment cost of such apparatus.
Setting out from a thermal conversion apparatus of the kind described above, this problem is solved in accordance with the invention by providing in each high-pressure and low-pressure interconnecting conduit between the two circuits a pressure sensor and a temperature sensor whose signals are combined to form a measure of the concentration of the lower-boiling vaporous component of the binary working medium with respect to the total amount of the working medium in vapor form; by providing in one of the two interconnecting conduits a volumeter to measure the volume of the vaporous working medium flowing through them and providing a compensating conduit parallel to the interconnecting conduits, for flowing liquid working medium of varying concentration, a pressure sensor and temperature sensor plus a remotely controlled regulating valve being provided in the compensating conduit to detect the concentration level of the liquid working medium flowing
REFERENCES:
patent: 3837174 (1974-09-01), Miyagi et al.
patent: 4394959 (1983-07-01), de Vries
patent: 4448596 (1984-05-01), van der Sluys et al.
patent: 4487026 (1984-12-01), Alfano
patent: 4526009 (1985-07-01), van der Sluys et al.
King Lloyd L.
TCH Thermo-Consulting-Heidelberg GmbH
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